The true greatness of 3rd form Freeza

[Captain Cadaver]

So, we all know Freeza modelled his 2nd form on his father's appearance, but what about the other of the two intermediate forms of his? Well, I think you need to just look at his head.

Now, who could be so influential over Freeza for him to use as the basis of a form that's such a vast curve ball away from his other forms? Well, with a long head like that, I think there's only one candidate:

Spoiler

That's right, boys. Lord Appule's greatness confirmed yet again.

 

[Future Warrior]

The horn's on his head are based on Moro's horns.

 

[SSJ2]

3rd Form Freeza was wasted. Sure it served no purpose to the plot in the grand scheme, but AT could've at least done more with it.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Is he also designed after 2nd Prophet ?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Freeza watched Alien.

 

[Warmmedown]

i think 3rd form was just meant to be a scary extra form. the only other purpose would be to give Vegeta time to do the whole thing with Dende, since if Freeza skipped straight to 4th/final form, Vegeta wouldn't have bothered trying it yet because Piccolo was already dominating 2nd form Freeza, so it wouldn't seem necessary for him to get a zenkai and then there would be no time during the fight with final form Freeza, since Freeza would just instantly fuck them all up (obv even in the actual story he could have done that, but because Vegeta had his zenkai Freeza humoured him for a while. Without the zenkai having had happened it would just be instantly over probably, since there's no way any two of Krillin, Gohan and Piccolo can distract 4th form Freeza for long enough for Vegeta to convince someone to fuck him up and then convince Dende to heal him).

 

[Warmmedown]

also, watching AMVs and aside from letting Vegeta get his zenkai (powering him up, letting him show even more how much of a villain he is and how smart/willing to suffer he is to come up with that plan), 3rd form also gave Piccolo and Gohan a chance to shine. Piccolo shines by being heroically beaten by Freeza, Gohan shines by trying to help him - more than anything, their relationship gets another chance to shine, with Gohan trying to save Piccolo this time instead of vice versa. No difference to the plot really though compared to just skipping over the form, just character development.

 

[Yoshi]

I think third form Freeza served as a borderline transformation between the second form and the fourth form, which is why no power up is shown unlike the first two, and because fourth form Freeza is so powerful, it would seem like a big jump from second form to fourth form in power.