Why did the Super designs revert to the Z designs so much?

[Jord]

Super had some cool unique designtweaks such as the beards for Goku and Vegeta, Gohan's track suit and new hair cut, Kuririn'd haircut and Goku and Vegeta's Whis outfits.

However, none of these lasted for very long and while the new transformations were different the base forms all pretty much started to look like their classic Z designs. Heck, Yamcha and Kuririn even reverted back to their early Z designs.

Anybody have any idea why? A new show would profit from new designs. Be it to freshen the characters up or to sell unique merch.

Say what you want about GT or Heroes, at least they gave us cool new designs for the characters. I really wish Super kept the updated designs.

[LoganForkHands73]

Mostly nostalgia and familiarity, but Goku and Vegeta transition from their post-Freeza outfits to their classic designs by the Future Trunks arc, which was the storyline with the highest stakes at that point. Maybe the Z-era designs are meant to symbolise Goku and Vegeta being prepared for a more serious threat? Bit of a stretch, but it does happen in both versions so it might have been part of Toriyama's plan. It's worth noting that Goku's "default" orange gi design does change slightly across the different story mediums as well. In the anime, he mainly wears a wide obi with kanji printed on his breast and back. In the manga, Toyotaro stopped bothering to draw the kanji, just like Toriyama did after a certain point in the original run, so he basically looks like his post-Cell arc self. Finally, the Super movies give Goku a purer throwback design with the kanji and the thin karate belt.

Gohan, Kuririn and Yamcha are all over the place. Kuririn wears many outfits and hairstyles but tends to don his classic orange gi and plimsolls in battle scenes. Yamcha wears his Saiyan arc orange gi in one arc of the manga, but most of the time he wears the same white tang suit from Battle of Gods... which was probably meant to be formal wear for Bulma's birthday but I guess the character designers didn't bother to give him proper casualwear for other scenes. Gohan cycles through many casual/college work costumes, but he actually does have a new purple gi design courtesy of Toyotaro which seems to be the default battle-ready look going forward for all media. He only wore the orange gi for the anime's Tournament of Power to symbolise the fact that his fighting spirit is back in shape.

Overall, the designs are a bit more varied than it may appear, though we do get plenty of throwback costumes for nostalgia's sake.

[WittyUsername]

Goku and Vegeta with beards was just a quick gag. It was obviously never going to stick. With that said, I do think it’s kind of disappointing that they had Goku and Vegeta revert back to their older outfits after the Universe 6 arc. Super in general has this weird thing where they'll usually try to maintain the iconography of the Z era, but then they do things like give Future Trunks blue hair.

[Jord]

The beard did look good in Vegeta though.

[Cipher]

The same reason the anime uses a “Head Cha-La” instrumental for its recaps despite having a different theme song.

[Shinsa]

For marketing purposes since they want to bank on the DBZ popularity. I think it was a similar pit fall the franchise has always had where they have a knee jerk reaction to go the safe and familar route rather then evolve. For me I would have liked and think it would have been best to keep them in there resurrection F designs to seperate the two series. Blue hair isn't enough for me personally.

[Jord]

For marketing purposes since they want to bank on the DBZ popularity. I think it was a similar pit fall the franchise has always had where they have a knee jerk reaction to go the safe and familar route rather then evolve. For me I would have liked and think it would have been best to keep them in there resurrection F designs to seperate the two series. Blue hair isn't enough for me personally.

Yeah it does seem like a knee jerk reaction. Such a shame. We've seen Goku in his standard orange gi for 30+ years now. Give us something different. I don't even know anything about Goku Xeno but his red/black look is so much more refreshing.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

For marketing purposes since they want to bank on the DBZ popularity. I think it was a similar pit fall the franchise has always had where they have a knee jerk reaction to go the safe and familar route rather then evolve. For me I would have liked and think it would have been best to keep them in there resurrection F designs to seperate the two series. Blue hair isn't enough for me personally.

Yeah it does seem like a knee jerk reaction. Such a shame. We've seen Goku in his standard orange gi for 30+ years now. Give us something different. I don't even know anything about Goku Xeno but his red/black look is so much more refreshing.

I agree, even having more adult Goku in blue gi would be reason enough to go past end of Z (which I doubted they would, but now its seeming more likely considering how close Super Hero is to that point in the timeline and Pan growing up). It would be very refreshing. Yes the classic orange and blue is more marketable, but the only reason the end of Z gi hasn't caught on is because fans haven't had enough exposure to it.

[sunsetshimmer]

Because these designs are well known and popular. Super plays very safe with its content and designs. The same goes with changing main characters. GT in comparison risked a lot of changes. Made Goku small, gave him different outfit, changed main cast to Pan and Trunks, made SSJ4 completely unique. A lot of fans did not like these changes except for SSJ4. It's easier to sell old and beloved stuff. This is also why DBS has a lot of fanservice and reccuring characters. This is why we got Broly reboot. This is why we got Frieza changing just colors to gold or black. Because those things are sure to sell well and while people may laugh on yet another recolor, it's still going to be safer decision.

Although i still don't quite understand why they couldn't stick with RoF outfits. Perhaps it really is easier to sell Goku with whatever new color he has on his head as long as he is wearing the same old outfit everyone knows and loves.

[Shinsa]

Although i still don't quite understand why they couldn't stick with RoF outfits. Perhaps it really is easier to sell Goku with whatever new color he has on his head as long as he is wearing the same old outfit everyone knows and loves.

You are correct in your assessment in what Toei is thinking but I 100% disagree with them. Keeping the RoF outfits would have been meaningful to the new hair colour giving the characters a new refreshed look relaying to the audience that it belongs to the DBS branding. Regardless if the audience liked it more or less it would differentiate his character from one series to the next. Then when they finally want to connected or retcon the end of Z they can put him in his End of Z design.

I could at least appreciate they somewhat tried in RoF but stinking with it would give the show's characters a visual identity.

[LoganForkHands73]

Although i still don't quite understand why they couldn't stick with RoF outfits. Perhaps it really is easier to sell Goku with whatever new color he has on his head as long as he is wearing the same old outfit everyone knows and loves.

You are correct in your assessment in what Toei is thinking but I 100% disagree with them. Keeping the RoF outfits would have been meaningful to the new hair colour giving the characters a new refreshed look relaying to the audience that it belongs to the DBS branding. Regardless if the audience liked it more or less it would differentiate his character from one series to the next. Then when they finally want to connected or retcon the end of Z they can put him in his End of Z design.

I could at least appreciate they somewhat tried in RoF but stinking with it would give the show's characters a visual identity.

I agree, it would've made sense to carry on with them. The new outfits weren't massive redesigns but they conveyed a sense of progression with a slightly more modern feel. Familiar but different. I prefer Goku's new shoes, I can do without Vegeta's ass flap though.

[Tian]

Anybody have any idea why? A new show would profit from new designs. Be it to freshen the characters up or to sell unique merch.

It wouldn't be weird to suggest that guys at Toei always conceived Super as just an upgraded or enhanced version of Z than its own thing.

So, as much as Super introduces new characters, storylines, worlds and etc, the basis will be always what was established in the Z series and in some extent, the OG DB series.

There's a good ol' saying that reflect this: "The more things change, the more they stay the same".