Did Toriyama forget about Saiyan tails?

[samuraix123]

Hey guys!
Am I the only one that wants to see Goten and Trunks get their tails in Super? I'm not sure how much it could add or take away but they should definitely have tails. Did Toriyama forget about them?

[DarkPrince_92]

Feel like tails would be purely aesthetic at this point. Not like they use tails for much anymore.

[Chuquita]

I think I recall reading he stopped drawing tails because it was bothersome for him. (The way inking base Gokû's hair was, resulting in ssj with it's non inked hair.)

I'd like Gokû and Vegeta to get theirs back though, if only because how expressive the tails could be.

[Sora Saiyan]

Toriyama has said before, when asked why Goten and Trunks don't have tails, that they are a recessive trait, and he also said they stopped growing back for Goku and Vegeta because they became so powerful the tail was useless.

[Tyro]

Toriyama definitely never forgot about Saiyans having tails. One of the beta sketches for SS3 Goku had a tail, so it was a conscious decision on his part to not bring them back into the story. Gohan's tail regrew just the one time despite his young age, and Vegeta's tail never regrew even though he said it was going to. Toriyama "dodged" this question in a couple of interviews by saying that after a Saiyan becomes so powerful their body recognizes the tail as a weak point and...decides to not have it instead. In the case of Goten and Trunks he has said that having a tail is a recessive trait.

Other than that I can only remember the interview where he said that drawing Goku's tail as a child was a nuisance, and he would try to come up with a way for Goku to lose it so that he could stop drawing it. But Goku kept his tail for a relatively long time (real world time that is) once it regrew during the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, so I imagine this statement is more charming than it is true.

[Ringworm128]

As Gaffer Tape said, Toriyama would always find a way to get rid of tails ASAP so he wouldn't have to worry about being consistent with the great ape transformation.

[TheGreatness25]

I think the story evolved way past the tails and they became more of a pain than anything. For Goku, the tail added to his backstory. When Raditz came, he needed a tail to tie in the Saiyan race. The same was for Vegeta and Nappa. Gohan had a tail to tie in with Goku and it actually was used in the story (he defeated Vegeta that way). Once everybody powered up to the point where they are more powerful than the great ape, the tails were useless now. Who wants to see someone stop and turn into a great ape in the middle of a fight after you see a bunch of Super Saiyans?

I just think that the story evolved past the need for the tails.