Highlights
- Dragon Ball franchise, created by Akira Toriyama, has had a significant impact on the anime culture and has contributed to the diffusion of anime worldwide.
- Vegeta, a character in the Dragon Ball franchise, has recently received a power upgrade called Ultra Ego, which is one of the most powerful transformations in Dragon Ball Super.
- Ultra Ego relies on the intense emotions and lust for battle of its users, allowing them to tap into the power of destruction and use attacks and abilities similar to the Gods of Destruction. However, it has limitations and can be bypassed by powerful attacks, and its prolonged use can drain the user's stamina.
Akira Toriyama has been blessing the anime and manga communities with his drawing and storytelling skills for decades now with his Dragon Ball franchise which is undoubtedly one of the biggest manga and anime franchises of all time. There are a lot of things that make this franchise quite special like the fact that it is one of the highest-grossing manga and anime franchises ever, and not to forget its influence on the anime culture. Dragon Ball franchise is one of the original anime that contributed significantly to diffusing anime worldwide. The impact of the Dragon Ball franchise on anime is so evident that even people who do not watch anime still know who Goku is and which anime franchise he is from. This impact has been carried on by the Dragon Ball Super series, the ongoing series in the Dragon Ball franchise.
This has been possible because of Akira Toriyama's prowess as a manga author, he has given his fans a universe that is filled with unique characters, peculiar yet intriguing power systems, action, and much more. He has also given the anime world a perfect anti-hero with almost no flaws, Vegeta. Toriyama's prowess as a manga author reflects in the creation of Vegeta's character and reached its pinnacle with Vegeta's character development throughout the Dragon Ball franchise. However, the only complaint that fans had with Vegeta's character has been that he has not had a serious power upgrade for a long time. Well, the fans won't have this complaint anymore as Vegeta has recently received the power upgrade in Dragon Ball Super that fans had been waiting for. Let's explore Vegeta's newest power-up called, Ultra Ego.
Attaining Ultra Ego
Vegeta's Ultra Ego is one of the most powerful transformations in the Dragon Ball Super so far. This transformation is quite hard to attain and requires one to undergo God of Destruction training which is a gigantic task in itself. However, Vegeta was able to achieve Ultra Ego transformation as he got trained by Beerus in the ways of Gods of Destruction. Vegeta's Ultra Ego transformation came as a part of his battle with the Cerealian warrior called Granolah who wants to avenge the genocide of his race conducted by the Saiyans on the orders of Frieza when the latter was the emperor before getting defeated by Goku. Things got heated up when Granolah was not ready to listen to Goku and Vegeta saying that they had nothing to do with the wiping out of the Cerealian race and that the real culprit was Frieza. Granolah beat Goku to a pulp and the only person that stood between him and an unconscious Goku was Vegeta.
But Vegeta's Super Saiyan Blue Evolved was no match for Granolah's strength as the latter was granted the wish to become the strongest being in the universe. Granolah manhandled Vegeta after fighting with him and lands a pressure point attack that destroys the latter's battle armor. At this point, Vegeta goes into an ecstatic state because of his sheer love for battle especially for the ones where he can go all out without having to contemplate the consequences. This feeling helps Vegeta tap into Ultra Ego and Granolah looks in shock at him since Vegeta has an aura like that of a God of Destruction around him after the Ultra Ego transformation.
How Does Ultra Ego Work?
Ultra Ego unlike its counterpart Ultra Instinct relies on the blood thrust and intense emotions of its users. This form can only take place if the user is in the right mindset to take up the role of a destroyer. The sheer feeling of destroying things is what drives the user to be able to transform into an Ultra Ego state. When the user is ready to transform into an Ultra Ego state, there appears a powerful aura around them and the user's ki seems like that of a God as was observed by Goku when Vegeta tapped into Ultra Ego his ki felt to the former like that of a God but of a special kind.
Ultra Ego is the opposite of Ultra Instinct which focuses on the conquering self and letting the body move freely on its own ridding any type of unnecessary emotions, Ultra Ego focuses on its user drawing more and more power through self-indulgence in the battle to a large extent. Ultra Ego lets its wielder increase their power upon increasing their lust for battle and taking more and more damage.
Powers of Ultra Ego
Since it is a form of power used by the Gods of Destruction, the user of Ultra Ego is blessed to use all the attacks and abilities that a God of Destruction can use. One of the major attacks that an Ultra Ego user can throw at their enemy is a large ball of power of destruction which is an attack that is like a large sphere of overwhelming energy that can destroy anything that comes into contact with it. This move is often used by the Gods of Destruction like Beerus, Champa, and others.
However, like every other power in the Dragon Ball world, Ultra Ego also has its limitations. Although Ultra Ego's power increases with its user taking more critical damage, it does not make the user completely invincible to their opponent's attacks, and a powerful enough attack can smoothly bypass Ultra Ego's ability to protect its user. This is evident as Granolah successfully counters the power of the destruction ball attack and the impact of it causes Vegeta to transform back to his base form. Another major drawback of Ultra Ego is that while it allows the user to increase power at the cost of facing damage, it causes its user's stamina to eventually fall so low that the user can black out in the middle of the battle. However, it is safe to say that if there is anyone that can work smoothly with the limitations of Ultra Ego and still be able to use it in the best way possible has got to be Vegeta and the fans might even get to see him master Ultra Ego soon and become even stronger than Goku. But for that fans will have to wait for what Akira Toriyama has in store for the future of the Dragon Ball franchise and Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball Super is available to stream on Funimation & Crunchyroll.