Dragon Ball’s Goku first becomes a Super Saiyan deep into the series’ timeline and well after the events of the original manga and anime’s story, but in a new piece of fanart, Goku reaches his Super Saiyan form while still a child and while fighting King Piccolo to boot!
Recently posted on Instagram by @salvamakoto, this account uploads a lot of inventive Dragon Ball content that can’t be seen anywhere else, and for good reason. Using an art style that’s practically identical to what fans see in the Dragon Ball anime and manga, @salvamakoto often draws images that mix characters from this fictional universe with others — like DC Comics, Disney, Pokémon, and more — and even gives their followers fresh takes on iconic Dragon Ball scenes tweaked in ways that aren’t always canon, with this piece of fanart a perfect example of that.
Goku Ascends To His Super Saiyan Form As A Kid!
Originally going Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z during an epic battle with Frieza, Goku never came close to reaching this level of power in the original Dragon Ball series; unless you count him transforming into a Great Ape, that is. And thanks to the incredibly talented @salvamakoto, the version of Kid Goku seen in Dragon Ball that defeated the evil King Piccolo by punching his entire body through his chest not only ascends to the Super Saiyan level well before he does in the series' canon but ends up looking great — and understandably a lot like Super Saiyan Goten — when doing it too!
Drawn standing with his back turned to the camera so that fans can clearly see his pre-Dragon Ball Z tail, torn gi, and short stature, Goku’s yellow spiked hair, blue eyes, and rippling golden aura sees him transform at a moment that would have made his struggle against the villainous King Piccolo (as seen snarling in the upper right-hand corner of the image) a piece of cake. Not only that, but having the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan at that young of an age means that if this alternate series of events ever came to be, it stands to reason that by the time Goku fights Frieza on an exploding Namek, he might have mastered the Super Saiyan 2 transformation or beyond, allowing him to crush Frieza, Cell, and probably even Majin Buu before they had a chance to blink.
Of course, @salvamakoto’s fanart is only a fun look at a Dragon Ball scene that never truly happened, but at least fans now know what Kid Goku would look like in full Super Saiyan mode. The only thing left to wonder is if Goku still took out King Piccolo the same way he did in the original Dragon Ball series, golden hair and all!
Source: @salvamakoto