Goku’s Kaio-Ken form led to pink Godzilla, says movie character designer

This article contains spoilers for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.

The creation of pink Godzilla

If you’ve seen Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire or its trailers, you’ll know that the pink version of Godzilla is now an actual thing. But where did this new form come from and why does the King of Kaiju have it now? Turns out that Son Goku from Dragon Ball is the source of its creation.

During an X (formerly Twitter) AMA, the movie’s character designer, Jared Krichevsky, wrote that Pink Godzilla was based on the Saiyan’s Kaio-Ken form. This was in response to a question a fan asked: did Goku Black’s Super Saiyan Rosé form inspire him to create pink Godzilla? Krichevsky replied he’d never heard of Super Saiyan Rosé until years later. Krichevsky has now deleted his answers regarding where pink Godzilla originated from.

During the events of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, Godzilla transforms into his pink form by absorbing the DNA of fellow kaiju Tiamat, after the King of Kaiju invades her lair located in the Arctic Ocean. Like Kaio-Ken, this is a temporary form of Godzilla and won’t last forever.

What is the Kaio-Ken form?

The Kaio-Ken form was invented by King Kai in the Dragon Ball manga. During the Saiyan Saga, Goku is taught how to activate Kaio-Ken by the Kai to prepare for the arrival of Saiyan invaders Nappa and Vegeta (back when the latter was still a bad guy). The technique provides an increase in the user’s strength, speed, and power level, but in return, the user’s body is heavily taxed while Kaio-Ken is active.

Goku is known for having used this technique during his first fight with Vegeta, where he’s forced to multiply the transformation’s power by three (and later four) times to defeat the Saiyan invader.

The technique returned in the Dragon Ball Super anime. During the Universe 6 Saga, Goku combined his Super Saiyan Blue form with the Kaio-Ken form while fighting Hit, an assassin from Universe 6. This results in Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken (try saying that five times fast), and its power can be increased by multiplying the form’s power by 10 and even a 20 times increase. Unfortunately, using this form can temporarily result in poor ki control as well as becoming less skilled in using certain techniques, such as Instant Transmission.