Ooh this page is top-tier, I love that shading. Dr. Gero looks incredibly menacing. Also Videl looks dead

That's NUTS, Piccolo is brutal

Presumably, Piccolo can shrink the bubble down to a personal level for a second, and then move around in frozen time alone. So like a smaller version of I'K'L's power. That's my guess, anyway. Funny page either way.

Ah next page is the Piccolo future vision, then

Did they ever explain how Future Trunks was able to travel if it's only possible for Vargas-universe guys? I genuinely don't remember. 4 Replie(s)

Holy shit that's awesome. The art is insane, as well. Love to see Vegito going all out super fast like that; bro was hankering for a chance to get back at XXI for ruining the tournament.

Videl has died more in this story than the main one lol

So I'm guessing that XXI made an apocalyptic wish that caused "darkness to befall our heroes," and South Kai's outburst right before that last panel was him using IKL's power to freeze everything, most likely to pause the effects of the aforementioned wish.

No idea what's going on with all the spikes everywhere, though. Idk what kinda wish XXI made that would result in that.

Oh shoot Juna is an artificial being so she'll be immune to I'K'L's technique, I bet that'll come into play 2 Replie(s)

God this page is gorgeous, I'm gonna miss these animations when the special is over. It's insane that this is free

Man, Cell is so cool

He keeps using his ult without stamina breaking, what a fool
But like actually, why would an open space increase his chances of landing a hit with a ranged attack? She can just move in any direction... Uub's not particularly tactically minded, is he?

These animated pages are so sick, oh my god

He is still an android. Probably doesn't have to breathe regardless of his frost demon DNA or lack thereof. 1 Replie(s)

Ah yeah there's the XXI knowing namekian, called it.

Good to see our heroes have good reflexes and foresight, for once. I don't even mind that it doesn't seem to be working well, at least they were prepared at all.

Asura-art Frieza my beloved

The timing here is questionable and kinda awkward, but we just gotta wait and see what the full plan's gonna be here.

At least the spectators aren't happy too.

I wonder what's up with the namekian translation thing. He probably doesn't actually need a translator, right? No way he'd allow a third party so much potential to ruin his wish.

I wonder what Goku's vibe will be when he comes back. He's obviously not the sore loser type, but from his perspective, this tournament has been a total bust: "come to our tournament to fight the strongest people from across the mlutiverse!" and he gets two real fights across six matches and they're both with people from his own universe. Would be neat if he was like actually bummed out about that.


Isn't there something about purely artificial beings not being able to be brought back? Like how 16 is still dead in the main universe to this day


He was dead.


DBM is frequently disappointing, especially lately. Not having faith is a basic exercise in pattern recognition. 2 Replie(s)

I'm still just grossed out by the idea of XXI getting I'K'L's busted powers tbh. It's weird that he could just wish for something that powerful. Like, the other counters he wished for were all hyper-specific and small-scale, so I figured this obviously smaller weaker Shenron would be able to grant them. But what is this? He wished for a power that lets him freeze time and one-shot most people? Why would he not have done this before? Why did his Shenron act like he wouldn't be able to help XXI win this match, if he had the capability to give him an obviously perfect counter to 99% of the characters in the multiverse? Like, this isn't clever or out-of-the-box thinking at all, he might as well have just said "I wish I won the finale" and it just magically happen. Hell, the "give Goku back his heart virus" idea I saw floating around a few pages prior is WAY better than this.

I'm still on the hook with this comic, but man is this a rough ride, and it's very hard to imagine how this plot would get set right. 1 Replie(s)

XXI pulled a XXI in the final round lol

I think we should calm down, I know this comic has shaken peoples' trust over time but we shouldn't be at the point of believing that this tournament almost two decades in the making is actually just ending with a fluke one-shot. There's obviously more to this, guys, whether there's some incoming rule-technicality or some other tournament-interrupting event or whatever.

Now that I've defended it to some degree, I'll admit this comic is too addicted to subversions of the "disappointing" variety. This is the grand finale of the tournament we've spent all this time following. Even if there's some twist planned in the next few pages, was this really the best way to set it up? We couldn't have played it more straight and preserved the "this is a real fight" vibe even a little further? Goku with his new cool form couldn't even be allowed to make it further than the last few guys XXI fought? That's especially weird, that Buu vs XXI gave us XXI's "true form" and Gast vs XXI went on to give us A TON of "unveiled XXI" content but this didn't give us anything. It's so deflating.

In terms of theorizing, prior to this page, I was guessing that South Supreme Kai was in league with XXI and was cheating, freezing time for him and killing Goku so that XXI could present himself as "having won" and nobody would be the wiser (which is what the last chapter was setting up; that SSK has I'K'L's powers and is under some level of corrupted control by XXI). But now this page's dialogue tells me that there's just two mfs going around inheriting I'K'L's power, neither for a discernable reason? This is awkward and there's not much to grab onto here. I hope XXI didn't actually get I'K'L's powers, because he's already insufferable with his one-shot powers as is. He doesn't need another better one again.

Oh wow, this is nuts, I wonder how he did that

Man goku's so cool

Why would he not just drag them along with him? Slumping Old Kai seems insane by contrast. Maybe that's intentional? 1 Replie(s)

There's no way Raditz is stronger than South Supreme Kai, not even if Old Kai finished his ritual, which he did not appear to. Weird time to lie, Old Kai. Still, I'm curious where this is going. I still think it's not gonna be what XXI showed us earlier.

I also hope Ultimate Raditz gets some kind of actual spotlight or relevance at some point; I wouldn't have suspected that DBM bought into the cringe "Raditz is a joke of a Saiyan" meme perception floating around the fandom, especially with how well characters like Yamcha have been treated in this comic, but after that cursed "what-if" chapter, I don't know what to expect anymore. Optimism is on the downturn.

If this was 100% real as presented earlier, we probably wouldn't be seeing it again in-action right now. Something unpredictable is about to happen.

Maybe it's an illusion? This is throwing me for a loop because page 2482 seems to imply that South Supreme Kai is under some kind of dark influence that would make him do this, but page 2450, which would happen after, seems more like XXI literally just told him with words, no extra weird dark puppeteering attached. But obviously he wouldn't just murder these two without some kind of evil brainwashing mumbo jumbo, which we assume XXI has because of the future evil Vegito theories... It's hard to wrap my head around what could be happening here.


I'd say that the character whose main characteristic was curiosity to such a level that he absorbed most of his universe just to build up a massive wealth of knowledge, skills, and powers, was in turn beaten by literally the exact same spell that stopped him the first time would constitute as some pretty flawed Doylist-motivated dismissive writing. It doesn't make much sense that "how to counterspell the spell that beats Buu" would be something he never figured out or looked into. 3 Replie(s)

There's my GOAT

Where's the Frieza Force's time machines and capsules at?

I mean, sure, technology doesn't advance in the same way everywhere, but Dr. Gero's androids supersede pretty much all of the Frieza Force's tech, which seemed better than that of Thorn's homeworld. I find it hard to believe that bro is just "that good" at this one specific relevant thing, especially moreso than the super genius scientist that's been working at this for decades(?) 2 Replie(s)

Bulma getting tech-mogged is pretty cringe. I could've sworn this dude came from a magic medieval fantasy-styled planet, too. Lame character with lame execution.

Pan remote controlling an android is great, though 2 Replie(s)

Whoa, insane page jump

lmao the asexual namekian

And Vegeta's kids' reactions

At least the character designs are delightful to look at

Big buff bashful lady blushing is wonderful

Faputa cameo is insane though 1 Replie(s)

Hell yeah, wonderful page spread. I love the Heloites standing in formation

Praying that Yamcha gets one too on the next page for I'K'L

I don't really understand "highest kill count". Do they mean like "amount of matches that ended in fatalities"? Gast definitely is viable for that award, but Vegeta 13 killed more people across the tournament in total, for sure.



I think he just doesn't like his awards lol 1 Replie(s)

I'K'L's mom and Mary Sue are both still around right lol 1 Replie(s)

I'm loving these XXI pages, he's very efficient in his redirections. Extremely two-faced.

I wonder where that universe 10 thing is going, though. I didn't remember that the old kai relocated there, but like... so what? Would the Supreme Kais care about what he's up to? It's not like they're breaking any rules or endangering any other universes... Wouldn't this be bad for XXI, since Old Kai is working against him and is probably more trustworthy to the Supreme Kais than him? Old Kai could just be like "the dude that told you to come over here is an evil universe-devouring monster and I'm scheming to stop him" and the Supreme Kais would probably get on board with that. Strange move, that.

XXI having to bring himself back down to Earth is an unexpected treat. And God damn, he fucked up Gast worse than I thought.

YES! LET'S GOOOO
I didn't want to jinx it with speculations on the last page but this is a way more interesting route than just "Gast gets killed by XXI." We now have a living witness to XXI being crazy cosmic evil, and more, a witness that actually will be concerned about that.

Oh sick, it seems like Dr. Gero is alive (or lasted longer than he normally would've, at least) and made another few android batches.

I love these designs. 28 is an easy win of course but 31 resembling a school teacher and a bully mixed together is great too. Always loved androids bringing that "domestic normie" vibe like 17 and 18 did.

I hope he manages to beat Janemba by the skin of his teeth, even if XXI ultimately wins.

Oh, he's so GOD DAMN COOL

Damn, he's getting fucked up lol 1 Replie(s)

Lol so much foreboding in such little time.

"I don't have any instant attack plan" seems an awful lot like something a guy with one of his iconic Instant Attack Plans(tm) would say. Namekians have a lot of weaknesses to exploit, although Gast has shown to be resilient to these before. But, he also was instantly killed by Zen Buu's magic, so clearly his magic defense could use some work. Maybe he came prepared this time?

As always, I'm VERY interested to see what XXI is gonna try to pull this time. I hope Gast forces him to actually show his hand.


This is the last fight in the semifinals; Goku vs Vegeta was the other one. Gast, XXI, and Goku are the only contestants left in the tournament. Whoever wins this fight will fight Goku in the finals.


That would be pretty funny tbh. We're so used to XXI pulling his little magic tricks and Gast enters the ring with a dozen anti-magic defense spells or whatever, and then XXI just gets ripped and starts punching the shit out of him until he loses lmao

Ooh, I love these XXI animated pages. It's crazy to think that the semifinals are coming to an end with this fight. I truly have no idea what to expect here. 1 Replie(s)

Uh huh.

"Man, that sure was funny!"

At least it's over now. But hey, this chapter wasn't completely pointless! Now we know not to be hyped or expect anything when Raditz actually does get his power up in a non-meme chapter, because it's a weak little funny haha meme plot point that isn't actually worth / setting up anything. So there's that, I guess.

Yeah yeah, cut to them getting smashed in the next page, we all know this one. Hilarious.

This is a very cool page on its own, though.

I assume the emergency button just sends the entire universe back all at once. Idk if there's anything in the story that contradicts that so far, but that seems to be how it works.

Otherwise Vegeta and Nappa should still be in the tournament area T-T

Kakarot is gonna be the first to get obliterated lol 2 Replie(s)

Second panel is the earrings being left behind.

> Sent back to their universe in the flashback
> Still there in the present

Seriously, what are we doing here, I'm so lost. Is this supposed to be a bad future vision inside a flashback? Why would we spend this much time on something like that? Yet, I'm hoping it is, because this would be a horrible waste of U13 if that was it.

When the arc that's just for fun isn't fun at all:

I'm just annoyed that Mystic Raditz was wasted on a bit. I'K'L, ironically, had less promise and was more overtly a meme from the start, and yet somehow, he mattered more and delivered something interesting. Raditz's motives were interesting, the idea of someone getting mystic other than Gohan was interesting, the fate of universe 13 was interesting, but this is just stupid. Kakaditz is stupid. It's not a good feeling, being embarrassed that one was hyped about something that turned out to be this cynical and meaningless.

Like, remember the U3 specials about how the throne kept changing hands over time, and we got to speculate on how it ended up the way it did, and it climaxed with Vegeta beating Broly by using Bardock's clever plan to dispatch him? I'd always thought that Raditz's overthrowing of Vegeta would go something like that; the mystic powerup would bring him up to just below Vegeta's level (which is already a fuckin hilarious lowball, btw, this comic did Raditz and the powerup WAY dirtier than deserved), and then he'd have to use some kind of tactics or plan to actually BEAT Vegeta and deal with Nappa, all while juggling Kakarot being a nutjob. Instead it's all written off as a single stupid fight with a REALLY stupid lame fusion that surmounts to literally nothing because this is either a vision, or a flashback that somehow got retconned magically back into the status quo that the present-day chapters enforce; both options being fucking wastes of time spent not having fun.

idk how many more "well that was a disappointing waste of [x exuberant amount of years]" I got in me, man. I always wanna tell people that DBM is a cut above the rest in terms of fan content but it seems hellbent on proving me wrong more and more often. Just gotta keep thinking about that fantastic Goku vs Vegeta fight and keep moving forward, praying that the evil Vegito or XXI plotlines aren't half as stupid as shit like this.

Battle of the brainwashings. Wild.

Aight I have no idea what's happening anymore T-T

lmao, brutal

Don't forget the classic where we watch Future Trunks sign up for the tournament. And then, its iconic sequel, where he... reacts to the tournament. A real pair of back-to-back bangers, those chapters. 2 Replie(s)

So... Goku is dead, the cyborgs show up and defeat all the other Z Fighters, teen Gohan goes super saiyan.

I guess this special may be necessary to show what happened to Dr. Gero and 19 in these universes? Or how Gohan went super saiyan for the first time specifically?

I kinda don't care. Hope it'll be good and a pleasant surprise, but I'm not optimistic.

Art looks neat 1 Replie(s)

He DEAD dead


I'K'L's power seems to treat everything that's frozen as literal ice / glass. The power definitely works differently from Guldo's; they don't really have to explain why. The visual exposition makes those things fairly clear and straightforward. 1 Replie(s)

Poor Yamcha trying his best to be a pure hearted hero but I'K'L won't have any of that

The "unstable but psychic lawful neutral" was just trying to go scorched-Earth like Frieza and leave them all stranded there with no way to undo any of the damage or return home. Yamcha tried talking to him. It didn't work, because this dude's psychic powers are making him a lunatic. He poses a threat to EVERYONE there. Killing I'K'L now is an extremely reasonable and responsible thing to do.

Spirit Ball but in weebspeak.

Oh shit, he knows something about XXI? This is sudden

Beautiful, there it is, the closure to that foreshadowing

Bro's showing off the fact that he IS indeed a real bonafide martial artist. Love to see it. 1 Replie(s)

Yoooo he's not getting speed blitzed, let's fucking GOOO

The mass murdering psychopaths that torture and kill people for fun are not strategic, pragmatic, or grateful for Yamcha saving them, nor do they have a strong sense of self-preservation. Imagine my shock.

Still prayin my boy Yamcha clutches the win on this

Hell yeah, Yamcha!

This narrative turn seemed weird and awkward to me at first, but now I'm totally digging this. Yamcha and a mixed set of future androids working together to fight I'K'L goes very hard. Here's hoping that Yamcha can spread that U9 coordination we saw earlier to them.

Cyborgs are exempt... but not Cell?
???

Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama 1 Replie(s)

If I had to guess what's going to happen, IKL will succeed at killing most of the people in the arena with these hax, but will probably be stopped by some magical bs from Ghast or XXI. I say XXI because it makes more sense, but Ghast is on the cover so clearly he'll do something important.

HOLY MOLY. He's gonna be mad about these hax when he gets revived from this.

Ah

Nvm, this is a gag T-T

From the previous page, I thought this was gonna become a gag where I'k'l just challenges some random character and gets one-shot like Mary Sue, but now, with Vegito's interactions have me thinking this is a serious story beat. If he's been observing all of them, then surely this isn't just overconfidence, he must actually be packing some serious power. Interesting, I wonder where this is going. It's not everyday that an impactful or powerful character just randomly spawns into the story in the 11th hour.

Edit: WAIT, he said "first and last" act on the last page, and acknowledged everyone's power here. He totally doesn't intend on fighting them, he's gonna blow himself up or some other weird crazy sacrificial thing

Vegeta being amicable with Kakarot is so cursed lol

lmao very in-character for him to steal the other villain line but make it 20% more stupid

I thought Polar was bigger than Cold. Guess I got it backwards.

The after-fight BFF stare.

This battle was legendary, DBM team. Lived up to the hype and then some.

Nah, he didn't go home yet. He was teleported away during the majin revolt with the other heroes, but came back all the same and hasn't really been relevant since. 1 Replie(s)

Vegeta's "gg" smile makes me very happy :)

Her Saiyan fight hype is awakening lol

Oh he's getting domed

Oh no Vegetabros, Goku's doing a thing, it's over...

Gogeta vs Vegito is all but guaranteed lol 1 Replie(s)

Let's go, this is hype! Vegetabros it is not over yet

Yeah fair enough, bro's vile and Krillin only won originally because he was a counterpick

Holy moly, it booba

This is pretty hype, I'mma keep up with this project with great interest

Damn that was sick fight, one for the ages, one of the top contenders for this comic for sure

Oh yep, there it is, the big punch

Talk about explosive, this fight is insane, I'm sensing we're getting close to the last shot

They really pulled out all the stops with this fight, my god this is awesome. I'm on the edge of my seat for every page's release. I'm totally gonna reread this a few times over when it concludes.

I love everything about this page

That Varga is the people's champion, truly

He can't, and he is 100% human.

Probably Vegito. Or maybe I'K'L, that'd be weird.

Aw man now I wish these two universes got to fight. Poor 17 got Goku'd and 18 got XXI'd. Someone had to be the fodder, shame it was them but that's the luck of the draw.

So when does this special's plot start? We're 22 pages in now, I understand slow burns but this is excessive and seemingly pointless. 1 Replie(s)

So Bulma figured out something the Vargas didn't, all by accident? That's so on-brand and fitting lol

Incoming Android 16 entrance

I absolutely adore this cover. The iconic History of Trunks art, but he's older and the city behind him is no longer covered in craters. No idea what the special could be about but the cover is sick

Oh that's a surprising development

It's kinda awkward dialogue, having XXI make a wish, then Shenron goes "that won't work, you're fucked lmao," only to jump to XXI making another wish that presumably goes through. Maybe this Shenron has a personal stake in the victory of this tournament, but if that were the case, you'd think he'd care more that XXI has apparently hit a wall in his eyes. Ah well, we'll see soon. 1 Replie(s)

1. Frieza is not having a redemption arc in Super. He just played the part of "potential next major villain" like two chapters ago.

2. Good Buu's body count is 1 person, Dabura, if you want to count Majin Buu as Good Buu, which is in and of itself dishonest. Our heroes did not befriend Evil Buu, Super Buu, or Kid Buu.

3. Let's look at Vegeta's case a bit closer than the one-sentence breakdown that everyone seems to go with for some reason:
— He was a villain in the Saiyan saga that got his ass kicked
— He was a villain in the Frieza saga that the heroes only worked with because they weren't strong enough to do anything on their own and he had bigger beef with Frieza than with them
— He was a villain in the Android saga who didn't want to help the heroes, only fight and kill Goku to satisfy his ego, but once again worked with the heroes because the androids were getting in the way of that
— He was a villain in the Cell saga who explicitly helped Cell just for fun
— He coexisted with the heroes in the timeskip because he was not a threat, and nobody could deal with him, and he lost all his ambitions
— He was a villain in the tournament arc, willing to turn evil and kill many people just to fight Goku again
— Literally the first thing he's ever done for the sake of other people was sacrificing himself to stop Buu, still went to hell after the fact and was only allowed to return to help Goku
— Turned a new leaf during the final battle

Nobody absolved him of his sins. Nobody forgave him or called him a friend or hero. Piccolo straight up went "nah G you're going to hell when you die" with absolute confidence. They all just tolerated him as either a useful yet evil power level in a fight against a greater threat or "that asshole who tried to kill us once but isn't really doing anything anymore." To disregard all the parts in the story where the Z fighters had stand-offs against him or were cautious around him is extremely dishonest. They didn't just "forgive him," that's not what happened in the story. He had to actually [i]turn good[i] before anyone got buddy-buddy with him, and that's a Super GT / End of Z exclusive status quo.



HA that's some real authentic source-accurate continuity if I've ever seen it 1 Replie(s)