Super Saiyan has always been trash.

It has always been both a stupid concept and a stupid design. I will mainly discuss the design right now. Fans act like Dragon Ball Super’s transformations Super Saiyan God, Blue, Rose and the complete version of Ultra Instinct look significantly worse than Super Saiyan. This is false; right from the beginning, Super Saiyan has always looked just about equally as bad as DBS’s recolor forms.

The number one argument that apologists use to say it’s better than DBS’s recolor forms? That it’s more than a recolor; it also changes Goku’s hairstyle. Apparently, the change in hairstyle makes all the difference. The hairstyle changing is what makes it go from lazy and uninspired to creative and interesting. It’s a completely stupid argument, because the hairstyle change doesn’t make a huge difference at all. Even if Goku’s SS1 hairstyle was kept exactly the same as his base hairstyle, he’d still look like he’s in the same general form:

SS can be a variety of hairstyles:

Even with his base hairstyle, SS Goku would fit like a glove in that picture. A different hairstyle may make him look like a different character, but it would not make him look like he’s in a different transformation at all. I’ve written before about why SS2 sucks for that same reason. It is totally arbitrary and stupid to claim that a hairstyle change makes a transformation go from a lazy recolor to a creative design. Would Super Saiyan God look significantly better if it gave Goku a unique hairstyle?

Fuck no. It’d still look like garbage. The same with SSB, Rose and MUI. Doesn’t matter at all what kind of hairstyle Goku has; he could get an Afro, a mullet, cornrows, Dreads, perm, etc and he’d STILL look stupid as fuck. And you know something else? It doesn’t matter at all what color Goku changes his hair to, either. You wanna know why? Because, contrary to what Toriyama would want you to think, literally NOTHING about a person’s hair suits a legendary transformation. It doesn’t matter what color they dye it. It doesn’t matter how they style it. Blonde hair, red hair, blue hair, pink hair, green hair, white hair, etc. Spiky hair, even spikier hair, long hair, etc. Hair doesn’t make you look stronger or more legendary. Hair is literally just hair, and it’s completely silly for hair to be visual indicators for legendary, powerful transformations in this franchise. It’s actually totally childish and ripe for parodying.

See these pics of base and SS Goku, side by side:

Which one actually looks stronger? The answer is neither. One just looks like a dude with black hair. The other just looks like a dude with blonde hair. The fact that the blonde hair is used for what’s written as a powerful transformation gives the illusion of it looking special. But really, it doesn’t; it just looks like a fucking dude with blonde hair who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Blonde dudes don’t look stronger than black haired dudes. Spiky haired dudes don’t look stronger than dudes with less spiky hair. Nothing about a person’s hair color makes them look strong or legendary. Nothing about a person’s hairstyle makes them look strong or legendary. That’s why it’s stupid to claim that SS1 is significantly better than SSG, SSB, Rose, MUI, etc. Because any transformation that relies on something as arbitrary as hair is gonna look stupid. Doesn’t matter if the hairstyle changes or remains the same. Deosn’t matter if the hair color changes or remains the same. Hair is just fucking hair.

The only objective way a person can look physically stronger is if they put on more muscle. Being engulfed in an aura can also make them look more powerful; aura won’t make them look physically stronger, but it does make them look like they have more energy. And you know something? The golden aura of a Super Saiyan does look cool. Characters actually look cool when they gain a golden aura, and it’s fine for their hair to flow upwards due to the wind:

Add hair dye and an actual hairstyle change, though, and it looks stupid. But while the golden aura and hair flowing upwards due to wind is fine, this shouldn’t be any deeper than how a character gains an aura and powers up in general. Don’t come up with any cheesy shit about legendary, powerful transformations; just have characters power up. And it doesn’t even matter what color the aura is; all auras are really used for is powering up, anyway. While those golden aura gifs look cool, how nice the color looks is ultimately subjective; these gifs of auras with different colors are fine, too:

Really, who even cares what the color of an aura is? To be honest, auras are ultimately just flashy pizzazz to make fights look more attractive than they really are. They’re not necessary. And those stupid scenes when characters are screaming their lungs out while they power up? SMH. Really, now, this series would have been much better off as a more realistic martial arts story. No need for auras, energy blasts, transformations, constipated screaming, etc.

Oh, and the fully outlined eyes? LOL, I shouldn’t even have to explain how MINOR that is. Most people don’t even recognize that shit on Mystic Gohan, and I’m talking before DBS was even a thing. There is NOTHING noticeable about a character getting extra lines on their eyes. Fully outlined eyes are worthless; no, they don’t make you look more serious. This comparison pic sums it up nicely:

The size and shape of Goku’s eyes in both shots are just about the same; there is no real difference in how serious he looks, despite Super Saiyan having a full outline. It’s not the fucking outline thwt determines how serious Goku looks; it’s just the size and shape of his eyes. Hr doesn’t need to turn SS just to gain rectangular, angular and/or narrow eyes. Fully outlined eyes are worthless, as is Super Saiyan’s design itself. Fam fam!