Ok, that's on the outside, but What about on the Inside?

The Saiyajin's taste for violence is a characteristic that distinguises them from all the other races. These constant desire of battle is an instinctive mechanism to become stronger, because every time a Saiyajin is hurt, he becomes stronger when he heals... and the Saiyajin heal quick... Goku was sent down to Earth to destroy all civilization on it as he grew up, and for the first weeks of his Earthly life he was extremely violent to his adoptive grandfather, Son Gohan. One day he tripped while playing and hit his head really hard, wich partially blocked his killer instinct. Goku never attacked everything that moved again, but he felt great pleasure when he fought anyone as strong or stronger than him.

One more thing is the Saiyajin's abbility to become really strong really quick. For some reason training has a much greater effect on them than any other race. One very far-fetched medical hypothesis could be that they have an abnormally high concentration of endorphins (the body's natural pain killers and pleasure drugs) and hormones (testosterone and androstenol make u build muscle); wich would explain their resistance to pain, their abbility to develop such strenght and their charm with women : )

So speaking of becoming really strong, What's up with that Super Saiyajin thing?

The Super Saiyajin (SSJ) is a legend among the Saiyajin. They believed that an invincible warrior would be born every 1000 years among them and that he would lead them to a golden age of prosperity thru war and conquest. For a long time, Vegeta was believed to be that legendary SSJ, because he was of royal blood (the Saiyajin king was not always chosen by royal succession, but for sheer power. Vegeta's family had been in power for a long time), and therefore possesed an excelent genetic code. He showed an awesome power ever since he was a little kid. It was this amazing power that made Freeza fear of the SSJ legend and kill all the Saiyajin. Imagine Vegeta's surprise when he saw it was GOku, and not him, who became the legendary SSJ. This, and the fact that he saw his grown up son come back in time and go SSJ made Vegeta realize there could be more than one SSJ, and that, since he had a better blood that "kakkarotto", he would become a much more powerful SSJ. Vegeta's problem was that since he was potentially stronger than Goku, he had to surpass a much grater limit than him to go SSJ.

So how does a SSJ look like? On the first stage, SSJ1, the fighter's hair stands up and turns golden, his eyes turn green or blue and his muscular mass, speed and power grown considerably. On the second stage, SSJ2, or, as Goku calls it, Cho(beyond)-SSJ, the fighter's hair tilts back a little bit, stands up more and his power and speed grown even more. However, there's no substantial growth in the musclura mass. On the next stage, SSJ3, or as Goku calls it, Cho-Cho-SSJ3, the fighter's hair grows down bellow his waist, his face gets much leaner and eforms to the point eyebrows no longer exist, and of course, the fighter's speed, power and muscles grow even more. Extreme rage activates the first 2 transformations. Goku reached SSJ1 when Freeza killed Krilin, and Gohan reached SSJ2 when Cell destroyed #16. SSJ3 doesn't require extreme rage, it can be achieved thru hard training. This is why Gotenks went straight from SSJ1 to SSJ3. Only Goku and Gotenks reached SSJ3 in DBZ So what does it take to become a SSJ? First, the fighter must be at least 50% Saiyajin, go beyonfd a regular Saiyajin's power and have a pure heart. If going SSJ is a male prerrogative reamins to be seen, but it sure looks that way. Vegeta reached SSJ1 because his heart was pure... pure evil... the pure hear requisite looses relevence later on the series, until it's almost forgotten. Now, why the kids became SSJ1 so easily is one of the greatest mysteries of teh DB Universe, since Goten and Trunks reached SSJ1 at the ages of 5 and 6 respectively. No one knows the answer, except, of course, maybe Akira Toriyama himself. There may not even be an answer at all, and maybe Akira Toriyama just felt like it and made it happen. Anyhoo, Alexander Chen has a very interestintg theory

According to him, it's all genetic. It has been proved that when cross-breeding 2 species of similar plants the offspring often results much stronger. If this is the case with plants, it could be the case with humanoid races. If so, this would explain why Gohan, Goten and Trunks are so strong. It may be possible too that the SSJ transformation has an efect on the warrior's genetic code, wich would make it easier for his descendance to go SSJ

This would explain why Goku and Vegeta took so long to become SSJ, since their fathers never reached it; and why Gohan reached a much higher level than Goku when he was his age. Since Gohan was born before Goku reached SSJ for the first time, it's clear why it took 12 years for him to go SSJ, while Goten, who was born after Goku reached SSJ, reached SSJ1 at the age of 5.

So what's all that about SSJ4 I've been reading everywhere?

In DBZ, the highest level reached by a Saiyajin was SSJ3, by Goku and Gotenks. Level 4 is supposed to be the maximum level a Saiyajin can reach, but this si not revealed but until Dragon Ball GT. I don't go too deep in this particular subject because DBGT was not created by Akira Toriyama, but by his students and artistic team. For many of us out there, DBGT is an apocryphal document. Anyway, in DBGT, Goku is taken back to his childhood accidentally by the infamous Pilaf, using the new Eath Dragon Balls.

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