Massive spoilers ahead for folks who aren't caught up on Dragon Ball Super.

Toei Animation's Dragon Ball Super is an absolute gift to fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. The anime's previous titles like Dragon BallDragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT have been criticized over the years, sometimes good-naturedly, for spending full episodes showing characters powering up with no real action or by relying on filler episodes. Dragon Ball Super has answered that by offering nearly wall-to-wall action throughout its run, but most especially in this year's massive bank of episodes--nearly 40 and counting--centering around the Tournament of Power.

But while we're all waiting to see which universe ultimately wins this tournament, Dragon Ball Super has been doling out homages to the anime franchise's 30-plus-year history. Power-level scans may be long gone, but the latest installment of Akira Toriyama's hit anime is revisiting every major milestone among the Saiyans and their pals. We've already taken a deep dive into Dragon Ball Super's brand new power level--Goku's Ultra Instinct transformation--but in light of the show's most recent episode, it's worth explaining some of the other "modes" on display, including the return of the vaunted Fusion technique.

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Image via Toei Animation

But we'll get to that in a minute. Dragon Ball Super has already raced through a number of other power levels that bear mentioning. In the latest episode, "Intimidating Passion! The Birth of a New Super Warrior!!", Goku continued to spar against the team-up of Caulifla and her sister Kale. Caulifla had already obtained Super Saiyan status a while ago, the first female Saiyan to do so, and went beyond Super Saiyan Third Grade (or SSJ 1.5) to use her newly obtained Super Saiyan 2 form to battle Goku. Meanwhile, Kale joined the fight in SSJ2 form as well, but soon went into her Berserk mode (which we've seen before), a nod back to the legendary Broly. (This energy level was enough to make the meditating Jiren flinch, while also drawing the attention of Vegeta in Super Saiyan Blue form.) However, even though Kale gained control over this Berserker power thanks to the emotional connection to her sister, their teamwork wasn't enough to take on Goku once he went Super Saiyan God.

(Oh and respect to Goku for giving Tien credit for inventing the Solar Flare he uses, but disrespect to Goku for not calling out either Piccolo or Krillin when using the Chasing Bullet / Double Tsuibikidan homing technique. The same goes for the Yardrats' Instant Transmission technique. C'mon, dude!)

So what are the remaining Saiyans sister from Universe 6 to do? Why, use an artifact given to them by Champa before the tournament, of course! Here's where the fusion comes in: In the history of Dragon Ball, fusions have been used to combine a number of different characters for a variety of reasons, and in at least six different ways:

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    Image via Toei Animation
    There's the Namekian fusion, like that used between Piccolo and Nail, and Piccolo and Kami.
  • There's the very silly Metamoran fusion dance, which has been used by Goku and Vegeta, and Goten and Trunks, to name a few, sometimes with funny results.
  • God Fusion, caused by a wish to Shenron.
  • EX-Fusion, an artificial form of fusion developed by Capsule Corp. using armlets dubbed Metamo-Rings and the Fusion Dance.
  • And there's also Five-Way Fusion, a machine fusion, an absorption method, and even merging transformations.

But this week's episode deals with the Potara earrings, jewelry worn by Supreme Kai that grant a number of abilities, among them the ability to fuse. The Potara earrings were previously revisited in the Dragon Ball Super arc that dealt with Goku Black, including the important point that Goku and Vegeta's Super Saiyan Blue forms were too powerful to sustain the fusion for a full hour. (Using the Potara earrings results in a fusion that only lasts an hour if it's not between Supreme Kai.) Now, it seems that Champa of Universe 6 also had a pair to share. Caulifla and Kale used them as a last resort to become Kefla and battle Goku!

This new fighter was only briefly introduced in this episode, but it's a fantastic introduction. Universe 6's attendant Vados stated that Kefla's power is more than ten times their individual powers combined, while Kefla herself said she feels infinite power and Goku remarked that he cannot sense an end to it. Vegeta, too, was distracted by the immense power. Despite needing a bit of time to get used to her Fusion form, Kefla quickly proved to be too much for Super Saiyan God Goku, and the previews for next week show that he'll have to resort to Super Saiyan Blue form with an additional power boost through the King Kai Fist / Kaio-ken technique ... but will it be enough?

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Image via Toei Animation

While it's a little frustrating that Dragon Ball Super's intro and outro show you exactly what's going to happen in each episode, I'm still excited by the possibilities that lie ahead. With the show clearly eager to revisit the franchise's and fans' favorite moments, we could be seeing a lot more memorable moments before the tournament is all said and done. Will we get a Universe 7 fusion? Could we see a new version of the Great Ape / Oozaru transformation? How about a Dragon Ball GT nod with a little SSJ4 appearance? There's a lot left in the tank, so let's just see how crazy this thing gets!

Be sure to share your thoughts, expectations, and wishes for Dragon Ball Super below!

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Image via Toei Animation