A Saiyan is an alien from the planet Vegita. A Saiyan is a very powerful warrior, who loves to fight no matter how bad the odds are. A Saiyan could be mistaken for a human, except for their brown tail. The tail is where a Saiyan gets most of their power from. Plus, if a Saiyan looks at the full moon when he has his tail, he will turn into a giant monkey, and his power will be multiplied by a factor of ten. Also, if a Saiyan is severely injured in combat and than healed, his power level will increase. Another fact about Saiyans are that if a lower class Saiyan gets his tail grabbed, his power will drop to 0 and he will be in extreme pain. Saiyan Elite's, however, do not have this weakness.

A Super Saiyan is said to be the most powerful being in the universe, and only comes once ever thousand years.  During the Rikum fight when Vegita first discovered that Goku was a Super Saiyan he said that one comes along every 3 thousand years ago and that the last Super Saiyan was killed by his own power.  This Saiyan Vegita was talking about could of been a Super Saiyan 4. Basically, the nature of SSJ1 to SSJ3 revolves around the length and color of the hair, plus the amount of bulk on the body.

If a Saiyans power level is high enough, it usually takes extreme anger to give it that extra boost, they can go Super Saiyan. When they go SSJ (SSJ is the abbreviation for Super Saiyan but you should all know that anyway) their hair turns yellow and there eyes turn green. Their power level is increased alot and all there other attributes. Goku was the first character to go SSJ, he was then able to beat Freiza. Freiza killed Krillin and that was what triggered Goku to go SSJ.

First of all, the reason saiyans have tails is so they can transform. If a saiyan looks into a full moon they will transform into a giant ape (or oozaru). Their power is multiplied 10 times. However, if a saiyans tail is cut off or removed they will no longer be able to transform. Goku got his tail surgically removed when he was young so he can't transform.

Used only in the movies, this was a state of power Goku reached which was not exactly Super Saiyan, nor was it normal. Think of it as half-and-half. Goku is the only one to use this form against Slug in one of the movies

Physical Description: Goldish black hair

A highly powerful state, Super-Saiyan is only released with intense rage by a saiyan with a pure heart. (This means pure evil is capable of going SSJ as well) During this state, the saiyan's hair will turn bright blond in color, and the eyes become a greenish-blue tone. Half human, half saiyan hybrids tend to go SSJ at a younger age then pure bloods. This level of the Super Saiyan was first done by Goku in the Frieza saga after Krillin was killed.  He got pissed and let his rage go and went Super Saiyan. Once in the SSJ state, the Saiyans heart is filled with anger. Because of this, Goku cannot form a Genki Dama when he's in the SSJ state since he needs to have a pure heart to do so. An interesting fact is that the SSJ we normally see, (the blond hair etc.), is actually a weird transformation. The true Legendary Super Sayian who existed 1,000 years before Dragon Ball Z did not change in that fashion. He became a golden Oozaru. The reason Goku and the rest change differently is because their tales are removed.

Who can perform it: Gohan, Goten, Vegita, Trunks, Gotenks and Vegitto (In the movies only, Brolly was the Legendary SSJ) are able to do this.

Physical Description-Bigger muscles, greenish blue eye color, and long gold hair that stands up(It gets longer as the power increases). Has yellow wave, or lightning sometimes.

A sort of mid-level between SSJ and SSJ2, USSJ is a very strong, yet very slow form. It takes a long time to attain, and produces a lot of stress on the muscles causing them to vastly increase in size.

Who Can Perform it: Vegita, Goku and Trunks reach this stage when fighting Perfect Cell.

Physical Description: Looks a lot like Super Sayian Level 1, but with a bigger build.

Super Sayian Dai 3 Dankain "Ultimate Super Sayian Stage 3"-

This stage looks REALLY cool, unfortunately it's only used in battle once. The Sayian’s body becomes HUGE and muscular. The picture of Trunks in this state in the manga is really cool because his entire body fills the picture. The Sayian’s power is increased by a huge amount during while in this state, however because of the muscular pump-up, the Sayian is very slow moving and can leave openings for attacks if their opponent is skilled enough to spot them.

Who can Perform it: Trunks and Goku are the only ones who can do this when they fight Perfect Cell.

Physical Description: . The Sayian’s body becomes very big and muscular, due to the stress this form puts on the body.

Super Sayian 2 AKA "The Super Sayian beyond Super Sayian", was first seen being used by Gohan in the Cell Saga. Although it's arguable as to when he first really reached this level. (Some say in the Room of Spirit and Time, some say during the Cell Game) It's clear that this is the most suitable form of SSJ to be used in battle with strong villains. The Saiyan’s power is increased immensely and their speed does not suffer at all. And unlike Super Saiya-jin 3, it does not use up the character's energy as quickly.

Who can perform it:Son Gokou, Son Gohan, Vegita and Gotenks

Physical Description-Even bigger muscles than in level 1.  As noted in Level 1's description the gold hair gets longer, with lightning.

The most powerful SSJ attained in DBZ. SSJ is probably my favorite level just because it looks so COOL! The Saiya-jin's hair turns blond and their eyes turn turquoise, but the major change is that the Sayian’s hair grows to an incredibly long length and their eyebrows disappear. SSJ3 Gokou may even have been the strongest character in DBZ. Gokou says that if he were to reach Full Power SSJ3 he could defeat Kid Buu. Unfortunately, he never reaches Full Power because being in the SSJ3 state uses up a LOT of energy and Gokou ran out of energy before he could reach Full Power.
Who can perform it:Son Gokou and Gotenks

Physical Description- The eyebrows disappear and the Saiyan's hair grows thick, full, and VERY long

Super Saiyan Level  4

This isn't realy a Super Saiyan Level because he does not have gold hair. This is more like a more powerful level of monkey form. Goku first reached this level while fighting Bebi Vegita. The differences being that now, most of his body is covered in red fur, and his eyes are also outlined in red. And, he has his tail. Goku-4 may actually be the true Legendary Super Saiya-jin. Since Saiyan’s never pulled out their tails, it seems likely that if a Saiyan went ballistic, it would be during the Ouzaru phase. And, Goku's going ballistic before, (SSJ1) occurred when he didn't have his tail. Either way, the only way to accomplish Goku-4 is first, to have his tail extracted from his body again (regrown). Next, look at the full moon/Earth/whatever and turn into a golden were-monkey (not a normal occurrence, since most Saiyan Ouzaru have brown fur). Finally, make the power up (which involves either great rage, or longing) to Goku-4. Goku-4 is a LOT more powerful than SSJ-3 is. Later, Vegita is able to assume this form after Bulma uses a device she made called the Brute Ray.

Who can Perform it: Goku, Vegita, Gogeta

Physical Description-Mean looking with red monkey fur. Also has black hair and huge muscles.

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