Why are Freeza and Cooler's ascended forms so different?

[Captain Sauza]

What do you think the reason is for why Freeza's ultimate transformation (Golden Freeza) is so different from Cooler's ultimate transformation (Final Form), both in appearance and power difference? I've been trying to make sense of this from an in-universe perspective and would like to read the opinions of others on the board.

I like to think that the reason their ascended forms are so different is simply due to the method used to gain that form. We know that Freeza gains his golden form after four months of serious training, which pushes him to such a high level because he was so absurdly strong in the first place. But then why is Cooler's final form such a drastic change in appearance and why does it give much weaker of a power increase than Freeza's golden form?

I like to think that Cooler found his final form by practicing how to control his ki. Maybe during a planet conquest he ran into a being that inspired him to learn to control his ki better, kind of like how Vegeta decided to learn how to sense power levels after his tangle with Goku on Earth. Cooler's mastery of his ki then allowed him to remain in a resting state equivalent to Freeza's final form and from there he was able to channel it more efficiently and create an ascended form. The reason I like the ki explanation is that not only would it explain why he can control his power so well in his resting state, but also how he seems to be able to suppress and sense ki in Movie 5 as he's able to sneak up on everyone undetected and suddenly shows up where the fighting is going on. He also probably already knew Instant Transmission in Movie 5 but didn't have the need/opportunity to use it until Movie 6 (it doesn't make much sense to me that he'd learn the technique as a machine).

The reason I don't think Cooler trained in the same way Freeza did is because even though he's more serious than Freeza, he still doesn't seem the type to train his butt off. We first see him lounging about in his floating chair and then later on a throne on whatever planet he and his squad conquered. Then after injuring Goku he leaves it up to his squad to destroy the place and finish him off. Heck, he doesn't even show up to help them until Piccolo already killed Dore and Neiz. And really, he'd have never run into anyone powerful enough that would force him to step back and train seriously to surpass it. I mean, we're never told how Cooler found the form that pushed him past his limits. It's never said that he actually trained to gain that form, at least the same sort of serious training that Freeza put himself through to gain his gold form.

Though I think that if Cooler trained seriously the same way Freeza did for the same time period then he'd be able to get the golden form too. Physiologically they're the same so it should be possible. TOEI revealed that Cooler has the same amount of suppressions Freeza does so we know that he was also born so strong that he couldn't contain his power without straining himself at one point, which is the reason suppressions are created at all.

TL;DR - I think the reason they're so different is that while Freeza's golden form is the result of months of serious training, Cooler's final form is the result of just learning to control his power more efficiently.

[FoolsGil]

So pretty much, Golden Freeza is the USSJ form equivalent and Cooler's Fifth Form is the SSJ2 form equivalent?

[Berserker1921]

Frieza claims in the movie that he made himself look like that to mock goku. Saying a golde warrior killed him. He will do the same. So I guess they can change their forms and make them anyway they like. I am assuming cooler wanted to look nothi like his brother and made himself intiminatating.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Freeza's is an "Ultimate Evolution, while wasn't Coola's a "Super Evolution"? I know someone around here made a nice comparison that Coola's was more like their race's form of Super Saiyan, while Freeza (being a prodigy) skipped straight to a Super Saiyan 3 equivilent. I like to think that only the latter can have the traits (or at least the colors) chosen by the transformee.

[Lord Beerus]

Because Cooler's ascended for is "Super" Evolution, whereas Freeza's ascended form is above that and the apex of his race's strength, which is referred to as "Ultimate" Evolution.

[jcogginsa]

My theory is that Cooler created his power up by Altering their race's supression forms to instead increase his power, whereas Frieza's Golden Form is a power up unique to himself

[CM101Play]

The only real answer is that they're two different timelines. BoG/RF are in AT's manga timeline, Cooler is in the anime/GT timeline. For all we know, Frieza really doesn't have a brother.

[Mac]

Well, it would've been issue if Cooler could smack around Mystic Gohan+ tier fighters before Goku could even use SSJ properly.

On topic, we have no idea what kind of training Frieza did, maybe Cooler just wasn't as talented.

[jcogginsa]

Well, it would've been issue if Cooler could smack around Mystic Gohan+ tier fighters before Goku could even use SSJ properly.

On topic, we have no idea what kind of training Freeza did, maybe Cooler just wasn't as talented.

My theory is that it's a divergent timeline.

In the Manga timeline, Frieza was born massively more powerful the Cooler was, and killed Cooler when they were kids

In the Movie 5 timeline Cooler and Frieza were closer in power so Frieza didn't kill him

[Duo]

I don't typically attempt to reconcile movies with the main continuity, but I'll take a stab at it.

Coola did not indicate (in the Japanese version) that he ever "developed" or "learned" that transformation, so it is possible that it's just something he mutated to be able to do naturally. It seems like Coola may have practiced his "natural" state much more than Freeza and ended up with much better Ki control for it, but I do not think Coola trained any more than Freeza ever did. That kind of natural strength does not call for it. So basically I think the two stages they transform into have nothing to do with one another. Freeza may have not even had to the ability to do what Coola did and vice versa.

[Marlowe89]

Entertaining the idea that RoF exists in the same continuity as Movie 5, I think there's a fairly simple reason for Cooler's "ascended" form not being anywhere near the same level as Freeza's - unlike Freeza, I'd wager that he wasn't a prodigy, or at least not a prodigy to the same degree. He wasn't born strong and had to work his ass off to rival Freeza himself in power, which could explain why he didn't have much respect for his brother. It should naturally follow that any training on Cooler's part wouldn't boost his power to anywhere nearly the same degree as Freeza training for the same amount of time, and I think this concept extends to their ascended forms as well.

In a nutshell, Freeza's "Ultimate Evolution" is significantly stronger than Cooler's "Super Evolution" because Freeza gains strength at a frighteningly faster rate than Cooler when training. It's basically headcanon but it works for me.