Why are Beast and ''Ultra Instinct'' the same color?

[Zebra]

I always found it off how they look so similar to each other when they're supposed to be completely different forms.

Why couldn't Beast be another color, like brown?

[angeldreamZ004]

If you want a deeper answer, my theory is that the color stems from their origins.
Beast is an evolution of Gohan's Ultimate form, which was awakened thanks to a Kaioshin. We know that almost all Kaioshins have white or silver hair (with a few exceptions, like the South Kaioshin, i guess this is where you got the brown from?).
Meanwhile, Goku learned the divine technique Ultra Instinct, and turned it into a transformation, thanks to Whis, an Angel, all Angels also have white or silver hair.
The biggest visual difference between the two is eye color. Gohan Beast has red eyes, possibly due to the Kaioshin (Glind) connection to the Makai. The vast majority of human beings who acquire these complex supernatural powers, or which are born with them, end up with red eyes, which isn't typical for the average human (examples include Freeza, Cell in the manga, Hit, SSJ4 Daima, SSJ God, and maybe Moro, whose origins are unknown).
UI Goku, on the other hand, has white eyes, possibly linked to the Angels and whatever their origin might be, though that none of the Angels actually have eyes of that color, but still it's something unusual as the UI eyes have a unique style.

The short, simple, and most likely answer is that Toriyama simply ran out of ideas. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Zebra]

If you want a deeper answer, my theory is that the color stems from their origins.
Beast is an evolution of Gohan's Ultimate form, which was awakened thanks to a Kaioshin. We know that almost all Kaioshins have white or silver hair (with a few exceptions, like the South Kaioshin, i guess this is where you got the brown from?).

I get brown simply from the fact it was one of the few colors that hadn't already been used for a transformation by the time Super Hero released. After DBS's anime finished airing, the only colors left were purple, orange, and brown. Purple went to Vegeeta and orange went to Piccolo, so why not give brown to Gohan?

Although Beast is an evolution of Ultimate, a state that Elder Kaioushin unlocked for Gohan, it doesn't make Gohan anything like a Kaioushin. It doesn't even grant him God Ki. Not to mention, Elder Kaioushin's magical powers come from the witch he merged with; they're not attributable to Kaioushin at all.

[angeldreamZ004]

I get brown simply from the fact it was one of the few colors that hadn't already been used for a transformation by the time Super Hero released. After DBS's anime finished airing, the only colors left were purple, orange, and brown. Purple went to Vegeeta and orange went to Piccolo, so why not give brown to Gohan?

I think there a lot more colors than just these, but well, we won't know, I think maybe Toriyama decided to use the color he originally planned for the skin color

Although Beast is an evolution of Ultimate, a state that Elder Kaioushin unlocked for Gohan, it doesn't make Gohan anything like a Kaioushin. It doesn't even grant him God Ki. Not to mention, Elder Kaioushin's magical powers come from the witch he merged with; they're not attributable to Kaioushin at all.

I don't think that is a issue, as the power can still be linked to a Kaioshin given how Gohan also trained with Kaioshin twice, whether it's the meditation with Ro Kaioshin, or his training with the Z Sword, both must have effects. When Mirai Trunks trains with Kibito and Nahare in the future he gains some Kaioshin abilities from that training.
In case of Gohan, I think maybe he just wasn't interested. Though, Goku trains with Whis and I also don't recall UI granting him any Angel abilities aside from maybe two in the manga, which he uses in base form.
Also, Kaioshin don't have only god ki, as they can be sensed normally, so makes sense why Beast has conventional ki, unlike the God Forms which are God Ki only and Goku and Vegeta obtained them because they trained with beings who only have that kind of ki.

[Zebra]

I don't think that is a issue, as the power can still be linked to a Kaioshin given how Gohan also trained with Kaioshin twice, whether it's the meditation with Ro Kaioshin, or his training with the Z Sword, both must have effects.

The power isn't actually linked to a Kaioushin, but rather the old witch Elder Kaioushin merged with. We see none of the other Kaioushin have that ability.

When Mirai Trunks trains with Kibito and Nahare in the future he gains some Kaioshin abilities from that training.

Future Trunks was never powered up by Elder Kaioushin.

Also, Kaioshin don't have only god ki, as they can be sensed normally, so makes sense why Beast has conventional ki, unlike the God Forms which are God Ki only and Goku and Vegeta obtained them because they trained with beings who only have that kind of ki.

In the original manga and DBS, Kaioushin can't be sensed.

Gohan Beast having white hair to resemble Kaioushin seems like a forced interpretation to me.

[angeldreamZ004]

The power isn't actually linked to a Kaioushin, but rather the old witch Elder Kaioushin merged with. We see none of the other Kaioushin have that ability.

Sorry I confused it, I meant to write transformation, not power. I think the transformation can still be linked to the Kaioshin regardless of Rou Kaioshin's ability actually belonging to the witch. Gohan still had to go through the training in contact with a Kaioshin.

Future Trunks was never powered up by Elder Kaioushin.

I know, what I said is that Trunks trained with Kaioshin just like Gohan did, and that could be a hint for the origin of Gohan's transformation, as Trunks got Kaioshin abilities from that training, I think Gohan must've gained something as well, and the power-up he got could've only contributed more to that.

In the original manga and DBS, Kaioushin can't be sensed.

I remmeber when Goku fights Zamasu in the anime he's able to tell that his Ki resembles Black's. If we consider the manga only, I can just recall it being vague enough, in DBS I remember Piccolo is unable to sense God Ki, while in the Boo arc, he notices that Nahare is different than anything else, and I think that is only possible to tell by sensing his ki.
But I think it's hard to tell given how it's a concept that didn't exist prior to BoG, unless I'm missing something.

Gohan Beast having white hair to resemble Kaioushin seems like a forced interpretation to me.

You don't have to agree with it which is fine, the only true explanation is that it's meant to be his inner beast awakened as a evolution of the potential he always had since a kid and that's all. Nothing more beyond that so far.

[SupremeKai25]

I thought Ultra Instinct was pure white/silver while Beast looks like an ugly grey. They don't really look the same to me. UI looks elegant and pristine, while Beast looks savage and ugly.

[Zebra]

I thought Ultra Instinct was pure white/silver while Beast looks like an ugly grey. They don't really look the same to me. UI looks elegant and pristine, while Beast looks savage and ugly.

They can appear as different shades of white/silver/gray, but they're still basically the same color. There's literally no difference in the digitally colored manga.

[SupremeKai25]

I thought Ultra Instinct was pure white/silver while Beast looks like an ugly grey. They don't really look the same to me. UI looks elegant and pristine, while Beast looks savage and ugly.

They can appear as different shades of white/silver/gray, but they're still basically the same color. There's literally no difference in the digitally colored manga.

I was going off of the anime/movie and they definitely look like different shades of white/silver on TV, if they are meant to be the same color. I still think Beast looks grey and totally different from UI's silver/white.

I mean, maybe it's just the different style of Super Hero compared to the Anime, but Beast looks noticeably darker than Ultra Instinct to me.

[angeldreamZ004]

I believe it gives that impression due to 98% of Beast's screen time in the movie being at the moment everything is darker and gritty in a style ala some future timeline scenes from the Zamasu arc in the anime where the colors completely rot. The very few scenes from the anime where MUI Goku lacks the aura, the color comes really close.

I would like to point out that Beast also has a little difference in the way his eyebrows are drawn, it's a very small detail but I think it adds to him looking like a Beast alongside the red eyes which is why I like to connect to the Makai, where we also got Daima SSJ4, which also looks like a beast.

[Zebra]

Silver itself is a shade of grey, which normally sits between black and white, but can lean more towards either depending on the shade.

For what it's worth, Chichi describes both "UI" and Beast as being white in Sparking Zero. They're practically the same color.

Being different shades doesn't equal looking like different transformations. SSBE still basically looks like SSB despite being a different shade of blue in both the anime and manga. SSB has appeared in multiple shades of blue, too; the shade in DBS Broly is pretty close to SSBE.

Likewise, SS1 has appeared in multiple shades of yellow, but that doesn't cause it to look like a different transformation.

[Kaboom]

I think the real reason is pretty obviously that all these various "new" forms in the modern era have very little if any actual creative thought behind them, are largely just barely-tweaked color-swaps of previously existing forms... and by this point they've pretty much run out of distinct primary colors and have had to start reusing them. Hell, they've even begun recycling entire forms wholesale now, with Daima's ripoff version of SS4.

At this point I wouldn't be at all surprised if Goku ends up defeating Black Freeza by gaining "Super Instinct," which just circles back around to having golden hair again.

[Zebra]

Brown and orange are pretty distinct colors that haven't already been used yet (for Gokuu, Gohan, Vegeeta, etc).

[JulieYBM]

I did a quick Google search for the Toriyama illustrations of said forms and near as I can tell, they're actually not the same color. Even then, while the 2015 series and the 2022 series have different color designs, they always read to me as different colors? Beast has a dark grey to it while Ultra Instinct is somewhere between silver and white. It's going to be really interesting to see how either are depicted in future series, especially since we'll be seeing a lot of Ultra Instinct next year.

[Kaboom]

Brown and orange are pretty distinct colors that haven't already been used yet (for Gokuu, Gohan, Vegeeta, etc).

I didn't just say Saiyan forms. Orange has now been used for "Cheeto Dust" Piccolo, and technically brown was already used ages ago for good ol' Great Ape.

That said, if "Beast" Gohan actually had any thought or effort behind its conception, then deliberately tying it into Great Ape somehow and using brown for its trademark color may have actually worked. Basically making it some sort of quasi-SS4 state that Gohan's body forces itself into because he doesn't have a tail to do the real thing. Would have made some sense and not undermined his Ultimate state either, since Great Ape could be considered a separate reserve of power that he's not already tapping into.

But alas.

[JulieYBM]

I don't really see how you can undermine the ''Ultimate' form when the form itself was never anything more than a quick excuse for Toriyama to make Gohan stronger while lampooning the process of training to achieve new power. It's such a forgettable form that the thing was mostly forgotten about outside of the video games until the Tournament of Power arc in the cartoon.

Meanwhile, Beast is little more than just repeating the process of giving Gohan a quick power-up while going for "Please give us something kind of Super Saiyan 2-esque" and then Toriyama trolling the audience with the height of the hair.

They're both shitty forms from a guy who doesn't really care, but at least Beast isn't an 'Ultimate' form and also looks so silly it wraps around to looking cool.

(I mostly just think that Super Hero is a bad film on multiple levels and proof why Tomioka should have just written the script since he could have bridged the gap with Gohan's arc in the anime better).

[The Dark Knight]

I think the real reason is pretty obviously that all these various "new" forms in the modern era have very little if any actual creative thought behind them, are largely just barely-tweaked color-swaps of previously existing forms.

In the case of Mastered Ultra Instinct, Toriyama literally just took his SsjG art and changed the hair color to silver, not even bothering to adjust Goku's slim body from SsjG, or the boots for that matter.

Spoiler:

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Goku ends up defeating Black Freeza by gaining "Super Instinct," which just circles back around to having golden hair again.

I can tell you haven't read the Granola arc, because that's exactly what they're building towards.

[Zebra]

Brown and orange are pretty distinct colors that haven't already been used yet (for Gokuu, Gohan, Vegeeta, etc).

I didn't just say Saiyan forms. Orange has now been used for "Cheeto Dust" Piccolo, and technically brown was already used ages ago for good ol' Great Ape.

Golden was already used for Super Saiyans, but that didn't stop it from being used for Golden Freeza. Despite sharing the same color, Golden Freeza doesn't actually look like a Super Saiyan because he's of a different species. Likewise, Piccolo is also of a different species, so an orange Saiyan recolor isn't actually going to look like Orange Piccolo.

The Ouzaru form is literally a giant monkey, so it doesn't look like the same species as the humanoid Saiyan forms. A brown Saiyan recolor won't actually look like an Ouzaru simply by having brown hair.

[JulieYBM]

I think the real reason is pretty obviously that all these various "new" forms in the modern era have very little if any actual creative thought behind them, are largely just barely-tweaked color-swaps of previously existing forms.

In the case of Mastered Ultra Instinct, Toriyama literally just took his SsjG art and changed the hair color to silver, not even bothering to adjust Goku's slim body from SsjG, or the boots for that matter.

Goku's left arm and the clothing are different, to say nothing of the facial expression. He probably just referenced his own art to do the same pose again because it easily shows the details of the design in full, thus making it easier for it to be referenced for the animation character designer.

[The Dark Knight]

Goku's left arm and the clothing are different, to say nothing of the facial expression. He probably just referenced his own art to do the same pose again because it easily shows the details of the design in full, thus making it easier for it to be referenced for the animation character designer.

The design is barely any different; you have to look at it under a certain light from a certain angle to see it. He changed the eyes I guess...and one of the lines on Goku's left arm...maybe ? You can tell from Goku's slim body and the boot straps that he took his original SsjG design and changed it slightly; this is not a new design from the ground up.