Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is one of the earliest special abilities introduced in Dragon Ball, appearing when Oolong used it to terrorize a village by impersonating a fearsome demon. The technique is a learned magical skill taught at the Southern Transformation Kindergarten, an institution where young students (primarily anthropomorphic animals in the Dragon Ball world) study the art of physical transformation. Both Oolong and Puar attended this school, though their experiences there differed significantly.

Oolong was expelled from the school for misbehavior before completing the full curriculum. As a result, his shapeshifting has a critical limitation: he can only maintain a transformed state for five minutes before reverting to his natural piglet form, and he must then wait one minute before transforming again. Puar, who completed the full course of study and graduated properly, faces no such restriction and can maintain transformations indefinitely.

The key limitation of shapeshifting, regardless of the user's skill level, is that it is entirely cosmetic. Transforming into a massive, muscular warrior does not grant the user any additional physical strength. Oolong, even when disguised as a hulking demon, remained as physically weak as a small pig. This makes the technique useless for direct combat enhancement but invaluable for deception, reconnaissance, and creative problem-solving. Puar's most notable use of the ability was transforming into a giant pair of scissors to cut off Goku's tail during his first Great Ape rampage, demonstrating that clever application of shapeshifting can contribute to solving problems that raw strength alone cannot.