Broly
Broly (ブロリー, Burorī) is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball series. Two versions of the character exist: the original Broly, a major villain who appeared in a trilogy of 90's Dragon Ball Z anime films, Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), Broly – Second Coming (1994), and Bio-Broly (1994); and a reworked iteration of the character that debuted in the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), and once again served as the primary antagonist and major anti-hero in the film.
| Broly | |
|---|---|
| Dragon Ball character | |
 Broly in his base form (left) and Super Saiyan Full Power Form (right) in Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) | |
| First appearance | Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993) (original) Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) (reworked) |
| Created by | Takao Koyama (original) Akira Toriyama (reworked) |
| Voiced by | Japanese Bin Shimada English Vic Mignogna (2003-2019) Johnny Yong Bosch (2019-present) |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | The Legendary Super Saiyan |
| Species | Saiyan |
| Family |
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Creation and design
The character of Broly was originally created by Takao Koyama (who was inspired to create a menacing and powerful saiyan villain, after viewing Future Trunks transforming into his super saiyan grade 3 form during the cell games anime) and was designed by Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama.[1] Following the usual name trend of the Saiyan race (which is vegetable puns), Broly's name is a pun on the vegetable Broccoli, while his father; Paragus, is a pun on the vegetable Asparagus.
Dragon Ball Z version
Base Form Broly: Like all other full-blooded Saiyans, he had black pupil eyes and solid black hair. He also has pale skin, a very lean body, and is considerably very tall, standing at 7'4", easily towering over Goku, and even against Piccolo. Broly's hairstyle is somewhat messy with curtain bangs in the front and longer hair in the back that reaches down to his mid-back. Although not seen in the films, according to the concept art of Broly, he is shown with his Saiyan tail. Broly's outfit consists of a almost regal appearance. Primarily wearing ornate gold jewelry (including a mind control device that was disguised as a headpiece and was forcefully worn by his manipulative and revenge driven father, Paragus), Broly also wore a gold choker around his neck, along with a gold necklace, gold large hoop earrings, gold bracelets on both forearms, a gold belt, and a pair of gold boots, all of which have gems on them. He also wore a large red waist sash and puffy white pants.
Super Saiyan Broly: First seen in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan during a flashback sequence in which a Super Saiyan kid Broly is shown floating in outer space, maniacally laughing as he is destroying a planet with several Ki blasts. When an adult Broly is unwillingly forced to wear a mind control device, his Super Saiyan form has Blue hair, instead of the traditional Yellow.
Legendary Super Saiyan Broly: First seen in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan during a confrontation with the protagonists. Broly is shown overcoming the mind control device, which breaks off as he powers up into his signature Legendary Super Saiyan form. Originally depicted with Yellow-Green colored hair and a massively bulked up body with hugely oversized muscles. During the climax of the film, Broly is shown powering up one final time, in which we see his Yellow-Green hair color change to the traditional Yellow-Gold hair color (which carries over into the sequel; Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming).
Legendary Super Saiyan 3 Broly: Only appearing within the Dragon Ball videogames, Broly is shown to have achieved a Legendary variant of Super Saiyan 3. This consists of his traditional Legendary Super Saiyan appearance, but with the features of Super Saiyan 3, such as the removal of eyebrows, heavily enlarged long hair (green in this case), a single spiked front bang, and with his signature pupil-less solid white eyes.
Legendary Super Saiyan 4 Broly: Appearing exclusively in Dragon Ball Heroes, Broly returns with his Legendary variant of Super Saiyan 4. Now with crimson red body fur (reminiscence of an ape), very long spiked black hair, pupil-less solid white eyes with red outlining his eyes, and with the exposure of his Saiyan tail.
Legendary Super Saiyan 4 Broly (Full Power): Continuing with his appearance within Dragon Ball Heroes, Broly is once again powered up for more. This time now in his true full power, which features a very large scar across his chest and with large veins pumping within his muscles.
Dark Broly: Re-emerging once more within Dragon Ball Heroes, Broly returns. Still in his Full Power Legendary Super Saiyan 4 state, Broly has a Time Breaker control mask forced onto him, along with the seven star Dark Dragon Ball infused into his chest. His crimson red body fur now changes to a dark brown, as does his skin tone darkening, along with his eyes changing to solid red.
God Broly: Debuting in 2017, an interactive CGI animated 4-D film was released exclusively to universal studios Japan. The new film marks the return of the Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly (now upgraded with a God form). Taking place during a martial arts tournament, God Broly appears. His appearance is similar to his traditional Legendary Super Saiyan form, but with very long green hair and long front bangs. God Broly is also seen in Dragon Ball Heroes.
Dragon Ball Super version
Base Form Broly: Just as all other full-blooded Saiyans, he has the usual black pupil eyes and solid black hair. His hairstyle is now messy and very overgrown and very long. He has a much darker skin tone, along with a much more bulkier and muscular body. His body is now covered with a handful of scars on his face, torso, and arms. He was only wearing a very old and raggedy worn out Frieza force outfit that only remained of a pair of dark blue skin tight pants and a pair of white combat boots. He now wears a special green fur pelt that he wears around his waist and a metal shock collar around his neck.
Wrathful State: A new form that is exclusive to only this new version of Broly. Primarily depicted as the power of a great ape but kept within the Saiyan body, due to lack of a Saiyan tail. Broly has very spiked up black hair and his eye pupils become yellow and his body becomes more bulked up.
Super Saiyan Broly: The traditional Yellow haired Super Saiyan form. Except, in Broly's special case, he has pupil-less solid white eyes.
Super Saiyan Broly (Full Power): The fullest and most powerful form of Broly. Consists of Green hair and a very bulked up body with large muscles and still retains the pupil-less white eyes. This form is a tribute and homage to the original "Legendary Super Saiyan" form used by the original version of Broly.
Powers and Abilities
Like other Saiyans in the series, his heritage has given him beyond superhuman strength, senses, durability, agility, speed, and reflexes.[2] In the Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV (1995) guidebook, it is stated that Super Saiyan Broly's power surpasses that of Super Saiyan Goku and that in his "Legendary Super Saiyan" form Broly is an opponent with infinite power. According to Takao Koyama in a 2006 interview, Broly is the strongest and most powerful antagonist in the Dragon Ball Z series.[3] In a 2013 interview regarding the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods where Goku faces the God of Destruction, Beerus, he stated that Broly is scarier than Beerus.[4]
Appearances
Dragon Ball Z
The original version of Broly was born on the same day as Goku (kakarot), and had a power level of 10,000 (greater than most elite Saiyans). King Vegeta viewed Broly's immense power as a potential threat to his rule and immediately ordered for his execution. An infant Broly was then stabbed through the chest with a large knife and was thrown away into a garbage waste pit to die. His father Paragus would also join him as he tried to reason with the irrational King Vegeta but was blasted away. Now with both father and son lying in agony and slowing dying, an explosion on their home world of Planet Vegeta begins to occur. It's the genocide attack by Frieza. Broly, realizing he's in danger, cries out and creates a Ki based shield barrier that encloses him and his father to escape Frieza's subsequent destruction of Planet Vegeta. Broly, due to his extreme power, will eventually become the feared and ultra powerful, Legendary Super Saiyan, as told in the Saiyan legends.
Movie: 08, Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), Paragus lures Vegeta, Goku, and their companions to another planet, New Vegeta, intending to take his revenge on King Vegeta through his son. Broly eventually rages out and this leads to a small battle, to which Broly is able to overcome the mind control device and explode into his true form, the Legendary Super Saiyan. He effortlessly overpowers Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks as well as Piccolo before killing his own father. He is eventually defeated by Goku, who was able to gain energy from the others and capitalize on Broly dropping his guard for a final attack, and punches a hole through Broly's abdomen which seemingly destroys him. Broly survives and a makes his way into his escape pod before a comet strikes and destroys New Vegeta.[5]
Movie: 10, Broly – Second Coming (1994), Broly lands on Earth. Still wounded and barely alive following his battle with Goku, he reverts to his normal form, loses consciousness and the surrounding waters freezes over Broly, causing a frozen ice coma. Seven years later, after Cell's defeat, he is awakened by the wails of Goku's second youngest son, Goten. After attacking an innocent village, Broly is confronted by Videl who attempts to stop his attacks but fails. This prompts Goten & Trunks to intervene. During this battle, Broly views Goten and begins to mistakenly recognize him as Goku, which angers him to a rampage. Broly once again goes on a sadistic rampage which catches the attention of Gohan. Once Gohan arrives he is disgusted by Broly for attacking children. Broly, without remorse or care dives directly at Gohan and begins a battle. After Videl, Goten & Trunks are defeated, Gohan begins to become angry at Broly (who is maniacally laughing at him) which prompts him to power up to Super Saiyan 2, which in turn provokes Broly to transforming into his Legendary Super Saiyan form. Without hesitation, Gohan attacks Broly, only to be greatly overwhelmed by the massive power of Broly. After a very long battle, Broly is finally defeated by Gohan, Goten & Goku with a powerful combined Kamehameha which blasts Broly directly through the sun.[5]
Movie: 11, Bio-Broly (1994), Broly's blood samples make their way into the hands of an industrialist, who creates a clone of the original Broly. The clone eventually wakes up and becomes mixed with bio-liquid, becoming mutated into a creature known as "Bio-Broly" (バイオブロリー, Baio Burorī). He fights Goten, Trunks, Android 18, and Krillin but is eventually defeated after his body is exposed to water and becomes petrified before he is destroyed by a powerful tripled combined Kamehameha wave. The ending of the film shows a brief interaction between the Northern Kai and Goku, informing him that Broly is causing trouble in Hell and needs him to stop his threat, which was originally meant to set up a fourth movie featuring Broly but which was reworked into Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn with Janemba as the main villain. [5]
"Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D at Super Tenkaichi Budokai"
An interactive 4-D cinematic theme attraction at Universal Studios Japan, and the successor to Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D. Like its predecessor, it's a new installment in the Dragon Ball series, featuring the return of The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly, now with his new God form. Taking place during a martial arts tournament, God Broly appears and begins his assault. He is able to overpower a super saiyan blue Goku, and is able to knock out cold a super saiyan blue Vegeta. With the help of the audience, Goku is able to perform a special God fusion and blasts away God Broly with his God Kamehameha.
Dragon Ball Super
A new version of the classic character named Broly. In this new version, the character of Broly has been rewritten and reworked as a kind and gentle natured Saiyan. Debuting in the 2018 film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly , which tells the story of Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza, encountering the exiled Saiyan for the first time.[6][5][7] The film begins with a new reworked version of the traditional Saiyan race history, which now adds the birth of Broly. Born with a very high power level, (greater than that of Prince Vegeta), King Vegeta orders Broly to be exiled to the wasteland planet Vampa. Broly's father, Paragus steals a ship to follow his exiled son directly to planet Vampa. For many decades, Broly and Paragus are stranded on this hostile and inhospitable world, until they are accidentally discovered by the Frieza force members of Cheelai and Lemo. After Broly and Paragus are finally rescued, Cheelai begins to sympathize with Broly. She views him as reserved, compassionate, and not wanting to fight (which are traits rare within the Saiyan race). In spite of his innate kindness, Broly has trouble controlling his power whenever he's angered, exerted, or provoked to a certain point. When he loses control, Broly becomes a destructive and mindless berserker with no sanity, and resorts to nothing but angry screaming and yelling, and is unable to distinguish friend from foe. Recruited by Frieza and going to Earth, Paragus unleashes Broly upon Vegeta to fulfill his revenge. Broly quickly adapts and holds his own against Vegeta and Goku but gradually loses control of his mind to rage. After learning that Broly has never achieved Super Saiyan, Frieza remembers his first battle against Goku on planet Namek, and how he triggered Goku into a Super Saiyan. In the hopes of the same effect, Frieza shoots his signature Death Beam directly at Paragus, killing him. This causes the mindless and berserk Broly to completely lose all sanity through rage, and transforms (for the first time in his life) into a Super Saiyan. Super Saiyan Broly proves to be too powerful for a Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta to handle, which causes them to retreat to Piccolo's location. During this time, Super Saiyan Broly is fighting Frieza, while Piccolo teaches Goku and Vegeta the fusion dance. After a few fails, Goku and Vegeta are successful and fuse into Gogeta and teleports back to Broly's location (who is still fighting Frieza). Gogeta now draws the fight to him in which he begins a battle. Shortly after the battle begins, Gogeta transforms into a Super Saiyan, which shows both opponents at almost nearly equal power. Further into the battle, Super Saiyan Broly and Super Saiyan Gogeta are accidentally sucked into a strange dimension, where Gogeta transforms into a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (Super Saiyan Blue) and Broly powers up into his Full Power Super Saiyan form (which is a tribute and homage to the classic "Legendary Super Saiyan" form used by the original version of Broly) Ultimately, Gogeta easily defeats Broly but Cheelai and Lemo manage to use the Dragon Balls to transport Broly back to Vampa before Gogeta can finish him off. Cheelai and Lemo settle down with the reverted Broly but are visited by Goku, who brings the group supplies and offers to teach Broly how to control his power, befriending him and sparking a friendly rivalry between them.
In other media
Broly debuted in the video game Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 (1993).[8] Since then, Broly has frequently been included in several Dragon Ball Z-related video games, along with fellow movie and characters such as Bardock, Cooler, and Omega Shenron. In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 (2005), Broly is the subject of three side stories: one that deals with what would have happened if Broly and Paragus succeeded in destroying the Z-Fighters; another, Broly being placed under the control of Dr. Gero; the third, Broly arriving during the Majin Buu Saga and bonding with Mr. Satan. In Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (2008), he has his own story mode entry alongside Bardock, which is a loose adaptation of his debut film. Both his original and Super incarnations appear as playable characters via downloadable content in the video game Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018).
Although Broly never appears in the original manga, he appears as a frequent antagonist in the spin-off manga Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission (2012), written by Toyotarō in Weekly Shōnen Jump and published by Shueisha, where he acts as the henchman to Genome in the latter's plan to retrieve the Black Star Dragon Balls.
Voice actors
| Language | Actor | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Adult) Broly | |||
| Japanese | Bin Shimada | [9] | |
| English | Vic Mignogna | Funimation dubs of all media until 2019 | |
| Johnny Yong Bosch | Funimation dubs 2019–present | ||
| Douglas Rand | AB Groupe dub of Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan | ||
| French | Mark Lesser | ||
| German | Gerrit Schmidt-Foss | ||
| Hebrew | Shay Zornitzer | ||
| Italian | Mario Bombardieri | ||
| Spanish | Ricardo Brust | ||
| Young Broly | |||
| Japanese | Hiroko Emori | Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan | [10] |
| Yukiko Morishita | Super | [9] | |
| English | Cynthia Cranz | Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan | [10] |
| Brina Palencia | Super | [9] | |
Reception and legacy
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Broly is considered to be one of the most popular villains within the Dragon Ball series, with a massive cult status.[5] IGN's Shawn Saris states that one of the characteristics that makes Broly memorable is his frightening size as well as brutal behavior during fights.[6] Saris ranked Broly as tenth on the 2015 list Top 13 Dragon Ball Z Characters.[11] In a 2016 list of the best Dragon Ball Z fights, the fight between Broly and Goku and others in the first movie was ranked as seventh; and the fight against Goten, Gohan and Goku in the second movie, as sixth.[12]
The character inspired a female saiyan named Kale, who resides within universe 6 Universe Survival Saga (2017–2018) depicted in Dragon Ball Super. Kale seemingly represents the original version of Broly, primarily due to her "Berserk" form, which greatly resembles Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan Form. Although she resembles Broly in a few ways, Kale has received an overwhelming amount of negative criticism, from both fans and critics alike for being an inferior copy to the popular character of Broly and by tarnishing the character's legendary reputation.[13][14]
See also
References
- DRAGON BALL 大全集 6: MOVIES & TV SPECIALS (in Japanese). Shueisha. 1995. pp. 212–216. ISBN 4-08-782756-9.
- Toriyama, Akira (1990). Dragon Ball. 20. Viz Media. ISBN 1-56931-933-2.
- "Dragonbook: Dragon Box The Movies - Theatrical Story Q&A". Kanzenshuu. 14 April 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Noppo no Zakkan - Takao Koyama: "I saw Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods!!"". Kanzenshuu. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Brian Barnett (31 October 2018). "The History of Broly". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Shawn Saris (24 July 2018). "Dragon Ball Super: Broly Movie Trailer Hints at a Major Change in Broly's Backstory". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Outlaw, Kofi (12 July 2018). "Dragon Ball: Why Making Broly Canon Is so Important". ComicBook. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
...none of these films was considered official canon because Broly never appeared in Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's manga series... However, with Akira Toriyama handling the story and characters of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, that's all about to change.
- "Rumor Guide: Video Games". Kanzenshuu.
Taiketsu was certainly the first American-made game to feature Broli as a playable character, but hardly the first-ever game to feature him at all. Back in 1993 (nearly a decade before Taiketsu), Super Butōden 2 was released for the Super Famicom (SNES) in Japan, and debuted a couple characters that Americans would not see in either anime or especially video game form for nearly another decade.
- "Broly Voice - Dragon Ball franchise". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
- https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Dragon-Ball/Broly-Baby/
- Shawn Saris (3 August 2015). "Top 13 Dragon Ball Z Characters". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Shawn Saris (11 March 2016). "13 Best Dragon Ball Z Fights". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Peters, Megan (5 June 2017). "Broly Who: Internet Reacts To Dragon Ball's New Legendary Super Saiyan". ComicBook. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- Peters, Megan (31 October 2017). "Did 'Dragon Ball Super' Just Compare Kale to Broly?". ComicBook. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
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