Was/is Super saiyan 3 an underated transformation?

[SsjMelville]

Super Saiyan 3 is a transformation I have always loved, especially in the case of Son Goku as his characters motivation for self improvement was personified by this transformation. However it comes under a lot of bad press due to a number of things that we are all aware of such as massive energy consumption which makes it inefficient in battle, along with only being able to stay in the form for a very brief period of time. I'd like to know if there's anyone else who believed the transformation had potential to be more significant in dragonball until these "God" forms came out.
Also, is the transformation able to be mastered? I believe with enough time and training it could be. And lastly, I've always heard it rumoured that is actually consumes the users life force although I never believed this to be true, could anyone shed some light on this. And what's everyone's overall thoughts on the transformation?

[dbgtFO]

Super Saiyan 3 is a transformation I have always loved, especially in the case of Son Goku as his characters motivation for self improvement was personified by this transformation. However it comes under a lot of bad press due to a number of things that we are all aware of such as massive energy consumption which makes it inefficient in battle, along with only being able to stay in the form for a very brief period of time. I'd like to know if there's anyone else who believed the transformation had potential to be more significant in dragonball until these "God" forms came out.
Also, is the transformation able to be mastered? I believe with enough time and training it could be. And lastly, I've always heard it rumoured that is actually consumes the users life force although I never believed this to be true, could anyone shed some light on this. And what's everyone's overall thoughts on the transformation?

I think it was always supposed to be set up to fail, so we could discard it and go back to the more balanced base or SS form just like, when they discarded the bulky forms. In that light it made perfect sense, that it was discarded from BoG onwards, so Goku and Vegeta only use their base and SS states.

The thing about life force always seemed like a good fitting theory to me, though it is just a theory. Back in the Demon King Piccolo Arc, we had Piccolo saying, that using full power would shorten his life, giving an idea of powering up to the very limit could be detrimental to you. In the Buu Arc, using SS3 saps dead Goku of the time allotted to him on Earth and Gotenks can only "live" for 5 minutes as SS3, rather than the full 30. Elder Kaioshin also later says, that merging as Super Saiyans would shorten their lives, so it does seem like a good possibility, that Super Saiyan and at its absolute worst Super Saiyan 3 shorten their lives, as the strain takes a huge toll on their bodies.

[TheatreStyleKai]

I think SSJ3 is great. It represents a natural end point to the concept that the Super Saiyans can continue growing stronger by finding new ways in which to transform. The fact that SSJ3's power consumption is such a crippling draw-back feels like a throw-back to the Kaio-Ken technique, that it's a strategy with an inherent risk and should only be pulled out for an absolute emergency. For Goku, it means he can at least temporarily fight toe-to-toe against opponents who are way above his weight class, so I approve of the idea that it's a form that's impractical for a drawn out battle.

As for being overshadowed by SSJG and SSJBlue, this doesn't bother me. If Goku was to continue growing stronger in the series he was going to need a way around his limitations eventually. I'm just dissapointed that Beerus managed to hand him his rear-end so easily, without so much as even appearing impressed by what Goku could do. If we could have seen Goku doing a better job of fighting Beerus at SSJ3 when they first met, and then ultimately losing because he simply ran out of gas, it would have made SSJG seem a little less ridiculous to me.

[Xeztin]

I thought it and its side effects where awesome because in a way it shows sayians do have a limit regarding transformations and then again it shows they're limitless depending what situation they're in. Lets say SSJ4 was in DBZ and you attained it the same way as the last 3 and it had blonde longer hair. If SSJ3 has such restraints and could only be attained when Goku was dead, how can he expect to reach SSJ4 alive? In that regard it gave a limit to their power. I don't think a mortal can master SSJ3 because of its effects, and if Goku happened to die again and attain SSJ4 it'd prob have a 3 minute time limit and about kill him. If Goku learned to stay in it for as long as he wanted and DBZ ended that way then people would expect SSJ40. I loved SSG and the thought of it needing multiple Sayians to attain as again it shows a Single mortal Sayians limits. I didn't like the powegap though, it was to ridiculously of a jump for me. I thought SSJB defeated the entire purpose of SSJ3's side effects and SSG's needing multiple people. It's like it went to where he was draining his life force, to needing others and then back to SSJ1 again with no bad effects. If Herms theory is very close to the secret behind these forms I'll gladly take my words about SSJB back.

[LightBing]

I like it's appearance on Goku but that's about it. Because SSJ3 it's a major character regression. Goku came up with the idea of mastering SSJ instead of going beyond, that was the best option and he figured it out. It was emphasized showing how after the same time and training regiment, Goku was much stronger than Vegeta and Trunks. Getting more than twice as strong as them.

Had they gone with SSJ is for everybody, with unique transformations after. SSJ3 being the manifestation on Goku, maybe SSJ2 the same but on Gohan. I would have buy it and liked if it was well explained.

How it came about, it just made Goku an idiot. Going back on his word and choosing a method he called noneffective. Destroying completely his display of fighting perception and intelligence.

I like how apparently this is being corrected with the mastering of SSB. Closing the door on further transformations.

[LowRyder2005]

Hands down the most epic of the Super Saiyan forms.

And yes, it's sad it's underrated, since it's relevant for a very short time.

[apex_pretador]

Hands down the most epic of the Super Saiyan forms.

And yes, it's sad it's underrated, since it's relevant for a very short time.

I agree

[Baggie_Saiyan]

The transformation literally achieved nothing, it was more DBZ transformation eye candy than anything. Holding of Kid Buu was the best SS3 ever did. I think it is rated just fine.

[Doctor.]

I love the design, but it's an unnecessary transformation with no proper build-up that accomplishes absolutely nothing in all of its uses (except M13).

[Lord Beerus]

SSJ3 only ever looked good on Goku and was a useless transformation in combat. So good riddance, I say.

[Cipher]

I like Goku busting out one final, bizarre, ultimately ineffective form in the Boo arc -- it cements the feeling of everything going absolutely nuts, and with its drawbacks to the point that it appears nearly unusable by normal mortals, it also signals the series reaching its limits and coming to a close. I rather like that it doesn't save the day.

It does lose a lot of its narrative effectiveness when the Boo arc isn't viewed as the end of the series, though.

[trick007z]

It works because it effectively limits the SSJ transformations. It's the high end point where it is unsustainable in a living body. Which effectively cuts off the notion that you can keep going to the next level.

[DanielSSJ]

If anything, I'd say Super Saiyan 2 was underrated. Sure, it had it's big debut with Gohan and Cell, but after Super Saiyan 3 becomes a thing, it's pretty much discarded. In hindsight, it's probably because it's too similar to the first Super Saiyan form, especially in the anime, where you can barely tell the difference.

As for Super Saiyan 3, it had it's uses with Gotenks fighting Evil Boo and Goku fighting Pure Boo, not to mention the movies. Besides, I was never a huge fan of it's appearance, namely the eyebrows, or lack thereof. I'm perfectly happy with Goku and Vegeta sticking with the basic version(enhanced with God Ki) from now on.