When did the Broly fandom overdrive begin?

[Rocketman]

In the first movie his effortless ability to take on all the heroes

Every movie villain does that.

[Castor Troy]

Brolly's been popular ever since the fansub days. I always thought he was ok.

[Hellspawn28]

I like Broly in Movie 8, Broly in Movie 10 was annoying as hell. I still can't believe people think he can beat SSj3 Goku or SSj Gogeta in a battle lol. Gogeta in his base form would beat any form of Broly in my opinon.

[Cold Skin]

I think lots of people just love when a villain character seems to be "the ultimate, seemingly unstoppable power, far beyond usual limits", it's that simple. That's why there's a huge fandom for Broly in Dragon Ball Z, Wesker in Resident Evil, the Doppelganger in Tomb Raider, Sephiroth in Final Fantasy... They all represent the same archetype: the "sorry, you're the main hero who's defeated so many creatures but against me, you can try your best and I still won't have a scratch even if not making the slightest effort, the difference between us is just so big that it's not even a fight, it's just me having fun with my favorite puppets until I have something better to do" kind of villain. At least until a certain point of the plot that is...

Basically, people love the "almighty villain that leaves the hero 100% powerless for a while". Most of the time, against other villains, the hero can still fight back, at least hurt the enemy, surprise him with certain attacks somehow. With those villains, for a long while, it really seems like it's not possible to even hit them once, nothing in the universe can catch them offguard, nothing in the universe can make them one single scratch. Therefore, lots of people will instinctively consider them "the ultimate power", and therefore "the ultimate character you would dream to be".

While I'm never a huge fan of this kind of characters, I consider it a good plot device, as they bring something interesting to see: how will the hero react when completely powerless for once (persistance or desperation? Flee, hide, avoid the enemy until you've got a plan or still try to rush at them and fight them anyway?) and what is the way to defeat the undefeatable imagined by the writers?

However, the case of Broly was clearly an overuse: the first movie was enough to explore this concept and offered a complete story in itself. There was nothing more to explore from that character and the associated concept in a sequel, so it was a bad idea to have him return to begin with. But even more horrible, the character lost what he was all about in the sequels, making it obvious that he was brought back just for the sake of bringing him back, and the storyline was loosely wrote around the constraint of having him return, which is never a good thing plotwise.

[Kunzait_83]

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[fktizle]

He`s probably that popular because he is, first of all, a sayan, and, not only that, he`s the legendary super sayan.

Let me explain...

The main fighters by the end of the series are the sayans. They are the strongest fighters and probably the most popular race in Dragon Ball.

Also, the most popular and iconic power-up/transformation of Dragon Ball is the SSJ.

In the Namek saga we were told that the SSJ is a legendary warrior, the strongest in the universe. So naturally we assumed that there would be only one sayan warrior who is in fact the SSJ. This idea is the stuff that legends are made of. Its full of mystique and wonder. God-like wonder.

But when we get to android saga we realize that any sayan can turn into a SSJ if he works hard enough. And so a great deal of the mystique is lost. The SSJ turns out to be just a technique or a power up that any sayans can use under the right conditions, much like the oozaru state (but instead of waiting for the full moon they have to become strong enough and angry enough to turn into SSJ).

And so, here comes Brolly... And we are reintroduced to the idea of only one true legendary SSJ. Like the others are just pale imitations of that power.
The mystique and wonder of the LSSJ just comes right back with that reintroduction... The SSJ becomes special again.

So in conclusion, Brolly is popular because:

- he is a sayan
- he is the LSSJ

Add to that the fact that he is a villain who looks pretty much unstoppable until the very last seconds, and the fact that he always blows things up... And we get a pretty popular character... Even if he doesn`t have a personality.. Its all smoke and mirrors.. The wonder of the idea of legendary sayan warrior.

As for when it started... Well, I guess he was always popular but like all things his popularity varied with the years.

We know why, because kids like musclebound morons with a penchant for clotheslining, but that wasn't my question.

That's why they like wrestling too. It seems to me people like Broly because he's unstoppable. Most famous villains and heroes have this distinction, e.g. The Terminator. He has the distinction of being the only DBZ movie villain that couldn't be beaten down.

[Kaboom]

He has the distinction of being the only DBZ movie villain that couldn't be beaten down.

Er, not really. There's been several other villains who have had the "I don't even feel your attacks" shtick. Garlic Jr.'s immortality let him bounce right back from whatever Goku and Piccolo threw at him. Super Android 13 couldn't be budged by anything. Hildergarn poofed away, reappeared, and OHKO'd beings powerful enough to make short work of Majin Boo. Broly's not "special" in this regard.

[Cold Skin]

He has the distinction of being the only DBZ movie villain that couldn't be beaten down.

Er, not really. There's been several other villains who have had the "I don't even feel your attacks" shtick. Garlic Jr.'s immortality let him bounce right back from whatever Goku and Piccolo threw at him. Super Android 13 couldn't be budged by anything. Hildergarn poofed away, reappeared, and OHKO'd beings powerful enough to make short work of Majin Boo. Broly's not "special" in this regard.

Well, Garlic could still be surprised and overwheilmed by attacks, that's even why Goku and Piccolo start fighting thinking they got rid off him. C-13 didn't last long after he transformed, he just had every one beaten up, and they all came back minutes later without any senzu needed, Piccolo could even deviate him and his SS Bomber near the end, so the guy could still be surprised and therefore beaten. Hildegarn kinda had trouble with Gotenks before he transformed, and once again, the hero comes back without even needing a senzu. Also, we've seen him being hit before, you've seen he is vulnerable, you see the heroes have found a weakness, basically you know he is bound to lose as long as he is hit. There's no sense of "they're undefeatable", you just know they'll keep trying and win.

With Broly, they all get knocked out. For good. If it wasn't for senzu bean they would ALL be dead after three minutes fighting. That's not a "hold on a minute, I recover and come back at you", it's plain "every warrior is in a coma, the battle's over after three minutes". Total defeat, the kind that, in a video game, makes you immediately say "okay, got it, no need to insist, I'll come back when I'm at level 100 and then I MIGHT have a slight chance to win". Anyway, then they come back and try again. And when it's usually when they succeed that's just the same big failure again, absolutely ZERO progress, absolutely ZERO attack succeeds or even catch the enemy offguard. Hell, the guy endures a big Kame Hame Ha right in front of Goku without protecting himself and he has nothing! No other villain in the series or in the movie gives the feeling that he would just feel nothing with a Kame Hame Ha, they all feel something, they are all hurt, and even when not at close range. Villains like Majin Boo would surely reconstitute unharmed, sure, but at the moment of the attack, they would be harmed and regenerate AFTERWARDS. The guy's just invincible, for real (or so he looks at this time in the movie). And it's not everyday that you see the heroes not engaging in a fight but desperately fleeing until the villains says "fight me or I blow everything up". Who would have thought: Goku, who enjoys fighting so much, just doesn't try, he wants to flee away from that lethal psychopath until he is forced to fight. That's what makes Broly special: not a single thing can give the feeling that it works, that victory is possible, not once. Of course, until the end, cause there's gotta be something that works somehow in the end. It's hard to explain, but with such an adversary, you don't feel like the heroes are grenades versus an atomic bomb as usual, for the first time they're grenades versus a Super Nova.

That's the concept around Broly, and that's what makes him unique: what if, for once, the villain was not a bit stronger than the heroes, but INFINITELY stronger? That said, I never thought he deserved more credit than other villains. Each villain brings a concept with him, Broly is just one among the others, and is non-canon to me. The fact that he lacks all kind of subtle side definately discards him from my priority characters, he's just one among the other, and I wouldn't even mind his absence in video games.

[MCDaveG]

Actually, when I was younger, seen half of Z series, I don't know where but picture of Broly popped out and some friends told me that it's another surviving Saiyan and everybody was excited. Then the second movie we saw with friend was the tenth one, with Broly returning. It was the time of fansubs and what you didn't got by yourself somewhere, you simply didn't have that, so we were excited and Broly was awesome.

Now, with me finished whole series with all movie, specials and manga, I can say in retrospetive and comparing Broly to other villains, that he's the worst one altough he got cool design. His design is maybe the best thing on Broly. so if you don't know his backstory, he actualy is cool.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I always thought he was ok.

Never had much of a problem with him myself. I'm sure that if I closely followed and gave two shits about the vast majority of recent DB merch or if I went around haunting non-Daizex DBZ boards and got into fights regularly with 10 year olds over Power Levels and such, he might grate on me like he does quite a few people here... but since I don't, and since my frame of reference to him is still largely from back in the days before the dub, he doesn't really tie my testicles in a knot like he appears to do to a lot of people here, and never really has.

I never had much of a problem with either...until the sudden surge of Broly fandom came to the fore. That's when Broly just started to get on my nerves. I think what annoys a lot of people is that, even if they don't like him, they are forced to face the Broly fangasm in merchandise like video games. After a while, it's no wonder people get peeved off seeing his face over and over again.

I think it's then that people actually realize how unoriginal of a villain he really is. And the fact that he was supposed to be the Legendary Super Saiyan, the fabled warrior that even Vegeta trembled with fear at--and he ended up to be nothing a true Saiyan was supposed to be. Maybe if he actually got a proper character backstory, a better motivation for beating up on all the Z-Warriors and a sequel with a proper plot (we knew that he would get a sequel anyway because of his popularity, so don't say he didn't deserve one), his overblown presence in DB merchandise would be half-understandable.

[Li'l Lemmy]

Podcast episode on this topic kthx.

Is there a notable Broli superfan that we could bring on to talk about it...?

One that can... err... how do I phrase this politely... speak somewhat more eloquently than our character of topical discussion...?

I'm by no means a superfan, but I like him enough. Well . . . within reason, anyway.

Talk to me again if you're ever able to stretch out a podcast episode for Goten. Then, and only then, am I absolutely without a doubt the only person that y'all should be talking to. ^_^


~Da Lemmy