Super Saiyan
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"SSJ" redirects here. For the airport with this IATA airport code, see Sandnessjøen Airport, Stokka.
A Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人 Sūpā Saiyajin?), often abbreviated as SSJ, is a special transformation that occurs in signifcantly powerful members of the saiyan race in the manga and anime series Dragon Ball Z, its successor Dragon Ball GT, and the self-parody Neko Majin Z. There are at least four levels of the state, each more powerful than the previous.
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[edit] Legend
The saiyan legend is first introduced by Vegeta in the Freeza Saga. It says that every one thousand years in the Dragon Ball universe (three thousand years in the English dubbed version) a Super Saiyan is born. The story goes that one day a saiyan warrior would push the limits and change state into a superior individual. This fearsome being, a Super Saiyan, would wield exceptionally colossal power.
The ability to become a Super Saiyan was once considered to be a myth, because it had not been performed for over a thousand years until Son Goku accomplished it when he was fighting Freeza on Planet Namek. Though it was a legend, it, along with the saiyan's constantly growing power, made Freeza, who was considered to be the strongest being in the universe at the time, fear the saiyans enough to destroy Planet Vegeta in the hope that the Super Saiyan legend would never be complete.
The only certain condition to transcend initially to the Super Saiyan level is that a saiyan must be pure of heart (Goku), usually fiercely enraged, and of sufficient power. Any other conditions are unknown. More advanced versions of the Super Saiyan state are discovered as the series progresses, each one being stronger than the previous. The appearance of a Super Saiyan is different in each form, more so in the fourth and final form.
In the main series, all male saiyans still alive after the Freeza Saga manage to reach at least the first level during the course of the series. Akira Toriyama's reason for never having any female Super Saiyans was that neither Pan nor Bra had the incentive to transform, and that he never drew female Super Saiyans because he couldn't figure out what they would look like. The DBGT Perfect File implied Pan had the potential to transform and might have become a type of Super Saiyan never seen before.
[edit] Levels
The following is a description of each Super Saiyan level, and the saiyans who reached the level (in chronological order).
[edit] False Super Saiyan
A False Super Saiyan (擬似超サイヤ人 Giji Sûpâ Saiyajin?) is an interpretation of a Super Saiyan's appearance and behavior created before the Super Saiyan design had been finalized; this transformation is displayed by Goku in the fourth movie. This form resembles a Super Saiyan in most respects other than appearance. Certain features of the standard Super Saiyan transformation are evident, though somewhat distorted, such as elevated reddish-gold hair, no apparent pupils, and a more erratic version of the golden aura. Users do not seem to be in complete control while in this state. The reasoning behind this form's appearance was that the Super Saiyan design had not been assigned a color scheme at the time of the movie's production, and so it was hypothesized that Goku's hair would become reddish-gold rather than pure gold. However, this interpretation possesses the golden aura seen in the final depiction of Super Saiyans in the Dragon Ball Z animated series. In the movie, the form cannot be retained for very long.
False Super Saiyan is not the actual name of the transformation used in the film. There, it is referred to as a "Super Saiyan" form. Dragon Ball Daizenshu #7 introduces the name to cover the discrepancies between the Super Saiyan transformation in the film and the actual Super Saiyan form in the manga.
[edit] Super Saiyan
The base state of all Super Saiyan transformations, a saiyan first achieves this transformation when they have reached their natural limit and lose themselves to a fit of rage. When achieved, the transformation causes the user's hair to stand on end and become golden yellow, changes their eye color to green, and makes their muscles become more defined and toned. The user's aura becomes steadily dancing waves of thick yellow flame. Even though the physical change is not too drastic, the power increase is colossal. Behavioral change is also quite noticeable, the saiyan becomes more aggressive and temperamental than usual. The first saiyan seen to reach Super Saiyan in the series is Goku when fighting Freeza. Through training, the negative effects of the transformation can be suppressed and controlled, resulting in a Super Saiyan who can suppress his energy and act normal as if he was not transformed. Every male saiyan in the series is capable of performing this transformation at some point. (It was theorized in Dragon Ball Z movie 7 that the Super Saiyan transformation prevented Goku from performing his Genki Dama technique. One must be pure of heart to perform the technique, and as a Super Saiyan, Goku's heart is full of rage. In the film, when Goku became a Super Saiyan after gathering power for a Genki Dama, he lost control of the energy and instead absorbed it into himself.)
[edit] Super Saiyan 2nd Grade/Ascended Super Saiyan
Super Saiyan 2nd Grade (超サイヤ人第２段階 Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai ni-dankai?) or Ascended Super Saiyan is a form reached when a Super Saiyan surpasses the basic limit of an ordinary Super Saiyan. The physical transformation that accompanies this state is essentially an increase in the changes provoked by the regular Super Saiyan form. Longer and spikier hair, larger and more defined muscles, and a larger and more violent aura follow the transformation. The behavioral changes resulting from the innate rage are more apparent in this form – the user becomes noticeably more aggressive, whereas the base form only features a slight increase. Unlike the Super Saiyan 2 form, Super Saiyan 2nd Grade isn't considered a higher form of Super Saiyan because retains the inherent weaknesses of the base form. It only pushes the user's body to contain more power than it would normally. This is the form Vegeta and Future Trunks use for the fight with Semi-Perfect Cell. Goku is also capable of accessing this form.
[edit] Super Saiyan 3rd Grade/Ultra Super Saiyan
Super Saiyan 3rd Grade (超サイヤ人第3段階 Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai san-dankai?), also known as Ultra Super Saiyan, is a another power-boosting state of the regular Super Saiyan form. It expands the user's muscles well beyond that of the previous form, allowing them to reach even higher levels of power. Like the previous previous transformation, thicker hair and a more violent aura accompany the transformation. However, the form sacrifices speed for power, and all the excess muscle slows the user considerably. This form's negatives outweigh the positives, so it goes largely unused. Only Future Trunks uses it to a significant degree, and only because he fails to notice the lack of speed caused by the form.
[edit] Full-power Super Saiyan
Full-power Super Saiyan is not so much a transformation as it is a mastery of the base Super Saiyan form. A full-power Super Saiyan has merely remained as a Super Saiyan for a long enough period of time that their body adapts to the change, allowing them to fully control every aspect of the form. Goku comes up with the idea during the Cell Saga, and he and Gohan are the only individuals to master the form. The hair gets much more toned than the normal Super Saiyan and the aura is a unique balance of the auras from the normal Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2nd Grade, and Super Saiyan 3rd Grade.
A full-power Super Saiyan isn't inherently more powerful than a Super Saiyan 2nd Grade or 3rd Grade, but because the user is used to the Super Saiyan form, they can draw on the raw power of the form with far greater ease than those in the higher forms can, allowing them to ultimately generate higher levels of power.
[edit] Legendary Super Saiyan
Dragon Ball Z Movie 8 introduces Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan. Broly features a unique final Super Saiyan form that transforms him into a rampaging and nearly unstoppable creature of pure rage. The form is unique to him because it's genetic. It should be noted that Broly is not the legendary Super Saiyan Vegeta mentions in the Freeza Saga. That Super Saiyan could only control its power as an Oozaru and destroyed itself over 1000 years before the series begins.
Beyond his initial Super Saiyan transformation, Broly's final form is very similar to an Super Saiyan 3rd Grade, but with several notable differences. His size, muscle mass, strength, and speed are far beyond that of any regular Super Saiyan. Unlike other Super Saiyan forms, which expend energy over time, Broly only becomes more powerful as time passes. Additionally, his irises and pupils seemingly disappear and his hair becomes a shade of green, as opposed to blonde. Though Broly's increased muscle size would seem to be the product of his invincibility, it is actually the constant energy generated by the form that protects him from harm.
The green tint in Broly's hair is due to the device restraining his power. When broken the first time, he retains some coloring from his controlled Super Saiyan form. Subsequent transformations have his hair in the normal golden color of Super Saiyans.
[edit] Super Saiyan 2
The first ascended form of Super Saiyan, the Super Saiyan 2 form carries almost no major differences from the base Super Saiyan form but gives the user a significant increase in power. Physical changes include finer, upright hair, a rounder face, and smaller eyes. The increased power of the form results in a larger, blue-colored, aura as opposed to the golden yellow aura in the base form.
As seen with Gohan, when the form is first used, the user gains an almost sadistic sense of mind. One example of this happening is that after Gohan's first transformation, he wanted Cell to suffer for a while, instead of finishing him off when he could. This sadistic nature never showed up in any of his subsequent Super Saiyan 2 transformations. Son Goku and Vegeta, being older, have more control and can suppress the violent urges that accompany the change.
There is some difficulty distinguishing between the first and second forms due to their being similar in appearance, and that Toei placed lightning on random auras with no sense of consistency in the anime. In the manga, it is easy to differentiate between them due to the second form's electricity surrounding the aura. There is also some change in the user's hair that can been seen if inspected closely.
[edit] Super Saiyan 3
Super Saiyan 3 is the next step in Super Saiyan transformation. Unlike the previous Super Saiyan forms, which have some measure of control, this form rapidly consumes energy to maintain itself, making the form difficult to maintain for any significant length of time and inhibiting the user's own ability to fight to a small degree. However, this inhibition is also accompanied by a drastic increase in speed and power, which offsets the weakness caused by the energy consumption. Only Goku and the fused body of Gotenks are shown to be able to handle the immense power that the form requires it to manifest itself.
Super Saiyan 3 is characterized by a substantial increase in the user's hair length, causing it to run down to their back, in addition to the saiyan's eyebrows disappearing. Also it is noted that Goku's eyes have changed in that he has jade eyes with a black pupil; however, Gotenks does not have the same charateristic. The bolts of lightning flaring up and dancing about are carried over from Super Saiyan 2.
[edit] Super Saiyan 4
Super Saiyan 4, introduced in the Dragon Ball GT anime saga, is the final saiyan form. The Super Saiyan 4 form can only be reached by transforming into a Golden Oozaru and then gaining conscious control over the form. By controlling the massive power of the raw ape form, the user can compress that power into a vaguely humanoid form and use it to its full potential. Once this form is attained, it can be accessed at any point. This form was first achieved by Goku when battling Bebi Vegeta, and is only available to pureblooded saiyans as stated by Bulma. Somehow, the Rou Dai Kaioshin knew of Super Saiyan 4 and its abilities. Only Goku, Vegeta, and their fused form of Gogeta have the ability to achieve this form
In this form, the Saiyan's hair does not become golden, but instead retains its original color. The saiyan's tail is also present, since it is necessary to achieve the form in the first place. The body and tail are covered in a shade of red fur. A saiyan in this form also possesses a red shadow trim around the eyes and over the eyelids. The hair is lengthened and grows wild and untamed.
Because of slight differences in hair color, eye color, and so forth, this form is unique between users. Goku has black hair, gold eyes, and scarlet/cerise-colored fur. Vegeta has dark brown hair, aqua eyes, and blood red/crimson-colored fur. Finally, Gogeta has fiery red hair, light blue eyes, and burgundy colored fur, being a fusion of the previous two.
