Potential Unleashed: Form or Powerup?

[cheddarsword]

Need to know. Everything considered, it appears to act like a form, but it's basically an extremely powered up base form that exceeds SS2's basic max at the very least. It also prevents the user from entering any Super Saiyan forms.

And to avoid confusion, by "SS2's basic max" I'm referring to the maximum power that SS2 can put out without using the "strengthened", "furious" or "rage/ikari" sub forms.

So which is it? Form, power up, or a bit of both?

[p-hyvo]

For me is only a power up, ... crillin or gohan didn't change physically when they had their potential unlocked

[Dragonballgod19]

Both looking at dbs

[Lionel]

Elder Kaioshin's variant of the technique and the method of how Gohan harnessed the power makes it seem like a form instead of just a power increase. Others like the Chonshinsui and the Grand Elder's technique are not left to interpretation since the characters consistently retain the power without having to change their bodies somehow.

With all that said, if Mystic Gohan were to, say, learn the Kaioken, I don't think he would be incapable of using it. It's an amplification technique, not a transformation. If anything, Kaioken might be handled more easily since there isn't the added strain of a rigorous transformation to endure.

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

The Ultimate state isn't just powering up in base form, and must be tapped into separately. However, it's also not a transformation, since Gohan doesn't physically change in any way doing so.

Overall, it IS a power-up, but one that must be tapped into like a transformation, separate from one's base power.

[Grimlock]

It's a transformation, as heavily confirmed in Dragon Ball Super. Being a transformation, then obviously it is a kind of power-up, as it gives the user more power, like any other transformation and power-up.

Potential Unleashed falls under the category of transformation due to physical changes and the fact that Gohan needs to transform into it, so it's not a permanent state.

[Kaboom]

It's kind of both and neither at the same time. It's a special new state where Gohan can access all of his dormant power and more within his normal base state, without having to use Super Saiyan. The original manga and GT portrayed it as Gohan's new natural state (with the latter giving him Super Saiyan on top of it) and power like the prior time he had his potential unlocked. But nowadays most new stuff treats it like a greater-than-SS transformation of its own.