Dragon Ball Super‘s anime has been on hiatus for going on two years now, but the franchise is far from dead. Right now, Dragon Ball’s only real screen presence is the Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime, which is based on the Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade/card game. While the animation ain’t great, Dragon Ball Heroes’ main source of appeal is the unbridled fan-service the series provides, with character appearances and battles that the main series would never allow for. Some of the biggest recurring characters in Dragon Bal Heroes has been The Time Patrol and its alternate versions of Goku, Vegeta, and their family members.
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Now that these “Xeno Fighter” versions of Dragon Ball‘s Saiyans have had a chance to shine, it’s time they finally got their own series!
What Is Dragon Ball’s Time Patrol?
Inย Dragon Ballย lore, The Time Patrol is a team of time-patrolling heroes that was formed by Xeno Trunks, in order to prevent the Dark Empire for wreaking havoc with time. The team consists of alternate versions of Goku and Vegeta’s family members, including their children (Trunks, Pan, Goten, Gohan), as well as Goku’sย father Bardock. The Time Patrol operates under the guidance of Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, with a base of operations in Toki Toki City, named after the mystical TokiToki bird that can create time. The Time Patrol has been featured in numerousย Dragon Ballย video game series over the years, namely theย Xenoverse game series, which has earned them a solid fan-following.ย
Same Heroes, New Story
The appeal of having the Time Patrol featured in aย Dragon Ballย series is that it retains the core character essences of Goku, Vegeta, and the other Saiyan characters, but also adds entirely new dimensions to those same characters. Imagine a version of Bardock who is a heroic warrior alongside his son – or a version of Goku who’s actually about something bigger than just fighting the next strongest opponent. It’s essentially a way to soft-reboot the entireย Dragon Ballย concept without changing it in some drastic way. We can also see marginalized characters like Gohan and Goten finally get their due.ย
Super Saiyan 3, 4, and MORE!
The other great appeal that The Time Patrol has is the range of power-ups they can use, which fans don’t normally see in Dragon Ballย ‘s main continuity.ย Dragon Ball Heroes finally gave fans Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta thanks to Xeno Vegeta’s mastery of the form – and both Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta are masters of Super Saiyan 4. After all the debate thatย Dragon Ball Superย sparked over the deviation into Super Saiyan God and Ultra Instinct forms, this would be a welcome return to what a lot of fans loved aboutย Dragon Ball Z. Best yet, with the Time Patrol characters even new unseen transformations, are possible: Super Saiyan 5, anyone?ย
The Dragon Ball Multiverse
The appeal of aย Dragon Ball Xenoย spinoff series is that the Time Patrol concept opens up and an entire multiverse of new Dragon Ballย content. Xeno Story arcs can hop to new timelines we’ve never seen; at other times, the series can visit the various universes thatย Dragon Ball Superย established, checking in on fan-fave characters like Jiren, Hit, Kefla – or delve deeper into some of the other universes we saw in the Tournament of Power – or the “higher universes” that didn’t even need to compete in the ToP.ย Dragon Ball Xenoย puts it all on the table, in an organic and sensible way.ย
Dragon Ball Crossovers
The premise of a series centered on the Xeno Fighters and Time Patrol policing the timestream, is that it allows for revisits to any ofย Dragon Ball‘s previous installments.ย Dragon Ball Z, the original series, or evenย Dragon Ball GTย would be fair game forย Dragon Ball Xeno to feature in crossover event episodes. It would be some Back to the Future-style fun to get into.ย
A Fu New Villains
With a newย Dragon Ballย series – and one dealing with the patrolling of the timestream / multiverse – it’s only natural that we would also get a new lineup of villains.ย Dragon Ball Heroesย and theย Xenoverseย games have offered any number of villains fans would like to see featured in an official spinoff series – such as Fu, the demon prince, and the various other evildoers he pulls together. Given the threats Chronoa and the Time Patrol face, new types of villains are just waiting to make their debut.ย
Old Foes Remixed
As with the heroes, theย Dragon Ballย Xenospinoff concept offers a grand opportunity for some classic Dragon Ballย foes like Freeza, Cooler, Cell, Buu, or even King Piccolo (and all those fan-faveย Dragon Ball Zย movie foes like Tules or Janemba) to appear with new and different designs,ย personalities, and powers. That would be just as fun as any new Super Saiyan form.ย
Theย Dragon Ball Heroesย promo anime is currently airing season 2 online.ย
