Dragon Ball FighterZ has gone off the rails. I can understand, on some level, the thousands of Goku variations that make up its cast. I’ll even overlook the two Brolys, if only because both versions are so popular. But recent reports that the Arc System Works fighting game is getting Super Baby 2 are where I draw the line. No more, Dragon Ball FighterZ. Just stop.
I’ll forgive you if the name Super Baby 2 made you ask, “Who the fuck is Super Baby 2?” I had the same reaction.
Baby is a major antagonist from Dragon Ball GT, the much-maligned Dragon Ball Z successor that has mostly been erased from canon by Dragon Ball Super. While I’m partial to the series’ Super Saiyan 4 design, Dragon Ball GT was mostly a schoolyard rumour in my adolescence. The idea of a “new” Dragon Ball Z felt ludicrous despite the franchise’s enormous popularity, and it wasn’t until much later that I realised it was real and, apparently, really bad.
Like most of the Dragon Ball cast, Baby goes through several transformations and power-ups during his time as Dragon Ball GT’s big bad. He arrives at Super Baby 2 (or “Strongest Form 2” as its officially known) by possessing Vegeta, ascending to Super Baby thanks to help from Gohan, Trunks, Goten, and Bulla (all of whom were impregnated by Baby with mind-controlling parasites), and then calling on his minions to transfer negative energy to him like some sort of bizarro Spirit Bomb.
Forgive me if I got any of those details wrong, Dragon Ball superfans, I had to take frequent breaks to rub my temples and sigh loudly while writing the previous paragraph.
Listen, I’m not opposed to Baby being in Dragon Ball FighterZ. He seems like a neat little dude. But why did they have to go with a form that’s essentially Vegeta with white hair and some gratuitous Cyberpunk 2077 face lines? The prince of the Saiyans is second only to Goku when it comes to how many variations are currently playable. We already know Super Baby 2 will play differently, but does the game really need another Vegeta, especially when its cast, now 42 characters strong, still has only three women? Bulma’s right there!
OK, yes, this has all been a very roundabout way of telling Arc System Works and Bandai Namco to put Bulma in Dragon Ball FighterZ already. Thank you.
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