Bardock (TV Special Incarnation)

## Bardock

**Bardock** (バーダック) is a low-class Saiyan warrior, who was the husband of Gine, and the father of Raditz and Goku.

Bardock's childhood until his early years in adulthood is
unknown, but he is shown to lead his own squad into battle, and they are
 very successful in accomplishing their assignments. He is an adept
fighter and a devoted Saiyan Army soldier under Frieza's Army until he
realizes that Frieza plans the annihilation of the Saiyan race.

## Name

Bardock's name, like all other Saiyan characters, is a pun on edible plant material, in this case, the burdock herb (this pun is more apparent in the *Dragon Ball* manga, where the character's name is literally spelled Burdock). Bardock's family are all named after root vegetables (burdock, onion, radish, and carrot). The word "burdock" transliterated into katakana is *badokku* (バードック, *bādokku*), but the character's name is written as *Badakku* (バーダック, *Bādakku*), changing the 'do' character to 'da'. This character change actually makes the kana sound more like "Bardock" to English speakers, making it difficult to accurately romanize the word to convey the pun. The word could be romanized as "Burdock", "Barduck", "Badack" or any combination of these syllables. While Viz's English publications of the manga use the spelling "Burdock", the English Dub (Funimation) use the spelling "Bardock".

## Appearance

    Bardock's appearance is very similar to Goku's: he has unkempt hair which partially stands on end, but Bardock has a scar on his left cheek, slightly darker skin and fully outlined, sharper eyes. Bardock's oldest son Raditz inherits only his eyes and complexion. In Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's original character design, Bardock had a longer scar, his hair was more spiked, his Battle Armor was a lighter shade of green, and it had three or four flaps at the waist, and did not wear the long-legged jumpsuit he has in Akira Toriyama's final design for the 1990 TV special.

In *Bardock - The Father of Goku* and Episode of Bardock, he wears a dark blue and green Battle Armor, dark blue combat pants, long red armbands with matching leg warmers, a green Scouter on his left eye, and black and green boots. Later, Bardock adopts Tora's blood-soaked armband as a headband.

## Personality

In *Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku*, he displays several personality traits fairly typical of Universe 7 Saiyans. He also has a very plain view in life. While praised by others as brilliant, Bardock rejects such compliments, believing that he is simply experienced for combat. He also shows traits that are not like a typical Universe 7 Saiyan, Bardock deeply cares for the members of his team and is willing to avenge the death of his crew members after finding them killed on Planet Meat, particularly Tora during their last conversation. Along with this, he also attempts to warn the other Saiyans that Frieza is coming to destroy Planet Vegeta, and even though they don't listen, he tries a couple times to convince them, before realizing they would not listen and then proceeds to attempt to fight Frieza. He is somewhat cocky, loves fighting, and will kill in cold blood. He has a laid-back and fearless personality as evidenced by him taking responsibility in confronting Frieza alone. He is a highly capable tactician in battle, able to perceive the situation at hand and act accordingly with it, as shown from his ability to out-maneuver Frieza's men.

In *Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock*, Bardock keeps his sociality, he says his name to Berry right after the boy asked him in the manga version. But he also shows a little bit of stubbornness, when Berry offers him a basket of food and he denies it even being hungry, but soon Bardock starts to accept Berry's persistence and becomes softer with the child. When Plantains thanked Bardock for Chilled's defeat, Bardock replies with a smile.

The author Akira Toriyama adds that he is warlike, but compared to other Saiyans, who are cold-hearted and of simple thoughts, he also happens to possess calm judgment and a measure of humanity. Due to his actions of saving his companions, which is rare for a Saiyan, he is greatly adored among a portion of the low-class warriors

## Early Life

In the ten year conflict in Age 720 through 730 Bardock is a low-class Saiyan mercenary who leads a small platoon comprised of four other Saiyan soldiers *(Tora, Fasha, Shugesh* & Borgos). His wife Gine was also part of Bardock's Team at one point. Together, the team makes a living by traveling to various planets where they decimate the defenses of these civilizations and prepare them for Frieza's Planetary Market.  he is mentioned by Paragus in *Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan* when he recognizes Goku as Bardock's son, and it can be thought that Paragus was Bardock's superior according to the *Supplemental Daizenshuu* Bardock was famous for his bravery even among the Saiyans.
After being saved on the battlefield by him several times, Gine developed some feelings for Bardock. Due to her gentle nature, Gine was not cut out for fighting and retired. Her gentle nature has also changed Bardock's behavior, as Saiyans usually do not demonstrate care for their children but Bardock does. Bardock and Gine already had two sons by the time of the destruction of Planet Vegeta.

According to Akira Toriyama, the pair of Bardock and Gine were those rare Saiyans who were joined by a bond other than for reproductive purposes, and in an interview, he says that Bardock himself might have had siblings, but perhaps even Bardock himself does not really know and, at any rate, he probably has no interest in it either.

## **Dragon Ball Z**

### **Bardock The Father of Goku (TV Special)**

    After clearing a society on the Planet Kanassa as Great Apes, a weakened survivor emerges, catching Bardock off-guard, and instills in the Saiyan the ability of precognitive foresight. This ability, the Kanassan believes, will over time serve Bardock with vengeance for the crimes the Saiyans commit in the name of Frieza. While in recovery after the platoon's return to Planet Vegeta, Bardock is met with what he passes off as a delusion. In his vision, he witnesses the destruction of his home planet by the hand of Frieza and also sees the salvation of the planet Earth through his son Kakarot. During this time, presiding doctors attest that Bardock's Power Level is approaching 10,000, and that at this rate he may surpass the strength of the Saiyan ruler, King Vegeta.

    Bardock is still out of commission when Frieza executes his selfish plan to resolve the paranoia he is experiencing. Following Frieza's orders, the capable Soldiers Tora, Fasha, Borgos, and Shugesh are instructed to clear the civilization of Planet Meat. During their visit to the planet, the group encounters one of Frieza's most dangerous minions, Dodoria, and his elites, who betray them by Frieza's orders and make short work of Bardock's Team.

    When Bardock is informed that his Team has accepted an offer on planet Meat, a still injured Bardock hurriedly makes preparations to pursue his friends, unaware of the dangers that await at his destination. On his way to his Attack Ball, he comes across his newborn son Kakarot and checks his power level to see if his visions about him growing up to be a strong warrior is true, but disregards the notion after seeing that his son only has an average power level. Eventually, once upon Meat, Bardock discovers his ravaged comrades and, to some fortune, finds that Tora is alive but in critical condition. Vowing to avenge the four, Bardock removes Tora's Armband, now soaked in blood, and dons it over his head. Bardock is suddenly assaulted by Dodoria's Elite, although for a low-class Saiyan, he is able to dominate over the elite-class fighters until Dodoria launches a Energy Cannon, overpowering Bardock, blasting him into his friends' dead bodies and leaving him for dead. Bardock barely survives this attack, and coming to terms with the fact that his visions are actual premonitions and not a case of delirium, he desperately struggles against time to return to Planet Vegeta and change the grim fate of his people. Upon his return to the planet, he immediately begins spreading the word of danger, but his panic (as well as the state of his condition) only leads the other Saiyans to believe Bardock is overreacting after having finally met his match during a typical mission.

    Angry at the reaction he has received, Bardock yells at the other saiyans for their disbelief and they are stunned into silence. Bardock realizes the helplessness of his situation, but his son appears into him in a vision and Bardock goes into a frenzy takes to the skies where Frieza's Spaceship is orbiting, in a last resort effort to throttle Frieza's plan to eradicate the Saiyans. As Bardock displays an abnormal ability to fend off hundreds of Frieza's soldiers, Frieza decides that the situation is growing out of hand. Frieza's decision is solidified by his perceived insolence of another Saiyan, King Vegeta, who has invaded Frieza's Spaceship with his servants' in an attempt to rescue their prince, Vegeta (who at this time is nowhere near the ship, as he is carrying out orders on another planet). After killing King Vegeta and his Royal Guard, Frieza steps out into the orbit of planet Vegeta where he encounters Bardock, who insists that the Saiyans refuse to continue being oppressed and commanded by the tyrant and announces his intentions to avenge all killed for Frieza's cause.

    Intending to wipe out the Saiyans anyway, Frieza does not see a problem with Bardock's allegation, and somewhat patiently listens to Bardock's speech, staking out the perfect opportunity to commence his genocide. This opening comes when Bardock attempts to kill Frieza using a Final Spirit Cannon, which Frieza retaliates with by laughing maniacally as he expands a charging Supernova which absorbs Bardock's blast.

Within moments, the Supernova is set free from Frieza's fingertip and careens through numerous bystander soldiers en route toward Planet Vegeta; Bardock is among the first of many to be consumed by the ball of energy. As he is incinerated within the Supernova, Bardock has one final vision, that of his son Goku (born Kakarot) challenging and defeating Frieza, which brings a smile to his face. His regret, however, is that he never had a chance to hold his infant son in his arms before his child was commissioned to Earth only days after being born. In the Japanese dub as well as in *Dragon Ball Z Kai*, however, Bardock tells his son Kakarot to avenge the Saiyans and Planet Vegeta.

### **Frieza Saga**

    Because Bardock was primarily the creation of Toei Animation, it was only after the airing of *The Father of Goku* that Bardock would make an appearance in the manga. Bardock appeared in a two-panel cameo appearance, in Frieza's flashback when he sees Goku, who reminds him of Bardock, Frieza recalls that Bardock had attacked him right before he destroyed Planet Vegeta, and was killed alongside the rest of the Saiyans when Frieza destroyed the planet using a Supernova.

Bardock also made cameo appearances in the *Dragon Ball Z* and Dragon Ball Z: Kai, including during Frieza's flashbacks to the 'final confrontation' scene featured at the climax of *The Father of Goku* when Frieza deduces Bardock's relation to Goku when recalling his destruction of Planet Vegeta.

## **Film Appearances**

### **Dragon Ball Z- Cooler's Revenge**

    The opening of *Cooler's Revenge* shows the ending scene of *Bardock - The Father of Goku*, which appears Bardock confronting Frieza. Cooler witnesses his brother confronting the last Saiyan as well as him destroying planet Vegeta. Salza then detects a space pod flying away, but Cooler decides to ignore it, saying that Frieza is careless and it is his fault that a Saiyan will survive.

### **Dragon Ball - Episode of Bardock**

    As he is being overwhelmed by Frieza's Supernova, Towa uses a wormhole to capture him, however, he runs to the past.

Bardock survives after his battle against Frieza and wakes up in a bed on a planet that looks a lot like Planet Vegeta. He is being treated by two aliens: the village doctor Ipana and his son Berry. Bardock remarks that the medicine used to heal him is similar to the fluid in Medical Machines and Ipana says that the name of the planet is Planet Plant, the old name of Planet Vegeta, so Bardock starts to wonder if he is in the past. When two Soldiers named Toobi and Cabira arrive and declare that they are going to conquer the planet, Bardock confronts and kills them. The villagers come to thank him, but Bardock flies away to a cave. When Berry arrives at the cave with a basket of food, Bardock tells him to leave, but eventually eats the young alien's food and grows tolerant of him over time.

    When the space pirate Chilled and his soldiers come to investigate Planet Plant, due to the death of Toobi and Cabira, Berry tells Bardock that he has a bad feeling about him. When Chilled and his Soldiers start terrorizing the planet, Berry begs Bardock to help the Plants. Remembering his friends' decimation on Planet Meat, Bardock accepts and saves Ipana from Chilled's men. When he sees Chilled, Bardock confuses him for Frieza and angrily attacks him with a punch to the face. Chilled kicks him and begins to crush him.

    Chilled is about to deliver the finishing energy blast to Bardock when Berry rushes forward in an attempt to save him. However, Chilled throws the blast instead to him, wounding Berry. Upon seeing this, Bardock thinks of Frieza and the death of his crew and becomes furious. He then transforms into a Super Saiyan. He and Chilled begin fighting once more, and Chilled tries to *Ki* Blast him to death, and as a last resort, he uses a Death Ball to try to destroy Planet Plant along with Bardock. However, Bardock fires a Rebellion Trigger at Chilled, and the force of the blast sent the tyrant flying into space. The villagers cheer on Bardock and he smiles and then walks away. It is revealed that Chilled's knowledge about Super Saiyans was passed to his descendants.

## Power

Manga
While on an unknown planet with a fellow Saiyan comrade, he is able to easily decimate the native aliens of that planet, months later he was easily killed by first form Frieza.

Films
In *Bardock - The Father of Goku*, after returning from Kanassa and having his wounds healed, Bardock is said to have a power level close to 10,000, approaching King Vegeta. He is able to defeat four of Frieza's elite soldiers at the same time after they ganged up on him before being blasted away by Dodoria's Moutg Blast. Later, despite being heavily wounded, Bardock forces his way through dozens of Frieza's troops on his own in an effort to reach Frieza's ship, which he does successfully and without any effort.
After surviving Frieza's Supernova and being sent to the past, Bardock is seen defeating Toobi and Cabria, two soldiers of Chilled's army, with extreme ease. After achieving the Super Saiyan transformation, increasing his power fiftyfold, Bardock is able to overpower Chilled himself, thus saving planet Plant from destruction.

Statements by authors and guidebooks
It was stated by Akira Toriyama that Bardock was one of the strongest low-class warriors, but was not strong enough to be considered a mid-class warrior. Bardock was also strong enough to protect Gine several times and other members of his group whenever they were caught in danger.

## Techniques:

* **Flight** – The ability to fly with the use of ki.
* **Ki Blast** – The most basic form of energy wave.
* **Ki Sense** - the abiltiy to sense ki.
* **Howl:** the ability to power up to full power while transformed into a great ape
* **Backstep Ki Blast** - Bardock's signature attack in the *Raging Blast*series.
* **Saiyan Spirit** – an ability used only by Saiyans. The user remembers their great Saiyan pride and awakens their hidden energy to power up their melee and super attacks.
* **Wild Sense** - advance movement
* **Flip Shoot** – also known as Backstep Ki Blast. Bardock flips backwards, avoiding enemy attacks, and fires a Full Power Energy Wave. Used to destroy the remaining members of Dodoria's Elite
* **Giga Meteor Storm** – A much more powerful version of the Chou Makouhou Barrage used by Bardock in his Great Ape form.
* **Ultra Rebellion Cannon** - A advanced version of the Super Mouth Blast used while in the Great Ape form..
* **Final Revenger**– A rush attack used to defeat Dodoria's elites on Planet Meat.
* **Rebellion Trigger** – A Final Spirit Cannon fired in the form of an Energy wave.
* **Flash Spirit** – It is an elbow, followed by a kick, and then an energy wave. This attack is used when Bardock fights the horde of soldiers on his way to attack Frieza.
* **Rebellion Spear** – Bardock rams into the opponents and hits them. He uses this
* **Final Spirit Cannon** – A whitish-blue energy sphere attack. Bardock uses this in an attempt to kill Frieza.
* **Riot Javelin**. A bigger and more powerful version of the **Final Spirit Cannon**.
* **Vortex Crusher** – Bardock rolls in a rapid motion and lands a hard elbow on the opponent's head.
* **Explosive Wave** – a burst of ki emitted from the entire body.
* **Wild Counter** – Advanced version of the **After Image** technique.
* **Dragon Throw** – A grapple throw
* **Super Energy Wave Volley:** a rapid barrage of ki blasts.
* **Super Explosive Wave:** - a advanced version of the Explosive Wave.

## Transformations:

### **Great Ape**

    As with all Saiyans with a tail, Bardock can transform into a Great Ape once absorbing enough Blutz Waves either from a natural source such as a full moon or artificially.  Bardock can remember everything in the transformation state and control it like an Elite Saiyan warrior, but he can not use a clear language and can only growl while transformed due to being a Low-Class Saiyan warrior. Despite the pronounced snout while in this form, Bardock visibly retains his scar while transformed.

### **Super Saiyan**

     Bardock achieved this transformation in Dragon Ball - Episode of Bardock during his fight against Chilled. As a Super Saiyan, Bardock resembles his son. His hair becomes blond and stands up, his eyes turn into a light green, and he acquires a golden aura. His strength, like all Super Saiyans, increases in fifty-fold. He is the second to achieve it while having a tail, but unlike Goku in *Dragon Ball GT* with all his conventional Super Saiyan forms, his tail does not turn gold while transformed. In this form, Bardock develops a new technique derived from his Final Spirit Cannon (also called Rebellion Trigger), which was used to win his battle against Chilled.

## Video Game Transformations:

### **Masked Saiyan**

    Masked Saiyan (仮面のサイヤ人) also referred to as Time Breaker Bardock, is a state taken on by Bardock in *Dragon Ball Online* after being saved from Frieza's Supernova and taken control of by Mira. Through unknown methods, Bardock's power increases exponentially, as he is able to fight many members of the Time Patrol at once (according to *Xenoverse 2* Towa modified his body using her scientific expertise to increase his power and these modification are permanent as Bardock retains them after being freed from the Time Breakers' mind control). Bardock's appearance changes as such that his eyes become permanently red (while wearing his Time Breaker mask) and he wears a dark Battle Armor with the additional features provided by the Time Breakers. Whilst working for Mira, he also gains a unique mask which is capable of blocking out Blutz Waves, though this effect is negated if it is broken partially or removed completely.

### **Masked Great Ape**

    In *Dragon Ball Heroes*, Masked Saiyan can transform into his Great Ape form, introduced in the first mission of the God Mission series (GDM1). However, the form became playable in the second mission (GDM2). In the game, Masked Saiyan gains two exclusive techniques: a dark version of Rebellion Trigger, known as Dark Rebellion Trigger, and Power of Darkness (in his Great Ape state).

### **Super Saiyan 2**

    Bardock achieved the Super Saiyan 2 transformation in *Dragon Ball Heroes*, introduced in the second mission of the Jaaku Mission series (JM2) and in *Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2*.

### **Super Saiyan 3**

    Time Patroller Bardock attains this form in of *Dragon Ball Heroes* through, introduced in the third mission of the God Mission series (GDM3). His hair massively grows and reaches his waist, a long bang to the left also appears, similar to Goku. He also gains another new technique called Rebellion Edge, in which for the first time Bardock attacks with swords created by his Ki energy.

### **Super Saiyan 4**

    Bardock attains this form in *Super Dragon Ball Heroes*, introduced in the seventh mission of the original series (SDBH7). As a characteristic of the form, Bardock gets a reddish fur that covers his body and his hair is nearly identical to that of Goku, having more spikes to its style. While losing his upper-body attire (armor) like all other users of this form, he retains his signature headband. Unlike any other Saiyan, Bardock keeps his tail wrapped on his waist. He also obtains a new technique, called Rebellion Hammer, which is very similar to his Rebellion Fang, only more powerful.

## Voice Actors

* **Original Japanese Dub:** Masako Nozawa
* **Funimation English Dub:** Sonny Strait

## Trivia

* In a chapter of the *Dragon Ball* manga, Raditz alludes to Bardock when commenting that Goku "look[s] just like [their] father".
* Bardock was the first anime original character to later be included in two panels of the manga.
* In a flashback during the Frieza Saga, it is implied that during Bardock's confrontation with Frieza, all of the men behind him were part of his army to defeat Frieza. However, in *Bardock - The Father of Goku*, it is shown that those are all actually Frieza's men, and Bardock fought his way through them to get to Frieza.
* Sonny Strait gave Bardock three different voices; the first (in the original FUNimation airing) is somewhat high-pitched, almost similar to Krillin, the second (first appearing in 2000s until *Raging Blast*) is standard baritone in vocal pitch (as with most common male voices), and starting from *Dragon Ball Kai*, his voice exhibits a more virile and brazen disposition, sticking with his Japanese (aggressive) tone.

## Gallery

Bardock (original Manga appearance based on TV Special)Bardock (Episode of Bardock)Bardock (Episode of Bardock appearance)Masked Warrior Bardock (Dragon Ball Xenoverse series)Bardock (Time Breaker attire from Xenoverse