My head canon of why Gohan didn't turn into Ultimate/Mystic in GT

[Skar]

In this case the guidebook was specifically for GT, I think the perfect files from '97

What were some concepts and such that unfortunately got shelved?

I was given quite a bit of freedom working on GT, so aside from whether they were animated or not, the ideas were limitless. For each character, plenty of subplots existed that never made it to the screen.
For instance, in Gohan’s case, there was apparently so much as an “Ultimate Gohan” concept in Dragon Ball Z, where he was a super-warrior with might surpassing Goku, but in GT, he’s a scholar who’s given up fighting almost entirely. But for someone who had given up fighting like that to return to the front lines, I thought that naturally there needed to be quite a bit of drama involved.

Around the Super 17 arc in the animation, he came back as a super-warrior all of a sudden, but actually, I personally wanted to put in a heroic episode telling the reason he started fighting again. For instance, people he loved, like Videl, had been hurt, and when in the depths of anguish, he happened to open up his wardrobe, inside was his dōgi from fondly-remembered times. Together with the line, “To think there’d come a day I’d wear this again…”, he brushes off Chi-Chi, who in tears is trying to stop him, and makes a shocking, lightning entrance on the battlefield. Considering the status of the character, I wanted to spend one or two episodes showing that level of resolve, and I recall having even written the plot for it. But it’s a subplot that diverges from the main story, I guess you could say, so due to various circumstances, it never came to fruition, and it ended up stopping at the level of, he takes off his glasses, and takes on the eyes of a warrior. (laughs)


I think this interview came out after the GT guidebook so whoever wrote it might've assumed he kept Ultimate and stacked SSJ on top of it instead of losing it.

[The Dark Knight]

"I was given quite a bit of freedom working on GT, so aside from whether they were animated or not, the ideas were limitless. For each character, plenty of subplots existed that never made it to the screen."

I wish GT could've gotten an extra cour (13 episodes) to explore these ideas and allow what did make it to screen more breathing room.

[Koitsukai]

I was going to cite the interview of one of the writers but Skar beat me to it.

In real life, the writers clearly went by EoZ. Gohan had moved on, had a family, a job, a suit, a silly pair of glasses, and didn't even care to take part in the tourney.
GT picks up where the Z left off, Gohan is still a family man, and not just in terms of Gohan. Goten and Trunks who were slacking in EoZ, are still doing the same thing, they are so weak they are sent to space.
So, Gohan spends the first half of GT as a retiree, like one of the writers said, having to use SS to fight the likes of his weakass brother and Vegeta. So far, everything adds up, he stopped trying to best himself, he is still the strongest hybrid but not stronger than Geets. He is hardly an asset to Baby.
In-universe, I feel it's the same thing that happened in DBS, he no longer has the focus to use his full power without turning SS. Meaning, his full power is locked. Reason being he slacked off.

But then the second half of GT lands, the writers wanted to get him out of the retirement home, with a proper scene illustrating his comeback that got scrapped. And I assume that's why we see him fight as a non-SS vs Rildo, who proved to be a handful for Goku who needed SS to fight him off. While the SS Son family couldn't even make base Goku break a sweat.
Gohan loses and almost dies, but never turns SS. Which is odd because later on, he turns SS to fight Super 17... this does not add up. Why not turn SS vs Rildo? SS + Ultimate is not a thing, it cannot be, Ultimate is all of his SS power at his disposal, no need to shift to third gear when you are already driving on 5th gear.
Sure, one might think Beast is Ultimate + SS, and I might agree with that, but it was not the case in GT. There was no fuzz about Gohan doing the impossible, no matter the outcome, its treated as just Gohan turning SS.
He will be seen using SS vs Omega, too. I'd like to believe that in the S-17 arc he was trying to get into the zone, refusing to turn SS, just like Vegeta tried to mimic UI vs Katopesla, failed and went back to the easy SS route for the rest of the show.

TL;DR: the writers had him retired, unable to access his true power, wanted to get him back into action -didn't have enough time- and chose to give him the same treatment the rest was getting: blond hair.
In-universe, had SS, tried to force himself into Ultimate, failed, and went back to SS.

[Mr Baggins]

Here's what happened:

1. Gohan was Ultimate
2. Gohan went Super Saiyan while Ultimate

It's no more complicated than that. Yes, it's true he shouldn't draw out more power from Super Saiyan while already in his potential unleashed state.

But it's G-motherfucking-T. Not really the show to watch if you're looking for anything resembling logic, consistency, or even basic story coherence. In-universe explanations obviously mean nothing if the writers don't even know (or care).

[JulieYBM]

The interview in question was with Maekawa Atsushi, who wrote 28 episodes of Dragon Ball GT. I think we can be bothered to name the guy, given that we're literally quoting him.

[Yellow Flower King]

The interview in question was with Maekawa Atsushi, who wrote 28 episodes of Dragon Ball GT. I think we can be bothered to name the guy, given that we're literally quoting him.

I think more stuff should be written by Atsushi Maekawa. He's one those rare boy show writers that didnt go EW GIRLS and had them be just as well written, important and badass as the boys. Heck Fresh Precure is peak fiction and its all thanks to him. I know the writing on GT WAS TERRIBLE but I think Maekawa grew since then.

[Skar]

TL;DR: the writers had him retired, unable to access his true power, wanted to get him back into action -didn't have enough time- and chose to give him the same treatment the rest was getting: blond hair.
In-universe, had SS, tried to force himself into Ultimate, failed, and went back to SS.

Yeah I think that makes sense even without knowing what the writers had in mind. Gohan needed SSJ against Goten who also slacked off and might not be much stronger than he was in the Buu saga. It was unclear if Vegeta did much training but SSJ Gohan and Goten had to fight together against him. They probably would've lost if Baby didn't take over Vegeta's body.

The interview in question was with Maekawa Atsushi, who wrote 28 episodes of Dragon Ball GT. I think we can be bothered to name the guy, given that we're literally quoting him.

I was just quoting the part relevant to this thread that Gohan stopped training by GT. I wasn't trying to disrespect the writer and figured anyone could read the rest since it's on the main site.

[angeldreamZ004]

It's been a while since I watched GT for the last time, so the in-depth story details about Gohan is something I won't remember so well. But since some here also used the visual as an indicator, I think I can give my shot on that.

It's very inconsistent, and there's enough evidence to support both sides (Permanent Ultimate / Non-Permanent Ultimate), it depends on the moment, the story we're set in.

The Old Era ended shortly after Gohan got his upgrade so we couldn't see much from Toriyama except the EoZ, which suggested that the Ultimate was permanent for his “base form”, and the anime followed that concept, we never see Gohan's original “Goku style” eye design returning after that.
But when it comes to the animations, it is no different from the Revival / Modern era. Toei apparently intended to follow something similar to what is seen in Super, but they kept switching between concepts and designs, and Toriyama did that as well when he returned to the franchise.

- The Tapion Movie has Gohan keeping the original base form design, and then transforming into Ultimate.
- Toriyama's designs for GT featured Gohan with his eye design looking accurate to the way it looked in the EoZ. But Toei apparently interpreted that as his base form, as he keeps that design throughout the entire series, and also transforms into a SSJ.
- In “Son Goku & Friends Return” we don't see Gohan fighting nor transforming. In the manga, he has the regular base form eye design.
- In the OVA, it's the Ultimate eye design. Though you can also find the original eye shape in the character model sheets, or even the full original base form design.
- For Battle of Gods, Toriyama drew Gohan with glasses but with his base form eye design in his classic illustration. But he also drew the character design references with Gohan having the eyes looking just like the way they did in EoZ.
- In the trailer for the movie, it's just like how it was seen in GT, the base form has the Ultimate eye design, but he transforms into a SSJ.
- The final movie though, suggests the Ultimate is permanent, and that he only needed the SSJ for the ritual. The Ultimate adds a bang in front of his forehead.
- The Beerus arc in Super, both the Manga and Anime, seems to follow that same concept, permanent Ultimate, with the exception that it doesn't add the bang.
- That continues in the manga until the Moro arc.
- In Fukkatsu no ‘F’ and Golden Freeza arc, the GT concept returns, but for the first time, Gohan has his original base form eye design again while wearing the glasses. This applies to all versions of the arc. (Movie / Anime / Manga)
- In the Super anime, that concept is kept, but his Ultimate eye design returns for his base form again, that is in the fillers right after the Zamasu arc, and continues into the ToP arc. Ultimate gives him the bang.
- Super Hero in both the movie and manga continues the concept established in Fukkatsu no ‘F’. Base form with original eye design > SSJ > Ultimate.
- Daima has the Ultimate design, but we don't know if he's transformed, if it's permanent Ultimate, or if it's meant to be his base form. Given how it's a shot with everyone in their regular appearances, it might be one of the latter two.

You can even say that there's a 4th interpretation there, which would be the “Ultimate SSJ” interpretation, I think there's evidence for that too, but I believe it would apply to GT only, as Super seems pretty consistent to me in regards to Gohan not being able to use the SSJ after he transforms into Ultimate.

As for the initial post theory, I like it. But I think you can also view Gohan unlocking his ultimate power as a supernatural ability he got after the Ro Kaioshin ritual. It's not something that is related to his DNA or cells like the SSJ does, it's something “external” that only he has access to and not training to keep it made him lose it. Baby being the artificial entity he is, had his physical limitations, so would not be able to access the Ultimate power boost. What he got access to at best were SSJ and Oozaru transformations, which are part of Saiyajin DNA. Natural inner power ups.
It's similar to Cell, he had the cells from a Goku who had the Kaioken and Genkidama, but he couldn't use any of the two because those are highly advanced supernatural techniques that demand the Kaio training for them to work, that's why no one is able to replicate them only by observing Goku. (I know Cell says he can do the Genkidama, but we never saw it, so I believe he was just joking, like how we see other many characters saying that they're able to do this and that but we never actually see them doing it. I believe he needed the training at least, or Goku touching him with such techniques, just like he did with the Shunkan Ido)