Dragon Ball Super Manga Chapter 61 Review | Page by Page Thoughts | Vegeta Reborn - Moro's New Look

 

 

Dragon Ball Super Manga Chapter 61 Review. We look at Vegeta's new ability as well as his morality vs Goku's morality and if Piccolo is a Vegeta fanboy. Follow along properly at https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/dragon... 

 

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Dragon Ball Super: Broly (He's Back!!!!)

Broly is back and as ridiculous as this is, I AM HYPED!

Let's be honest.  Dragon Ball Super has a lot of flaws and so do the Broly movies, but oh my goodness are they fun as hell (and about as dumb as dumb can get most of the time).  It was just revealed today that the first ever Dragon Ball Super movie, with its sparkling new art and animation via the design direction of Naohiro Shintani, will be featuring Broly in a lead role.  Hell, the movie's title was literally revealed as Dragon Ball Super: Broly.  And this means a lot of things to a lot of people because Broly is a polarizing character in the Dragon Ball community.

First let's address the elephant in the room.  Broly wasn't a very good character and as time went on, the mystique, fun, and wow factor of his initial appearance wore off drastically and put him in C-List villain territory for a long time, I mean seriously, what the hell were they thinking with Bio-Broly aka Broly and Clayface Do The Fusion Dance?  What was cool about Broly and very effective during his first outing as a villain, was his design, his pure rage, his concept, and his overwhelming levels of ass kickery.  He completely manhandled the strongest Z Warriors of that time all at once and made it look easy.  His last minute defeat deflated him a bit, but the power of Broly's design and concept was so strong that he remained popular for nearly 25 years (with the help of some videogame power wanking, but we'll probably talk about that in another post later on down the line).

One thing I really didn't like about the Super anime was its use of a character named Kale who was supposed to be a Broly homage, but they really upped the octane on that to turn her into mostly a Broly ripoff during her initial couple of appearances.  They fleshed her out a bit more by the end, but having Broly-not-Broly was really a poor use of that Broly's legacy and only managed to pigeonhole a brand new character concept that could have been cool (and actually is very much so in the manga adaptation).  Because that particular homage was so on the nose, so blatant with its imagery and purpose and so illogical at the end of the day, I always simply wondered, "Why not just put f***ing Broly in Super?"  Seems that those behind the brand new Dragon Ball content felt this way too and now Broly's getting the Cadillac treatment from the man who designed him over twenty years ago, Akira Toriyama.

Toriyama had previously designed Broly for the first movie he was featured in all the way back in 1993.  As far as I know, Toriyama didn't write anything for the movie, only drew designs, so Broly's lack of personality is Toei inspired.  This time around, Toriyama is penning the character and he has stated that he is reworking some things after viewing that original movie.  After Toriyama's stellar handling of Goku Black, which I felt should have been a throwaway concept, I feel that this new Broly -- and knowing Toriyama it will indeed be a version of the character with a side we have yet to see -- will be much more interesting and multifaceted than he's ever been.  Toriyama has a bit of a spotty track record as of late so we'll just have to wait and see how this pan's out (no pun intended), but I have decent hopes for it.  Nothing too high.  Never again will I let Dragon Ball deflate me like it did with Super's first two arcs ... really first three arcs.

For now, I am excited, well, as excited as a jaded Dragon Ball fan can be anyway.  With Piccolo's inclusion in the promotional materials, brand new art direction and animation style, the inclusion of Beerus and Whis, a new and terrifying Broly being penned by Toriyama, and some awesome new retro designs for Goku and Vegeta this movie is shaping to be something that really captures the interest of Dragon Ball fans of all stripes and even those outside of the fandom.  So, to answer the question of those who wondered where the series could possibly go after an immensely powerful antagonist like Jiren.  The answer: bring back Broly.

Take care everyone!  Let's make the world a less sucky place.
BW


P.S. Had fun with this one.  I might make more short and to the point DB content.  There's enough DB announcements nowadays that its easy to write a little piece here and there.  To those who enjoyed my previous Dragon Ball articles, I'll try to create more of this content and get even more of those other DB articles I had planned out of my draft box.  Thanks for the support, everyone!

A Dragon Ball Fanboy Finally Loves Dragon Ball Super ... Why?

If you're new to the blog, then you probably won't know about my "A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs. Akira Toriyama and Toei" posts, of which I have many.  You can find them with a simple google search.  Those posts are usually directed at Dragon Ball Super's many missteps and missed opportunities.  But lately, I've found myself enjoying Super more and more, but why is that?  Well that's just what I'm here to explain.

By Rondon2020

It started with the Future Trunks/Goku Black arc.  The darker tonal shift to the series was awesome starting from Trunks' very first appearance. Black was a formidible and epic villain that I loved to hate with the most complex motivations of any DB villain to date, and it was nice to get another hero character other than Goku and Vegeta who was reasonably useful in combat.  That's all it took for me to stop skipping episodes and entire arcs of the show (Golden Frieza and Pontefidoodoo arcs).  Now the Goku Black arc did still have plenty of plot holes and face palm moments mostly to do with Trunks' new Gary-Stu tendencies, some time travel spamming, and those last three or so episodes of the arc, but overall I must say that I enjoyed myself immensely.

I've always thought that Super's slice-of-life episodes were the best thing going for it since the beginning and so I enjoyed those 9 weeks of "filler", but what surprises me is that the run up to the Tournament of Power is just as good and there seems to be a consensus that Super is hype as hell right now and why is that?  It's the sub-characters stupid!  I imagined I was saying that to Toriyama san (respectfully of course) and Toei's staff.

By: M-A-N42

First off the new characters are still pretty cool.  I think Toriyama san has always had a way of introducing new characters that get you invested just from their appearance alone.  The Trio of Terrors was a very interesting addition with some cool abilities.  Then there are the many many new gods introduced and characters like Toppo and Jiren, but again Toriyama is good at hyping new characters up.  Just look at the Supreme Kai and Kibito when they were introduced.  But what really shocked me was their treatment of Buu and Gohan in those skirmish matches, which was much better than Piccolo's treatment in the U6 tournament arc.  The fights were amazing to see and gave me much hope for the Tournament of Power until I heard they only had 48 hours to prepare.

But then we get some great episodes of Goku recruiting his 10 man team.  He starts with his best friend Krillin and Krillin's powerful wife, #18.  We are also taught the rules of the tournament, which will involve more strategic thinking and cooperation over brute force.  This gives weaker though more experienced characters like Krillin a chance to actually contribute in the upcoming tournament and not only that but Krillin is shown to have powered up significantly as well as developed powerful new techniques.  Where the hell was this development all along?  I love it!  They even put a nice bow on Krillin's overall arc.  His weakness was all in his mind.  His PTSD from getting killed by the likes of Tambourine, Frieza, and Majin Buu placed mental blocks on him and diminished his fighting spirit which limited his power all these years.  It was great to see him break those limits and stand toe to toe with Goku.  There's some controversy with him clashing beams with Super Saiyan Blue Goku but it's well documented that Goku was holding back in this fight.  Krillin's strong as hell, but he's not at that level ... yet.

The next big surprise we get comes from Buu who in two hours has transformed and gotten a lot stronger.  This was kinda silly and reminded me that the 48 hour limit was pretty dumb.  I like that the characters are getting stronger but feel they could've done this a lot more organically, like having them train before big events like this comes up, you know, so that they can reasonably keep up.  It's not like the Earth is at a loss for planet destroying bad guys.  You'd think they'd all prepare more.

DBZ Elsewhere: The Yamcha Side Story That Made Yamcha Cool Before It Was Cool

Comic Panels by RMK writer and artist of DBZ Elsewhere

Yamcha has always gotten a raw deal for as long as I can remember in the Dragon Ball community.  He's the butt of everyone's jokes and it's not difficult to see why with his huge loss record in the series.  You wouldn't believe it, but there is a sect of us who at one point or another thought Yamcha was pretty damn cool.  Most people who watched a ton of the original Dragon Ball series developed a liking for the character after watching him grow along with Goku, Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu.  This month, Yamcha's been getting a fair amount of attention with Dragon Ball Super's 70th episode, a fan favorite, giving him ample spotlight and comedic moments.  He even stole the show by winning the baseball game.  Now there's also a Yamcha Side Story series being planned and the 1st chapter is already out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hYoUg8j1IY).  Yamcha has received a brief resurgence in popularity but before Toei and Shueisha put the spotlight on him, a sole fan decided to give us a glimpse into the past and the day to day worries of a man named Yamcha and that fan is RMK.

I stumbled upon DBZ Elsewhere recently, while searching for chapters of the latest Yamcha side story Dragon Ball Gaiden: Tensei-shitara Yamcha Datta Ken.  While I like the scenario of a fan being reincarnated as Yamcha and using his knowledge of Dragon Ball to make Yamcha great again, it's not really a Yamcha story because it's about another character using Yamcha's body.  RMK's DBZ Elsewhere all about Yamcha and brings up questions that many of us Yamcha fans think of such as who trained him and taught him the Wolf Fang Fist?  It also shows us how Yamcha acts when the Z Fighters aren't around.  RMK really goes in depth when it comes to Yamcha's feelings about being super strong yet parodoxically being weak.  RNK also explores what many would develop if placed in Yamcha's shoes, his failure complex.  Let's be honest, he's always had his share of bad luck and the writers simply blow it off or treat it as a gag, but RMK instead delves deeply into it and shows us how Yamcha might use it to better himself.

I was surprised to find that RMK both wrote and drew his fan comic and that he did so way back in 2003.  I found his writing to be well layered, but not so much that it doesn't resemble Dragon Ball and I found his art to be quite good.  It's not exactly professional quality near the beginning but it stays faithful to Toriyama's style throughout the parts that I read.  I noticed that RMK himself expressed disappointment in his earlier work but I thought it was well done, but I did skip ahead to his one of his later chapters to see if he'd improved and saw a drastic improvement in the fluidity of his style.  I stopped at chapter five so far and each chapter I read added something new to Yamcha's backstory which is something I've wanted from him and Tien for a really long time.

I highly recommend RMK's DBZ Elsewhere comic.  I'll be posting my review of the series once I get deeper into it and it looks like I'll have a ton of chapters to read.  If you want to check it out visit RMK's site at (http://dbzelsewhere.thecomicseries.com/comics/first).


Well that's it for me.  If any of you have read either DBZ Elsewhere or Dragon Ball Gaiden: Tensei-shitara Yamcha Datta Ken let me know what you think of both.  Let me also know what part of Yamcha or Tien's backstory you'd like to know about the most.  Have a great week everyone!

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei on Transformation Usefulness vs Cool Factor p1

Z Forms: SSJ - SSGSSJ

Super Saiyan

Cool Factor: Straight up legendary.
The iconic form that's represented the most in the movies and games.  This form was instantly legendary when it was unveiled in the Goku vs. Frieza fight on Namek.  The first transformations of Goku, Trunks, Vegeta, and Gohan to this form were all epic, if not seminal moments in the Dragon Ball Z anime.  Though it was soon outclassed by other forms, nothing really comes close to the original Super Saiyan form when it comes to effectiveness, epicness, and great design.  Pale yellow/golden hair along with the aqua blue eyes and golden aura give this form a majestic feel and it is very striking to see characters normally with deep black hair and eyes transform this way.  The gain in muscle mass and the fierce expression that normally accompanies the transformation really strikes the point that it is the form of legendary warriors ... that is until the children get it, then it quickly becomes a lame and unearned plaything.

Usefulness: Useful and versatile.
Inside the show, the form grants a 50x power boost and can seemingly be improved upon and fully mastered to grant even more power.  This makes it extremely useful when it's first introduced especially since the boost had very little drawbacks to it.  It was the pinnacle of powerups for a short while, probably longer than any other powerup that the show has had.  Everyone with Saiyan DNA tried to attain then master it.  Outside the show, the form was great for creating a new sort of hype and coolness around the show.  When other characters sought out and gained the form, it made for some really good drama and payoff for the viewers.  Not to mention that the form is easily recognizable to anyone who has even glanced at Dragon Ball Z in passing.  It's been featured in the most movies, of course, since everyone uses it.  There are two versions of the form, raw and full power/mastered.  Such a spectrum of power and utility makes it the most effective transformation yet.

Super Saiyan 1 - Grade 2 

Super Vegeta

Cool Factor: Pretty freakin' cool...but we've seen it before.
Buff Roshi anyone?  Buff Frieza?  Filler Buff Piccolo?  I think you get it by now.  Still, even though it's not 100% original it's still very awesome to see Vegeta ascend to this form for the first time and beat the ever loving hell out of Cell.  I think this form is deserving of the title Ascended Super Saiyan.


Usefuless: Great stepping stone to mastery.
A very useful upgrade to the original Super Saiyan form.  Increases speed, power, and durability to greater levels.  It's not officially known how much it does, but it is significant.  I wish we got to see more of the form actually, but it's eventually greatly outclassed by Super Saiyan 2, so in the end it ends up not being very useful.  I do think it was and remains an effective transformation though, at least until one perfects the first form outright.

Super Saiyan 1 - Grade 3

Cool Factor: Looks cool but quickly ends up in a trash bin.
When we first saw Trunks' eyes turn all white and him bulk up to ridiculous levels I thought that it was the end for Cell (not really but I thought Trunks would win at least).  Trunks took an episode or two to power up and Perfect Cell even admitted that Trunks was stronger, but then proceeds to school the young Saiyan and even humiliate him to the point he gave up on life.  Probably the worst showing for any new transformation.

Usefuless: Not useful (so far).
Even in the show it wasn't a very useful form.  While the form greatly increases power it also greatly reduces speed.  That tradeoff is a death nail for most characters in the DB-verse.  Speed is key to winning fights.  Slow characters have no way to use all that power to hit faster characters especially since no one really uses Solar Flare effectively.

Super Saiyan 2

Cool Factor: Badass as all hell but no lasting appeal (unless Gohan's using it).
You can't mention Super Saiyan 2 without mentioning Gohan's epic transformation into the form against Cell.  It was a character defining moment for Gohan and one that still blows fans away to this day.  Gohan has and will always have the best Super Saiyan 2 transformation in the show.  If Gohan had never attained the form then it would actually be a pretty boring one compared to the original Super Saiyan transformation.  The hair gets spikier and there's a very slight charge of lightning around the body.  Not much of a change if you ask me, and seeing Goku and Vegeta transform really drives that point home.  Young Gohan's first Super Saiyan 2 transformation was very distinct though.  It has always been a beloved fan favorite transformation and one that I still consider badass though in the grand scheme of things, since it was only a power boost, it wasn't around for very long, and since it didn't look that distinct from Super Saiyan 1, it faded into the background pretty quickly.  If it did something specific or changed the character's look a little more, then I think it would have left a stronger impression on people.

Usefulness: Powerful but proves to be a one trick pony.
Inside the show, the Super Saiyan 2 transformation is twice as strong as the original Super Saiyan transformation, making it much better than the first.  The improvements include strength, speed, and durability.  Gaining the form required a high level of training and for Gohan a traumatic emotional catalyst, but after gaining it, it seemed effortless to maintain it as long as you trained regularly.  In the show it proves to be the most balanced form until the god forms are introduced.

Outside the show however, the form was never played up to be a big deal unless Gohan was using it.  Images of Super Saiyan 2 Goku and Vegeta are not as iconic as images of their Super Saiyan 1 versions.  I don't think the form was striking enough to gain much attention, whereas every other Super Saiyan form has a standout quality.  Super Saiyan 2 is definitely the most subtle so for marketing purposes Super Saiyan 2 is fairly useless.  Not to say that Super Saiyan 2 stuff looks bad.  I believe the opposite, that it looks really cool.  But outside of us hardcore fans, who can really tell the difference between the forms without having it explained to them?

Now, in my personal opinion, it's a wasted form after Gohan uses it against Cell.  Just giving Gohan a rage boost would've accomplish the same effect.  I think either the form should be reserved for Gohan only, or Toriyama should've had it specialize in something, like speed for instance.  It's definitely wasted since Super Saiyan 3, Fusion, and the Elder Kai powerup are all introduced right after.  Making it double the power of the previous form was also a mistake since it doomed the first form of Super Saiyan to obsoletion and set the stage for its own obsoletion later on.  That was the death nail for the show when it came to power balancing especially for Saiyans and other characters who were already struggling to keep up.

Super Saiyan 3

 

Cool Factor: Highly original, sticks with you.
A drastic new look along with a huge power boost accompanied this new form that Goku hid from Vegeta as they pounded each other's faces in in Super Saiyan 2 form.  Now this form looks GODLY!  The only thing I never understood about it was the lack of eyebrows.  I still don't get that.  I think it would look even more cool with eyebrows, but as is, it's great!  I think a Saiyan's muscle mass and height gets bigger as well which makes it a very intimidating form.

Usefuless: Like new technology, powerful as heck, but drains all the batteries.
In the grand scheme of things it's not a very useful form, but then again, I suppose we've never seen it completely mastered.  What SSJ3 grants is a huge boost in just about every category.  The "official" boost for it is 4x whatever SSJ2 is which makes it 400x a saiyan's normal base level.  BUT SSJ3 comes with a humungous drawback called stamina drain.  This transformation seems to be the most taxing one yet.  Goku can't hold the form for very long and has to recharge in the middle of a fight with an opponent of similar strength.  It's quickly thrown away in the new material in favor of a more simplified god form.  I would still like to see a mastered SSJ3 form, preferably with mastered eyebrows XD.

Super Saiyan God

Cool Factor: Takes time to get used to, but actually a badass form with potential.
I'll admit, I hated this form at first.  I thought it was a lazy palette swap and an unimaginative retread of the Kaioken technique.  And the way you attain it is the biggest asspull in Dragon Ball history in my opinion.  After looking at it for a while and truly understanding what it was and where it could go, I began to see it as brilliant.  I like Toriyama's philosophy for it.  He wanted something simple and striking and he succeeded.  For me the form is at its weakest when it's motionless and doesn't have the fiery aura like you see in the picture above.  The flat magenta color of Goku's eyes and hair just looks too plastic-like to me.  But once the fighting starts and Goku starts "burning up" the form truly begins to shine.  I was hoping there'd be more to it too.  I wanted to see its concept and design pushed forward even more.

Usefuless: Great potential, but grossly underutilized.
The power boost granted from the power up is off the scales.  It's probably the biggest power boost that the show has ever had.  In universe it's considered a temporary form, though those with genius level fighting instincts, like Goku, can absorb the power into themselves permanently and make it their own.  In the anime the form even grants the ability to heal mortal wounds.  In the manga the form seems more permanent as Goku is seen transforming into it in the U6 Tournament arc.

As I said above, I wish we got to see more of the form.  I think the potential for a design that expanded upon it would have been better than what we ended up getting in FnF.  The flame-like design of the aura and hair and how unique, mysterious and temporary the powers seemed to be opened a new path forward into the Dragon Ball universe that made it truly exciting again.  But it was never really expanded upon and what replaced it turned out to be particularly flat and incongruent.  So I feel this particular form never really achieved it's ultimate potential, which I think could've saved the franchise.

Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan/Super Saiyan Blue/Super Saiyan Beyond God

Cool Factor: Every bad thing a transformation could be in one...cool aura though.
Flat. Boring. Unimaginative. Asspull. Recolor of previous form. Dumb name. Does nothing knew. Completely forgettable. Laughable even.  Okay, to be fair Super Saiyan 2 just made the hair spikier and added lighting to the aura, but at least it felt like an organic transformation.  This form just looks and feels like plastic.  It's almost as if it were made to be a toy.  The red form was jarring but it at least simplified things again and made them fresh, with new concepts such as making a character more lean.  Blooper Saiyan is just a plain ol' retread with different coloring.  The only thing I like about it is the aura and the way it looks all static-y.  If they had that aura, plain black hair and maybe some glowing blue eyes, then I think I could get behind this as the ascended form of Super Saiyan God.  As is it just feels like a cheap attempt to make new toys.  Nothing organic about it.

Usefuless: Just an obligatory power boost, move along.
It doesn't really do much either, so of course it's temporary until they get the next new form.  I think it's telling how even with the form Vegeta gets schooled against Hit.  It's already been demystified as nothing special.  As a matter of fact since it's conception Goku and Vegeta have done nothing but get their asses kicked while using it.  At full power Golden Frieza wrecked SSB Goku pretty bad.  Normal Frieza killed SSB Vegeta with a planet explosion.  Hit absolutely wrecked Vegeta so bad that they had to retcon SSB being a form with perfect ki control since the transformation itself now drains stamina and greatly reduces ki apparently.  Without the aura to back it up, it proves to be the flattest looking form yet and clashes with the character's uniforms, making them both took like vibrant taffy.  When the aura is done right, you can kind of forgive the form.  Can't wait until it gets replaced though.

When the aura is done right, you can kind of forgive the form.

Honorable Mention:

Legendary Super Saiyan

Cool Factor: Absolutely dominating.
Say what you will about Broly, but Legendary Super Saiyan is pretty damn badass.  It was especially so when it was first introduced.  The green color of the hair and huge muscle mass also made me see this as the Incredible Hulk form.  Definitely one of the more unique forms, up there with SSJ3.  One thing I never got was how it was so fast compared to Super Saiyan Grade 3.  The first movie Broly appeared in made this form absolutely stick in the minds of the fans and a lot of the DBZ fan community believe that Broly has the potential to be the strongest character of them all.  I don't fall into that camp since I've observed many of Broly's limitations in his many appearances, but there's definitely room for other interpretations.

Usefuless: The best of the ascended forms.
What if you take all that power from Super Saiyan Grade 3 and add a proportional speed increase as well?  You get Legendary Super Saiyans, that's what.  Broly wipes the floor with all grades of Super Saiyan 1 including the mastered version of the form.  Even an (arguably) mastered Super Saiyan Goku stands no chance against him without the combined power of the other Z Senshi.  Broly ran through four Super Saiyans and a Super Namek during his road trip of carnage.  And I say road trip because Broly was a Mack truck while the Z Senshi were helpless pedestrians.  The form does lose all usefulness compared to Super Saiyan 2.  It's possible that it could have surpassed it (if Gohan was indeed using it in the Broly sequel), but I just don't believe it did.  Though at the end of the day I still don't get why this form has so much speed and grade 3 is so slow. *shrugs*


Final opinions:
So all in all you can see that I'm a major fan of the more original transformations.  Some have more potential for expansion than others.  I am starting to get fatigued on them all though.  They've already lost what made them special since there's a new one with each new arc or movie, etc.  By making them palette swaps now it quickens that fatigue.  I believe the forms each need something more unique to them.  They need a real reason for their use otherwise it's just a countdown until they are obsolete and that's no fun.

Out of all the newer forms, I believe Super Saiyan 3 and the original Super Saiyan God (red) form have the most potential for expansion of abilities and updated designs.  I think the forms should specialize to give the Saiyans a reason for using lesser forms other than the need to hold back or test opponent's strength.  SSJ3 could be the new grade 3, a form that maximizes power at the cost of stamina and some speed.  SSJ2 can be the speed focused form as already emphasized by the lightning bolts and svelte designs.

For the higher forms, I think it's not too late to branch from SSG and go back to the fire motif.  Emphasize the auras and make the hair changes more subtle and not candy-like.  It cheapens it.  If they're going to keep transforming then each of the forms needs to specialize too.  Maybe SSB can be that form that they can conserve ki by fighting in while other forms burn through it like mad, or a form that powers ki blast attacks or something.  What I'm saying is that the forms need to do something and if not, they at least need to look stylish or functional.  Now, I can't say that for SSB or the rumored Super Saiyan Rose.  I think the coolest thing they could do is have the hair become more and more fire-like until maybe it blends in with the aura almost.

Anyways, thanks for reading my ramblings glorious readers and please share your opinions as well.  Til next time, everyone.  Take care.

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei part 3: Transformations

Transformations have been a mainstay in the Dragon Ball series since Frieza uttered his lines about second, third, and final forms.  Even before that you had people turning into giant apes, turning into younger version of themselves, bulking up, growing giant, growing multiple arms, and even Garlic Jr.  So it comes as no surprise that transformations have become a cornerstone in the series development.

Transformations are so vital to the series, that when you can't get a new one, you aren't important anymore.  Look at characters like Piccolo, Tien, Krillin and now even the half human Saiyans.  No new transformations equals no more use for you in the plot based fights.

So today I'm here to discuss with you all the usefulness of transformations in the show.  Are they still necessary?  Will continuing to create new ones break the show even more?  Will we fans ever stop being interested in Dragon Ball if the transformations stop?  I'd like to talk about that stuff as well as my overall feelings on the new transformations introduced in Dragon Ball Super.  Then I'd like to talk about the resounding effects transformations have had on other shounen manga as well as if transformations were an overall good idea for the Dragon Ball franchise overall.

The Purpose of Transformations

Having characters that are able to transform does a few things for the Dragon Ball franchise.  As far as the story goes, it can add a sudden shot of tension to the story when a villain or hero gets a new form in the middle of combat.  It can also add length to an epic confrontation and allow for others to have epic fights against an arc's main villain like with Frieza, Cell, and Buu.  It adds a level of excitement and hype as fans wait week to week for heroes and villains to achieve new forms and show off what they can do.  When it comes to merchandising, transforming characters can potentially rake in a lot of $$$.  Look no further than franchises such as Digimon, Pokemon, and Transformers for confirmation on this.  Then of course you have Dragon Ball and the countless shounen products that have followed Dragon Ball's blueprint for success.  Each form represents a chance to market it with new toys, clothes, games, and other accessories.

So with all that said, it sounds like a no-brainer to include as many cool transformations into a show as possible, right?  Not really, when you think about it.  While transformations are cool and do a great job at bringing a dose of hype into a show, overusing them can cause them to lose any sort of meaningfulness and become downright silly.  So let's now go over the usefulness of transformations.

Negatives of overusing character transformations

We're quickly moving in this direction

 

Towards the end of Dragon Ball Z things became a bit of a mess.  It started with the introduction of power levels and power multiplications and just ran rampant after alternate forms of Super Saiyan were introduced.  The original form being a 50x boost was soon outclassed after its introduction and so a boost was needed for that to thwart another transforming foe and so we get a "new form" which doubles the power of the Super Saiyan boost, giving Saiyans a 100x boost to power overall or so the guides tell me.  So when another power transforming villain is introduced, even that's not enough and so yet again the heroes must gain a new form that quadruples that, or so the guides tell me.  But no, the show must go on, so new, more powerful villains are again introduced.

In GT we have the likes of Baby, Super 17, and Omega Shenron who are all also technically transforming villains.  For that, even Super Saiyan 3 and 400x boost isn't enough, so Goku and Vegeta need to get a new form that's even more powerful than that.  Enter Super Saiyan 4 which is 10x as strong as Super Saiyan 3 which makes it 4,000x stronger than a Saiyans base form.

In Super we have Super Saiyan God greatly outclassing Super Saiyan 3 by at least ten times, putting it on par or above the Super Saiyan 4 boost in GT.  Then we get into vague and even laughable territory with the horribly named Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan since we're never told how strong the form really is in comparison to Super Saiyan God (later they make it more clear that it is superior).

Where I'm going with this is, where does it stop?  It's already gotten silly and even a tad pointless with forms that are just recolored versions of stuff we've already seen.  SSG Goku just looks like a skinnier version of Goku when he uses Kaioken.  It's a very basic design but on its own you get used to it and can see it as a cool new form.  I do like the idea of taking things back to basics so I got into the form and actually liked the way that the aura looked.  The aura gave the form a 'godly' feel.  It gave me a feeling of fire and I figured each new extension of the form would give it more of a "red hot" feel.  Instead of taking that form to it's next evolution Toriyama gave us something completely different (really more of the same) and incongruent with his current ideas called Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, which is really just photoshopped Super Saiyan 1.  We didn't even have a chance to get used to SSG before it was replaced with a new laughable transformation.

I think transformations have overall been a great thing for the Dragon Ball franchise and served a great purpose at hyping the fanbase up.  But it was only hype when it was given to a character that we thought was already far outclassed and when it came out of nowhere it blew us away.  Now only the already strong people get them and it's not much of a surprise anymore.  Even the reveal for some of the newer forms have been lackluster. What I'm saying is that the series is becoming too reliant on them and that the newer forms have not and will not sustain the hype if they continue to be creatively stagnant.

Transformations should grant alternate abilities, not just power.

 

Killua using Godspeed in HxH

For Frieza, it was cool to see new transformations power him up, because each of his forms besides his final one was a suppressed state.  He was purposely limiting himself in a sort of armor.  Cell's transformation power ups were cool because he literally absorbed vital components into his structure to become a more complete being.  Buu's power ups made a lot of sense because he was literally absorbing other people.  He even inherited abilities (like Piccolo's intelligence) and weaknesses (like Gotenk's fusion limit and Daikaioshin's purity) of those he absorbed.  Now though, I think the time for huge powerups from transformations should be at an end.

I think the show needs to rethink its direction and have each transformation provide some useful ability so that the form has a real use and not just quickly get outclassed and discarded when someone else reveals a new form.  That is my wish for the show going forward so that it doesn't continue to discard characters every time an arc goes forward.  Other shows have already figured this out.  I need Toriyama, Toei, Toyotaro and company to figure it out too before they fatigue even the most diehard Dragon Ball fans.

Influence on other shounen anime and videogames

 

I'm not sure exactly what DBZ has influenced over the years, but I would hazard to guess that it's a lot.  I think the transformation trope, now prevalent in most shounen battle mangas comes directly from Dragon Ball.  I have a feeling that the trope of transforming boss characters in videogames may come from Dragon Ball as well, but it's just a hunch more than anything.  Over time, I believe these other shounen mangas have capitalized on the trope better than Dragon Ball in its later years.

Newer anime and manga series have taken what Dragon Ball made popular and added a fresh and tactical spin to it.  Thankfully we're past the early 2000s where everything was an ex machina hidden demon form and now things are generally more creative.  I think for DB to stay viable it has to learn from its students or at the very least Toriyama has to dig further for better ideas and more inspiration.  The original SSG form was very similar in concept and design to Luffy's Gear 2 in One Piece which itself was similar to Kaioken in Dragon Ball.  What I'm saying is that the three above transformations/powerups were very good and Toriyama needs to capitalize on fresh and organic ideas like that instead of shoehorned ideas like SSGSS, Golden Frieza, and now Super Saiyan Rose.

Anyways, that's my two cents.  What are your favorite forms from Dragon Ball and from other shounen series?  Thanks for browsing, my glorious readers!  Take care.

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs. Akira Toriyama: Missed Opportunities

Here's just a few:

Losing Buu just for the sake of a lame comedy bit.

By anjoicaros

 

Having Buu in this saga wouldn't done three huge and much needed things for this tournament.  A good writer would easily see the opportunities.

1.) Buu Could Bring Some Comic Relief.
Having Buu do stupid shit in the tournament would have been infinitely better than having him in a one off and highly predictable bit that eliminates his entire presents from the tournament.  The reactions of all the U6 fighters after seeing Buu fight would be priceless.

2.) His Strange Powers Could Liven Up the Tournament.
Candy beams, broken regeneration, angry steam, and the attitude of a child.  Buu would make for a great opponent for many U6 fighters.  Imagine Frost going against him next, instead of Vegeta and discovering that he can't poison him thanks to Buu's gummy body.

3.) His presence could've helped with the power scaling.
Since Buu doesn't train, we more or less know his power level.  He's somewhere between a Buu saga SSJ2 and SSJ3.  Now if you put him against, say Frost, and he wrecks Frost then we know that Frost is weaker than SSJ3 and possibly SSJ2 thanks to Buu being a sort of measuring stick for us.  As it stands, we don't know anything about anyone's power in this tournament.  It's all guess work, but even the smartest, most observant among us can't call anything definitively thanks to the slipshod way this new series is patched together.  Power levels aren't everything, but we should roughly know who measures up to who and in what way.  We don't and that's a problem.

Not using ample chances to explain and show how Piccolo got so much stronger (if he did at all).

Okay, so Piccolo is now powerful enough to dodge Frost's attacks, tank many of his blows with very little damage, block his punches one handed while backstepping and charging an attack, and can bind him with one arm.  Even being able to do this to a weakened opponent of this caliber is significant.

In the manga, it's worse from what I see.  They fight on even ground, with Frost having taken even less damage from his fight with Goku and Piccolo still seemingly having an edge in their fight.  To top it off, Piccolo's beam is strong enough to pierce Vado's godly barrier.  So, if he's made these types of gains again, why not explain it?  Why not have him train with Goku and Vegeta in the RoSaT?  Why not have him train in the afterlife while he was dead?  Why not have him give a random thowaway line, handwaving his boost?  Why couldn't we even get that?  Why is this show so damn badly written and poorly animated?  I digress...dammit.

Anyways, we don't even have enough evidence to definitively know if Frost is stronger than base level Goku.  We don't even know if base level Goku has god powers.  There's evidence that he doesn't since Krillin could sense his and Frost's power.  Then again Golden Frieza had regular ki too and was still stronger than both SSJGs.

Using normal Super Saiyan in the tournament without explaining how strong it is compared to Blue God.

Doesn't this just feel unnecessary and confusing for no reason?  We already have no idea how much more powerful SSJGB makes Goku or Vegeta.  Having them use the golden form to hold back just seems pointless right now, especially from a storytelling perspective.  Toriyama and Toei seem to be keeping power growth vague, so I can't for the life of me figure out why they'd add this complication to the story. We've already established that the god level Saiyan's base powers are unbelievably strong since Goku dominated Final Form Frieza in base.  That same Frieza that tortured a SSJ Gohan in his very first form.  Having Goku and Vegeta use SSJ just muddies up what was already established with the base forms.

Now people are questioning if the base forms are even strong at all, now comparing them to Frieza arc characters.  I don't fall into that camp but the horrendous power scaling gives them plenty of evidence.  Obviously no one at Toei or even Toriyama himself cares about making this show make sense any more.  Having at least a vague sense of how characters compare to one another would be nice.  Horrid power scaling makes this impossible though.

Other Notable Mentions:
-Not explaining Vegeta's rage boost.
-Not using the red haired God form again
-Not showing Frieza's training (shooting Togoma over and over again doesn't count)
-Not showing more of Piccolo and Gohan's training or showing how strong they got.

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei: Vegeta Fans, Be Afraid

Unsubtle Metaphor!!!

So after some thinking in the bathroom (the best place to think), it's become apparent to me that Vegeta has inherited Piccolo's former role in Dragon Ball Super, right down to his benevolent relationship with Goku.  Piccolo has inherited Tien's former role, and Tien...well Tien's still Tien. 

Okay, now stay with me on this one.  Before, Vegeta was always the loose cannon, the one who wanted to kill Goku when he got a chance.  He only kept Goku around as motivation to get stronger.  "I won't let you kill that clown cuz I reserve that right for myself" was always something he said to villains who would try to get the better of Goku.  Now he and Goku are best friends in Dragon Ball Super and Vegeta has softened up considerably even compared to the Buu saga.

Hmm...I wonder who used to always threaten to kill Goku once they were done beating the bad guy to then being his mellowed out close friend?  Well, you can say that about a lot of Goku's friends but Piccolo was in that role not too long ago and look what happened to him.  Vegeta has mellowed out a lot in Dragon Ball Super, just like Piccolo before him, and now that he's been defanged just like the Namek was, I fear that he is destined to follow the same route as Piccolo.  Just look at the facts.

Just before his ultimate combat irrelevance, Piccolo had three massive upgrades in power.  The first was on Namek when he fused with Nail where he briefly became the strongest fighter, the second was after his insane training with Goku that boosted his powers to near Super Saiyan levels apparently, and the third came when he fused with Kami and briefly became the strongest warrior in the show, even stronger than Goku.  That was twice in the show that he surpassed Goku.  Now let's look at Vegeta's trajectory of power.  He had apparently surpassed Goku in power during his fight with Beerus.  Once Beerus slaps Bulma, Vegeta forces him to use 10% of his power or something like that.  Visibly he seemed to give the God of Destruction more trouble than Super Saiyan 3 Goku.

That's a big jump in power from the Buu saga.  Then once Goku attains the god form from the ritual, Vegeta does his own personal training with Whis and once again seems to surpass Goku during his training.  I'm not sure how his power stacks up to Goku now that they've been training together, but so far that's two major power boosts he got over Goku, not counting what he got in the Buu and Cell sagas.  So that follows what Piccolo did, but it doesn't prove anything really, not yet anyway.

Now this is what I fear, for you Vegeta fans.  Taking into account Vegeta's drastic personality change, and his similar powerups over Goku, compared to Piccolo.  I feel that he will soon be replaced by a character that will inhabit the role that he once did.  It will be a character who is bloodthirsty but somewhat reformed like he used to be.  It will be someone who's a fan favorite antihero, like he used to be.  Someone who will be Goku's new rival.  Yes, Vegeta isn't a proper rival for Goku anymore.  Once you train with Goku, that's it, he's done with you as a rival.  It happened with Piccolo.  They lost that element of danger in their relationship, just like Vegeta has now lost.  I mean look at this:

They're sitting on a couch together.  Remember whose character decay came an arc after hanging out at Goku's house and partnering up with him for a driving test?  If you said Piccolo, you'd be right.  Unfortunately, this kills a lot of Vegeta's appeal with many of his fans, I think.  Now I think many of his fans will gravitate towards the new badass on the block.  My prediction is Hit or Frost.  One of them will join the Z-Senshi and Vegeta will be tossed aside while Goku gets new forms and fights stronger baddies.  The current Vegeta has a new sort of appeal with fans, but those other fans who prefer the bloodthristy badass who waxes poetic about battle and killing will flock to the new guy who gives them that.  That's it, unless Vegeta somehow returns to his roots and sharpens his fangs again.  As a Piccolo fan, I'm always hopeful that he'll sharpen his again one day, but my hope has been constantly dying out since the Buu saga.  Now it looks like it'll die completely once he's thoroughly trounced by Frost in the tournament.  For you Vegeta fans, I hope it never reaches that point.

The one thing that can save Vegeta

What can save Vegeta is the fact that he has an easy reason in the story for himself to stay close to Goku's level.  He's a saiyan, so he can easily remain at least one step behind Goku like he's been shown to be so far.  Don't count on that to save him in the end though.  Remember how irrelevant he was in GT until the very end when he used a plot device to gain relevance again.  Sure, when possessed by the current villain he gained a powerup to compete with Goku, but right after he was irrelevant again on his own.  Also look at Gohan.  Being the strongest unfused Saiyan at the end of Dragon Ball Z didn't stop him from being an utter joke in Super did it?  Oh, I'm so afraid for Vegeta and his fans that it's not even funny.  Unless he gets some of his "edge" back, I'm just sure he'll be relegated at best to "Goku's backup".  At worst, he'll be the new Tien along with Piccolo and old Tien.  Let's hope it never comes to that.

As always, thanks for the browse my glorious readers!

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei part 5: The Right Way To Power a Character Up! (round two)

This post is a direct continuation of my last post, part 4 in A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs. Akira Toriyama: http://belartscorner.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-dragon-ball-fanboy-vs-akira-toriyama.html.

In the last part, I ran with the theory of all the Z fighters including all the human protagonists getting serious about protecting the Earth after Frieza's last invasion.  To that end, I had included Piccolo and Tien training on King Kai's planet and mastering several levels of the Kaioken.  Piccolo took the training and used it as a basis for the rest of his training and Tien did the same.

Now also in that last scenario, I had other humans train with Tien.  My list of humans that trained with King Kai were Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu but this time they were joined by Krillin, #18 aka Lazuli, and Master Roshi for some good ol' fashioned perverted comic relief and cuz it'd be cool to see two of Goku's old masters getting together and recollecting the journey that the Saiyan fighter has blazed throughout the years.

Now for this to work, I'll have to move forward in the timeline a bit from my last post a few weeks ago.  Dragon Ball Super has changed the catalyst for all my powerups by having Piccolo get revived instantly, thusly he doesn't go training on Kai's planet in the afterlife right after his death.  However, that's not to say that the humans have no motivation to seek out Kai.  So I'll say that this power boost happens during either the few months timeskip between RoF and the U6 Tournament or it happens after the U6 tournament.

Krillin  

Motivation: To be his wife's equal in protecting their family and to make a difference in defending Earth.

The battle against Frieza changes something in all of the human Z-Fighters, especially Krillin.  Things change when the bad guys start bringing thousands of soldiers to the party.  In order to be of more use and better prepared for similar invasions in the future Krillin and Tien meet and have a discussion about Earth's protection.  What should happen if Goku was stuck in space like he was with Frieza latest trip to Earth.  Tien and Krillin agree that it can't be helped if some monster like Frieza comes.  The wise old perverted Master Roshi overhears them, as does #18 and there is a tense frustration within the group.  #18 gets upset that the men have abandoned their fighting spirits in the face of powerful opponents.  It sparks a fire in everyone, Roshi included.  Tien mentions that he never completed his training under King Kai, despite being there for who knows how long.  Krillin tells him that he never trained with the North Galaxy ruler.  Tien mentions Kai's training regiment and the 10x gravity on his planet.  Roshi, Tien, Krillin, and even 18 all agree that they need to train hard.  They telepathically call out to King Kai and he agrees to train them all again.  They tell Yamcha about it and of course Chiaotzu learns about it as well.  They leave Marron with Gohan and Videl for a while, while they go off to train.  They go to the lookout and Dende takes them to the start of Snake Way.

Now let's get to the training.  The experience of high gravity is new to Krillin so he initially has to adjust to that.  We see in an earlier saga that Piccolo, being stronger than Goku when he first arrived, has no trouble at all with the gravity.  But later on Gohan, whose power blows them both out the water at the time, still struggled with the high gravity.  So I think Krillin would struggle for a bit too.  After he gets used to the gravity, he begins to spar with Yamcha.  He also notices that Tien is doing some advanced stuff over with King Kai, including a move he saw Goku use a few times, the Kaioken.  Krillin and Yamcha get a lot stronger and they watch as Tien goes one on one with #18 while trying out his new technique.  Krillin wonders how Tien has always been so strong, how they've been neck in neck in power even when Krillin had gotten much of his potential unlocked.  He even curses himself for slacking off, guessing that Tien has already surpassed him.  He asks Tien to spar with him and Tien proves that he is the superior fighter even still.  Krillin continues his training and sees that Tien's boosts in power are getting even greater.  It's something to do with the technique that King Kai has taught him.  Even though he still loses to #18 Tien still puts up a much better fight than he did before, even surprising her at a few points.  Krillin is now motivated to learn the Kaioken.  He remembers when Goku used it against Nappa.

By Maffo1989

Krillin learns the Kaioken but quickly learns that his body can only take a certain amount of strain.  Tien seems to be able to boost himself to insane degrees with it, almost like a Saiyan, all thanks to his comfort with life-or-death techniques.  Krillin eventually overcomes his initial x5 limit and is able to max out his Kaioken at x10.  He uses his Kaioken in conjunction with his other techniques like the Scatter Kamehameha to create some devastating combinations.  He challenges Tien again and they have an even match with the x10 Kaioken, with Krillin having a bit of an edge in their fight.  Krillin knows that Tien can push himself upwards to x50 but Krillin is satisfied with being able to use the Kaioken to amplify his own techniques to even greater levels rather than his body.  In this way, Krillin becomes the technique master that he is destined to become in Dragon Ball Online.

#18

Motivation: To protect her husband and daughter from universal threats using the power she was cursed with.

Continuing from Krillin's path, #18 starts her training journey in a bit of a rut.  Because she is so much stronger than the others she doesn't initially gain as much as they do from the training.  The gravity barely affects her movements so she doesn't have to get accustomed to it like Krillin.  Tien mainly uses #18 as a sparring partner to gauge his progress.  Master Roshi tries to cop a few feels under the guise of training with her.  He also teaches her some turtle school techniques like the Kamehameha.  During this training we learn some unique things about #18 source of energy.  King Kai refers to her "ki" as unnatural but states that he can feel it buzzing all around her in an endless cycle.  He has her demonstrate by shooting a ki blast and when she does he notes that her energy source replenishes itself almost instantly.  He then has he use a bigger blast, the Kamehameha that Master Roshi was taught her.  She uses a huge blast and King Kai notices that her energy returns a little more slowly when she expends it on a large ki draining technique.

By OPunkreas

#18 decides to have a spar against all of Kai's students like Piccolo did during the Namek Arc.  She goes through everyone mostly with ease until Tien and Krillin get serious and use their x10 Kaioken.  She commends them for getting so much stronger but tells them that the still have a long way to go until she is nearly defeated by Tien's x50 Kaioken until King Kai stops the fight due to Tien's overexertion.  Now with two suitable sparring partners, #18 can finally increase her physical strength through intense sparring.  After seeing how strong Tien and Krillin have gotten with the Kaioken, #18 tries to get Kai to teach it to her as well.  Kai states that #18 can't learn the Kaioken because it would create an unstable effect with her type of energy.  He teaches her some of the properties of the Kaioken to help her form a version of it that is a little weaker but lacks the ki and body strain.  She learns to at least double her strength with a technique she calls "Heating Up."  She continues her training with Krillin on Earth and they both continue to hone their skills.  There's also potential for #18 to even get an upgrade from Bulma and her dad.  There's literally limitless potential to her character.  We just don't know about the limits of science and her type of energy in Dragon Ball.  Maybe both her and android #17 can come back and get a power up to defend the Earth.

Trunks

 

By EmiyanSaiyan

Motivation: Wants his dad to be proud of him and wants to be able to defend the Earth like Gohan did when he was younger.

In the latest episode of DBS, Vegeta told Trunks that the little warrior couldn't compete in the tournament because he needed to strengthen himself as opposed to relying on fusion.  This combined with the fact that his mother recently told him and Goten about the battle with Cell and the Androids.  Trunks was baffled to hear that his future self was so strong, even stronger than Piccolo and about as strong as Vegeta.  This sparks a desire in him to get much stronger.

Now at this point strengthening up Goten and Trunks goes against what was established with the End of DBZ,  Trunks and Goten are shown to have slacked off, with them being scared of fighting Buu in the tournament.  But since they've already produced a retcon in Super (Goku telling Vegeta about Uub when he seemingly first told him about Uub in the EoZ tournament) I simply don't care.  We're also never told exactly how strong the boys have become so let's go ahead and power them up.

By Cauai-desu

Trunks and Goten are the perfect sparring partners.  Both are Saiyans, both are sons of proud warriors, both are competitive and have a rivalry, and both are the best of friends.  They can and will always be able to push each other to new limits when it comes to training together.  Both boys train amongst themselves in the days leading up to the U6 tournament and after the tournament is over they ask their fathers to train them.  This training lasts for a little while until Goku and Vegeta get caught up in their own training again.  The boys then turn to Gohan, who they notice is getting a lot stronger than he was against the Evil Majin Buu on his own.  Gohan teaches the boys the basics and then spars with them from time to time.  They do this almost daily and all of them benefit from the training.  Goten and Trunks benefit the most and they manage to raise their levels past Gohan's when he fought against Cell by unlocking Super Saiyan 2.  The boy's next goal is to unlock Super Saiyan 3 and get stronger on their own than they were as Gotenks.  They get bored with this however and ask their fathers about Super Saiyan God.  Now here's where we'll go with different paths for the boys to make things interesting.

By Immateengohan

Path 1: Goku and Vegeta see that the boys are making some major gains in strength and decide to take them under their wing and teach them about SSG (Super Saiyan God) in order to prepare for a looming threat.  Together Goku and Vegeta teach Trunks and Goten how to control their ki in order to harness God Mode.  The boys attain SSB (Super Saiyan Blue) and are right under Goku and Vegeta's level.

Path 2: Half Saiyans can't become SSG.  Goku and Vegeta tell the boys this and they are forced to go back to their original Super Saiyan 3 training.  The boys easily become SSJ3's because their bodies remember the feeling of the form from being fused.  They consider it a dumb form because it makes them tired to quickly and so they fused into Gotenks in order to get some better ideas about transforming.  As Gotenks they discover a form similar to Super Saiyan 4 that powers them up greatly.  The boys keep this a secret until the next big villain where they reveal their new form that they called Super Omega Gotenks.

By hddragonballafhd

Path 3: Gohan teaches the boys the path he has taken to Godhood.  He teaches them Elder Kai's method of gaining god ki and they power up tremendously with relaxed "base forms".  They can then power up in Super Saiyan form though the multiplier isn't the same since they can already access most of their power in base form.

Path 4: The boys give up once they master SSJ2 and start relying on Gotenks again, but he's a lot stronger now, able to keep up with God Level fighters.  At this point they start slacking off, slowly becoming their End of Z selves.

Goten 

By Vicdbz

Motivation: Wants to be able to defend the Earth without fusion like his older brother did and father did.  Wants to train with Trunks.

Goten's training journey is the same as Trunks'. Also, it would be cool if he decided to mimic Yamcha's fighting style as he grew older, since he looks similar to him and chases girls like him at the end of Z.  That's the closest we'd get to a Saiyan Yamcha lol.

Yamcha

Motivation: Wants to be able to lend a hand when the Earth is in danger.  Training with Tien, Krillin, and Chiaotzu reminds him of the old days reigniting old rivalries.

I don't have much for Yamcha.  I used to believe in the guy but he seems to fade away more and more with each new arc.  Continuing from the Krillin powerup, we have a Yamcha who is determined to get stronger no matter what.  As always, however, he still greatly lags behind both Krillin and Tien.  His gains will be great, just like theirs.  I believe he can master the Kaioken very well but I don't think his mastery will approach the same levels as Krillin or Tien, neither will his application of the technique to his other techniques.  I can see Yamcha maxing out his Kaioken at a x5, which is half of what I had for Krillin.  So Yamcha can get pretty powerful, but I can't see him catching up with the other two especially Tien who never stops training and Krillin who had his potential unlocked and who spars with a Super Saiyan level opponent in his wife.  It would be cool if Yamcha focused on his speed more so that he would be the fastest Earthling fighter, you know, something to call his own.  Imagine a high speed wolf fang assault from the master of the Wolf Fang Fist.  T'would be baddass!  Maybe afterwards he can train Goten, like I alluded to above.  It wouldn't make a ton of sense--well no it would--since Goku seems more interested in training foreign children who are the reincarnation of ancient demons anyway.  Yamcha and Goten could be like a bro version of Gohan and Piccolo.  I'd watch that spinoff.

Chiaotzu 

Motivation: Tags along with Tien and wants to be of use to him.

I really don't have much to say for Chiaotzu.  Maybe I shouldn't have even added him to the training, but we all know that wherever Tien goes, Chiaotzu follows.  Chiaotzu should also be fairly above Master Roshi so it'll be interesting to see if Roshi can catch up to him at least.  Chiaotzu may secretly be a badass though.  He was on Kai's planet almost as long as Tien was, but Tien usually leaves him behind during hectic encounters.  IDK this one's tough.  Chaiotzu does get much stronger but I don't see him learning Kaioken.  He seems rather delicate when you get right down to it.  But I do think he can at least get strong enough to wipe the floor with Ginyu level goons, if he's not already.

Master Roshi 

Motivation: Even though his fighters have long since left him in the dust, he wants to be able to better defend his planet against the likes of ruthless aliens like Frieza's soldiers.

Roshi is training again, what more can I say?  Roshi reveals that he's been secretly training this whole time on Earth to which Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin all go "duh" collectively after his good showing against many of Frieza's soldiers.  Master Roshi has a difficult time with the gravity since he's so old and he still wears his weighted turtle shell.  He gets to Kai's planet later than the others since he still can't fly.  He gains a lot of strength just from running down the entirety of Snake Way.  His power jumps from the mid-hundreds to the mid-thousands like the boys' did when they first trained with King Kai.  Roshi also helps the boys refine their technique, teaching Yamcha and Krillin the buff form as a way to release massive amounts of their own power.  He also teaches #18 the Kamehameha Wave.  Even with this training session, the master isn't able to surpass his students and he is unable to learn the Kaioken thanks to his old body.  Roshi does take what he's learned from Kaio back to Earth to advance his Turtle School style.

Welp, that ladies and gents is my list of how to power up some fan favorite characters.  What I really don't like about new Dragon Ball, from the Buu saga onwards, is how they neuter so many fan favorite characters just to progress the plot and a handful of Saiyans.  Goku and Vegeta need powerful allies and even if their allies aren't quite as strong as they are, these warriors should not just stop their quest for martial mastery and perfection.

Well anyways, thanks for reading my ramblings my glorious readers!  You all have a great weekend!