Dragon Ball has plenty of iconic and beloved characters, but Vegeta stands nearly unmatched as the franchise's most popular. Yes, he has stiff competition from Piccolo, Gohan, and, naturally, Goku, but the Prince of Saiyans has arguably the most complete and consistent development out of all the Z-Fighters. Vegeta seems to grow with each new arc, and not solely in terms of power. He has gone from a self-centered egotist to a family man who is willing and able to put other people's safety ahead of his own desires. Also, Vegeta has a few awesome transformations.
One such time was when Vegeta unlocked his Ultra Ego transformation in the Dragon Ball's Granolah arc. Not only did this form finally put him on Ultra Instinct Goku's level, but many even believed that he briefly surpassed it, though there wasn't much time for him to enjoy his success due to the shortcomings of this form. Because of this, many think that Vegeta will eventually unlock a mastered version of this form, so let's see how it would look.
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Vegeta's Ultra Ego, Explained
A Powerful Form Built On A Love For Battle And Pain
|
First Appearance |
Dragon Ball Super, Chapter 74, "Vegeta vs. Granolah" |
|---|---|
|
Debut Date |
July 20, 2021 |
|
Story Arc |
Granolah the Survivor Saga |
Vegeta's Ultra Ego takes the Saiyan race's innate ability to become stronger through suffering and amplifies it, allowing the user to grow substantially as they take more and more hits. Not just any Saiyan can use Ultra Ego, though, as they must be able to enter God of Destruction mode, becoming Destroyers in the process. Goku might be able to acquire this ability in time, but Vegeta is currently the only character to activate it. He might remain the only person to achieve it as well.
Fittingly titled to match the Prince's history, Ultra Ego is fueled by arrogance and an unflinching desire for battle, and Vegeta grows stronger by actively absorbing attacks rather than avoiding them. The more damage he takes, the stronger he gets. Basically, the user has to give in to their basic Saiyan instinct and completely indulge in the thrill of combat, which harkens back to Vegeta's original DBZ personality.
While Ultra Ego is by far Vegeta's most powerful form, it comes with a pretty obvious flaw.
The Shortcomings Of Ultra Ego
Where Does The Form Fall Short?
|
Manga Chapter That Really Highlights Ultra Ego's Flaw |
Dragon Ball Super, Chapter 85, "To Each His Own Answer" |
|---|---|
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Debut Date |
June 21, 2022 |
|
Story Arc |
Granolah the Survivor Saga |
Dragon Ball Super set itself apart from the other parts of the franchise when it introduced the concept of God Ki, which opened the gate for many new and interesting transformations. The greatest of these was Ultra Instinct, which Vegeta failed to reach, causing him to forge his own path with Ultra Ego. Although this form was as powerful as the former, there were some glaring issues that came with its unique property of getting stronger by taking damage.
While this ensured the greatest damage output possible, there was a limit to how much harm Vegeta himself could take while in this form. This meant that no matter how powerful he got, he could always take too much damage and get knocked out or even killed if he wasn't careful. As the form is driven by self-confidence to an extent, its user can grow blind to their limitations, believing they can just withstand all attacks and keep on standing. That is not the case. Moreover, being Vegeta's strongest form, Ultra Ego also took up a lot of energy, which made it unsustainable since Vegeta's stamina in the long run would suffer.
Also, as Black Freeza shows in Dragon Ball Super's chapter 87, a single powerful blow can be enough to bring Ultra Ego Vegeta to his knees. This form can be incredibly powerful, but it has limits.
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How Would A Mastered Ultra Ego Work?
The Perfected Version of this Transformation
Offensively speaking, Ultra Ego boasts perhaps the greatest damage output from all the current transformations of the Dragon Ball roster. While it doesn't have the finesse of Ultra Instinct or the stability of Beast, it makes up for that in raw power, as was seen in Vegeta's engagements against Granolah and Gas. This power is the inherent technique of the Gods of Destruction, so it's no surprise that it can boast such insane strength.
However, the biggest downside of this form has to do with its unique property, since taking damage to get stronger never really seems like a great idea. So, to see what Mastered Ultra Ego would look like, the biggest criticism of the form should be addressed, while, at the same time, keeping its unique property to differentiate Vegeta's form from the others. But this raises the question: how can Ultra Ego's ability to take damage to get stronger ever work?
Damage is nothing but fuel for me. Do you know what that means? I'm only getting stronger!
The answer to this lies in Ultra Instinct, specifically the mastered version that Goku has now come to use. Although the entire purpose of this Divine Technique is to avoid damage by making the body react to threats on its own, mastering the form allows the user's body to become incredibly durable and robust. This was seen in the Moro arc when Goku used the Mastered Ultra Instinct against the titular villain, who broke his hand by punching his foe, who didn't feel the attack at all.
Something similar would work wonders for Ultra Ego. If the enemies' attacks connect to Vegeta but don't do any harm to him while he takes that damage to make himself even stronger, this could lead to this transformation becoming incredibly overpowered. At that stage, one could throw whatever they wanted at him, but it would only make him stronger in the process and open them up for a vicious counterattack.
If this were to happen, Mastered Ultra Ego would be the greatest power one could have in the series due to having seemingly 0 downsides, which may also not be the best thing. So, a way to counteract its extremely overpowered nature would be for the form to have massive repercussions on Vegeta's stamina and energy levels, which would make sense for the kind of transformation that it is.
Dragon Ball: The Challenges of Mastering Ultra Ego, Explained
Ultra Ego is a transformation introduced in Dragon Ball Super, but what might be the challenges of mastering it?
By doing this, Dragon Ball would finally bring Vegeta to the level of Goku and the other most powerful mortals in the series, but would do so in a way that doesn't feel cheap or forced. One of the biggest critiques that this series has is that it continuously downplays Vegeta and his achievements in the story, so this would be a great way to ensure that he stays incredibly powerful. Dragon Ball has a horrible habit of doing this to one of its most beloved characters, but fans always hold out hope for Vegeta to be given justice, and Mastered Ultra Ego ensures this.
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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
- Seasons
- 1
- Story By
- Akira Toriyama
- Number of Episodes
- 131
