How Super Saiyan Blue Works, From Toriyama's Notes to Its Stamina Drain

The golden haired Super Saiyan form is iconic because it represents a whole generation of anime fandom, led by Goku in Dragon Ball Z. If you look for the form that plays the same role in the Dragon Ball renaissance, the one tied to the marketing of Dragon Ball Super and everything around it, it's Super Saiyan Blue. To me, it's "the modern equivalent of super saiyan" as the poster form for what Dragon Ball has become, and this guide covers where Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, better known as Super Saiyan Blue, came from and how it works.

Super Saiyan Blue traces back to Battle of Gods and a fan art idea

The roots of Super Saiyan Blue go back to Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods in 2013. That film kicked off the Dragon Ball Z renaissance and eventually led to Dragon Ball Super premiering as a television series, alongside a promotional manga.

Before any of that happened, I distinctly remember fan art of a hypothetical Super Saiyan God form for Vegeta set after Battle of Gods, in which Vegeta had blue hair. That was all fan art, but in this case a piece of fan art would become a reality. It's unclear whether Toriyama borrowed the concept, and we'll never know. What we do know is that during preproduction for Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, while writing the script, Toriyama decided to introduce a new level of Super Saiyan beyond God. The godly base form that leads into it is Saiyan Beyond God.

Toriyama's notes named it Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan before the Blue rename

Before it was ever called Super Saiyan Blue, Toriyama submitted his notes to Toei Animation during preproduction. He drew Goku and Vegeta with Super Saiyan hair, but blue, and wrote the name Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan next to it, in Japanese of course. Those were the original names, and the majority of the games and some other promotional material still use them.

For a few months, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan was the definitive name. Then, with the Dragon Ball Super manga, where Toyotaro had begun writing the arc following Resurrection F, it was decided, likely by the corporate office, to rename the form Super Saiyan Blue. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan is a bit redundant, and Super Saiyan Blue is much easier to say. Both names are official and both are accurate.

Blue is an upgrade on Super Saiyan God, and Toriyama chose the color for composure

With the concept, Toriyama fused past and present. He explains, as Goku does in the film, that the form is the result of a Saiyan who has the power of Super Saiyan God within him and knowledge of god ki transforming into a Super Saiyan. That makes it an upgraded, stronger version of Super Saiyan God.

There were many debates about this a few years back. For a long time, some people thought God was stronger than Blue, because of misinformation spread by poor quality Dragon Ball websites. It's been confirmed throughout most of Super, and by anybody with common sense, that Blue is the upgraded form. The confusion came because Toriyama once said red was a strong color, but he was talking about the color, not the form.

In interviews about Goku, Toriyama says he chose during preproduction to make Goku's hair blue to express that Goku had overcome his limits and learned to be a more balanced, tranquil fighter who keeps his composure, as opposed to having his power drop out the way it did with Super Saiyan God in Battle of Gods. We later found out that in the early creation stages, Toriyama toyed with white hair but settled on blue because he felt white would clash with the color of the next enemy.

We're not sure whether he meant Frieza or Zamasu. I find it hard to believe Toriyama had the Goku Black arc planned while making Resurrection F, since that arc started a year after the film and a year and a half to two years after its preproduction. So I don't think he meant Zamasu. I'm guessing he meant Frieza, who has light, grayish whitish skin, although some would say it's Zamasu. Toriyama never elaborated, but he did say he'd save white hair for another occasion. Later we got completed Ultra Instinct, a light silver that's close to white.

The transformation in Resurrection F also echoes older forms. Super Saiyan Blue looks like the old Super Saiyan, except that when he transforms, ball like blue auras gleam off his body. It isn't lightning like Super Saiyan 2. It's more like pure, soft energy, what you'd imagine god ki would look like, very tranquil. In many ways, the form feels fitting for what Toriyama wanted.

A 2015 toy leak and a March screening revealed the form

I have a lot of nostalgia for this form. The first leak in 2015 was a toy, and I swear I thought it was a bootleg. I remember covering it in my early days. These were miniatures from Japan showing Goku and Vegeta with blue hair, and I thought they were fake. Then we learned there were new forms to be revealed in the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game, and shortly before the movie premiered, we did see the blue haired form.

Resurrection F had a prescreening in March 2015, about two weeks before release, and there was also a Los Angeles screening. That's where it was confirmed that Goku and Vegeta, Vegeta being a surprise, had Super Saiyan Blue, then called Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, as their new showcase forms. They went on to become the iconic forms of the modern Dragon Ball era.

Goku and Vegeta reached Blue by combining god ki with Super Saiyan know how

Super Saiyan Blue can be confusing, and it was for many people at first. What follows draws on the Dragon Ball Super anime and manga, Resurrection F, and supplemental material from interviews and Jump magazine scans. I'm focusing on the initial version of Blue here, not upgrades like Blue Evolution or completed Blue.

In Battle of Gods, Goku got a taste of god ki through the ritual. Vegeta did it a totally different way, gaining the power of a god by training with Whis, which has been confirmed multiple times. Goku, having tasted the God form, explored that power further through his own training with Whis. Dragon Ball Super episodes 13 through 18, set between Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, teased what would become Blue, although we'd already seen it in the movie.

When a Saiyan uses god ki correctly and transforms, he becomes a Super Saiyan God. With enough knowledge and training, Goku and Vegeta combined their understanding of the traditional golden Super Saiyan transformation with divine energy, and that produces Super Saiyan Blue. At that point in the series, the only characters to achieve it were Goku, Vegeta and their fusions Vegito and Gogeta. Goku Black has his own version, which is a separate story. Had Goku and Vegeta not already known how Super Saiyan transformations work, it would probably have taken them much longer to reach Blue, though that's hypothetical.

When Resurrection F came out, many of us questioned whether we'd see the original non divine Super Saiyan forms again. It turned out there was a reason for them, revealed in the manga but never really in the anime. In short, Goku and Vegeta can tap into either regular ki or divine ki and choose whichever transformation path they want, as per Whis's training.

Blue keeps energy stable, but the manga says it drains stamina

Super Saiyan Blue lets Goku and Vegeta hold their energy without it leaking out, making it a very stable combat form, unlike forms that can break on you, such as Super Saiyan 3. They can also raise its power through training and combat. That's why we see Goku constantly evolving across his fights with Frieza, Goku Black and Jiren: Blue gets stronger because Goku himself is getting stronger.

But "it's not all sunshine and roses." According to the Dragon Ball Super manga, the form drains stamina on transformation. Early on we learned that if it's used multiple times, it can drop the user's power and speed by anywhere close to 90 percent. That's why Vegeta had problems fighting Hit in the manga while Goku did much better. Goku even said the form requires too much power to start a battle, which explains why they open fights in non divine forms before switching to god forms to conserve stamina.

I don't believe the Goku Black arc's instant God to Blue switching was seen again

During the Goku Black arc in the manga, they figured out how to switch between God and Blue in an instant, using Super Saiyan God for its speed and power boost and Blue for more concentrated power in their attacks. This doesn't mean God is faster or stronger than Blue. It means God puts less strain on the body. So they fought in red for most of the fight and switched to blue right before a blow struck.

We never saw this in the anime, so it's tough to say whether it was Toriyama's idea or Toyotaro's. I don't believe we saw it again after that arc. God and Blue returned in the Tournament of Power and Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but using Blue in short bursts was singular to the Goku Black arc.

To me, that shows how much Goku and Vegeta learned about the form as Super progressed, to the point where in the anime Goku can hold himself back even in Super Saiyan God and control how much power he puts out. Some may see that as a contradiction, but I see it as a deeper, fundamental understanding of how the form works.