Alternate link to why Bulma is an objectively terrible character

Since it's marked as sensitive on Blogger (meaning you need to be logged in to view it), here's it on the original Wordpress blog:

https://alphamalescotty.wordpress.com/2022/12/04/why-bulma-is-an-objectively-horrible-character/

The reason why I switched to Blogger was because people were having trouble clicking the links on Wordpress, though. The problem seems to have resolved, but I may just post it on something else.

Why Sasuke and Sakura's relationship is objectively bullshit.

Originally posted on Wordpress in August 2022.

Naruto and Sakura's obsession with bringing Sasuke back is stupid; no need to beat around the bush. They were never close friends with him no matter how the story likes to pretend otherwise. But there is some justification in Naruto caring about him; Naruto's whole shtick is that he was a lonely kid with no friends, and Sasuke was among the first to acknowledge his existence. Having not grown up with a family, he sees Sasuke as the brother he never had. Makes sense; Naruto is just a stupid kid with a warped view of friendship. It's Sakura caring so much for Sasuke that's utterly stupid. Unlike Naruto, she didn't have any sort of traumatic life growing up, and no, getting bullied as a kid for the size of her forehead is no real trauma, especially when so many other characters grow up as literal orphans who see their loved ones get killed or find their corpses as children. Naruto cares so much about Sasuke because he was one of the first people to acknowledge his existence. Sakura cares so much about Sasuke because ... she thought he was cool. That's all there is to it. It's a glorified middle school crush that turns into an unhealthy obsession. And no matter how the story tries to pretend otherwise, they never became close during their time in Team 7.

When they're first put into a team at the start of the story, Sasuke tells Sakura off for being annoying and misunderstanding of an orphan's problems. He opens up to her a small bit when he drops hints that someone was crying the night his clan was killed, but that wasn't to become closer to her; he was just frustrated at the thought of failing the bell test when she brings up that they don't have much time left, so he explained why he can't fail. They pass and go on worthless off-screen missions that they don't bring the team closer at all; Sasuke just wants to hurry and do something challenging. For the entirety of the Zabuza arc, their relationship sees no real progress at all; it's only Naruto and Sasuke's bond that receives any development. Kishimoto wrote Sakura off by making her the first one to master the tree climbing exercise; the whole time Naruto and Sasuke were training their butts off in the forest together, Sakura was away with Tazuna. And the whole time Naruto and Sasuke are fighting Zabuza and Haku, Sakura is left behind to "guard" Tazuna, and by guard, that just means stay behind and do nothing. After the Zabuza arc, Team 7 goes on more worthless off-screen missions and as Kakashi notes, none of them were getting along or working together as a team. Sakura asks Sasuke if he wants to hang out, and he tells her off again, even calling her the most worthless member on their team. Seriously, it's fucking bullshit that the Sasuke Rescue arc wants to pretend that these off-screen missions brought them closer together, because the story shows the literal opposite. None of them were getting along.

When they prepare to enter the Chunin Exam, Sasuke notices her upset and cheers her up by praising her ability to easily see through illusions. This is a kind gesture on his part, but one compliment doesn't make them close buddies and it's pretty clear that he only took pity on her sulking. Just stop and think, if Sasuke truly was impressed with any of her skills, then where was any of that respect when she asked him if they wanted to hang out? Why would he tell her off for being unskilled and useless instead? He only changed his tune after he saw her moping, because he took pity on her; otherwise, he'd have praised her earlier instead of belittling her. It's not even like he just discovered Sakura had a knack for telling illusions, as he already knew Sakura saw through the illusion at the entrance without her saying so. The reason he didn't praise her earlier is because just being able to see through illusions isn't that impressive; such a miniscule skill doesn't stop Sakura from being a trash ninja, as many characters including herself, Sasuke, Dosu, Zaku, Kin, Asuma, Shikamaru, etc point out. It's not even like the illusions Sakura can see through are advanced. Let's face it, unless you can see through illusions cast by Sharingan, then fuck your illusion seeing "skills".

So, the exams start, they enter the Forest of Death and only then do they start risking their lives to protect each other. But to say that she truly fell in love with Sasuke here because they were protecting each other is stupid; other people like Naruto and Lee were protecting her as well, and she was protecting them. Despite that, she was never in love with either of them, so obviously that is not the key to Sakura's heart; neither protecting her nor getting protected by her will make her love you. The only reason she was in love with Sasuke is because she thought he was cool. Them protecting each other may have strengthened her feelings for him, as would his pitiful compliment about her ability to tell illusions, but none of it would have meant anything at all if she didn't already like him for being cool beforehand. She was head-over-heels for him right from the beginning; she even flashbacks to their academy days as little kids when she tries and fails to kill him in the Kage Summit arc. We also see her genuinely break down upon finding what looked like his corpse in the Zabuza arc, and tearfully embracing him when he wakes up alive; this is before the Chunin Exam arc. The Forest of Death didn't start shit; Sakura was always in love with this emo loser. Why? Because she thought he was cool. That's all there is to it. If she didn't think he was cool in the first place, then she would have never been in love with him at all. That's why her being in love with him is stupid; it's a glorified schoolgirl crush.

As for Sasuke, he saw Sakura as nothing more than a nuisance before the Chunin Exam, and cheering her up once doesn't make them close. He might have begun caring more about her when he was protecting her in the Forest of Death, and later on against Gaara, but just growing a soft spot for someone you protect doesn't actually make you friends with them, and it certainly doesn't mean you're in love with them. Some people say he was pissed off when he found her beaten up by Orochimaru's Sound goons, but he was really just high off the power from the Curse Mark and wanted an excuse to beat someone up. It was the Curse Mark that was affecting his emotions; he wouldn't have gone on a rampage just from seeing Sakura hurt if he were his usual self, which is the entire reason Sakura is upset to see him like this. He wasn't being himself, and that was all due to the mark. Furthermore, most people would be upset to find a teammate beaten up, especially in an exam where them dying would result in your failure; that doesn't make you close friends with them. And it's not like the Sound goons were only after Sakura; they were mainly trying to kill him, which angered him.

It is true that Sakura was able to bring him back to his senses when she hugs him and begs for him to stop, which is proof that he cared for her to some extent. But all this amounts to is just him having a soft spot for her, which doesn't actually suggest any actual friendship; in Sasuke's mind, Sakura is just this fragile, weak girl who can't defend herself and is easily scared. He didn't want to scare her further because he took pity on her being a crybaby. It's not even like he was really doing anything wrong here, anyway; the Sound fodder he was fighting deserved to get their asses beaten, and I mean badly because they were scum. We even saw that Dosu and Zaku were willing to kill Kin, their own teammate. Suddenly being embraced by an acquaintance who is crying like a bitch and begging for you not to beat the shit out of someone else would make most people change their minds about beating someone up; the resulting awkwardness would kill the mood. Just someone stops you from killing doesn't mean they're your friend.

And when Sakura shows concern over his Curse Mark and tearfully begs him to drop out from the exam when they enter the preliminaries, he's back to telling her off because he wants to stay and fight strong people; however Sasuke may care for Sakura, his quest for power is more important to him. Their whole dynamic is just that Sakura is an annoying crybaby who never stops worrying about him and he only ever puts up with her because they're teammates and he pities her; nonetheless, he still considers someone who holds him back, which is why he tells her off, and why he eventually abandons her. More than anything else, Sasuke cares about becoming strong so he can kill Itachi; if he respects anyone, it's only those he considers strong like Naruto, Neji, Lee, Gaara, Haku, Kakashi, Guy, etc. Sakura, on the other hand, is not someone he truly respects; he looks down at her for being weak and not understanding any of the pain he's been through. He only feels morally obligated to protect her and occasionally be kind because they're teammates; looking out for a weaker teammate and taking pity on them because you don't want to sadden or scare them does not make you friends with them.

Then, after the prelims, Sasuke and Sakura don't see each other for a whole month as he's busy training for the finals. Then, the fight with Gaara; Sasuke says here that he considers Naruto and Sakura to be his precious comrades, even likening them to his own family ... you know, the family that Itachi killed, but LMAO it's a bullshit scene because Sasuke did not actually see them like his real family AT ALL; people don't become your "family" just because they're on the same team as you for a little while (literally less than a year), especially when you're choosing to keep away from them and not open up to them the way real friends do. He cares about avenging his dead family and clan more than anything else; Team 7 could never replace them. They only risk their lives to protect each other because that's their duty as Leaf ninja; they're still not anything close to a real family. Sasuke considers them his "precious comrades" in the sense that they're his teammates and fellow ninja of the same village, but they are not his family, nor are they much of actual friends if at all. Ninja of the same allegiance protect and die for each other simply because that is their code; that doesn't make them family, that doesn't make them lovers and that doesn't make them actual friends. They are just soldiers who are trained to protect each other for the sake of their village.

Of course, being an orphan whose family was slaughtered, it would have made some sense for Sasuke to try compensating for his loss and look for family in his teammates as a way to cope with his trauma, but if that was how he felt the whole time, then the story did a piss poor of showing it, because we don't hear a word about Sasuke saying, "You guys are my precious comrades who are like my family" until the fight with Gaara. He bonded with Naruto a little bit when they trained together and eventually acknowledged his strength, and he took pity on Sakura a few times when he saw her upset; everything else was just him being annoyed with his teammates, or just typical soldier behavior of protecting each other for a common cause. And furthermore, trying to compensate for a loss by trying to find what you lost in other people as a way to deal with the trauma is an ultimately futile practice; it's looked down upon because it suggests you have a mental illness as you're scarred and you're expected to eventually accept what you lost and move on. You can't replace what you lost; you're supposed to move on by making new bonds. That's what Sasuke should have done after he lost his family, but he didn't and the story failed to show that he had any real friendship with his teammates. Sasuke seeing his relationship with Naruto and Sakura as more than it really was because he's mentally scarred doesn't make them actual friends, anyway; they were really just acquaintances at the very most.

There are also some people who say that Sasuke was jealous over Sakura's reaction when she found out that Naruto was the one who saved her from Gaara, but this is false as he didn't have any reaction to it and he wasn't even the one having a flashback to when he told Sakura; if you actually pay attention to that chapter, you would see that Sakura was the one having the flashback to when Sasuke told her. When the scene cuts to Sasuke training, we see that he's not thinking about Sakura at all; he's just thinking about how Naruto could beat Gaara when he couldn't, and how much stronger Naruto has gotten. If he's mad when he tells Sakura, it's only because he's angry that Naruto is stronger than him; talking about that to anyone will make him mad. Sakura's happiness isn't on his mind; he's just jealous that Naruto is stronger than him. Hell, Sakura was rarely ever on his mind to begin with; Sasuke only really cared about becoming stronger, and as such, never had any time to actually bond with Sakura. You would think that they'd actually be seen hanging out together outside of missions if they were real friends; grab a bite and train together, but Sasuke was only ever focused on himself. After the fight with Gaara, this hasn't changed; he's just now insecure over being weaker than Naruto.

Then, Sasuke gets beaten up and mind broken by his older brother Itachi; although Sakura repeatedly visits him in the hospital, they don't interact because he's in a coma. That means no progress in their relationship. Anyway, Sasuke wakes up when Tsunade heals him sometime later, and he's right back to treating his teammates like trash. He fights Naruto and gets tied up by Kakashi as punishment; it's again said that Naruto and Sakura are his close friends, but again, it falls flat because we've never seen them bond like real friends do. Furthermore, it only took a little convincing from the Sound Four for him to leave them altogether; wow, so much for that "friendship" and "family", huh? Before he goes, Sakura stops him and pours her heart out, begging for him to stay. While Sasuke is flattered to hear that someone cares this much for him, even thanking her at the end, he does not reciprocate any of her feelings. The fact he explicitly tells her that his business has nothing to do with her and that Sakura brings up how he never opens up to tell her anything is all the proof needed to show that they weren't really friends. Real friends open to each other; Sasuke never really did that with Naruto or Sakura, because he always kept to himself like the antisocial loner he is. An antisocial loner who never tells you anything is barely your friend, if at all.

That's why it's so pathetic to see Sakura pour her heart for a guy she barely even knows. She claims that despite having friends and family, she will be lonely if Sasuke leaves her. But how can a person be lonely if they have friends and family who care about them? Because they don't have the person they love? But that begs the question of why Sakura is in love with Sasuke to begin with. We know she wouldn't be bawling like this if it were Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Lee or anyone else leaving in the place of Sasuke, because Sasuke is the only person she loves. Why does she love him? Because she thought he was cool and that's all there is to it. Literally without her thinking he was cool before they became teammates, she would have never been in love with him and this whole scene wouldn't be happening. That is precisely why Sakura's feelings for Sasuke are stupid. Tons of girls thought Sasuke was cool and wanted him; Sakura was no different from them, and only lucked out by being placed on the same team as him. If it were Ino in the place of Sakura, then as far as the story is concerned, she'd be the one pouring her heart out to him and unable to move on from him even years later because conveniently getting placed on the same team as him is supposed to make all the difference according to this hack author. Nevermind the fact that they never become close friends during the whole time they're teammates.

So, Sasuke abandons Sakura and they don't see each other for almost 3 years. When they do see each other again in the Sai arc, Sasuke couldn't care less about her and even tries to kill her along with Naruto, Sai and Yamato before being stopped by Orochimaru, who convinces him to spare them so they can kill more Akatsuki members and increase Sasuke's chances of killing Itachi. They then don't see each other again until the Kage Summit arc, by which point Sasuke is full on psycho and wants everyone in the Leaf dead; he tries to kill her again with his Chidori, and again with her poisoned knife when she unsuccessfully tries to bring herself to kill him with it. Despite the fact this piece of shit abandoned her and is literally trying to kill her and all her friends, she simply can't bring herself to move on from him, even though they were never close.

That there are some people who even try to defend Sasuke's actions here is ridiculous. "She was trying to kill him, so he was right to try killing her!" Yeah, no. When Naruto, Sakura and Yamato came for him in the Sai arc, they were never trying to kill him at any point; Sai was planning to at first, but he changed his mind to bring him back instead without ever making an attempt on his life. They were only trying to bring him back to where he was supposed to be by law; Sasuke can break the law all he wants, but that doesn't justify him trying to kill people in cold blood. If he were any decent human being, then he would have been grateful for the fact they were only trying to bring him back when the standard procedure would have just been to kill him for deserting his village. Instead he doesn't give a fuck, because he's a selfish piece of shit who only cares about himself. To defend Sasuke for trying to kill people who were merely trying to bring him back where he was required to be by law is exactly like defending a teenage boy who is trying to kill the police for trying to bring him back to his legal home after he left. Simply put, he has no right to attempt murder.

Then, when Sasuke tries to kill Sakura in the Kage Summit arc, his fanboys defend him by bringing up how she was trying to kill him at this point. But that's also irrelevant; by this point, Sasuke is an international criminal who killed a Cloud ninja after invading their village to kidnap Bee, and crashed the Kage Summit, killing a few samurai. No, it doesn't matter that the samurai came at him first; he invaded THEIR country and caused destruction, so they were well within their rights to take his crazy ass down. He killed them, because he only cares about himself. He even attempted to murder Karin in cold blood just because she was no longer useful to him. Furthermore, Sasuke was literally planning to slaughter EVERYONE in the Leaf; Sakura would have been totally justified to kill Sasuke to save everyone in her village. He deserved to fucking die, and when he tried to cut her head off with Chidori, he didn't even know that she was thinking about killing him. He can sense bloodlust and Sakura had none, because she didn't have any resolve to kill. He wanted her dead the whole time here, because he wants everyone in the Leaf dead; he never seriously intended to let her join him because he knew she couldn't sever her ties to the Leaf and he knew she wouldn't kill Karin.

The fact is, Sasuke was a just piece of shit at this point. He deserved to die like the trash he was; Sakura did nothing wrong when she tried to kill him. But what she did do wrong was fail to go through with it; her stopping to cry as she was still in love with him was stupid, because there was absolutely no reason for him to still love him at this point. They were never close to begin with, and even if they were, even if they used to be actual lovers who got married and had kids, she STILL shouldn't have kept loving him. People should never stay in toxic relationships, or try to rekindle a relationship with a fucking serial killer who has abandoned them, attempted to kill them multiple times and is currently attempting to kill everyone they know and love. Any respectable person with a shred dignity would accept that this piece of shit is beyond saving. They don't deserve saving. They only deserve to be killed or imprisoned for life.

Part of growing up is realizing that people change and sometimes, they are beyond saving, or don't deserve to be saved. If they cross certain lines like senseless murder, then the only redemption they deserve is inside of a prison cell for life, if not execution. Shonen authors just have an unhealthy obsession with forgiving vile scum; there's nothing inspirational about them getting off scot-free for their crimes. But anyway, the fact Kishimoto failed to even show that Sasuke became real friends with his teammates makes it even more pathetic; you could have at least understood where someone is coming from when they want to forgive a person they loved for becoming a monster, even though they should ultimately let them go. Neither Naruto nor Sakura were truly ever close with Sasuke, so there is no real justification for their stupid obsession with Sasuke. It's actually funny that despite being batshit insane, Sasuke can assess his relationship with his former teammates like a normal person can. He has enough common sense to realize that they were never truly close friends, which is why he's perplexed that they never give up on them.

That's not to say the series isn't inconsistent on what Sasuke considers Naruto and Sakura to be, but it's worth noting that in his final fight with Naruto right at the end of the manga, Sasuke reveals that he only considers Naruto to be his friend. That's right, even after abandoning him and trying to kill him multiple times, he still sees Naruto as a friend. But Sakura? Nope. He doesn't consider her anything here, and shortly before, he knocked her out with an illusion before explaining that he doesn't even understand why Sakura would care so much about him. Why is that? Because he knows damn well they were never close and Sakura is an idiot. In fact, even after apologizing and eventually having a daughter with her, they rarely interact as he's always off traveling, making her a single mother and him an absentee father; it seems like he only bred Sakura for the sake of keeping his clan's bloodline going, not because he had any feelings for her whatsoever. Laughably, it's implied that Sasuke has never even kissed his wife; for Sakura, getting poked in the forehead by him is the equivalent. It's fucking hysterical.

Apparently, some novels go into more detail on their relationship, but nobody gives a shit because they're novels; if that shit actually mattered, then it would have been shown in the manga proper. Supplemental shit released after it ends are just last-minute afterthoughts. The fact Sakura instantly forgave Sasuke for all of the shit he did is also just plain ridiculous, too and the fact Karin did the same exact thing when he apologized to her for trying to kill her just goes to show how Kishimoto sees women, which is literal submissive punching bags for men because he's 100% sexist and misogynist. He claims that he doesn't know how to write women, but he just doesn't want to because he would rather focus on all the homoerotic stuff involving male characters. That's just how Shonen authors are. Perverted men who hold grudges towards women for rejecting them when they were younger; these needle-dick losers only ever get laid once they make money off their stupid comics.

Why Super Saiyan's design is objectively terrible.

 Originally posted on Wordpress in December 2019.

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?

LOL 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 looks better than SSG, SSB, Rose, MUI, etc. 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, not physically stronger, but it does make them look like they're releasing more energy:

But it just looks like they're powering up; gaining an aura shouldn't be any deeper than that. It doesn’t even matter what color the aura is; while those golden aura gifs look cool, how nice the color looks is ultimately subjective. There's really nothing that actually sets a golden aura apart from different colored auras.

Really, who even cares what the color of an aura is? Colors are just colors; there's nothing that actually makes one color look cooler, better, stronger, etc than another. These are just arbitrary man-made constructs about what colors represent; at the end of the day, a color is just a color. Oh, and the fully outlined eyes? Worthless. 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. He 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!

Why Super Saiyan 2's design is objectively terrible.

Originally posted on Wordpress in November 2017.

One of the most notable aspects of manga author and self-admitted sick fuck (CTRL+F "old-timer") Akira Toriyama’s wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise is the transformations. The most notable of these transformations is Super Saiyan. Plenty of people, inside and outside of the Dragon Ball fandom, know what Super Saiyan is. A character gets golden, spiky hair in an instant? That character just turned into a Super Saiyan. It’s a cultural phenomenon and probably the most well-known thing about the Dragon Ball franchise.

Also well-known are the many variations of Super Saiyan in the series. There’s the initial, regular Super Saiyan form, the most well-known of them all. There’s Super Saiyan 3, the one that increases hair length and removes the eyebrows. There’s Super Saiyan 4, the one that looks like a cross between a man and a monkey. There’s Super Saiyan God, the one that has red hair. There’s Super Saiyan Blue, the one that has blue hair. And then, there’s Super Saiyan Rose, the one that has pink hair. The forms I just named are the ones seen as the main Super Saiyan forms.

Wait, I missed one, didn’t I? Oh, that’s right. Super Saiyan 2. That form is actually pretty popular in the fandom. Fans like it for the so-called “subtle changes” it does to the original Super Saiyan form.  For a while, it was even my own favorite Super Saiyan form. As popular and well-liked as it is in the Dragon Ball fandom, though, it does have its fair share of criticizers. Many people, including Toriyama himself, find the form to be forgettable. And many people often get it mixed up with Super Saiyan 1, the original form.

It’s not difficult to understand why this is the case. Simply put, its design sucks. Contrary to what Toriyama apologists would tell you, it does not look truly distinct to Super Saiyan 1. This article goes into detail why.

"B-but it changes the hairstyle!"

Yes, a hairstyle change can make a specific character’s specific SS2 design look different to their specific SS1 design. But that still doesn’t make SS2 look different to SS1 in general. SS1 can be a variety of hairstyles. Despite all those different hairstyles, they still look like the same form in general.

This is the basic template to the physical appearance of a Super Saiyan 1: gold spiky hair, gold eyebrows and green or blue irises (the iris color shifts between these two colors for the irises in the franchise). If a character follows that design template, they look SS1 in general, regardless of what their specific hairstyle is. Any character's SS1 design follows that template to a T. And any character's SS2 design follows that template to a T. Therefore, any SS2 looks SS1 in general. Regardless of the hairstyle.

And that makes it very easy for someone to get SS2 mixed up with SS1. The only way someone is going to be able to identify a Super Saiyan 2 by looking at the hairstyle is if that person already knows what that character’s specific SS1 hairstyle looks like. A big problem with this is that it’s very likely that person isn’t going to know what that character’s specific SS1 hairstyle looks like. The average viewer isn’t going to know how every specific hairstyle a character has in each form looks like. The average viewer won't have each one of them memorized. Show someone a picture of SS2 Kid Gohan. If that person knows what Super Saiyan 1 looks like in general but not what Kid Gohan’s specific SS1 hairstyle looks like, what will be their thought upon seeing this? They will assume Kid Gohan to be a Super Saiyan 1 here. Thus, there's confusion. “That’s just that person's fault for being ignorant”, you say? Get that BS elitist attitude out of here. When you're trying to determine the form a character uses, you shouldn't have to know what that character looks like in another form.

You can determine a character’s Super Saiyan 3 just by looking to see if that character has long, golden spiky hair and lacks eyebrows. You don't have to know how that character looks like in other forms at all to determine when they're SS3.

You can determine a character’s Super Saiyan 4 just by looking to see if they have black (for Goku and Gohan), dark brown (for Vegeta) or red (for Gogeta) spiky hair, yellow (for Goku and Gohan) or blue (for Vegeta and Gogeta) irises and red (for Goku, Gohan and Vegeta) or brown (for Gogeta) body fur. You don't have to know how that character looks like in other forms at all to determine when they're SS4.

You can determine a character’s Super Saiyan God just by looking to see if they have red hair, red eyebrows and red irises. You don’t have to know how that character looks like in other forms at all to determine when they're SSG.

You can determine a character’s Super Saiyan Blue just by looking to see if they have blue, spiky hair, blue eyebrows and blue irises. You don’t have to know how that character looks like in other forms at all to know when they're SSB.

You can determine a character’s Super Saiyan Rose just by looking to see if they have pink, spiky hair, pink eyebrows and gray irises. You don’t have to know how that character looks like in other forms at all to know when they're SSR.

To determine a character’s Super Saiyan 2, you have to actually already know how that specific character’s Super Saiyan 1 hairstyle looks like. Because so many people won't know how that character's specific SS1 hairstyle looks like, there is confusion, and rightfully so. Having to already know how a specific character looks like in a form to identify another form is needlessly complicated. You should be able to identify a form just by looking at that one form. Just like how you can identify SS3 by just looking at SS3, SS4 by just looking at SS4, SSG by just looking at SSG, etc.

And speaking of “hairstyle changes”, only Kid Gohan and maybe Caulifla's SS2 hairstyles are significantly different from their SS1 hairstyles. Adult Gohan and Vegeta’s SS2 hairstyles aren’t different from their SS1 hairstyles at all. That obviously makes it much harder to tell their SS1 and SS2 designs apart. "B-but I can tell the difference!", you said? First of all, no, you can't and you're a liar. The hairstyles are exactly the same; there is no difference. And more importantly, even if you somehow think there's a difference, the average viewer can't tell the difference.

Goku and Future Trunks’s SS2 hairstyles just have fewer bangs than their SS1 hairstyles (and that's only in the Dragon Ball Super manga for Future Trunks. In the anime, he doesn't lose any bangs whatsoever).

Oh, wow, they lose a few bangs as SS2s. Totally an easily noticeable difference, right? No. Losing a few bangs is a very minor difference. Something as minor as that can easily be looked over. Dragon Ball is probably the only series that tries to make such a big deal out of hair bangs. The average viewer isn’t going to give two craps about how many bangs a character has. Period.

"B-but it adds electricity!"

Means jack shit. Electricity does not make characters look like they’ve transformed. In Dragon Ball, electricity is an external substance that surrounds characters when they’re powering up or have already powered up. Electricity has the same function as aura in this regard; do people say characters look like they’ve transformed when they get an aura? No. If aura doesn’t make you look transformed, why would electricity make you look transformed? It doesn’t.

Characters get surrounded by external substances all the time in the series. They get surrounded by a flame-like substance. They get surrounded by bright, glowing lights. They get surrounded by a circular substance. None of those things make characters look like they’ve transformed. But when characters get lightning, they somehow look like they’ve transformed? They don’t. To argue that lightning somehow makes characters look transformed when other external substances don't is arbitrary BS. Double standards. External substances never make someone look transformed. Lightning isn’t any different. Case in point, Nappa had lightning in the Saiyan arc. He didn’t look like he transformed; he just looked like he powered up.

Oh, and you see this picture of Nappa? A Toriyama apologist would respond to my argument with the following BS in the italics:

"B-but Nappa wasn’t even a Super Saiyan!"

Irrelevant. He still had lightning. Toriyama apologists say Super Saiyan 1 and Super Saiyan 2 look like different forms because one has lightning (Super Saiyan 2) and the other supposedly doesn’t (Super Saiyan 1). The logic in that boils down to “Having lightning makes someone look like they’re in a different form to when they don’t have lightning”. As the picture of Nappa shows, that logic is BS; lightning didn't make Nappa look like he was in a different form to when he didn't have lightning, just like lightning doesn't make SS2 look like a different form to SS1. To argue Nappa doesn’t count because he wasn’t a Super Saiyan is nothing but double standards. Hypocritical BS. If you don’t understand why, then you clearly don’t know what double standards are.

"B-but Nappa only had lightning for a brief period of time!"

Also irrelevant. He still had lightning. Him having it for a short period of time has no effect on how he looked during the time he had it. How long something is present has no effect on how that thing looks. Wearing sunglasses for one minute isn’t going to make you look any different to how you’d look if you wore sunglasses for one hour. Likewise, someone having lightning for a brief period of time isn’t going to make them look any different to how they’d look if they had lightning for a long period of time. Simply put, lightning (and any other external substance for that matter) isn’t going to make someone look like they’ve transformed, regardless of how long the lightning is present.

This is a really bad argument Toriyama apologists come up with. Let’s look at it further. “Lightning didn’t make Nappa look transformed because he only had it for a brief period of time”? By that logic, it’s not the lightning that makes someone look transformed. Instead, it’s how long they have it? So, when you see a character gain lightning, you actually wait and see how long the lightning is present to decide whether or not the character has transformed? Do you people actually think the average viewer thinks that way? When a character gains lightning, what do you think the average viewer will think?

-"Oh, he powered up"

-“Whoa, he has lightning! Let me wait and see how long he has it before I decide whether or not he’s transformed!”

It's the former. If something doesn’t make you look transformed for one instant, then having it for a longer period of time still won’t make you look transformed. Having to wait and see how long a feature is present to be able to identify a transformation is needlessly complicated, because you should be identify a transformation with just one glance. You don't have to wait and see how long things like golden spiky hair and green irises are present before you identify a Super Saiyan; one glance at those things would be enough to tell you someone transformed into a Super Saiyan. You don't have to wait and see how long things like blue spiky hair and blue irises are present before you identify a Super Saiyan Blue; one glance at those things would be enough to tell you someone transformed into a Super Saiyan Blue. I’ll actually get back to this argument later in the article.

So, what is it that makes a character truly look transformed, you ask? Simple. Something about their physical appearance has to change. Whether or not a character looks transformed depends entirely on their physical appearance. A character’s physical appearance is the one thing viewers look at the most when they see a character; if nothing about the character’s physical appearance has changed, the average viewer is not going to think the character has transformed. A change in clothes isn’t going to make a character look transformed; the average viewer will just think the character has changed clothes. External substances like aura or lightning aren’t going to make a character look transformed; the average viewer will just think the character has powered up. A change in physical appearance, however, can easily get the message across that a character has transformed.

But of course, not just any change in physical appearance will get that message across. Characters gaining a small, tiny dot on their skin wouldn't make it clear to most viewers that a character has transformed, because that's such a minor change to begin with. And even if the change in physical appearance makes a specific character look different to how they looked before they got the change, that doesn't mean the change will make the character look like they're in a different form in general. Super Saiyan 2 provides a change in physical appearance to some characters; it changes their hairstyle, but such a change doesn't make it look different to Super Saiyan 1 in general, as SS1 can be a variety of hairstyles. As I explained, that creates confusion. For Super Saiyan 2 to have looked truly distinct to SS1, it would need a unique template for a character's physical appearance.

Most Super Saiyan forms have a unique template for a character’s physical appearance.

-SS3: Gold, spiky and long hair, green or blue irises with black pupils and no eyebrows.
-SS4: Black or red spiky hair, red or brown body fur, gold or blue irises with black pupils and black or red eyebrows.
-SSG: Red, spiky hair, red irises with black pupils and red eyebrows.
-SSB: Blue, spiky hair, blue irises and blue eyebrows.
-SSR: Pink, spiky hair, gray irises and pink eyebrows.

Because these templates are different, it is very easy to identify the forms.

The templates for SS1 and SS2, on the other hand?

-SS1: Gold, spiky hair, green or blue irises and gold eyebrows.
-SS2: Gold, spiky hair, green or blue irises and gold eyebrows.

Exactly the same. That makes it very easy for someone to get the two forms mixed up. The presence of lightning for SS2 isn’t going to help, because that has nothing to do with the physical appearance, the one thing viewers look at most.

The fact of the matter is, the average viewer isn’t going to give two craps about external substances. Case in point, look at Super Saiyan Blue. In addition to the blue, spiky hair, blue irises and blue eyebrows, it has a unique, blue aura. Despite the aura, however, the form is widely dismissed as just a blue recolor of Super Saiyan 1. And why is that? Because as far as physical appearance goes, it’s just a recolor of Super Saiyan 1. Most people don’t give a crap about the form’s aura, because it’s not part of the physical appearance. People care about the physical appearance, not external substances like aura or lightning.

Making matters worse, Super Saiyan 2 doesn’t even always have lightning, which makes it harder to tell it apart from SS1. There are scenes where the lightning is never present at all, like in Broly: Second Coming, Wrath Of The Dragon and Battle Of Gods. And even if there's lightning at first, when characters power down, the lightning vanishes. “B-but that’s just because they powered down!”, you say? The only way you’d even be able to say “oh, they just powered down” is if you already saw them with lightning at an earlier point of whatever episode or chapter you were watching or reading. What if someone tuned in after that character already powered down? You wouldn’t have already seen them with lightning, so how are you going to know they’re SS2 without lightning? At that point, you’d only be able to tell they’re SS2 by looking at their hairstyle. You’ll have to already know what their specific SS1 and SS2 hairstyles are. As I already explained earlier in this article, though, there’s a good chance the viewer won’t know what those specific hairstyles are. And smaking matters worse, as I also said earlier, most characters’ SS2 hairstyles aren’t any different from their SS1 hairstyle, such as Adult Gohan and Vegeta. This means that unless you saw them at some point with lightning, you won’t be able to tell when they’re SS2.

“Oh, that’s just their fault for tuning in late?” More ignorant, elitist nonsense. The average person isn’t going to rewind an episode just to find out what form a character is using. A person tunes into an episode and sees lightning-less SS2 Vegeta?

What will they think?

-"Oh, he’s Super Saiyan"

-"Hmmm, let me rewind the episode before I decide what form I think he’s in"

It’s the former. You shouldn’t have to rewind an episode just to decide what form a character’s in. You should be able to tell with one glance. You can tell when someone’s SS3, SS4, SSG, SSB, SSR, etc with just one glance; you’d never have to rewind an episode to identify those forms. And how about screenshots and promotional artwork of lightning-less SS2s? Most people seeing those aren't going to think, "Oh, I'm gonna look up the episode or chapter this screenshot is from before I decide what form the character's in". Most people seeing those aren't going to think, "Oh, it's just promotional artwork, so I can't conclude what form the character's in". They are very likely going to assume the character to be SS1.

Also making matters worse is how Super Saiyan 1 often has lightning, which makes it harder to tell SS2 apart from it. By the way, remember that picture of Nappa with lightning I showed you and how Toriyama apologists dismiss it by saying “Oh, it doesn’t matter because Nappa only had lightning for a brief period of time!” A similarly stupid argument Toriyama apologists come up with is, “Oh, those moments in the series where a Super Saiyan 1 has lightning don’t matter because Super Saiyan 1 only had lightning for a brief period of time!” This, right here, is a very bad argument. These apologists actually seem to think that SS1 having lightning for a brief period of time shouldn’t result in people confusing it for SS2. Why? Because the lightning was only present for a brief of time. Their argument goes, “Super Saiyan 2 is supposed to have lightning, but Super Saiyan 1 can also have lightning for a brief period of time. Because the lightning is only present for a brief period of time, there is no reason for there to be confusion”.

Ahahaha. No. What a terrible argument. It doesn’t matter that SS1 only has lightning for a brief period of time. The fact that lightning appears at all creates confusion, and rightly so. I've already explained how external substances such as lightning don't make characters look like they're in different forms. As far as this series is concerned, however, lightning is meant to be one of the main features of SS2. In-universe, it's meant to be part of what sets SS2 apart from SS1. If a viewer were to go by that logic, then when an SS1 appears with lightning, that character will look SS2 the viewer. It doesn’t matter if the lightning is only present for an instant. The SS1 still looks like how the series defines SS2 during the time the lightning is present. That's understandably enough to create confusion.

What if there were scenes where an SS1 suddenly got blue hair, blue eyebrows and blue irises like an SSB for an instant? Or if there were scenes where an SS1 suddenly had long hair and no eyebrows like an SS3 for an instant? Do you actually think there shouldn't be any confusion whatsoever just because the character would have only looked that way for an instant? Get real. It doesn't matter if it's only for an instant. Because the character looks that way at all, there's going to be confusion. When a character looks like they're in a form for an instant, the average viewer is going to assume they were actually in that form for that instant.

That's why so many people thought Vegetto was SS2 against Boohan even though he was actually SS1. Why? Because he had lightning, looking like how the series defines SS2, no matter how briefly. That's why so many people thought Goten and Trunks were SS2 in GT even though the Perfect Files say they never attained the form. Why? Because they had lightning, looking like how the series defines SS2, no matter how briefly. To argue that there shouldn't have been any confusion whatsoever just because the lightning was only present for an instant is absolutely moronic. And even when the lightning vanishes after an instant, many people will still assume the character to be SS2 even after the lightning is gone. After all, SS2 doesn't always have lightning; when a viewer sees lightning vanish, they will likely assume that the character powered down or is simply choosing not to emit lightning.

Furthermore, what about screenshots and promotional artwork of SS1 with lightning? It would be impossible to ascertain how long the lightning is present from the screenshot as it's just a screenshot or promo artwork, which creates confusion. "B-but those are only screenshots and promo artwork! You wouldn't be confused if you were actually watching the show or reading the manga itself!", you say? More delusional, elitist nonsense. Actually watching episodes or reading chapters shouldn't be the only way someone identifies a form. People look at screenshots all the time. If a screenshot looks similar to something they know, they'll likely assume it to actually be that particular thing they know. Show someone pictures of SS1s with lightning, and if they've already been told SS2s are supposed to have lightning, they'll likely assume those pictures are SS2.

"B-but it changes the aura!"

Another stupid argument Toriyama apologists bring up. In the original manga, SS2's aura often appears to be wilder than SS1's. This still doesn't make it look like a different form, though. I've already explained why external substances such as aura don't make characters look like they're in different forms. Furthermore, the difference in their auras isn't even significant. It's very easy to look over, and it's not even something that's even consistent in the series. There are many scenes, even in the original manga, where SS1 has a very similar looking aura to SS2. And in the anime, there's literally no difference between SS1 and SS2's auras at all.

"B-but it changes the skin tone!"

Another stupid argument Toriyama apologists come up with. In some episodes and movies of the Dragon Ball Z anime, SS2 appears to make the skin tone slightly whiter than it is when someone is an SS1. This goes to show how desperately Toriyama fanboys reach to defend SS2. A slight change in skin tone is an extremely minor change that is easy to look over. And it's another thing that's not even consistent in the franchise. There are many scenes in the anime and movies where SS1 has that skin tone. There are many scenes where SS2 doesn't have that skin tone.

"B-but it makes the hair spikier!"

This is actually false. The only change SS2 has ever done to the hair is change the hairstyle, and that's only for a few characters, as the hairstyle doesn't change at all for most characters. The fact of the matter is, there is literally no consistency to how spiky hair is drawn in the series. Hair spikiness constantly changes with the art style, and the art style has changed several times throughout the series.

But you know what? Let's say I'm wrong. Let's say SS2 does make the hair spikier from SS1. If that makes such a distinct difference, then by that terrible logic, why in the world do fanboys still argue day-and-night about whether Gohan was SS1 or SS2 against Dabra? If SS2 having spikier hair is indeed a distinct difference from SS1, it should be clear what form Gohan was using by looking at how spiky his hair was, right? Except it's not clear to most people, as it's something that's argued about 24/7 in the franchise. "B-but that's just because Gohan didn't have any lightning!", you say? That further proves hair spikiness doesn't make a noticeable difference. If people need to look at something other than hair spikiness like lightning to make the distinction, then that goes to show hair spikiness does not make a noticeable difference to most people.

Another example I'll use are the buff Super Saiyan forms. Those forms actually make the hair spikier. But the thing that makes the buff Super Saiyan forms easily distinguishable from the regular Super Saiyan form is simply the buffer physique, not the spikier hair. If the only difference they had to regular SS1 was the spikier hair, then it would be very easy to get them mixed up with regular SS1. The average viewer doesn't pay attention to how spiky the hair is.

"Who are you to decide whether or not someone looks transformed! You're not the author!"

Another stupid argument Toriyama apologists come up with. Toriyama is the author, but just because he says something doesn't make it so. He could say nonsense like Goku has dark brown skin, but we'd know that'd be false as Goku clearly doesn't have dark brown skin. You shouldn't need an author (or anyone, for the matter) to tell you how a transformation looks like for you to realize something is a transformation. You should be able to tell something's a transformation with just your own two eyes. It's very easy to tell SS1, SS3, SS4, SSG, SSB, SSR, etc are different forms as they all look noticeably different to each other in general. Someone wouldn't have to explain to you how these forms look like for you realize they're transformations. With SS2, however, because of how similar it looks to SS1, it's very easy to mistake it for SS1. Most people need to be explained how SS2 looks like for them to be able to distinguish it from SS1. If you need someone to explain to you how something looks like for you to think it looks like a transformation, then it doesn't look like a transformation. Again, you should be able to tell with just your own two eyes, not someone making you biased by explaining nerdy crap to you.

"Hey, a lot of the pictures you used aren't from the manga! They're not canon!"

This is another stupid and particularly nerdy argument Toriyama apologists come up. Something doesn't count just because it's not from the manga? You mean to say we should disregard the anime entirely, even though far more people watch it than read the manga? Absolute nonsense. Not only does Dragon Ball not even have a defined canon, but the average viewer isn't even going to give two craps about canon anyway. If something is part of the franchise, it's official material. If it's official material, it's relevant to this discussion. Official material, be it manga, anime or promotional artwork, of forms like SS2 will affect the average viewer's perception of the form, regardless of whether or not that material is "canon".

Even the people behind the franchise agree it's a forgettable form.

Why do you think that in all of these things, SS2 isn't shown? Literally every other main SS form that existed in the eras these pieces of official material covered was shown. Why is it that SS2 was the only form each of these pieces of official material skipped? Common sense would tell you that because of how similar SS2 looks to SS1, whoever was making these pieces of official material felt it would be redundant to include SS2.

That, or they forgot SS2 existed, like Toriyama did. He could remember SS1. He could remember SS3. But not SS2. It says a lot about a form when its own creator can't even remember it.

And funnily enough, shortly after I made this article, chapter 29 of Dragon Ball Super's manga came out. In that chapter, even the characters in this series acknowledge how forgettable SS2's design is.

How could Super Saiyan 2's design been improved?

A start (just a start) would be SS2 having something that would make it possible for someone to distinguish it from SS1 without needing to know what a specific character looks like as an SS2. Something that lets one distinguish it from SS1 without relying on arbitrary, inconsistent things like aura, lightning, skin tone or hair spikiness. Something that makes it look different to SS1 in general at any and all times it's used. It doesn't necessarily have to be a huge change from SS1, but it has to be a change that the average viewer would notice at any and all times SS2 is used, so dumb arguments like "Was Gohan SS1 or SS2" wouldn't be a thing.

If the goal is to prevent those arguments, then simply changing the eye color (to be more specific, the iris color) might have sufficed. After all, the iris color would be present at any and all times the form is used, even when there's no aura or lightning. It's a small change, but if nothing else, there wouldn't likely be any of the endless arguments that we see today. Maybe SS2's irises could have been red, since red is a different color from green and blue, the colors of SS1's irises.

-SS1's template: Gold spiky hair, gold eyebrows and green or blue irises.
-A red-eyed SS2's template: Gold spiky hair, gold eyebrows and red irises.

Take Raging Blast 2's boxart, for instance. Because SS2 Gohan follows the same template as SS1 Goku, SS1 Vegeta and SS1 Trunks, he looks like he's in the same form as them in general. If one didn't already know what his actual SS1 hairstyle was, they would assume him to be SS1 here. As I explained before in this article, that creates confusion. But if he had red irises? As long as one knows "red eyes = SS2", they would know he's SS2 even if they don't know his specific SS2 hairstyle. You could also add in pupils. 

Granted, sometimes SS1 has red eyes, so perhaps a different color than red would have been better for SS2. But honestly, you're expecting too much from the artists or animators if you think they would be consistent with eye colors. There would definitely be scenes where SS2 would have the same eye color as SS1, and vice-versa, because they fuck up all the time. Pupils aren't consistent, either; there are scenes where SS1 suddenly has pupils when it's not supposed to have any. SS3 is supposed to have pupils, but there are times when it doesn't. So, it ultimately doesn't matter what you do with the eyes. 

How else SS2's design could have been improved, then? Honestly, the form should have never even existed. It's not like there needed to be any form after SS1, story-wise. On that front, SS1 didn't even need to exist. These dumb transformations only serve to sell merchandise. If that's a priority, then just recoloring gets the job done. But who really gives a shit about the franchise selling merch aside from the people working on it? It's all just childish bullshit. Dragon Ball sucks. It should have never existed.

Conclusion?

If you actually read through this whole article and still think there is nothing wrong with SS2's design whatsoever, then I got nothing to say to you. Regardless of what you may think of the form, plenty of people get it mixed up with SS1. Plenty of people feel it looks too similar to SS1. And if you're gonna dismiss all these people as idiots, then there is probably something wrong with you. If anyone's an idiot in that case, it would be you for being an elitist snob.