One of the best additions to the Dragon Ball Super section of the franchise was the fact that there was a significant deviation in terms of the transformations that the main characters underwent. While the central Saiyans always enjoyed the same line of Super Saiyan forms, Super changed this by introducing character-specific transformations that allowed each character to shine by emphasizing their individual strengths.
For Gohan, this ultimate transformation took the form of Beast, which made him an overpowered warrior who could match Goku and Vegeta with their Divine Transformations. Although Dragon Ball fans have loved the fact that Gohan is back at the forefront of things and has finally reached Goku and Vegeta again, the fact of the matter is that Gohan Beast isn't a great or well-thought-out form at all. So, in this article, let's take a look at why this is.
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Gohan Beast Was A Contrived And Lazy Way To Make Gohan Far Stronger
The Failings of Beast
|
First Appearance |
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero |
|---|---|
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Debut Date |
June 11, 2022 |
Just to keep things clear, it should be stated that the series making Gohan as powerful as he once was and bringing him back to the vanguard of the series is one of the best decisions made in the entirety of Dragon Ball Super. Many fans have always argued that, despite him having his moments every now and then, Gohan has largely been forgotten about ever since the end of the Cell Saga.
In the Buu Saga, and especially in the first part of Super, Gohan never really did much, so fans had been asking for such a beloved character to be made important once more. In the Super Hero film, these prayers were answered when he awakened his Beast form against Cell Max once he thought that the villain had killed his best friend and mentor, Piccolo. Before this, Gohan's strongest state was his Ultimate form, so he clearly had a long way to go when it came to matching up against Super Saiyan Blue and even Ultra Instinct before the Super Hero arc.
My goal is an ultimate form that no one has ever seen before!
This he managed with Beast, which was actually great to see. However, at the same time, it highlighted the biggest problem with Dragon Ball's power scaling, which was the incredible power creep that the series is known for. Through just one transformation that made Gohan angrier than usual, he managed to bypass the need for any God Ki and was able to bring forth a transformation that is on the same level of strength as Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, which has rubbed many the wrong way.
These fans feel that the 'potential' that characters like Gohan and Broly have takes away from the hard work that Goku and Vegeta have put in over the years, devoting their entire lives to the pursuit of greater strength and training vigorously. No matter whether fans like or dislike Gohan Beast, they simply cannot deny that the very act of him achieving the form came out of nowhere and was a contrived way to bring him to Goku and Vegeta's level.
Detractors tend to bring up Gohan's notable transformations in the past to justify this, namely Super Saiyan 2 and Ultimate. However, this isn't a fair comparison, since Gohan needed to train extensively in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with his father to master Super Saiyan to its greatest state, and only after he raged at Android 16's death did he finally snap. There was a lot of buildup to it which always felt earned. Plus, Ultimate Gohan could only be born after Gohan's potential was fully unleashed by Elder Kai.
Many have criticized Dragon Ball's storytelling and power scaling specifically for reasons like this, which is to say that there is a lot that seems to just come out of nowhere and not make much sense. While Gohan Beast is incredible from a design perspective and makes Gohan relevant again in the grand scheme of things, the form itself and the reasons for Gohan unlocking it leave a lot to be desired.
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Gohan Beast Also Has Nothing Special About It, Unlike Ultra Instinct And Ego
Just Another Power-Up
- Gohan Beast doesn't offer anything new.
One of the best things that came from this new direction that the series was going in in terms of transformations, is that Goku and Vegeta's ultimate forms are unique in regard to how they work. Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego play on the strengths of their respective Saiyans, in that Ultra Instinct is all about mastery of Martial Arts and technique for Goku, whereas Ultra Ego takes the offensive brawler aspect of Vegeta's fighting style.
This is generally the best way to handle new forms, but Gohan Beast offers nothing new on the table in this aspect. Instead of prioritizing Gohan's tactical mind or any specific aspect of his arsenal that's unique to him, it just makes him stronger and faster than ever before, the same as how the traditional line of Super Saiyan transformations worked. Of course, it plays on his potential, but the lack of ingenuity from a functional perspective is something that fans wish was different.
Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
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Dragon Ball Super
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2015 - 2018
