How the Hell is Broly so popular?!

[Kingdom Heartless]

Well, I felt a bit for Broly. I mean, you get stabbed by your king as a baby, you're going to have issues.

[Fox666]

I suppose what makes Broli slightly different from other villains is that he is a Super Saiyan, and despite being so many in the series none of them was a villain.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

He was the first movie character where they attempted to create a substantial back story...
...although all of that back story was left in the bin of ideas for the last half hour of the first, and the next two movies.

[dbgtFO]

Because Broli's character(and the film as a whole) is a perfect representation of the modern man's struggle with human society; limiting himself, so he can fit in with the society(Broli under Paragus' control) contra the desire to do whatever he wants, not conforming to the norms, rules and ideals, the rest of the society expects of him(Broli unleashed from Paragus' control).

EDIT:
The above from a kid's perspective(the target audience afterall):

*Kids having fun* = Broli destroying shit.
Parents disallowing, what kids consider fun, so they can fit in = Broli being controlled by his father, Paragus.

So Broli breaking free of Paragus' control is what the kids secretly want, and is why he's so liked, since he's a similar situation to them, but overcomes it, making him a symbol of what they'd like to be.

[MCDaveG]

I always thought that he's so popular because of late Z Saiyan who is pure evil and going super destroying whole galaxy, not some lame baldy who's being attacked by weird midget and killed by his ''friend'' in the end

But I thought about it a little differently too..... Brolli is one of the Western characters. You know, someone fitting US TV show, because there are those OMG overkill bosses.

EDIT: Just rememberd Final Fantasy..... The final bosses are kinda like Brolli. Everytime played FF, I went crazy and never played it again after encountering final boss..... Overkill. I¨m not one of those guys training my Pokémons for weeks.

[Jackal puFF]

I remember seeing so many gif animations of him beating up Goku and co way before the movies came out. I must have not been the only one who really wanted to see the movies with him doing that.

[Saimaroimaru]

I never liked him.

My introdcution to him was the old DBZ Beckett magazines and the old funimation forums when there was a big discussion over who was the true super saiyan with a canoncity battle tied in. It was also where first saw reference to Toei(and Toei hate) and the infamous Toei punch.

[sangofe]

I can't say why he's so popular, but when I discovered him through the french dub on VHS in the middle of 90's (I was 13-14), I thought he was awesome and badass. First of all, he was something new; a super saiyan with green hair, and a build like none of the other saiyans had! He was simply awesome and refreshing.

[DBZAOTA482]

That's why he's so popular, he's a walking stereotype of what people percieve DBZ as... put to the 5th power.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

and the infamous Toei punch.

...the what? What's the Toei punch?

[CaBrPi]

and the infamous Toei punch.

...the what? What's the Toei punch?

That's the part where Goku takes everyone's chi and puts it all into a single punch that tears through Broly's scar and makes him explode.

Which is completely ridiculous.

But the reason Broly is so popular is because, at least I believe that, the "hardcore" action style of marketing was a big part of DBZ back when Toonami was airing it, and Broly, essentially, exemplified that style. Beating the tar out of other people and doing nothing else, that is.

[MCDaveG]

Yeah, but popularity of one character in foreign country where the dub airs doesn't make him popular in Japan to span him over 3 movies.
---
The exception is his heavy inclusion in 21st century video games as the games are more oriented into the USA and European market since Budokai 1 (note: I know he first appeared in Budokai 3, but there were some infos that this game spitting each year is result of Dragon Ball's succes in US, because Europe got it's share trough Frenchs on SNES and PSX in the Jap. DB era).

[Eire]

And while I don't talk to any girls about this, he might also be popular due to his va having lots of fangirls.

As a DB fangirl I can tell you that there's not a lot a girls who are into Broly. At least not among the circle of friends I used to hang out with.

You don't read ff.net? In the most popular incarnation he is a maniac rapist who thanks to Mary Sue finds the softer side of himself lives happy ever after. Or die to protect her and everyone is sad.

Apart form nostalgia (Movie 8 was one of the few English VHS I owned) there's something fascinating about him. Apart from the stupid plot development the basic idea of LSSJ was quite interesting. Now look at him. He is campy, but not ugly, has a tragic back story, extremely powerful- ideal material for fanfiction. Or fantasies about being a savage above everything, crushing the last oppressing force. His all weakness are hidden or insignificant. Some can relate to him. On the other hand his campy appearance with thrrrragic back story and hilarious power make him an ideal target of parodies and humor. Not to mention that the movies are so stupid that they turn to be very funny.

[MCDaveG]

And while I don't talk to any girls about this, he might also be popular due to his va having lots of fangirls.

As a DB fangirl I can tell you that there's not a lot a girls who are into Broly. At least not among the circle of friends I used to hang out with.

You don't read ff.net? In the most popular incarnation he is a maniac rapist who thanks to Mary Sue finds the softer side of himself lives happy ever after. Or die to protect her and everyone is sad.

Apart form nostalgia (Movie 8 was one of the few English VHS I owned) there's something fascinating about him. Apart from the stupid plot development the basic idea of LSSJ was quite interesting. Now look at him. He is campy, but not ugly, has a tragic back story, extremely powerful- ideal material for fanfiction. Or fantasies about being a savage above everything, crushing the last oppressing force. His all weakness are hidden or insignificant. Some can relate to him. On the other hand his campy appearance with thrrrragic back story and hilarious power make him an ideal target of parodies and humor. Not to mention that the movies are so stupid that they turn to be very funny.

I wanna be Brolli to be loved by huge amount of Otaku ladies Yeeeeaah!

[Eire]

As you wish. Full service includes lobotomy and electroshock to be sure that the last trace of cerebral cortex was wiped out. Then you will be implanted with new personality that has nothing in common with canon, but includes lots of "sweet" traits taken from the "ideal boyfriend" columns of the best selling teens magazines. You will behave like handicapped 14 years old but will be granted ability to preform anatomically and logically impossible sex acts taken from fantasies of 13 years old virgins. All Kanzenshuu users will be given 10% discount. Credit cards accepted.

Seriously, you thought that characters loved by otaku ladies have anything in common with canon? I still wonder why Tvtropes insists on calling that phenomena "Draco in leather pants".

Ps. I'd advice you to choose Conan. He has a large female fanbase, and actually can enjoy life.

[MCDaveG]

I was heavilly sarcastic as I don't even prefer otakus at all
I like your posts

[Scarz]

And while I don't talk to any girls about this, he might also be popular due to his va having lots of fangirls.

As a DB fangirl I can tell you that there's not a lot a girls who are into Broly. At least not among the circle of friends I used to hang out with.

You don't read ff.net? In the most popular incarnation he is a maniac rapist who thanks to Mary Sue finds the softer side of himself lives happy ever after. Or die to protect her and everyone is sad.

I haven't visited ff.net in a LOOOOONNGGG time. Last time I was there evil Goku was all the hype.

[Nikkolas]

One mustn't underestimate Pantera playing in the background when he first transforms. (in the English version obviously)
They were a pretty popular metal band.

Other than that, I can only echo what others have said. For my part, I liked him because he truly was the Super Saiyan of Legend; a guy who just had so much power it drove him to complete madness.

That's why he's so popular, he's a walking stereotype of what people percieve DBZ as.

Those perceptions are mostly accurate IMO....

[dario03]

I like him. Honestly the lack of personality really doesn't matter to me since its a DBZ movie. The movies are short so its not like we are getting 50 episodes of him like we do with the major DBZ show villians. I mean really how much personality do we get to see from the other movie villians? And being a crazy powerful guy just because he is, and being the same but opposite of the good guys is perfect for a short movie. Now if he had been a show character then I would of liked his character to be different but for a short movie he works fine.

I also think movie 8 had a good balance of simpleness and complexity. Sure theres not much to the story and Broly was just crazy and his grudge against Goku was just odd but Paragus had a little plan going, we get to see some back story of Paragus and Broly and it actually explains why Paragus had his grudge against Vegeta, Broly losing it and Paragus abandoing him just to get killed because of it. And theres other little things that are nice or at least different, like how it takes place on a different planet that isn't Earth or Namek and how they uncover Paragus' lie by talking to the alien slaves, Broly blowing up said slaves planet just because, Vegeta freezing up but then snapping out of it, Broly's transformation, and yes Pantera playing when Broly transforms in the english version.

[SuppaSaiyanNerd]

He isn't really all that popular anyway.