With Dragon Ball Super about to embark on a new arc, it's time to take a look at the characters who will be part of it. Vegeta will have a crucial role in the sequel, but his transformation into Ultra Ego poses a problem: it's bad and absolutely needs to be revisited.
Vegeta's Contrasting Destiny in Dragon Ball>
Vegeta is one of the most popular characters in Dragon Ball. His development across the original 42 volumes has become a model of the genre. However, at the time, Akira Toriyama didn't particularly like him. Despite this dislike, in Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 2, the mangaka explains that the character was still very useful to him. Let's say that the manga speaks for itself, as Vegeta had some extraordinary moments that left their mark on fans. During the manga's publication in Shonen Jump, the character was therefore respected, which wasn't always the case in other media. Toei Animation's DBZ films did a lot of damage to Vegeta. If he's not brutalized by his opponents, he comes across as a coward, like in Broly the Super Warrior. This is where the image of a Saiyan prince who is easily beaten in every appearance comes from. Unfortunately, this sticks with him, even today. Although Toriyama grew to appreciate the character over the years, strangely, Vegeta's situation paradoxically became more complicated, especially in DBS. Ultra Ego: The Symbol of Vegeta's Decline DBS was supposed to put Goku and Vegeta on an equal footing, but it never really happened. Whether against Frieza, during the Tournament of Power, or against Moro, the prince of the Saiyans never had the last word. Goku, as a hero, was always one step ahead of his rival. During the Tournament of Power, Vegeta was given Blue Evolved, but this Super Saiyan Blue stage proved disappointing. That's when Ultra Ego stepped in, a transformation that appeared during the Granola Arc and was supposed to be Vegeta's counterpart to Ultra Instinct. Despite great promise, it failed.
Ultra Ego—which we discuss in more detail here—consists of gaining power when its holder takes damage. Vegeta's close relationship with Beerus is largely due to his closeness to Beerus, which is why he sports the god's colors and earring. It makes sense, then, that the Saiyan would achieve this form, but it remains inconsistent. Indeed, and as we see during his fight with Granola, Ultra Ego has a huge flaw: it becomes useless when its user takes too many hits. The advantage provided by the transformation is therefore fleeting, or even non-existent if the opponent is too powerful, as we saw with Granola, Gas, and Black Freezer (three defeats too many...). Worse still: the transformation is not noticeable. Ultra Instinct became legendary with careful implementation and proved its effectiveness instantly. Once the element of surprise wore off, Ultra Ego quickly proved ineffective. How will Vegeta be able to remedy this? Well, two solutions are available to him.
An uncertain future for Vegeta
In volume 24 of DBS, Toyotaro indicated that Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Broly, and Piccolo were more or less at the same level. If we focus on Vegeta, it's clear that he's lagging behind Goku and his son. His transformation is too restrictive, and the Saiyan, being the fighting genius that he is, should realize this. However, he could greatly improve it. He can do this by putting aside his pride and learning the basics of Ultra Instinct. By being able to instinctively dodge blows, he would get the best of both worlds and gain considerable strength. The other solution would be to abandon the transformation. Vegeta is heading straight into the wall with her, and we don't want the sequel to DBS to end like DAIMA, with a Saiyan remaining more than ever in Goku's shadow.
The next arc of the manga may involve Black Frieza, and Vegeta isn't ready. He should probably move away from Beerus's planet for a while, as he's not really progressing there anymore. He could go to Universe 6 to become Kyabe's mentor, as was initially planned. The young Saiyan is a prodigy, and Vegeta could learn a lot from him or even from the universe as a whole. With Black Frieza expected to represent a multiversal threat, it would seem logical for Vegeta to do this to also prepare his student. This would allow him to really be in the spotlight, and to have his "Uub" in the future. But for that to happen, he would have to abandon Ultra Ego, something that doesn't seem to have been planned by Toyotaro, given the cover of volume 24.
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