Summary
Dragon Ballis known all over the world for two things; screaming and transformations. Ever since the days of the Namek Saga, transformations have played a massive role in the landscape of the series and have been the turning point of various arcs, in which the Z-Fighters are finally made powerful enough to defeat the villain. Over time, however, the sheer number of forms has led to some eventually becoming irrelevant.
At the time of their introduction into the series,these specific forms were actually quite powerful. However, as time went on and the heroes just kept getting stronger, the need for these transformations dwindled due to the characters unlocking many new ones. So, let’s take a look at why these forms are now irrelevant and how this issue can be solved in the future ofDragon Ball.
Which Forms Are Irrelevant Now?
In terms ofDragon Ball Super’sprotagonists, Goku and Vegeta,almost all of their transformationsunder the level of Super Saiyan God have effectively been disregarded, save perhaps for the regular Super Saiyan form. This is a simple issue that many shonen series face, since the villains that the heroes fight continuously get stronger, so to compensate for that, the heroes often unlock new abilities that deem their powers from before inferior.
Even a Low-Class Warrior can surpass an Elite with enough hard work!
This has pretty much been the case for all of the transformations that the heroes have other than their Ultra Forms and their variations of Super Saiyan Blue. The regular Super Saiyan form is still used occasionally, either to train characters or start as a measuring stick to gauge the opponent’s strength. For other characters like Gohan, however, previous forms are still used as he still uses his standard Super Saiyan and Mystic transformations often.
How To Make These Forms Relevant Again
Even though many of these forms haven’t been seen much after their initial use, there are a few ways that they can be brought back into the limelight. Despite these situations being purely hypothetical, they would serve as a gateway to having the heroesuse their forgotten transformationsin a way that is relevant to the story and doesn’t feel cheap.Dragon Ballis no stranger to magical Macguffins that push the story forward, so these elements could be included in the same way.
An Opponent Immune To God Ki
Moro was an immensely powerful foe who had the ability to drain the energy of other lifeforms on a planetary scale. Similar to this, a new enemy could be introduced that can drainGod Ki from Divine Beingssuch as the Kais or is even somehow impervious to it, making it impossible for Beerus or Whis to tackle him directly. This is where the heroes would come in.
Is this what they call God Ki? The pressure is immense!
Although their God forms are stronger than anything else in their repertoire, using God Ki while in them would only make them susceptible to this enemy. To counter this, the heroes could use their regular Super Saiyan forms without the need for God Ki, not only bringing them back in a good way that doesn’t cheapen the story but also avoiding the repetitive pitfalls of every new problem being solved with a new transformation.
An Extremely Durable Enemy
AlthoughDragon Ballhas seen its fair share of durable enemies, the trick to beating them has quite often been to out-muscle their durability. However, some enemies can be beaten exclusivelyby using less powerful formsthat aren’t as draining on the body, if the heroes were pitted against someone who they had to battle non-stop for a very long time.
Strength is the only thing that matters in this world. Everything is just a delusion for the weak!
Although nothing compares to their strongest forms that house Divine Techniques, both Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego are incredibly taxing on Goku and Vegeta’s bodies. So, this hypothetical opponent could draw out the fight over a few days, forcing the heroes to use less demanding transformations in ways to defeat them.
Stop New Transformations Altogether
The biggest, and most obvious, reason as to why all the old forms have been made obsolete is due to the fact that newer forms keep coming out, negating the need for anyone to train as much. AlthoughUltra Instinct and Ultra Egodid their fair bit to change this, seeing as how Goku and Vegeta are learning to perfect these forms, the implementation of mastering them has simply led to the creation of new transformations!
Goku initially unlocked Ultra Instinct Omen in the Tournament of Power before mastering it later on. However, despite mastering it, he unlocked a new version, which fans call True Ultra Instinct, just a few arcs later. This unending cycle of new forms being unlocked every few arcs has cheapened the impact each one has had, as fans have just come to expect that it will soon be overshadowed by another one.
I will not let you destroy my world!
Finishing the need for new transformations is probably the best future for this aspect ofDragon Balland is one that would make sense narratively as well. This is because Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego represent the strongest beings in the universe:the Angels and Gods of Destruction. To have any form that is somehow greater than either of these techniques would not make any sense.
