Courtesy of the latest Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero preview, it seems everybody’s favorite Namekian is receiving a new transformation. During the course of the trailer, Piccolo powers up with a golden aura, sporting a slightly new look with paler green skin and without the wrinkles along his arms.
It’s a subtle change that fits Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s approach to modern transformations. Dragon Ball Super has thus far favored simple recolors such as Super Saiyan God and Golden Frieza over the more elaborate anatomical changes seen in Dragon Ball Z. Piccolo’s change was so subtle that many fans initially assumed it was just a simple change in lighting and not a full-on transformation -- but there's plenty more behind the new look.
The official site for the film confirms this is indeed a new form for Piccolo – specifically, his ''Potential-Unlocked'' form. The wording in Japanese is identical to that of Gohan’s transformation courtesy of the Elder Kai ritual, commonly referred to as ''Ultimate Gohan'' in the West, leading fans to dub this as ''Ultimate Piccolo''.
The notion of the Namekian receiving a new transformation has been the subject of speculation for years. Piccolo has long been the most popular non-Saiyan hero in Dragon Ball and was once on par with Goku, Vegeta and Gohan in terms of strength. He was even briefly the strongest character in the series during the ''Android Saga'' after fusing with Kami, becoming more powerful than any Super Saiyan at that point.
Sadly, ever since DBZ's ''Buu Saga'' Piccolo has fallen behind his Saiyan compatriots as new Super Saiyan transformations and fusions left him in the dust. He kept up with his training and, as Super depicted, eventually far surpassed Super Saiyan 2, but with Goku and Vegeta continuously picking up new transformations, Piccolo was left too far behind to catch up.
As such, fans of the character have long speculated about how he could be given a transformation to even the playing field with the Saiyans. With Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero's newest trailer, it seems this wish will be granted -- and if the naming convention holds true, then it’ll be courtesy of the Elder Kai.
For the uninitiated, back in the "Buu Saga" the Elder Kai -- who had been sealed in the Z Sword -- performed a ritual that unlocked Gohan’s full inner potential, granting him a form most commonly known as ''Ultimate Gohan''. The exact mechanics of Ultimate Gohan have long remained a mystery, however. Much like modern transformations, its differences are subtle. His ultimate form looks very similar to his base form, only with spikier hair and closed eye outlines, the latter of which the Son family usually only have while in Super Saiyan form.
Given the minimal aesthetic differences and the fact that Gohan retains these changes well into the ''End of Z'' epilogue set ten years later, many fans believed ''Ultimate'' was his new base form and that the Elder Kai had simply drawn his innate power out permanently. However, Dragon Ball GT and Super complicated matters by showing Gohan transforming into his Super Saiyan forms -- despite Ultimate making them redundant. Super also went back and forth on whether to depict base Gohan with his eye outlines or not.
The matter was seemingly settled for good in Super’s ''Tournament of Power'' arc, with Ultimate Gohan depicted as a transformation he had to tap into. At least, that was the case in the anime -- during his fight against Kefla in the manga, the differences between base and Ultimate Gohan are once again kept vague.
Assuming Piccolo received his pale-skinned and wrinkle-less ''Ultimate'' form from Elder Kai as well, then it does very little to answer the mystery of how the transformation ritual actually works. Nevertheless, Piccolo finally getting a new form after all these years is definitely a cause for excitement, and might finally allow the fan-favorite Namekian to go toe-to-toe with his Saiyan cast mates once more. North American fans will get to see Ultimate Piccolo in action when Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero hits theaters this summer.
