Summary
Solely spoken of in legends until its debut inDragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, the Legendary Super Saiyan form is a bit of an anomaly, inthat only a few chosen Saiyans have evergained access to it in history. Throughout theDragon Ballfranchise, beginning withDragon Ball Zall the way up toDragon Ball Super, only three characters have been depicted in this form.
Moreover, two of them are simply variations of the same character, illustrating the form’s uniqueness within the canon of theDragon Ballfranchise. As an unpredictable state of near limitless power which pushes the user to go on destructive rampages,the Legendary Super Saiyan form has beenthe subject of much fascination, due to how it embodies some of the core traits of the Saiyan race.
What Is The Legendary Super Saiyan Form?
Noted to appear only once in a millennium, the Legendary Super Saiyan transformation is bestowed upon a very small group of Saiyans with immense potential. In terms of design, the various versions of this form diverge considerably fromthe standard line of Super Saiyan transformations.
For starters, users of this form generally power up to the Super Saiyan C-Type transformation, which is theirequivalent of the standard Super Saiyan form. In a slight departure from the form’s general traits, the Super Saiyan C-Type used byDragon Ball Z’sBroly has dull yellow hair, whereas the variant accessed by Kale grants her increased muscle mass, height, and dull yellow hair with a tinge of green.
Upon powering up this form sufficiently, the user will achieve the Legendary Super Saiyan state. Every version of the Legendary Super Saiyan form is a powered upevolution of the first Super Saiyan transformation. Due to how this transformation augments a user’s muscle mass by a considerable degree, the Legendary Super Saiyan form is somewhat comparable to the Super Saiyan Third Grade state, with one key difference.
Unlike Super Saiyan Third Grade’s main weakness, which comes as a consequence of sacrificing speed for power,the Legendary Super Saiyan form boastsincredible agility and mobility. This functions well in proportion with the heightened strength afforded by the transformation. Lastly, the Legendary Super Saiyan form also tends to be focused solely on brawling and exerting brute force, and users adopt a heavyweight fighting style centered on grabs, slams, and crushing blows to make full use of their overwhelming strength.
A Berserk State Fueled By Rage
In every one of its iterations throughout theDragon Ballfranchise,the Legendary Super Saiyan form has exhibitedcharacteristics of a berserker state. Virtually all of its users gain unfathomable power, rivaling even the strongest characters in the franchise, upon activating this transformation.
However, the drawback to this form is the manner in which it clouds a user’s judgment, turning them into a rage-fueled monster whose sole intent is to kill. In extreme cases, this can lead to the user losing control and attacking everything and everyone around them indiscriminately.Both versions of Broly, along with Kale, were prone to going berserk whenever they deployed this form in combat. Furthermore, the key to unlocking this transformation appears to be intense negative emotions such as hatred, anger, or sorrow.
When spoken of in ancient Saiyan folk tales, the Legendary Super Saiyan was said to be a being of untold power whose instinct-driven nature exemplified the true essence of the Saiyan race’s lust for battle.According to the legends of Universe 6’s SaiyansfromDragon Ball Super, the Legendary Super Saiyan is a demonic form that forces its user’s power to grow indefinitely as they embark on an endless rampage, until they eventually run out of energy and die.
The Differences Between Each Incarnation
Both Kale andDragon Ball Super’sBroly exude a green aura of ki and have solid green hair after undergoing this transformation. They also grow considerably taller and gain enhanced muscle mass, with Broly reaching a height of over three meters when using this form. ThroughoutDragon Ball Super, the depiction of this form is consistent enough to identify Kale and Broly asinheritors of the Legendary Super Saiyan’s power.
Alternatively,Dragon Ball Z’sBroly initially has lime green hair which turns golden when he powers up. One other distinguishing feature of this transformation is the absence of pupils and irises, which make the user look far more maniacal and unhinged than their base state. Essentially, all this ties into the truenature of the Legendary Super Saiyan transformationand its mythical origins.
Kale’s Legendary Super Saiyan form occasionally featured bursts of bio-electricity, and it also had a final variant, after she mastered its power and gained control of it, ending the berserk rampages that typified her use of this transformation. In this state, she retains thecyan pupils of the standard Super Saiyanform, as her general demeanor is far calmer, indicating that she can now channel the transformation’s power of her own free will.
With respect to its power scaling in theDragon Ballfranchise,the Legendary Super Saiyan form ofDragon Ball Z’sBroly completely overpowered Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks when they were in their normal Super Saiyan states. Even Gohan had a hard time against him while using Super Saiyan 2, and needed assistance from Goku, Goten, and Trunks to finally defeat him.
Due to the shift in the power system ofDragon Ball Super, the Legendary Super Saiyan forms of Kale and this series' version of Broly are scaled slightly differently when compared to the original form in theDragon Ball Zmovies. Both forms have been depicted as being able to fightevenly with a user of Super Saiyan Blue.
The sole exception here was Gogeta’s Super Saiyan Blue form, due to the temporary boost in power granted by the Fusion Dance. In the anime version of the Tournament of Power, only Goku’s Ultra Instinct Sign form could decisivelyoverpower Kale’s Legendary Super Saiyan, and even Super Saiyan Blue would not have been able to defeat it particularly easily.
Boundless Power That Corrupts Its Wielder
Unfortunately, a major common feature among all threeusers of the Legendary Super Saiyan form, is the lack of control they initially displayed in wielding it. Although they were gentle Saiyans in their base form, the Legendary Super Saiyan transformation turned Kale and both versions of Broly into mindless forces of nature whose only purpose was to eradicate all life in their vicinity.
Despite the extent to which the transformation’s power clouds a user’s judgment, Kale andboth versions of Broly were exceedingly effectivein their battles against the Dragon Team. That being said, the strain of using the transformation heavily drains a user’s ki, which makes the form fade quite quickly when deployed in battle.
When a user’s ki runs out, they willrevert to their normal Super Saiyan form, and regain some sense of clarity in the process. Kale’s overuse of the form initially put her life in danger, as she was pushing her body beyond its limits to sustain it.
Even though allLegendary Super Saiyans may appear to havealmost infinite power that only grows stronger with each passing fight, their bodies will eventually run out of energy and be pushed to the brink of death if things are taken too far. Fortunately, both Kale and Broly fromDragon Ball Superwere able to master the form and retain their self-awareness, to channel its potential more effectively.
Why Is This Form Significant?
At the time of its introduction, theLegendary Super Saiyan form was oneof the earliest character-specific transformations unique to the Saiyan race in theDragon Ballfranchise. This essentially tied the form to its sole wielder at the time, to the point where Broly’s name became synonymous with it. Once the form re-emerged inDragon Ball Super, it was given a new lease of life by Kale’s introduction.
Subsequently, inDragon Ball Super: Broly, the form was once again recontextualized in the canon of the series, equating it to a higher power level than the previous version inDragon Ball Z. This feature filmalso introduced a new version of Brolyinto the series' canon, which tempered some of his more extreme qualities and turned him into a more sympathetic anti-hero character.
AsDragon Ball Superprogressed, and new divine transformations, such as Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken and Super Saiyan Blue Evolved were revealed, the saturation of such transformations inspired a new course for theDragon Ballfranchise. The introduction of the Gods of Destruction and the Angels led to the incorporation of character-specifictransformations for each of the Saiyansin the main cast.
Since the Broly fromDragon Ball Superhas now become the newest ally of the Dragon Team, who is honing his power alongside Goku and Vegeta, it stands to reason that his version of the Legendary Super Saiyan form will be the basis for his own evolution. At a point where character-specific forms such as Goku’s Ultra Instinct, Vegeta’s Ultra Ego, and Gohan’s Beast are stealing the spotlight, a revamped take of a classic Super Saiyan form, may be exactlywhat is needed to give Broly some timeto shine on his own.
