Potara

* Fuwa
* Elder Kaiōshin
* Gokū Black
* Gowasu
* Kefla(Anime only)
* Kai
* Kaiōshin of the North
* Kaiōshin of the South
* Kibito
* Kibito Kaiōshin
* Old Witch
* Rо̄
* Shin
* Shin (Future)
* Son Gohan
* Son Gokū
* Vegeta
* Vegetto
* Zamasu
* Zamasu (Future)
* Zamasu (Merged)

**Potara** (ポタラ; *English TV* "Potara Earring") is an accessory worn for generations by the Kaiōshin.

## History

The Potara are earrings worn by the venerable Kaiōshin, the gods of creation and supreme deities of the universe. Despite being worn so casually, the earrings are actually an incredible power-up item. The Kaiōshin are each instructed on precisely what the Potara are used for, however, due to the death of his comrades, Shin missed these crucial lessons. The Potara have been the secret of the Kaiōshin for ages, implying that the fusion process they allow for has been used before.

## Usage

Despite their innocuous appearance, the Potara are an incredible magical item, worn only by the Kaiōshin, and those who attend to the Kaiōshin. When two individuals wear a single earring in the opposite ear — one in the left and right respectively — they will be pulled together, before merging into a singular entity. While with the Fusion technique,  the post-merged clothing is of the Metamorese uniform, the Potara fusion not only mixes the two people's bodies together, but also their clothing as well. Potara have the capability of permanently fusing the two sources in the state that they were in before they transferred. Also, the general effect of the earrings is far greater than the Fusion that the Metamorese created, and it also lacks the time limit the aforementioned dance possesses. The resulting fusion will have the power of both fusees multiplied by each other.
By Vados' admission, a Potara fusion is greater than the sum of their parts, and the fusion increases their power "tens of times". If at least one fusee if a Kaiōshin, the fusion is permanent and can only be undone using the Dragon Balls.

The Potara can also only be used once in an individual's lifetime, and the fused individual will be stuck permanently in whatever state they were fused in if used on at least one Kaiōshin. If used on two non-Kaiōshin, it only lasts an hour. This has its own stipulations; there is a difference between "Kaiōshin" and "Shinling". Zamasu was never an officially recognized Kaiōshin, and thus while he could use the Time Ring, the limits of the Potara's hour time limit applied to the merged Zamasu as well. If two Saiyans were to fuse as Super Saiyans, they would become stronger than they would be if they fused in normal form and transform. Old Kaiōshin was against this because he believed the fusion was permanent on non-Kaiōshins and the fact remaining Super Saiyan for too long will eventually cause strain on the body and could possibly kill them, even if the fusees have complete mastery of the form. If two non-kaiōshin were used with the Potara, it can be undone prematurely by either removing or destroying one or both of the Potara on the fused being's ears.

When the Potara earrings are used on two non-equal beings, the dominant being will be in control of the fused being's body. An example of this is Elder Kaiōshin, who's will overwrote the Old Witch he fused with. As such, the inferior being will only serve as a boost for the dominant spirit, not unlike the Assimilation of Nameccians apart from the fact their body appears like the fusion of the two. When used on two equal beings, the fusion forms an entirely new being. This is indicated when the fused being's voice sounds like the combined voices of the fusees. The fused being inherit the memories of the individuals used to form it.

As with all fusions, when the fused being is created, the fusees cease to exist. This is evidenced when Gokū refused to fuse with Dende as his existence is linked to the Dragon Balls.

Despite the fusion being 'permanent', it can be undone by the power of the Dragon Balls. This was seen when Kibito Kaiōshin used the Nameccian Dragon Balls to revert back to the original fusees — Shin and Kibito.

## Behind the Scenes

As admitted by Toriyama in an interview, the Potara were created to avoid stepping on the toes of the *Dragon Ball Z: The Rebirth of Fusion!! Gokū and Vegeta* film. Because the movie was already in production, he created a different method of fusion. He'd been drawing the earrings on the Kaiōshin since Shin's introduction, and thought he would be able to use them, though they were originally just decoration.

## Trivia

* In the manga, Shinling's have only been seen wearing green potara, while in the anime, and later the *Digital Color Edition* of the manga, the color scheme is expanded on to include dark blue, yellow, red, orange and lime green.
* In the manga, Kibito wears green potara, despite that colour only being allowed to be worn by a Kaiōshin.
* Though Son Gokū and Vegeta used Shin's green potara in order to fuse, Vegetto has blue potara.
* If two non-Kaiōshins form a powerful being, the immense power that being possess can cause the fusion to be shortened, although the cause differs between the anime and manga.
	+ In the manga, before Vegetto could fire off his Final Kamehameha, he split back into two and the reason stated was he built up too much power, which caused the fusion to become unstable.
	+ In the anime, Vegetto split into two after firing off a Final Kamehameha and the reason was he used up the energy needed to maintain the fusion.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Daizenshū 4*
2. ↑ *Daizenshū 7*
3. ↑ *Dragon Ball* chapter 501, page 6
4. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume*
5. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 114
6. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 66
7. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* chapter 23
8. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* chapter 4
9. ↑ [Akira Toriyama Super Interview
6th Round — Origins, and Onward to the Future http://www.kanzenshuu.com/translations/daizenshuu-6-akira-toriyama-super-interview/]
10. ↑ *Dragon Ball* volume 30, *kanzenban* edition, cover page
11. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* chapter 18, page 21
12. ↑ Vegetto character design sheet