Super Mario Meets Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball and Pop Culture Mashup Fan Art by Salva Makoto

Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor

Feb 18, 2025 11:30 AM EST

What is your dream pop culture, mash-up fan art? I am an artist myself, so in theory, I could make anything happen. I'm more of a fine artist (think oil paintings), and I haven't tried drawing cartoons or anime since I was a wee, 12-year-old weeb. Back in the day, I would draw my own Naruto OCs and post them to online forums. Because I was also a massive Harry Potter fan, I sometimes drew Naruto characters sporting Hogwarts uniforms or doing magic. Yeah, I was the weird kid in middle school.

Salva Makoto's talents far exceed my own when it comes to drawing pop culture references. He also has a much wider berth of fandom-related interests, and thus, makes for amazing mash-up fan art. In his Dragon Ball illustrations, East meets West; he draws Goku gobbling up pizza instead of ramen with Michelangelo, arm wrestling with Popeye, and riding on a Charizard. Scroll down to see this perfect combination of nerdiness, pop culture, and talent in all its glory.

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This image is the dream of every child who grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s. Charizard and Goku are such an adorably nostalgic pair.
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Goku, Superman, and Saitama are often pitted against each other by power-scaling nerds. They're all the most powerful beings in their own universe, but who would win amongst them? The truth is, they're all pretty chill and would just get along and hang out.
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