Last week, I stated that the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero panel at Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour was rather disappointing, and that we really didn’t get many extra details.
It was somewhat of a surprise then that a new trailer for the movie suddenly dropped yesterday, with some new posters and lots of interesting information. Why this wasn’t revealed at the panel is rather strange, but perhaps this new footage wasn’t ready yet, which they hinted at.
In this trailer, the first thing to note is that the animation clearly looks better. There were some people who were severely put off by the CGI animation style, but I imagine many people with this opinion will be converted by watching the new footage this trailer offers. Granted, there still appear to be a few shots that don’t look completely fluid and finished, but hopefully they’ll be fixed by the film’s release.
What becomes even more apparent with this new trailer is that this movie is going to be centred on Piccolo and Gohan. This is most welcome, as I have stated that many of Dragon Ball’s fantastic cast has been vastly underused in favour of Goku and Vegeta.
We see in this trailer that they along with Broly, Whis and Berus will appear, but I feel they will just play a bit part over the course of the film. Perhaps they will get involved with the main plot, but I feel only briefly.
Something incredibly interesting here is that Piccolo has a new form, which we can see in the trailer and has been confirmed by the official Dragon Ball website. This is because it is not a new form akin to his past Namekian fusions, but something new. The form is stated to be basically ‘Ultimate Piccolo’, just like Gohan’s famous transformation he attained during the Buu Saga.
It also brings a visual difference to Piccolo, with his skin now being a lighter green colour and many of the markings on his skin disappearing. I’m a fan of this alteration, as it is not something too drastic for the character’s iconic design and is instead a more subtle difference.
So, how did he attain this form if not for the assistance of the Old Supreme Kai? My own theory is that he was able to attain the form of his own accord, by more or less reverse-engineering what he saw of the form from Gohan.
More on extra details of the story now, and it’s now clear that Red Ribbon does indeed kidnap Pan. What could their intentions for the child possibly be? Does it have something to do with the massive pod at the end of the trailer, which is described as the ‘worst existence’? Perhaps they need her to help develop or power whatever is inside, with the potential she possesses.
It’s clear now that Gamma 1 and 2 are not going to be the main villains of the film, which many had already correctly speculated. The guessing game has now begun in earnest, with many predicting Cell or Android 21. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see Cell as I feel the prevalence of old characters reappearing has been done enough, and it would feel stale to do this again.
As far as Android 21 goes, she is not a part of the official story but has appeared in many video games since her debut in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Her character has been received very well also, so I could actually see her being the being in the pod. Add to that the fact she is similar to Cell, sharing cells of many different fighters, this makes more sense. Having a female villain will also be something that we have not seen in Dragon ball before.
Overall, these new details have made me much more excited for this film as well as many other fans. It’s clear that interest has been cooler in comparison to Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but I feel the excitement will only ramp up now until the film’s eventual release at the end of next month in Japan.
Are you now more excited for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero? What do you think may be in the mysterious pod? Leave your thoughts down below.
