The ability to become a Super Saiyan was once
considered to be a myth, because it had not been
performed for over a thousand years until Son
Goku accomplished it when he was fighting Freeza
on Planet Namek. Though it was a legend, it,
along with the saiyans constantly growing power,
made Freeza, who was considered to be the
strongest being in the universe at the time,
feared the saiyans enough to destroy Planet
Vegeta in the hope that the Super Saiyan legend
would never be fulfilled.
The only certain condition to transcend initially to
the Super Saiyan level is that a saiyan must be
pure of heart, usually fiercely enraged, and of
sufficient power. Any other conditions are
unknown. As saiyans trained during the Z series,
they discovered levels beyond Super Saiyan never
seen before, completely unheard of. The
appearance of a Super Saiyan is different in each
form, more so in the fourth and final form.
In the main series, all male saiyans still alive after
the Freeza Saga, with the exception of Radditz
and Nappa (both of whom were are full-blooded
Saiyans), manage to reach at least the first level
during the course of the series.
Standard form
The Saiyans are a race of warriors who were born
on "Planet Vegeta". They have the appearance of a
human with the exception of a tail. Full blooded
Saiyans are born with a specific hairstyle that
cannot be changed. Half-blooded Saiyans are able
to change their hairstyle.Their demeanor is
typically characterized with a desire to engage in
battle.
They initially shared their homeplanet with a race
known as the Tsufuru whom were more advanced
technologically. Eventually the Saiyans dominated
the planet and absorbed the technology of the
Tsufuru into their culture. The character known
as Freeza used the Saiyans as a weapon to
dominate planets throughout the galaxy.
All full blooded Saiyans are born with the tail
previously mentioned, it is unclear whether half-
blooded Saiyans are always born with a tail. Those
that are born with a tail can transform into
Oozaru form.
Oozaru
Oozaru is a giant monkey-like creature that
Saiyans can transform into. It literally means
"giant ape" or "large monkey". In order for the
transformation to take place, the saiyan still
needs to have a tail, as the glands responsible for
initiating the transformation are located
exclusively there. He also needs to absorb at least
17 million zeno units of Bruits ("Fruits") Rays
(called "Blutz Waves" in the English dub and
Green-spectrum Radiation in the English manga)
through his eyes, to initiate a
transformation.Bruits waves are found only in
sunlight reflected by a moon. If there is no
moon, a planetary body will reflect the same
amount of rays. The easiest way to achieve this is
to gaze at the full moon. If any clouds covered
the moon and/or a planetary body, it would block
certain amounts of the radiation. Vegeta once
made himself transform by firing a "fake moon"
reflecting the requisite amount of Bruits Rays
into the air, then staring at it.
If a natural source of Bruits waves (a full moon
or planet) was destroyed or the tail is amputated,
this would cause the saiyan to instantly transform
back to their humanoid form. Additionally, during
Dragon Ball GT, Bulma created the Bruits Ray
Machine, which could induce the transformation
on a Saiyan even if the Saiyan did not have a tail.
An Oozaru's power level is equal to the Saiyan's
power level prior to the transformation multiplied
by ten. A Saiyan loses the ability to reason in this
form, and will typically display berserk and
destructive characteristics, even in the cases of
protagonists. However, as Saiyans mature, they
are taught how to reign in their instincts and
retain normal congnitive functions as Oozaru. This
explains why Son Goku and Son Gohan lose control
in Oozaru form, as they never received this
training and are at first unaware of this
transformation. Saiyans in Oozaru form can also
shoot an energy beam from their mouth, in a
manner akin to Godzilla's nuclear breath. An
Oozaru's size remains mostly inconsistent
throughout the Dragon Ball anime and manga. A
generalization is that most average human/non-
transformed saiyans can almost fit into the palm
of an Oozaru's hand. Oozaru's are assumed to be
around 50 feet tall.
Pre-super sayan form
During the development of the Super Saiyan
concept, Dragon Ball's animation company (Toei)
produced a movie depicting Goku's first Super
Saiyan transformation. However, the form was
later called Pre(or false) Super Saiyan (擬似超サイ
ヤ人, Giji Sûpâ Saiyajin), which depicted Goku with
his regular black hair, eyes lacking irises and the
golden aura. His hair was elevated and reddish,
because of the golden aura. Users do not seem to
be in complete control while in this state.
Apparently this form cannot be retained for very
long. Goku uses this form in his fight against
Lord Slug in Dragon Ball Z movie 4.
Super saiyan
The first Super Saiyan transformation happens
when a saiyan who has reached his natural limit
loses himself to a fit of rage. Even though the
physical change is not drastic, the power increase
is tremendous. The most noticeable change is that
the hair is now a golden yellow and it is forced
upward as if standing on end. The eye color
changes to green and the muscles become more
defined and toned. The Super Saiyan aura becomes
steadily dancing waves of thick yellow flame.
Behavioral change is also quite noticeable, the
saiyan becomes more aggressive and temperamental
than usual.
The first saiyan seen to reach Super Saiyan in the
series is Goku when fighting Freeza. Through
training, the negative effects of the
transformation can be suppressed and controlled,
resulting in a Super Saiyan who can suppress his
energy and act normal as if he was not
transformed. It was theorized in Dragon Ball Z
movie Super Android 13 that these Super Saiyan
transformations prevented Goku from performing
his Genki Dama technique. One must be pure of
heart to perform the technique, and as a Super
Saiyan, Goku's heart is full of rage. In the film,
when Goku became a Super Saiyan after gathering
power for a Genki Dama, he lost control of the
energy and instead absorbed it into himself.
Ultra super saiyan
The Ascended Saiyan or Ultra Super Saiyan (USSJ)
is a form reached when Super Saiyans train hard,
they surpass their basic limits of their original
Super Saiyan powers. This state appears as a Super
Saiyan, but with longer, hair that spikes further
on end, making it more defined. The muscle mass
on a saiyan also increases, which, however, isn't
enough to slow the Saiyan down like the next
level, USSJ2, and the Saiyan is still able to move
surprisingly fast. The aura changes from a gentle
wave of thick yellow orange flame pushing off the
corona of the aura to an uncontrolled torrent of
fire fierce waves of flame rising high and dancing
around. The behavioral changes from the original
Super Saiyan level to this one are apparent, as this
state is known for its increased aggression even
from the original Super Saiyan state.
Ultra super saiyan 2
USSJ 2 is still the same form as Ascended Saiyan
(USSJ), however pushed to its final limits. In the
manga, it is often referred to as "The Super Super
Saiyan", because of its maximized ki concentration.
However, the more common name "Ultra Super
Saiyan" is an unofficial term that was coined by
English speaking fans of the series. It was
introduced in the series as a possible advanced
Super Saiyan form, but is only used in battle once
by Future Trunks due to the form's substantial
weaknesses. In the series, the USSJ2 grade was
discovered as an advanced form of the USSJ form,
that further increased the strength of the Super
Saiyan form, but since this form is so muscular,
the user's speed is greatly reduced. In addition to
the physical inhibitions, the Saiyan's ki depletes
rapidly due to the effort needed to maintain the
transformation itself. USSJ 2's negatives outweigh
the positives, so, even though the power increase
is significant, any wise Saiyan will choose not to
even bother with the form due to the speed and
energy loss.
Thinking that he'd ascended his father Vegeta in
power, Future Trunks ascended to this form to
combat Cell, however was unable to defeat Cell
because of his inability to maintain equality in his
speed and power. Due to him increasing his ki,
Trunks' muscle mass was increased to a point that
drastically inhibited his speed. Because of his
inexperience with transformations, Trunks did not
notice that his bulky form would be an inhibitor
on his ability to battle; a characteristic that was
later noted by both Goku and Cell. Cell even
demonstrated that he too could take on a form
similiar to USS2 and Cell seemed to know of it's
limitations.
This form appears as a USSJ type, but the muscle
mass further increases. The hair becomes spikier,
and the locks spread themselves out more than the
previous forms of Super Saiyan. The now very
wild, radiant aura sometimes surges with bio-
electricity; rigid waves of flame, almost as if a
crown of fire.
Full power super saiyan
Full Power Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人フルパワー,
Sūpā Saiyajin Furu Pawā?) is not actually an
advanced form of Super Saiyan, but rather a state
of peace and physical perfection while at Super
Saiyan. The state first appears in volume 33 when
the character Goku had witnessed and experienced
the substantial flaws of the advanced Super Saiyan
grades. Goku concluded that complete mastery of
the original Super Saiyan form was the best way
to advance his abilities, and ultimately achieve
greater power. As a result, he focused on training
his body to suppress the negative effects of the
Super Saiyan form, such as ki consumption and the
emotional alterations; which he did instead of
focusing on advancing his abilities forcibly like
Vegeta and Trunks strived to do. By mastering the
transformation, the Super Saiyan is able to retain
transformation almost subconsciously from having
minimal ki loss. By having less ki to contribute to
maintaining the transformation itself, the
maximum amount of ki can then be focused into
the attacks. This complete mastery of the original
Super Saiyan form results in a form known as the
Full Power Super Saiyan.
The intention of this form is energy conservation
rather than energy amount, so it is achieved
through improving the general skill rather than
increasing the ki capacity. This results in a Saiyan
who is able to fight longer and more efficiently
than with the USSJ or USSJ2 forms, and can even
stay in this state for days without stopping as
long they don't do anything too exhausting. This
form is not confirmed to have any physical
alterations from the original Super Saiyan form.
Several alterations in the hair and aura are often
noted by fans, however, these alterations can be
debated as Toriyama had altered his art style as
the series continued. In terms of strength, Full
Power Super Saiyan incorporates full power of the
USSJ2 transformation, making it undoubtedly the
apogee of Super Saiyan. Due to complete mastery
of the form, any muscle inflation is unnecessary
to maintain high powerlevels, therefore the USSJ
and USSJ2 forms become obsolete for a Full Power
Super Saiyan.
(There is also the arguement that the SSJ's facial
features (ie, the eyes) are different than a
regular super saiyan's face (a regular SSJ's facial
feature's have a very stern look even if their
actual emotion is different, whileas a FPSSJ's
facial features are more similar to the base
form.).
Goku and Gohan are the only confirmed individuals
to have achieved this state of Super Saiyan.
Super Saiyan 2
This stage is very similar to Super Saiyan in
appearance, where the muscles do not increase
much in their mass. Other physical changes include
longer upright hair. The behavior effects are the
same as an unmastered Super Saiyan and every
physical change remains the same color as Super
Saiyan. A Saiyan reaches a new level of power
when he reaches this level, resulting in a larger
aura that now has a very evident bio electrical
field.
This form was first achieved by Gohan while
battling Cell. The power of the Super Saiyan 2
skyrockets far beyond the power of Super Saiyan,
USSJ 1, USSJ 2, and even Full Power Super Saiyan.
For instance, against Cell and Bojack, who can
both easily dominate those in the Super Saiyan
level including the USSJ1 and USSJ2 forms, were
easily defeated by Son Gohan in Super Saiyan 2. In
addition, when Cell produced 7 Cell Jr.'s, each of
the Z fighters were unable to fight evenly with
every one of them (including Goku, Vegeta, and
Trunks, who were all Super Saiyans--Full Power
Super Saiyan in Goku's case though it should be
noted that Goku was already extremely worn out
from his fight with Cell), but Gohan took all of
them out effortlessly on his own, and was
unaffected by even their most powerful attacks as
a Super Saiyan 2. It too can be triggered by
powerful emotions (like it was in the case of
Gohan) but is usually reached tough training (as
it was by Goku during his training in Other
World).
Super Saiyan 3
This form is the strongest of all Saiyan forms in
the manga Dragon Ball series. This form is quite
unique compared to the other forms because of
the fact that it rapidly consumes its own energy
which leads to extended levels of fatigue and
exhaustion after using the form (to the point
that a second transformation only hours after the
first exhausted Goku to the point where he
couldn't even stand). This happens so quickly that
the saiyan is only able to retain the
transformation for a short period of time, before
the Saiyan's power depletes enough to force them
to resort to their powered down form. This makes
the form very hard to control for the user. Only
Goku and the fused body of Gotenks are shown to
be able to handle the immense power that the
form requires it to manifest itself.
While Goku was dead, he could maintain this form
for as long as he liked because he had an unlimited
supply of energy, but once he came back to life
his limited living body could not handle it for very
long. The time is reduced even further when he is
turned back into a child in GT were he can only
hold the transformation for an even shorter
period. Despite the major energy draining
properties of this form, the incredible power and
speed increase almost always makes this form
worth it. The Super Saiyan 3 has back-long hair,
no eyebrows and an intense aura, sporting
numerous lightning discharges, much like Super
Saiyan 2. If a tail is present on a Saiyan, its fur
becomes gold in color. Curiously, while Gotenks
acted normally, Goku acted more stern and
serious, even having a lower voice in this form.
Super Saiyan 4
It is believed that the only way a Saiyan can
attain Super Saiyan 4 is if he is a pure-blooded
saiyan and can only be reached initially by
transforming into a Golden Oozaru and then
gaining conscious control over the form. Once this
form is attained, it can be accessed at any point.
This form was first achieved by Goku when
battling Bebi Vegeta, and is only available to
pureblooded Saiyans as stated by Vegeta. Somehow,
the Rou Dai Kaioshin (Old Kai) knew of Super
Saiyan 4 and its abilities.
In this form, the Saiyan's hair changes color (in
Goku's case it turned black again, and Vegeta's
original hair color has a tint of brown in it), the
tail is present and the body and tail are covered in
a shade of red fur. A Saiyan in this form also
possesses a red shadow trim around the eyes and
over the eyelids. The hair is lengthened. The Aura
in this form loses the arcs of electricity, instead
becoming pure fire with gleaming sparkles. The
power and speed increase in this form is by far
the greatest in the entire series. For example,
while Super Saiyan 3 Goku was nearly unable to
phase Bebi Vegeta, as soon as Goku transformed
into a Super Saiyan 4, it became almost the
opposite, with Bebi Vegeta being almost unable to
hurt Goku at all.
This form also shows the ability of storing
immense and increasing amounts of power, as is
shown by Goku, who powered up twice, using the
combined auras of other Super Saiyans. However,
when Goku and Vegeta did fusion to become SS4
Gogeta, they were unable to maintain the fusion
for longer than 10 minutes. A normal fusion is 30
minutes. A Super Saiyan 4 form increases power
consumption and limits fusion. Oddly as a SS4
Gogeta received red hair, the reason for this is
unknown.
considered to be a myth, because it had not been
performed for over a thousand years until Son
Goku accomplished it when he was fighting Freeza
on Planet Namek. Though it was a legend, it,
along with the saiyans constantly growing power,
made Freeza, who was considered to be the
strongest being in the universe at the time,
feared the saiyans enough to destroy Planet
Vegeta in the hope that the Super Saiyan legend
would never be fulfilled.
The only certain condition to transcend initially to
the Super Saiyan level is that a saiyan must be
pure of heart, usually fiercely enraged, and of
sufficient power. Any other conditions are
unknown. As saiyans trained during the Z series,
they discovered levels beyond Super Saiyan never
seen before, completely unheard of. The
appearance of a Super Saiyan is different in each
form, more so in the fourth and final form.
In the main series, all male saiyans still alive after
the Freeza Saga, with the exception of Radditz
and Nappa (both of whom were are full-blooded
Saiyans), manage to reach at least the first level
during the course of the series.
Standard form
The Saiyans are a race of warriors who were born
on "Planet Vegeta". They have the appearance of a
human with the exception of a tail. Full blooded
Saiyans are born with a specific hairstyle that
cannot be changed. Half-blooded Saiyans are able
to change their hairstyle.Their demeanor is
typically characterized with a desire to engage in
battle.
They initially shared their homeplanet with a race
known as the Tsufuru whom were more advanced
technologically. Eventually the Saiyans dominated
the planet and absorbed the technology of the
Tsufuru into their culture. The character known
as Freeza used the Saiyans as a weapon to
dominate planets throughout the galaxy.
All full blooded Saiyans are born with the tail
previously mentioned, it is unclear whether half-
blooded Saiyans are always born with a tail. Those
that are born with a tail can transform into
Oozaru form.
Oozaru
Saiyans can transform into. It literally means
"giant ape" or "large monkey". In order for the
transformation to take place, the saiyan still
needs to have a tail, as the glands responsible for
initiating the transformation are located
exclusively there. He also needs to absorb at least
17 million zeno units of Bruits ("Fruits") Rays
(called "Blutz Waves" in the English dub and
Green-spectrum Radiation in the English manga)
through his eyes, to initiate a
transformation.Bruits waves are found only in
sunlight reflected by a moon. If there is no
moon, a planetary body will reflect the same
amount of rays. The easiest way to achieve this is
to gaze at the full moon. If any clouds covered
the moon and/or a planetary body, it would block
certain amounts of the radiation. Vegeta once
made himself transform by firing a "fake moon"
reflecting the requisite amount of Bruits Rays
into the air, then staring at it.
If a natural source of Bruits waves (a full moon
or planet) was destroyed or the tail is amputated,
this would cause the saiyan to instantly transform
back to their humanoid form. Additionally, during
Dragon Ball GT, Bulma created the Bruits Ray
Machine, which could induce the transformation
on a Saiyan even if the Saiyan did not have a tail.
An Oozaru's power level is equal to the Saiyan's
power level prior to the transformation multiplied
by ten. A Saiyan loses the ability to reason in this
form, and will typically display berserk and
destructive characteristics, even in the cases of
protagonists. However, as Saiyans mature, they
are taught how to reign in their instincts and
retain normal congnitive functions as Oozaru. This
explains why Son Goku and Son Gohan lose control
in Oozaru form, as they never received this
training and are at first unaware of this
transformation. Saiyans in Oozaru form can also
shoot an energy beam from their mouth, in a
manner akin to Godzilla's nuclear breath. An
Oozaru's size remains mostly inconsistent
throughout the Dragon Ball anime and manga. A
generalization is that most average human/non-
transformed saiyans can almost fit into the palm
of an Oozaru's hand. Oozaru's are assumed to be
around 50 feet tall.
Pre-super sayan form
During the development of the Super Saiyan
concept, Dragon Ball's animation company (Toei)
produced a movie depicting Goku's first Super
Saiyan transformation. However, the form was
later called Pre(or false) Super Saiyan (擬似超サイ
ヤ人, Giji Sûpâ Saiyajin), which depicted Goku with
his regular black hair, eyes lacking irises and the
golden aura. His hair was elevated and reddish,
because of the golden aura. Users do not seem to
be in complete control while in this state.
Apparently this form cannot be retained for very
long. Goku uses this form in his fight against
Lord Slug in Dragon Ball Z movie 4.
Super saiyan
The first Super Saiyan transformation happens
when a saiyan who has reached his natural limit
loses himself to a fit of rage. Even though the
physical change is not drastic, the power increase
is tremendous. The most noticeable change is that
the hair is now a golden yellow and it is forced
upward as if standing on end. The eye color
changes to green and the muscles become more
defined and toned. The Super Saiyan aura becomes
steadily dancing waves of thick yellow flame.
Behavioral change is also quite noticeable, the
saiyan becomes more aggressive and temperamental
than usual.
The first saiyan seen to reach Super Saiyan in the
series is Goku when fighting Freeza. Through
training, the negative effects of the
transformation can be suppressed and controlled,
resulting in a Super Saiyan who can suppress his
energy and act normal as if he was not
transformed. It was theorized in Dragon Ball Z
movie Super Android 13 that these Super Saiyan
transformations prevented Goku from performing
his Genki Dama technique. One must be pure of
heart to perform the technique, and as a Super
Saiyan, Goku's heart is full of rage. In the film,
when Goku became a Super Saiyan after gathering
power for a Genki Dama, he lost control of the
energy and instead absorbed it into himself.
Ultra super saiyan
The Ascended Saiyan or Ultra Super Saiyan (USSJ)
is a form reached when Super Saiyans train hard,
they surpass their basic limits of their original
Super Saiyan powers. This state appears as a Super
Saiyan, but with longer, hair that spikes further
on end, making it more defined. The muscle mass
on a saiyan also increases, which, however, isn't
enough to slow the Saiyan down like the next
level, USSJ2, and the Saiyan is still able to move
surprisingly fast. The aura changes from a gentle
wave of thick yellow orange flame pushing off the
corona of the aura to an uncontrolled torrent of
fire fierce waves of flame rising high and dancing
around. The behavioral changes from the original
Super Saiyan level to this one are apparent, as this
state is known for its increased aggression even
from the original Super Saiyan state.
Ultra super saiyan 2
USSJ 2 is still the same form as Ascended Saiyan
(USSJ), however pushed to its final limits. In the
manga, it is often referred to as "The Super Super
Saiyan", because of its maximized ki concentration.
However, the more common name "Ultra Super
Saiyan" is an unofficial term that was coined by
English speaking fans of the series. It was
introduced in the series as a possible advanced
Super Saiyan form, but is only used in battle once
by Future Trunks due to the form's substantial
weaknesses. In the series, the USSJ2 grade was
discovered as an advanced form of the USSJ form,
that further increased the strength of the Super
Saiyan form, but since this form is so muscular,
the user's speed is greatly reduced. In addition to
the physical inhibitions, the Saiyan's ki depletes
rapidly due to the effort needed to maintain the
transformation itself. USSJ 2's negatives outweigh
the positives, so, even though the power increase
is significant, any wise Saiyan will choose not to
even bother with the form due to the speed and
energy loss.
Thinking that he'd ascended his father Vegeta in
power, Future Trunks ascended to this form to
combat Cell, however was unable to defeat Cell
because of his inability to maintain equality in his
speed and power. Due to him increasing his ki,
Trunks' muscle mass was increased to a point that
drastically inhibited his speed. Because of his
inexperience with transformations, Trunks did not
notice that his bulky form would be an inhibitor
on his ability to battle; a characteristic that was
later noted by both Goku and Cell. Cell even
demonstrated that he too could take on a form
similiar to USS2 and Cell seemed to know of it's
limitations.
This form appears as a USSJ type, but the muscle
mass further increases. The hair becomes spikier,
and the locks spread themselves out more than the
previous forms of Super Saiyan. The now very
wild, radiant aura sometimes surges with bio-
electricity; rigid waves of flame, almost as if a
crown of fire.
Full power super saiyan
Full Power Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人フルパワー,
Sūpā Saiyajin Furu Pawā?) is not actually an
advanced form of Super Saiyan, but rather a state
of peace and physical perfection while at Super
Saiyan. The state first appears in volume 33 when
the character Goku had witnessed and experienced
the substantial flaws of the advanced Super Saiyan
grades. Goku concluded that complete mastery of
the original Super Saiyan form was the best way
to advance his abilities, and ultimately achieve
greater power. As a result, he focused on training
his body to suppress the negative effects of the
Super Saiyan form, such as ki consumption and the
emotional alterations; which he did instead of
focusing on advancing his abilities forcibly like
Vegeta and Trunks strived to do. By mastering the
transformation, the Super Saiyan is able to retain
transformation almost subconsciously from having
minimal ki loss. By having less ki to contribute to
maintaining the transformation itself, the
maximum amount of ki can then be focused into
the attacks. This complete mastery of the original
Super Saiyan form results in a form known as the
Full Power Super Saiyan.
The intention of this form is energy conservation
rather than energy amount, so it is achieved
through improving the general skill rather than
increasing the ki capacity. This results in a Saiyan
who is able to fight longer and more efficiently
than with the USSJ or USSJ2 forms, and can even
stay in this state for days without stopping as
long they don't do anything too exhausting. This
form is not confirmed to have any physical
alterations from the original Super Saiyan form.
Several alterations in the hair and aura are often
noted by fans, however, these alterations can be
debated as Toriyama had altered his art style as
the series continued. In terms of strength, Full
Power Super Saiyan incorporates full power of the
USSJ2 transformation, making it undoubtedly the
apogee of Super Saiyan. Due to complete mastery
of the form, any muscle inflation is unnecessary
to maintain high powerlevels, therefore the USSJ
and USSJ2 forms become obsolete for a Full Power
Super Saiyan.
(There is also the arguement that the SSJ's facial
features (ie, the eyes) are different than a
regular super saiyan's face (a regular SSJ's facial
feature's have a very stern look even if their
actual emotion is different, whileas a FPSSJ's
facial features are more similar to the base
form.).
Goku and Gohan are the only confirmed individuals
to have achieved this state of Super Saiyan.
Super Saiyan 2
This stage is very similar to Super Saiyan in
appearance, where the muscles do not increase
much in their mass. Other physical changes include
longer upright hair. The behavior effects are the
same as an unmastered Super Saiyan and every
physical change remains the same color as Super
Saiyan. A Saiyan reaches a new level of power
when he reaches this level, resulting in a larger
aura that now has a very evident bio electrical
field.
This form was first achieved by Gohan while
battling Cell. The power of the Super Saiyan 2
skyrockets far beyond the power of Super Saiyan,
USSJ 1, USSJ 2, and even Full Power Super Saiyan.
For instance, against Cell and Bojack, who can
both easily dominate those in the Super Saiyan
level including the USSJ1 and USSJ2 forms, were
easily defeated by Son Gohan in Super Saiyan 2. In
addition, when Cell produced 7 Cell Jr.'s, each of
the Z fighters were unable to fight evenly with
every one of them (including Goku, Vegeta, and
Trunks, who were all Super Saiyans--Full Power
Super Saiyan in Goku's case though it should be
noted that Goku was already extremely worn out
from his fight with Cell), but Gohan took all of
them out effortlessly on his own, and was
unaffected by even their most powerful attacks as
a Super Saiyan 2. It too can be triggered by
powerful emotions (like it was in the case of
Gohan) but is usually reached tough training (as
it was by Goku during his training in Other
World).
Super Saiyan 3
This form is the strongest of all Saiyan forms in
the manga Dragon Ball series. This form is quite
unique compared to the other forms because of
the fact that it rapidly consumes its own energy
which leads to extended levels of fatigue and
exhaustion after using the form (to the point
that a second transformation only hours after the
first exhausted Goku to the point where he
couldn't even stand). This happens so quickly that
the saiyan is only able to retain the
transformation for a short period of time, before
the Saiyan's power depletes enough to force them
to resort to their powered down form. This makes
the form very hard to control for the user. Only
Goku and the fused body of Gotenks are shown to
be able to handle the immense power that the
form requires it to manifest itself.
While Goku was dead, he could maintain this form
for as long as he liked because he had an unlimited
supply of energy, but once he came back to life
his limited living body could not handle it for very
long. The time is reduced even further when he is
turned back into a child in GT were he can only
hold the transformation for an even shorter
period. Despite the major energy draining
properties of this form, the incredible power and
speed increase almost always makes this form
worth it. The Super Saiyan 3 has back-long hair,
no eyebrows and an intense aura, sporting
numerous lightning discharges, much like Super
Saiyan 2. If a tail is present on a Saiyan, its fur
becomes gold in color. Curiously, while Gotenks
acted normally, Goku acted more stern and
serious, even having a lower voice in this form.
Super Saiyan 4
It is believed that the only way a Saiyan can
attain Super Saiyan 4 is if he is a pure-blooded
saiyan and can only be reached initially by
transforming into a Golden Oozaru and then
gaining conscious control over the form. Once this
form is attained, it can be accessed at any point.
This form was first achieved by Goku when
battling Bebi Vegeta, and is only available to
pureblooded Saiyans as stated by Vegeta. Somehow,
the Rou Dai Kaioshin (Old Kai) knew of Super
Saiyan 4 and its abilities.
In this form, the Saiyan's hair changes color (in
Goku's case it turned black again, and Vegeta's
original hair color has a tint of brown in it), the
tail is present and the body and tail are covered in
a shade of red fur. A Saiyan in this form also
possesses a red shadow trim around the eyes and
over the eyelids. The hair is lengthened. The Aura
in this form loses the arcs of electricity, instead
becoming pure fire with gleaming sparkles. The
power and speed increase in this form is by far
the greatest in the entire series. For example,
while Super Saiyan 3 Goku was nearly unable to
phase Bebi Vegeta, as soon as Goku transformed
into a Super Saiyan 4, it became almost the
opposite, with Bebi Vegeta being almost unable to
hurt Goku at all.
This form also shows the ability of storing
immense and increasing amounts of power, as is
shown by Goku, who powered up twice, using the
combined auras of other Super Saiyans. However,
when Goku and Vegeta did fusion to become SS4
Gogeta, they were unable to maintain the fusion
for longer than 10 minutes. A normal fusion is 30
minutes. A Super Saiyan 4 form increases power
consumption and limits fusion. Oddly as a SS4
Gogeta received red hair, the reason for this is
unknown.
