Just HOW was Hell Fighter 17 even created ???

[Zebra]

By rehashing a popular character like Android 17 who was gone from the story too soon in their eyes and the eyes of 17’s fans they probably thought it was a safe bet to bring him back as a true antagonist in the form of Super 17

No.17's popularity is overrated. He never ranked high in any popularity polls. Why create a new No.17 instead of just having Freeza and Cell fuse (I doubt Cell's spots were an issue, since he did get to return in the arc)? Or bring back Broly? Or give Oob an evil "Pure Boo"-like transformation? Everything about Super No.17 is contrived.

True 17 wasn’t exactly the MOST popular character in the series but Toriyama and Toei obviously felt he was popular enough to give him a mini arc and more screen time in general in GT as the last time we saw of him was a very brief cameo at the end of Z

It's not that he was popular; it's just that the writers liked him, so they wanted to use him.

[SorikaiWolf89]

No. 17 is popular enough to keep being used in merchandise and new projects. The girlies and the gays love their femboys, what can we say!

Exactly !
There’s still plenty of new merch of 17 and he has been in pretty much every single video game since the early 90’s (Since ‘93 I believe)

As most people know :
Cool , hot, and badass bishonen characters like 17 are almost always super popular especially with the fan girls like us !

I really hope that he stays relevant in the future of the series and maybe even gets his own ranger adventure arc or at least appears in the next movie or OVA

[SorikaiWolf89]

No.17's popularity is overrated. He never ranked high in any popularity polls. Why create a new No.17 instead of just having Freeza and Cell fuse (I doubt Cell's spots were an issue, since he did get to return in the arc)? Or bring back Broly? Or give Oob an evil "Pure Boo"-like transformation? Everything about Super No.17 is contrived.

True 17 wasn’t exactly the MOST popular character in the series but Toriyama and Toei obviously felt he was popular enough to give him a mini arc and more screen time in general in GT as the last time we saw of him was a very brief cameo at the end of Z

It's not that he was popular; it's just that the writers liked him, so they wanted to use him.

So in other words he WAS popular …with the writers and a cult following of super die hard fans made probably mostly of fan girls

Anyway joking aside yeah they obviously liked him enough to see his potential in the story and to not only give him a “super” form but make him the main villain of a mini arc which unfortunately is pretty underwhelming and hated by a lot of fans

As hated and underwhelming as it is though I like its idea with bringing 17 back as a villain and imo it has one of the best scenes in the series with 18 mourning Krillin’s death and reminiscing on the moments that made her fall in love with him
That scene with Krillin’s death by 17 and 18 attacking 17 in a rage will never not get me in the feels and as it’s always super wholesome to me
It just shows how far she’s come as a true human being with raw emotions of love , sadness, and rage
If she was a Saiyan that would absolutely be the exact moment she turned Super Saiyan

What I DON’T like though is pretty much what everyone else doesn’t like about it

Mainly it’s lack of logic , very underwhelming ending as it just immediately blends right into the Shadow Dragon arc with barely any satisfying closure , bringing back Cell and Frieza as “joke” characters, the dumb childish filler of Goku in Hell , barely showing ranger 17 and his inner fight with HF17, not bringing back or showing ranger 17 for the remainder of GT, and the arc being extremely rushed in general

[Skar]

That idea comes from the filler hell at the end of Z. And goes well with the concept Toriyama later came up with in Fukkatsu no F. Freeza dies and materializes in hell the way he looked as a cyborg.
The problem with GT being what you mentioned that fully artificial entities such as Sergeant Metallic and Android 19 show up in hell. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall seeing any androids in Movie 12, with Cell being the only one who shows up prior to GT, but he's a biological one. So either some crazy retcon happened there or Toei went in contradiction with what they previously established. Which can likely be very well a result of different creative directions from many people who worked in the animated projects at the time, leading to divergences.

I always thought that was a weird choice in filler and unnecessarily contradicting the manga that only some good guys get to keep their bodies in Other World. Fusion Reborn went with the manga and Vegeta returned to being a spirit after the fight was over. That makes more sense as some form of punishment than bad guys getting to keep their bodies and just live in gloomier part of Other World.

Machines being in hell and getting revived was also a weird choice and I think only happened in Super 17 saga. I thought the whole reason why 16 couldn't be revived was because he was fully a robot and didn't have a soul. I guess they had to do that in order for Dr Myuu to go to hell and team-up with Gero. I forgot if Machine Mutants were fully robotic or cyborgs.

[Michelle91]

Instead of Super 17, I would have Dr. Gero and Myuu created a new original character instead. A #21 before we had #21.

[goku the krump dancer]

For what it’s worth, per GT’s rules, remember the bodies in Hell are immortal, so it’s perfectly possible that Gero and Myu took pieces of themselves bit by bit (and maybe even 19 as well) to construct a machine mutant android hybrid that they managed to sculpt to look like 17.

[Makaioshin]

Machines being in hell and getting revived was also a weird choice and I think only happened in Super 17 saga. I thought the whole reason why 16 couldn't be revived was because he was fully a robot and didn't have a soul. I guess they had to do that in order for Dr Myuu to go to hell and team-up with Gero. I forgot if Machine Mutants were fully robotic or cyborgs.

There is no reason ever given for 16 not reviving (or even necessarily any confirmation that he wasn't revived). 16 is just never brought up at all. Given that even rocks have life energy perhaps 16 had a soul...

[Tian]

Given that even rocks have life energy perhaps 16 had a soul...

The only possibility for a hypothetic revival of 16 I can think of would be Yemma purifying Gero's son's soul and make it reborn as a good version of him.

Of course, that good version would have 16's well-meaning nature but not his memories.

[Michelle91]

Machines being in hell and getting revived was also a weird choice and I think only happened in Super 17 saga. I thought the whole reason why 16 couldn't be revived was because he was fully a robot and didn't have a soul. I guess they had to do that in order for Dr Myuu to go to hell and team-up with Gero. I forgot if Machine Mutants were fully robotic or cyborgs.

Probably they are cyborgs as they probably still have their own organs. Rilld said that he was a person similar to Goku was before he became a Machine Mutant.

[SorikaiWolf89]

For what it’s worth, per GT’s rules, remember the bodies in Hell are immortal, so it’s perfectly possible that Gero and Myu took pieces of themselves bit by bit (and maybe even 19 as well) to construct a machine mutant android hybrid that they managed to sculpt to look like 17.

Now THIS actually makes the most sense!!
As for the clothes they probably just stole or “borrowed” them from Future 17 who is absolutely down there in Hell along with Future 18