Watching Dragon Ball, I’ve noticed something common: characters often get much stronger without a clear reason within the story. The original Dragon Ball and the beginning of DBZ weren’t too bad – power increases usually made sense. But things started to feel a little shaky when Power Levels were introduced, and honestly, it became really difficult to follow after Frieza transformed. It felt like the power scaling just got away from the story at that point.
Toward the end of Dragon Ball Z and for most of Dragon Ball Super, the characters get increasingly powerful in ways that don’t really make sense. These days, Dragon Ball asks fans to simply ignore how power levels work and accept that they’ve always been inconsistent, just to understand the new transformations and boosts in strength.
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9. Gotenks Learned How to Turn Super Saiyan 3 Just By Watching Goku
Goku trained relentlessly in the afterlife for seven years to master Super Saiyan 3. However, Gotenks, a fusion character, managed to achieve the same transformation after only a few days of being alive, seemingly by copying Goku during his battle with Super Buu. While surprising, Gotenks’ quick mastery is somewhat understandable given his nature as a fusion and a character often played for laughs, making it a less jarring power-up than some others.
Despite Goku’s impressive Super Saiyan 3 transformation, Gotenks easily surpasses it. Even in his regular Super Saiyan form, Gotenks was stronger than Goku as a Super Saiyan 3, and the difference becomes even more significant when he achieves Super Saiyan 3 himself. To make matters worse, Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 form ultimately proves ineffective, as he spends too much time playing with Super Buu, allowing Buu to defuse and survive.
8. Piccolo Went From Weaker Than Nappa to Stronger Than Second Form Frieza on Namek
Piccolo absorbing Nail is a significant scene, similar to Goku learning about his Saiyan ancestry. It’s Piccolo finally understanding his origins, essentially taking on the struggles of his people, and then powerfully confronting Frieza. However, this sudden increase in Piccolo’s strength doesn’t really fit with how power levels work in the series.
When Piccolo died, he wasn’t as strong as Nappa, and he mostly spent his time meditating on King Kai’s planet, so he didn’t have much opportunity to improve his strength through training. However, when he fused with Nail, his power level jumped dramatically – from 3,500 to 1,000,000! That’s an incredible 28,471% increase, achieved simply by absorbing another being, rather than through dedicated effort. In contrast, Goku and Vegeta gained their power boosts through intense training and near-death experiences.
7. Super Saiyan Vegeta Was Somehow Stronger Than Goku at the Start of the Cell Saga
At the beginning of the Cell Saga, Vegeta is surprisingly more powerful than Goku in his Super Saiyan form, and it’s not because of Goku’s Heart Virus. Even though Goku trained with Gohan and Piccolo for three years, Vegeta managed to become stronger simply by training himself and intensely desiring to achieve the Super Saiyan transformation.
Even though Goku was much stronger than Vegeta at the end of the Namek Saga and when Mecha Frieza attacked Earth, Vegeta managed to become more powerful during the three years that followed. However, after Goku trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he consistently remained ahead of Vegeta for the rest of the Dragon Ball Z series.
6. Ultimate Gohan Does Nothing of Value in Dragon Ball Z
Gohan was always the character with the most potential in Dragon Ball Z, so while his Ultimate form isn’t a huge shock, it’s still a bit disappointing. He doesn’t really train to achieve it; instead, he mostly just sits still while the Old Kai unlocks the power he already had inside. He does have a short practice session with the Z-Sword before it breaks, but that’s about it.
Honestly, it really bums me out how they had Goku unlock Super Saiyan 3. It felt so anticlimactic for the strongest character in DBZ to reach what was hyped as the ultimate transformation like that! And then, to top it off, Ultimate Gohan just…doesn’t do anything! In the manga, he barely gets a few panels to fight Super Buu before Buutenks absolutely destroys him, and then he gets absorbed and that’s it. It’s a huge letdown.
5. Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta in Dragon Ball DAIMA Trivializes SSJ3
The new series, Dragon Ball DAIMA, is struggling with how it handles power-ups. While it was cool to see Vegeta become a Super Saiyan 3, it feels strange given that the series doesn’t fit with Dragon Ball Super. It’s also a recurring issue where Vegeta suddenly masters a new form after training off-screen, without us seeing the process.
To make matters worse, Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation feels even more underwhelming than Gotenks’ did. Unlike Goku in the original Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta doesn’t seem to suffer any stamina issues while using the form. Dragon Ball DAIMA simply asks viewers to believe Vegeta is naturally stronger. While his first Super Saiyan appearance was quickly challenged by Android 18 in DBZ, this version of Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta in DAIMA feels like a disregard for consistent power levels, prioritizing fan appeal over logical progression.
4. Super Saiyan Rage Future Trunks Comes Out of Nowhere
The introduction of Future Trunks’ Super Saiyan Rage at the end of the Goku Black Saga in Dragon Ball Super feels rushed and poorly explained. The form isn’t hinted at or developed beforehand, and viewers are left to guess that Trunks somehow absorbed God Ki during his training with Vegeta. Furthermore, it doesn’t quite make sense logically – Future Trunks wasn’t powerful enough to achieve this level of power, making his ability to cut Fused Zamasu in half feel unearned.
Ultimately, even with his Super Saiyan Rage form, Future Trunks fails to defeat Zamasu. Instead, Zamasu merges with the entire multiverse, leading to its complete destruction by Zeno. In the Dragon Ball Super manga, Trunks is weaker, but he still meaningfully contributes to the final fight without creating inconsistencies in the power levels. This is a much better outcome than giving Trunks a temporary, powerful form that doesn’t achieve anything and is quickly forgotten.
3. Orange Piccolo is Just Shameless Fan Service
Piccolo arguably receives the most undeserved power boosts in the Dragon Ball series. Throughout much of Dragon Ball Super, he consistently falls behind the Saiyans and newer characters, eventually needing to wish for increased strength from Shenron. Shenron even adds an extra surprise – transforming Piccolo into Orange Piccolo!
Orange Piccolo’s power-up wasn’t achieved through any training or accomplishment; it was simply a creative decision by Akira Toriyama to bring Piccolo’s strength back on par with Goku and Vegeta after he’d been significantly weaker for a long time. However, even with this boost, Orange Piccolo is overshadowed by Gohan’s new form in the climax of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, mirroring his defeat by Frieza on Namek.
2. Gohan Beast is Just a Poor Man’s Ultimate Gohan
Ultimate Gohan required Gohan to go through a specific training process and a ritual to achieve the form. In contrast, the Beast form appears suddenly, with no real build-up. It’s particularly strange because Gohan unlocks Beast thinking Piccolo is dead, but didn’t achieve a new transformation when his father was almost killed by Moro.
I’ve been watching the Z-Fighters closely, and before Gohan unlocked his Beast form, he wasn’t as strong as Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, or even Jiren during the Tournament of Power. But now that he’s unlocked it, Gohan Beast is easily the strongest fighter we’ve seen. Honestly, the only one who seems more powerful right now is Black Frieza, and he definitely trained hard to get there.
1. Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA Unlocking Super Saiyan 4 is Unsatisfying
The revelation in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot that Goku only achieved Super Saiyan 4 because of Neva actually makes the transformation feel less impactful. While the Dragon Ball DAIMA anime suggested he unlocked it through training, the problem remains that this form was learned without being shown and then held back until a critical moment.
One reason the Super Saiyan 4 transformation in Dragon Ball DAIMA feels disappointing is because its original debut in Dragon Ball GT was so impactful. Achieving Super Saiyan 4 in GT required significant effort from Goku, and it was meaningful because it connected him to his heritage and his bond with Pan, creating a truly emotional scene. In DAIMA, however, the transformation feels like it’s just for show and doesn’t have the same depth.
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2026-04-11 04:06