Summary
Fusions are some of the most powerful characters in the entireDragon Ballseries. This is because they take the strength of two characters and not only multiply it, but also give it an additional boost on top of that to ensure that the subsequent fusion is far stronger than either of its constituents. Though Goku and Vegeta have been the subject of many of the series' most notable fusions, Goten and Trunks have formed the fan-favorite Gotenks.
Gotenks made his debut inDragon Ball’sBuu Saga, the same saga that introduced the concept of fusion among Saiyans. Though he has made brief appearances since then, the Buu Saga was the one where he showedall of his transformationsfor the very first time. So, let’s take a look at each one of these forms and go over why Gotenks is such a powerful, albeit silly, character.
Debut Date
May 16, 2025
When the threat of Buu was growing by the minute, the heroes knew that they needed something even greater to fight against the villain. This meant that Goten and Trunks had to fuse byusing the Fusion Dance technique. However, the first two times that they performed this, they messed up, causing the fusion to go awry, where they formed into Fat Gotenks and Skinny Gotenks respectively.
He’s certainly well-equipped, isn’t he?
These failed versions of Gotenks highlight the biggest drawback of the Fusion Dance, as movements that aren’t perfectly synchronized can ruin the entire fusion. Both of them had very poor stamina as Fat Gotenks was immediately out of breath after a brief jog, whereas Skinny Gotenks is shown to be so weak that he could barely keep standing up without losing his breath.
After their initial 2 attempts at fusion failed, Goten and Trunks finally managed to pull off the Fusion Dance, forming a brilliant flash of light that signified the birth of how Gotenks should be! His personality is essentially amixture of Trunks and Gotenthat comes together to form an incredibly powerful and cocky fighter who makes sure to trash-talk his opponents at each chance that he gets.
Wow! Feel that? What power. He’s the one alright!
Gotenks' first fight was also a test of the strength of the fusion, as he went up against Buu just as soon as he formed, overconfidently thinking of his strength as being sufficient enough for the battle against the villain. However, he swiftly gets defeated by Buu and saved by the other Z-Fighters, retreating until the fusion ends so he can face the villain again in his Super Saiyan form. Despite this, Gotenks fought Super Buu in his base form as well.
June 19, 2025
Upon escaping from certain death at the hands of Majin Buu, Goten and Trunks fuse once again and eventually transform into a Super Saiyan, significantly magnifying their strength from before, now confident that they can defeat Majin Buu. In this time, however, Majin Buu was defeated andabsorbed by his evil counterpartto form Super Buu, a being even stronger than he was before.
Hey, Majin Butt! How’s that headache feeling?!
After Super Buu made his way into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he briefly fought against and overpowered base Gotenks, only for the fusion to power up into his Super Saiyan form and give the villain the fight that he was looking for. It was in this form that Gotenks used his iconic Galactic Donut and Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, which ended up causing a significant amount of damage to Super Buu, who was far stronger at this point than any villain before him.
July 06, 2025
After Piccolo destroys the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Super Buu becomes enraged and opens a portal through his screams that gives him a way out of the dimension. Seeing that there is no way for the others to escape, Gotenks tells Piccolo that he has one more super move that may help them and transforms into a Super Saiyan 3, shocking Piccolo and proceeding to open up a portal exactly the same way as Super Buu to give the heroes a way out of the Time Chamber.
You’re not taking this seriously… Bad idea!
Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks proves to be an incredibly powerful adversary, as he proceeds to humiliate Super Buu due to how much stronger he is than him. In this fight,he reveals powerful and bizarre new moves, chief of which is the infamous Charging Ultra Buu Buu Volleyball, which encapsulates Super Buu within an energy ball that Gotenks and Piccolo play volleyball with, dealing massive damage to the villain. However, the sheer amount of energy this form takes up means that it can only last for 5 minutes as he defuses into Goten and Trunks.
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Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z is a Japanese anime series produced by Toei Animation and a sequel to the 1986 Dragon Ball series. It continues the adventures of Son Goku as an adult while also paralleling the life of his son Gohan. Son Goku typically defends the Earth from villains like Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. The series is followed by Dragon Ball GT and then Dragon Ball Super.
