To be honest, my articles about why Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 suck are rather outdated. I wrote the latter in 2017 and the former in 2019. My writing skills have evolved, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading those articles, although the main sentiments in them are still correct. I probably won't fully remake those articles in extensive depth, as I'm too tired from writing (and constantly updating) the DB sucks, Bulma sucks, Gokuu sucks, and Gohan sucks articles. So, I'll just sum up all the main points here.
First, why Super Saiyan 2 sucks :
Let's see here. SS2's design sucks ass because it looks practically no different from SS1. The hairstyle? It changes the hairstyle from SS1 for some characters (for others such as Gokuu, it just causes them to lose bangs, which is minor. For some characters like Vegeeta and Adult Gohan, it doesn't change the hairstyle from SS1 at all. And no, SS1 Gohan isn't required to have a tiny, extra bang or any dumb shit like that, as he often only has a single bang as you see in those two pics), but we see that SS1 itself can be a variety of hairstyles. It varies from character to character and for some like Trunks, it's not even consistent what their hair is supposed to look like in SS1.
Look at Future Trunks and Kid Trunks (here and here). Different hairstyles and he's still SS1 all the same. In Dragon Ball Super's anime, Future Trunks's SS1 and SS2 hairstyles are exactly the same. In the manga, he loses his bangs when he turns SS2, but we already saw that he didn't have any bangs when he turned SS1 as a kid. Why should no bangs randomly equal SS2 for Future Trunks when it doesn't for Kid Trunks, not even Kid Future Trunks? No reason. It's just arbitrary. All the scenes where characters' bangs flow up due to the wind from when they're powering up or flying don't help matters, either. Those screenshots and scans end up becoming widespread; there ends up being confusion because bangs or lack thereof are dumb indicators for transformations.
Changing the hairstyle at all doesn't stop SS2 from looking like the same general form as SS1. You shouldn't have to know what a character looks like in SS1 to be able to tell when they're SS2. One glance should be enough. You can tell when a character's SS3, SS4, SSG, SSB, SS Rose, UI, UE, Beast, etc without having to see what they look like in other forms. It's harder to distinguish SS1 and SS2 with one look because of how SS2 Kid Gohan blends right in these group shots of him with SS1 Gokuu, SS1 Vegeeta, and SS1 Trunks; they all look like they could be in the same form. Same right here. And here. And here. They all look like different characters, but they all look like they could be in the same transformation. Again, SS1 can be a variety of hairstyles; if one didn't already know how Kid Gohan actually looked as an SS1, they would assume him to be SS1 here like Gokuu, Vegeeta, and Trunks are. You can't expect everyone to have everyone's specific hairstyles memorized form-by-form.
There are even some SS1 who look just like SS2 Kid Gohan. SS1 Gogeeta basically has the same hairstyle as SS2 Kid Gohan. So does SS1 Shallot. If an SS1 character can look exactly like SS2 Kid Gohan does, then it goes to show that SS1 and SS2 look the same in general. SS2 Kid Gohan's hairstyle is different from SS1 Kid Gohan's hairstyle in the same way that SS1 Trunks's hairstyle looks different to SS1 Gokuu's hairstyle. They still just look Super Saiyan in general. Frankly, Kid Gohan's SS2 hairstyle is what his SS1 hairstyle should have been in the first place, because Super Saiyan is supposed to spike one's hair upward (unless it was already spiked up beforehand a la Vegeeta). It never made sense why Kid Gohan's hair is hardly spiked up when he turns SS1; his hairstyle is barely any different from his base.
Granted, you could say that Super Saiyan 3 looks like the same general transformation as SS1, too. It dramatically lengthens the hair and removes the eyebrows, but we've seen Saiyans with ridiculously long hair in their base form, as well as Saiyans who lack eyebrows in their base forms. Imagine how a long-haired, eyebrow-less Saiyan is going to look in SS1; they'd look exactly like an SS3. When you really get down to it, SS1, SS2, and SS3 all look like the same form (actually, every humanoid Saiyan form looks like the same when you really get down to it, because they all just look like humans. Human beings come in all colors, sizes, types, whatever. It's established that all Saiyans naturally have black hair, but that's arbitrary and it doesn't stop them from looking human. Aside from having tails, Saiyans look just like humans). But while SS3 sucks plenty, too, it's not often that you see Saiyans with really long hair or no eyebrows. There aren't many transformations that lengthen the hair or remove the eyebrows, either. For these reasons, it's not as hard to confuse SS3 with another form as it to confuse SS2 with SS1 and vice versa.
(It's funny, though. A few years ago, I argued with an idiot who claimed someone with Raditz's hairstyle wouldn't have SS3-type hair if they turned SS1. According to this idiot, SS1 would cause their hair to go up, which would make it look "different" to SS3 because SS3 makes the hair come hanging down. First, it's false to say that SS1 always causes the hair to come up as we see SS1 barely spikes up Kid Gohan's hair (if at all). But the funny thing is that in Daima, we see that Vegeeta's hair isn't hanging down when he's SS3. So, even if SS1 caused someone with Raditz's hair to go up, that wouldn't stop their hair from looking just like SS3. Not like it'd matter either way, though, because freakishly long spiky hair going up still greatly resembles freakishly long spiky hair going down; these basically look like the same shit)
Spikier hair? Inconsistent across the map. How spiky the hair is drawn depends on the artist or art style; people just draw the hair however they want. Sometimes the hair can be drawn less detailed and not as spiky. Other times it can be drawn spiky and detailed. It's still the same form (some idiot is gonna say "b-that's 'Grade 4'!", missing the point, but all too easy now). Trunks' hair is literally as spiky as humanly possible in these pictures, but he's only SS1 in them. If spikier hair was such a noticeable difference, then "Was Gohan SS1 or SS2 against Darbra?" wouldn't be an endless argument. It doesn't matter at all.
The lightning? An inconsistent trait that's easy to overlook. There are plenty of times when SS1 has lightning (loads more in the anime, too. "B-but non-canon" said the stunted nerd. The average person isn't a nerd who gives a shit about that; all official content is relevant as they affect the way viewers perceive the forms. And yes, this is in fact SS1 Gokuu Black, not SS2) and plenty of times when SS2 doesn't have lightning. At the end of the day, the lightning isn't part of someone's physical appearance, so it's not a big difference. It's not like Nappa with lightning looks like he's in a different form from Nappa without lightning. He just powered up and that was it.
It changes the aura? Inconsistent as well. In the original manga, SS2 usually has a more intense aura than SS1 does, but there are times when SS1 has an intense aura as well. Hell, just look at these fully colored pages and try to name any difference in the auras alone. They look the same. In the anime, SS1 and SS2 have the exact same aura with no difference. At the end of the day, stuff like aura and lightning are just external substances separate from the actual physical appearance. SSB has a completely different aura from SS1 most of the time, but most people still dismiss it as a lazy recolor because that's all it really is. It's completely arbitrary to say external crap like aura and lightning make you look transformed. You don't. You just look like you've powered up if anything.
For a trait to truly be distinctive, it has to be present at any and all times the transformation is in use. If it's a trait that disappears when the characters power down, then it's not a useful trait to rely on when determining a transformation. There's bound to be plenty of confusion when people are relying on arbitrary crap like aura and lightning. Those things aren't consistent and they're not always present. The average person would just assume Vegeeta to be Super Saiyan here despite the fact he's actually SS2 in both screenshots; if an intense aura and/or lightning indicate SS2, then most people will assume he's SS1 when he lacks those things and his hair is still golden. Maybe changing the color of the irises would have helped somewhat; if nothing else, there probably wouldn't be any endless debates like "Was Gohan SS1 or SS2 against Darbra", but the artists and animators would have surely screwed up, anyway. At the end of the day, changing any part of the eyes isn't significant.
There are idiots who say, "SS1 only briefly has lightning. SS2 has lightning longer, so there shouldn't be confusion", completely missing the point. If lightning is supposed to indicate SS2, then that means an SS1 is going to resemble an SS2 in the time that they do have lightning, even if only for a few seconds. Because they're going to look like an SS2 in the time that the lightning is present, then there will be people who think they're SS2. Doesn't matter how "long" the lightning is present; the average person isn't a geek who actually waits to see how long a trait is present to determine what transformation is being used. Imagine if there were scenes where SS1 Gokuu suddenly got blue hair. If the blue hair only appears for an instant, then there will be people wondering if Gokuu turned SSB in that instant. Likewise, when an SS1 gets lightning for an instant, then there will be people wondering if they turned SS2 in that instant. There will be people thinking they're still SS2 even after the lightning disappears, too, because SS2 often lacks lightning.
Isolated screenshots and gifs of SS1 with lightning wind up spreading online. So do isolated scans of the panels of an SS1 with lightning (actually, there's a bit of a debate on whether Vegeeta was SS1 or SS2 there. The thing is, though, if SS2 truly had a distinct design to SS1, there wouldn't be any debate at all). When people see those isolated screenshots, gifs, and scans, and they're under the impression that lightning indicates SS2, then there's a high chance they'll assume what they're looking at is SS2. It doesn't matter if one already knows that it's not actually SS2; the point is that plenty of other people will think it's SS2, and that creates confusion. You're a fucking idiot if you don't see the issue in SS1 having lightning and SS2 lacking lightning if lightning is supposed to indicate SS2.
Crap like "it makes the physique buffer" and "it makes the skin lighter" are completely false. Some animators might make SS2 look buffer than SS1 as an artistic liberty, just like they might make SS1 look buffer than base as a liberty. More often than not, though, their physiques are exactly the same. Good luck trying to find a pic of SS2 Gokuu that's buffer than these pics of SS1 Gokuu. Artists draw the physiques however they want, regardless of whether it's SS1 or SS2. "Lighter skin" is also false. SS1 lightens the skin from base in the anime most of the time, but SS2 doesn't lighten it any further. Powering up can make someone's skin look lighter due to the light being reflected from their aura onto their skin, but this isn't specific to SS2 at all; this happens in SS1, too. And oh god, some idiots actually think SS2 changes the face or facial features. It doesn't change the facial features from SS1 at all. Sometimes when Gokuu turns SS2 from SS1, he'll look a bit angrier. That's not actually because he turned SS2, but simply because the artist felt like drawing him more pissed in that frame or panel. SS1 can look plenty pissed off; there's basically no more pissed than this. Looking more pissed off doesn't make you look "transformed", anyway.
Toriyama forgot what SS2 looked like and thought SS3 was SS2. Characters poke fun at SS2 not looking much different from SS1 all the time (bonus: TeamFourStar). And it's left out of various promotional illustrations when all of the other main transformations get shown. That tells you how forgettable it is for most people. Let's be real. To a normal person (not a fucking nerd), all this shit looks the same.
Now, why Super Saiyan in general sucks:
Look, it's stupid and childish. Nothing about changing your hair makes you look stronger or more legendary. Changing your hairstyle, changing your hair color, it doesn't matter. You look like a regular human being all the same. You don't look like you've entered a different, higher, stronger, etc state of being when your hair changes at all. The only way someone can objectively look "stronger" is if they put on more muscle. Obviously, more muscle makes you look physically stronger. But that doesn't actually make you look like you've entered some special state of being; it just makes you look like you've been working out. Buff, skinny, fat, whatever; your physique doesn't matter. You look like a regular human being all the same.
An aura and other substances can make you look like you've powered up in the sense you have more energy or whatever, but we see characters get auras and other types of plasma around their bodies in their base forms all the time. It doesn't make them look like they've "transformed"; it just makes them look like they've powered up. Doesn't matter what sort of aura or plasma they have around their body. Really, it doesn't matter how a transformation looks. Different hair color, different hairstyle, different eyes, different physique, monkey fur, tail, etc; they're all worthless (and gaining a full outline around your eyes is an especially worthless indicator of a transformation. It's not any real difference; it doesn't even make you look "more serious". Base and SS1 Gokuu look equally serious here. Not any surprise people constantly get Base and Mystic Gohan (oh, excuse me, "Ultimate" Gohan even though it's not actually his "ultimate" form anymore) mixed up with each other; a change in "eye outline" is worthless. It's not the outline of someone's eyes that affects their facial expression; rather, it's just the size and shape of their eyes, if anything. But different facial expressions don't equal looking "transformed"; Gokuu didn't look "transformed" here).
A lot of people hate on newer transformations like Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue, Super Saiyan "Rosé" (fuck that stupid "é" with the accent. Excuse me, but it should have just been called "Super Saiyan Rose", no accent. The "é" is so fucking tacky, ugh), Ultra Instinct, and Beast for only being recolors. The thing is, Super Saiyan was never much better or different than a straight recolor. It spiking Gokuu's hair up is ultimately worthless, because even if it left his hair exactly the same (oh, yeah, there are pupils in this picture, too, but that's inconsequential as it's minor), it'd still look about the same. Super Saiyan can be a variety of different hairstyles and it's even a straight-up recolor for some characters like Vegeeta. Even for some characters who don't have fully spiked up hair in their base forms like Kid Gohan, SS1 barely spikes their hair up, so it's just a recolor for them. Gokuu with recolored yellow hair would blend right in a picture with other Super Saiyans, because his specific hairstyle is irrelevant. As long as his hair is spiky at all, he'll still look like a Super Saiyan. It's dumb to say that his hair spiking upward makes any significant difference when it doesn't.
Super Saiyan God could have given Gokuu a different hairstyle, but that wouldn't actually make it look any better or much different (and for the record, Super Saiyan God slimming Gokuu down a few pounds and giving his irises pupils are insignificant changes, too. An anorexic recolor is still just a fucking recolor and tiny dots inside of his irises are insignificant). Super Saiyan Blue could have given him a different hairstyle, and you could also throw in eyeliner and a tail; it wouldn't look any better or much different. Ultra Instinct could have given him a different hairstyle and a tail and it wouldn't look any better or much different. Ultra Ego could have given Vegeeta a different hairstyle and it wouldn't look any better or much different. They'd still essentially just be recolors (and for the record, a recolor that removes the eyebrows like Ultra Ego does is still essentially just a recolor).
Super Saiyan just looks like a blonde guy (or a guy who just put on yellow hair dye), buff Super Saiyan just looks like a roided blonde guy, Super Saiyan 2 just looks like a blonde guy, Super Saiyan 3 just looks like a blonde guy with long hair and no eyebrows, Super Saiyan 4 just looks like a furry cosplayer, Super Saiyan God just looks like a ginger (or a guy who just put on red hair dye), Super Saiyan Blue just looks like someone put on blue hair dye, Super Saiyan Rose just looks like someone put on pink hair dye, Ultra Instinct just looks like someone put on white hair dye, Ultra Ego just looks like someone put on purple hair dye and shaved their eyebrows, Beast just looks like someone with long hair put on gray/silver hair dye and got electric shock, etc. If anything, only Oh-zaru looks like a legitimate "transformation" because it makes Gokuu look like he's turned into a different species (but he still looks primate, so not a completely different species lol), but turning into a giant monkey still isn't creative. It really doesn't matter how a transformation looks.
Everything about the "transformation" trope in fiction is stupid. Undergoing these immediate changes in appearance to represent becoming stronger or whatever is just silly. For someone to look stronger, all they have to do is build muscle. No matter how buff they get, though, they still look human all the same and when the visual change is instant (a la the Incredible Hulk and Buff Roh-shi) instead of gradual from consistently working out, it's just childish because it's over the top and unrealistic. Ultimately, it's all just flashy, childish crap to sell toys. Having personal preferences is fine, but those are all arbitrary at the end of the day. Arguing about transformations, which ones look better, which ones look worse, etc just makes you a manchild. It doesn't matter if it's a "simple" transformation or a "complex" one. They're all stupid shit. Grow up already.
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