Was Gohan a Super Saiyan 1 or 2 against Dabra

[SSJ2FutureGohan]

Forgive me if this has been discussed, I am new here, but do you think Gohan was a Super Saiyan 1 or 2 against Dabra?

[Kamiccolo9]

You have no idea what you have just done.

[KentalSSJ6]

This has been discussed more times than I have fingers and toes multiplied by 2.

[dbgtFO]

His aura is that of a Super Saiyan. Toriyama said in an interview, that although he usually had an idea of how strong his characters would be, it would change as he saw fit.
This could mean, that Gohan was originally supposed to be a SS2 and thus making sense of Goku's claim that Dabra was about as strong as Cell, but Toriyama changed his mind, for whatever reason.
Personally I think he decided Gohan looked too cool(just look at my avatar ) and that would make people overlook the fact, that Gohan was supposed to be much weaker, than before and weaker than Goku and Vegeta. So he changed it, to better get across the huge gulf in power between himself 7 years earlier and Goku and Vegeta.

[Kaboom]

I trust the consistency of Toriyama's art more than the coherency of his story-telling, especially during the topsy-turvy Majin Boo arc, and there's an extraordinary amount of consistency in how the auras for different Super Saiyan forms were drawn. Gohan was drawn with the aura of a Super Saiyan 1, so that's what he was as far as I'm concerned.

[SSJ2FutureGohan]

I trust the consistency of Toriyama's art more than the coherency of his story-telling, especially during the topsy-turvy Majin Boo arc, and there's an extraordinary amount of consistency in how the auras for different Super Saiyan forms were drawn. Gohan was drawn with the aura of a Super Saiyan 1, so that's what he was as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed on that part, every SSJ2 up to that point and even 2 after that fight had electricity, Story-wise = SSJ2, art-wise = SSJ1. IMO

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Gohan looks like in SS2, but with SS1 aura. So, my take is that he is a SS2, but his aura isn't intense because of the lack of training.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

So why was his Super Saiyan 2 aura intense when he showed it to Kibito?

[SSJ2FutureGohan]

So why was his Super Saiyan 2 aura intense when he showed it to Kibito?

He got a rage boost at the tournament after seeing Videl get stomped, but not at Bobidi's spaceship, hence why Goku was telling Gohan to get angry when fighting Kibito.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

I don't see how he did. Gohan only powered-up to Super Saiyan after seeing Videl take a beating. He was never shown to be angry after that.

[Dbzk1999]

Ssj
If gohan was ssj2
Then ssj majin vegeta (who's implied to be above dabura) would be > ssj2 gohan

[dbzfan7]

You have no idea what you have just done.

CODE YELLOW impending. We might be in for a storm.

Anyways it makes more sense for him to be an SSJ2....I mean why would he not use a stronger form to win if he could? However he seemed to be drawn as an SSJ because of the aura...and Toriyama for some dumb reason drew SSJ Gohan to look the same as SSJ2 instead of keeping two hair bangs for SSJ so we can tell the difference. I also can't remember if Kibito restored Gohans full power and he couldn't go SSJ2 because he didn't have his full power......I dunno.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Kibito restored all of his power and Gohan later ate a senzu after fighting Dabra.

[dbzfan7]

Kibito restored all of his power and Gohan later ate a senzu after fighting Dabra.

I kinda have to side with SSJ2 then. I mean why make fighting Dabura so hard if he just could power up to SSJ2 and win easily.

[Zephyr]

I trust the consistency of Toriyama's art more than the coherency of his story-telling, especially during the topsy-turvy Majin Boo arc, and there's an extraordinary amount of consistency in how the auras for different Super Saiyan forms were drawn. Gohan was drawn with the aura of a Super Saiyan 1, so that's what he was as far as I'm concerned.

I have to agree with this. The manga depicted what it depicted. Goku's later comment telling him to get angry like he used to makes it seem all the more like Gohan wasn't giving it his all against Dabura. From there we can attempt to reconcile this with the story itself. "Why didn't Gohan use Super Saiyan 2 then?" It's honestly not all too taxing of a process to come up with reasons.

Maybe he was trying to deliberately do the whole "start off slow, and then work up to my strongest output as the fight goes on" schtick to try and impress his dad? Only, Vegeta starting whining, so the fight didn't get far enough for that to happen.

Maybe he was overthinking the situation, being self conscious, and ended up choking under the pressure? Seems awfully consistent with his sloppy Cell Games behavior.

[NitroEX]

I think he was regular Super Saiyan. It's believable that he underestimated Dabura because of the previous battles being so easy. Had the fight lasted longer I think he would have escalated to Super Saiyan 2 but he didn't know it would end prematurely.

This whole arc was flawed though because iirc later on he admits to having trouble using his full power which contradicts the bit with Kibito.

[Reading Rainbow]

This is what I believe:

Cell Games Saga
SSJ2 Gohan (full power)
Super Perfect Cell
SSJ2 Gohan (not full power, which is the one that beam struggled against SPC)

7 years later

Babidi Saga
Majin Dabura = SSJ2 Adult Gohan (full power)

Majin Dabura is a weaker fighter than SSJ2 Adult Gohan, but has magic abilities that offset this difference. Accordingly, SSJ2 Adult Gohan is a better fighter than Dabura.

[Hugo Boss]

He was a Super Saiyan 1 when he was drawn as a SS1. But I think he had all his power in his SS-form after Kibito restored his energy. He just doesn't transform into SS2 anymore.

[Darkprince410]

Though it makes more sense for Gohan to be a Super Saiya-jin 2 during his fight with Dabura, Toriyama's been fairly consistent when it comes to Ssj and Ssj2 appearances, and given that he drew Gohan with lightning in his aura when he transformed for Kibito, and then we see Goku and Vegeta with lightning during their fight with one another. It doesn't make any sense then for Toriyama to have Gohan as a Super Saiya-jin 2 against Dabura, but not draw the lightning. If it were just one panel, and the rest of the time there was lightning, it'd be one thing, but the entire fight is drawn without lightning, so I have to say that I think he's only a regular Super Saiya-jin.

[Galan007]

I agree that artistically, Gohan appeared to be a SSJ. Logically, however, it wouldn't make sense for him to be anything less than a SSJ2, imo. Why? Because Goku stated that Dabra was around Cell's level, and it was confirmed multiple times that Buu-era Gohan<<Cell-era Gohan. This is important because even during the Cell Games, Gohan was incapable of matching Cell as a SSJ(SSJ2 was required to give him the edge.) That said, Buu-era SSJ Gohan certainly wouldn't have been able to do what even his much more powerful self couldn't, and match a Cell-level being. At that point in the saga, SSJ2 likely would have been required to put Gohan on that level.

I think it would go something like this:
SSJ2 Gohan(Cell-era)>>Perfect Cell~Dabra~SSJ2 Gohan(Buu-era)>SSJ Gohan(Cell-era)>SSJ Gohan(Buu-era)