Why Super Saiyan Blue is the most long - lived form?

[TheSaiyanGod]

We know that in DB it is very common that most of the new sagas present new transformations to Goku and the others.

But since RoF, only a transformation appeared that surpasses the SSB, and only in the most recent saga, Tournament of Power, that is, 3 sagas after the fight against Freeza. Since DBZ, a new transformation has never taken so long to appear.
And yet, SSB remains the main transformation in most promotional materials and even during fights it is able to face the main villains.

It may be a strange question, but why? Does the SSB have high merchandise sales? Is it popular with Japanese fans and everyone likes it or something? I'm not complaining, actually the SSB is my favorite transformation, I'm just curious about why Toriyama this time wanted to follow with SSB for so long, rather than make her quickly be outdated and devalued

[Kataphrut]

I don't really know why it took off and SSG didn't. My guess is because of the way Resurrection F blew up compared to Battle of Gods. We've heard numerous things to suggest Toriyama wants to keep it simple with SSB as the default form, while Toei and Toyotaro have compromised by bringing back God and the yellow forms, adding new things like Kaioken Blue, Evolution, CSSB etc, none of which are in the new movie. Even Ultra Instinct feels like an afterthought judging by how his drawing of it was just a slapdash recolour of SSG.

Basically, SSB is just the default marketed form of the modern era, the way original Super Saiyan was for DBZ even after it was surpassed. It's in FighterZ, it was the form they chose for the Macy's balloon, it gets most of the merchandise and it's still treated as the be-all end-all for the new movie despite being definitively surpassed in both the anime and the manga for DBS. I personally don't mind, I think the "Blue as a calming colour" approach was a good angle to take but I can understand why a lot of people take issue with it.

[Chuquita]

Because it looks like the original super saiyan form only it's blue. Regular super saiyan's more popular than base forms, so.

That said I prefer the forms where Gokû's hair doesn't change so dramatically so blue isn't my favorite of the modern forms (I like ssjg, omen, and UI more than blue) but I do like blue more than I like default blond super saiyan. I like blue enough where I have merchandise of it.

[MKCSTEALTH]

Well, speaking from a personal perspective as someone who loved Blue and hated God at first, to me it became so iconic because it's so familiar yet different. It's essentially a recolored Super Saiyan, but it feels like the pinnacle of Goku and Vegetas training and there work with Whis. Even with all the other amps they've received, those have only been temporary. I could never see Ultra Instinct become as common place as Blue has become.

As for the original God form, I blamed the hype for its lackluster performance. When you hear "Super Saiyan God", your mind instantly begins to wander at what the form could look like. Bear in mind, the last form we saw was Super Saiyan 4, and after the wild designs of SSJ3 and 4, the idea of a form higher than that led to some crazy ideas of what it would look like.

Upon its reveal, I was underwhelmed. I remember saying to myself "this is just Kaioken. Oh, hes a little slimmer. Neat." It just didn't have the impact that the other forms had. It became forgettable. Especially with how brief we saw it originally.

Blue has become iconic because it finally felt like we had a new transformation. Yes, now with God receiving the treatment and actually being a transformation instead of vaguely being absorbed, I am excited to see it again. Especially to see Vegeta have it. Its grown on me with time

[PFM18]

It may be a strange question, but why? Does the SSB have high merchandise sales? Is it popular with Japanese fans and everyone likes it or something? I'm not complaining, actually the SSB is my favorite transformation, I'm just curious about why Toriyama this time wanted to follow with SSB for so long, rather than make her quickly be outdated and devalued

Because they don't want to diminish the impact of a new transformation and transformations in and of themselves. UI had more impact because they had been using the same form for 4 arcs up to that point.

[Lionel]

I didn't care for neither Super Saiyan Blue or red. Those concepts lost their appeal for me somewhere back during the Cell arc. Its marketability is good, though, because of iconicity with the colourful modern Dragon Ball series as a whole. Super Saiyan God became more of a transitional stepping from the DBZ era to DBS which might be why it became immaterial for the most part after its inception.

[JulieYBM]

Toriyama may feel that he isn't ready to create a new form. It could also be that Bandai doesn't want a new form yet. This film was crafted specifically to sell merchandise of Gogeta and Broli. Giving the enemies new transformation to to sell merchandise of also helps cut down on the need to give Gokuu and Vegeta new forms.

[KingKaash]

Because it resembles the most popular form of all time, Super Saiyan, just in a different color. And also because Toriyama doesn't want to put in the effort to draw up more complex designs. That's why we rarely ever see SSJ3 anymore

[JulieYBM]

Because it resembles the most popular form of all time, Super Saiyan, just in a different color. And also because Toriyama doesn't want to put in the effort to draw up more complex designs. That's why we rarely ever see SSJ3 anymore

You can say Toriyama has bad taste but calling him 'lazy' is just terribly uninspired writing. Toriyama prefers simple changes as an aesthetic choice and to be in contrast to the typical ideas of what is considered 'powerful'. 'Weak' looks weak but is strong. 'Strong' looks strong but is weak. That's how he has always worked.

[Acetona]

It may be a strange question, but why? Does the SSB have high merchandise sales? Is it popular with Japanese fans and everyone likes it or something? I'm not complaining, actually the SSB is my favorite transformation, I'm just curious about why Toriyama this time wanted to follow with SSB for so long, rather than make her quickly be outdated and devalued

Because they don't want to diminish the impact of a new transformation and transformations in and of themselves. UI had more impact because they had been using the same form for 4 arcs up to that point.

I think UI had impact because Blue is a punchbag, not because it was introduced late.

[PFM18]

It may be a strange question, but why? Does the SSB have high merchandise sales? Is it popular with Japanese fans and everyone likes it or something? I'm not complaining, actually the SSB is my favorite transformation, I'm just curious about why Toriyama this time wanted to follow with SSB for so long, rather than make her quickly be outdated and devalued

Because they don't want to diminish the impact of a new transformation and transformations in and of themselves. UI had more impact because they had been using the same form for 4 arcs up to that point.

I think UI had impact because Blue is a punchbag, not because it was introduced late.

UI has impact for several reasons, one of them being the fact that it feels special after almost 4 full arcs of having the same final transformation.

Because it resembles the most popular form of all time, Super Saiyan, just in a different color. And also because Toriyama doesn't want to put in the effort to draw up more complex designs. That's why we rarely ever see SSJ3 anymore

It resembles Super Saiyan by design considering what the form actually is, and it looks better than something with yellow hair...and green eyes? And that's ironic, the original SSJ is literally the complete definition of lacking effort considering he did it so that it wouldn't be required to fill in the hair anymore when writing the manga.

Oh, and thank God we never see SSJ3 anymore, it is absolutely hideous.

[superfan2024]

At this point, we have 5 SSJ transformations: SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3, SSJG, and SSJB. SSJ2 and SSJ3 are already useless, God was useless by the time RoF released, but then it was brought back and Blue was given stamina issues so God could be relevant again (even though there was no mention of Blue stamina issues in RoF)... and regular SSJ1 is just there because it's iconic, and/or its special for the new Saiyans, and/or the Saiyans always start off small when in battle against strong opponents.

Other than that, having more transformations will just be a waste of purpose. UI is the most special form we've gotten in such a long time, and I love that they aren't spamming it and are making something that's not easy to unlock so that when it reappears, it will still have the same hype it had in the ToP.

[emi_b7]

There may not have been new forms but every arc had a new power up:
-BoG: SSG
-RoF: SSB
-U6: Kaioken SSB
-Future Trunks: Vegeto SSB (let's be real, fusions are glorified power ups more than they are real characters) and SS Rage for Trunks.
-US: UI (both versions) and sparkle Vegeta

In my opinion there are more than enough transformations in this series and we don't need more. That was my opinion even before Super. So hopefully Blue stays as the strongest form for a while.
It kinda sucks that they can't have a character become stronger without a new transformations of some sort. Characters (well, saiyans) don't feel like they are becoming stronger, they are just on a path to unlock new power ups as if this was DB Xenoverse or some shit.
I do like UI though.

[Grimlock]

Characters (well, saiyans) don't feel like they are becoming stronger, they are just on a path to unlock new power ups as if this was DB Xenoverse or some shit.

And can you possibly name new power-up characters/Saiyans got in Xenoverse (not counting the power-up provided by the Time Breakers, of course)?

[emi_b7]

Characters (well, saiyans) don't feel like they are becoming stronger, they are just on a path to unlock new power ups as if this was DB Xenoverse or some shit.

And can you possibly name new power-up characters/Saiyans got in Xenoverse (not counting the power-up provided by the Time Breakers, of course)?

What? You misunderstood me, I'm not talking about new power ups in the games, I'm talking about video games mechanics of unlocking the transformations and power ups. Story pregress ----> access to new power up/transformation, that's how it feels to me in the series lately (and before Super too, tbh), which, again, feels like a videogame feature. It was a commentary on the manga/anime, not about DBXV.

Characters don't feel like they get stronger by training or creating new strategies or techniques, it's just waiting for the new form/power up to be able to fight the new guy.

[Acetona]

Because they don't want to diminish the impact of a new transformation and transformations in and of themselves. UI had more impact because they had been using the same form for 4 arcs up to that point.

I think UI had impact because Blue is a punchbag, not because it was introduced late.

UI has impact for several reasons, one of them being the fact that it feels special after almost 4 full arcs of having the same final transformation.

Because it resembles the most popular form of all time, Super Saiyan, just in a different color. And also because Toriyama doesn't want to put in the effort to draw up more complex designs. That's why we rarely ever see SSJ3 anymore

It resembles Super Saiyan by design considering what the form actually is, and it looks better than something with yellow hair...and green eyes? And that's ironic, the original SSJ is literally the complete definition of lacking effort considering he did it so that it wouldn't be required to fill in the hair anymore when writing the manga.

Oh, and thank God we never see SSJ3 anymore, it is absolutely hideous.

UI Omen is actually very cool, I agree. Minus the eyes, they remind me of a cat, it doesn't look that cool. But MUI is terrible, silver hair is the stupidiest color for some "badass guy". It's just everywhere in other anime.
I take SSJ3 over MUI just for the sheer crazyness of its design, instead of a silver haired version of God (at least Toei fixed this a little bit).

[Mister_Popo]

- SSJ is the transformation that changed Dragon Ball forever, took a prominent role in DBZ and is very recognizable with the fandom.
God-Ki is the essence of DBS, it's a higher level of power level-management as introduced in the popular movie BOG.
Blue, being the combination of SSJ and God-Ki, gives us the best of both worlds, and therefore an excellent marketing value for the franchise in general.
It's problably the 'best thing' that came out the ROF-arc.

- Blue enables the user to fight against very strong opponents, but against weaker ones as well, because of the perfect Ki-control.
You can fight Golden Freeza in it, but one could also spar with Krillin for instance.

- There lies potential in other Saiyans (Caulifla and Kale, Cabba, Gohan, Gotenks and Trunks, ...) to reach Blue if the series progress.
I believe Kefla even shortly mentionned to Goku her ambitions to reach Blue one day.

- Because Blue is based on a high level of control, this enables additional power-ups in combo with for instance Kaioken that wouldn't be feasible in other forms without destroying the Saiyans body because of overly stress. This basically makes Goku very very strong as a fighter, without actually needing another form.

- The fact they are even going back to Red forms because of the stamina issues Blue represents, enables Blue to become more relevant againt as the very strong form it used to be.
Therefore it becomes more like a power-up than something that's used all the time.

- Blue staying around longer as a 'reference point', makes other forms like UI more unique for a longer period of time spread out through the arcs, 'because they don't tend to happen too often'.

- Blue is visually a very tranquil color. For most people it gives rest to the eye and is enjoyable to watch.

- It looks good on promotional material. In the pamflet for the big announcement of Jumpa Festa concerning DBS (end December), Blue Goku was centered in the middle of it.
The same with the promo art for the movies: a lot of Blue because it looks good.

We are going to see UI's return and there remain other shelves to be broken, but SSJB having an important role in battles could drag on for a very long time.
Possibly till we get to the EoZ. I personally wouldn't mind UI one day would replace Blue, because i think it looks even a lot better, and it's the end goal in the training curve as described by Whis as opponents will eventually become too strong for the form to have any form of relevance. At least not for Goku or Vegeta.

[BWri]

We know that in DB it is very common that most of the new sagas present new transformations to Goku and the others.

But since RoF, only a transformation appeared that surpasses the SSB, and only in the most recent saga, Tournament of Power, that is, 3 sagas after the fight against Freeza. Since DBZ, a new transformation has never taken so long to appear.
And yet, SSB remains the main transformation in most promotional materials and even during fights it is able to face the main villains.

It may be a strange question, but why? Does the SSB have high merchandise sales? Is it popular with Japanese fans and everyone likes it or something? I'm not complaining, actually the SSB is my favorite transformation, I'm just curious about why Toriyama this time wanted to follow with SSB for so long, rather than make her quickly be outdated and devalued

Interesting question but the premise is slightly flawed. Super actually gave us several new forms and pseudo-new forms between RoF and ToP. Most of it was stuff to dangle in front of fans and present as merchandise bait, I'm sure. We had SSB Kaioken in U6, while technically not a new form, it does visually and technically function as one since nowadays all forms are just color changes and power increases. In the Trunks arc we got SSJ Ikari from Trunks but if you don't count that one we also got Super Saiyan Rose from Goku Black. Hell, even Merged Zamasu had white Super Saiyan hair, but I don't think anyone is including that.

But as to why SSB was the most used form for the protagonists for so long, I'd say it's because it's so balanced. I honestly dislike SSB, from the original naming of SSGSS to the color, but it is functionally the best form so far. It is the best because it is so versatile. You can complete the form by keeping your ki internal, which spikes the power up drastically and the ki control is so good that other power boosting techniques that are taxing to the stamina can be used without any additional strain on the body.