U16 Bra, as the comic's most divisive character, gets this in spades:
Her promise to save Universe 19: a genuine attempt to do the right thing? Only done because it was expected of her? Or another way to inflate her own ego? The interpretation helps frame her decision to accept Cold's handicap as either foolish confidence or a lack of concern for their lives. (She also doesn't bring it up again in Chapter 79, saying her main motivation from this point is to become more like U18 Bra).
Chapter 77 reveals that at the age of 12, Bra destroyed an entire solar system, with Goten among the casualties, upon unlocking SSJ2, yet everyone in U16 treats her normally. Have they forgiven or come to terms with Bra, or has Vegito just not told anyone besides Gohan what Bra did? (The novelization goes with the former option.) When Bra insults Goten at the tournament, is it because she doesn't care about what happened, or doesn't want to reveal that she does?
The story (and Salagir's) official stance is Bra is completely innocent of any wrongdoing she did as a Majin, while Vegeta in DBZ or Cell during the Rebellion are fully to blame for their actions because they were capable of resisting Babidi's control. Still, many fans bring up how Bra's ability to break freeat all indicates she could've done so earlier, and only did so not out of a pang of conscience, but because her strength was challenged. Complicating the issue is U19 Naurb, who expressed far more regret and restraint (and sanity) than Bra while under Babidi's control yet apparently was not capable of breaking free.
If one disregardsWord of God, Bra's behavior could be explained by her being a sociopathicmanipulator trying to please and imitate whomever she currently deems most important. She mistreats Goten and Trunks (even after killing the former) because they are too weak for her to profit from, but offers to help U19 because it would please Vegito and Gohan. Her manipulative tendencies are best seen in Chapter 79. After breaking free of Majinization, she initially says she deserves punishment in an attempt to garner Vegito's sympathy, but once he decides he willactually punish her, she defends herself. Once she's rescued by Gast, she again insists she deserves to die, this time to evoke pity from the surrounding heroes. After they all turn on Vegito, she immediately stops crying and joins in denouncing him, deciding it's no longer prudent to be associated with him. Note her stated motivation afterward isn't to help Universe 19 (an already-established goal of hers, and who are present), but to become like U18 Bra, who—along with the rest of that universe—is currently a more valuable ally to have. This is also why she later apologizes to U16 Gohan but not Piccolo or Phipsil, whom she considers unimportant.
Cell's actions as a Majin. Initially doing things For the Evulz, and only turning against Babidi to get out of the consequences? Or a sincere mole having to play the part so he can spring his trap at the right moment? Cell is still evil either way, but this determines whether or not his killing of the Videls and threatening of U18 Bra is a Moral Event Horizon or an extreme case of Combat Pragmatist in the face of fighting Majin Bra. Considering he spared the Piccolos and U19 warriors as well as saved Gohan's life through the mini-Cell Juniors, he could've wanted the Gohans to not worry about their wives during the battle and fight at their best, knowing they would get revived anyway. On the other hand, it's also possible he only did it out of spite and getting Gohan stronger was just a bonus.
Americans Hate Tingle: While Salagir's native French fanbase is generally more tolerant of (or at least less vocal about) U16 Bra, many other language sections are much less forgiving, particularly the English-speaking readers.
For all the build-up towards who Captain Ginyu was, along with the dramatic plot-twist that he was in King Cold's body followed by him stealing U16 Son Bra's body, he is immediately discovered, quickly defeated, and forced to switch back.
Hatchiyack, Raichi's ultimate trump card, only lasts 8 pages before Gast kills him in one shot, and fights using a simple, easily exploitable attack pattern.
After being the center of the longest fight in the comic, Majin Bra gets dealt with by being talked down by her U18 counterpart in seven pages.
While it was already a Foregone Conclusion given Universe 20 is a The Bad Guy Wins story, there was significant buildup to the fight between Buu's fusion with the Z-fighters and Broly. Unfortunately, Ultra Buu doesn't manage to do any real damage to Broly, gets overpowered relatively easily, and the last ditch effort to stop him doesn't work just... because.
Despite Word of God saying the fourth round fights would be longer than previous ones, three of the four highly-anticipated quarterfinals end anticlimactically: Vegeta vs. Cell has Vegeta suckerpunch Cell when his guard is down, Buu vs XXI lasts only six pages and is won in one move, and Bra vs Gast doesn't even happen, with Bra forfeiting before the fight begins.
In what is perhaps the single biggest Deus ex Machina of the comic, U4 Buu—the most overpowered and hyped-up character—is defeated within a chapter, and not by Goku or Vegito or even Bra, but by the Vargas, of all people.
Arc Fatigue: One of the biggest complaints about the comic is how long the story takes to move things along:
The tournament itself (which Salagir has stated won't be the end of the story) has gone on since the comic first started in 2008, taking until 2021 just to get to the quarterfinals. The main comic being interrupted by specials and minicomics in tandem with the comic's slow upload schedule only makes it more of a slog at points. Salagir stating that every fight starting with Goku vs Uub would only get increasingly longer only made this sentiment stronger.
Bra vs. Cold was the longest fight in the comic at the time and right as it wrapped up Cold was revealed to be Ginyu and stole Bra’s body, which then took another chapter to resolve. Combined with a slower release schedule and a U16 special chapter right in the middle, the story ended up spending six straight months on U16 Bra.
Gast vs Raichi was released at two pages a week and had a double special in the middle. Not to mention most pages with Hachiyack were splash pages.
The Majin rebellion interrupted the main storyline for over four years. When it looked like it was wrapping up, Majin Bra appeared, with the following fight being the longest in the comic. After at least two Reset Buttons, several (unannounced) minicomic interruptions, and the lengthiest break between main chapters ever (around five months)—including two more specials about U16 Bra—readers finally saw the ending... which was a complete Reset Button, rendering the whole arc as filler. The next tournament match, the first since early 2017, was then delayed further because Salagir, responding to fan criticism of how the arc ended, added in even more scenes with U16 Bra to try and make the Heel–Face Turn a bit more convincing.
Archive Panic: Multiverse has released pages regularly since 2008, longer than Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga run, so any newcomer wanting to read through the whole comic and catch up to the current page (especially if they include specials) is gonna be there for a while. This isn’t even going into the written stories.
Bra vs. King Cold. Cold has not one, but two new forms, Bra has Senzu Beans in her glove with no foreshadowing and somehow eats them offscreen when she’s apparently half-dead and Bra whips out a series of overpowered and never-previously-hinted-at abilities to swiftly take down Cold. The first is justified by the reveal that Cold is actually Ginyu, and is much more likely to train and push his body to its limits.
Gast vs Raichi. At a critical moment Broly disobeys Raichi and attacks the U8 stands instead of Gast. Gast himself regenerates from U13 Vegeta's attack despite his head being among the parts vaporized, allowing him to destroy the sphere controlling the ghosts. While the novelization does explain that Gast used an illusion to trick Vegeta, it has yet to be officially confirmed in the comic. Possibly made worse in hindsight once Chapter 79 reveals Gast could've easily won that fight with his magical abilities, but didn't use them.
Chapter 64: Sauza somehow has a device that can counter Ginyu's body-change technique. How he knew about the technique, how he got the device, and how it works, are never explained and come from nowhere.
From Chapter 66, U8 Ginyu’s ability to change the direction of his body change technique mid-flight, followed by him switching with a random mook offscreen to escape his seeming death.
U16 Bra's issues as a Super Saiyan 2 getting fixed by Majinization, even before she breaks free from Babidi's control. Exactly howBabidi's magic should have any ability to cure insanity is not foreshadowed or explained, and has no precedent in DBZ.
U16 Bra knowing about Cell's reinforced nucleus despite being nowhere nearby when he revealed it and having no reason to suspect he'd developed it. Salagir later explained the story of Cell's defeat had been spread to the public and she likely learned about it there, but the explanation can still come off as contrived, considering how little attention Bra pays to anything besides training.
The sudden revelation of U16 Bra's Freudian Excuse involving Vegito threatening to kill her comes right out of nowhere and contradicts several years' worth of Bra and Vegito's interactions with each other. Also, multiple characters absolutely trusting Bra's story and jumping in to support her against Vegito—regardless of whether they logically should or not—when he tries to follow through on this threat.
In Chapter 81, the revelation that Ultra Buu attempted to stop U20 Broly by teleporting him into a black hole... only for Broly to simply and anticlimactically break out of it in the very last page. Making this egregious is an earlier statement by Salagir saying "In universe 20, Broly wasn't stronger than black holes."
The Vargas having a backup machine to send Buu back, as well as the completely arbitrary and nonsensical explanation that only beings from U1 can use interdimensional technology.
Audience-Alienating Ending: The ending of the Majin Rebellion arc has the heroes present all get killed by Majin Bra, who instead gets talked down by her U18 counterpart, followed by Zen Buu quickly repairing all the damage over the arc and U16 Bra getting Easily Forgiven for her actions. This caused a lot of fans' opinions on the arc, and the comic as a whole, to sour.
Audience-Alienating Premise: So U16 Bra causes hordes of fan hate whenever she appears? How about we make a spin-off comic entirely about her, "Chibi Son Bra Did Her Best"?
Pretty much the whole comic became this once Asura stepped in, but special mention goes to...
Any time King Cold’s 6th form appears, since it's absolutely flooded with immense detail and nonstandard shapes but is still drawn consistently (throughout an entire chapter for its debut) with lots of movement and action.
The reveal of XXI's true form in Chapter 86, complete with darkness that invades your screen.
Chapter 29 was praised for having better art than many previous special chapters, making it one of the best received so far.
Chapter 41 takes on a very different, more realistic style. Despite being another filler chapter, nobody really minds, because the art is both amazing and visually distinct, and Gast is a walking collection of awesome.
Any of the colored specials are particularly impressive, especially Chapter 54, 56-57, and 89.
Awesome Ego: U4 Buu is an arrogant Physical GodReality Warper whose only motivation is his own amusement... and he's one of the most beloved characters of the story.
Awesomeness Withdrawal: One of the biggest factors behind the comic's Arc Fatigue. After catching up on the entire story, the wait for new pages can seem like a slog.
U16 Vegito. Some people enjoy how his character explores and deconstructs the concept of an Invincible Hero, while others take issue with how dark he can be, which often clashes with the humorous tone of the original series. His parenting of Bra—in particular, to what extent he was justified threatening to kill her should he decide she's a threat to the universe, and then later actually attempting to go through with it—is also hotly debated.
Hanasia. While many fans praised her for being a cool representation of what Goku's mother would look like (the fact she predates Dragon Ball Minus's Neutral Female Gine is a plus), many are annoyed by how the comic states she is stronger than both Bardock and King Vegeta, saying this breaks the underdog theme of the Saiyan saga. Others feel this is mitigated by how she is surpassed by a fairly young Vegeta and unceremoniously and brutally killed by Broly.
The beginning of the tournament's second day is celebrated with a musical performance by the Star WarsCantina Band. Pan and Tapion enjoy the musical interlude, Bra, Frieza's Family and Babidi do not. Zen Buu thought it was so bad that he demanded that they give their instruments to him so he could play.
The specials. Good side stories, or pointless? Many think they've been wasted on villain win stories instead of more interesting ones, and very few specials reveal anything the reader couldn't already guess themselves. Some fans also like when artists use their own unique style instead of trying to copy Akira Toriyama's, while others dislike it since the quality widely varies.
The series' increasing emphasis on Twist Endings to fights. Many of DBM's earlier battles ended much as expected, but Bra vs. King Cold in particular had both characters introduce new abilities, transformations, and strategies with no foreshadowing. Gast vs. Raichi, as well as many fights during the Majin Rebellion—especially the final fight against Majin Bra—are similarly heavy on twists. Whether you like these fights depends on whether you think the characters' actions and powers are justifiable, or Ass Pulls mixed with Plot Induced Stupidity. It's not helped by how Bra, who's involved in many of these fights, is a very polarizing character.
The series' overall length. Some fans believe the comic's gone on too long and lost a lot of its luster, especially since it can't incorporate material from Battle of Gods onward. Others think the length is fine and Multiverse is better off not including material from the The New '10s.
King Cold's augmentation forms created an unprecedented number of comments. Some love them for looking awesome and gloriously over-the-top. Others feel they look stupid and too overcomplex, much like Super Saiyan 3. Some say it makes sense Cold could have two augmentation forms, especially after The Reveal of him being Ginyu, while others question how he could have found two when Cooler himself only found one. Another sub-debate is the forms power-wise. Some don't like how the second one is "only" close to Perfect Cell, feeling something that imposing should be more powerful, while others say a Frost Demon managing to get to that level is impressive enough considering how huge a jump that is from Cold's canon strength. The novelization lessened this last debate by having U18 Vegeta imply that Cold is still holding back and that he could likely rival Super Saiyan 2 Teen Gohan at max.
The overall treatment of Frieza and his family. Unlike some other villains, they haven’t gotten any character development, possible redemption arcs, or major power boosts, and other than King Cold (who isn’t even King Cold), they’ve mainly been Butt Monkeysor Elite Mooks for Babidi. Some fans say the Frost Demons deserve more respect and point out there are ways the comic could’ve justified them becoming stronger (such as fighting threats in their own universe). Others say the Frost Demons’ role makes sense in a setting where older villains are often pitifully weak compared to newer ones. Still, others say DBM’s treatment of the Frost Demons is Fair for Its Day, since when the comic began in 2008 the idea of Frost Demons reaching much higher levels of power was not as commonly accepted as it is now.
The treatment of female characters, like U16 Bra or Hanasia. Some enjoy how the comic presents them as A-grade badasses, especially given how canon Dragon Ballhandled its female fighters prior to Super. Others feel this is taken too far and comes at the expense of making the other canon characters look bad.
The novelization. Some like it for having more in-depth fights and character interactions and fixing some problems fans had with the comic. Others don't like it because it's not written by Salagir outside of small contributions, contradicts various comic elements, and is written years after the fact, meaning some changes can come off as damage control.
Canon Defilement: Salagir statedin 2009 he considers only Toriyama's original manga as canon, meaning all guidebooks, interviews, anime-only scenes, Toei movies, or later retcons are free to be either ignored or adapted as he sees fit. For example, Broly was given major power buffs and Raichi was almost completely reworked. There are still some changes which apparently contradict the OG manga, however:
Salagir has stated all Saiyans lack empathy in DBM, which was how they could be mass-murdering Space Pirates. This goes against the manga where Nappa shows some empathy towards Raditz by wanting to wish him back, was shocked that Vegeta killed a Saibaman, and was shocked again when Vegeta chose to kill him instead of helping him.
The Future Androids are stated to be weaker than their present selves due to a lack of maintenance on their robotic parts. While this can be explained if DBM used the Future Trunks special as canon, in the manga they were just holding back so they wouldn't immediately kill Gohan.
It's stated in Multiverse that Super Saiyan 3 drains the user's power more quickly the stronger they are. There is nothing in the manga to suggest this, and GT and Super do not follow this theory.note The only thing related to draining is when Super Saiyan 3 burns through Goku's time on Earth faster as well as Gotenks' fusion time well as stamina issues, but the duration of the form itself appears to have no relation to power. In fact Super has the far stronger post-God Goku, using Super Saiyan 3 with no drawbacks at all while GT has Goku actually better deal with the limitations and last far longer.
On page 1716 Salagir said the Oozaru transformation provides only a doubling in strength, even though Vegeta specifically says in the original manga it increases his power tenfold. (Interestingly, an earlier DBM moment follows the original manga's number.)
Broly is introduced into the Multiverse while frozen and unconscious, which is nothing unusual for the comic's entry. The real problem is him retaining his state in Super Saiyan. It's shown time and time again it is only a conscious transformation to maintain, and the moment a Saiyan cannot maintain their focus/have enough energy to keep the transformation, they revert to base. This is not acknowledged in the story's canon. Then again, this isBroly.
Fat Buu is stated as being stupid because the Grand Supreme Kai allowed himself to be absorbed and lobotomized himself to ensure Buu would become dumb. This is never stated in the canon and Buu was never really as dumb as he appeared.
Given how hated she is by the fandom, U16 Bra getting any semblance of comeuppance or being humbled in any way can elicit this feeling. Examples include King Cold pummeling her into a bloody pulp during their match, him hijacking her body and trapping her in his crippled one, Cell repeatedly outsmarting her during Babidi's coup, U18 Bra giving her a "Reason You Suck" Speech, and getting decked in the face by her father, especially after the revelation of her backstory, which was seen as unsympathetic.
U11 Babidi having his big rebellion fall apart, getting humiliated by Zen Buu, Dabura being freed and turning on him, his Buu refusing to help him and finally having an Undignified Death in panicking as he is turned to stone, being reduced to a statue for Dabura's throne room.
Universe 16 Son Bra, Vegito's daughter, is a Ms. FanserviceSmug SuperJerkass and by far the story's most prominent character, with four specials, many minicomics, her own spinoff, and the most (and longest) fights. Originally some liked Bra for being a relevant female character, but as her screentime increased exponentially and her bad qualities worsened—especially during and after her contentious battle against King Cold—she lost many defenders and became a Scrappy. The Majin Rebellion arc solidified her as a Pet with her being the center of the comic for two straight years,killing off fan-favorite characters, winning, and being Easily Forgiven by almost everyone, excepting Vegito (portrayed as wrong) and U16 Pan (described by Gohan as "just needing time" to accept Bra brutally murdering him.) Many feel Bra's Plot Armor robs her fights of all tension (she's yet to lose a main story battle), or hate how she acts like a pure-blooded Saiyan yet lacks their honor, and never gets any comeuppance for her behavior or actions (assuming she's not portrayed as right.) Salagir says Bra is intended to be dislikable, but typical fan reaction to her is hoping she'll leave as soon as possible. The novelization goes even further with Character Shilling, calling Bra “kind” and awe-inspiring. Finally, Asura, DBM's main artist, has stated Bra is his favorite character.
Broly. Salagir thinks Broly's awesome, so he buffs Broly from "extremely powerful" to "invincible" while in his Legendary Super Saiyan state. Additionally, he gets a lot of focus despite being an ultimately unimportant character (his fight with Vegito being the Batman Cold Open of the entire series). U20 Broly's final special features the heroes combining into Buu and attempting a Taking You with Me... which anticlimactically fails when Broly manages to muscle his way out of a supermassive black hole (which Salagir had previously stated Broly wasn't yet strong enough to do.)
Son Bra's atrocities as a Majin being wholly the result of Babidi's brainwashing, with Gast, Gotenks and U18 Bra all using this stance to defend her. Vegito, who believed that she willingly submitted to Babidi's control, is considered to be the one in the wrong. The problem is that Bra's actions, before and after she became a Majin, don't do her any favors: other victims of Babidi, such as Naurb from U19, still showed some semblance of morality, while Bra is just about as Ax-Crazy as the likes of Frieza and Cell, which heavily implies that More than Mind Control is in play by her own admission. That her defenders go into almost checklist-like detail to counter arguments suspiciously similar to many fan ones certainly doesn't help matters.
According to Salagir, Vegito had been a "master of his emotions" for decades, which was why he failed to understand Bra's own emotional issues. This statement has been mocked by many readers who are quick to point out the many instances of Vegito losing his temper at the drop of a hat, including in the U16 novelization.
Designated Hero: U16 Bra was long seen as one of these. Initially, her becoming Majinized quieted a lot of these concerns, but they quickly resurfaced, especially after she was Easily Forgiven and her problems were attributed to Vegito's parenting.
U17 Cell, due to combining the best traits of his imperfect and perfect form, his excellent showing in many fights, and his Xanatos Speed Chess during the Majin Rebellion.
U13 Vegeta for embodying the best (worst in-universe) aspects of Saiyan and Freeza Saga Vegeta.
Raichi for being a much more sympathetic character than he is in canon, and showing genuine care and friendship towards Tapion.
King Cold for being an Adaptational Badass and showing off not one, but twoaugmentation forms (both beautifully drawn by DBM artist Asura). He only improved after revealing he's actually Captain Ginyu and stealing U16 Bra's body. Many were disappointed we didn't get to see more of "Brayu", since she's restored to her body shortly after.
The two audience members, named Zarya & Bruce, have been popular ever since the Majin Rebellion. Zarya even more so do to her being the first audience member to take action & for being a rather muscular female.
Universe 9 for being the one universe where the humans really get to shine, unlike in canon Z onward where they are mostly on the sidelines.
Despite only making her first appearance during Gast vs Raichi, Phipsil from Universe 19 gathered a sizeable fanbase for being a badass and attractive Action GirlCombat Pragmatist, with many calling her an MVP during the Majin Rebellion. The creators themselves recognized this, given that she appears more frequently on chapter covers and even in one of the spin-off comics.
The mini Cell Jrs., for being adorable and useful support members.
U3 and U13 Raditz are both much smarter and more sympathetic than they were in canon.
Evil Is Cool: The villains are considered by many fans to be the show stoppers. Specific examples would be Zen Buu, Cell, and Ginyu, thanks to their audacious personalities as well as being given the Adaptational Badass treatment. XXI's apparent true form counts as well.
Fandom Rivalry: The more vocal parts of the Multiverse fandom have an intense rivalry with Dragon Ball Super, to the point that saying you like GT more than Super in the comment section will get you a less violent response. Things have only gotten worse since Super caused an influx of new fans to start reading Multiverse and be left wondering why the comic "leaves out" stuff from the show like Beerus, Whis, Zen'o, and Vegito having a one hour time limit, ticking off the older fans.
"Zen Buu" for Buu from U4. It's a Japanesepun on the word 'zenbu', meaning 'altogether' or 'entire', but still applies to the character since Zen Buu has absorbed "everyone with a power" in his universe.
From Universe 8, Ginyu in Bra's body is called "Brayu". Likewise, Ginyu in King Cold's body has been nicknamed "Coldyu".
Universe 16 has been called, at least by vocal critics of the comic, the Sociopath Universe due to how arrogant and violent Vegito and Bra are.
In Universe 20, "Ultra Buu" when Majin Buu absorbs the Z-Fighters to take on Broly.
Prior to Vegeta vs. Raichi, most fights were straightforward: the stronger contestant just overpowered the weaker one. Vegeta vs. Raichi was more complex and unpredictable, featuring surprise powerups and abilities and a Twist Ending. While some parts remain controversial, its twists nevertheless had enough setupnote The power drain associated with Super Saiyan 3 had been brought up multiple times before in the story, and Raichi having a Vegeta ghost in reserve made sense considering he'd killed all the U3 Saiyans besides Bardock that many consider it one of the webcomic's best fights. Later fights however increasingly featured twists, many of them either not as well-foreshadowed or else requiring Idiot Ball to work.
U16 Pan's death was the first time Universe 16 took center-stage over U18. Since it was the first match to be Played for Drama, it didn't get much negative attention. However, Universe 16 has since gotten much more screentime and development than any other universe, with their scenes often interrupting or postponing others' (such as 18 vs. Yamcha or Gast vs. Raichi). It's gotten to the point where Asura has drawn specials for U16, while main story scenes like Vegeta vs. Cell are left to other artists.
With Dragon Ball Z Abridged, due to both of them being fan-made projects which some fans believe addressed or improved on issues fans found contentious in the original. It's common to see fans in the comments section to quote the Abridged series. The camaraderie only grew when Grant from Team Four Star acknowledged Multiverse in one of their Xenoverse 2 playthroughs.
Despite the above-mentioned Fandom Rivalry, it's not uncommon to see artwork of Son Bra fighting Dragon Ball Super's Kefla. Asura, the main artist of DBM, made a fanart of this matchup himself.
A very early April Fool's joke had page 104 drawn by Salagir, explaining the comic's artist Gogeta Jr. had left the project. A little over three years later Gogeta Jr. actually didleave DBM, causing the project to be without a main artist for several months until Asura stepped in as a replacement.
In Chapter 14, Vegito has a humorous Fantasy Sequence where he imagines Bra going out of control, and Gohan saying he can't hit Bra. Fast forward to the Majin Rebellion, where Gohan has to try and stop Bra without Vegito... and fails.
Chapter 54 has a 6-year-old U16 Bra pretend to lose control in her match with Gotenks, only to reveal it was a distraction so she could pants Gotenks and beat him. The next U16 special, however, has 12-year-old Bra lose control for real when fighting some villains and killing Goten alongside an entire solar system as collateral damage.
U16 Bra's insults to and dismissive opinion of Goten becomes much darker once it's revealed she killed him when she was 12.
Back when the U14 18 vs. U9 Yamcha fight started, most likely because of his young appearance compared to U9 Krillin, a few fans predicted that Yamcha was actually a cyborg. A few pages later, this was confirmed.
Many people believed that the body Ginyu was inhabiting was that of King Cold due to it explaining why Cold felt the need to train to the point where he acquired a sixth form when in canon he was as content as Freeza to never improve his strength and (on a far less serious note) the position he made when dodging Bra's energy sphere attack. Chapter 55 confirms this.
Ginyu in Bra's body attempting to switch bodies with Vegito came as no surprise to anyone. What did come as a shock was it amounting to nothing, with Vegito making it so Ginyu swapped back into Cold and Bra returning to her own body with little effort.
During the Majin Rebellion arc, U16 Bra getting Majinized was a very popular prediction due to her very conspicuous absence for the beginning stages.
A few people were able to predict that the divergent point for U9 was Cooler deciding to destroy Goku's escape pod as it was flying to Earth, and a few more successfully predicted that this eventually led to Cooler killing Frieza due to U9 being unfamiliar with the latter.
During the final fight of the Majin Rebellion arc, Majin Cell blasting Majin Bra with his own Special Beam Cannon while she was being bombarded by much weaker ones from the 2 Piccolos was something quite a few people predicted a few pages before it actually happened.
For years, fans speculated that U13 Kakarot used the Earth's Dragon Balls to make himself immortal, due to his freakish endurance and resilience, even by Saiyan standards. This ends up being confirmed in chapter 74.
Informed Wrongness: Vegito is portrayed as clearly in the wrong when he attempts to kill U16 Bra after her Majin rampage, with the gathered "good" characters all teaming up to call him out, criticize his flaws, and generally paint his actions as far worse than Bra killing everyone. However, even ignoring whether Bra is actually at fault for her actions or if she really has sorted out her issues, Vegito is still expressly acting to protect his universe based on the information he has available, even at personal cost.
U13 Kakarot. Though an Ax-Crazy psychopath, he was frequently abused by his mother and separated from the rest of human civilization, making him even more savage than the usual Saiyan. When he finally found a friend in Krillin, his own uncontrollable urges plus his mother's abuse cost him their friendship and eventually, Kakarot ended up killing his friend, something he regretted.
All versions of Raditz. U3 Raditz's father treated him with contempt and he was frequently bullied by his fellow Saiyans in childhood. Likewise, U13 Raditz's Saiyan comrades give him no respect due to being the weakest of the group.
U3 Bardock, who's still a ruthless Saiyan but regrets being unable to save his species from Raichi despite having the power to see the future.
The U4 special turns Hirudegarn, of all antagonists, into one. On the one hand, it's still a violent being who destroys everything around. However, when Zen Buu reads its mind, he discovers that Hirudegarn hates being alive, as it means having the life of a servant. Its deepest wish is actually to be turned back into a lifeless idol, to have peace. Basically, two pages were enough to make Hirudegarn a Tragic Monster.
Bujin was an orphan who got drafted (most likely against his will) into a military experiment to combat the Frost Demons, and is now stuck working for Bojack. And when he seizes the opportunity to betray Bojack, he's killed shortly afterwards.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: A huge reason why U16 Bra is The Scrappy, despite Salagir's best efforts to explain why she comparatively isn't that bad. The Frost Demons, Androids, U13 Saiyans, Cell, and Babidi are all gleeful mass-murderers... but most of their evil was done offscreen to people we don't know, and for much of the story they stay quiet and keep to themselves. Son Bra, on the other hand, was introduced as a hero but frequently insults her own family, friends, or allies—all characters the readers like or respect. Combine this with a lot of screentime and you've got someone despised by a good chunk of the fanbase... even before some of her worse traits were revealed.
Another problem with Bra is the way she's treated in comparison with the villains. Whenever the villains are doing something attrocious they're treated with contempt at best and outright hostility at worst, and sometimes, they don't even need to be doing something bad when characters know how much they're bastards. Bra by comparison only has other characters being frustrated at her but still treated respectfully, and may even get rewarded for her behavior such as when Vegetto said she passed her test of not killing Zangya, even though Bra killed Zangya. This is at its worst at the end of the Majin rebellion where everyone is overly forgiven of her actions, with only Vegetto being against her and all of his complaints being treated as wrong (Even when he wonders what they'll do if Bra reaches Super Saiyan 3, that is shut down with a non-answer). All of this can make Bra into a very frustrating character to read about since there's no real commeunpance for her attitude, and by comparison, Vegeta in the original DB manga avoided this in his villainous phases since he was treated like The Friend Nobody Likes at best, which made his attitude less frustrating to see.
Zen Buu. Deep down he's just as crazy as he was in canon, but his Cloudcuckoolander personality and charm makes him too enjoyable to hate, even when he tries to take over the multiverse.
Kakarot. He's done so many horrible things, but thanks to him being awesome, it practically borders on Refuge in Audacity.
Captain Ginyu of Universe 8 was once the esteemed leader of the Ginyu Force, punished by Frieza for a past failure. Using his "Body Change" technique to fake his death, Ginyu goes into hiding and plots revenge against his former master. Taking over King Cold's body and usurping his place as leader of the Frost Demon empire, he keeps up the masquerade for decades and trains himself to control Cold's great power, even managing to unlock two new transformations in secret. In his battle against Bra of Universe 16 during the tournament, Ginyu takes advantage of the Saiyan girl's pride and arrogance to give himself an advantage in the fight, only losing due to Bra fighting dirty herself. Ginyu uses his Body Change technique to swap bodies with Bra and leaves her trapped in his old crippled body, only narrowly thwarted by virtue of Vegito's sheer strength. Even as Babidi's thrall, Ginyu is no less competent a fighter, making unorthodox use of his Body Change technique to make his enemies mutilate themselves before swapping them into one another's dying bodies.
Bardock of Universe 3 shows himself to be more than a low-class Saiyan thug. After foreseeing Frieza's genocide of the Saiyan race, Bardock successfully rallied the Saiyans to rebel against Frieza by overthrowing King Vegeta. The Saiyans under Bardock's new leadership then seized control of Frieza's empire, with Bardock using his precognitive powers to devise long-term plans to eliminate any competitors. To avoid any power struggles that would undo his work, Bardock willingly stepped down as king, instead becoming one of the empire's chief advisors to continue running affairs from behind the scenes, all the while adapting his plans to whichever Saiyan ascends to the throne.
Hanasia, Queen of the Saiyans: Snower is the second son of Emperor Blizzard of the Frost Demon Empire. Snower acts as the Empire's administrator to appoint his followers to important positions, while his efficiency makes him a trusted figure even as he secretly plots to seize total control in the future. When his brothers leave to seek revenge on Hanasia for the death of their brother Chilled, Snower takes advantage of their absence to enact his long-awaited coup. Snower covertly aids a group of rebels seeking to break free from the Empire, assassinating his father and older brother as well as Hanasia. Victorious, he offers the rebels a chance to join his ranks, or return home with their newly earned independence only to withhold any assistance to the independent planets unless they let themselves be annexed by his new empire.
Raditz's usual portrayal as this is played with here. Besides losing in the first round on the main storyline, a minicomic was published making fun of the concept.
Frieza, due to being the biggest victim of Villain Forgot to Level Grind, only winning his matches because his opponents forfeited and, in Nappa's case, got away with making fun of him. Finally, every special from other universes that he appears in ends up with him getting killed, and the specials that showed him actually winning still had him constantly humiliated and ultimately overshadowed by Ginyu.
Grand Supreme Kai, due to just standing there uselessly for nearly the entire Majin Rebellion before getting unceremoniously killed by Majin Bra.
Bojack snapping U16 Pan's neck. Cell's beatdown on him was very satisfying.
Cell already crossed it long before DBM began when he killed all the U17 Z-Fighters and wiped out numerous other planets, though some say he crossed it again in-story during the Majin Rebellion when he murdered the Videls from both Universes 16 and 18 and threatened U18 Bra. See his Alternate Character Interpretation entry above.
Zen Buu's cartoony punch to West Supreme Kai on page 735.
The Supreme Kais' violent way of dealing with upcoming dangers in the Universe 1/10 Special, like killing Frieza and Cooler when they were children and Broly when he was an infant.
Vegeta's death in the Universe 8 special, where Krillin cuts his head off with Yajirobe's sword. A gruesome death? Sure. But it unintentionally becomes hilarious because Vegeta's severed head proceeds to bounce away like a tumbleweed, with him still talking all the while.
The art for the Universe 11 special, mainly the poses that Android 18 makes, such as this gem.
The comic's heavy amount of gore has gotten this reaction as it's become more frequent and ridiculous, with Gohan graphically punching Nappa and Kakarotto to bloody chunks and Bra shooting Piccolo so hard his eyes pop outOne-Punch Man style being the most prominent examples.
As Majin Bra suffers more and more Clothing Damage, the way her bra's few remaining threads defy all logic to remain in place and avoid a Wardrobe Malfunction comes off as comical.
U18 Bra ends her "Reason You Suck" Speech to Majin Bra by calling the latter "passive", and it's treated like the harshest insult she could use. At the time, Salagir explained his English translators asked him three times to use a different word, but he refused. He's since admitted the word choice was a mistake.
U8 Ginyu switching bodies with Bra. He is immediately discovered and, after a short fight, forced to change back. This encounter takes up most of a chapter but doesn't affect anything in the long run: the following tournament match was unaffected, and he and the rest of U8 still would have been Majinized. The one thing which references future events is Ginyu pointing out U16 Bra is not pure of heart, something which was fairly obvious to many.
Much of Hatchiyack's screentime was splash pages.
The battle against Majin Bra, which spanned three whole chapters of the Majin Rebellion. Cell and the Universe 19 warriors, who were revealed to be Not Quite Dead so they could help turn the tide, ultimately contributed nothing other than getting killed to show off how formidable Majin Bra is. To a lesser degree, none of the damage the heroes inflict on Majin Bra ends up affecting U18 Bra speaking to her, so the entire battle could've been omitted and the outcome wouldn't have changed.
Since many of the villains are much more likeable and charismatic than they were in the main timeline, it's not uncommon to see people cheering for them. The most standout example is King Cold vs. Bra, where people were rooting for Cold to win and cheered when Bra got her body stolen by Ginyu.
U16 Vegito is supposed to be in the wrong when he attempts to punish and kill U16 Bra, but that didn't stop many fans from hoping he would pull it off.
Zen Buu wants to open a secondary tournament where the strong get to fight and cheap, instant-win techniques are banned. The Kais, feeling threatened, declare the tournament cancelled in response - but many fans were actually all for the idea, given how disappointing the fights had been as of late.
Hatchiyack for having a boring fighting style, no personality, and accomplishing nothing. The fact he took the place of Dr. Raichi, an Ensemble Dark Horse due to being a rather sympathetic Anti-Villain, doesn't help his case.
Bojack, not only for lacking any of the likable qualities that made the other villains popular among the fans, but also for his specials being pointless filler with bad art.
The newborn I'k'l immediately became one, due to interrupting the tournament again, with an ability that, like Buu and XXI before him, came of as extremely contrived.
Seasonal Rot: Many critics of the series point to Bra vs. Cold as the moment where the storytelling quality became ever more controversial. Fights increasingly relied on Ass Pull and Idiot Ball, and many highly anticipated characters, subplots, or matches were dealt with or dropped rather suddenly, like Ginyu's reveal, Gast vs. Raichi, Kakarot's immortality, Vegeta vs. Cell, Buu vs. XXI, and Buu vs. everyone.
Shocking Moments: The Interface Screw accompanying the reveal of XXI's true form in Chapter 86, for being the first time the webcomic had ever used such a trick.
U16 Bra having and somehow using a senzu bean to win against Cold is one of the webcomic's most infamous and iconic moments.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While many of the changes the novelization has made to the story have been positively received, one change that was widely disliked was Kakarotto attacking Pan after their match had ended and her having to be saved by Gohan, as many fans felt it undermined her transformation into a Super Saiyan and forfeiting on her own terms.
Many specials focus on the universes where the villains win, often by showing in great detail how the heroes die in each of them.
In the main comic, the mostly morally sound U18, U9, and U19 get noticeably less focus than the far more dysfunctional U16 and the various villain universes.
The final stretch of the Majin Rebellion features a Hope Spot of various fighters assembled by Cell against Majin Bra... followed by them getting brutally crushed.
Too Cool to Live: Dr. Raichi, with his power of creating an army of ghosts, including his own Broly, gets Killed Off for Real by Gast. Gast even doubts that the Dragon Balls could ever hope to bring him back.
Trapped by Mountain Lions: Specials and minicomics often put the plot on hold to focus on a plotline that has little if anything to do with the main story.
Unexpected Character: Nobody expected Lord Slug of all people to appear in Chapter 74, especially since Salagir had said at the beginning of the comic that he would never show up.
Unintentional Period Piece: Of the Turn of the MillenniumDragon Ball fandom. Frieza being a weakButt-Monkey? Hard limits to character potential? Bra being older than Pan? Potara fusion being permanent? While DBM’s story and treatment of characters don’t necessarily represent the ideas of ALL Dragon Ball fans in the early 2000s, they still reflect an era before Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Z Kai, and even Dragon Ball Z Abridged (which Multiverse predates by about a month). Because of this, uninformed newcomers often wonder where Beerus is or why Goku isn’t going Super Saiyan Blue.
In stark contrast to Son Bra, Vegito comes across as this in Chapter 79. The story tries to paint him as a monster for trying to kill his daughter, with the others telling him it wasn't her fault since she was an unwilling victim of Babidi's magic. However, fans feel bad for him and found it hard not to see Vegito in the right, as not only did Bra just murder nearly all of the heroes, including her brother Gohan, but long before that, she murdered billions of people due to her inability to control her power, including her brother Goten, and initially showed no remorse for it. If anything, Vegito has a point considering Bra continues to prove herself unstable and dangerous and it's made clear that he doesn't want to kill his daughter, but has to put the universe before his love for her.
The Mini Cell Jrs. played a massively helpful role in the battle against Majin Bra, including saving U18 Gohan from suffocating to death. Yet after the fight, U16 Gohan tells them they also aren't allowed to come near his universe simply by being associated with U17 Cell... despite the fact they are newborns and haven't done anything even remotely malicious themselves. It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor things, and the fact Gohan condemns them so harshly right after forgiving Bra for murdering him feels like an Out-of-Character Moment.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Chapter 77 ends with a 12-year-old U16 Bra collapsing in tears, all alone, after Vegito threatened to kill her. This is implied to be her Freudian Excuse for her underlying issues and Jerkass behavior in the present day. Considering Bra had just decimated an entire star system (with Goten being among the likely billions of casualties), and had been outright happy about it (because she finally surpassed U16 Gohan) until Vegito's threat, it came off as Bra being uncaring of the damage she wrought or the lives she took and only becoming upset because she herself was threatened. This revelation coming after several chapters of watching her brutally and remorselessly murdering the heroes (including her universe's Gohan) in the present day did nothing to help fans' perception of the moment.
saying "In universe 20, Broly wasn't stronger than black holes."