Humanoid-Hurdle-Grade Theory

[ChiefWamsutta]

Hey everyone! I know this is very long, but if you have a chance to read my theory I'd love to hear some feedback on the idea of it. It's not much, but I hope it makes sense to people.

My understanding of Super Saiyans goes like this:

Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 -------> Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2 -------> Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 -------> Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 -------> Super Saiyan 2 Grade 2 -------> Super Saiyan 3 Grade 1

Form Goku became vs. Frieza -------> Form Vegeta became vs. Semi-Perfect Cell -------> Form Trunks became vs. Perfect Cell -------> Form Gohan became vs. Perfect Cell -------> 'My Bulma' Vegeta -------> Form Goku became vs. Majin Buu

The main stepping stones (Grade 1s) are the forms highlighted in bold, while the subsets of each form in italics are the 'mini gains,' per say. It seems to reach the next form, one must go in order. The further someone goes to the right, the more power is exerted, but the less control the Saiyan has. I firmly believe that SS3 is the absolute maximum power that can be exerted for a Super Saiyan -- there is an impossibly huge stamina loss because of the drain it takes on the body. During the fight with Super Buu, Gotenks reverted back to Base with no warning. Even someone as skilled as Goku had no foresight that the same thing would happen to him during the Kid Buu fight.

NOTE: I treat the 'My Bulma' Vegeta as SS2 Grade 2 because in DBSuper, which is canon for now, Vegeta is shown to be a Super Saiyan with lightning and he emits more power than he ever did as a regular SS2. This is such a pivotal moment in Vegeta's character development that there is no way he powered-up to just a SS2, and it clearly wasn't a SS3.

Who's to say that Goku never reached this form while in the Other World? Gotenks went through SS2 very quickly in RoSaT and could possibly have passed through SS2 Grade 2. I also really like the mirroring: 1st Hurdle with 3 Grades, 2nd Hurdle with 2 Grades, 3rd Hurdle with 1 Grade. (Grade 4 is a mastery of Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1, in my opinion, it really isn't a Grade, per say). This all makes sense and it fits my theory well, as we really have no other place to put the anomaly of Rageta.

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Disregarding God Ki (SSGod, SSB/SSGSS) and the uniqueness of Oozaru only to Saiyans ... This DOES seems to be the progression of transformations that Universe 7's humanoid species undergo. In the real world, all species under the genus Homo have a generic DNA blueprint, so all humanoid species in Dragon Ball may follow this too. I wouldn't put Majin Buu in this category even though he can look humanoid. I'd love to find a way to explain how Humans and Namekians fit this blueprint.

It would explain why Cell was able to buff up. Perfect Cell could be his form that fills the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 slot, his 'Buff state' that he used out of desperation against SS2 Gohan could fill the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 slot (he probably has a Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2-esque form), and Super Perfect Cell could fill the Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 slot. The hurdle he finally overcame to reach this point was all-but dying over Kaio's Planet.

That would be amazing to think that Cell could push himself so much further than Super Perfect! I'm getting so excited as I type this because this Humanoid-Hurdle-Grade Theory would solve a lot of questions I have!! I've heard people say, "Can Cell go Super Saiyan?" This could answer it because he may not have Super Saiyan, per say, but his forms could be from the same blueprint.

EDIT: I just had an idea. Since Frieza's Race is also humanoid they could fit this theory as well. Final Form Frieza could fit the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 slot; his buff 100% Form on Namek could fit the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 slot (again, he also probably has a Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2-esque form); Golden Frieza would be the Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 slot. Frieza's big hurdle was training and pushing himself even further beyond his limits than he did on Namek against Goku.

[MadSaiyantist]

Hey everyone! I know this is very long, but if you have a chance to read my theory I'd love to hear some feedback on the idea of it. It's not much, but I hope it makes sense to people.

My understanding of Super Saiyans goes like this:

Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 -------> Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2 -------> Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 -------> Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 -------> Super Saiyan 2 Grade 2 -------> Super Saiyan 3 Grade 1

Form Goku became vs. Frieza -------> Form Vegeta became vs. Semi-Perfect Cell -------> Form Trunks became vs. Perfect Cell -------> Form Gohan became vs. Perfect Cell -------> 'My Bulma' Vegeta -------> Form Goku became vs. Majin Buu

The main stepping stones (Grade 1s) are the forms highlighted in bold, while the subsets of each form in italics are the 'mini gains,' per say. It seems to reach the next form, one must go in order. The further someone goes to the right, the more power is exerted, but the less control the Saiyan has. I firmly believe that SS3 is the absolute maximum power that can be exerted for a Super Saiyan -- there is an impossibly huge stamina loss because of the drain it takes on the body. During the fight with Super Buu, Gotenks reverted back to Base with no warning. Even someone as skilled as Goku had no foresight that the same thing would happen to him during the Kid Buu fight.

NOTE: I treat the 'My Bulma' Vegeta as SS2 Grade 2 because in DBSuper, which is canon for now, Vegeta is shown to be a Super Saiyan with lightning and he emits more power than he ever did as a regular SS2. This is such a pivotal moment in Vegeta's character development that there is no way he powered-up to just a SS2, and it clearly wasn't a SS3.

Who's to say that Goku never reached this form while in the Other World? Gotenks went through SS2 very quickly in RoSaT and could possibly have passed through SS2 Grade 2. I also really like the mirroring: 1st Hurdle with 3 Grades, 2nd Hurdle with 2 Grades, 3rd Hurdle with 1 Grade. (Grade 4 is a mastery of Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1, in my opinion, it really isn't a Grade, per say). This all makes sense and it fits my theory well, as we really have no other place to put the anomaly of Rageta.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disregarding God Ki (SSGod, SSB/SSGSS) and the uniqueness of Oozaru only to Saiyans ... This DOES seems to be the progression of transformations that Universe 7's humanoid species undergo. In the real world, all species under the genus Homo have a generic DNA blueprint, so all humanoid species in Dragon Ball may follow this too. I wouldn't put Majin Buu in this category even though he can look humanoid. I'd love to find a way to explain how Humans and Namekians fit this blueprint.

It would explain why Cell was able to buff up. Perfect Cell could be his form that fills the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 slot, his 'Buff state' that he used out of desperation against SS2 Gohan could fill the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 slot (he probably has a Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2-esque form), and Super Perfect Cell could fill the Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 slot. The hurdle he finally overcame to reach this point was all-but dying over Kaio's Planet.

That would be amazing to think that Cell could push himself so much further than Super Perfect! I'm getting so excited as I type this because this Humanoid-Hurdle-Grade Theory would solve a lot of questions I have!! I've heard people say, "Can Cell go Super Saiyan?" This could answer it because he may not have Super Saiyan, per say, but his forms could be from the same blueprint.

EDIT: I just had an idea. Since Frieza's Race is also humanoid they could fit this theory as well. Final Form Frieza could fit the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 1 slot; his buff 100% Form on Namek could fit the Super Saiyan 1 Grade 3 slot (again, he also probably has a Super Saiyan 1 Grade 2-esque form); Golden Frieza would be the Super Saiyan 2 Grade 1 slot. Frieza's big hurdle was training and pushing himself even further beyond his limits than he did on Namek against Goku.

Its a good theory. The only problem I see in it is that "My Bulma" Rageta is so far and above any other Ssj Form that isn't Godly. Hell, "My Bulma" Rageta was stronger than SsjB Vegeta was during his fight with Hit. (This is mixing the anime and manga but my point still stands) There's no way that Goku achieved a power boost equal to Rageta while he trained in Otherworld only to abandon it.

[ChiefWamsutta]

I firmly believe that Vegeta was very worn out from his past fights when facing Hit. Plus he had been assaulted in his vitals during that match. You're not gonna look good if you are tired and punched in those areas.

I do agree with you though that Rageta's form should be beyond any other Super Saiyan form. When creating this theory, I just couldn't ignore the fact that Super Saiyan 3 seems to be the maximum power output. The physical form looks like SS2 though. I don't know where to put Rageta, ugghhhh.

MadSaiyantist, do you think it's a Super Saiyan form beyond Super Saiyan 3 that outputs more power without SS3's drawbacks? I'm just trying to organize these forms, haha. This wouldn't really apply to any other humanoid in Dragon Ball since none of them have achieved something on that level.

[MadSaiyantist]

I'm not too sure. From an In Universe point of view, Rageta is an extremely rare case. Vegeta has gotten rage boosts a few times but it was never anything that multiplied or added to his power this much.

One of the more obvious times this happens is when Cell comes back and shoots Trunks through the chest. Vegeta charges at Cell enraged, (Same as My Bulma) but his power doesn't increase much. He maybe went above Ssj1 Gohan but that's probably it.

I would say Rageta would have to be a complete outlier. The episode title calls it a "mutation". You're trying to bring a little bit of real world science to the show, and this happens in the real world too. Mutations do occur in genetics.

Ssj2 could have a sublevel in it that was simply not explored. Ssj2 was thrown off to the side after Gohan did it in the Cell arc.

Personally, I think there is a real Ssj4 out there. A golden haired form going beyond Ssj3. Rageta didn't achieve it though. If it were to exist, I think it would be even more straining on the user's body which would make it even less convenient than Ssj3.