Warning: Contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Dama episode #18.Dragon Ball Daima has been filled with one incredible highlight after another, and episode #18 took that even further with the big reveal of a canon Super Saiyan 4. Fans have been waiting decades for Super Saiyan 4 to become canon, and with the organic way it was executed, combined with another incredible fight scene, there couldn’t have been a better debut.

Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 is a great one, especially from a design perspective. Naturally, the overall design of Super Saiyan 4 is largely the same as what was presented in Dragon Ball GT, but there are some major differences, most notably in the way the form is colored, and with that change, Dragon Ball’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 makes it the perfect blend of Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super’s lore. Whether that was intentional is unknown, but regardless, it makes an already stellar development even better to see play out.

How Dragon Ball Daima's New Super Saiyan 4 Pays Respect To GT & Super

Dragon Ball Daima's Super Saiyan 4 Easter Egg Explained

Anyone who’s seen Dragon Ball GT, or even just the original Super Saiyan 4 design, will notice that there’s far more red to Dragon Ball Daima’s take on it, with Goku’s hair even being colored colored red when it originally made his hair black again. If anything, the red coloring is nearly identical to the red coloring of Super Saiyan God, so Dragon Ball Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 pays respect to both Dragon Ball Super by combining the aesthetics of Super Saiyan 4 and Super Saiyan God.

That design choice is not only great visually, but thematically, as well. Super Saiyan 4 was once presented as the form of the Legendary Super Saiyan before Super introduced Super Saiyan God, so with the canon Super Saiyan 4 having so much more red to its design, Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 can be seen as a fusion of Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super’s differing takes on the Legendary Super Saiyan from a visual standpoint. It’s the perfect homage to both stories, and it makes the new Super Saiyan 4 even better to look at.

Dragon Ball Daima Finally Satisfies GT & Super Fans

How Dragon Ball Daima Is Uniting The Fanbase

Overall, Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 works as a perfect means of satisfying fans of both GT and Super. It would have been easy for Super Saiyan 4’s design to be left unchanged, but by changing the design to incorporate elements of Super Saiyan God, Dragon Ball Daima gives fans of both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super something to be happy about with how much Super Saiyan 4 takes from both shows. Granted, Daima was doing stuff like that before, but it was never as prominent as it is now, and that makes it especially noteworthy.

Ever since Battle of Gods, fans of GT and Super have constantly been at odds with one another as Super fans repeatedly disparage GT for its mixed quality, and GT fans, conversely, disparage Super for being the new canon and for its share of writing pitfalls, so anything like Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 that pays tribute to both GT and Super does wonders to help bridge the gap between their respective fandoms. That’s a big part of why the Super Saiyan 4 reveal was so great, and hopefully, there are more moments like that in store for Daima.

Is Dragon Ball Daima Retconning Dragon Ball Super?

Did Dragon Ball Super Just Get Retconned?

Above all else, Daima’s version of Super Saiyan 4 begs the question of whether Daima is officially retconning Dragon Ball Super. Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 does a better job of representing the pinnacle of Saiyan power than Super Saiyan God, so Dragon Ball Daima could be retconning Dragon Ball Super by replacing Super Saiyan God with Super Saiyan 4. The way Super Saiyan 4 has more red to its design gives further credence to the idea, as it could be a way of emphasizing the idea that Super Saiyan 4 is now a godly technique of sorts.

This wouldn’t be the first suggestion of a retcon to Dragon Ball Super, of course. Dragon Ball Daima opened with a clear retcon to how Kibito Kai was split back into Shin and Kibito, and the series also revealed that Vegeta can use Super Saiyan 3, even though Super never once suggested he could use Super Saiyan 3, even in situations where it would have been useful. Dragon Ball Daima has been contradicting Dragon Ball Super’s lore from the very start, and Super Saiyan 4 replacing Super Saiyan God would simply be the latest example of that.

That being said, a full-on retcon probably isn’t on the table for Dragon Ball. Not only can every continuity error be easily explained, but with how much work was put into making Dragon Ball Super the new status quo for the franchise, it wouldn’t make sense to do anything that would render its lore completely moot or even contradict it beyond some minor contrivances. Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 doesn’t suggest that Dragon Ball Super will be retconned any more than any other story beats, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

Shin and Kibito might fuse again for unknown reasons, Goku gaining Super Saiyan 4 thanks to Neva implies that he can only use it when magic is involved, and Vegeta never using Super Saiyan 3 isn't necessarily a plot hole with how quick he was to unlock forms more powerful and reliable than it.

Dragon Ball Daima Continues To Be The Perfect Love Letter To GT

Dragon Ball GT Fans Have Never Had It So Good

If there’s anything to take from Super Saiyan 4’s reappearance, it’s that Dragon Ball Daima continues to be the perfect love letter to Dragon Ball GT. Super Saiyan 4 being canon is one thing, but between the adventure aesthetic and how many episodes and plot threads directly reference and refine elements of GT, Dragon Ball Daima has always positioned itself as a long-standing homage to Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball GT was even explicitly stated to be intentional, and with Super Saiyan 4, that’s now impossible to deny.

As divisive as GT is, the writing and action were almost always far better than people gave it credit for, with Super Saiyan 4, naturally, being a major highlight, so Dragon Ball Daima’s continued homages to Dragon Ball GT are the best way the Dragon Ball franchise has seen fit to acknowledge that there was some merit to its existence. There’s been no better time to be a Dragon Ball GT fan since Dragon Ball Super first took off, and with any luck, Dragon Ball Daima has even more surprises like this in store for its final act.

Dragon Ball Daima releases new episodes Fridays on Crunchyroll.