Saiyans are an endangered race in the Dragon Ball manga and anime franchise (including the original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, as well as the anime-only series, Dragon Ball GT). For the record, Dragon Ball GT is not canon to the three other series mentioned, but it is apart of the franchise.
In the series, the Saiyans are a naturally aggressive warrior race who were one of the strongest races in the universe.
History
The saiyans arrive on planet Vegeta.
The Saiyans were a group of barbaric aliens who arrived to the Planet Vegeta (once known as the Planet Plant) very long ago. Their home planet, Sadla, had been destroyed due to conflict among Saiyans. The indigenous lifeforms to this planet were the Tuffles, a very technologically advanced race. When the Saiyan first arrived, they lived in the arid wastelands on the outskirts of the Tuffles' cities. The Tuffles had no way of knowing the Saiyans would eventually take the whole planet for themselves and destroy their race. One day, a civil war broke out and the Saiyans tried many times to overthrow the Tuffles but were unsuccessful, although the Saiyans were bigger in size and much stronger, they were fewer in number compared to the Tuffles. What also gave the Tuffles an upper hand was that they had technology to read the power levels of the Saiyans and advanced weaponry to hold them off. Then one night, the Saiyans were able to transform into Oozaru (also known as Great Apes, which increases their power levels by a factor of 10) thanks to the full moon and the resulting "Blutz Waves" that only came once every twenty years (eight years in the English dub), with this new power, they finally annihilated the Tuffles and had the planet renamed to Planet Vegeta, after their great king who led their people to victory.
The destruction of a Tuffle city.
However, after their victory, the Saiyans had no way of expanding beyond their planet since they didn't have the knowledge to build spaceships. Their lust and hunger for conquest was put on hold until another advanced race made contact with Vegeta. The Arcosians, whom had money and technology, met the Saiyans and formed an alliance with
most of the hired Saiyans to take over a planet for them and in return they would share their technology with them. Over the years, the Saiyans also learned how to use the Tuffles' advanced equipment and become smarter and less barbaric, although they still lusted for fighting and destruction. At some unknown time, following the Saiyan victory, the planet was conquered or annexed by Frieza's empire and the Saiyans (like many other races) were drafted to serve as soldiers in Frieza's military.
A Saiyan attacking a planet.
Because of the Saiyans' innate strength and penchant for violence, they were considered to be useful mercenaries and assisted in the conquering of many planets, or if assignment called for, eradication of the planet's population, as even Saiyan children were considered powerful enough to conquer some of the weaker planets, such as Earth. Eventually, seeing how quickly some of the more gifted Saiyan warriors were gaining power through battle, Frieza grew concerned with the potential of the Saiyan race and thought that they would grow strong enough to face him or even become the fabled Super Saiyans, able to defeat him in battle. So as betrayal, the maniacal and heartless alien warlord destroyed Planet Vegeta, almost eradicating the Saiyan race.
It was originally thought that only four pure-blood Saiyans survived the destruction, Kakarot (Son Goku), Prince Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz as they were not on the planet at the time, although many others also survived the world's destruction, including Paragus, Broly, Turles, Onio, and Prince Tarble (although others have been shown to survive, see below). Once Raditz, and ultimately Nappa and Prince Vegeta discovered that their planet's destruction, Frieza lied to them that a comet had hit their world, and offered them continued employment in return for eventual wealth. The Saiyans were avenged when Son Goku defeated Frieza on Namek. Frieza later met his end on Earth when Future Trunks killed him. In the anime only, four more Saiyans survived the catastrophe, appearing in the Dragon Ball Z movies: Turles, Broly, Paragus, and Tarble. Another, Onio, is shown in the joke manga, Neko Majin Z. As a side note, a common racial slur towards Saiyans is the term "monkey" or "ape" (although monkeys and apes are two considerably different types of organisms, despite being quite closely related to one another).
Super Saiyan
The very most powerful ability of a Saiyan is the ability to drastically augment their speed, strength and energy by transforming into a Super Saiyan. The ability is rare and difficult to achieve normally, but gives the Saiyan unbelievable enhancements to their normal abilities. The Saiyans possess several Super Saiyan transformations, each different in appearance and the power they provide. For the majority of the Super Saiyan forms, the Saiyans muscle mass increases slightly, their irises turn emerald-green and their hair turns golden. In Dragon Ball GT a fourth form was achieved where the Saiyans body becomes covered in a crimson fur. The hair becomes darker and longer, and the irises alter color (Although the eye color appears to be different for each Saiyan.)
Akira Toriyama has stated that there were no female Saiyans to transform until the introduction of Pan and she never had the motivation to transform, though three female Super Saiyans appeared in Dragon Ball Heroes.
Recently, in the dragon ball super tv show, 2 female saiyans from the 6th universe have been shown to posses the ability to go super saiyan. Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, bringing the Saiyan race to the brink of extinction. While in the Super Saiyan transformation, the power of a Saiyan increases 50 times. The second form of Super Saiyan doubles the power of the first form, giving the Saiyan with spikier hair and surrounded with bioelectricity, and Super Saiyan 3 increases the already Super Saiyan 2 by 4 with long, rigid hair past their waist, eyebrows vanish but with larger eye ridges. As its form utilizes of physical stamina in 100%, in result, the third form consumes a large amount of ki from the user
Physiology
Appearance
Turles, a male Saiyan
Fasha, a female Saiyan
Saiyans are outwardly very similar to humans, with the exception of their monkey-like tail and larger, more muscular builds. They are commonly seen to have extremely spiky, black hair although there have been rare occasions when they have also been shown to have brown hair.
In the episode "Saiyans Emerge", Vegeta states that the hair of a pure-blooded Saiyan does not deviate from its appearance the day the Saiyan is born (somewhat contradicted by the fact that young Vegeta is shown with strands of hair hanging in front of his forehead, but later has his characteristic widow's peak - this may indicate that he has balded somewhat over time, however, similar to Nappa, who once had a full head of hair). This is not the case with half-Saiyans like Gohan and Trunks who are shown to have several different lengths of hair, and wear their hair in different styles throughout the series. Both of Vegeta and Bulma's children inherited their hair color from their mother's side. Goku's children both have black hair like him, but then their mother Chi Chi also has black hair.
Tail
All pure-blood Saiyans possess a tail, monkey-like in appearance and covered in brownish fur. Only one human/saiyan hyrbrid was shown to be born with a tail. The tail is a particularly sensitive area for Saiyans when grabbed or injured, it causes great pain to the owner, and temporarily immobilizes the whole body. For example, during Dragon Ball, Goku will only lose his strength when his tail is squeezed. However, elite class Saiyans can train themselves to overcome this weakness - as did Nappa, Prince Vegeta and also Goku, and the tail becomes no more fragile than any other limb. The tail is very prehensile, and can be used to grasp things like many other primates. It has been mentioned that a Saiyan with a tail gains more power than one without a tail.
Great Ape
Bardock and his crew as Great Apes leveling a city.
The tail also provides a unique gift in that it allows a Saiyan to transform into a Great Ape and potentially a Golden Great Ape (or Super Great Ape). If the tail is removed, this power is lost. Saiyan children seem to have the ability to grow back their tails at various times, but at some point in life this regenerative ability is lost. Gohan for instance, who is not even a pure-blooded Saiyan, grows his tail back numerous times after having it removed, however, it never seems to grow back after it is cut off by Vegeta; this may be because his attack could have cauterized the wound, leaving it unable to regenerate. Vegeta has his tail cut off during battle, but it is important to note that he is an adult and it never grows back, except through artificial means in Dragon Ball GT.
Flight
Saiyans can fly due to their manipulation of ki. They can fly at hypersonic speeds, and a Saiyan can move so fast in flight that a human can't see them.
Strength
Saiyans possess large quantities of superhuman strength, which is superior to many different species - hundreds of times that of humans - and are quintessentially built for fighting. They are capable of lifting objects that weigh many tons. The naturally high gravity of Planet Vegeta develops their strength further making them inhumanly strong at young ages. Even weaker Saiyans are capable of conquering most planets alone. Notably, the Saiyan sent to conquer Earth, Kakarot, was an abnormally weak newborn at the time. Through tough training, Saiyans are able to reach new levels of power, and the more intense training and fights they go through, the stronger they become. goku at the age of 12 could lift bulma's car which weighed 2 tons and threw it ten meters and at the time he was weaker than most saiyans. Saiyans can destroy buildings, cities, mountains and islands with just punches and the most powerful saiyans can obliterate planets with punches. also goku who had a power level of 416 was noted to be able to kill everyone on earth when there was 5.279 billion in 1 year.
Zenkai
If a Saiyan survives a near-death experience through extreme injury to the body then when the body recuperates, the Saiyan grows much stronger than they were previously, their body adapting to compensate for the damage dealt. This ability is known as a zenkai, and increases the Saiyan's power level by an inconsistent multiplier. The duration of recovery does not seem to hinder this ability as Saiyans have healed through natural, technological and mystical means and still gained substantial increases in strength. Saiyans also appear able to heal from injuries at a faster rate than humans and possess a greater deal of durability to damage.
Saiyans also possess a natural affinity to the manipulation of ki energy allowing them to utilize flying and energy-based attacks with incredible ease as well as unlock great depths of power when needed, or lending energy to others in battle when it's actually necessary. Lost energy is regained by the Saiyan in a very short span of time, regardless of the amount of energy lost. Sometimes, the energy the Saiyan regained is multiplied, as noted by their power level.
Speed
The Saiyans also have great speed and agility. They also have much faster reflexes than an average human; reflexes so fast that they can avoid (or catch) a bullet or energy beam without much of a problem. Super speed can easily be seen in their fighting skills; their movements occur in fractions of seconds which are not visible to human eyes. Their agility is also substantial in their battles and training. These movements can be improved by training, transformations, and other methods. These natural powers of speed and reflex make nearly all Saiyan hand-to-hand combat exceedingly fast. Even weak saiyans like raditz are faster than light speed (about 2x light speed)
Invulnerability
even the most basic saiyan is immune to all earthly weapons and most alien races with only the most advanced weaponry being able to hurt them but a saiyan can also Chanel ki into their invulnerability making them even more powerful. even a weak saiyan like raditz could withstand a full power blast from piccolo and piccolo could destroy one 30th of earth at the time (150 moons including size gravity and density). saiyans are very resistant to temerature with saiyans being as cold as the average person is in regular weather is exactly the same as a saiyan being in freezing temerature and goku who at the time had a power level of 800 could withstand a temperature which could kill a human in a second. and an average saiyan can withstand an explosion up to one third of earth (average saiyan 4000bp).
Appetite
The Saiyan Son Goku eating on King Kai's planet.
Saiyans are also noted for being ravenous trenchermen with seemingly insatiable appetites, eating up to 30-40 meals a day to maintain their metabolism. Owing to their immense strength and intense aura, their energy and nutritional intake needs are a great deal higher than most human beings'. They are often shown eating plate after plate of food, resulting in many dishes piling up, often eating more food than logically possible in absurdly short amounts of time. Goku (and later Vegeta) are often seen eating enough food for a dozen people in rapid feeding frenzies sometimes lasting less than a minute, one notable case being a 12-year-old Goku eating a 50-course meal in one minute. This is used as a running gag. In Daizenshuu 4, it is stated that they have no preferences when it comes to food, although they appear to prefer meat over anything else; this is hinted with Vegeta munching on the flesh of an alien creature on the planet he and Nappa were on before departing for Earth. Note that this is not restricted only to full-blooded Saiyans, as even the normally polite Gohan has been seen eating large quantities of food in this way.
Aging and lifespan
According to the Daizenshuu, their lifespan is about the same as an Earthling's. Although Saiyans remain in their youth and prime longer than Humans. As explained by Vegeta in the final chapter, they stay young longer so that they can enjoy battle longer. This is seen when Nappa, who was Vegeta's attendant when Vegeta was a child, is in his prime still long after Vegeta has become an adult, but in actuality Nappa is about 50 years old. Chi-Chi complained of this in Dragon Ball GT when Goku was reduced to a child, thus making the fact that she was getting older faster that much more apparent. This is again demonstrated in the GT finale when Pan is seen one hundred years later still strong but with gray hair.
Reproduction
Saiyan reproduction is the same as humans. The only male full-blooded Saiyans seen were Goku, Raditz, Turles, Broly, Paragus, Bardock, Vegeta and Nappa. One female and pure-blooded Saiyan named Seripa (renamed to Fasha in America) has been shown (although a number of unnamed female Saiyans were seen too in a bar), and the mother of Raditz and Kakarot (Goku) and mate of Bardock (the father of Raditz and Kakarot) was revealed to be a female named Gine, who died along with most of her race when Frieza blew up the planet. Love is a rare emotions for Saiyans and most only mate for reproductive purposes. For this reason family isn't that valued among Saiyans with some rare exceptions like the royal family and Bardock's family.
Inter-species Saiyans
When a hybrid of Saiyan and Human heritage is born, it is very common for them to possess extreme fighting potential. It is also very common for them to develop the ability to transform into Super Saiyans at childhood. Due to their Human emotions and Saiyan abilities these hybrids have almost limitless potential, but with the exception of Future Trunks, don't tend to share the interest in fighting and becoming stronger that pure Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta do. Saiyan Hybrids tend to become easily distracted from training. Other partial Saiyans like Pan seem to lack the qualities hybrids have, age much more like Humans do, and have weaker power levels. Half-Saiyans gain incredible power boosts when angry, as shown when an infuriated Gohan was able to battle Frieza's second form after Frieza impaled and tortured Krillin. Less than half an hour earlier Gohan had been significantly weaker than Frieza's first form.
Culture
Family
Saiyan families appear to be far different to that of a traditional human family. Children are kept in pods as infants and monitored by doctors whilst their parents are usually occupied on mercenary missions. Even as infants, their natural strength means that they are capable of conquering planets like Earth single-handedly and so it is unlikely they spend much, if any time with their parents or siblings. Saiyans do tend to have close relationships with their friends/comrades however, with whom they do spend a great deal of time in battle. Of the (pure-blooded) Saiyan families seen, none have had close relationships except Prince Vegeta and his father and Bardock's relationship with his wife Gine (and maybe even Paragus and Broly, to a lesser extent).
In the Bardock TV special when Bardock was asked by Toma (Tora in America) if he remembered what day his new born son was born. He replies, "No, but that was a long time ago," possibly referring to his elder son Raditz. Seripa then goes on to say that it was the day before, and that he should go see him, implying that Saiyans care for their children to some extent.
Personality
Saiyans tend to share common personality traits, even at young ages. Being a war-like people; they share an innate enjoyment for conflict and fighting; choosing violence over peace with other races. Saiyans are typically very aggressive and hard-headed, with short explosive tempers. They are an intensely proud people, with a society heavily based around honor and social hierarchy. Most of them are inclined to be arrogant at times, leading them to allow enemies to gain advantages in battle just for fun. It appears (as demonstrated by Vegeta, Nappa, and Bardock) they have a tendency to let their emotions get the better of them when roused in stimulating situations - resulting in them at times making rash decisions. They also appear to lack sympathetic emotions as though by choice rather than by nature as shown by their relative lack of fear of death and uncaring attitude towards siblings, i.e. Raditz brutal beating of his long-lost brother Goku and Vegeta's indifference to his father's death. Clearly, Vegeta nor Nappa never showed any signs of sympathy for their fallen comrade Raditz when he was killed, they merely laughed and stated that he was only a "weakling", although Nappa did suggest bringing Raditz back to life with the Dragon Balls. Vegeta and Nappa themselves had a good degree of camaraderie between them, but Vegeta did not hesitate to kill Nappa later on when he displayed weakness by panicking at Goku's power. Most Saiyans also possess a keen fighting sense and understanding of battle, which allows them to acquire many new skills, such as overcoming the weakness of their tails, learning to detect ki, and achieving new fighting forms and transformations.
Fighting
Saiyans have an inborn need to fight. Most Saiyans will spend their lives training to become stronger so that they can prove themselves in battle. When Frieza hired/conquered the Saiyans as his planet brokers, he knew of their amazing fighting skills and used that to his advantage. However, Frieza began to notice how powerful the Saiyans were becoming and began to fear that one day one of them would overwhelm him as the most powerful being in the universe. This eventually lead to Frieza's destruction of Planet Vegeta and all the Saiyans on it. Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta are frequently seen training and improving their fighting skills to keep up with each other's skills and the appearance of new, more powerful foes.
Many of the Saiyan/Human hybrids that appear throughout the series possess extreme fighting potential. It is also very common for them to develop the ability to transform into Super Saiyans at childhood.
In Dragon Ball GT, Saiyan hybrids seem to have less potential than full-blooded ones, and female hybrids appear to be weaker. Of particular note is Pan, who fails to achieve even the first Super Saiyan transformation, though her grandson Goku Jr. still had enough Saiyan blood to wield it. This may or may not be because Pan never had sufficient emotional pressure.
Protection
Saiyan Armors are standard armor of Saiyan Warriors and later standard issue for Frieza's army. They're made of an unknown material, which is said to be stretchy yet hard. However, they are known to shatter when dealt enough damage, showing that they are indeed hard and solid. The most commonly seen ones have dual shoulder guards and some form of skirt armor or crotch guard. Matching boots (often white in color, but others do exist) are standard issue, as is a pair of white gloves or fingerless wrist guards. Standard armor has large shoulder plates, but some simply have reinforced shoulder straps. Many also have skirt armor or plate shielding the groin. Most Saiyans wrap their tails around the armor's waist, appearing as if they have a furry belt. Armor appears to vary greatly in durability, as Frieza's armor is significantly more durable than the armor of his underlings, although it is probably ornamental.
Colored Saiyan armor
We see Vegeta wear this when he is traveling to Earth in the Saiyan Saga. When he actually arrives on Earth the armor is much more like the armor Nappa is wearing in the next image. The only thing that sets it apart from regular Saiyan armor is its coloring. It should be noted though that this only occurs in the anime as, at the time the scene was animated, no official colored scenes of Vegeta or Nappa had been introduced in the manga so TOEI had to make up their own color schemes.
Other models
Paragus wore a unique Saiyan armor during his appearance in Movie 8. Its overall design resembled the clothing of those on Yardrat worn by the Yardratians. His gloves and boots were purple throughout most of Movie 8, though in a few flashbacks his gloves, boots, and armor were differently colored (I.E yellow/orange).
Known members
Full-blooded members
- Kakarot/Goku (Goku at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Vegeta (Vegeta at Dragon Ball wiki)
- King Vegeta (King Vegeta at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Bardock (Bardock at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Raditz (Raditz at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Nappa (Nappa at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Turles (Turles at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Tarble (Tarble at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Broly (Broly at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Gine (Gine at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Selipa (Fasha at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Tora (Tora at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Onio (Onio at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Zorn (Zorn at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Borgos (Borgos at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Shugesh (Shugesh at Dragon Ball wiki)
- Cabba (Cabba at Dragon Ball wiki)
Hybrids
- Gohan at Dragon Ball wiki
- Future Trunks at Dragon Ball wiki
- Trunks at Dragon Ball wiki
- Goten at Dragon Ball wiki
- Bulla at Dragon Ball wiki
- Pan at Dragon Ball wiki
- Goku Jr at Dragon Ball wiki
- Vegeta Jr at Dragon Ball wiki
- Bulma Leigh at Dragon Ball wiki
Transformations
Great Ape
- Main Article: Great Ape at Dragon Ball wiki
Raditz as a Great Ape in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi video games
All Saiyans with tails can transform into Great Apes when they look at the full moon. The key to trigger the transformation is the energy called Blutz Waves, which are produced via sunlight reflecting from the moon to make 17 million zenos. To become Great Apes, the Saiyans look to the sky and see the moon when it was full. As they kept looking at the moon, within a minute or less, they absorb the Blutz Waves, triggering the reaction in their tails and causing their transformation to begin. Then, either before or after the increasing heartbeat goes next, the pupils of their eyes change from black to red. Next, they started to grow muscular and bigger with fur sprouting all over their bodies, their pupils disappear from their eyes which then turned from white to red, even their faces grew muzzle-like while their ears pointed up and their teeth sharpened, thus completing the transformation. For another way to transform, the Saiyans can also eventually developed a Power Ball that mimics the full moon, allowing them to go Great Ape at will. And for the third, the use of a planetary body as the moon's resemblance (Like the Earth in Goku's case during Dragon Ball GT's Baby and Shadow Dragons Sagas). In Great Ape form, a Saiyan has ten times his/her natural strength, and grows to King-Kong proportions. The level of control an Great Ape can manifest depends upon the training and experience of that person: when Goku changes as a child in Dragon Ball, he ran wild and nearly killed his friends, just like he unknowingly crushed his Grandpa Gohan to death long ago. When Vegeta also transform during his fight with Goku in Dragon Ball Z's Saiyan/Vegeta Saga, he was able to speak, and maintained all of his memories. Most often, the ways to defeat the Saiyans involves cutting off their tails, and/or destroying the moon or Power Ball, turning them back from Great Apes to saiyans. In the crossover episodes of the Dr. Slump remake with Dragon Ball, Arale fights Goku when he is turned into his savage Great Ape form and starting to destroy Penguin Village. She and the Gatchans grabs him by the tail and throws him off into an open area. This reveals that squeezing the Saiyan tail harder can even drain Goku out of the absorbed Blutz Wave, turning him back to normal so he can keep his tail. While in this state, they can also fire overwhelmingly powerful mouth blasts, and other energy techniques. During their transformation process, growing to several times their original size, the Saiyans wear battle armors which can stretch to fit the Great Ape form and shrink back to fit their normal form without breaking. But for Goku and Gohan (as children), because they lived on Earth, they don't wear any of them. As a result, the transformation rips their clothes apart, meaning they only revert to their normal forms, naked. It even appears to be very exhausting, whereas Goku and Gohan always went unconscious (in other words, passing out and sleeping) after changing back from being Great Apes. And when they wake up, they don't remember anything.
- Users
- Goku
- Gohan
- Vegeta
- Bardock
- Borgos
- Tora
- Fasha
- Shugesh
- King Vegeta
- Turles
- Nappa
- Raditz
Golden Great Ape
The Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta
- Main Article: Golden Great Ape at Dragon Ball wiki
The Golden Great Ape (or Super Great Ape) is the far stronger transformation of the Great Ape, with golden fur from the tail to the rest of the body due to the power of a Super Saiyan. It's also the Saiyans' capability to transform using either the full moon or any planetary body and their Super Saiyan strength. The power of the Golden Great Ape multiplies many-fold, which far surpasses that of a Great Ape's in all areas. Their offensive capacities have become much greater, and their rage is even more intense than the Great Ape's, which is so great, that they can cause severe, major destruction. While in the Golden Great Ape state, the power and strength of a Saiyan increase extraordinarily. Only two Saiyans achieved this transformation: Goku and Vegeta. Just like the Great Apes, Golden Great Apes can also fire energy mouth blasts of enormously devastating power and other energy techniques, with even greater power and force. But they can also breath fire like dragons. In Dragon Ball GT, during his fight with Baby on the Tuffle Planet, Goku transforms into this form due to the Blutz Wave reflecting from Earth in the place of a full moon. But because of his near-lack of training from Old Kai, the heroic Saiyan's wild instincts got the better of him and he starts destroying the Tuffle Planet. Fortunately, Pan calms him down and convinces him into remembering everything including who he is, using the picture of their beach vacation on Earth and her tears. Thanks to Pan, Goku's consciousness returns, and with more power from the Earth, he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4.
- Users
- Goku
- Vegeta
False Super Saiyan
Goku as a False Super Saiyan
- Main Article: False Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
Is a partially transformed Super Saiyan; and serves as a midpoint between the saiyan's regular form and Super Saiyan form. Certain features such as elevated hair, no apparent pupils, and a golden aura are evident (though the aura is more erratic and uncontrolled than in the full transformation, as well as the hair being reddish rather than gold along with not holding its position as rigidly) however; this is only just part of the full transformation. The aura rubs off on opponents at times with the appearance of golden flames at the point of contact. Users do not seem to be in complete control while in this state. The reason the user reaches this form is that they have the rage and need to transform but lack the necessary power level. This form cannot be retained for very long since stress can build-up enormously from the lack of complete transformation needed to maintain stability of the power as seen in the film Lord Slug. This isn't the actual name of the transformation used in the film, where it is referred "Super Saiyan" form. Dragon Ball Daizenshu #7 introduces the name to cover the discrepancies between the Super Saiyan transformation in the film and the actual Super Saiyan form in the manga.
Super Saiyan
A Super Saiyan Level One
- Main Article: Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
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 too drastic, the power increase is quite colossal. Every hair follicle glows golden yellow due to the incredible amount of energy flowing through every molecule of the saiyan's body. The eye color changes to green and the muscles become more defined and toned. The Super Saiyan aura becomes steadily dancing waves of thick gold 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. (See below, Full-Power Super Saiyan.) It was theorized in Dragon Ball Z movie Super Android 13, that these Super Saiyan transformations prevented Goku from performing his Spirit Bomb 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.
- Users
- Goku
- Future Trunks
- Vegeta
- Gohan
- Bardock
- Broly
- Goten
- Vegeta Jr.
- Goku Jr.
- Gotenks
- Gogeta
- Vegito
- Cabba
Super Saiyan 2nd Grade
An Ascended Super Saiyan Level One
- Main Article: 2nd Grade Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
This isn't really a true transformation but a sudden increase in power. This 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 the muscle mass on a Saiyan significantly increases. The behavioral changes from the original Super Saiyan level to this one are apparent—this state is known for its increased aggression, even from the original Super Saiyan state. It is considered to be a point in between the original Super Saiyan level and the Super Saiyan 2. This is the form Vegeta and Trunks use for the fight with Semi-Perfect Cell.
- Users
- Vegeta
- Future Trunks
- Goku
- Gohan
Super Saiyan 3rd Grade
An Ascended Super Saiyan Level Two
- Main Article: 3rd Grade Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
Is a very muscular and powerful form of the original Super Saiyan. The raw power is greatly superior, but since this form is so muscular, the user's speed drops dramatically and consumes a vast amount of energy. This form's negatives outweigh the positives, so, even though the power increase is drastic, the Saiyan will not even bother with the form due to the speed and energy loss. Perfect Cell also demonstrated that he could mimic this level of Super Saiyan. However, he explained that he lost his speed advantage and retained his 'perfect' form. This form is easy to reach through training after the achieving the previous form, Super Saiyan 2nd Grade, but it is impossible to control all the physical effects. The most noticeable change is the massive muscle increase. 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.
- Users
- Goku
- Vegeta
- Future Trunks
Full-Power Super Saiyan
Full Power Super Saiyans
- Main Article: Full-Power Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
The Full Power Super Saiyan is a third branch of the advanced Super Saiyan, that is absolutely unrelated to the Ascended and Ultra levels of Super Saiyan and stages of the transformation. Instead, it is a state of mental and physical perfection of the core Super Saiyan state itself. When Goku witnesses and experiences the substantial flaws of the advanced Super Saiyan stages. Goku decides not to train again to defeat Cell, but rather to spend the time having a common life in the Super Saiyan state to control that transformation without becoming weaker, as through mastery of the original Super Saiyan form is the best way to advance his abilities, and ultimately achieve even greater power. As a result, he focuses on training his body to suppress the negative effects of the Super Saiyan form, such as ki consumption and personality alterations. This state could only be achieved in a much less strenuous manner than Vegeta and Future Trunks' forcible attempts to advance. The key to the Full-Power Super Saiyan state is energy conservation rather than boosted energy output. This results in a Saiyan who is able to fight longer and more efficiently than with the Ascended and Ultra stages of Super Saiyan, and can even remain transformed for days without powering down as long they don't expend too much energy, essentially making the transformation the Saiyan's base form. In the real world, athletes who train in aerobics for extensive periods of time experience heightened states of rest: heart and respiratory rate are much lower than that of a normal person. The Super Saiyan transformation follows a similar fundamental concept. By remaining transformed for extended periods of time, the Super Saiyan can desensitize themselves to the negative effects of the transformation. Their wild emotions are kept in check, resulting in a more strategical fighting style, and ki consumption is reduced to negligible amounts. Energy radiation is reduced in tandem, and the aura takes on a smoother, flow-like appearance. By mastering the transformation, the Super Saiyan is able to retain transformation almost subconsciously. In requiring less ki to contribute to maintaining the transformation itself, the maximum amount of ki can thus be focused into the attacks giving the user access to power greater than that of even an Ascended Super Saiyan. Following the creation of this concept and the introduction of Super Saiyan 2, the second and third stages of Super Saiyan are rendered fully obsolete. Because Full-Power Super Saiyan was a learned state of being, and not necessarily a typical transformation or power stage, it was used throughout the remainder of Dragon Ball Z by Goku and Gohan.
- Users
- Goku
- Gohan
Super Saiyan 2
- Main Article: Super Saiyan 2 at Dragon Ball wiki
A Super Saiyan Level Two
This stage is very similar to Super Saiyan in appearance, where the muscles do not receive much of an increase in their mass. Other physical changes include longer, finer, and upright hair. The behavioral effects are the same as an un-mastered 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 blue-colored, bio-electrical field. This form was first achieved by Gohan while battling Cell. The boost in power of the Super Saiyan 2 level is approximately equivalent to that given during the transformation to a standard Super Saiyan. For instance, against Cell and Bojack, both who can easily dominate those in the Super Saiyan level including the 2nd and 3rd grade, were easily defeated by Son Gohan in Super Saiyan 2 (the fight between Gohan and Cell lasted as long as it did only because Gohan wanted it to). It too is triggered by powerful emotions, but can also be reached through training. As seen with Gohan, when the form is first used, the user gains an almost sadistic sense of mind. One example of this happening is that after Gohan's first transformation, he wanted Cell to suffer for a while, instead of finishing him off when he could. This sadistic nature never showed up in any of the subsequent Super Saiyan 2 transformations. However, this is almost certainly due to the extreme anger felt by Gohan at that point in time and not a side effect of the Super Saiyan 2 transformation. There is some difficulty distinguishing between the first and second forms due to their being similar in appearance, and that Toei placed lightning on random auras with no sense of consistency in the anime. In the manga, it is easy to differentiate between them due to the second form's electricity surrounding the aura. In the case of adult Gohan, the only physical differences between the two forms are the lack of a smaller lock of hair in front of his face and the electricity. Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta appears identical to Super Saiyan Vegeta except for the electricity and longer, spikier hair.
- Users
- Gohan
- Goku
- Vegeta
- Future Trunks
- Bardock - Video Game only
Super Saiyan 3
A Super Saiyan Level Three
- Main Article: Super Saiyan 3 at Dragon Ball wiki
This form is the strongest of all Super 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 user's energy which leads to fatigue, something that makes movement less fluid and consistent. This happens so quickly that the Saiyan is only able to maintain the transformation for a short period of time, before the Saiyan's power depletes enough to force him to power down to his normal 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 in the Other World, he could maintain the form for longer than on Earth because time does not pass in the Other World, but once he came back to life his limited living body could not handle it for very long. Super Saiyan 3 is characterized by very long, golden hair in full reaching down with a condensed forward strand of hair, in addition to the Saiyan's eyebrows disappearing. Also it is noted that Goku's eyes have changed in that he has green eyes and pupils, however Gotenks does not have the same characteristic. The bolts of lightning flaring up and dancing about are carried over from Super Saiyan 2. This form increases power and speed even more than a Super Saiyan 2's augmentations. In Dragon Ball GT, the fur of Goku's tail is often gold because of his Super Saiyan 3 form during his fight with Baby on the Tuffle Planet, but it remained brown via Super Saiyan during his battle with Super 17.
- Users
- Goku
- Vegeta - Video Game only
- Trunks - Video Game only
- Gotenks
- Gogeta - Video Game only
Super Saiyan 4
A Super Saiyan Level Four
- Main Article: Super Saiyan 4 at Dragon Ball wiki
This is another unique Super Saiyan form known to be reached. The Super Saiyan 4 form can only be reached by transforming into a Golden Great Ape 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 Baby Vegeta. Somehow, the 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 (due to the necessity of transforming into an Oozaru before taking this form) and the body and tail are covered in some 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 and grows wild and untamed. This form has the characteristics of a basic humanoid Saiyan and the Great Ape's characteristics. This is why this form has natural color hair with the mighty Great Ape's fur and tail. In addition, the power and abilities of a Saiyan increase tremendously to the point that they can fight at their very utmost.
- Users
- Goku
- Vegeta
- Gogeta
Legendary Super Saiyan
A Legendary Super Saiyan
- Main Article: Legendary Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
In Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, the audience is introduced to Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan. Broly's final transformation puts him in a class of his own because it is genetic. The result is a Super Saiyan with an unbelievably vast power that far outclasses the regular Super Saiyan. Beyond his initial Super Saiyan transformation, Broly's final form is very similar to an Ultra Super Saiyan, but with several notable differences. His size, muscle mass, strength, and speed are extraordinarily far beyond that of any regular Super Saiyan to the point of being abnormal. Additionally, his irises and pupils in his eyes seemingly disappear. Broly's seeming invincibility stems from his great power and not his muscles, as he possesses a vast quantity of raw energy.
- Users
- Broly
- Kale
Legendary Super Saiyan 3
Legendary Super Saiyan 3
- Main Article: Legendary Super Saiyan 3 at Dragon Ball wiki
The Legendary Super Saiyan 3 form is a form attainable by those who can use the Legendary Super Saiyan form, it is much more powerful than Super Saiyan 3 and Legendary Super Saiyan. This form is used by Broly in several games.
- Users
- Broly - Video Game only
Super Saiyan God
Super Saiyan God
- Main Article: Super Saiyan God at Dragon Ball wiki
Super Saiyan God is the ultimate form of a Saiyan, the form gives the Saiyans a fiery aura and red hair. Super Saiyan God is attained when there are six pure hearted Saiyans and five of them give their power to the sixth. It is also noted that this form utilises a difrrent for of ki than a normal saiyan. This ki is known as "God Ki".
- Users
- Goku
- Vegeta-(implied)
- Yamoshi (original Super Saiyan God)
Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan
Super Saiyan Blue
- Main Article: Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan at Dragon Ball wiki
also known as Super Saiyan Blue this form is obtained when ad super saiyan god masters their transformation and becomes a super saiyan using god ki. It is notably more powerful than the normal super saiyan god. The calmness in this forms state allows Goku to use Kaio-Ken unlike his previous forms. This can be anywhere from times 3, times 10 or times 20.
Users
- Vegeta
- Goku
- Vegito
Super Saiyan True Blue (fan name)
This form is currently only in use by one saiyan which is Vegeta. It is seen being used in episode 123 of Dragon Ball Super. This form not only darkens the hair of Super Saiyan Blue but it also slightly alters the eyes giving them pupils. This form greatly increases ones strength when used aswell as speed. It is speculated this form is even stronger than that of Super Saiyan Blue + x20 Kaioken which is used by Goku.
Ultra Instinct
This is currently Goku's strongest power far exceeding that of Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. Ultra Instinct is a very rare and highly advanced mental state. It is notorious among the Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction for being exceptionally difficult to master, even for gods.
Gallery
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