Body Change (ボディチェンジ) is Captain Ginyu's signature technique.
Overview[]
Once shouting "Change, now!" with his arms outstretched, Ginyu fires an energy wave from his mouth into the opponent's mouth. When it is finished, Ginyu is in the opponent's body, while they are in his own body. The individuals are shown to retain their own respective voices in their new bodies, making it harder for a person to impersonate the person they swapped with. In preparation for this technique, Ginyu usually begins by injuring himself in order to give a damaged body to his opponent.
This technique appears to require the spoken component in order to work as shown he became trapped in a Namekian Frog. In the anime, he does not need to use actually speak through vocal cords as Bulma's Universal Translator allowed him to change bodies with her. Later in Dragon Ball Super, it was shown that this technique can alternatively be activated by an opponent by writing "Change" in the ground in the alien language and tricking his opponent into saying it, as Ginyu did on Tagoma.
While the Body Change gives Ginyu an advantage over powerful opponents by effectively swapping power levels from their new bodies, this is shown to have one drawback: any host changing bodies must take time to get used to their new body before they can use its full power. This is already problematic enough if the body in question is vastly different from his own, but in situations where the key to accessing the body's maximum power is not anything he knows, or even anything strictly working within the body itself, it can become crippling to his output in relation to what its usual host is capable of. This is made clear in the case of his swap with Goku, result in Ginyu bearing a relatively dim power level of 23,000.
Usage[]
Ginyu's special ability originated during his childhood: when Ginyu first learned of his Body Change ability, he swapped bodies with the richest kid in his class.[8] Due to this special ability, only a few people have seen Ginyu's true form and Salza, the leader of Cooler's Armored Squadron, is among them.[9][10]
Ginyu is first seen using this attack against Gokuafter seeing Goku's great increase in his power level through the Kaio-ken technique. He and Jeice then flew off to find the Namekian Dragon Balls, with an injured Goku trapped in Ginyu's body slowly following behind. Once arriving back at the base, Ginyu is surprised to find the Dragon Balls dug up by Krillin and Gohan, choosing to feign being Goku, Ginyu attempts to get Krillin to tell him how to use the Dragon Balls, once it becomes clear that the earthlings do not know how to use the Namekian Dragon Balls, Ginyu drops the charade and attacks them.
Goku soon arrives, explaining to his son and best friend the situation. Goku then tricks Ginyu into attempting to power-up more, ultimately to instead greatly weaken himself from his lack of familiarity to Goku's different body structure. As Ginyu begins adjusting to Goku's body and regains control of the battle, Vegeta kills Jeice and proceeds to attack Ginyu, by quickly pummeling him and knocking him down into the ground. As Vegeta charges towards Ginyu, the captain attempts to use his Body Change technique against Vegeta. However, before the beam could hit Vegeta, Goku jumps in the way and got his body back while Ginyu got his.
Ginyu soon used his Body Change in a final attempt to switch bodies with Vegeta again. However, before the beam could hit Vegeta, Goku threw a Namekian frog in front of the Body Change beam, trapping Ginyu's mind in the frog's body and vice-versa, to which the frog hopped away in Ginyu's body. Vegeta chose to spare Ginyu, figuring being trapped in the body of a frog was punishment enough).
In the filler, the frog-bodied Ginyu is unable to switch to a different body as the frog is incapable of speech. However he encounters an abandoned Bulma who, lonely and wishing for someone to talk to, builds a device that would allow her to understand him, unaware of who he truly is. With the aid of the device Ginyu takes control of Bulma's body while trapping her in the frog's. Using Bulma's air bike, Ginyu journeys to the battlefield where Frieza is fighting Goku. Using Bulma's body, Ginyu tricks Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo into thinking he is Bulma. However, he is unable to keep up the ruse for very long as he is prone to rooting for Frieza out loud, and frog-bodied Bulma tries to warn Gohan. Eventually, Gohan realizes Ginyu is in Bulma's body and Ginyu is forced to defend himself. Knowing Bulma's body is too weak, Ginyu tries to steal Piccolo's body, but Gohan quickly throws the frog-bodied Bulma between the two, resulting in Bulma regaining her body and Ginyu returning to the frog's body.
In the Golden Frieza Saga of Dragon Ball Super, Frog Ginyu writes "Change" in the dirt, tricking one of Frieza's elite soldiers Tagoma into saying it. Ginyu then proceeds to use Body Change in order to switch bodies with the elite soldier Tagoma. Unlike with his previous use on Planet Namek of this technique, Ginyu was able to quickly adjust to Tagoma's body, able to focus the body's true capabilities and power-up to full power, well-beyond what Tagoma showed. Upon which, Ginyu revealed himself to Frieza and reasserted himself within Frieza's ranks. Presumably Ginyu was able to adjust more quickly to Tagoma's body as he was a member of Frieza's Army like Ginyu, meaning Tagoma likely possessed similar abilities and training as Ginyu, though Ginyu was more experienced allowing him to draw out greater power from Tagoma's body allowing him to take full advantage of the training that Tagoma's body had received from sparring with Frieza.
Variations[]
- Body Change Special - A team attack variation from Supersonic Warriors 2 where Ginyu uses his Body Change on Goku while he is busy charging a Kamehameha. Ginyu then switches bodies with Goku and after adding his power to Goku's Kamehameha he fires it at the opponent. It is used by Ginyu (and Goku albeit unwillingly) to defeat Broly (though Broly manages to survive the blast).
- Ginyu Force Paralysis Body Change - A team attack used by Dark Ginyu and his Ginyu Force teammate Guldo on Goku in Dragon Ball Xenoverse. After his switch with the Future Warrior is undone and his second attempt to steal Goku's body foiled, an injured Ginyu orders Guldo (who survived due to Dark Ginyu order him to take the Dragon Balls back to Frieza's spaceship instead) to use his Paralysis on Goku so Dark Ginyu can finally steal Goku's body (ironically restoring that part of the original timeline in the process). Ginyu finishes the technique by using Body Change on the paralyzed victim. Appears only once in a story cutscene.
- Z-Assist Body Change - A variation of the Body Change used by the Future Warrior in Dragon Ball Xenoverse when performing the technique while Captain Ginyu is their current Master. The Z-Assist causes Ginyu's soul (which appears as an astral projection of Ginyu performing the technique) to go into the Future Warrior's body while they're performing it increasing the power of the Warrior's Body Change.
- Full-Nelson Body Change - A team attack used by Ginyu and Turles on Goku in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. After his switch with Future Trunks is undone, Turles appears behind Goku and places him in a Full-Nelsonso Ginyu can steal Goku's body, rendering Goku helpless inside Ginyu's body. Though Ginyu was unaware of who Turles was he thanks him and uses his Body Change on Goku (Ginyu later tries to thank Turles by making him a member of the Ginyu Force but Turles politely declines). Appears only once in a story cutscene.
- Body Change Block - A technique used to counter and/or reverse a Body Change. This technique involves the user either shielding the intended target (like when Goku shielded Vegeta) or interrupting the body change with another being (such as a Namekian Frog), causing the body change to either backfire or undoing the body change (allowing someone to regain their stolen body). This technique technically counts as a variation as it requires the Body Change user to use the technique in order to counter or block it. Was named in Dragon Ball Fusions.