Great Ape

Great Ape is a giant, anthropomorphic, monkey-like creature that Saiyans can transform into at the full moon to increase their already formidable strength tremendously.
== Description ==
The transformation is similar to how werewolves transform at the full moon. Originally in the series, the Great Ape was a transformation for Goku, this character being a parody of a monkey-king, Sun Wukong, from the novel Journey to the West; despite this, many Chinese cultural adaptations of the novel did not involve the original Wukong having access to a giant transformation whatsoever, which supposedly makes this more of a Japanese/contemporary culture trait for him as seen in media such as the Hong Kong 1998 adaptation of Journey to the West and in one of Wukong's attacks in Warriors Orochi 2.
Later in the series, Great Ape is discovered to be a transformation that is accessible to the characters who possess Saiyan heritage.
=== Conditions for transformation ===
In order for the transformation to take place, the Saiyan needs to have a tail, as the glands responsible for initiating the transformation are located exclusively there. The Saiyan also needs to absorb at least 17 million zeno units of Blutz Waves through the eyes to initiate the transformation. Blutz Waves are found only in sunlight reflected by a moon. If there is no moon, a planetary body will reflect the same amount of rays. The easiest way to achieve this is to gaze at the full moon, making Saiyans similar to werewolves in this aspect. If any clouds covered the moon and/or a planetary body, it would block certain amounts of the radiation. Vegeta once made himself transform by firing Power Ball, which is a "fake moon" reflecting the requisite amount of Blutz Rays into the air, and then staring at it. A device on board Saiyans' Attack Pods also project a hologram of a moon that was realistic enough to allow Blutz Waves to be reflected in the event of their landing on a planet that lacks a moon, as evidenced by an incident where Gohan went Great Ape while training for fighting the Saiyans prior to their invasion due to Goku's attack pod reactivating. If a natural source of Blutz Waves (a full moon or planet) was destroyed or the tail is amputated, this would cause the Saiyan to instantly transform back to their humanoid form.
== Trivia ==
* The original Japanese name literally translates to "great ape", "giant ape", "king ape", or "large monkey". Funimation labels this form "Great Ape", but it is more monkey-like because of its tail.
* Great Apes are similar to King Kong, a giant gorilla that first appeared in a 1933 U.S.
* Ingen is still able to turn into a Great Ape, due having his tail.
Category:Transformations
Category:Saiyans