Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation in Dragon Ball Z was a historic anime moment that continues to inspire future generations to this day. However, before finalizing Goku’s look, the late Akira Toriyama came close to altering the legendary form.

In the latest edition of the Toriyama Archives, the official Dragon Ball website shared some rarely-seen concept art of Goku in his Super Saiyan form in the 1991 movie Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge. The anime film follows Cooler as he goes to Earth to take revenge on Goku for killing his younger brother Frieza. Like many of the early Dragon Ball Z movies, the run time is under an hour and fits ambiguously into the series’ main timeline.

Super Saiyan Goku’s Eyes in DBZ: Cooler’s Revenge Were Almost Red Instead of Green

Although Toriyama’s concept art of Super Saiyan Goku doesn’t initially appear to be any different from how the character was portrayed in the TV anime, there is one significant change in his design: Goku’s eyes are colored red instead of the traditional teal color from the manga. “Serving to illuminate Goku as though by flame, the colors chosen are particularly impressive and demonstrate the emotional intensity of this transformation,” the official website stated. “Thinking that red might also work, Toriyama tried coloring Goku’s eyes that color in this image. However, in the feature film, true to the manga, they were ultimately colored teal.”

While future Super Saiyan transformations kept Goku’s eyes as teal, the red-colored eyes of Toriyama’s concept art eventually made their official anime appearance — over two decades later — via Super Saiyan God (Red) in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. Goku’s eyes changed again after achieving Super Saiyan Blue and Ultra Instinct Goku. Gohan also took after his father by inheriting red-colored eyes in his Beast Gohan form in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. These alternate transformations and more will soon be available to see anew in the upcoming fighting game Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero.

A Rejected Goku Design Reveals That Dragon Ball’s Hero Almost Had a Completely Different Weapon

A new feature from the official Toriyama Archive reveals that Son Goku originally wielded a weapon completely different from his early Power Pole.

The Dragon Ball anime TV series and movies are available to stream on Crunchyroll. Viz Media is the English distributor of the manga. Dragon Ball Daima, set to become the newest iteration of the franchise’s anime adaptations, will premiere in the fall as part of DB’s 40th anniversary celebrations. The highly anticipated Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero video game was recently provided with an official release date of Oct. 11, 2024.