Well, Vegeta is a big trailblazer these days isn’t he. The question of this chapter was always going to be whether Vegeta’s new transformation was going to get the hype and payoff that he probably deserves at this point, being his own personal parallel to Ultra Instinct. Seems like a silly question in retrospect, this is Vegeta we’re talking about after all. Although that doesn’t mean this chapter could still impress all the same.
Last time, I spoke about how I wasn’t a massive fan of the design of this new form of Vegeta. The sloped brow look just wasn’t something I generally like on character design in this series. That being said, it kind of grew on me as the events of this chapter developed. Mainly because it helped push the whole idea that this new form has changed Vegeta himself somewhat.
One of the coolest things about Ultra Instinct back when it first showed up was how it changed Goku’s outward personality. It made him almost unnervingly calm as he acrobatically danced around any and all attack that came his way. And in that same respect, Vegeta’s new form did something similar. Well, I say similar, more like the complete opposite.
While in the form, Vegeta seems to take on a manic glee. Truly giving in to his Saiyan battle instincts. It honestly explains a lot about Beerus’s personality now that I think about it. Even Granolah comments that Vegeta seems like a totally different person, and his design actually helps push that narrative. Vegeta spends almost the entire chapter with this almost demented smile on his face.
Devoting himself to the fight seems to be the core of this form’s powers. For a while I was wondering how his training with destruction energy would develop into a useful fighting ability that wasn’t just erasing things from existence. This chapter answered this question by having Vegeta unlock this new form and then give it an appropriate name:
Ultra Ego… I’m not sure how I feel about that one. I mean, I’m sure it’ll just end up being accepted language eventually, but it sounds pretty daft right now. Then again, Ultra Instinct sounded corny at first too. That name though, the obvious first thing that comes to mind are Fraud’s theory of the Id the Ego and the Super Ego.
Goku’s Ultra Instinct being a parallel to the Id, which is all based on a person’s base needs and instinctual behaviours. It kind of gels with Goku’s pretty self centred personality as well. SI mean, the name would imply that Vegeta is the Superego and Granolah the Ego? Or is it the other way round? Honestly, I can kind of see what they’re doing here. But I’m the wrong person to talk about this. I’ve never taken a phycology class in my life.
Either way, I like Ultra Ego. It’s cool and the poplar opposite of Ultra Instinct. In this form, Vegeta has become something like a berserker, although not as mindless as Broly or Kale when they entered a similar state. Rather, while in this form Vegeta’s iconic trait: the ability to take a beating increases dramatically. And the more of a beating he takes, the stronger he gets in return.
It’s like a return to the classic Saiyan trait of Zenkai that hasn’t really been seen since the Freeza arc.
While both Vegeta and Granolah beat the snot out of one another, Granolah comes to realise the truth of the situation: that Freeza betrayed and wiped out the Saiyans like he did the Cerealians and that the fighters to have arrived at his home world have nothing to do with the destruction that weighs on him.
Although this is where his strong drive for revenge blinds him and despite Oatmeal telling him he can stop fighting now, he discards the headpiece his supporter talks to him through and continues the fight with Vegeta, much to the annoyance of Oatmeal.
Then the inevitable starts happening. While Vegeta gets this cool new powerup, the tide begins to turn against him and we realise that he is most likely going to lose this fight. While his ability to tank damage has dramatically increased, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a limit to how much he can take. And it seems like that limit is fast approaching.
As I said last time, the biggest advantage Vegeta has against Granolah was that he was a much more seasoned fighter. But, as it turns out, Granolah is a gifted fighter himself, and along with the power he gained from the Dragon Balls, the more he fights against the Saiyan, the stronger he becomes. Culminating in the transformation of his normal eye into a sharinga… I mean a racial sniper eye.
I am up and down on Granolah. I do feel annoyed at times that he is so powerful without really having earned it nesseserily, but this moment at the end of this chapter really makes me think about what he was doing at the beginning of the arc, how he battled against the Heeters and in some respect is the hero of this story.
And he looks very heroic at the end of this chapter, standing and smiling over the very monsterous looking Vegeta by comparison. Despite the boost Granolah got from the Dragon, this development of power felt like something he earned on his own, through being pushed to the edge by an opponent.
A transformation brought upon him at the edge of defeat. It’s main character shit and I’m starting to come around on the idea of him winning this fight, even if it means Vegeta is going to be dealt yet another inevitable L.
I liked this chapter a lot. This portrayal of Vegeta as something totally different was really cool to me. The more Tori and Toyo differentiate him and his powers from Goku, the more I am feeling him. The whole battle hunger feels aspect of his power feels like a combination of the traits we’ve seen Beerus display since his introduction, but not only that, it feels like a return to the Vegeta of old.
The Vegeta of his introduction, where he was all Ego and seemed to live to fight, rather than live to simply get stronger than Goku.
The chapter itself ends proper with a cutaway to the Heeter’s who are elsewhere on the planet using their stolen Dragon Radar to search for the two dragon balls of Planet Cereal. No doubt, these guys are going to end up being the true villains of the arc. Which is kind of a bummer, as I would have liked them to be a constant background element rather who work to undermine Freeza.
Now, I get the impression that Freeza himself might never show up during this arc and the Heeter’s will just use the Dragon Balls to wish Gas into being the strongest in the universe, forcing Granolah and the Saiyans to team up and defeat the Heeter’s together. I kind of hope Elec’s wish isn’t that straight forward.
We just got to wait till the end of next month to see if he’s as basic as I fear. I’m excited though, this was a good chapter. I’m looking forward to what comes next.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 