Dragon Ball Super: Broly introduced some important non-canon favorites into the series’ official canon, but it also revealed the roots of many of the franchise’s biggest elements such as the Freeza Force and Planet Vegeta.
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It also happens to explain how the Scouters were introduced into the series, and even demonstrated their effectiveness in a pretty surprising way. Major Dragon Ball Super: Broly spoilers to follow!
The beginning of the film focuses on a pretty pivotal moment of Planet Vegeta’s history as it reveals how the Cold Force became the Freeza Force. Hinting at a long working relationship as the Saiyans were under the rule of King Cold (and have thus been access to the technology seen later in the series), the beginning of the film sees King Cold pass on his army to his son Freeza, officially.
As a way to advance the Freeza force, and the Saiyans under his rule, Freeza gifts the Saiyans the Scouters as we know it. Before that, the Scouter was more of a telescope like device that read power levels from a distance, but the newer Scouter made the process far more efficient. When Freeza puts it on to demonstrate how well it reads power levels as opposed to the older technology, he finds out that King Vegeta actually has a few Saiyans with blasters pointed at him in various hiding places.
Freeza then deals with these snipers pretty quickly with a series of Death Beams, and thus shows how different of a ruler he is. It also reveals how scary these new Scouters are as he finds the hidden Saiyans who would have stayed hidden had the more primitive scouters still been in use.
The more impressive demonstration of the scouters comes later when Freeza destroys Planet Vegeta. Freeza puts one on when he launches his giant ki blast at the planet, and the scouter’s mass power level reading of the planet quickly ticks down to zero as Vegeta turns into dust. Fans of the series know just how big of a role these play in the series until power levels get too strong to read anymore, so this was a nostalgic way to remind fans of just how effective the scouters used to be.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly is now open in theaters worldwide, and has already gone on to have a bigger lifetime gross than Dragonball: Evolution. Funimation brought the film to the United States on January 16, and tickets for the film are now on sale. You can read ComicBook.com’s spoiler-free review of the film here, and Dragon Ball Super: Broly is described as such:
“A planet destroyed, a powerful race reduced to nothing. After the devastation of Planet Vegeta, three Saiyans were scattered among the stars, destined for different fates. While two found a home on Earth, the third was raised with a burning desire for vengeance and developed an unbelievable power. And the time for revenge has come. Destinies collide in a battle that will shake the universe to its very core! Goku is back to training hard so he can face the most powerful foes the universes have to offer, and Vegeta is keeping up right beside him. But when they suddenly find themselves against an unknown Saiyan, they discover a terrible, destructive force. Locked into battle with the formidable Broly, Goku and Vegeta face their most dangerous opponent yet!”
