Great Ape

The Great Ape transformation is fundamentally biological rather than ki-based. When a full moon's light reflects sunlight containing Blutz Waves into a Saiyan's eyes, a chemical reaction triggers in their tail, initiating a rapid and violent physical transformation. The Saiyan's body expands to enormous proportions, their features become ape-like, and their power increases tenfold. The process is automatic and involuntary for Saiyans who have not trained to control it.

The tail is the critical component. Without it, the transformation cannot occur regardless of how many Blutz Waves the Saiyan absorbs. This vulnerability was exploited repeatedly in the series: Goku's tail was removed permanently by Kami during his training as a teenager, and Vegeta's tail was cut by Yajirobe during the Saiyan Saga to force his reversion. Gohan's tail was also removed multiple times throughout Dragon Ball Z to prevent accidental transformations.

Artificial Blutz Wave generators exist as a technological workaround for the need for a natural full moon. Bulma built one in Dragon Ball GT to help Vegeta achieve the Golden Great Ape state, and the Saiyan army historically used similar technology to invade planets that lacked moons.

Loss of Control

The standard Great Ape transformation overwhelms the user's rational mind, turning them into a rampaging beast driven purely by destructive instinct. The young Goku transformed several times during the original Dragon Ball series without ever realizing he was the "monster" that appeared during full moons. He destroyed Grandpa Gohan's home, terrorized the countryside, and even killed his own adoptive grandfather while in this form, all without retaining any memory afterward.

Elite Saiyan warriors, however, could retain their consciousness while transformed. Vegeta demonstrated full rational control during his Great Ape transformation on Earth, speaking, strategizing, and directing his attacks precisely. This control appeared to be a trained ability associated with battle experience and discipline rather than an inherent trait, as lower-class Saiyans like Goku's father Bardock did not display the same level of awareness.

The Great Ape was one of the earliest and most frightening mysteries of the original Dragon Ball series. Goku's grandfather Gohan had warned him never to look at the full moon, and the audience eventually learned why when Goku transformed during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, going on a rampage through the tournament grounds. Master Roshi was forced to destroy the moon itself with a Kamehameha to revert Goku, and it was Roshi's teacher Mutaito's legacy that provided the knowledge that the tail was the root cause.

The most significant Great Ape event in the original series was the revelation that Goku had unknowingly killed his own Grandpa Gohan while transformed as a child. This became a defining moment of tragedy in Goku's origin story, demonstrating that the Great Ape's loss of control could have devastating consequences for the people closest to the transformed Saiyan.

The Saiyan Saga

The Great Ape returned as a major threat during the Saiyan Saga when Vegeta created an artificial moon using a Power Ball technique to transform during his battle with Goku on Earth. The fully controlled Great Ape Vegeta was an overwhelming force that Goku, even with Kaio-ken, could not match. It took the combined efforts of Krillin, Gohan, and Yajirobe to cut Vegeta's tail and stop the transformation. Gohan then accidentally looked at the Power Ball and transformed himself, and his rampaging Great Ape form landed on Vegeta, contributing to the Saiyan prince's eventual defeat.

The Great Ape transformation's most enduring impact on the franchise was providing the biological foundation for Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT. The Golden Great Ape, achieved when a Super Saiyan transforms into a Great Ape, serves as the required intermediate step for reaching the fourth Super Saiyan level. By regaining conscious control over the Golden Great Ape state, a Saiyan can condense that primal power into a human-sized form, producing Super Saiyan 4. This gave the Great Ape transformation renewed relevance long after the standard form had been eclipsed by the Super Saiyan line.

The Wrathful state demonstrated by Broly in Dragon Ball Super: Broly offered yet another interpretation, showing that a Saiyan with sufficient innate talent could channel the Great Ape's power through a human-sized body without physically transforming at all. Broly's yellow eyes during this state mimicked the Great Ape's gaze, visually communicating that he was tapping into the same primal power source internally.

A Symbol of Saiyan Heritage

In the broader context of the franchise, the Great Ape represents the untamed, animalistic side of the Saiyan race that the more refined transformations like Super Saiyan and its successors have civilized away. The permanent removal of most Saiyan characters' tails by the middle of Dragon Ball Z symbolized the race moving beyond its primal origins, but the form's DNA lives on in Super Saiyan 4 and Broly's Wrathful state as a reminder that the Saiyans are, at their core, a warrior species with roots in something far more savage than golden hair and colored auras.