‘Dragon Ball’ Creator Shares Original Broly Designs

These days, Broly is it when it comes to Dragon Ball. The character has always been a talked-about one, but his impending revival has made him more popular than ever before. So, the folks at Toei Animation felt it was time to give fans a special Broly gift.

Recently, a new piece of artwork was posted to Toei’s Dragon Ball website. The page, which compiles little-known artwork from creator Akira Toriyama, featured the artist’s original character designs for Broly way back when.

And, as you can see below, the beefy character is a bit more slender than you may recall.

The artwork hails from Broly’s original Dragon Ball debut. The character made his explosive entry in Dragon Ball Z: Broly — The Legendary Super Saiyan, and his popularity never died down. Despite his non-canon status, many embraced Broly as a key Saiyan, and his reception has caused dozens of fan-wars since.

As for this original design, Broly is shown in his base form and Legendary Super Saiyan state. The fighter’s full-body design shows off his lean muscles, and his forehead is a bit on the big side her. Broly’s hair and outfit look much the same as it does in the film, but there is one rather glaring difference. As you can see to the left-hand side, it looks like Toriyama designed Broly with an adult tail, but it looks like the baddie lost the appendage somewhere in production.

Looking at this design, it is clear to see how much Broly has changed. His slim base form is a departure from the character’s beefier base teased in the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Broly trailer. There is also no word yet on whether the man will retain his Legendary Super Saiyan status in the film, so audiences are eager to see what kind of power reboot Broly will wield.

What do you think about Broly’s original look? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll. Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019.