Pinkie Ponders: How Could Humans Transform in Dragon Ball

I have been pretty bedridden the last couple of days, which let me catch up with some games, tv series, anime and my thoughts… one of these thoughts went to Dragon Ball. I saw a bit about Krillin and wondered.. what would the next level of evolution look like for him. So I decided to let my brain come up with a way humans could transform.. and here is what I came up with.

Step 1: Pinkie’s Guideline for Transformation

So we won’t be doing this!

Now how do I tackle this problem?! Well first of all we need to make the transformation a functional one! Of course I am delving in the realm of fan fiction here but I would not want to turn humans into something they are not. So no giant form, or them suddenly becoming rubber or something. It would also need to do something. I can say humans get a 10x power boost and their hair turns purple and skin  turns pale.. but a 10x power boost will not make any difference and besides that there are possibilities to just use Kaioken for those levels of output. The tricky part here is that we can easily not actually provide a transformation for humans themselves. After all we could just say humans and saiyans are clearly compatible as they can interbreed, we may have the same forefathers and humans have a saiyan-like transformation as well. It would not even be that far fetched. 

No trash Gohan! Best of both worlds Gohan will rock!

This would not really allow humans to stand on their own though. Not only do Saiyans already have a faster base growth, there is also issues like Zenkai boosts, the power boost Saiyans get after they have been defeated. Humans don’t have that so just giving humans a golden form of their own.. would not feel right. Then there also would be the fact that humans getting blond hair and blue eyes and calling themselves a person which has transcended humanity is a bit iffy! Yet neither are the main reasons I opted out of this route! No .. the real reason is Gohan! Well him , Goten and Trunks to be exact. Hybrid Saiyans are made a big deal… However in my eyes the show does very little to establish humanity in Gohan, Goten and Trunks. It is merely reflected in their personality. If we give humans a transformation however.. I want it to be able to coexist with a Super-Saiyan transformation. This will mean that there will be big changes in the story and Goku and Vegeta might just take a back-seat towards the Hybrids later on.

We can’t mess (too much) with the iconic moments!

The third factor I am taking into consideration is that it has to keep humans relevant to the story. During the Saiyan Saga, humans were not relevant.. and only during the Namek Arc did Krillin have a few fights where he would be relevant. After that, it all goes down the drain fast. I do not say humans are weak but clearly they can not top the Saiyans in terms of sheer power. We must find a way to equal the playing ground at least a bit. Of course the series only started to be be transformation heavy on Namek, and I do not want to make the Super Saiyan moment less Iconic.. so transformations have to come after that. Yes.. most likely there will be gold! As golden Frieza is an ultimate form as well I might as well keep the theme up a bit. Either way… it does mean that this power is more or less stumbled upon.. as if a human had extra abilities people were aware off, it would have come up earlier. 

Transformation has to be show in Manga and sell toys!

The fourth and final factor I will need to take into consideration is that this transformation works both in Manga and in Anime, Dragon Ball is a Multi Media franchise after all. So stuff like an eye colour change, or the aura taking a faintly other shape will not be enough we have to make something up that  people can instantly see and go like “oh heck yeah Krillin is using his transformation”  Something that looks badass but also is unique to humans. That was quite a task..but I think I have come up with a great solution, that feels very in line with humans and martial arts alike.

Step 2:  Coming up with “type” of transformation

Clearly Humans would not use Transformations as restraint!

Now to make a unique transformation and keep humans relevant let’s take a look at all the other races that we know that do have transformations and how they work. First of all there are of course the Saiyans, who transform by anger/emotion. The power works as an enhancement. It boosts their power level by several factors, the amount of energy needed and wasted depends on what form they are in.  Then there is the Frieza race, who transforms based on mostly innate talent. The race has access to extreme raw power and the transformations are sealed as it were to keep one from being destroyed by their own power. The transformation works like a metamorphosis and is reached by unleashing power.

Our transformation has to be cooler than that!

The Namekian transformation is lesser known and it literally allows a Namekian to grow. As Namekian’s do “grow” as plants and are genderless this makes sense. It mirrors them well.  Then there are the androids, who in some cases transform.  Cell, Android 13 and Android 21 had access to transformations.. and while all work in slightly different ways, the concept of their transformation is Augmentation. The biggest asset of this transformation is to give them a higher reserve of power.. it is additive transformation. Meaning it is the sum of several parts not the multiplication of one. The Majin transformation basically is exactly the same as that of the Androids, one adds parts to gain that parts strength.

Our transformation ,should probably be less heavy on Trucker Hat!

Saiyans seem to be the allrounders,  that get better at what they already do. The Frieza Race gets more destructive as they transform and the androids, even Cell are slightly more defensively focussed. Android 17 is known for his barriers, but Cell uses these as well, 19 and Gero absorbed energy in a defensive capacity as well. Namekians trough the series from Z onwards mostly work as guides. Piccolo is more so a teacher and a Mentor rather than a fighter. Kami has always been a guide and Dende works as a healer. Majins are a bit of a mirror match fighter idea. While we later also see other transformations like magical girls nearly all of the transformations fall either in the “healer, Fighter or Tank”  archetypes. So with humans I wanted to go with the fourth option… support.  Clearly the show is about Goku, Gohan Vegeta and the likes and that will not change. So for humans to have a transformation it would need to  be one that can help the main characters.. but that also can turn Gohan into an absolute beast of a warrior.

Pokémon is always a good analogy!

How do we do this?! Well Saiyans are a race of Barbarians, a race of soldiers and warriors they grow through fighting. Namekians work like plants, they grow like plants.. so how do humans grow like earthlings? We evolve. We adapt. This adaptability is shown as the factor that keeps humans in the fight. Even in Dragon Ball Super this is shown. Roshi and Krillin perform fairly well as fighters in the tournament of power.. (as well as Tenshinhan)   because they fight smartly. So the human transformation will allow them to do that.. it will allow them to “evolve”. As such it will trigger in situations of near death.. Like a Zenkai boost.. but before the actual injury! If you are about to die or confronted with death you can “evolve” It can be explained as the reason why women can suddenly move steel beams when trying to save their baby from a burning home, and how people escape from near death situations by the sheer will to survive. Darwinism and the will to live triggers this transformation. So it might not be to much of a surprise that the first human we see transform in the series would be Yamcha.

Step 3: How does it Look, How does it work?!

My first Human Transformation!

The transformation will happen during the beginning of the Android Saga, when Dr Gero finds Yamcha and starts draining his life.  We flash back to how Yamcha was killed by  the Saibaman which now instead of a meme will act like a trigger. Yamcha, Grabbed by Gero finds himself in a fairly similar situation.  He is grabbed in a hold and can sense death is coming. However this time his body reacts instinctively. The Dr is draining his Ki but suddenly that Ki begins to take shape. It turns golden and rather than just being a field of energy it takes a shape much closer to Yamcha’s body.. as it forms two extra arms. Golden  translucent arms that Yamcha can move as his own.. and he can fire an energy blast with them?! Yamcha uses this ability to escape, damaging Dr Gero, who now is forced to retreat a bit earlier. Goku catches up sensing Yamcha’s Ki rise and the rest of the story would follow the normal trend for a while.. but a surprised Yamcha stands there with an evolved Ki Aura.

Bodhisattva, the deity of compassion

Humans adapt… and even in D&D or in most other fiction they are always depicted as a race that is good at fitting in.. at adapting to new environments to overcome new dangers.  So since the Ki of other races reacts to their state of being it makes sense that that of a human would be as well. Grounded in the concept of evolution, while it would not evolve the human itself, one skilled enough with Ki to create energy blasts can use their own live energy to evolve their life energy.. to adapt it. These transformations I will base on the Bodhisattva.. the goddess of compassion. The Saiyan transformation has some potential overlap to Chakra and I thought it would be fun to keep a eastern influence to the transformation as well, that works well with the schooling in the Dragon Ball world.  Being the voice of compassion and sympathy these transformations do not focus on raw power but allow a fighter to use his own strength to overcome and adapt.

Tien gets the more boring transformation but Japan doesn’t like Tien anyway!

Later forms could include a third eye, linking back to Tien’s history and his people never fully closing that off, that unlike Ultra Instinct would work more like Tsuna from Hitman’s Reborn Hyper Intuition allowing you to see when blinded, or allowing you to see enemy weaknesses. A third form could be a flaming aura that could punish an enemy from engaging in Melee too much, which once again seems to be a weakness of the humans. Divine Hands, Divine Eye and Divine Fury could later potentially lead into humans adapting it to god ki and potentially Ultra instinct as well.

Gohan using all three human transformations

Best off all.. this would all work on Gohan. When Cell broke his arm when Gohan saved Vegeta from perfect Cell, instead of just learning Super Saiyan 2, he could have learned Divine hands as well..showing Gohan is indeed.. not just like his father he is human as well.. wielding their transformation. Divine Eye he could awaken in his fight with Basil, in the Tournament of Power Exhibition Match. Divine Fury Gohan could learn either during the Buu Arc to shield himself from being absorbed by Majin Buu.. OR during the Tournament of Power when he fights Dyspo.. who mostly relies on Melee attacks.Unlike other transformations, humans can get theirs in random order. Krillin for example would probably Awaken Divine Wrath first, Tien Divine Eye and Yamcha like explained would be the perfect candidate for Divine hands!

Firing one beam and hitting your opponent with in the back with another seems powerful?!

Being able to shoot two beams might not seem very powerful, but Humans have the ability to bend their Ki beams, so shooting two could lead to a pincer attack. A Ki beam is always higher than the power level of the human wielding it as was revealed in several magazines.  A double Masenko fired at the same target might not do much.. but two bending Kamehameha’s striking from the front and back.. would have HUGe benefits.  Looking for a weak spot in an attacking would allow humans to use techniques like the destructo disc or Yamcha spirit ball to be way more precise and effective sealing punches away works great against henchman .. and let’s be honest here, the humans will still be fighting the henchman still!

The fights during the Moro Arc could be super interesting with transformations!

A lot of techniques would have implications during the Moro Arc as well, humans could use Divine Eye to work a bit more in an exposition fashion so Beerus and Whis could actually stick to their principals of not meddling. Divine Wrath can be used to shield against the new Android introduced in that arc and Divine hands can help Gohan use his new shield technique.. while also taking potshots at enemies from behind said shield!  It will keep humans relevant without changing the power levels to much! 

So how would you give humans transformations in Dragon Ball?!  Have you ever thought about it? What did you think about my idea? Let me know in the comments!  Now I am gonna see if I can develop Divine pillows, so I can take the best naps! Shine on my little lights! Oyasumi!

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as A Slime -Episode 17- The Gathering

Dear Island Guests.. Last episode from Slime was a fairly weak one that was very much saved by it’s good first half. The second half of the episode was very bad and bland however and to be honest I half expected this week’s episode to be the same. I was thinking with Milim  being introduced this show might have lost his shine  for me.. but what is that.. this week brought a glimmer of hope.   For this week I found Milim.. quite entertaining.

The Summary

Rimuru city has rathered the attention of several groups of people, this includes the humans of two countries and some of the demon lords. In this episode we see a lord travel to Rimuru to speak with him followed by those three human adventures that fought the Efreet along with Rimura and Shizuna. Like always these adventurers get in trouble but this time they seem to be rescued by  the mercenaries of another country!  As they prepare for a big battle Gobta steps in wanting to eat the creature that is giving them trouble.  He easily defeats it and the surprised humans are invited to join them at the village.  Before they arrive though there happens to be a little scuffle in town as a henchman of another demon lord shows up.

Phobio punches the face of Rigurd.. angry that he hurt the minions of her besty Milim beats the living daylight out of him.  Rimuru, wanting to prevent war, scolds her for it and she cries as she has to miss lunch!  Eventually he allows her to have lunch anyways as negotiations start. They don’t go well as Phobio refuses to believe a slime can be that powerful and he just wants to rule over the village instead. This doesn’t happen of course creating tension between Rimuru and the Demon Lords. Milim gets tricked into telling what she knows about these people in return for a new weapon.  A little later the humans arrive and they start negotiations as well seemingly going quite peaceful, talking about establishing trade.  Rimuru also wants the mercenaries to become his underlings and pretend like they defeated the Orcling with a friendly monster ally that kind of helped them in order to give him more favourable propaganda. The Merc agrees and joins team Rimuru.  We end the episode with a conversation between a demon lord and female clown discussing the release of a creature whose power can rival that of the Demon lords and with an evil grin the episode ends.

The Positives

This was a much better episode than the one that came before and it has to do with a much better pacing. I might have told the story out of order a bit above but that was mostly done to put all events on a kind of similar timeline.   However since we are dealing with two events.. three if we count the final scene we have a much more narrative episode.  Apparently the creators here can only keep a single plotline interesting for about 10 minutes and that is fine…. because of the comedy element you can not overplay your hand and need to drop a situation faster than you would in a drama situation and this episode does that very nicely.  The last episode.. not so much where the first part was the battle with Milim and the second part her settling in.. however the flaws she had were the same source of comedy for both thus it felt stale. While Milim is still that same character, there is more comedy than just her. Gobta one-shotting an immense creature, Rimuru not being able to convince a guy he is so much more powerful, the shock of the humans when they discover a slime is in an alliance with the dwarfs. 

The Milim comedy in this episode is pretty nice! Her explosive character and immense power here bring a contribution to the escalation of a situation.. yet in turn also provides usefulness. It’s an exchange.. The character is not just a detriment to the city.  I do like how the city advances. I told it before. .and in this episode we do see that happening again. We also see Shuna take a bit of a role as Hostess for guests in town and diplomatic meetings, so it is nice to see her step up. Overall all the characters really progress for the better in this episode and that is where the strength of this show lies. It’s a show about progress, getting stronger and a prettier village better roles. The comedy  is there to make it “not boring”  the action is there to pick up the pace and make stuff happen.. but by now we are actually watching to see a slime build his little “kingdom”  This episode really plays into that and it’s a very good episode because of it .

The Negatives

It is not an excellent episode though! There are some oversights I am willing to forgive but the fact that Eren and her group almost get no attention from Rimuru and kind of act reluctant to go back to him in the first place feels weird. They were on quite good terms, bonded together and they cried over the loss of a mutual friend. Here they are just background sprites and that bothered me quite a bit. The episode is pretty densely packed with content so I get why it happened but at least acknowledge them a bit. Gabiru being fine when he was punched by a Demon Lord seems a bit odd to me as well.. it turns out he is actually hurt and just toughing it out sure, but I am not sure if that is in line with his character or skill level. Then again they do make their potions so okay..  There does seem to be some inconsistent power scaling though.  It makes sense since everyone is so powerful, but I wish there was a bit more logic.

Milim is mostly fixed for me in this episode. She loses the skimpy outfit, her behaviour is less obnoxious. She isn’t exactly great though. Her being more powerful then Rimuru is not played into very well, the fear they have for Milim isn’t done very well.. she gets really downplayed in this episode. Sure she is easy to control but basically it is the group sitting on on nuke with a short fuse. Yet here she is just being treated like a spoiled child that can be pacified with a Sandwich.. it kinda takes the tension and the role of the character away. I can get it fading over time but the second episode after her introduction it’s a tad fast. Now she more feels like an exposition bomb. I was also quite annoyed that Eren was glossed over completly! I really like her character and her party.. yet this week they are just means to and end to string other characters together.

The Score

A much better episode, than last week, yet still one that has it flaws. It is however a very feel good episode and this is just such a smile inducing episode. I really love how the village and the little country grows and these new alliances are great and making enemies along the way makes sense. I just feel like there could be a little bit more consistency and care into the details, into the roles characters have. Let Milim be that nuke and seriously mess up things.. don’t half and half it. Let Eren be welcomed back into the village as the adorable klutz that is Rimuru’s link to the human world. Let Gabiru be the loser that constantly gets punched around.. don’t let him though things out.. put him in the hospital.. make it so that they constantly need to use potions on him!

That however is much more a gripe with the series as a whole then with this episode specifically.. on their own these offences aren’t that big. Sure I know it could use a bit more care, but I smile widely still. I loved the clumsy Eren scene , even if she wasn’t talked to by Rimuru, I loved seeing Vesta being so proud of his achievement and growing into another person. I love the small fixes to Milim showing that this really is a show about progress. It all felt satisfying from beginning to end! All those other gripes I have .. just stem from taking the cheap way out just a TAD to much rather than going for the well written option. So it’s a great episode but to cheap to be a star.