I Can Make Anything About Goku

PSA: Tumblr/Wordpress is preparing to start selling our user data to Midjourney and OpenAI.

you have to MANUALLY opt out of it as well.

to opt out on desktop, click your blog ➡️ blog settings ➡️ scroll til you see visibility options and it’ll be the last option to toggle.

to opt out on mobile, click your blog ➡️ scroll then click visibility ➡️ toggle opt out option.

if you’ve already opted out of showing up in google searches, it’s preselected for you. but you also have to opt out for each blog you own separately, so if you’d like to prevent AI scraping your blog i’d really recommend taking the time to opt out. (source)

Terapagos' Hidden Power

Terapagos is the newest legendary Pokemon, introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Indigo Disk DLC, the second part of the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. While the story of Scarlet and Violet isn’t over yet as we’re getting an epilogue in January, there’s a scene in the DLC that I absolutely have to talk about as the lore implications are nuts. Obviously there are gonna be spoilers for Indigo Disk, so if you haven’t played yet then you should probably click off this post now.

After capturing Terapagos in the Underdepths of Area Zero, you can gain access to a hidden interaction at Kitakami’s Crystal Pool, noteworthy for its… well, crystal formations of Terastal energy. Upon approaching the pool, Terapagos exits its Pokeball and calls forth a cloud of mist and, seemingly, Professor Sada/Turo before retreating back into its ball. This naturally prompts a discussion between the confused professor and the player, but it’s a brief discussion as after a few minutes the cloud of mist closes back in and takes the professor with it. While I won’t be going too in depth into the conversation with the professor, I will be going into how I think Terapagos is involved with it and revealing a potential hidden layer of mystery and intrigue to this new Pokemon.

Sada’s/Turo’s Arrival

So naturally, the arrival of Sada and Turo is what needs to be covered first as it’s what reveals new aspects of Terapagos to us. First, many would be led to assume that this is actually Professor Sada/Turo as this conversation takes place at the Crystal Pool, a location that’s said to allow people to speak to the dead. However, I believe this to be untrue. Early on in the conversation, Sada/Turo come to the conclusion that they must’ve been transported to the future by some unknown force.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-SiGwyCKA)

This wouldn’t exactly make sense, though. After all, the implication about the Crystal Pool is that those you meet there are dead, so why would this be any different? Even the Milotic you battle with Carmine is coded to have the Tera Typing of Ghost to further allude to this fact. The time machine can’t be at fault either as AI Sada/Turo explicitly states that those who travel through time cannot return to the present, which we see Sada/Turo do. But what if what’s happening here isn’t time travel?

Milotic

As stated previously, the Milotic you battle with Carmine to obtain the Crystal Cluster needed to fix the Teal Mask is coded to have the Tera Type of Ghost. This isn’t a hugely known fact though, as it’s only really viewable if you look into the game’s code (or look at Bulbapedia like I did). Obviously since I’m bringing it up, I think it has some relevance here. I find it odd that despite giving this Milotic a Tera Type different from its original type, it never actually undergoes Terastalization. I mean, why not? Wouldn’t that get the idea of “meeting the dead” across a lot better? Not to mention, we’ve seen the ghost of a Pokemon before in the form of the Marowak from Pokemon Tower. Well…

I don’t think that Milotic is dead at all. In fact, I don’t think it was even alive before you first approached the Crystal Pool with Carmine. “This guy must be an idiot, what could he possibly be talking about?”. First, rude, my feelings :(. Second, I actually do have some evidence to back this claim up, and it all lies in…

The Scarlet/Violet Book

Trust me, I’m gonna tie this all together, just stick with me here. If you read the copy of the Scarlet/Violet book in the Academy, you’ll find a section titled “Monsters of Area Zero”. It’s the section of the book that goes over the first discovery of Great Tusk/Iron Treads, as shown in the photo provided below.

(Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonScarletViolet/comments/zi7ef7/mysteries_of_the_scarletviolet_book_unlocked/)

So why’s this important? It’s simple, really. Quoting Arven:

“Wait, hold on... Isn't my mom's/dad's time machine the whole reason the ancient/future Pokémon ended up here in the first place? This book is from way before she/he made the time machine, but it mentions ancient/future Pokémon. Isn't that kinda...weird?”

Why yes, Arven, it IS weird! This entry basically confirms that the time machine isn’t what’s creating the Paradox Pokemon. Something else within Area Zero is creating these Pokemon from the “past” or “future” based on which game you play. I think the same thing is happening at the Crystal Lake with Milotic and Sada/Turo. That wasn’t a Milotic, and that isn’t Sada/Turo, they’re recreations of a Milotic and the professor made with Terastal energy. And who molded these recreations?

Terapagos and the “Time Machine”

Time to tie this all together with a neat bow. Yeah, there’s obviously a reason that Terapagos’ presence is required for this interaction to happen. It made the Sada/Turo that the player interacts with at the Crystal Pool, just like how it made the Paradox Pokemon originating in Area Zero. Yeah, I’m going as far as to say it also created the Paradox Pokemon. The “time machine” was powered by Terastal energy, the same energy used to create the Milotic, the phantom professor, and presumably our Koraidon/Miraidon. The idea might strike some as odd, as if it’s not a time machine, when what is it?

While it’s hard to say what it is for certain, we can make some inferences on its true identity. Like I said, the whole machine is powered by Terastal energy, which I’m theorizing has the power to create entirely new organisms. The most difficult part to intuit is what it creates organisms from, but I think I have a pretty solid idea: imagination.  Think about the first Pokemon that was pulled through the machine. Koraidon or Miraidon, depending on the version of the game you’re playing. These Pokemon are meant to represent past and future versions of Cylizar, as stated by their dex entries:

Koraidon’s Violet Dex Entry: “This Pokémon resembles Cyclizar, but it is far burlier and more ferocious. Nothing is known about its ecology or other features.”Miraidon’s Scarlet Dex Entry: “Much remains unknown about this creature. It resembles Cyclizar, but it is far more ruthless and powerful.”

And what Pokemon was Heath, someone who you could say Sada/Turo idolized, prominently shown with in the Scarlet/Violet book, a volume which the professor admits is precious to them in their conversation with you at the Crystal Pool? Why, Cyclizar, of course!

(Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonScarletViolet/comments/zi7ef7/mysteries_of_the_scarletviolet_book_unlocked/)

I just can’t see this being a coincidence whatsoever, the choice to give Heath a Cyclizar while making both box legendaries past and future forms of it just feels so intentional. The Paradox Pokemon having been created during the original expedition makes sense as well. Before they had ever seen a Paradox Pokemon, they had been researching the regular Pokemon they were finding in Area Zero, and given that they were scientists it’s natural to assume they were most likely theory crafting what other kinds of Pokemon could live down there. It was only after a couple days of descending into Area Zero that the team encountered their first Paradox Pokemon. This could even explain why the Milotic at the Crystal Pool had a unique Ghost Tera Type; meeting the dead at the Crystal Pool is a common folktale in Kitakami, and the Crystal Pool is full of crystals of Terastal energy, just like Area Zero.

So, let’s wrap that neat little bow on all this. Terastal energy is clearly some form of creation energy, as it’s been shown to create not only the Paradox Pokemon, but also Milotic and even a duplicate professor. We’ve only ever seen this form of creation occur in two places: Area Zero and the Crystal Pool. Terapagos is stated to be the source of the Terastal phenomenon in it’s Scarlet Pokedex entry…: “Terapagos protects itself using its power to transform energy into hard crystals. This Pokémon is the source of the Terastal phenomenon.”

…and the interaction with the professor at the Crystal Pool does not happen without the player catching Terapagos. The “time machine” is really a machine that brings Pokemon from your imagination to life, and the Crystal Pool shows you terastal energy copies of those who have passed away rather than genuine ghosts. With all that in mind…

Terapagos’ Hidden Power

The true power of Terapagos, the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, is the power of creation. Be it replications of deceased individuals and books they held dear, or entirely new Pokemon that have never existed before, Terapagos can pull ideas from the minds of individuals and, using Terastal energy, will them into reality.

Farewell Sensei #ThankYouToriyama

Saiyan Duality - A SSG and SS4 Comparison

I don’t think anyone would argue that one of the most recognizable aspects of the Dragon Ball franchise is the transformations the characters tend to undergo. From an old hermit bulking up to an absurd degree to the legendary Super Saiyan, the franchise has its fair share of power ups, but the users of many of these iconic forms usually fall under one category of people - the aforementioned Saiyans.

The Saiyans, across all forms of Dragon Ball media, have over a dozen different transformations, each one becoming more and more powerful than the last. From the simple Great Ape to the lengthily named Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Controlled Berserk (I wish I was making that up), the repertoire of Saiyan forms is immense, but I constantly see two of these forms being compared: Super Saiyan 4 and Super Saiyan God.

Both forms are very iconic, with Super Saiyan 4 being a GT trademark and Super Saiyan God being the first of many new transformations we see in Dragon Ball Super. I’ve seen a multitude of debates online trying to prove that one of these forms is better than the other, so I wanted to throw my hat into the ring and give my take: while I have a personal preference for God, both forms are absolutely incredible at what they attempt to portray in those who use the form, and I’m gonna go a little in depth as to why.

Starting the Super Saiyan 4 section with a little bit of background info, the older of the two forms made its debut in GT during the fight against Baby. To access the form, a Saiyan needs to both have a tail and already be able to transform into a Super Saiyan. They must transform into a Great Ape, turn Super Saiyan on top of that to become a Golden Great Ape, and then control that state to obtain Super Saiyan 4.

Super Saiyan 4 is remarkably different from the previous Super Saiyan forms, sporting no golden hair and instead keeping it back and having it grow far longer and having it cover the user’s shoulders, though it’s worth noting that Super Saiyan 3’s hairstyle is much longer. To make it more visually distinct, the user’s body is also covered in red fur save for parts of their chest, with their tail also turning red and gaining a red trim around their eyes. Curiously, Goku is also turned into an adult when he accesses this transformation, which is explained as a unique property of this form: any user of the transformation has their body reverted (or propelled into) its prime, meaning they will always appear as a young adult. Lastly, different users of SS4 have slightly different looking versions of the form. For instance, Goku’s version of the form has a shade of red fur that has a slight pink hue to it while Vegeta’s fur is crimson, and Goku has yellow eyes while Vegeta has blue eyes.

Now that the backstory and design of SS4 has been talked about, it’s time to talk a little bit about SSG. Super Saiyan God is a legend closely related to the legend of the Super Saiyan that Frieza feared. The legend involves the Saiyan Yamoshi and his five pure hearted allies battling against the evil hearted Saiyans. Yamoshi actually obtains Super Saiyan, but still loses the battle and his life, and now his spirit wanders through Universe 7 trying to find the Super Saiyan God.

There are only a couple ways for a Saiyan to obtain Super Saiyan God. The first method is a ritual, in which five other pure hearted Saiyans give their power to a sixth, transforming the sixth into the Super Saiyan God. As a side note, this ritual only works because of the wandering spirit of Yamoshi, making it a Universe 7 exclusive phenomenon. The other way for a Saiyan to obtain SSG is to train with god ki, which can typically only be done by training with someone who already possesses godly ki, such as Gods of Destruction.

Super Saiyan God, as a transformation, actually looks quite simple compared to other Super Saiyan forms. The user’s hair and eyes turn red, they become slimmer and even look a little younger, and their aura looks like fire. Super Saiyan God, similarly to SS4, also seems to give different users of the forms slightly different shades of red, though it’s not nearly as apparent as it is for SS4.

When putting the two forms next to each other, it can be hard to find similarities between them. Both feature some kind of red hair but outside of that, noticeable similarities are sparse, and I think that’s the point. Both forms have to portray entirely separate ideas: the wild nature of the Saiyans and the calmer demeanor of the Gods, and they portray these ideas incredibly well in my eyes. While I do have more of a preference for SSG like I said earlier, it’s not hard to see why so many fans of Dragon Ball are allured by the primal look of SS4.

Ultimately though, if you ask me, trying to compare the two to try and prove that one is objectively better is just a waste of time. It feels like God was designed to be the other side of the same coin as SS4, the heads to its tails. Both designs have their strengths and their weaknesses, so at the end of the day, whichever form is “superior” will always be up to viewer interpretation and nothing more.

DBS Manga Return + New Arc Announced! Here's My Speculation:

Just yesterday, we were informed of the return of the Dragon Ball Super manga and the reveal of its next arc being an adaptation of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero set to start on December 20th. It’s speculated to start with prequel events that will lead up into the events we see take place in the film. While I don’t think anything that happens in the movie will change drastically in the manga, I think starting the arc with these prequel events is a fun way to adapt the arc!

The arc will feature Goten and Trunks becoming super heroes, and it’s nice seeing the two of them get something to do! I’m hoping we get to see other characters that appear in the movie like Android 18 and Krillin during these prequel events as well, as the Granolah arc really didn’t feature a whole lot of characters and it’s been a while since we’ve seen everyone else in the manga. I just wanted to take a second to theorize about what may happen during the “prequel” section of the arc as I think there’s a lot they could do there.

Videl

Videl hasn’t had very many moments to shine in DBS compared to other characters, so I think this could be a very good opportunity to show us more of her character. I’m not expecting her to fight Cell Max or anything, obviously something like that wouldn’t happen, I just think it’d be cool (and also pretty likely) that we’ll get to see a bit of her in this arc’s prequel events. We learn that she teaches martial arts at a school now during the movie, so maybe we’ll get a glimpse at the school? Who knows, I just think it’d be a neat addition to add in there.

Marron

Marron, like Videl, is another character who we haven’t seen a ton of in DBS, and I think we’ll see at least a brief appearance of her. If we do, it’s also very likely that she’ll have a new design similar to Goten and Trunks, as the last time we saw her was during the Tournament of Power if my memory serves me correctly, and at least 2 years have passed since then. If she does get a new design, it’s likely she’ll look similar to how she did during the End of Z, as the time when EoZ takes place is approaching in universe.

Gohan’s Makankosappo Training

Gohan states during the movie that he spent some of his spare time practicing the Makankosoppo in order to surprise Piccolo, but we never got to see him practice the technique. If the prequel events turn out to be more relaxed compared to the Granolah arc, it’s possible we could see him practicing the technique.

Gotenks

While Gotenks making an appearance in an arc that puts focus on Goten and Trunks makes sense, I doubt we’ll see him during the prequel events. The two of them messing up and merging into fat Gotenks during the movie tells me that the duo haven’t been practicing the technique much and have gotten rusty, so for them to pull it out during the prequel section, fuse into Gotenks perfectly, and then proceed to botch the technique during Cell Max would just be weird, at least in my opinion. The possibility of him appearing before the main events of Super Hero is still there though, so I figured I’d just bring it up. I’d definitely be nice to see a properly formed teenage Gotenks in action, though!

Final Thoughts

While I don’t think this arc is going to be anything mind blowing, I think doing a Super Hero arc instead of immediately diving into a “Black Frieza” arc is for the best. I’m hoping it’ll be a good mix of action and slice of life content without stretching on for too long like the Granolah arc did. Ultimately we’ll just have to wait until December when the arc starts to see how it goes, but regardless like I said originally, it’s nice to see Goten and Trunks getting something to do in the manga, it feels like it’s been way too long since they’ve been relevant.

If you read all this, thank you! I just wanted to spend some time speculating on this as I’m very excited to see the DBS manga finally return. I’m still planning on doing a Sonic Frontiers review like I stated previously and I’m still working on writing other Dragon Ball related things, I’m hoping to have at least one of those out soon!

CONQUER MULTIVERSUS

Bonus: when he gets there...

hanvi barbie and ken meme, but switched roles this time!! 😂💕

Ok, I've FINALLY finished playing through Pokemon Scarlet's post game. It's a superb game in my opinion, and I think I will be writing a full length review on it after I make one for Sonic Frontiers. Now that I've finished Pokemon I can sit down for a second playthrough of Frontiers to get my thoughts in order on how I feel about the game. It'll probably still take a little bit to get out but I'll get it done!

I've just finished Ranma 1/2, all 407 chapters! While I can't say it was the ending I wanted, it was very cute right up until the end and there's absolutely a lot to love about this story. I'd like to go more in depth as to what I do and don't like about it but that'll be at a later date after I've had some time to sit on it. I'm honestly sad it's over, I wish we got more of it! Maybe one day...

that was wildly inappropriate of you. I think I’m in love with you