Summary
Dragon Ballis one of the greatest shonen series of all time, starting as a humble adventure anime before the series turned into one of the greatest battle shonen anime of all time. Watching tough-as-nails characters utilize training and powerups to dominate their foes never ceases to be entertaining.
Sometimes, heroes need to go through a groundbreaking transformation to reach new heights of power and humble their foes. This is amazing to witness the first time around, but some forms are used so many times and by so many people that it cheapens their impact.
1Super Saiyan
The Base Super Saiyan Form Saw A Ton Of Advancements
Watching Goku turn into the iconic Super Saiyan for the first timeduring his battle against Frieza is a moment that fans will never forget. His blond spiky hair and green eyes enhanced the impact of his mysterious power and made it clear that he wasn’t going to play around any more.
While seeing Vegeta attain this form was great, there’s no denying that he learned this transformation around a time when the Androids were going to display how weak it was. While the Super Saiyan form experienced numerous upgrades past this point, it officially became an outdated transformation after Gohan unlocked Super Saiyan 2 and doesn’t have the same impact anymore, no matter how many times the Saiyan warriors unlock this form.
2Super Saiyan 2
Once Gohan Achieved The Ascended Super Saiyan Form, Everyone Followed Suit
Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 was the crowning jewel of the Cell Games Saga, with this gentle warrior finally unlocking his true potential andgiving Cell a taste of his own medicine. As one would expect, other Saiyan warriors would unlock this transformation later on, making it seem less special after this point.
This means that fans knew the fight wouldn’t end no matter how many times the Ascended Super Saiyan form was whipped out, which is a shame given how intense this form looked back when Gohan unlocked it. Even with Caulifla and Cabba unlocking it in the Tournament of Power, these moments didn’t seem that huge and showed just how overused this form had become after its debut.
3Super Saiyan Blue
The Go-To Form In Dragon Ball Super For The Saiyans
Fans were surprised to see Super Saiyan Blue make a debut so quickly after Super Saiyan God had just been revealed in Battle of Gods. At this pace, fans expected thatGoku and Vegeta would go through at least four or five transformationsin later arcs, but this wasn’t the case.
Rather, Super Saiyan Blue became the go-to form for these Saiyans who fought in way too many fights with this form. It reached a point where fans couldn’t take Super Saiyan Blue seriously anymore against tougher foes, which is a wild statement consideringhow this transformation is meant to perfect a Saiyan’s channelling of divine ki.
4Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken
For A Move That Should Cause His Muscles To Constrict, Goku Relies On This Combo Way Too Many Times
There’s no denying that Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken is a great transformation that fans love to this day. However, the issue with this form comes in how frequently Goku uses it after its debut, when he should ideally reserve this moment for the very peak of battle.
After all, the Kaio-ken boost is meant to wreck a user’s muscles, but the show conveniently forgets this drawback during the Tournament of Power. Goku whips out this combined form numerous times throughout a tournament that apparently lasted for 48 minutes, but fans never saw his muscles spasm after using this powerup so many times.
5Golden Frieza
Frieza Needed This Transformation To Keep Up With The Power Curve
Golden Frieza is one of the most iconic transformations inDragon Ball Super, letting Frieza fight his superpowered rivals on equal footing. It’s a shame that his body hadn’t adjusted to the transformation in the movie, but this was something he could work on.
However, after he came back, Frieza had to rely on his Golden form numerous times to stand against the series' toughest foes, which made sense but did oversaturate this form in the eyes of most fans. The fact this form wasn’t strong enough to defeat most notable fighters in the tournament and was completely humiliated in his battle against Broly didn’t help things, which is why fans were glad to see that the Black Frieza form has made this villain relevant once again.
6Legendary Super Saiyan
A Movie-Only Transformation Ended Up Making Several Canon Appearances
There was a time whenthe Legendary Super Saiyanwas nothing more than a non-canon form that was meant to make Broly’s threat more palpable than ever before. So, fans were glad to see that this form made an appearance inDragon Ball Super, but fans weren’t ready for how many times they’d see this form.
Kale whips out a controlled version of the Legendary Super Saiyan by the time she becomes confident enough to take on Goku, Kefla is technically a half-Legendary Super Saiyan who overpowered Goku to the point where he had to rely on the inperfect Ultra Instinct form, and Broly’s transformation into the Legendary Super Saiyan made him so powerful that the heroes had to fuse to deal with this threat in their Super Saiyan Blue form. The nonsensical power scaling and overuse of this form in Super has cheapened it somewhat, but this is something fans are willing to deal with if it means that the gentle giant Broly will become a fighting member of the Z Warriors.
