Dragon Ball Z fans might be surprised to learn that one of the franchise’s most iconic fusions, Vegito, almost didn’t exist. Creator Akira Toriyama revealed that the Potara Fusion was, in fact, a last-minute “plan B”. The change was necessary to differentiate the canonical manga story from the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, which had already used the original idea.
The Original Plan: Gogeta with the Fusion Dance
As revealed by Akira Toriyama himself, the initial plan for the Majin Buu Saga was for Goku and Vegeta to use the Fusion Dance, the same technique Goten and Trunks used to create Gotenks. In fact, previews in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine at the time even announced that “Gogeta” (the result of the dance) would appear in the main story.
However, a problem arose: Toei Animation, the studio responsible for the anime and movies, had already created and used the concept of Gogeta in the film Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn.
The Quick Fix: The Arrival of Potara Fusion
To avoid redundancy and not simply copy what the movie had already done, Toriyama needed a quick and creative solution. The answer lay in a detail he had been drawing for some time: the earrings worn by the Supreme Kais.
“‘I was always drawing earrings [on the Supreme Kai], so I thought, ‘maybe I can use these…”’, Toriyama explained in an interview. Thus, the Potara Fusion was born, a new method that was not only visually distinct but also presented as a superior and (at the time) permanent fusion.
The Unexpected Legacy of “Plan B”
This last-minute decision drastically changed the Dragon Ball universe. The creation of the Potara Fusion not only gave us Vegito but also added entire layers to the series’ mythology.
- Old Kai: The backstory of the Old Kai, who is permanently fused with an old witch, only exists because of this rule.
- Kibito Kai: The fusion between Kibito and the Supreme Kai also stems from this mechanic.
- Dragon Ball Super: The Goku Black and Zamasu saga relies entirely on the Potara Fusion concept, culminating in the creation of Fused Zamasu.
This shows how a last-minute decision to avoid a conflict with the movie ended up becoming one of the franchise’s cornerstones, being crucial for events seen decades later in Dragon Ball Super.
