Did Toriyama have SSJ3 planned by the time Goku fought Majin Vegeta?

[ahill1]

Do you think he had?

 

[Future Warrior]

Probably not.

 

[SSJ2]

I'd highly doubt it. SSJ3 was shown 16 chapters after Majin Vegeta vs Goku began. That's an eternity for Toriyama

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Most likely not when considering Goku acted like there was nothing he could do against Boo that Vegeta couldn't if not for fusion. It's not a stretch to say Toriyama intended for Goku to be lying considering his later rationale of not wanting to use SS3 unnecessarily, but that only excuses this slight retcon rather than proves Toriyama's planning, especially when Toriyama himself has admitted several times to not planning far ahead.

 

[Keedounan]

I don't think so. Even if Goku didn't intend to fight Boo, he would have no reason to make everybody feel so genuinely hopeless by hiding his form from them, especially when you contrast his initial statements with him casually saying he could have killed Boo when trying to brag about SS3 to Vegeta.

Add to that the complete lack of foreshadowing, and yeah, SS3 pretty much came out of nowhere both in and out-of-universe.