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sweetescapeartist · 6 months

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FULL POWER FORMS & SUPER SAIYAN GRADE FORMS

These forms allow for characters to amplify their physical strength by swelling their ki to expand their muscles mass & height as it greatly increases the physical power of their current form. I categorize these forms as "Partial Full Power" & "100% Full Power" forms.

Now, here are the characters who have used these "Full Power" forms. (If I missed any, let me know.)

ROSHI: 🕶️🐢

Normal • Partial Full Power • 100% Full Power

GARLIC JR (Z Films): 🧄

Normal • Transformed (100% Full Power)

FREEZA: 🧊

Normal • Partial Full Power • 100% Full Power

VEGETA: 🥗🐒

Normal base • Normal SSJ • SSJ Grade 2 (Partial Full Power)

TRUNKS: 🩳🐒

Normal base • Normal SSJ • SSJ Grade 2 (Partial Full Power) • SSJ Grade 3 (100% Full Power)

GOKU: 🥕🐒

Normal base • Normal SSJ • SSJ Grade 2 (Partial Full Power) • SSJ Grade 3 (100% Full Power)

CELL: 🧬

Normal • Partial Full Power • 100% Full Power

BROLY (Z Films): 🥦🦍

Normal base • Restrained SSJ • Normal SSJ • Legendary SSJ (100% Full Power)

GOKUA (Z Films): 🏴‍☠️

Normal • Transformed (100% Full Power)

ZANGYA (Z Films): 🏴‍☠️

Normal • Powered-up (Partial Full Power)

BOJACK (Z Films): 🏴‍☠️

Normal • Transformed (100% Full Power)

TRUNKS (DBS anime): 🩳🐒

SSJ • SSJ2 • Super Saiyan Rage (Transformed 100% Full Power)

MERGED ZAMASU (DBS anime): 🐵☯🍏

Merged Zamasu • Merged Zamasu [Corrupted] • Merged Zamasu [Corrupted] (100% Full Power)

FROST (DBS anime): ❄️

Normal • 100% Full Power

CAULIFLA (DBS anime): ⚪🥦🐵

Normal base • Normal SSJ • SSJ Grade 3 (100% Full Power)

KALE (DBS anime): 🥬🦍

Normal base • Berserker SSJ (100% Full Power) • Controlled Berserker SSJ (Controlled Full Power)

TOPPO (DBS anime): ♨️

Normal • GoD Form (100% Full Power)

SSGSS VEGETA (DBS anime): 🥗🐒

Normal SSB • SSBE (Controlled 100% Full Power)

JIREN (DBS anime): 👽

Normal • Full Power (100% Full Power) • Awakened (Beyond/Super Full Power)

BROLY (DBS anime): 🥦🦍

Normal base • Wrathful State [Stage 2] (Full Power base/Humanoid Oozaru) • Normal SSJ • Full Power SSJ (Legendary SSJ)

GAS (DBS manga): ⛽

Normal base • Instincts Released (100% Full Power) • Instincts Controlled (Controlled Full Power) • Burning (Partial Life Reserves) • Zombie (Life Reserves) • Instincts Released Zombie (Life Reserves 100% Full Power)

THE FLAW OF FULL POWER FORMS: 📉

Often times, the Full Power forms are more of a liability than a benefit. Most quickly burn through ki & put strain on the body while giving brute strength at the cost of speed. All which can make the user vulnerable in a life-or-death battle.

In the case of Kale, Broly, & Gas, their increased muscle mass didn't cost them speed. Instead, their Full Power forms caused them to temporarily lose their sanity; something that can put their own life at risk as well as others they may care about.

However, there are characters who have been able to make use of the Full Power forms immediately without losing speed, stamina, or sanity. Examples being SS Rage Trunks, Merged Zamasu, GoD Toppo, SSBE Vegeta, and Jiren (Full Power & Awakened).

EXTRA THOUGHTS:

Certain names of the transformations are just what I call them. Like Kale's Controlled Berserker SSJ, Jiren's Awakened Full Power state, and all of the names for Gas' forms.

Super Saiyan Grade 2 & 3 forms are essentially Roshi's buffer forms repurposed for a Super Saiyan.

I decided to not classify Freeza's "True Golden Freeza" Form as a Full Power Form of Golden Freeza because it appears to be more akin to Super Saiyan Grade 4/Mastered Super Saiyan.

Knowing that Freeza can increase his power by percentages, this would imply the same for other characters who use Full Power forms. Roshi's semi-buff form would possibly be about 70% while his Full Power form is 100%. Super Saiyan Grade 2 may be about 80% or so depending on the character, while Super Saiyan Grade 3 is 100%.

There's a reason you don't see a Full Power SSJ2 or a Full Power SSJ3 used in combat. Most Full Power forms are not stable and would only be good if they can land a hit. And with the stamina drain of SSJ3, a "SSJ3 Grade 3" would be a very pointless form that greatly multiplies the stamina drain.

I didn't include Majin Vegeta as a Full Power form despite it being SSJ2 Vegeta at Full Power. The power Vegeta recieved was not entirely his own & was power beyond his limits granted to him by magic. He was not using a Grade 3 form either, so I did not consider it to be a Full Power form in the same sense as the others on the list.

From what I can tell, Super Saiyan Rage could be some sort of "SSJ2 form of SSJ2." Meaning its a unique form above SSJ3. Before transforming into Super Saiyan Rage, a SSJ2 Trunks bulks up into a "SSJ2 Grade 3." Then, Trunks controls the power, slims down, gains a new aura, gets sharper and longer hair, & temporarily lacks pupils/irises. This is like Kale's Controlled Berserker SSJ form, but seemingly on a higher level. Future Trunks had already gotten his SSJ2 form to be almost as strong as SSJ3, so a "Controlled Full Power SSJ2 form" (SS Rage) would probably put him on a level around or a bit above SSG. (Maybe I should make a post about Super Saiyan Rage in the future. 🤔) On the other hand, Controlled Berserker SSJ Kale is shown to be somewhat below SSG Goku in DBS EP 114 when she & SSJ2 Caulifla fought SSG Goku when he had his gaurd up. So... from what I can tell, Super Saiyan Rage is a transformation of SSJ2 that began as "SSJ2 Grade 3" before Trunks controlled his Full Power & transformed. Thus, I classified Super Saiyan Rage as a Full Power transformation similar to SSBE. (If you disagree & have evidence of some sort, share it with me so I can adjust my thoughts as needed.)

After transforming into SSBE, Vegeta said "This is everything I have, Jiren!" So, I classified Vegeta's SSBE as some sort of improved version of the Full Power form while using SSB. It's basically Vegeta as SSB Grade 3, but slimmed down due to god ki giving him better control of the form, so there is no speed drawback. In a way, it's similar to how Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan Rage. Like Father, like son I suppose.

I wonder if DBS Broly's green haired SSJ form is his SSJ form mixed with the power of his Wrathful State (the Humanoid Oozaru form). With how the Wrathful State [Stage 2] made Broly grow in height and muscle mass, and how the Legendary SSJ form makes Broly turn giant and buff... Maybe his Full Power SSJ form is indeed SSJ combine with a [Stage 2] or a hypothetical [Stage 3] of Broly's Wrathful State power? 🤔

The DBS Manga continuity version of Broly's forms differs from its animated counterpart from what I can tell. DBS manga Broly is more similar to DBS manga Kale. [DBS manga Broly & DBS manga Kale have Base • Super Saiyan • Full Power Super Saiyan.]

I believe Zangya was in a partial Full Power form because she had to power-up against Krillin. When she did, her hair stayed floating upwards during her entire battle with Krillin. Her hair returned to normal only after she defeated him. She clearly had to power-up. But, does Zangya have her own green-skinned transformation like Bojack & Gokua? It's possible. Or perhaps she wasn't able to use a Full Power form like them just yet. We didn't see Bido or Bujin power-up to a Full Power form either. It seems like most of the crew don't have access to that Full Power transformation. So, this powered-up state Zangya used against Krillin could be her "Partial Full Power" if she can transform, or even her current "full power" if she cannot transform a true Full Power form. I currently believe that it is Zangya's "Partial Full Power" form & she hadn't unlocked the Full Power transformation yet.

I disagree with the idea of Krillin using the the Full Power form as a "power-up" like Roshi does because it wouldn't allow him to even touch a stronger opponent due to the buff form's speed reduction. As shown in Resurrection F, the Full Power form still quickly depleted Roshi's stamina & Krillin had to come in to save him. Some ppl say it will make Krillin taller, so it's a good form for him. However, being of short stature is actually an advantage because Krillin is harder to hit and his opponent will underestimate his strength like Piccolo did during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, & like how Vegeta & Nappa underestimated Krillin's strength & skill when he fought them. Plus, Krillin being short is not only part of his character appeal, but it is also a reference to Journey To The West.

Since the buff form is pointless for most characters (unless its a controlled Full Power Form), the best goal for the Krillin and the other Earthling fighters would be for them to utilize masterful ki control & performance in their normal state rather than greatly increasing their muscle mass with ki. As displayed by Krillin, Non-Self State is the next level of Earthling "transformation." But, rather than physical, it is a spiritual transformation; a transformation of internal energy. Hopefully Krillin's Non-Self State makes a return in some form & the other Earthling warriors recieve a similar power-up in the future as well. I have my doubts, but fingers crossed. 🤞

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ultraericthered · 15 days

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So, Majin Buu....

Thinking back on the original Akira Toriyama Dragon Ball run, it's pretty clear to me more than ever that Majin Buu, the final major villain of the series, the Big Bad in the story arc the series ended on, was by far the weakest Big Bad out of all the powerful, action-based Big Bads, making him second weakest overall next to Commander Red. Yes, even Tienshinhan was an overall more satisfactory main antagonist compared to how Buu got by the end. And for the longest time I just sort of took that as a basic truth without really examining why it was. I'd thought the main reason for it was that the concept of him as this ages old evil that was only just now being pulled back into the present day limelight to be the new all-powerful threat to the universe to surpass the last all-powerful threat to the universe was really cheap, as it felt like Toriyama lazily re-doing the premise of King Piccolo only more ancient and a threat to even the gods of this world's cosmology and lore. But if I'm being totally fair and honest, that shouldn't necessarily be a definitive restraint on Buu from reaching villainous greatness. After all, Buu is also a great concept for a villain and an undeniably original, distinguished, uniquely Toriyama one at that. He so easily could've worked. Why didn't he?

This year of Toriyama's passing, it finally dawned on me - Majin Buu suffered from the same syndrome that would years later plague Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts. The syndrome of being a single character yet having so many different variations of him that feel like completely separate characters that makes it hard to reconcile them all as a single entity or to understand who that single entity is at the most fundamental level and what they're all about personally and in terms of narrative function. And indeed, it is only Buu who suffered this problem. Piccolo Jr. felt like the spawn/second lifeline of King Piccolo, Vegeta as a Great Ape still felt like Vegeta, Freeza in all of his transformations still feels like Freeza, Cell is still Cell in all three of his forms (even with his brainpower being more easily expended in the Semi-Perfect form), the Zamasus all feel like different variants of Zamasu, Moro, Mechikabura, and Demigra always feel the same, etc. Yet Majin Buu feels like he becomes four or five different people over the course of his saga, which gets either unnecessarily lengthy or incredibly rushed depending on the medium you're looking at it in!

So here's basically how I feel about the Majin Buus:

Fat Buu, AKA Mr. Buu - Toriyama first created this character to be the Majin Buu, a complete subversion of expectations for how this all-powerful evil demon was built up versus how nonthreatening he appears to be once we meet him. The simple-minded, infantile, playful, whimsical and sweets-craving nature of this Buu is both the source of much comedy and becomes a source of tension that enhances the dread you feel whenever the deep malice he harbors within him comes out on display, as the tonal whiplash of this silly, chubby pink blob getting mad and doing horrible things is unnerving. But in addition, we're made to feel some sympathy for Buu since Babidi treats him in an abusive, exploitative way and it becomes clearer that for all the malice he has and all the wrongs he commits, Buu has the mind of a small child who does whatever he wants to do for fun in total innocence and naivete, not knowing or understanding what the morally right things to do and the right way to live are, and why things like killing other living creatures is morally wrong. The stuff with him and Mr. Satan is some of the best content in the entire saga, and it feels right that he joins the family and becomes one of the good guys in the end, even if not much really comes of that in future installments. I give him an 8/10, to me he's the Best Buu.

Evil Buu, AKA Slim Buu - I mentioned the deep malice within Buu that he was born with, and this guy is the physical personification of it that Fat Buu conjures out from him during a breakdown where his desires are clashing with what he now knows about right and wrong. Visually, he's the exact 180 of Fat Buu - lean face and skeleton-thin body, open eyes that are black with white pupils, dark blue cape rather than a purple one, and he's the only Buu who's not pink but is instead gray. But he's the Mr. Hyde to Fat Buu's Dr. Jekyll, another side of the same person. Were Fat Buu to defeat him, he'd conquer his inner darkness, but instead this thing defeats and swallows Fat Buu, signifying that the inner darkness has won out and will change Buu's shape into something stronger and more evil. Ultimately this Buu has no personality to speak of besides "evil" and is only there as a plot device to up the tension and stakes again by becoming the new eviler version of Majin Buu who has no qualms disregarding the lessons he'd learned from Mr. Satan. However, he does get some extra points for killing Van Zant. 4/10, Basic Buu is Basic.

Super Buu - I really like this Buu yet am really mad at him and have a bone to pick with him. 'Cause he feels so easily like the Buu I'd love the best after Fat Buu, owing a lot to a truly stellar introductory period, solid voicework in the anime, and much like Cell, some cool and catchy theme music from Bruce Faulconer in the US dub. He starts off so cool: popping his neck, yawning, sagging, screaming, and cackling maniacally in the course of seconds after he's formed, showing devastating power and killing Smitty in the most graphic and disturbing way, flying all the way to Kami's Lookout just to fight and kill his enemy, distinguishing himself from the well-spoken likes of Freeza and Perfect Cell by speaking very simply, responding to Piccolo's demand of him by simply and efficiently killing off the Earth's human population, nonchalantly turning a furious Chi Chi into an egg and not even bothering to eat her (he kills her by stepping on the egg), and retaining all of his hilariously childish dumbass qualities and sweet tooth yet possesing a raw, dangerously savvy cunning beneath his brutish exterior. And yet through all this, he it doesn't really feel like he's properly motivated in evildoing other than "he's evil", and more problems start to pile up once he and Gotenks are going at it in the Time Chamber dimention. For every golden moment he gets, he gets some ill-concieved moments (though in fairness, he shares them with Gotenks and Piccolo): it's he who instigates the "wall-breaking/plot-breaking scream". But not even that could ruin him. No, when he really does the unforgivable is when he turns into the next Buu. So he's a 7/10, should've been Buuetter but wasn't.

Mystic Fusion Super Buu - Is just Fusion Super Buu when he absorbs SS3 Gotenks and Piccolo, the "Mystic" is added when he absorbs Gohan. Yeah, the problem is immediately apparent in that premise. Since when could Majin Buu absorb anyone and add their Ki power to himself? That was Cell's shtick, Majin Buu was all about transforming his prey into sweet treats and eating them up. He got the ability to take other fighters and their powers into himself from right out of Toriyama's ass! On top of that, he now looks hideous, with a long head antenna like SS3 Gotenks' long hair, a nose and facial features like Piccolo, and he trades out between Piccolo's, Gotenks', and Gohans' clothes, and neither look good on him! On top of that, his characterization changes as with Piccolo's intellect, he starts speaking in complete sentences and elloquently articulating everything which is just....no. Don't. This is killing Buu's unique vibe! On top of that, him defeating and absorbing Gohan is an utterly cruel slap in the face of any fan who might've actually wanted to see Gohan's ordeals and new power paid off by him being the hero to defeat Buu in the end like such a set-up would normally entail. And on top of all that, he's just a bore now. The whole section of the story where he's around has always failed to interest or excite me, he's just not fun to look at, watch, or listen to, and his existence is what derails Gohan's arc, brings Goku and Vegeta as co-heroes in the spotlight, and stretches things on the barren Earth out longer than necessary, including a gross, unwelcome trip inside of Buu's body! Near the end he loses his shirt and shows his character again, and we get the welcome return of classic Super Buu for one last stand-off, but that only bumps his score to 2/10. Buuuuuuuu, you suck!

Kid Buu - Buu's final and also primal form. He's not only the most powerful, destructive, and maniacal Buu, but this is Majin Buu as originally concieved in-universe. When Bibidi first conjured him into this realm, he was like this - a living, breathing force of pure chaos who lives only for the slaughter and devastation that he finds fun. And he does work as being just that, retaining Buu's mixture of being comical yet also terrifying and dangerous. Almost everything that concerns him and the section in which he's the opponent/obstacle to destroy is perfectly fine, aside from Goku being the hero rather than Gohan and how drained you feel from all the earlier Super Buu antics, it all works and makes for a properly tense, thrilling and epic final battle against a worthy final boss for this saga. The issue with Kid Buu can found within his character set-up and in the way he gets implemented into the saga. We'd been given nothing foreshadowing his existence as the OG Majin Buu until after Super Buu has reverted to him. We had no reason to think that Fat Buu wasn't the default for Buu, nor any reason to think that this new Buu would be that much more powerful than the Buus that preceded him, making Kid Buu feel really, really cheap. For that matter, how does removing Fat Buu from inside of Buu revert him to Kid Buu yet Fat Buu expunging the Evil Buu from out of him didn't have that effect on either Buu? And as is said in this post, "Kid Buu’s defeat doesn’t feel as satisfying as it should because we barely spent time with him compared to Super Buu", and that when Kid Buu comes along to take Super Buu's place, in the manga it's in the last graphic novel volume of the series, the very same that began with Vegito VS Mystic Fusion Super Buu, while in the anime it's the point when "you’re about ready to scream “Oh my Kami, END already!” given how fatigued you are of watching Super Saiyans fighting this pink monstrosity by then. Ultimately, Kid Buu's a 7/10 - Buu Bye and guud riddance, Janemba did it better.

Uub - The reincarnation of Kid Buu, who before getting killed had been Mystic Fusion Super Buu, and Super Buu was previously Evil Buu before eating Fat Buu, who Evil Buu came from making Evil Buu and Fat Buu two different variants of the same being, so that guy gets reincarnated due to a wish to Shenron by Goku even though Mr. Buu is still alive as a separate being....yeah, the dissociative identity of Majin Buu and the flimsy idea of all forms of Buu being the same character really collapses here, and fittingly on a character whose very existence and the reasons for it, in-universe and out of it, are completely nonsensical. If Goku really wanted to keep Majin Buu as a sparring partner but only if he was a better person, why not start training Mr. Buu so that his power could grow to match Kid Buu's? And are we really expected to believe and be okay with the idea that the successor to Son Goku ends up being not Gohan, not Goten, not even Pan, but the hastily introduced in the final two chapters reincarnation of the last villain who we were also only just introduced to in that very volume of manga? I can't pretend to know exactly what Toriyama was going for when he wrote the epilogue in those last two chapters and came up with Uub, but if that was his way of leaving the door open for Toei Animation to continue the franchise on their own terms, it's pretty telling that GT had no interest in picking up on this thread and rendered Uub completely worthless, and we've seen no more from Uub in the DB continuations we've had since. Uub and the ending associated with him were just a total Uuber failure. 1/10.

#Dragon Ball #Dragon Ball Z #manga #anime #Majin Buu #analysis #opinion #criticism #Mr. Buu #Evil Buu #Super Buu #Kid Buu #Uub #they wasted a perfectly good character #Akira Toriyama #anti majin buu

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submissiveking99 · 7 months

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DRAGON BALL

Bulma/ ChiChi/ Bulchi

Bulma

ChiChi

Bulchi

Mai

Launch

DRAGON BALL Z

Fasha

Android 18

18 was the name given to Lazuli when Doctor Gero had finished augmenting her into her cyborg body. Android 18 is no-nonsense and wishes to just deal with shit as soon as possible, seemingly cold as ice… She has a soft side she rarely shows

Princess Trunks

Videl

Eresa

Zanyga

DRAGON BALL GT

Pan

Bra

Marron

DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE

Towa

But if we are talking sensual, none beats Towa. The younger sister of Demigra, she is a scientist and sorceress of the demon realm. Traveling time for research, to mess with timelines and to take power from strong fighters. Fear this cunning beauty as much as you admire her.

Chronoa/Supreme Kai of Time

Following the one who destroys time, is its guardian. Chronoa is a Supreme Kai, the Supreme Kai of time. Residing in Coton City outside space and time, this spunky little short stack leads the Time Patrol to defend history!

DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ

Android 21 (human)/ Android 21 (Majin)

Android 21 modeled after Doctor Gero's dead wife. She was a brilliant scientist, just as smart as Gero himself. A bio-Android much like Cell. Sweet, caring, kind. But hiding a darkness...

The sweet 21 hides a dark side. Her Majin form, based on her endless hunger caused by the Majin forms genetics. Wanting more and more power, through consumption. Very sadistic and sensual

Gine

DRAGON BALL SUPER

Vados, the Angel of Universe 6

Zamasu (genderbent version)

Marcarita, the Angel of Universe 11

Heles, Universe 2's Goddess of Destruction

Kale/Caulifla/Kefla

Caulifla

Caulifla is a Saiyan from Universe 6. A leader of a gang, she is assentially the Goku of her world. Eager to train, to test herself, and grow stronger. A natural fighter through and through. Caulifla is a brash confident fighter, always eager for a brawl. Over confident with a bratty arrogance

Kale

Another Saiyan from Universe 6's Sadala, Kale is Caulifla's student and best friend. Kale is a very shy girl, far from confident in herself or her power. But she is always very sweet and kind. The shy girl hiding secret feelings for her teacher...

Kefla

When fused together as Kefla, Kale and Caulifla combined as one, they have all of Caulifla's arrogance and cockiness with Kale's thoughtfulness and fear of loss. But their power is also increased to almost insane levels

Cheelai

Total muses: 26/27

#open rp #open to all #open smut rp #smut rp #read rules before interacting #dragon ball #dbz #dragon ball fighterz #dragon ball xenoverse 2 #dbz rp #dbs #dragon ball xenoverse #dragon ball z #dragon ball super

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duhragonball · 1 year

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Dragon Ball Super Manga ch. 21-26

Phew! We’re almost done with the Zamasu Saga.

Last time, we left off with Trunks holding off Goku Black and Zamasu so that Goku and Vegeta could escape in the Time Machine. This is somewhat similar to what Trunks did to save them in Episode 62 of the DBS anime. Except they never bothered to explain how Trunks survived against such hopeless odds. Instead, in Episode 63, he just wakes up in a Resistance Bunker. No one explains how he got away from Black and Zamasu. It’s bullshit.

In the manga version, he gets rescued by the Shin and Gowasu of the “main” timeline. In Trunks’ timeline, all of the Supreme Kais are dead, but the “main” timeline versions can still travel to this world using their Time Rings. They can also teleport to any planet they wish, including this reality’s version of the Sacred World of the Kais in Universe 7. It’s deserted now, but they still know where it is, and it provides refuge for the good guys while they wait for Goku and Vegeta to return.

But why do they even need to wait for Goku and Vegeta? They used the Time Machine, so why don’t they just set the return coordinates for a few seconds after they left? Goku asks this very question, and Bulma tells him that it can’t work that way. I won’t get into the details because later it turns out Bulma was mistaken about this, but in this scene, she tells them that they have to “sync up” with the other timeline. Spending one day here means that they have to return one day later in the other timeline as well.

Tell you what, let’s just jump ahead to the ending, where Emperor Pilaf of all people figures out Bulma’s error. Presumably Future Bulma, the one who actually invented the time machine, understood this, but Present Bulma is still learning as she goes.

Oh, before I get too far ahead of myself, check out this goofy rendition of Trunks’ sword. It looks too wide in a lot of scenes, but in this one it’s like Toyotaro is trying to make it looks stupid on purpose. Aren’t swords easy to draw? Also, why is Mai wrapping her fingers around the blade like that?

One more thing, I appreciate Goku Black in this scene declaring that he doesn’t want to destroy the entire planet. He could wipe out all mortals very efficiently if he just blew up the planets they were standing on, but he wants to keep all the planets in tact. This was heavily implied in the anime, but they never came out and said so, which always frustrated me.

Here’s a scene of Black and Zamasu’s hideout, and it works a lot better than it did in the anime, because this scene shows them discussing their plans instead of just sipping tea and congratulating themselves. Because of Gowasu and Shin’s little rescue earlier, they’re concerned that their plans have been exposed to the gods of the other timelines. They’re worried that Grand Zeno might even catch wind of this, so their best bet is to leave this Earth and move on to a new base of operations. But they still want to finish off the remaining Earthlings before they leave.

See, this is excellent storytelling. The way the information is presented, we learn additional things about their plan. They could have wiped out the Earthlings some time ago. It’s not even hard for them, which is why they’re gonna knock it out in one afternoon before they leave. But like I mentioned in the last post, they’ve been using this Earth as a training ground to get Goku Black powered up and to practice for the more difficult work of invading the other timelines.

It’s also important to show that they’re actually concerned about something going wrong. Their Zero Mortals Plan isn’t foolproof. The only reason they were able to kill all the gods in this reality is because they had the element of surprise on their side, and because of that business where killing a Supreme Kai kills the Destroyer God and deactivates his Angel for free. But now that Gowasu and Shin are onto them, it’ll be a lot harder to get the drop on the other gods from here on out. Black and Zamasu are still confident about their plan, but they’re clearly troubled by this development.

This was something that was sorely lacking in the anime version, where Black and Zamasu were constantly making those smug little grins the entire time. They never worried about anything until Zamasu nearly got trapped by the Mafuba near the end of the arc. And if the villain is never inconvenienced, it makes the story kind of dull. Think about how troubled King Piccolo was when his children were killed, or how frightened he got when he thought Goku’s Kamehameha stance might be a Mafuba. Or how annoyed Frieza would get when he lost the Dragon Balls. Anime Zamasu never gives you any of that.

Anyway, their final push to kill the remaining Earthlings forces Trunks’ group to take action. Gowasu refuses to stand by and wait for Goku and Vegeta. Instead, he goes alone to appeal to Goku Black’s better nature, except Black has already murdered two other versions of Gowasu, so he has no problem doing it again. And there’s a scene like this in the anime, but this time Black actually gets to stab him, and Gowasu falls off a building. It’s pretty cool because:

1) It actually looks like he’s dead, because Black’s attack seriously hurt him, unlike all the times he stabs people in the anime and they’re fine.

2) It gives some karmic payback to Gowasu for failing to recognize the problem with Zamasu before it got this bad.

Gowasu isn’t a bad person, but he made a very grave mistake, and it’s unsatisfying how he never suffers any direct consquences for it. I mean, two other versions of Gowasu get murdered, but that’s a little too clean for my tastes. Those dead Gowasu’s don’t have to live with it. This Gowasu, who gets stabbed but survives, has something painful to remember this by. It’s much more satisfying this way.

So when Gowasu gets hurt, Trunks, Shin, and Mai return to Earth to save him, and not long after that, Goku and Vegeta return to pick up where they left off. This time, Goku has learned the Mafuba Technique to deal with Zamasu, while Vegeta trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to counter Goku Black.

Vegeta’s strategy this time is to fight in the Super Saiyan God form, which is weaker than Blue, so Goku Black doesn’t understand the point. But as Goku explains, Vegeta has learned to control his powers more precisely, switching from SSG to Blue at the very instant he attacks. This way he gets the best of both worlds. Super Saiyan God is easier to maintain and a little more agile, so Vegeta can defend himself in that form, and then he only uses Blue in very small doses, getting all the raw power while minimizing the strain on his body.

This is similar to something Goku did against Hit in the previous arc, but he only managed to do it once, at the very end of their fight. Vegeta’s mastered the trick to the point where he can do it repeatedly. Again, this is way better than the anime, where Vegeta didn’t do anything differently after training in the Chamber. It was understood that he would be stronger than before, but there was nothing more to it than that. One fight he lost to Black, and now he’s winning. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the manga is just styling all over the anime here.

I’m not even saying this “Switching Between God and Blue” trick is a cool idea. I seem to remember fans disliking this when these chapters were published. But the point here is that it is an idea. It’s something new Vegeta does that he couldn’t do before, and that’s the in-story reason why he’s winning this time. He doesn’t have to invent a new transformation every time he trains, but he has to come up with something to explain his improvement, and this works.

Meanwhile, Goku actually gets to do the Mafuba, so that’s another win for the manga. Also, the gag with the talisman works a lot better in this version. In the anime, Goku forgot the talisman altogether. Here, he remembered to bring it, but he picked up the wrong piece of paper. The joke is less about Goku screwing up and more about him looking at the talisman and seeing a coupon for “Club Tight & Scanty”.

So this leads up to the Zamasu/Goku Black fusion, which works a lot better here, because Vegeta is handily kicking Black’s ass. Goku may not be able to seal Zamasu away like he planned, but he can definitely keep Zamasu contained long enough for Vegeta to kill Goku Black, and Zamasu won’t be able to carry out his plan alone. The anime borked that up by having Goku Black still have the upper hand, so they really only fused because Zamasu was rattled about the Mafuba.

So Goku and Vegeta fuse, right? Well, not right away. They have the Potara at their disposal, but they don’t want to go through with it. Goku asks Vegeta, but as soon as Vegeta refuses, Goku’s more relieved than anything else. Then while Goku fights alone, Vegeta hears Gowasu explain that Merged Zamasu should unfuse within an hour. See, in the anime he said Potara fusion is permanent only when a Kai is involved. But in the manga, it’s only permanent when a Supreme Kai is involved, and Zamasu never officially achieved that rank. He’s just a usurper, so his fusion has a time limit too. That gets Vegeta’s attention, and so does Trunks when he says he wants to join in the fight because he doesn’t want Vegeta getting hurt over this, because his mom really wanted to go back in time and see him again before she died.

So all of that changes Vegeta’s mind about the fusion, and that’s how we get Vegito in this version. I like that, because Goku and Vegeta have shown a reluctance to fuse in the past, and it’s a lot cooler to have Vegeta motivated by sentimental reasons than just “The bad guy is really strong, so we just gotta.” I like fusion, don’t get me wrong, but they need to sell me on it a little first.

So Vegito starts off by blowing off Zamasu’s right arm, which sets up a nice little homage to Cell getting Final Flashed. I think this is one of those scenes where fans whine about Toyotaro “tracing”, which is dumb as hell, because it’s clearly a callback. Of course he’s gonna do stuff like this. He’s a Dragon Ball fan working on a Dragon Ball comic. Comic book artists do this all the time. There’s probably a few thousand different tributes to the cover of Action Comics #1.

Vegito comes apart pretty quickly, and Zamasu works the boys over with Kachin metal blocks and that portals trick Janemba does. I get the Katchin thing, because Toyotaro probably played Budokai 2 where the Supreme Kai would throw blocks at people, and he wanted to use that move here. The portals thing... I don’t know. He definitely needed to do a new power just to show off Merged Zamasu’s on a different level, and this works for that, but it feels a little out of left field. I’m not sure what he should have used instead though, so I won’t complain too much.

So from the sidelines, Gowasu and Shin watch Goku and Vegeta getting clobbered, and they wish that they could help. Once, when they were apprentice Supreme Kais like Zamasu, they had healing powers of their own, but they had to give that ability up once they assumed the role of Supreme Kai. Then Trunks remembers that he was an Assistant Supreme Kai in a manner of speaking. Back when his own Supreme Kai was training him to fight Babidi and Dabura, there was a ritual Shin did for him, one that he didn’t understand at the time. As it turns out, that ritual was to give him the powers of an Assistant Kai, which included healing powers. Trunks just didn’t know about it until now, which is... kind of goofy, but okay.

So he can heal the others, but it turns out he only has enough power to heal one or the other, so he’ll have to choose. At first, Trunks goes with Vegeta, but Vegeta refuses. While he was fused with Goku, he realized that Goku has the power to win this fight, so that’s who he wants Trunks to heal up.

This part isn’t exactly brilliant, but it sure beats what they did in the anime after Vegito came apart, which was just having Trunks chop Zamasu in half using ki from a handful of ordinary civilians. I mean, if we’re choosing between two different asspulls, I’ll take the asspull that makes a little more sense.

So Goku gets healed and fights alone, and Vegeta explains how Goku managed to perfect the Super Saiyan Blue form, allowing himself to use Blue for sustained periods of time. And that works because this is the first time we’ve really gotten to see Goku fight at this level, but if he had this mastered already, why was he so impressed with Vegeta’s deal where he switched between God and Blue? Because that sounds like a workaround that Goku had already made obsolete.

Goku even manages to use Hakai against Zamasu, but he pulls Mai in the path of the attack so Goku has to back off. Again, a little goofy, but I can like with it.

The main thing here is that Goku didn’t get to do much in the first two-thirds of the arc, and that’s by design. You bring him out at the end so he can show off all his cool powers and everyone talks about how strong he is. Which means you have to do a lot of scenes where Goku is on the sidelines, or absent altogether. And this is nothing new. We’ve seen it in a lot of classic Dragon Ball arcs in the past, but Toei wants to go against that idea and put Goku all over the place. Well, they got their way in GT and they got their way in the anime version of the Zamasu arc, and both of those things sucked. This manga Zamasu arc has some problems, but it’s a lot more sound from a structural standpoint.

Does it make sense for Goku to be able to fight Merged Zamasu alone? Not really, but he doesn’t have to beat him, he just has to hold out long enough for the fusion to wear off, and it does. But it’s all weird because it was two Zamasus.

And that’s when Trunks chops them in half. See, this works so much better because Merged Zamasu was already starting to come apart anyway, so this is just Trunks delivering a final blow instead of inventing some new power from nothing.

But it’s not the end just yet, because each half grows back, and then the Goku Black half gets up from being impaled. How did he become immortal?

Then both of them regenerate into their Merged Zamasu forms, so now we have two Merged Zamasus. Vegeta does a Final Flash variation called “Gamma Burst Flash”, and that rips them both apart, but then the pieces grow into even more Zamasus, so we have this Sorcerer’s Apprentice thing going on.

Retreat isn’t an option either, because the Zamasus reveal that they have their own time machine. Remember that ancient civilization in Universe 12 who invented a time machine? Well, the Destroyer God from U12 kept it, and Zamasu found it . So he can use that device to invade the other timelines. Wait, how would Zamasu know how to operate an alien time machine? I mean, he’s not stupid, but still. For all he knows, it’s not even functional anymore, and there’s no tech support in Universe 12 because he killed everyone in it.

So Goku and Vegeta try to hold off this Zamasu army while the others escape. They have no idea what good it’ll do, but it’s better than nothing. I like Vegeta’s like here when Goku asks him if he has a plan. “Go wild until you die. That’s all.”

I also like how Goku’s only regret is that if he has to go out in a hopeless battle like this, he’d rather do it in Super Saiyan mode. Luffa would be touched.

But then he remembers his button that he got from Grand Zeno, and things pretty much play out like they did in Episode 67 of the anime. The entire timeline is erased, and in the manga, we see the Time Ring that represents this timeline vanish along with it. That kind of bugged me in the anime version, where Gowasu looks at his box of rings one last time at the end of the arc and all the rings are still there.

On the other hand, should the Time Ring vanish? Zeno didn’t erase the timeline, just the multiverse it contained. Is that the same thing? The history of that reality still exists, right? Then again, maybe it doesn’t matter, since the Time Rings can’t go back to the past, and now this timeline only has a past. So even if the history of that timeline remains, the Time Ring that goes with it is useless, so it might as well self-destruct.

Except Whis still has that plan to go back to the timeline before Grand Zeno destroyed everything in it, nip Zamasu in the bud, and drop off Trunks and Mai to live out their lives. This will create a new alternate timeline, but the fact that Whis can do this at all suggests that the Time Ring for that reality still needed to exist. Ah well, this whole business is pretty dumb anyway.

My head canon for all of this is that Whis dropped off this version of Trunks and Mai in the timeline where Xeno Trunks lives, and sometimes he’ll come home from Time Patrol duty and say hello to his blue-haired duplicate, an older, more traumatized version of himself who lives with his wife in some cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Blunks sees his mom now and again, but he and Mai keep to themselves for the most part, as they can’t quite feel like they truly belong in this world. But they have each other, and that’s enough.

But I can never figure out the timeline logistics to make that provable. It probably isn’t worth the trouble.

Anyway, Pilaf keeps asking Future Mai what happened to the Pilaf and Shu of that timeline, and she seems to know the answer, but she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth. I was sort of hoping Future Mai wouldn’t even know who Pilaf was, since the anime never bothered to establish this, but the manga makes it clear that this is the same Mai who we saw in the first DB arc in 1984. So whatever.

The thing is, Pilaf’s all worried because he doesn’t know what unspeakable fate awaits him, but for all we know, Mai just doesn’t want to tell him he died. I mean, everyone died in that timeline. It’s just a question of who killed Pilaf and when it happened. Maybe something else happened to him before he got killed, and that’s what Mai doesn’t want to talk about, but even if he lived right up to the end, he still would have died in that one shed Goku Black blew up.

Like I said, this arc is pretty damn morbid, and it bothers me how casually Toriyama brought back this alternate timeline just to eradicate it completely. He could have just... not brought it back, and that would have been the same as destroying it, but instead it’s like he went out of his way to do this arc just to burn the whole thing to the ground and piss on the ashes.

And we never really know for sure that Whis succeeds in his plan to relocate Trunks and Mai. This feels very much like when someone says they took your pet dog to a farm where they can run and play all day long. Maybe Whis just killed them in secret to wrap up the last loose ends. Or maybe he made a good faith effort and it just didnt’t work the way he expected. Or maybe it worked just fine, but Trunks couldn’t handle it and flipped out. It’s not fun to think about.

But it’s over now, and I’m pleased to say the manga version is a lot better than the anime, although I guess that’s not saying a whole lot. Good night, and fuck the Zamasu Saga forever.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super manga #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #goku #vegeta #trunks #mai #emperor pilaf #shu #gowasu #zamasu #goku black #beerus #whis #supreme kai #kibito #master roshi #fuck the zamasu saga forever

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