Saiyan Beyond God: Goku's god ki state from Resurrection F

Saiyan Beyond God is real. It's an official state of being in which Goku and Vegeta tap into and pull from their god ki reserves without transforming into Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue. It's a mysterious power up that not many people have talked about, so I've gathered what I know about what it is, where it came from and how it fits into Goku and Vegeta's progression.

Toriyama's 2013 comment suggested Super Saiyan God might not return

Shortly after Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was released in 2013, Akira Toriyama was asked in an interview whether Goku would be able to transform into god in the future. Toriyama said that in the movie Goku had already absorbed Super Saiyan God's power and made it his own, so there was no need for him to transform into god in the future.

Over time that turned out not to be the case, because Goku did use Super Saiyan God again later. At the time, though, it made sense to think we would never see the form again. In the follow up to Battle of Gods, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F in 2015, Goku tapped into a new power, known then as Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, also called Super Saiyan Blue. Never seeing Super Saiyan God again was a possibility. In its place, we were given Saiyan Beyond God.

Saiyan Beyond God comes from the official Resurrection F pamphlet

This is not something fans made up. Saiyan Beyond God exists and was discussed in the official Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F movie pamphlet that was handed out to people who went to see the film in theaters in 2015. Anyone lucky enough to see it in Japan may have a copy, and that pamphlet covers Saiyan Beyond God.

Goku's god ki was imprinted on him at the end of Battle of Gods

To understand Saiyan Beyond God, we have to go back to the end of Battle of Gods. While Goku was fighting Beerus as a Super Saiyan God, he lost the ability to maintain the form. Somehow, though, his god power was imprinted onto his body, and his mind and body were able to remember how to use it properly. In short, Goku got a piece of god ki infused inside him more or less permanently.

From there it took training, which we did not see on screen at the time. It wasn't until Dragon Ball Super gave us the filler episodes between Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, episodes 15 through 18, that we saw Goku and Vegeta learning more about god ki, learning how to tap into it at will and what it took to get there. That is what Saiyan Beyond God became.

Goku fought Frieza in what looked like his base form

We did not see Saiyan Beyond God in battle until Resurrection F, when Goku fights Frieza. In the movie, Frieza wonders why Goku isn't transforming into a Super Saiyan, and Goku remarks that he doesn't need to. That was Goku hiding the fact that he had a stronger form, Super Saiyan Blue. At that point he chose to fight Frieza hand to hand in his base form.

But was it really his base form? The answer is not exactly.

Saiyan Beyond God is a state of being, not a true transformation

Technically, Saiyan Beyond God is not an actual transformation. I'm still including it in this guide, mostly because it fits the chronology of Goku and Vegeta's ascension into their knowledge of god energy, so I think it's important to include. In some ways it could also be seen as a transformation. What it really is, though, is a state of being: Goku and Vegeta pulling from their god ki reserves without transforming into Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue.

Some folks have called it the new base form. That makes sense, but not entirely. Whis explains in Dragon Ball Super that they have to learn how to contain the god energy inside them, and that is the secret of god ki. Goku and Vegeta don't have god ki activated 24 hours a day. They have to activate this power with their mind, body and spirit, which is why I say it could be a transformation.

Unlike Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue, it does not change their physical appearance. They keep their black hair, with no extra spikiness or any other physical change, with the exception of maybe a bright white, divine looking energy that surrounds them. In the first part of Goku's fight with Frieza, before Frieza goes Golden and before Goku taps into Blue, they're using Saiyan Beyond God.

So Goku and Vegeta can access god ki in battle without fully transforming into a different form. They pull it from their internal spirit and can gauge how much god ki they want to use before going all out with Super Saiyan God, and later Blue. It allows more control in battle. And when they are already tapping into Saiyan Beyond God and transform into a Super Saiyan from there, that's when you get Super Saiyan Blue. It's like the god base form.

Why I reject the calls to rename Super Saiyan God

Many people have said in the past that Super Saiyan God should have been called Saiyan God, and Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan should have been called Super Saiyan God. "I kind of get tired of hearing it," and I hate that argument, because you can't go back in time. Battle of Gods was written first, the form was called Super Saiyan God first, and you can't just change things.

On top of that, Super Saiyan God is an actual physical transformation, whereas Saiyan Beyond God is what you would call a Saiyan god with no transformation.

Toyotaro's Resurrection F manga gave an early hint

The first implication of how this worked was in Toyotaro's Resurrection F promotional manga, which came out before the film. There's a pretty famous panel of Goku training with Vegeta, and as he attacks, you see an image of Super Saiyan God in the background. It's a symbolic image of Goku tapping into god ki without turning into Super Saiyan God.

The Dragon Ball Super anime's version makes no sense to me

There has been some discussion that the Dragon Ball Super anime changed this. I can't stand the anime's Resurrection F arc, because Toei Animation took liberties with the story and changed a bunch of things around, which is annoying. In the anime, they say that when Goku and Vegeta use Saiyan Beyond God, they aren't using god ki but are elevating their regular ki to godlike levels.

I'm sorry, but "that never made any sense to me." It's more of the Toei Animation nonsense that annoys me. To me, the definition of Saiyan Beyond God based on the Resurrection F movie and the movie pamphlet makes the most sense.

Stronger than Super Saiyan 3, but maybe not as strong as God and Blue

Goku and Vegeta are stronger in Resurrection F than they were in Battle of Gods. Goku's Saiyan Beyond God may not be as strong as a full Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue, but it is still more powerful than the older Super Saiyan forms like Super Saiyan 1, 2 and 3. With Saiyan Beyond God, Goku can choose how much energy he puts in without fully transforming, so there are benefits, including stamina that is better controlled.

Saiyan Beyond God was used briefly later, but it's hard to tell because Dragon Ball Super moves so quickly that you can't really tell when Goku is using it. We know for certain that the biggest time it was spotlighted was Resurrection F. Goku battles Frieza's fourth form in what looks to be his base form, which would have been impossible on Namek, and he can do it because of Saiyan Beyond God.

Remember, too, that Frieza trained. This is a different Frieza. His fourth form in Resurrection F one shotted Gohan and pulled off other feats that surpass other Dragon Ball Z villains. It's a different level of Frieza and a different level of Goku, even if you couldn't tell right away, because they look the way they always have.

The Goku Black theory remains unproven

There is fan speculation that Goku Black also has this power, but it has never been proven. It's tough to say, because Goku Black powers up with a strange purple, evil energy, and some have said it's his polluted version of Saiyan Beyond God before he hits Rosé. All we can do is guess that maybe that's what it was. Either way, the form that comes after Saiyan Beyond God is Super Saiyan Blue.