Super Saiyan Red Original Concept

(fan rendering of what Super Saiyan Red may have originally looked like)

Super Saiyan Red, one of the transformations introduced by Dragon Ball Super, is a subject of some controversy. For one: the design is far from being impressive as most people will tell you, very disappointing. On the most part it is just a color swap of his base form, but the thing that is interesting is, the design that is used was not the original design for this transformation.

The original concept of Super Saiyan Red was supposed to have been more muscular with Goku wearing a cloak and having a hairstyle somewhere in between Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan 4. Wow, that sounds cool! The final transformation design kept Goku's hair magenta red which is the same as his fur-color in Super Saiyan 4, while Vegeta hair is crimson red hair. The original ties being between Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan 4 suggests that it may have originally been intended as an "in between" transformation between Super Saiyan 3 and 4.

I would have loved to have seen Super Saiyan Red's original concept art, because what we got in the series is not that impressive visually. The design choice could have been due to budget, or simply laziness, because it has been stated that transformations like Super Saiyan 3 take more work and time to animate. Another controversy is that Super Saiyan Red, as called by Goten, is more popularly known as Super Saiyan Goddo(super saiyan god). As Dragon Ball Super progresses the series makes it clear that Goku is not a god, and his transformation does little good against some of the most powerful beings in the universe. The more powerful transformation, Super Saiyan Blue, is most often called "Super Saiyan Blue," although it was originally called, "super saiyan god super saiyan," a ridiculous name. Super Saiyan Red and Super Saiyan Blue have grown to be the more accurate terms to describe these two new transformations.