If Goku Was the Only Super Saiyan

[AndrewBlyth]

if Goku was the only super sayan, it would probably mean he would be stronger then al the others, meaning that they would have to eater town down the villains powers to give other characters a shot, or take Goku out of the picture for a while (e.g. dead) so the others don't get overshadowed by his strength.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

I'm thinking the exact opposite, I think the cliché "fight against his dark side" would be way too angsty for Dragonball, I'm all for a little more depth to Super Saiya-jin, but the majority of what people are suggesting, wouldn't fit in the Dragonworld at all.

I like the idea of Super Saiya-jin coming at a price, but Goku wrestling with his darker half is really just kind of depressing, not to mention highly unoriginal.

I think the series was there already during the Frieza arcs.

The slaughtering of the Namekians, Kuririn EXPLODING, people getting beat up TERRIBLY. Especially Gohan, who was FIVE.

We have Gohan during the SSJ 2 transformation, too.

The way I imagine it, it wouldn't be a constant thing...but Dragon Ball has darker elements between the fun more or less starting from the Piccolo Daimou arc onwards.

[mAcChaos]

I'm thinking the exact opposite, I think the cliché "fight against his dark side" would be way too angsty for Dragonball, I'm all for a little more depth to Super Saiya-jin, but the majority of what people are suggesting, wouldn't fit in the Dragonworld at all.

I like the idea of Super Saiya-jin coming at a price, but Goku wrestling with his darker half is really just kind of depressing, not to mention highly unoriginal.

I think the series was there already during the Freeza arcs.

The slaughtering of the Namekians, Kuririn EXPLODING, people getting beat up TERRIBLY. Especially Gohan, who was FIVE.

We have Gohan during the SSJ 2 transformation, too.

The way I imagine it, it wouldn't be a constant thing...but Dragon Ball has darker elements between the fun more or less starting from the Piccolo Daimou arc onwards.

That's different, though. That's setting up the bad guys as truly evil so when they finally get their ass handed to them it's awesome.

[Acid_Reign]

Very interesting replies so far.

About Gokū having more difficulty controlling it: I don’t know that him being the only one would necessarily make this the case. He’s able to willingly transform for Future Trunks when he returns from Planet Yadrat, and at that time, he was the only Super Saiyan (Trunks being from another time and all). I think that even without the challenge/support from having other Super Saiyans around, it would be (as mAc mentions) in Gokū’s nature to want to try and master the form… whether you consider it a “technique” or a “transformation” doesn’t really matter because—to restate a point Dayspring made before—as we can see, although Gokū and Gohan have trouble doing anything deliberately as Ōzaru (having only transformed a few times in their life and generally avoiding it), Vegeta has had practice and can keep it under control. We can look at the original Super Saiyan as an unlucky case of someone who discovered the form while he was already an Ōzaru, which he might not have had full control of anyway, so the rage compounded the issue and he accidentally did himself (and the planet) in. Obviously, the legend didn’t exist before he did so there was no way he could have been prepared for it. But Gokū, having heard about it, and discovering it without going ape first, would have more of an opportunity to test the waters and understand it.

But that’s all beside the point, because having an insurmountable obstacle simply isn’t in the spirit of the series. Every major villain appeared to be the same way despite eventually being triumphed over through the heroes’ acclimation and perseverance. If Gokū couldn’t even deal with himself I don’t know how he could effectively deal with his foes.

Although I do very much like the idea of Gokū being hesitant about using it, because while he always wants to get stronger, protecting his friends is his topmost priority and even if he could dispense of the enemies as a Super Saiyan, it could put them right back into immediate danger. So, that could easily get in the way of any adjustment he might undergo, and would definitely keep his powers in check. Which brings me to this:

This would need rewriting of the Freeza fight, of course. Goku exhibits way too much control once he ascends.

How would you do the Freeza fight differently?

I would probably disable Goku's Kaioken, too. Say it aggravates that impulse to let the Super Saiyan out. That'd let him stay even with Piccolo and Vegeta.

I wouldn't go that far; I think Kaiōken has enough limitations as it is that while he could become momentarily stronger, it wouldn’t be something that would really topple the scales the same way going Super Saiyan would. Although, I think that if he were to use it while being Super Saiyan, it might be too much of a strain on his body, and as he’d also be trying to control his rage he’d be unable to handle it. Vegeta and Piccolo are more strategic anyway and that gives them a certain edge that Gokū lacks.

If Goku was the only super saiyan; evryone would have died in the android saga. Vegeta would have killed #19 and they two would eventually take everyone one out.

Pretty much the history of trunks future.

Well, this is why I suggested the possibility of Super Saiyan as something that merely acts as an addition to Gokū’s base power. The other characters would still have it within their capacity to reach the power they otherwise would have achieved as Super Saiyans; it just takes a lot of training (which they would have been doing anyway). And, as mentioned before, while Gokū gets to take a shortcut it wouldn’t be without consequences.

If Goku was the only Super Saiyan, the story would be focused so that not every villain was eons above other supporting characters like Vegeta and Gohan. That plus the series would be short. That or boring. I mean DBZ and GT have been accused of going overboard, but you just gotta one-up the previous stuff or else there's no challenge.

I think that, once you “adjust for inflation,” so to speak, all of the bad guys would end up being as strong as they otherwise would have been. So yes, while both sides would have to end up becoming relatively weaker—since the villains were generally designed to be able to match or surpass the strength of the heroes at the time of their introduction, one can’t apply the changes disproportionately or everyone on the weaker side would end up getting slaughtered—the power ratio would remain the same.

That whole "dark super side" of Goku sounds neat, but it's also been done to death. Naruto, Trigun, Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Bleach, even Street Fighter, etc., etc., all do that already.

I don’t think it’s so much a cliché as it is just a classic story element. Protagonists often have to struggle with themselves internally, and in certain situations one facet of their personality may become more dominant than the other and start to govern their actions more strongly. Sometimes it’s a purely attitudinal thing; other times it manifests itself physically. I find SGK’s Jekyll/Hyde analogy very fitting here. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was published in 1886; the tale of a person with this dilemma is no more played out now than it was then; the story of a person with two opposite sides is something that people will always gravitate toward because the contrast creates depth.

The catch being, however, that the more control he has over it the less overall power it gives him to his advantage. So, if he were to go all-out, he would have to use the "lowest" level (which is harder to control). This means that he'd have to fight more strategically with less of a power advantage.

I disagree with this. I think it might be a plausible result that he’d be more ruthless the less control he had over it, but I wouldn’t diminish his net power the better he got because he’d be exercising restraint anyway.

He does, however, finally learn it as Vegetto and keeps it after the Potara Fusion is broken (thus, keeping Goku and Vegeta as rivals).

Although it contradicts the premise of my hypothetical, I must say I find this idea appealing.

If Goku was the only Super Saiyan in the whole series, it would have made movie 8 amazing (not that I hate movie 8 ).

You know, I was thinking about this, and I have no idea how it’d play out, since the entire concept behind Movie 8 is that Broli is the Super Saiyan from the legend, rather than Gokū. How do you think it would?

I’ll end this huge post by posing another question for those who wish to answer: do you think Gokū being the only Super Saiyan would somehow cheapen the experience or effect of [what would take the place of] other Saiyans’ key “Super” scenes; for example: the Gohan SS2 transformation, Vegeta’s ascension during his post-Freeza, pre-Android training, or Future Trunks’ reaction to when Future Gohan dies?

[Kendamu]

"Acid_Reign"

The catch being, however, that the more control he has over it the less overall power it gives him to his advantage. So, if he were to go all-out, he would have to use the "lowest" level (which is harder to control). This means that he'd have to fight more strategically with less of a power advantage.

I disagree with this. I think it might be a plausible result that he’d be more ruthless the less control he had over it, but I wouldn’t diminish his net power the better he got because he’d be exercising restraint anyway.

I was looking at it from a realistic angle and personal experience with martial arts training. My mistake, however, was that I was looking at Dragonball from a realistic angle in the first place (unless you count Goku's training for the 23rd Budokai).