Dragon Ball has spent decades turning Super Saiyan transformations into its biggest selling point, and a new ranking of the franchise's five greatest forms looks back at the moments that made them legendary. While Goku has become the unofficial face of the transformation, the list notes that Vegeta, Future Trunks, Broly and Gohan have all delivered some of the most memorable Super Saiyan awakenings.
Future Trunks' debut as a Super Saiyan is included for the devastation behind it. According to the ranking, his first transformation occurs in the Dragon Ball Z special The History of Trunks, which also establishes the bleak future he comes from. It is his grief over finding Future Gohan's lifeless body that turns his agony into power. The ranking points out that unlike Goku, who fights to surpass his next opponent, or Vegeta, who fights to surpass Goku, Future Trunks fought because stopping would have meant the extinction of humanity, and there was no way to bring back the only ally he had in his war against the Androids.
Goku's Super Saiyan 3 form earns a place for the sheer scale of its arrival. The transformation comes after Goku returns from seven years of training in the afterlife following the Cell Games, and the ranking notes that it required no emotional conflict to trigger, instead being the product of unrestricted training. The form's ridged eyebrows and long golden hair gave Goku a fiercer look, and the first unleashing of Super Saiyan 3 shook the entire planet, with his power felt across the universe and the sense that he might be able to stop Majin Buu.
Vegeta's first Super Saiyan transformation is credited to his ego. The ranking describes him as the third character in Dragon Ball Z to undergo the change, and argues that he proved the transformation did not require emotionally charged events such as the loss of loved ones. Instead, his pure rage and frustration at being left behind by Kakarot were enough to fulfill the legend, capped by his declaration that he may not be pure at heart but is pure evil, a moment the ranking says cements him as Goku's true rival.
Broly's Super Saiyan transformation is remembered for the damage it caused. The ranking notes that no one anticipated Broly beating Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta, before he went on to pound Golden Frieza. Broly first became the Legendary Super Saiyan in the 1993 movie Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, though the ranking states that his transformation in Dragon Ball Super: Broly is often considered superior, and it highlights Frieza's schemes as the secret ingredient behind the best Super Saiyan moments.
The ranking culminates with Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation, which it describes as embedded in anime history. The scene takes place in Episode 95 of Dragon Ball Z, when Goku is enraged by Frieza killing Krillin on Planet Namek. The ranking notes that this was the moment the long-told Super Saiyan legend proved true, and that the transformation's impact stems from an intense mix of pain, loss, grief and rage, with Goku forced to push past every imaginable boundary. It concludes that no matter how colorful later transformations become, the impact of Goku first bathing in a golden glow with fierce teal eyes will never be diminished.
Sources: Comic Book Resources.