The Super Saiyan stonks plummeted in the 90s already.
Summary:
During its reveal, Super Saiyan was a cathartic culmination of the Namek Saga
Immediately after that, Super Saiyan’s value rapidly decreased through Android, Cell and Buu sagas.
In the Super era, Toriyama stopped caring about the Super Saiyan form at all.
You should too.
The year was 1991. Dragon Ball — both the manga and the anime — was approaching the final stretch of the Namek Saga, and Goku had finally managed to land the biggest attack on Frieza, by borrowing the energy from the entire Universe to charge a massive Spirit Bomb. The Evil Emperor seemed completely annihilated — for about five minutes, up until he came back, and violently murdered Goku’s best friend Krilin.
In a bout of righteous rage, Goku taps into a wellspring of power previously unknown to him, something that was only foretold in Saiyan legends — the Super Saiyan form. With it, he instantly overpowers Frieza, not just soundly defeating, but thoroughly humbling his opponent in a cathartic, if prolonged, beatdown.
Back when it first aired, the Super Saiyan was the stuff of legends, both in Dragon Ball, and in the real world. Then, Toriyama’s writing happened.
The rapid devaluation of Super Sayan
In the very next major arc, we are introduced to the Androids — a threat so big that even Super Saiyans (plural, we’ve got three at this point) can’t hope to defeat them. Well, Vegeta goes through two of the weaker models, only to get his Super Saiyan behind easily handed to him by Android 18. And there’s an even bigger threat in Cell, who assimilates other Androids to get stronger.
So what do our suddenly not-so-special Super Saiyans do? They train, of course. Some go for raw power increase, some try to stabilize their forms to maintain them easily (also, Goku’s first born son Gohan unlocks his Super Saiyan form rather easily to make it four), and through the power of training and a last-minute rage powerup (later dubbed Super Saiyan 2), they manage to overcome this threat.
Then, comes the Buu arc. There’s one more Super Saiyan form, and two more Super Saiyans running around, and guess what — it’s not enough anymore. Freshly introduced fusion techniques and the ol’ unreliable Spirit Bomb save the day this time around.
The treatment of Super Saiyan in Super is not surprising
When Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami) aired, one particular thing confused or even enraged many Dragon Ball fans — the fact that in order to give Goku literal godhood, Vegeta’s yet-to-be-born baby achieved the Super Saiyan form. Then in Dragon Ball Super, there was a similar controversy, when Saiyans from a parallel universe unlocked their super forms through a mundane “tingly back feeling” and…
Look. As much of a climactic moment the very first Super Saiyan transformation was, this form is not much of a milestone anymore. If anything, current day Super Saiyan is a baseline for strength in Dragon Ball, and anything below it is not worth Goku’s attention. Hell, even Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (the blue hairdo) stopped being impressive soon after its introduction, so why do we even care? The story stopped revering the base Super Saiyan during the Cell saga, so there’s no need to cling to what was barely even there.
The Super Saiyan stonks plummeted in the 90s already.
Summary:
During its reveal, Super Saiyan was a cathartic culmination of the Namek Saga
Immediately after that, Super Saiyan’s value rapidly decreased through Android, Cell and Buu sagas.
In the Super era, Toriyama stopped caring about the Super Saiyan form at all.
You should too.
The year was 1991. Dragon Ball — both the manga and the anime — was approaching the final stretch of the Namek Saga, and Goku had finally managed to land the biggest attack on Frieza, by borrowing the energy from the entire Universe to charge a massive Spirit Bomb. The Evil Emperor seemed completely annihilated — for about five minutes, up until he came back, and violently murdered Goku’s best friend Krilin.
In a bout of righteous rage, Goku taps into a wellspring of power previously unknown to him, something that was only foretold in Saiyan legends — the Super Saiyan form. With it, he instantly overpowers Frieza, not just soundly defeating, but thoroughly humbling his opponent in a cathartic, if prolonged, beatdown.
Back when it first aired, the Super Saiyan was the stuff of legends, both in Dragon Ball, and in the real world. Then, Toriyama’s writing happened.
The rapid devaluation of Super Sayan
In the very next major arc, we are introduced to the Androids — a threat so big that even Super Saiyans (plural, we’ve got three at this point) can’t hope to defeat them. Well, Vegeta goes through two of the weaker models, only to get his Super Saiyan behind easily handed to him by Android 18. And there’s an even bigger threat in Cell, who assimilates other Androids to get stronger.
So what do our suddenly not-so-special Super Saiyans do? They train, of course. Some go for raw power increase, some try to stabilize their forms to maintain them easily (also, Goku’s first born son Gohan unlocks his Super Saiyan form rather easily to make it four), and through the power of training and a last-minute rage powerup (later dubbed Super Saiyan 2), they manage to overcome this threat.
Then, comes the Buu arc. There’s one more Super Saiyan form, and two more Super Saiyans running around, and guess what — it’s not enough anymore. Freshly introduced fusion techniques and the ol’ unreliable Spirit Bomb save the day this time around.
The treatment of Super Saiyan in Super is not surprising
When Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami) aired, one particular thing confused or even enraged many Dragon Ball fans — the fact that in order to give Goku literal godhood, Vegeta’s yet-to-be-born baby achieved the Super Saiyan form. Then in Dragon Ball Super, there was a similar controversy, when Saiyans from a parallel universe unlocked their super forms through a mundane “tingly back feeling” and…
Look. As much of a climactic moment the very first Super Saiyan transformation was, this form is not much of a milestone anymore. If anything, current day Super Saiyan is a baseline for strength in Dragon Ball, and anything below it is not worth Goku’s attention. Hell, even Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (the blue hairdo) stopped being impressive soon after its introduction, so why do we even care? The story stopped revering the base Super Saiyan during the Cell saga, so there’s no need to cling to what was barely even there.
