LogFAQs > #964945611

Scotty_Rogers posted...

Him turning SS2 in the Time Chamber was anime filler shown in a flashback after he had already transformed against Cell. There wasn't any buildup to SS2; after Goku decided that the buff forms were useless, he and Gohan decided to only focus on mastering the regular SS1. From that point on, all talk about reaching a new form was over; it's only right before Gohan turns SS2 that Goku suddenly talks about Gohan having to get angry to beat Cell, but that didn't suggest he was going to reach a new form, either.

The entire theme behind the power struggle in the Android/Cell saga was to find a power beyond the regular SSJ. The term Super Saiyan 2 wasnt even coined until the Buu saga. Gohans transformation against Cell was him figuring out how to significantly boost both his power and speed at magnitude levels beyond SSJ. In reality, Super Saiyan 2 isnt even a transformation; its the full mastery of the Super Saiyan form.

Therefore, this theme was vastly explored upon during the entirety of the Cell saga, and ultimately Goku, Vegeta and Trunks could not figure out how to do it. They talk of reaching a new form never left, 1) because that was never the goal, and 2) because Goku knew that if anyone could figure it out, it would be Gohan due to his hidden potential.

SSJ2 was coined as an official term later on mainly to push merchandise, and to give a tiering system to make SSJ3 stand out as king of Super Saiyan transformation (which was also done to push merchandise).