With Raditz's arrival on Earth, Dragon Ball Z introduced viewers to the alien race known as the Saiyans, serving as a precedent for a 180 ° turn in Goku's life. However, it was also the debut of a piece of technology that is currently much forgotten but crucial at the time: the Ki meter.
Fans traditionally associate the Ki meter with the earliest individuals of the Saiyan race shown in the series, as well as with Frieza's first appearances, as most villains of that time used it. But the meter also made an appearance later in the Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super movies, as well as in video games, and the concept of measuring an individual's fighting power continued in the following story arcs. Let's take a look at the history behind the Ki meter and some connections to modern technology.
History
According to a 2014 interview with author Akira Toriyama, the Ki meter was invented by the Tuffle race from Planet Vegeta, as a defense mechanism. It was later modified by Gichamu, a Freezer engineer, to accurately measure an individual's level of power as well as for use for telecommunication, making it more of an offensive mechanism. However, Dragon Ball Super: Broly contradicts its own creator as it states that the inventor of the Ki meter was another engineer from Frieza's ranks, Kikono.
The most basic function of the Ki meter is quite simple: it measures an individual's fighting power, or his Ki. If the level is high enough, it will also show an approximation of that individual's location. Using this feature, Raditz located Goku on Earth, when he was at Kame House. When the Ginyu Force reached Planet Namek, they brought with them a more advanced version of the meter, which allowed them to know exactly an individual's location as well as their exact power level. These new models were widely used by Frieza's army since they could easily find planets and annihilate their defenses to later sell them.
That said, the Ki meters were not foolproof, and the villains soon learned not to trust them entirely. For example, you couldn't track an individual who was hiding his Ki. Vegeta discovered this during his fight with Goku on Earth, but then used the same strategy against Cui and Dodoria, who relied too heavily on their meters. In the movie Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, it was revealed that the gauges were also limited by height, when Gohan and Icarus flew high enough to go unnoticed by Cooler's subjects. More recently, fans discovered that Ki meters can't measure a god's power level, perhaps because it's a different type of Ki or simply because it's too high.
Current era
The last time we saw a traditional Ki meter was during the Trunks Saga in Dragon Ball Z, when King Cold measures Trunks' fighting power and describes it as a "Level 5". However, Ki meters and the general idea of an individual's power level is something that has lasted to date. In the Martial Arts Tournament Saga, Babidi's minions, Yamu and Spopovich, used a container that measured the fighting power of other fighters and had the ability to absorb it. Subsequently, in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, despite Frieza's soldiers using a much more advanced version of the Ki meter, they were again unable to calculate Broly's power level, as it was too high.
Although Ki meters have long appeared in the Dragon Ball series, it is also fortunate that they are not entirely reliable. After all, if they had worked smoothly, the outcome of a battle could have been known from before it began. Fortunately, these flaws allowed the suspense and excitement of the fights, as well as an iconic phrase spoken by Vegeta regarding a level of power. Do you know which one I'm talking about?
Like many other aspects of Dragon Ball, the power meter has connections to modern pop culture, especially in the conceptual design of Google Glass. Both devices are used over the eyes, record information for the user and operate through a touch panel. Reddit users developed applications for Google Glass that, through a photograph, can "measure the level of power" of a person through an algorithm.
And how can we forget the mythical phrase said by Vegeta that inspired an infinity of memes and t-shirts? It's over 8,000! (Although he looked more in English with It’s Over 9000!). Not bad for a small, almost forgotten device.
Source: CBR
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