Dragon Ball is a series all about fighting and persevering through tough times to get even stronger than before. Because of this, the heroes often face off against powerful villains with the strength to destroy entire planets who the heroes then have to match with equal strength if they can ever hope to defeat them.

However, there have been some Dragon Ball villains that have proven to be so powerful that the Z-Fighters simply cannot out-muscle them. This is where the concept of fusion comes in. By having two warriors merge into one, an incredibly powerful warrior is born who is even stronger than the two people that made them. One of the ways to do this is through the Potara Earrings, so, let's take a look at this fusion method and see why it's so powerful.

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What Is The Potara Fusion?

The Potara Fusion method owes its history to the Kai's of the multiverse. Originally intended as nothing more than a decoration piece to make the design of the characters stand out, Akira Toriyama later retconned these earrings to be items that the Kais, and others, use for fusion purposes. This fusion typically lasts for 1 hour but if a Supreme Kai is involved, then it is permanent.

In essence, the Potara Fusion works identically to the Fusion Dance, in that it takes 2 separate characters and merges them into a single entity. However, this is by far the easiest known method for fusion in all of Dragon Ball, as it only requires the participants to put on the earrings on opposite ears. As soon as this happens, the two are pulled towards one another like magnets, where they merge and form a warrior who's stronger than either of them.

The warrior formed through the Potara Fusion is incredibly powerful, as it takes the powers of both participants and adds them together. Moreover, if the participants are rivals, like Goku and Vegeta, then not only is the strength of the two added, but a multiplier is added to the resultant power level. This is called the 'Rival Boost', and though it hasn't been mentioned since the Buu Saga, it makes the fusion even stronger.

Just like with the Fusion Dance, the resultant fusion is not only a mix of the participant's powers but also their physical features and personalities. Since Gogeta is more like Goku with his relatively kinder outlook, Vegito is more like Vegeta due to his prideful personality and ruthless attitude, mocking his opponents and making it known how much stronger he is than them.

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Strengths of the Potara Fusion

The warrior formed because of the Potara Fusion is one of the strongest beings in the entire multiverse. In the Buu Saga, no one was able to stand against Gohan-absorbed Super Buu, not even Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form, which led to him and Vegeta fusing into Vegito by using the Potara Earrings. The resulting warrior was so powerful that Buu's most powerful form couldn't even land a scratch on him.

This is because of the aforementioned union of Goku and Vegeta's power levels, which is even further augmented due to the Rival Boost to an extent where a galaxy-destroying alien couldn't even touch Vegito. The fusion's move set is also wildly powerful, as much of it comprises of extremely powerful moves that have never been seen before in the series, such as the incredible Spirit Sword or the Scatter Finger Beam. Moreover, Vegito can also use moves exclusive to either Goku or Vegeta and can even mix their attacks to create devastating finishers such as the Final Kamehameha.

Perhaps the biggest advantage that the Potara method has over the Fusion Dance is ease of usage. All the participants need to do is put the Earrings and they will fuse, unlike the Fusion Dance which requires perfect symmetry of precise movements that can go wrong very easily. The Potara Fusion also has a time limit of an hour for mortals but is eternal for Supreme Kais.

Weaknesses of the Potara Fusion

The biggest weakness of the Potara method is unreliability. Although the fusion was initially said to be permanent, it was later retconned to only be permanent for Supreme Kais, with Gowasu stating that if mortals were to use the Potara Earrings, the fusion would only last for 1 hour. Many originally believed it was Buu's magic and unique biology that caused Vegito to defuse but it was later retconned to be the timer running out.

However, an exponential amount of power can make the timer run out even faster, which is the biggest drawback of the Earrings. While the resulting fusion is always extremely powerful, if they use up too much Ki, the fusion will split, making it the inferior fusion method when it comes to fights against powerful villains who may be equally as powerful as the fusion itself, which is what happened when Super Saiyan Blue Vegito defused against Merged Zamasu before he could finish him off.

Therefore, the fusion methods are both pretty situational. If the fight is against someone who may not be as strong as Vegito, then the Potara Earrings can be used for a quick and reliable fusion. However, if the Earrings are not available, as only Kais can keep them, the Fusion Dance is more reliable due to the 30-minute timer being a given, regardless of how much power is used.

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Dragon Ball Super

Action

Adventure

Release Date

July 5, 2015

Creator

Akira Toriyama

Number of Episodes

131