Headscratchers / Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Broly BR?

• What exactly does the BR stand for this version of Broly?
  • Broly.

Number of Wishes

• Why does Shenron only grant one wish? He's been able to grant three since the Cell Saga, sometimes fewer depending on how much power the wish takes. Teleporting someone, whether it's across the universe or too the afterlife is easy. But not only does he only grant one wish, he says he will only grant one. So what gives?
  • Continuity Nod from the anime. Beerus got the first wish by asking about the Super Saiyan God (He sent Shenron away after that), and Gohan got the second by wishing Pan's illness away in a filler (Shenron then disappeared when Goku took too long to make his wish)
  • Basically, he can grant three wishes per cycle no matter the duration between wishes. Beerus used one, then Gohan, so Shenron was on the last wish on this cycle before they had to wait a year for the Dragonballs to reset.
  • If you're reading the manga, it still works because Goku suggests Bulma has been using the dragon balls a lot lately. While an anime viewer knows exactly when Shenlong was last summoned, a manga fan can still see the implication there were off panel wishes.

Frieza's Wish

• Why does Frieza want to only grow 5 cm. in total instead of wishing for a gradual growth to a particular height? Like maybe growing to the height of his 2nd form over the course of a year/1 1/2 years?
  • Rule of Funny chiefly to show that he and Bulma really aren't that different and care about the superficial aspects of it.
  • It's also the same issue. Growing 3 ft. in a year (not to mention he's long been an adult) would seem unnatural. Which it is, he just doesn't want people to know.
  • Most likely in reference to Commander Red, who wanted to use the dragonballs for height increase way back in Dragonball. Presumably he only wants 5 cm.
• Because, at the end of the day, Freeza is a very, VERY petty being. Remember, the people who made fun of his height were killed...most likely on the spot. On top of that, his wanting to grow only 5 centimeters had the same reasoning for Bulma only wanting to de-age five years: any more, people would notice and wonder what they did to alter themselves.
• More importantly there's the logical inconsistency of Frieza changing his wish because "Being sent to Hell taught me that immortality is bad." While there is logic behind the idea that living forever will eventually lead to some sort of permanent suffering some day, the problem is that Freiza now knows that when he dies, he is destined to go to Hell, and without immortality, it will DEFINITELY happen some day. "I MIGHT eternally suffer some day, so instead I'm going to GUARANTEE that it will happen sooner than later." doesn't make a ton of sense. The logical next step would be to think of a different wish that helps avoid inevitable suffering altogether.
  • This at least can be explained by the way Hell works in DBZ, which is naturally closer to a Japanese conception of Hell than a Western one. Freeza's time in Hell would eventually end after his soul has suffered enough and been purified, at which point he'd be reincarnated. So Freeza's stint in Hell would eventually end, but being there for as long as he was simply put the fear of suffering for a true eternity into him.
    • Not to mention that he specifically knows that it's Earth's Hell he was damned to. The Hell that we saw in anime filler isn't being considered anymore where Toriyama is concerned; there's a Demon Realm and whatnot, but to my knowledge we have yet to see what the acutal, greater "Hell" is like. Maybe Frieza thinks that if he doesn't die on Earth, his Hell won't be as bad. Another thing to consider is what he said about the Zenos during the TOP. He whispered something along the lines of "not letting them have their way forever." If he was actually serious about overthrowing them at some point, controlling the universe would presumably remove the issue of suffering after he dies.

Kaioken

• Why didn't Goku try Kaioken SS Blue?
  • Watsonian reason, because he wanted an easier solution. Doylian? because the movie is already jam-packed so they skipped it alongside any other form.
  • The movie was primarily based upon Toriyama's script, in which Super Saiyan Blue was the height of Goku and Vegeta's power, as opposed to the anime and manga adaptations, which have developed separate extensions to this form. Also, the director felt that it was too soon after the Tournament of Power for Goku and Vegeta to break their limits yet again, so it was chosen for them to be excluded.
  • Another possible reason is that Goku doesn't really want to kill Broly. He's not going all out because he wants to calm Broly down out of his psycho rage. By the time Broly goes Super Saiyan, his power jumps so much that Goku realized that even Kaioken Blue wouldn't cut it and went with fusion instead.
  • Given that both him and Vegeta get overpowered in short order, them not even trying their powered-up states still sticks out. Plus with Goku the whole reason he's able to do SS Blue Kaioken is that he's able with SS Blue he has more control so he could still keep from killing Broly. He's not really breaking his limits considering that SS Blue Kaioken is his new limit. As for the Toriyama reason, he's apparently involved in the production of the anime but if they have created their own concepts beyond his input then why not do it again to remain consistent?
  • OP here, there's actually a simpler answer. SS Blue goku is fighting against Broly, then he turns Super Saiyan. The first super saiyan transformation increases the power 50x, so even Goku knew going 20x wasn't gonna cut it.

Wrong Timing

• Cheelai was concerned about Broly and his safety, so she stole the dragon balls. Problem is, that was after Broly entered Wrath State. From that point on, up until the middle of his fight with Gogeta, Broly had the upper hand against every opponent he was fighting not named Whis.
  • She was proven right, though. I don't see the issue here.
  • Because it doesn't make sense. Had she thought of that earlier when Vegeta was man handling Broly as Super Saiyan God, that would had been another matter, but she was concerned for his safety when he was decimating Goku. Her being right in the end doesn't matter since the odds were overwhelmingly in Broly's favor. Aka, it comes out as her conveniently knowing what's gonna happen without any reason.
  • She wasn't concerned for his safety insofar as "he could lose"; she was concerned for his safety period. Ie, that he was basically losing his mind as he fought, giving into his anger (even before turning Super Saiyan). Naturally, she was concerned, and thus wanted to remove him from the fight (which, since he didn't want to fight, would rather quickly revert him back to normal, or so is the idea).
  • It's likely she does not see everything that happens. It was established as early as Goku's first Budokai that most spectators can't see every detail of a fight, they mostly hear noise and see results, like Krillin being knocked on his butt. Broly took some hard hits, so it's possible she didn't see how much of an advantage he had for most of the battle. Some of that also occurred in ice and lava, Rule of Perception and Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid aside, the naked eye shouldn't be able to see through those materials. But the fact that said materials, which most people can't leave a mark on, were getting rent by the fight likely scared her. Assuming she can't see most of the details, most of what Cheelai hears should be Broly screaming.

Stealing the Dragon Radar

• Why does Frieza send his men to steal Bulma's dragon radar, which fortuitously reveals she'd already collected six Dragon Balls? In the Namek Saga, scouters could be programmed to detect Dragon Balls.
  • No, they couldn't. You are remembering things wrong, they could only sense the Namekians energy, and everyone searched for them to look for the balls.

Frieza's master plan

• "Hey so you know how I wiped out the Saiyans so there couldn't be one to challenge me? Well I found one, not only is he stronger than me but he has remarkable anger issues that I helped to kickstart by killing his dad. When he can control his power he'll work for me. Totally."
  • To be fair no one actually knows that Frieza killed Paragus. Not helping the matters is that there weren't any witnesses during the deed. For all Broly knows he might have been the one who killed him.
  • Not only the above, but for all of Frieza's 'growth', it's still been stated that the primary thing he cares about is himself. Hell, he even calls Vegeta ungrateful for rejecting his offer to come back to the Frieza Force, despite his favoritism toward him... despite this 'favoritism' involving torturing him for years, working underneath him as a slave, and more. Is it really any surprise that he believes that he will get Broly back under his thumb, the same way he believes that he will eventually kill Goku and Vegeta for real?
  • Freeza likely believes the same people getting Broly's emotions under control can be used as hostages. Freeza also has no idea of knowing at that moment that Goku/Kakarot is extending an olive branch to Broly. As far as Freeza knows, Broly and Paragus willingly joined his army and graciously informed him of Broly's control issues upfront.
  • Frieza is a deceitful schemer but he's also always been really stupid, so it's not like it's out of character for him to have a bad idea. Keep in mind that this is the same guy that got himself killed due to attempting two genocides (that created some very powerful enemies and some very good reasons for them to hate him) just because he was too lazy to do literally any training, even though we've seen that his natural ability is such that just a few months of work is enough to bring him up to the level of actual demigods (and thus entirely unbeatable by any of the potential threats we was concerned about at the time, which again were only an issue anyway because he kept making more enemies). His entire identity can basically be summed up as "hubris plus laziness," so of course he's going to try to get someone like Broly to do his work for him and has the ego to think that plan makes any sense.
  • Frieza is also the same person that offered Goku a position in his army when they were fighting on Namek, and who didn't think it was unbelievable that Vegeta had decided to ally with him again during Resurrection F. Frieza simply thinks that if he wants something, he should get it. Otherwise, he usually kills it.

Piccolo was apparently the only warrior on Earth paying attention to Broly's arrival

• While it makes sense that Piccolo was paying attention to Freiza's arrival, and the battle with Broly. Where were the other Z-Fighters during the film? Were any of the others even aware of the situation?
  • The Law of Conservation of Detail is in detail here. The film decided to not focus on irrelevant characters to the narrative of the story, meaning any cameo would break the flow. If I were to guess, they were aware of the events of the film but had faith in Goku and Vegeta to solve it.
  • Also, the only other fighter who would likely be strong enough to help is Android 17, who (if memory serves), cannot sense energy. Piccolo is one of the few fighters who can offer wisdom and tactical advice, even if he doesn't have the raw power that others might. Everyone else possibly had the reaction of: "If Goku and Vegeta can't solve it, there's not much we can do."
  • What good COULD they accomplish by interfering? Even Piccolo, who's stronger than all the Earthlings, knew he was soundly out of his league there, and didn't rush to join the battle, and just check up on Goku telepathically. The only other people who could be of any help are Gohan and the Androids, and the former was probably occupied with something else (he can't teleport like Goku, after all, nor can he use telepathy like Piccolo), while the latter two can't sense energy, as mentioned above.
  • They just didn't happen to be written into this story. The characters COULD show up, but there's also the issue of the author telling the story they want to tell and spending time on what's important. Vegeta should presumably be alive somewhere during Cooler's Revenge, but it just wasn't a priority to include him in that film. Dende also probably saw the fight happening with Broly. We know that to be true, but showing it isn't important.

The Flying Nimbus

• Just a thought, since this new version of Broly is way more gentle and good natured than the original. Does that mean this Broly can ride the Flying Nimbus?
  • Most likely considering this Broly isn't even evil and is only acting out because of his anger (usually if his friends are hurt). Once he is stable, he's very nice and outgoing. Goku, back in the original Dragon Ball, was like this as well who had a temper if his friends are hurt but is still pure hearted enough to ride the Flying Nimbus.

Zarbon, Dodoria and the Ginyus

We see the seven together during the flashback, and I'm just... what. That was almost 50 years ago, yet they all look the same. Are all seven of their races just Long-Lived, or what?

• Actually, only 30, and that had been the case ever since the anime filler and the Bardock Special. So yes, it's the case
• Traveling from planet to planet can cause the aging process to go out of sync, so if we combine that with "their species just age slower" explanation, then them not aging would make far more sense than if they did age.
• If following standard Sci-Fi tropes is a thing, then humans are not only physically weak but also live relatively short lives compared to many other races. It wouldn't be out of the question that living to be well over 200 or more is the norm for most sentient species. Heck, there's even some evidence that the technology and medicine on Earth in Dragon Ball has allowed most humans to live to be 100 or more.
• Hit is around a thousand years old, Saiyans retain their youthful bodies into old age, Kais and other divine beings live for thousands or millions of years, Kami and Guru and presumably other Namekians are known to live for centuries, Fortuneteller Baba, Roshi, and Shen are all in the same generation and still were alive into the present, at least a century later (Roshi's longevity was explained but not for the other two.) In other words, long-lived people are not uncommon at all in this universe.