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Warning: Contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Daima.Dragon Ball Daimahas been filled with one big reveal after another, and the biggest of them all have been the canonizations of Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku. Fans have been wanting both forms to be canon for decades, especially Super Saiyan 4, and seeing it finally happen has easily been the best part ofDaima, to date.
As great as Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku have been to see, they haven’t been without their issues. WhileDragon Ball Daimais the latestDragon Ballstory,Dragon Ball Daima’s official timelineputs it only a few years beforeDragon Ball Super, soDragon Ball Daima’s relation toDragon Ball Super’s timeline causes problems with Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku being canon. Whether it’s a full-blown plot hole is up for debate, but regardless, it’s not as big an issue as some people have made it out to be.
Why Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta & Super Saiyan 4 Goku Cause Problems For Dragon Ball
Why People Are Calling Goku & Vegeta’s New Forms A Plot Hole
Even thoughDragon Ball Daimatakes place a few years beforeDragon Ball Super, it was never once suggested that Goku and Vegeta could use any forms beyond what was shown on the screen, even though both ended up in numerous situations where Super Saiyan 3 and 4 would have been useful.Goku and Vegeta never useSuper Saiyan 4and Super Saiyan 3 inDragon Ball Super, whichis the biggest reason why people are calling it a plot hole, and it’s not the easiest thing to argue against.
The most egregious example of that comes from Goku and Vegeta’s battles with Beerus. Both fights were framed as Goku and Vegeta fighting Beerus at full power, with Goku even outright saying that Super Saiyan 3 was his strongest form at the time, but that no longer makes sense withDaimaestablishing they both had better means of dealing with Beerus. Granted, they both still would have been too weak to win their fights, butthe fact that Goku and Vegeta never used Super Saiyan 4 and Super Saiyan 3 against Beerus can still be seen as a plot hole.
How Dragon Ball Daima Can Resolve Its Potential Super Saiyan 4 Plot Hole
Dragon Ball Already Has The Perfect Explanation For Super Saiyan 4
Goku and Vegeta’s new forms undoubtedly cause problems forDragon Ball’s continuity, but it’s easy to resolve them. For Super Saiyan 4,Dragon Ball Daimagave the form a magical origin, with Goku obtaining it after Neva cast a spell on Goku in the final battle with Gomah. Because of that,Dragon Ball Daimacan avoid a plot hole with Super Saiyan 4 Goku by making it so thatGoku needs magic to use Super Saiyan 4, as a lack of magic outside the Demon Realm would explain why Goku never used Super Saiyan 4 inDragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball Already Has The Perfect Explanation For Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta
Why Vegeta Never Using Super Saiyan 3 Makes Sense
As for howDragon Ballcould explain awaySuper Saiyan 3 Vegeta, that’s also fairly easy. WhileDragon Ballcan’t get rid of Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta, especially since he obtained it at some point beforeDragon Ball Daima, Super Saiyan 3 is noted for its severe stamina drain, even more so than forms that are stronger than it, soVegeta might not have used Super Saiyan 3 against Beerus because he knew the stamina drain would have made the fight too hard. Granted, he was largely consumed with rage over Beerus hitting Bulma, but it’s a reasonable explanation, nonetheless.
Super Saiyan 3’s stamina drain might also explain why Vegeta never used it in the later parts ofDragon Ball Super. It wasn’t long after the fight with Beerus that Vegeta unlocked Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue, both of which are stronger than Super Saiyan 3, soVegeta likely never used Super Saiyan 3 inDragon Ball Superbecause Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue made it redundant. Goku also largely retired Super Saiyan 3 after gaining Super Saiyan God and Blue, so there’s plenty of credence for Vegeta to have done the same for similar reasons.
Regardless Of Continuity, Goku & Vegeta’s New Forms Need To Reappear In Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Can’t Be Done With Goku & Vegeta’s New Forms
Whatever happens,Dragon Ball Daimacan’t be the last time Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku appear in canon. It’s one thing for the forms to finally become canon after so many years of people wanting to see it happen, butthe episodes ofDragon Ball Daimafeaturing Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku are some of the best in the entire series for the incredible visuals and fight scenes that accompany them. It’s one of the franchise’s biggest developments in years, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that should be capitalized on.
Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta especially needs to reappear inDragon Ball. As cool as Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta is, its portrayal inDaimais ultimately brought down by how small-scale the fight with Tamagami Number Two was and how Vegeta couldn’t defeat Gomah, soSuper Saiyan 3 Vegeta needs to reappear at some point inDragon Ballto give it the depiction something as momentous as it deserves.Dragon Ballprobably wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of canonizing either form if they weren’t meant to reappear, and hopefully, it won’t be long until that proves to be true.
Dragon Ball Has Never Been A Stranger To Retcons
Above all else, the reason why people shouldn’t be so quick to label Goku and Vegeta’s new forms as plot holes is because that sort of writing is nothing new forDragon Ball. Ever since the franchise’s early days, the story has repeatedly used retcons to satisfy whatever new story beat Akira Toriyama or other writers wanted to employ, regardless of how confusing it might be, with even Goku’s status as a Saiyan arguably being a retcon when he was originally just a boy with mysterious monkey powers.Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku, among other elements ofDragon Ball Daima, are just the latest examples ofDragon Ball’s retcons, and they’re unlikely to be the last.
Dragon Ballhas always been focused on delivering whatever someone thought would be cool in the moment, regardless of continuity, yet it still typically finds a way to make it all work out; that’s a perfect testament toDragon Ball’s great writing, soDragon Ball’s long history of rationalizing retcons for the better means the same can be expected of Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku. Whatever ends up happening might not be as clean as people hope, but it’s still something to look forward to, and hopefully,Dragon Ball Daimawill more than deliver on that.
