Your explanations for why the Super Saiyan forms look that way

[Dorexx]

A place to come and share ideas about just why the various Super Saiyan forms look the way they do. Entirely in-universe. No "Toriyama didn't want to ink in the hair anymore" stuff.

My ideas:

First, I believe there are three main types of energy: blue < yellow < red. Clearly, blue energy is the weakest while red the most powerful, but this doesn't mean that every instance of yellow energy will be more powerful than blue, or red more powerful than yellow; a blue Kamehameha can still be more powerful than a Dodonpa if it simply contains a huge amount of energy, while the latter just a bit. Ultimately, this concept doesn't mean much, but it creates some consistency.

0.) What people refer to as the "False" Super Saiyan form during the fight with Lord Slug is simply a glimpse of the real form itself; Goku is beginning to tap into it briefly, but doesn't reach quite far enough. Still, Kaio is correct to speculate that this is the form itself, but only a glimpse of it. Lack of pupils indicates losing his mind, becoming monster-ish, maybe even demonic.

1.) The Super Saiyan form is golden-yellow due to an abundance of energy, to a point that it just bursts out of the body. Everything is lightened up, including skin tone and clothes.

2.) Super Saiyan 2 - Not much to say, other than the fact that the electricity indicates an even bigger abundance of energy.

3.) Super Saiyan 3 - I've been trying to think of a reason why the hair grows large; I'm not sure yet, but it makes me think of the character Samson from a story in the Bible. He was apparently a really powerfull guy who's power was in his hair, and the larger it grew the stronger he became.

The form's eyes with "lack of eyebrows" indicate a monster-ish aspect. (it's always been how Toriyama designed monster-ish characters)

4.) Super Saiyan 4 - the user is switching to red energy, the most powerfull type. This form is a mutation of the Ozaru, and that's why the body has fur. The reason only his fur is red is because all the energy conentrates itself around his arms and legs, because it's a form specifically created for battle, although when Gogeta is created his hair becomes red as well because of, again, an abundance of energy.

5.) Super Saiyan God Red - just a guy with an abundance of red energy. Inferior to Super Saiyan 4.

6.) Super Saiyan God Blue - abundance of blue energy.

Anomalies: Broly's green form, Black's pink form, Baby Vegeta's white form(?). They're all freaks.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Most of the Super Saiyan transformations are visual metaphors for fire, and they even work how you'd expect following that idea. SS provides great power, SS2 is a greater flame (but required more fuel). SS3 expands on that, it's a fire so great that there isn't enough fuel to maintain it, so it quickly burns out. SS Blue is a mastered flame (if you've never handled fire before, a controlled flame is clear/blue). By keeping the fire under absolute control, they can do more damage with not only infinitely less fuel, but less actual fire.

SSG is just Toriyama expressing irony through his modern, skinny style. Golden Ape and SS4 are (obviously) just a combination of Great ape and Super Saiyan.

[Tectorman]

The mortal, flesh-and-blood, Saiyan body can only hold so much energy at any given time. That upper limit can be increased through training, but when you forcibly go beyond that limit, the body has to do something to safely radiate that energy, lest you blow yourself up.

In the case of the Saiyan body, it protects itself by radiating that energy through the hair. The hair turns gold from carrying that much energy and then stands up in a manner similar to what happens when you physically touch a Van de Graaff generator.

SSJ2 is basically the same thing, but more energy requires more surface area to safely radiate the additional energy, so the hair gets spiky.

SSJ3 is the point where the body has to grow additional hair to maintain that delicate balance. The browridge exists simply because it exists in the same place in the Saiyan's genetic heritage as the additional hair. It was probably there to protect the skull of the ancient cave-Saiyan with the large hair only serving to keep the cave-Saiyan warm. Now, the body needs the extra hair, and the browridge is extraneous.

[Son_Gohan]

Super Saiyan forms are not a natural state for the Saiyan, they occur in response to situations of high stress as a survival mechanism and its physical traits are a reflection of that. The strain it causes to the body to produce such a high output of energy is at a genetic level; the mutation results in albinism, seen through the loss of pigment in the hair, eyes, and skin.

With Super Saiyan 1, the hair stands on end, which in nature can be associated with a feeling of intense emotion in response to a threat (as is vividly seen in cats); making them appear larger and thus more threatening to to an enemy and represents a highly-energized state.

In Super Saiyan 2, the traits are further intensified, including on an emotional level. The hair stands even more upright and firm.

In Super Saiyan 3, the survival traits are drastically intensified, becoming more intimidating to an opponent. The hair grows out all the way past their waist, so they appear much larger, the eyebrows disappear producing a prominent brow ridge (as seen in their Oozaru form), and their eyes now have pupils; giving them a more penetrating gaze.

Super Saiyan 4 appears to be a more natural state for the Saiyan, as the traits of albinism are not prevalent and they retain some of their base features but more animalistic and unique to the individual. The hair grows out longer, but not to the extent of SSJ3. The eyes have a red outline, with pupils and a different-colored iris. The body is covered with reddish fur with the exception of the chest, upper abdomen, neck and face; which may be an ancestral throwback to the Original Super Saiyan.