Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

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Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by fadeddreams5 » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:11 pm

How would you rank all of Goku's "SSJ" transformations (excluding Golden Oozaru, SSJ grade extensions, and fusions) in terms of design/aesthetics? As in, which do you love seeing on-screen, and which sort of makes you cringe?

False Super Saiyan:
Super Saiyan:
Super Saiyan 2:
Super Saiyan 3:
Super Saiyan 4:
Super Saiyan God:
Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan:
Chose the best art I could find of each. :wink:

I guess for me...
1. SSJ3 Goku - I was obsessed with this form as a kid and dreamed of the day I could get an action figure of it. People would ask me who my favorite DBZ character is, and instead of saying Goku, I'd say SSJ3 Goku. lol. Still find it incredibly cool on him. It just looks so powerful. It's like the over-the-top design is meant to accentuate the strain it creates for the saiyan in the first place. People hate on the eyebrows, but I like the primitive and intimidating ape-like face it creates. I really truly wish this form was exclusive to Goku in the manga due to his Other World training. Also, I hate the yellow bolts in modern art...

2. SSJ2 Goku - It's basically SSJ Goku, only cooler. Even though modern art has f'd up this form and SSJ3 up by omitting the blue bolts, or replacing them with yellow ones, that lone bang SSJ2 Goku has is epic. <3

3. SSJ Goku - I don't have much to say. It's the classic, iconic transformation and still holds up as one of the most awesome-looking in the series for me. Problem is... SSJ2 is the same thing, only better.

4. SSJG Goku - At first, I hated this form a lot, but it's really grown on me. It has this weird blend of cute and cool (dat red flame aura...). I think my main gripe with it isn't its design, but how it's obtained in the story, and the fact that it's called Super Saiyan God instead of just Saiyan God. Goku's hair should have had its SSJ shape if they were going to call it that, but whatevs. I like it.

5. SSGSS Goku - It's SSJ... only blue. I admit, it looks really cool in the art I posted. However, then I imagine SSJ Goku being drawn the exact same way with the same sort of aura (basically, what he had in the Cooler movie, only to a greater, fiery extent), and it's just more aesthetically pleasing, imo. I'm not a fan of the shade of blue they used for this form's hair, which is appalling in scenes without its aura (SSJ Goku always looked great, even without an aura). I do have to admit that if this was the original SSJ (design-wise), I would have liked it the same. Why? Because it's not so much the golden hair and green eyes that drew me to the form, but the mystique behind it and rage it evoked from its user. SSGSS lacks that, and even appears vulnerable in the movie, despite having no limitations, which bothers me. Worst of all, it appears weaker than the SSJ form, as blue is just naturally a weaker color, as admitted by Toriyama himself.

6. False SSJ Goku - It's cool. But it reminds me too much of Broly with the eyes, even if that movie did come out afterwards. Loved how brutal Goku became; it was an awesome scene, but as far as design, it just sort of has that generic "wooooah demonic and badass" feel, imo.

7. SSJ4 Goku - It definitely looks more powerful than SSGSS and SSJG, and the way it's attained is more respectable within the context of the series (i.e. it's the better tranformation), but I just find the design itself... ugly. Well, maybe the colors themselves. I can't wrap my head around what they were thinking. Pinkish red fur? Eye liner? Random yellow eyes? Another funny thought is visualizing this form with a shirt on. It'd look so bad since the main emphasis is on its hairy pink chest and arms. Finally, the SSJ aura looks bad on it. One of the video games gave him a red aura. That looks better.
Last edited by fadeddreams5 on Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:16 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by shinmaru » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:16 pm

The early Super Saiyan desing is the best.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by dbgtFO » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:31 pm

My favourite will have to be SS2.
It has that extra refined look of Super Saiyan, making him look more intense with his sharper hair and a lightning aura.
I would rank them like this:

1. SS2
2. SSGSS
3. SS
4. SS4
5. SS3
6. SS(DBZ movie 4)
7. SS God

Super Saiyan God just doesn't do it for me and it's entirely underwhelming and that may be Toriyama's point, but that does not make me like it more.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by InfernalVegito » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:41 pm

SSJ2 and SSJ4 are my favorite transformations because of their designs.

I think the original SSJ is already extremely awesome but SSJ2 really puts the cherry on the cake especially for Goku. I just love the way it makes his hair sharper, reshaping the bangs around his forehead and adding the blue electricity. Very subtle but effective in conveying the idea of intense power.

SSJ4 is the transformation that feels unique the most, combining the legend of the SSJ with the Saiyajins' primal nature. I love the intense color, especially because it's the fur that is red and not a flat and shiny surface, hence giving it a more dimensionality with the small pieces of hair standing up on his arms and such. Likewise, the fact that his hair becomes more disorderly and black again. Plus the red lines around his eyes convey power too, as if his eyes were bleeding out from the excessive power that's pouring out of him.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Doctor. » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:43 pm

Bluper comes in first, definitely. Blue is my favorite color and I loved SSGSS ever since that picture of those toys came out (how I wished they were real). I don't think it's objectively the best transformation (though it comes close since it isn't really that hard, you only have Super Saiyan to contend to in regards to Goku), but it's the best in terms of aesthetics for me, it takes his best hair design, coupled with the best aura he has had (SSG), and uses my favorite color.

Second is Super Saiyan 3. It was my favorite transformation prior to Bluper coming along, but it's still close. I don't like to use this word to describe stuff, because I think it makes me look less eloquent than I think I am, but it's just so... badass. It's easily the most imposing one. There's no need for a huge amount of muscles to do the job like Grade 2 and 3, just electricity and MUSCLE eyebrows.

Then either Super Saiyan or Super Saiyan God. I'll say God because SS had been saturating any kind of DB merchandise, so God was a nice breath of fresh hair. Red is a strong and imposing color, I like that, unexpectedly, he slims down for once, and he's surrounded in fire.... FIRE! Super Saiyan is the iconic, memorable look of Goku, not sure how anyone can hate it, it's easily the best transformation objectively, but falls short in terms of design because others have cooler auras and more appealing colors.

Then we get into the forms I don't like, starting with Super Saiyan 2. I only like it on Gohan. Out of the "main" forms, it's the most lame looking one on Goku, and,it's in my opinion, the worst transformation in the entire series. His appearance doesn't get any more appealing from SS to SS2, it gets worse. The electricity is nice, but it's not enough to compensate.

Super Saiyan 4 is next. I just don't like it. It's lame; I liked that they took the route of making Goku transform by tapping into his Oozaru powers, but eh... what's with that hair? And eye shadow? Pink fur? What?

False Super Saiyan, Grades 2 and 3 (where are them huh? :p) are last. False Super Saiyan doesn't look menacing in the least, him losing his pupils reminds me of Broly and, well, I dislike Broly. Then it's just Goku with a golden aura, meh. Grade 2 and 3 boost up Goku's muscles to the point of being ridiculous, they don't look "badass" or imposing at all, just stupid.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by SSJ God Gogeta » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:45 pm

1.SSJ4- For me the form just screams POWER! I like how It went off and became it's own thing, not looking like other transformations. It just felt fresh. For me it's the best in a long line of Saiyan transformation to end on. The best and final of the Saiyan evolution.

2.SSJ3- You hit the nail on the head with that one, fadeddreams5.

3.SSJ- The original will always have a special place in my heart. :D

4.SSJ2- Really looking back on it now I really don't care for it. It ain't bad but it's just "meh" to me. Goku hardly uses the form and just skips over it with SSJ3. When I think SSJ2 I think Gohan.

5.SSJG- I like this form and shame on Toriyama going blue. :problem: like SSJ4 it was different form other transformations. It was base Goku but with red hair and I really liked that, He looked like a god to me. I never compared it to Kaioken like many people did, I liked it from the start.

6.Bluper Saiyan- It's SSJ but blue... SSG could pull that shit off but not this, once was enough but twice! Easy form, easy money. It was a step too far. I really don't hate the form it's just a hit or miss with me. Sometimes it looks good and sometimes it just looks like shit... It's better than Freeza's new form but that's just being the golden turd... eerr, blue turd.

False SSJ- Ain't got nothing against it. It was cool for what it was I guess.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Bullza » Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:11 pm

1. Super Saiyan God
2. Super Saiyan 2
3. Super Saiyan
4. Super Saiyan 3
5. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan
6. Super Saiyan 4
7. False Super Saiyan

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Chuquita » Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:33 pm

No kaio-ken? Well, I guess that one really isn't a transformation per say, so...

From favorite to least:

1) ssjg (≧◡≦) ♡
2) ssj1
3) fake ssj
4) ssj2
5) ssj4
6) blueper saiyan
7) ssj3
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by dae428 » Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:34 pm

1. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan
2. Super Saiyan
3. Super Saiyan God
4. Super Saiyan 3
5. Super Saiyan 4
6. Super Saiyan 2
7. Champion of Christmas False Super Saiyan

Honestly SSGSS and SS are neck and neck. But for now I'm going with SSGSS cause it's the hip, new thing right now.
SSG was interesting for me. When I saw it in all of its skinny wonder I thought that it had an interesting look and
it made me think of Goku starting over again in a sense in the world of the gods. Super Saiyan 3 and 4 are alright.
I just like and respect how crazy the creators went with the concept of Super Saiyan and actually made it work to some
degree. I prefer Super Saiyan 3 though because it knew when to stop unlike Super Saiyan 4 which went a bit too
far in terms of far-outness of the Super Saiyan realm. But still I enjoy the forms for what they are. While I don't
like Super Saiyan 2 that much compared to the other forms I still think it's alright. I mean the whole hair going up
even more never really sat well with me for some reason. But I will say that I do love the sparks of electricity
which unfortunately as fadeddreams mentioned was, "f'd up" by the modern artstyle. False Super Saiyan exists.
I don't hate it but I'm kind of glad it never went past Lord Slug. The red Kaioken body, the Super
Saiyan aura, and the angry Gohan eyes was just weird and ultimately didn't even do anything in regards to the
plot of the movie it was in.
Last edited by dae428 on Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by fadeddreams5 » Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:48 pm

Chuquita wrote:No kaio-ken? Well, I guess that one really isn't a transformation per say, so...

From favorite to least:

1) ssjg (≧◡≦) ♡
2) ssj1
3) fake ssj
4) ssj2
5) ssj4
6) blueper saiyan
7) ssj3
Hey, wait a minute... you voted for Blueper Saiyan over SSJ in the other topic!

Also, I'm surprised you put fake SSJ so high. It's almost the opposite of SSJG. xD
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by FoolsGil » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:32 pm

1. Ssj4
2. Ssj
3. Ssj3
4. Ssj2
5. Ssg2
6. Ssg
7. False Ssj

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Scott » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:48 pm

7 - Super Saiyan God - I think this one had a stupid name. I agree with you fadeddreams, it should have just been called Saiyan God. Seeing as i am not a big fan of a lot of the recent Dragon Ball animation it makes it hard to like this design. It doesn't always look much like Goku, the hair doesn't look quite long enough and Goku is too skinny. I also think it looks like a bad Kaioken.

6 - Super Saiyan 4 - It feels like they tried to go as extreme as possible. It makes Goku look too different and i think it's far too different from the other Super Saiyan designs. Goku becoming an adult when using it and then becoming a kid again once he has finished using it is really stupid too.

5 - Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan - I'm not a big fan of it in general and i hate the name for it, It should just be named Super Saiyan God. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan is a mouthful and sounds stupid. I do think it looks cool though.

4 - False Super Saiyan - Kaioken is one of my favourite things about Goku and this comes close to it. Goku in this form has the aura of Super Saiyan and the hair and quick fighting style of Kaioken. The Broly eyes kinda ruins it a bit though.

3 - Super Saiyan 2 - Love it, but not quite as much as the Goku's Super Saiyan 1 look on Namek.

2 - Super Saiyan 1 - I think it looked better when Goku became Super Saiyan for the first time than it did as the series progressed but it's still my 2nd favourite. When he first became a Super Saiyan it had that golden look about it rather than just being yellow. When he transformed to fight Android 19 it looked cool too.

1 - Super Saiyan 3 - I love everything about it. It looks so badass and i think without the eyebrows it makes it even more badass. I also love the scene in the Anime when Goku uses it for the first time. Goku fighting in Super Saiyan 3 form looks awesome too. Goku Super Saiyan 3 vs Kid Buu is one of my favourite fights.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by TheGmGoken » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:33 pm

1. Ssj2 Goku. Goku actually looks the best with SSJ2 not Gohan. Goku looks straight badass and intense with less bangs and more aggressive facial features. Just hardcore. It's so fucking perfect.

2. Ssj Goku. The iconic transformation. A gradually change from base Goku to the point you can think he's a new character! The stand up hair. The gold aura. The sharp eyes. The whole change in personality. Then when mastered. It's base but stand up hair and green eyes.

3. SSJ4 Goku. The eye makeup is a little much but the form looks very much animalistic on Goku that he's a beast. Exactly what the form meant to be. Wish the form had blood red fur like Vegeta and not.. Pink fur :| .

4. Ssj3 Goku. The hair is a bit much. But the selling point of this was the golden shine the form has and lack of eyebrows. Everything else was a little too much Imo.

5. False SSJ GoGoku. It's cool for a movie only transformation. Looks wild and uncontrollable. The fierce aura and colouring is a nice touch.

6. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. An terrible name. Terrible colouring, shades of blue (movie and artwork), deviantart rip off, and looks damn right awful in motion.

7. Super Saiyan God. The form sucks. The concept behind it sucks. Everything it stands for suck. The design is boring and a terrible example of less is more. The aura is overrated and did NOT look cool at all(Actually looked fake .). He looks like a Kawaii and I hate it. I'll rather see 50 shades of Grey/Gray than to watch any movie that have this form in it.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by B » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:17 pm

In terms of aesthetic appeal, its 1 > 2 > 3 > God > God SS > 4. Do we really need to count False Super Saiyan?

Super Saiyan 3 is a staple of the Buu arc and I find nothing inherently wrong with the design itself, but we took a pretty welcome course correction with God in that Goku has always looked best in his natural state. God SS kind of throws that away, though.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Polyphase Avatron » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:59 pm

I actually think false SSJ is underrated.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by SansrivaaL » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:33 am

1 SSG
2 SSJGSSJ
3 SSJ2
4 SSJ4
5 SSJ1
6 SSJFalse
7 SSJ3

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by dbzfan7 » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:52 am

1. SSJ. You can't beat the classic one. It's what started it all and most of the forms more or less just went off of SSJ anyways.

2. SSJ4. The most unique of the forms and awesome. The only thing bothering me is the lack of nipples, which is really weird.

3. SSJ3. A pretty cool looking form. Also holds Goku's best transformation sequence.

4. Toei SSJ. I was pretty cool for what it was. I liked the lingering aura and how the aura like Kaio-Ken reflected off Goku, making it look like he changed colour.

5. SSJ2. Kinda weak when it comes to difference, but sometimes it's drawn well. I either like it or don't depending how it's drawn.

6. SSJG. Oh joy...base recolour Goku...I'm so thrilled. Ok it at least brough a cool aura, slimmed Goku down, and gave em SSJ3 eyes. Still more or less just feels like a boring lazy form.

7. SSGSS. Yay the pinnacle of un-creativity. Let's just make the most iconic form blue...fucking genius. Phew that saves putting pesky effort into something. I mean it was really hard slimming down Goku and giving em SSJ3 eyes, working for another "Master piece" original the saiyan form do not steal is just too hard. On top of that let's think of a name...hm....I know the stupidest possible name for a form I've ever heard...brilliant.
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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Sora Saiyan » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:13 am

My ranking is as follows.
1. SSJGSS
2. SSJ
3. SSJ2
4. SSJ3
5. SSJ4
6. SSJG
7. Toei SSJ

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:28 am

My Rank:

1. SSGSS - the aura that colour.
2. SSG
3. SS3 - love the craziness off it and no eyebrows!!!
4. SS2
5. SS1- The thing that kicked it all off, crazy how Goku turning blonde became so iconic.
6. SS4
7. FSS
8. Black Haired SS- Looked weird no thanks.

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Re: Rank Goku's SSJ transformations

Post by Luso Saiyan » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:51 am

It's a juggle between 2, 3 and 4, but:

1. SSJ - Simple design yet effective to show a dramatic change in power.

2. SSJ3 - A notable, if somewhat ridiculous, evolution of SSJ.

3. SSJG - Refreshing in terms of design.

4. GSSJ - Haven't seen RoF, but from what I've seen of the form, I quite like it.

5. SSJ2 - It doesn't stand out enough since the difference from SSJ is almost insignificant.

6. PseudoSSJ - Prototype version of SSJ.

7. SSJ4 - Licensed fan fiction.

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