Gotenks

"Hey! With all this crazy hair I barely recognize myself. Eh, at least it's better than pointy ears."

Gotenks (ゴテンクス, Gotenkusu) is the powerful result of Trunks and Goten using the Fusion Dance, and the first fusion character to be seen in the Dragon Ball manga and the Dragon Ball Z anime.

Appearance
Gotenks wears a blue and yellow colored Metamoran vest, one which all characters created by the Fusion Dance have. Around his waist is a blue/green sash, and he wears white silky pants, dark shoes, and black wristbands. His hair style is a mixture of the hair of both Trunks and Goten, with the front and back of his hair being black like those of Goten's, and the sides being the purple/white color that Trunks's hair is, and the style of it is similar overall to Goten's while in Super Saiyan form. His body is also very toned and muscular, especially for someone his age. Gotenks' personality is unique even though he shares personality traits of his creators, Goten and Trunks. Gotenks is known to be cocky, arrogant and mischievous like Trunks, yet he acts playful and whines like Goten. Like the genetic composition of Goten and Trunks, Gotenks is a Saiyan/Human hybrid.

Interestingly, Gotenks has a widow's peak something neither Goten or Trunks have, although its possible that Trunks has a widow's peak that is hidden by his bangs and Goten does have a widow's peak in Dragon Ball GT. He also greatly resembles Vegeta in terms of his hairstyle, facial expressions and his obnoxious arrogant attitude.

Behind the dance
Gotenks is one of two fusions performed through the use of the Fusion Dance technique. He, along with Gogeta, the fighter created by Goku and Vegeta using the Fusion Dance, were summoned out of desperation to defeat powerful enemies. In Gotenks' case, his enemy was Majin Buu and later in the saga, he is to be used by Majin Buu as his main power source where Gotenks is absorbed heartlessly. Gotenks is seen a few times in Dragon Ball Z, and has an appearance in the movies Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon. The dance is a special type of fusion ability, a connection through the fusers' fingers. The fusees need to perform a special type of pose, then connect their index fingers evenly to produce a perfect fusion. Gotenks was a fusion taught to Goten and Trunks by Goku, and later trained by Piccolo.

Behind the fusion
Gotenks is very young, but powerful, and is very playful and an extreme procrastinator. Gotenks has a quite cocky and rebellious personality. He likes to do things his own way and has been told more than once that he acts more like Vegeta than anyone else. He thinks he is in total control, and has everything in his hands. He is not exactly the most powerful individual to turn to, as Gogeta, Vegito, Ultimate Gohan, and Super Saiyan 3 Goku have all been visually proven to be much more powerful than him. Gotenks' power can easily rival any individual character in the series, making him one of the most powerful. He is able to perform a few transformations, increasing his power and making him more confident and deadly in battle. He is quite creative and original, and creates a broad, yet ridiculous array of his own attacks. However, some of his creative techniques do inflict potent damage, such as his Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, or his Galactic Donut attack.

Gotenks is born
Gotenks is first seen within the Majin Buu Saga. It was suggested that he be created in response to the destructive forces of the powerful Majin Buu, who had defeated most of Earth's strongest fighters, such as Gohan and Vegeta. Goten and Trunks, Gotenks' fusion counterparts, were trained and taught by Goku (who learned of the Fusion Dance in the Other World) and later by Piccolo, after Goku left, on how to successfully perform the Fusion Dance. After learning the procedures and steps that needed to be taken for its success, Goten and Trunks performed the fusion, however they failed not once, but twice. Because the Fusion Dance is a thirty-minute period, one hour was wasted on Gotenks' fusion. This was usually due to the fact that one of the counterparts, either Goten or Trunks, did something incorrectly while performing the dance, causing Gotenks to be formed as grotesquely emaciated or morbidly obese.

Eventually, Goten and Trunks performed the Fusion Dance properly and created the fighter Gotenks. Piccolo and the others noticed that he had incredible power, but it was questioned as to whether or not he could fight Majin Buu. When Gotenks was first fused, he felt quite confident of his new power, and even jumped to a conclusion that he was strong enough to beat Majin Buu. Unfortunately for him and the rest of Z Warriors, Majin Buu swiftly took care of Gotenks in a heartbeat. Gotenks retreated, and realized that he was still too weak for Majin Buu. Piccolo suggested (after scolding the overconfident Saiyan for disobeying) that Gotenks defuse, and fuse again, only this time as a Super Saiyan.

Gotenks vs. Buu
Trunks and Goten transformed themselves as Super Saiyans. However, because the Fusion Dance requires near-equal, if not identical power levels of each of the fused individuals, Trunks had to lower his power level to match Goten's, since his was slightly higher from being one year older. The two young Saiyans then fused and became Super Saiyan Gotenks. The new Gotenks decided to test his new strength and speed, by racing around the world dozens of times in a flash, with Piccolo in hot pursuit. From watching his speed and childish acts, Piccolo analyzed Gotenks' new strength. He realized that he's incredibly faster than before, and also noted before that it was an impressive transformation. After taking swift laps around Earth, Gotenks thought he was definitely ready for Majin Buu, but taking a nap after flying around the world so many times caused his fusion time to elapse, and he defused into Goten and Trunks before Buu could even figure out what the commotion was about. Piccolo insisted that he rest, and let Trunks and Goten get their strength back from all the hassle of actually pulling off the Fusion. But while Gotenks and Piccolo celebrated with their success, Majin Buu gained major issues.

After a brief fight with his evil counterpart, Evil Buu, Majin Buu was eaten and absorbed by him, resulting in the powerful Super Buu. During his fight with Super Saiyan 3 Goku, Majin Buu was promised another powerful fighter besides Goku. This promise was made by Goku, and Majin Buu thought heavily on the offer. Majin Buu had to wait a couple days before the fighter was ready. He was tempted to refuse, but Majin Buu accepted the offer. But now, because that memory sinks in deep within his mind, Super Buu ponders on where his strong fighter is. When he is created, Super Buu immediately goes to Kami's Lookout with his newfound ability to sense ki signatures, and finds the very place where Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, and the rest of the group were located. Everyone was horrified of Super Buu's new evil power, and they started to fret as to what he would do with them. Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan, who were the strongest warriors on the planet, were all dead or not physically present, as Goku had returned to Other World as his time on Earth was up, Vegeta had sacrificed himself in a futile attempt to dispose of Majin Buu, and Gohan was thought dead after his defeat, but was located on the Sacred World of the Kais with Supreme Kai, Kibito, Goku, and the Old Kai, with the former unlocking Gohan's latent potential. Gotenks was the only being thought left to have any chance against Super Buu with them gone.

After his arrival, Super Buu demanded his promised fighter. Piccolo was the only responding being that can answer the atrocious monster's demands because Goten and Trunks were in the middle of resting. Piccolo offers one hour, corresponding to the promised days that Super Buu had to wait. Because Super Buu was so impatient, he decided to kill all of the remaining humans on Earth to take up time by homing onto all their energy signals and launching countless tiny, but deadly energy beams upon them, killing all but those who were fast enough to dodge the attacks (such as Tien and Chiaotzu), and Mr. Satan and his dog Bee, who had earlier befriended Majin Buu. Super Buu then waited for a small amount of time for the preparation of Gotenks. However, he was too eager to fight and far too impatient to wait any longer. Eventually, his patience ran out before waiting half of the hour he was told to, and Super Buu demanded to see his fighter. Piccolo was left with no choice but to lure Buu toward Gotenks, but he was not yet ready. Goten and Trunks were sleeping, and Super Buu was right on their way. Fortunately, Piccolo decided to take a long route, giving the two youngsters extra time to prepare themselves. Even though he was only able to stall Buu for one minute, this equated to roughly six hours inside of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and allowed Goten and Trunks the time they needed to recuperate. (It also gave the young Saiyans enough time to unlock their "secret weapon"). Super Buu started to get really impatient after a few minutes for walking so long, and threatened Piccolo that he will kill everyone on the lookout, if he is not taken to his fighter. Piccolo decided it's now or never, and finally led Super Buu to his fighter. Within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Super Buu saw two young individuals, and mistook them for his fighter.

While the two boys prepared to fuse, Super Buu charged towards Trunks, and punched him down before he fused with Goten. Trunks demanded that Super Buu hold his horses and watch them fuse. Super Buu paused to try and understand what was going on, and in the process gives Goten and Trunks enough time to fuse into Gotenks. Super Buu looked at the fused young warrior as if he was a joke, and even dared him to give him his best shot. Gotenks did just that, and got pummeled to the ground. He then got back up, and complimented Buu on his swiftness. Gotenks charged towards Super Buu, but Super Buu dodged all his attacks easily, and swiftly punched Gotenks yet again. Gotenks then started to use an array of enigmatic attacks, which were all flimsy and strange, and they humorously failed against Super Buu. Just as Gotenks was about to try yet another one of his fancy moves, Super Buu slapped him right across his face, pummeling him into a wall and stating he'd had enough of the weakling. Gotenks then decided to heat things up a notch, and transformed into a Super Saiyan.

Piccolo was happy that the young Saiyan had finally achieved his transformation (since Gotenks was unable to take the form without being fused into it, before), and thought that he was ready for Super Buu. Gotenks thought up another strange attack to unleash on Super Buu, where he powered up and created a huge circular ring of energy called the Cosmic Halo. He then extended the energy ring around Super Buu's head. He lowered the ring, and reduced the ring's size on Super Buu, hoping to squeeze the breath out of him. Super Buu seemed to react painfully to the attack, but gets slightly serious and blasted his way out of its grasp with ease. Gotenks is stunned, but then tried to go head to head with Super Buu. It seemed he was getting onto Super Buu, and even annoyingly bumped Super Buu on his head. However, most of the injuries Super Buu suffered were only through foolish accidents, and made him seem to only be playing around with Gotenks. Super Buu then charged out for Gotenks, who miraculously gets out of the way, but Super Buu's speed is too much for Gotenks, and he kicked him down to the ground.

Gotenks and Super Buu then spar for a quick moment, with Super Buu eventually gaining the upper hand with a swift swipe to Gotenks with his Head Tentacle. Piccolo stands by horrified that Gotenks is losing even as a Super Saiyan. Gotenks seems to be running out of ideas as to what move he'll perform next, but then thinks of something that takes strange to a whole new level. Gotenks begins to power up, and then starts to regurgitate out ghost versions of himself. Super Buu and Piccolo are shocked and confused as to what exactly Gotenks is doing, but the answer quickly made itself visible. Gotenks assembled a ghost like version of himself, calling the technique "Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack". The first ghost was quickly punched by Super Buu, but he suddenly realized that each ghost was a contact bomb. The ghost immediately exploded when Buu punched it.

This crippled Super Buu, seemingly leaving him in great pain. However the pink monster easily regenerated, and made himself 100% for the fight again. Gotenks and Piccolo are shocked, but Gotenks quickly puts his Ghosts to work. He, after creating ten of them, assembles them all in a single file line. As Gotenks begin to chat with his ghost counterparts, Piccolo informs him that Super Buu is relaxing and loafing around drinking juice, and is waiting until he is ready. Gotenks gets furious, and charges all his ghosts on Super Buu. However, Super Buu figures out how to eliminate each ghost without touching them, and easily disposes of two of them by moving out of the way, enraging Gotenks.

The same procedure as the last is met, and Gotenks plans a way to destroy Super Buu. Knowing he has a ravenous appetite, Gotenks instructs his ghosts to pretend that they saw food. The ghosts listen to the plan, and carry it on pointing at the floor and murmuring "what's it doing" and "it's weird". Super Buu is curious to know what the commotion is all about asking can I eat it, and peeks his head within the circle of Ghosts. They all perform a pre-emptive strike on Super Buu, luring him in with a supposed piece of food on the ground, blowing him to pieces, leading Gotenks and Piccolo to finally think that Super Buu is gone when they burn all the pieces. But unfortunately, he regenerates as usual. Gotenks (pretends to be) baffled as to how he can beat Super Buu, knowing he had a secret technique he hadn't shown (he then pretends to have lost it all to make the situation all the more dramatic). Piccolo then decided to take a risk, and destroyed the entrance and only exit out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. This apparently traps Piccolo, Gotenks, and Super Buu inside forever. After this, in the manga, Gotenks tells Piccolo that he still has energy and starts insulting and Piccolo insults him back for playing a joke. Super Buu hears the news, and filled only with the thoughts that he will never eat sweets ever again, begins to get extremely mad. With a powerful scream, he then tears a hole through a new dimension. The opposite side of the hole seem to lead outside of the Chamber.

Round two with Super Buu and Super Saiyan 3
Super Buu is happy he is still able to eat, and quickly escapes through his newly created dimension rip, leaving Gotenks and Piccolo trapped inside. When outside, Super Buu resurfaces and has the rest of the Z Warriors at his mercy. Gotenks and Piccolo are trapped in the Chamber, leaving no one strong enough to stop Super Buu. Krillin takes it upon himself to try and stand up to Super Buu, but is quickly stumped, and turned into a candy. As a result of his near entrapment in the chamber, Super Buu then decides to change everyone on the Lookout into candy, and fires a massive Antenna Beam from his Head Tentacle. Meanwhile, Gotenks and Piccolo are trying to figure out how Super Buu got out. After witnessing him getting angry, Gotenks and Piccolo begin to get angry and scream out loud just like what Super Buu did to escape. Unfortunately, their power levels were too low to rip another new hole in the dimension. They try it over and over, and repeatedly fail. Then, Gotenks reveals he's going to now show his "secret ability," and then begins to power up substantially. His hair then begins to grow, and his eyebrows start disappearing as lightning began surrounding him in a bright spark of light as Gotenks is undergoing a powerful and astonishing transformation. When he is complete, Gotenks is now revealed as a Super Saiyan 3.

Piccolo is amazed and cannot believe the power before him. Gotenks then begins to put his new power to work, and proceeds to attempt the same feat made by Buu. His new strength seem to be more than enough to rip the same dimension as Super Buu did. Gotenks then escapes first, and warns Piccolo to come along, before he is permanently trapped inside. The Namekian quickly gets out of his shock, and obeys the young Super Saiyan 3. Back outside, the two witness the carnage Super Buu made. He completely devoured everyone from his beam, and cracked the exterior of Kami's Lookout. When asked what has he done from Gotenks, Super Buu replies everyone is in his stomach. Gotenks begins to think of Bulma and Chi-Chi (though, Super Buu crushed the latter by turning her into an egg before entering the chamber), as part of his mother(s), and immediately starts charging for Super Buu in rage. He then begins to best Super Buu with his new Super Saiyan 3 strength. Gotenks delivers a few quick punches on Super Buu, and seems to be faster than him. However, Super Buu still seems to be playing around with him. Gotenks and Super Buu continue their fight, but Super Buu begins to gain a slight upper hand with his elastic body. He starts dodging most of Gotenks's physical attacks by forming himself into flexible loops.

At one point, Gotenks gains the upper hand and blows Super Buu to pieces with his "Splitting Headache" (In the Japanese Version it is called "Brain Crush Hammer"). He celebrates, but the pieces of Super Buu suddenly begin to spin around him very rapidly. Super Buu suddenly reforms, with the area from his chest to his feet wrapped around Gotenks, and the upper portion of his body right behind Gotenks. Super Buu puts his hands in the air and allows his body to do the work, and he starts squeezing him. Gotenks tells him to stop squeezing, but Super Buu only laughs and starts to squeeze harder and harder. Super Buu squeezes him for a good amount of time, and then suddenly takes off and begins to fly. Super Buu flies for a good distance, with him still carrying Gotenks right next to him in his body. Super Buu flies toward a mountain, then suddenly stops and releases his iron body grip on Gotenks, sending him flying into a nearby mountain. Gotenks gets up and begins to use another new move, Super Ghost Balloon. He creates a total of 14 ghosts with this technique, and they seem to be more powerful than before. He then assembles them all on Super Buu, but he quickly dodges them, and eliminates them all. However, a ghost manages to come in contact with Super Buu, and hurts him badly. This leaves Super Buu open for an attack from Gotenks, tearing him to pieces. However, Super Buu regenerates yet again. When reformed, Gotenks quickly charges for Super Buu. Both fighters seem to be pretty evenly matched, however, Super Buu keeps regenerating from each of Gotenks's powerful attacks. Gotenks fires rays of beams at Super Buu, and even sharply slices the pink monster in half. But with each attack Gotenks use, his rapidly depleting Super Saiyan 3 energy is drained and Super Buu just regenerates from them all. Super Buu begins to become shocked at Gotenks's new strength, but smiles at the young Saiyan. Piccolo is stunned to see Gotenks going head to head with Super Buu, and becomes quite happy of the young Saiyan; when he is not in shock at the toll the battle is taking on his old palace.

Super Buu then begins to take an advantage when he made his body into a ball, by forcing his legs over his shoulders, and his arms holding them tight. He causes total destruction around his environment, and seems to be too fast and agile for Gotenks. However, the young Super Saiyan 3 grips Super Buu into another one of his fancy attacks known as Ultra Buu Buu Volleyball. Super Buu is caught in a series of ring like suction energies that squeezed him before, which grip circular objects. And since Super Buu was a ball, he was quickly caught and trapped inside of it. Gotenks then begins to play with his new Super Buu Ball, and eventually slams him to the ground with a spike (with the help of Piccolo in a rather comedic scene). Super Buu seems to be done for within the ball, but he forms a huge blast out of Gotenks's energy ball rings, and resurfaces. Once he resurfaces after recovering from Gotenks' Continuous Die Die Missile, Gotenks and Super Buu go head to head again. Gotenks seem to be having a slight advantage, and evades most of Super Buu's attacks. However, Super Buu at times catches Gotenks off guard and delivers painful blows. They both fight hard and tense, even extending the battle to cities and mountains.

Super Buu fires a huge wave out of his mouth at Gotenks, and hurts him very badly. But Gotenks retaliates with the very same technique, and badly injures Super Buu, but again he regenerates. The 2 fighters begin the exchange series of blows, making it difficult to determine which fighter was the better. Piccolo realized that Super Buu was actually being damaged, and congratulated Gotenks on his achievements. Gotenks and Super Buu go at it again, but now it seems Buu is running out of ideas, and Gotenks is running out of both power and time. As a result, Gotenks begins to get serious, and starts beating up Super Buu. It isn't clear if Super Buu was now being defeated, but Gotenks at the end of the battle began to pummel Buu into a pulp. As he was about to deliver the final blow, Gotenks powered down back to his normal form from having lost a great deal of strength. He tries to scare Super Buu into thinking he's transformed into an even stronger form, and regurgitates more of his ghosts. But because Gotenks is weaker, so are his ghosts, Super Buu completely demolishes his ghosts, and sets his eyes on Gotenks. He charges for him and manhandles the young warrior. Fortunately Gotenks defuses back into Trunks and Goten, ending the fight with Gotenks and Super Buu. Seeing no hope left, Piccolo attempts to make one last stand. But, before this happens, Gohan arrives. He was spending his time on the Sacred World of the Kais, having his ultimate potential unlocked by the Old Kai. With his new found power at his disposal, Gohan began to completey dominate Buu with hardly any effort.

After Super Buu blew himself up when Gohan was about to kill him, Super Buu shows up an hour later since he knew that Goten and Trunks needed a full hour before attempting to fuse again. Gohan tries to fight him, but Super Buu claims he wants another round with Gotenks. As he gets the boys to fuse back into Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks, Super Buu performs his Absorption technique by unleashing two blobs from his back, which sneak up and capture Gotenks and Piccolo. He then absorbs them into his body, and evil copies created in his mind face Goku and Vegeta while they are inside Buu. This is Gotenks' last appearance that revolves around Buu, as by the time Goten and Trunks are freed from Buu's body, Earth has been blown up and the fight against Buu is taken to the Supreme Kai's planet.

Later appearances
"The name's Gotenks, monster, there's no use hiding. You can fight me or surrender. Either way, you're doomed."

- Gotenks to Hirudegarn in Wrath of the Dragon

Gotenks is seen at the tail end of the episode "Celebrations with Majin Buu", where Goten and Trunks merge into Gotenks while bathing with Goku and fight him inside a hot tub, but he then overpowers him by transforming into a Super Saiyan, joking that they should stay fused so Chi-Chi can only spank them once.

During the twelfth Dragon Ball Z film, Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Gotenks is formed to combat the forces of The Dictator after Goten and Trunks sense Gogeta being formed in Hell.

We later see Gotenks in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, in order to beat the monster Hirudegarn, but after using Continuous Die Die Missile to attack the monster, Hirudegarn transforms into a new form. The new Hirudegarn beats Gotenks and the fusion wears off.

Gotenks most recently appeared in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, the special released in 2008, to combat Aka, the fusion of Abo and Kado, two ex-henchmen of Frieza. Aka is no match for Gotenks, who uses the Wolf Fang Fist and Volleyball Attack, apparently learned from Yamcha and Tien Shinhan over the two years between Buu's defeat and the special. However, even his power wasn't able to stand up to the opponent's Super Wahahanoha, causing him to de-fuse.

In Dragon Ball GT, Goten and Trunks are about to fuse during the fight with Baby, but Goku tells them that, because Baby could even match a Super Saiyan 4, Gotenks would be no help. Several more times in GT, the option comes up for Goten and Trunks to fuse (such as a fight against hundreds of revived Saibamen, or when they hold off Omega Shenron for a short time), but they never do.

Strength
Gotenks is considered one of the most powerful individuals in the Dragon Ball history, and is the youngest of all fusions. His size however, is greatly made up for by his power. He is able to make powerful transformations such as Super Saiyan 3, enormously boosting his power level. On the contrary, he is still inferior to the fusions of Goku and Vegeta, because these two Saiyans are stronger than either Trunks or Goten, so their fusion (whether being Potara or Fusion Dance) is superior; as seen in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai where Super Gogeta defeats Janemba just as easily as he does in the film while Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks admits he is not doing any damage to Janemba. At Super Saiyan 3, Gotenks is able to surpass Super Buu's strength, though the Majin's endurance prevents him from being beaten before Gotenks defuses.

Special abilities
Gotenks' childish personality causes him to create many attacks, some of which are nothing special, while some deal hefty damage. Most of his attacks are only used once. He tends to give very basic moves complicated names. His habit of giving names to all his attacks (and subsequently only using them once), could possibly come from Vegeta, who has a similar, yet much less ridiculous, habit (Vegeta's most-associated attacks, such as the Galick Gun, Final Flash, or the Big Bang Attack, are each only used once in the manga). This habit is less apparent in the anime, as Gotenks and Vegeta tend to use those attacks more than once.

Ki Based Techniques

 * Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
 * Flight – Gotenks has the ability to fly with the use of ki.
 * Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack – Gotenks' signature move. Gotenks expels Kamikaze Ghosts from his mouth for an attack. These ghosts are touch sensitive and explode when they touch anything, including each other. Gotenks also uses a Super Ghost Balloon which broke down into 14 ghosts.
 * Jury's Verdict – A triple fireball technique used in the Butōden series.
 * Continuous Die Die Missile – A rapid fire of compact ki blasts. Gotenks performs this attack by firing dozens of continuous ki blasts more powerful than the normal ones. Also used in the Butōden series.
 * Splitting Headache – An attack that cuts the opponent in half. Gotenks fires a beam over his head which turns into a blade that drops down on the opponent's head, slicing them down the middle, before firing the Finish Flash to destroy the two halves.
 * Finish Flash – A double energy wave used against Super Buu to finish the Splitting Headache technique.
 * Kamehameha – Gotenks was about to use it in the manga/anime when he charged up a final attack to finish off Super Buu shortly before returning to his base state as a result of fighting for too long, exhausting his depleting energy supply. The Kamehameha is used by Gotenks in the Butōden series, the Budokai series, Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu, and Dragon Ball Heroes. His Kamehameha technique is called Clean Slate in Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22.
 * Big Tree Cannon – Obtained from Trunks. Used in the Budokai Tenkaichi series. This attack is similar to Vegeta's Final Flash, though not as formidable for the user's power.
 * Galactic Donut – A powerful gripping technique Gotenks performed. Gotenks uses this controllable halo to wrap around Super Buu, constricting him within the halo. Super Buu, however, escapes by overpowering the ring, leaving it to disperse into small balls.
 * Charging Ultra Buu Buu Volleyball – A situational attack used by Gotenks when he once succeeded in capturing Super Buu (who had shaped himself into a ball) in several Galactic Donuts. The attack consists of capturing a target in many Cosmic Halos, trapping them inside a sort of cocoon and use the ball like a volleyball. Gotenks forced Piccolo to play with the ball, and then Gotenks followed up with an attack he called Spiking Buu Ball Slam (which was essentially one final hit to the ball), before Super Buu broke out. This left a huge crater beneath Kami's Lookout (that Buu had destroyed), and it was made even more massive when Buu fired a large beam from its bottom and Gotenks retaliated with his Die Die Missile attack.
 * Revenge Cannon – An attack where Gotenks, in his Super Saiyan 3 form, lets out a massive energy blast from his mouth. It is named in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, but is also known as "Victory Cannon" in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series. A version of the mouth blast as originally used by Super Buu in their confrontation, Gotenks yells, "Revenge!" when using the move right back at him in response. For this reason, Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks shouts, "Rightbackatcha" when using the move in Budokai 3.
 * Vice Shout – Both Gotenks and Super Buu had the ability to scream so loudly it tore holes between dimensions. Gotenks was only capable of this impressive feat as a Super Saiyan 3.
 * Wolf Fang Fist – A technique of rapid, charged melee strikes empowered by a wolf totem which, prior to Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, was an ability exclusive to Yamcha's repertoire.
 * Volleyball Attack – A technique created by Tien Shinhan, which Gotenks uses against Aka in combination with the Wolf Fang Fist.
 * I'll Make Short Work of You! – A rush attack that is finished off with a blue energy sphere . Used against Super Buu.
 * High Speed Rush – Gotenks uses it in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.
 * Super Saiyan 3 Meteo Missile – Gotenks' meteor attack in Ultimate Battle 22, where he teansforms into a Super Saiyan 3 and uses physical attacks on his opponent before firing the Continuous Die Die Missile at him.

Basic Attacks
Mainly in the Buu saga, Gotenks uses a great amount of very simple or basic attacks. The main feature of them are their names rather than their effectiveness. Among the named but unseen techniques, there is the Burning Annindo, Dangerous Machinegun Punch, Dynamite Kick Boomerang, Magnum Sundae (マグナムサンデー), Spiral Shooting Sobat, Screaming Angry Wombat, Screaming Banshee Attack, and Thousand armed Goddes of Mercy punch (Senju Kannon Punch).

The techniques seen in use are:
 * Daikaiten Kick
 * Dynamite Kick
 * Great Kick Special
 * Boar Attack
 * Miracle Super Punch
 * Power Tackle
 * Rolling Thunder Punch
 * Prodigal Super Punch – A five hits punch attack used in Ultimate Battle 22.
 * You're Dead Kick – A dashing slide kick used in the Butōden series.
 * Super Brilliant Kick – A jumping turn around kick attack used in the Butōden series.
 * Hyper Plasma Shortcake (ハイパープラスマショートケーキ) – Gotenks grabs and kicks his opponent up in the air. Used in the Budokai series.
 * Ultra Missile Parfait (ウルトラミサイルパフェ) – Gotenks kicks the opponent up in the air, and then he kicks and punches them down again. Used in the Budokai series.

Forms and Transformations
Gotenks is first formed in the Majin Buu Saga when Goten is 7 and Trunks is 8, so the moves the character devises are decidedly child-like and are often more about the performance of the move, rather than the effectiveness. During his fight with Super Buu, Gotenks shows his immaturity when he does not transform into a Super Saiyan initially, in order to make the fight more dramatic and historic. This showy behavior ultimately costs him the fight.

Gotenks does however have the ability to transform into Super Saiyan 3, which is not seen in any other Saiyan/Human hybrid (mostly due to Gohan slacking off from his training in the seven years between the defeat of Cell and the Buu saga, and Goten and Trunks in turn following suit over the teenage years). The following are the transformations/forms of Gotenks.

Super Saiyan
Gotenks' Super Saiyan form is much more powerful than his normal form, and is formed in one of two ways: He can transform to a Super Saiyan when fused, or Goten and Trunks can fuse whilst already in the Super Saiyan state. Though he fought Super Buu in this form and was stated by Goku to be more than enough to finish the fat Majin Buu, he was still not strong enough to stand up to him once he was absorbed by his evil counterpart and transformed into a vastly superior form. Before his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gotenks was a bit unskilled in ability and was not able to access the state without directly being fused into the Super Saiyan state first, but after training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he became one of the most powerful fighters (though he still retains his goofy attitude and tendency to pose and stall dramatically).

Super Saiyan 3
Super Saiyan 3 is Gotenks' most powerful transformation, attained within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in the half-hour he was allowed to train before Buu became impatient. He refers to himself as the "Hero of Justice" or "Grim Reaper of Justice" or (in the Budokai and Raging Blast Games only) as "The Mack Daddy Of Justice" in this form ("shinigami" meaning "death god" in the original Japanese version). Wanting to drag out the battle with Super Buu for a more spectacular display, at first Gotenks limited himself to his base and Super Saiyan forms, but when Piccolo destroyed the doorway out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, (under the impression that Gotenks truly was not strong enough to defeat Buu), Gotenks was forced to ascend to Super Saiyan 3 in order to pierce a hole through dimensions and escape from the chamber. In this state Gotenks was finally able to surpass Super Buu's strength (though he was still unable to defeat the Majin within the 30-minute time limit imposed by the Fusion Dance [said to be reduced to 5 minutes by the Super Saiyan 3 transformation], and his Super Saiyan 3 transformation wore off toward the end of the fusion).

After being completely outclassed by Ultimate Gohan, Super Buu was able to entice Goten and Trunks to fuse and perform the Super Saiyan 3 transformation once more. However, unbeknownst to Gotenks, Super Buu had planned all along to use the opportunity to absorb him and gain his strength — which he succeeded in doing.

Fat Gotenks
Gotenks achieved this form when the Fusion Dance went wrong because Trunks extended his fingers instead of closing them mid-way through the dance. The result was a fat Gotenks, one of several failed fusions in the series. He tried to run but was quickly tired. For a moment, Yamcha thought that the fusion had succeeded he thought that Gotenks had to be fat to regulate his power (like Majin Buu), but soon changed his mind when he saw that fat Gotenks become winded after a brief and slow run. He is also seen in ''Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!'', but he says that he did not practice the technique for a long time and then he defuses.

He is a playable character in Dragon Ball Heroes, but in other video games, he can not do any special attacks, and is already tired after some kicks and punches. In the case of the 2004 RPG Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury, neither he nor the skinny variant can even move, and defuse automatically after a few seconds so that a successful fusion can be performed, but if the character is on the save point when formed, the game can be saved, but it does cause a slight glitch in the character selection. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, when the player fails to do fusion, instead of becoming Gotenks, they become Fat Gotenks.

Skinny Gotenks
After the failure of the fusion dance that resulted in Fat Gotenks, Goten and Trunks tried again. They failed a second time. This time, their finger did not meet, instead they crossed. This resulted in a version of Gotenks that was looked old and border-line anorexic. When this happens, Master Roshi excitedly says "He's my age!" Krillin responds "No, older!"

Video game appearances

 * Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
 * Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension
 * Dragon Ball Z: The Legend
 * Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
 * Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
 * Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
 * Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors
 * Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2
 * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
 * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
 * Data Carddass Dragon Ball Z
 * Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai
 * Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road
 * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi
 * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
 * Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact
 * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
 * Dragon Ball Z: W Bakuretsu Impact
 * Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
 * Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Battlers
 * Dragon Ball: Raging Blast
 * Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team
 * Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
 * Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden
 * Dragon Ball Heroes
 * Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

Voice Actors

 * Japanese dub: Masako Nozawa/Takeshi Kusao
 * FUNimation Dub: Kara Edwards/Laura Bailey
 * Ocean Group Dub: Tabitha St. Germain

Trivia

 * In Dragon Ball GT, Goten suggested to Trunks to fuse into Gotenks so they can fight Baby Vegeta, but Goku said it would be useless, as Baby Vegeta was far too powerful.
 * Although never shown in the anime or manga, both the Daizenshuu and Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files state that Gotenks could transform into a Super Saiyan 2. Gotenks never used the form in combat, instead bypassing it to ascend to Super Saiyan 3.
 * When Gotenks first fused correctly, Videl said he had Goten's hair, though his hairstyle looks nothing like Goten's.
 * If Gotenks beats someone like Vegeta or Goku in the Budokai Tenkaichi series or Raging Blast series, he breaks the fourth wall by saying "Check out who just became the main character!"
 * In many instances, Gotenks refers to himself as "we" and "our", with "we" and "our" referring to the two fusees. But at times, he refers to himself as "I" or "me".