Son_Gohan wrote:Especially when at the tournament, he did not need to be in a state of anger to transform in the first place.
There's not really any way of knowing this. Gohan learned to transform into a Super Saiyan for the first time just by thinking about Freeza, something that happened ages ago and he should have been over, by people's logic. That doesn't mean he can't use the memory and/or his imagination as a catalyst.
I can't remember if I already wrote this somewhere in this thread, but Goku told Trunks that he couldn't go Super Saiyan 'at will' at first, but trained to be able to do so. Yet he was still able to transform back into one when Freeza threw a Kienzan-ish thing at him, and likewise Gohan was able to transform back to SSJ2 when Cell re-appeared. However, they doesn't necessarily mean they can do it 'at will', as in, whenever they want, in any situation, no matter what they're feeling. I guess it's about having really good control over your emotions, and thus your ki.
Super Saiyan itself is second nature to Gohan by the Buu saga. It's almost
too easy, which might be why he transformed only to that stage in anger over Videl's beating. He may have gone further if he hadn't been holding himself back, which I definitely think he was, or he would have been in that ring faster than when he blew his cover to kick Dodoria.
So what does all this mean to me? I think Gohan can choose to go SSJ2, but only if he's in the right emotional state. What he lacks is the ability to get into that state at will. Being angry may make becoming SSJ2 easier, with more anger making it more easy. But even if he was over what happened to Videl, he may have been able to draw on the experience to make the transformation easier. Or heck, it could have been leftover adrenalin that made it easier (though that doesn't make sense by itself, since he should have had plenty of adrenalin fighting Dabura).
Point is, for
some reason he couldn't get into that state of mind while fighting Dabura. Your mind's funny like that when you're put on the spot sometimes.