The Super Saiyan 2 design could have been better.

[Bullza]

Compared to the original Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan 3 forms the Super Saiyan 2 just doesn't really stand out.

The design itself looks good but for the most part it's just the original Super Saiyan with sparks and sometimes spikier hair. Toriyama could have done a better job at designing the form so it appeared more unique or maybe have just had it be a further upgrade of the Super Saiyan like the Ascended and Ultra Super Saiyan forms.

Super Saiyan 3 could have been Super Saiyan 2. I believe even Toriyama forgot about it.

What makes it worse is that because it looks so similar to the original when it's animated they can omit the sparks or the hair. How many times have people argued over whether Gohan was SSJ1 or 2 when fighting Dabura or Broly for example.

[WittyUsername]

Well, the form stood out pretty well when Gohan used it in the Cell saga, but outside of that, I agree with you.

[Cold Skin]

I think it is different enough as originally thought: Super Saiyan 2 Gohan looks very different and doesn't convey the same impression at all than Super Saiyan Gohan.

I think the "too similar" problem came when it was time to give that form to Goku, Vegeta and High School Gohan: they have hairstyles that make their hair already upwards to the max when just Super Saiyans on the contrary of Cell Game Gohan, so the appearance traits Toriyama established earlier were harder to make obvious, the only real difference being a minor tweak to the hair thickness and how many bangs fall on the forehead...

So I think it all comes down to the fact that when he conceived the form for Gohan, Toriyama thought "great, he does look vastly different and more badass, so let's say this form is so intense that it makes you hair even spikier, that looks different and good". But at the time he likely didn't think to give the form to any other character and how they wouldn't look as distinct as Gohan's forms with their hairstyles, so he did what he could with bangs and making hair thinner to convey that "spikier" effect, plus lightnings. But those are not details as striking as Gohan's Cell Game hairstyle and they ended up being so subtle in comparison to the striking Super Saiyan 2 Gohan that some of those traits were forgotten at times, both by the author and the anime staff.

[thatdbzguy]

Kid Gohan's SSJ2 is sexy, but yeah, the others characters could have had more distinct looking SSJ2 forms.

[Bullza]

I suppose it's as you say Super Saiyan 2 Gohan looked noticeably different, not as much as I'd have liked another form to look but different nonetheless.

Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta however looks pretty much exactly the same except with sparks that more often than not dont seem to be there. There were times in GT and I think in BoG where Vegeta should ideally be a SSJ2 but doesn't appear as one.

Gotenks never had a SSJ2 it was just skipped to SSJ3. Same with Kid Goku in GT there was the first and third forms but no SSJ2.

[Fizzer]

A good move would have been to make the auras different. Say, have SSJ1 have a smokey glow like when we first see it in the anime, and give SSJ2 a more violent, flame-like aura with electricity. The two forms really are too similar.

[Cetra]

Goku was a SSJ2 in GT, Bullza. He transforms in the Japanese opening, against RIldo and against Baby.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Wasn't it originally supposed to have a tail, but the idea was scrapped because Toriyama didn't like drawing tails, which is why he made Goku lose his tail in the first place? ...or maybe that was SSJ3, it's been years since I've looked at the daizenshuu.

[Pikachuuu]

Kid Gohan's SSJ2 is sexy

Uhh....

[Fizzer]

Kid Gohan's SSJ2 is sexy

Uhh....

I guess it's a sexy design, you know, like "that car is sexy" or something.

[Kaboom]

I think it looks just fine, considering the way it was used and portrayed when it premiered. Less of a different "form," and more as a super-charged "max power" version of Super Saiyan.

[KentalSSJ6]

The issue lies in Goku and Vegeta's SSJ1 hair.

Goku's most defining difference between SSJ1 and SSJ2 is that in 2 he gets 3 bangs and in 1 he gets 5.

Vegeta is even more of a pain, though I guess a somewhat noticeable tell is the lock of hair that forms right on his widow's peak and framed by two locks on the left and right.

Cell Saga SSJ2 Gohan is so distinct due to the stark difference between his SSJ2 hair and SSJ1 hair. His SSJ1 one hair is the must subtle in the franchise, all it does is just very slightly raise compared to his base form hair. Then when you see his SSJ2 with the hair straight up and rigid with only one bang, its very easy to tell the difference between his forms.

[shinmaru]

Gotenks never had a SSJ2 it was just skipped to SSJ3. Same with Kid Goku in GT there was the first and third forms but no SSJ2.

Kid Goku GT did turn ssj2 for just a second against General Rilldo.

[Marco Polo]

It should have been a form exclusive to Gohan, or at least to half-Saiyans.

[xmysticgohanx]

The SSJ3 design should've been better. It's ugly af.

[Insertclevername]

I think it was fine the way it was and Cold Skin pretty much nailed it with his explanation, however I once had this idea to add slightly sharper teeth to the form, as a subtle way of implying that this form is more ferocious or something.

[WittyUsername]

I think it was fine the way it was and Cold Skin pretty much nailed it with his explanation, however I once had this idea to add slightly sharper teeth to the form, as a subtle way of implying that this form is more ferocious or something.

That would have looked a little silly in my opinion.

[Insertclevername]

I mean, it would be super subtle. Obviously huge wolf fangs would look ridiculous but slightly jagged teeth could help reinforce the savageness it had during the Cell Games.

[thatdbzguy]

Kid Gohan's SSJ2 is sexy

Uhh....

You know it is.

[penguintruth]

At least the form doesn't cause eyebrows to disappear.

The more I think of that aspect of SSJ3, the more it disturbs me.