"Bardock"

"*Second only to Lord Frieza himself... I am the strongest.*"
— "Bardock", What-If 16

**"Bardock"**, true name **Ginyu**, is a character introduced in What-If 16. He is an incarnation of Ginyu who took over Bardock's body right before Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta.

## Appearance

"Bardock" appears identical to his canonical counterpart, with the addition of a green coloured scouter.

## Personality

Like his canonical counterpart, "Bardock" reveres Frieza, as shown when he heard from Goku of the Dragon Balls. He's much more aware of Saiyan's nature to rapidly grow stronger in fights, this knowledge derived from the same body he's using.

## Biography

### Before What-If 16

25 years before year 762, during Bardock's rebellion against Frieza, Captain Ginyu takes note of the Saiyan potential and stops Frieza from killing him, taking his body as his own.

After this, "Bardock" trains with his new body for the next decades, gaining enormous strength along with discovering the Super Saiyan transformation.

### What-If 16

During the Dragon Balls research on Namek by the Frieza Force, "Bardock" meets the newly arrived Goku who indirectly confirms the existence of the with-granting objects. The two Saiyans, after a short discussion, start to battle, with Goku managing to hold his own using the Kaio-ken, surprising "Bardock". As "Bardock" energy starts to increase, Goku launches a Kamehameha, "Bardock" answering by launching a Ki sphere. Goku, slowly being overwhelmed, activates the Kaio-ken to times 20.
Dodging the incoming blast, "Bardock" throws himself at his foe, only for him to be punched in the gut, receiving a critical hit.

After falling to the ground, "Bardock" claims that he's second to only Lord Frieza in terms of strength, before jumping in the air and transforming into a Super Saiyan. As Goku senses the enormous energy his adversary now holds, he's forced to push his Kaio-ken to times 30 and 40, with this proving fruitless.
After beating down Goku and bringing him to the ground, "Bardock" scouter starts to read that his power level is rapidly increasing, forcing him to blast the Saiyan. As the zone is annihilated by the resulting explosion, the scouter reads a power level of 4 million and a half, before immediately plummeting to zero, subsequently the device explodes.
"Bardock" commends his now dead foe as being strong, adding that using this body made him know better than underestimating a Saiyan. After powering down to his base form, he decides to report the events to Frieza.

## Abilities

* Power Scaling
* Transformations

This incarnation of Bardock has not appeared in the Power Scaling video.

### Super Saiyan

"Bardock" achieved the Super Saiyan transformation during his decade-long training, making him the first Super Saiyan to appear in a thousand years.
His hair take on a golden color and stand up, his eyes become a light green. His tail also becomes yellow.

He uses this transformations after receiving a critical hit from Goku, subsequently utterly outclassing the Saiyan who, despite increasing levels of Kaio-ken, is nowhere near "Bardock" power while in this state.
## Trivia

* It is possible that "Bardock"'s personality has been influenced similarly to Goku Black, as he hopes for a good fight before facing Goku and draws enjoyment from when the two start to battle;
* There are various clues dispersed into the What-If that reveal that "Bardock" is actually Captain Ginyu:
	+ The subtitles color change from green, representing Bardock, to purple, representing Ginyu;
	+ "Bardock" addresses the Saiyans in a weird manner, as if he's not associated with them;
	+ "Bardock" doesn't recognize Goku as his son, the latter noting how there's something off about him;
	+ "Bardock" refers to Frieza as "Lord";
	+ "Bardock", after killing Goku, states that using this body made him aware of Saiyans' capabilities when in battle;
	+ Various techniques that "Bardock" uses are also used by members of the Ginyu Force, such as the Crasher Cannon, Crusher Ball and Milky Cannon;
	+ During two segments of the fight, respectively when pushing Goku to the ground and when transforming into a Super Saiyan, "Bardock" performs a small dance;
	+ The track that plays in the credits is Ginyu's FigherZ Theme.
* Frieza is unaware of "Bardock" achieving the Super Saiyan form, with the latter purposefully keeping it a secret out of loyalty.