Thoughts on Super Saiyan Hair becoming more refined as the series progressed?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

So as the series went on, the Super Saiyan hair transformation became more refined from it's shaggy like intro to the now modern lego-like hair as a few fans refer to it now, but throughout the series we can see an evolution of it, curious what do you guys think? What era of SS hair is your favourite? Personally I like the Cell era of SS.
(Fyi I grabbed these shots of YT since I don't have anything with me)

Introduction in the Freeza arc:
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Example from Cell arc:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Examples from Buu arc:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

Examples from Modern DB:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[nato25]

More refined looks better in my opinion but the series is so inconsistent with hair in general and eye colour it's hard to pin down what it's meant to look like.

[Bansho64]

I always hated it tbh. That wild and flowy look that Super Saiyan got was something that was a staple for the form whenever I thought of it. The Cell arc kinda maintained this for a while, so I was alright, but I didn't like the Buu arc's designs of the hair being given darker and more defined spikes. It was bearable in a lot of cases, and done awesomely in a lot, but the hair designs from the previous arcs were what I really considered the awesomest.

As for the modern ones....Man.....I hate that. That plastic look is just ugly IMO. I really can't stand it. It really just fell apart and started looking really bad.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I always hated it tbh. That wild and flowy look that Super Saiyan got was something that was a staple for the form whenever I thought of it. The Cell arc kinda maintained this for a while, so I was alright, but I didn't like the Buu arc's designs of the hair being given darker and more defined spikes. It was bearable in a lot of cases, and done awesomely in a lot, but the hair designs from the previous arcs were what I really considered the awesomest.

As for the modern ones....Man.....I hate that. That plastic look is just ugly IMO. I really can't stand it. It really just fell apart and started looking really bad.

Yeah the Cell arc I thought was perfect, it was more a bit more refined than the Freeza arc which was needed since the Freeza arc it was a bit too wild in my opinion. It is why the Goku vs Cell bit is my favourite of that whole arc the SS Goku hair looks so good.

[Xeogran]

It's a tough choice for me between Freeza and Cell saga, but I think I'll go with the first. The SSJ hair increased baddassery hundredfold

[spoiler][/spoiler]

But of course, I don't think any can top this

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[nickzambuto]

Am I the only one who doesn't see a difference?

[8000 Saiyan]

Can't say it bothers me that much.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

It definitely became more lined, more detailed as time went on, but I don't think that it became more refined per se.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Am I the only one who doesn't see a difference?

You really don't? Not even in this example?
[spoiler] vs [/spoiler]

[nickzambuto]

Am I the only one who doesn't see a difference?

You really don't? Not even in this example?
[spoiler] vs [/spoiler]

I mean I can tell they are drawn differently, one has more lines and distinction than the other, but neither strikes me as more "shaggy" or "refined" than the other.

[ekrolo2]

I'd have kept SS1 simple just so 2 has more distinguishing features from it down the line. 2s entire problem is that, besides Gohan in his initial appearance, the form looks way too similar to SS1 by the time the Boo arc rolls around.

[Kokonoe]

Tenkaichi series did this pretty good, so it should be easier to see the differences in the hair. (wish I could find a non cropped pic, though...)



It got more spiky/detailed and less light in color as well as being more vertical. Both are great, but man, I gotta say that the older SS1 looked cooler to me.

[Kaio_Krazy]

I absolutely adore what I call "classic super saiyan" aka the Freeza - early Android look.

The way Trunk's and Goku's hair flows here, makes it look like...well, hair. Not being stuck in that one ridged style is just really cool looking to me. The first Cooler movie did this as well, and is another reason I love that classic look.

The other defining thing to me is that classic "has no lines." By that I mean, the later artistic renderings of super saiyan have a bunch of black lines to add detail to the hair, and while that can look cool too, I still prefer the more "blank" look.

When I was younger, and didn't have access to any clip of dragon ball I wanted on a whim, so I actually wasn't sure if I had just imagined that super saiyan looked different from how it was later on. Not until budokai tenkaichi 3 did I realize that my memory wasn't faulty.


I still live playing as Goku (mid), just to see this version of super saiyan.

Edit: Damn it! I got ninja'd about mentioning BT3!

[Kokonoe]

I absolutely adore what I call "classic super saiyan" aka the Freeza - early Android look.
[spoiler][/spoiler]
The way Trunk's and Goku's hair flows here, makes it look like...well, hair. Not being stuck in that one ridged style is just really cool looking to me. The first Cooler movie did this as well, and is another reason I love that classic look.

The other defining thing to me is that classic "has no lines." By that I mean, the later artistic renderings of super saiyan have a bunch of black lines to add detail to the hair, and while that can look cool too, I still prefer the more "blank" look.

When I was younger, and didn't have access to any clip of dragon ball I wanted on a whim, so I actually wasn't sure if I had just imagined that super saiyan looked different from how it was later on. Not until budokai tenkaichi 3 did I realize that my memory wasn't faulty.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
I still live playing as Goku (mid), just to see this version of super saiyan.

Edit: Damn it! I got ninja'd about mentioning BT3!

Haha, it's all right, you still posted game screens which helps even further. But yeah, the classic look is awesome, also Goku being super muscly made it look awesome too.

[Kaio_Krazy]

Haha, it's all right, you still posted game screens which helps even further. But yeah, the classic look is awesome, also Goku being super muscly made it look awesome too.

I can go both ways on that one. Him being all beefcake against Freeza looked awesome to me, but I also liked his more athletic look from the Cell games. When the form was new, the muscles definitely helped articulate that Goku was now ridiculously more powerful, as opposed to a zenkai boost, where they'd have to tell you he was stronger instead of showing it. It also kinda visually tied back to how over muscled he looked while using the kaio-ken, back in the saiyan arc, except now he had control over it.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I'd have kept SS1 simple just so 2 has more distinguishing features from it down the line. 2s entire problem is that, besides Gohan in his initial appearance, the form looks way too similar to SS1 by the time the Boo arc rolls around.

Yeah it does [spoiler]SS1 S22[/spoiler] I guess it's subtle enough?

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

I personally like more "flowy" rendition of the Super Saiyan hair, mainly due to it not looking like a "stiff" brick like wig. The hair should have remain that way.

[Wezenheim]

I've always preferred the flowy hair of earlier Super Saiyan drawings. It doesn't feel overly stiff and it looks really nice and natural in motion. I hate to use my avatar as an example but I think it's a good one:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I particularly like how you can actually see more obvious traces of Goku's base hair here. I do wish it would've stayed this way, but what can ya do?

[Bansho64]

I've always thought Vegeta looked awesome with the classic SSJ hair! The little golden aura thing around him looks badass.
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[Metalwario64]

I like both styles for different reasons. I like the overall volume and more distinction between characters the original style has, but I also love the visual detail and "cleaner" look that the spikier style has.

The Cell arc look is pretty good too, as it's a transition point between the hair styles.

When I was younger, and didn't have access to any clip of dragon ball I wanted on a whim, so I actually wasn't sure if I had just imagined that super saiyan looked different from how it was later on. Not until budokai tenkaichi 3 did I realize that my memory wasn't faulty.


I still live playing as Goku (mid), just to see this version of super saiyan.

Edit: Damn it! I got ninja'd about mentioning BT3!

Actually, that bottom one is Super Saiyan 2 Goku, whose hair is spikier, a bit shorter, and he has shorter and fewer bangs.