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| “ | This is it. This will change everything. The fate of Planet Vegeta, my own fate, the fate of Kakarot and also, your fate as well! This ends now!!! | „ |
| ~ Bardock about to unleash his "Final Spirit Cannon" on Frieza. |
| “ | It's me, it's gonna be me! The future, I'm gonna change it! | „ |
| ~ Bardock vowing to stop Frieza and change the future. |
| “ | Kakarot, my son. You must succeed where I have failed. One day you must rise up to avenge the Saiyans of Planet Vegeta. Redeem the pride of our race! | „ |
| ~ Bardock’s last words to his son asking him to avenge their people someday. |
Bardock is the overarching protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise.
He is a low-class Saiyan warrior, the husband of Gine, the father of Raditz and Kakarot, the father-in-law of Chi-Chi, the paternal grandfather of Gohan and Goten, the paternal great-grandfather of Pan, and the ancestor of Goku Jr..
He is shown to lead his own squad, known as "Bardock's Elite" 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 Planet Trade Organization. However, on his last mission on planet Kanassa, the last Kanassan warrior gave him the ability to see into the future, and it is through these visions that he sees the eventual genocide of the Saiyans at the hands of Frieza and does everything in his power to change the future and save his race.
Although Bardock inevitably failed, and him and his race were all but wiped out, his dying wish to defeat Frieza and uphold the pride of the Saiyans would persist throughout the ages.
He is voiced by Masako Nozawa in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Sonny Strait in the Funimation dub, David Gasman in Bardock - The Father of Goku, and Doug Rand in Cooler's Revenge in the AB Groupe dub.
Overview[]
Appearance[]
Consistent with Raditz's quote in a chapter of the Dragon Ball manga as well as Frieza's when he first met Goku, Bardock's appearance is very similar to Goku's and his younger grandson Goten's: he has unkempt hair which partially stands on end, but Bardock has a jagged x-shaped scar on his left cheek, slightly darker skin and fully outlined, sharper eyes.
For his attire he wears dark navy-blue tights and sports black battle armor with green shoulder straps and hip guards. He also has black boots with green tips, red arm and leg warmers and a green scouter on his left eye. Later on, he wears Tora's red blood-stained armband as a headband when he fights Dodoria's Elite on Planet Meat.
In Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's original character design, Bardock had a longer scar, his hair was more spiked (similar to Vegeta's hair), 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 Dragon Ball Minus, Bardock wears yellow and black battle armor with squarish shoulder pads and white boots, as well as blue tights and blue arm warmers. His scar is also smoother and more simplistic.
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, spring onion, radish and carrot).
Bardock is one of three members of his team whose name was not completely changed from Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's original design, the others being Panbukin (Shugesh in the English dub) and Toma (Tora in the English dub).
The word "burdock" transliterated into katakana is badokku, but the character's name is written as Badakku, 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 publication of the manga uses the spelling "Burdock", the FUNimation dub of Bardock, The Father of Goku and the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock both spell his name "Bardock". "Bardock" is also how Frieza pronounces his name during the Frieza Saga in FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z dub.
Personality[]
Bardock can best be described as a morally gray man. He displays personality traits fairly typical of Saiyans, being quite cocky, arrogant, battle hungry and more than willing to kill in cold blood, having apathetically committed several genocide in his conquests for Frieza and even showed a sense of sadism. However, compared to most other Saiyans, he actually possesses a semblance of honor, a calm judgement and a small measure of humanity. He genuinely cares about his allies, working well with them in battle and often showing respect and admiration for them, and is thus enraged and heartbroken after he finds that they were betrayed and killed by Frieza despite their undivided loyalty. He also heavily cared about his people being admirable enough to fight Frieza and his men alone while grievously injured in a last ditch effort to save the Saiyans from their dark fate. 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 his foes.
Until the Kanassans' gift of foresight begins changing his life, Bardock thinks little to nothing of being a father. For instance when Kakarot was born he didn’t want to spend anytime with him believing that he was just a weakling with no potential as a warrior even calling him “scum” when he learned he only had a power level of two. Eventually thanks to his ability to see the future, Bardock begins to see the powerful and virtuous warrior Kakarot becomes, which is why in his last moments he finally accepts his son and shows pride and faith that Kakarot will succeed where he has failed by redeeming the honor and pride of the Saiyans.
His relationship with his firstborn son Raditz is somewhat unknown but it is inferred that they had a strained relationship. Raditz at one point mentions in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 his father never taught him anything about fighting growing up and showed jealousy that Bardock would be willing to train other people but not his own son. Bardock also shows annoyance at Raditz's arrogance and ego. However in that same video game Bardock does show respect for Raditz as a fighter and is proud that he became stronger after all these years and even offers to spar with him to test his power, showing in his own way he does care for his eldest son.
Bardock also deeply cares for his wife Gine having married her out of genuine love rather than for reproductive purposes like other Saiyans tend to do. However he does refuse to openly admit his love for her due to his pride. It's also stated in Dragon Ball Fusions that Bardock tends to tease Gine for being overly sentimental at times.
In Episode of Bardock, when Bardock is mysteriously transported to the past he continues to act cold and distant towards others even when the people of Planet Plant saved his life. When he met a young inhabitant of the planet named Berry whom offers to help him, he at first wants nothing to do with him as his Saiyan pride and his inner emotional turmoil prevents him from connecting to anyone even when Berry offers him a basket of food he denies it despite being hungry. Soon Bardock starts to accept Berry's persistence and becomes softer with the child and begins to somewhat consider him as a friend even enjoying a meal with him. When Frieza's ancestor Lord Chilled begins to attack Planet Plant Berry tried to convince Bardock to help but he refuses. However he remembers how his friends died and realizes that he can’t let anybody else he cares about get hurt so he bravely decides to help the Plantians showing that Bardock has develop even more of a noble and honorable side and thus fully redeems himself for his previous actions under Frieza. After the battle the people of Plant thanked Bardock for defeating Lord Chilled, Bardock simply responds with a smile.
In Dragon Ball Minus, Bardock is portrayed much more light-hearted, kind and heroic displaying a more social attitude, being expressive and greeting other Saiyans after arriving in his homeworld. It is also shown Bardock much more deeply cares about his sons and shows unconditional love towards them whuch is why he decides to send Kakarot to Earth to save him from the destruction of Planet Vegeta, an action he says that is due to Gine's softness rubbing off on him. Bardock also cares for the members of his team, a fact evidenced by Gine, who had a gentle personality and wasn’t cut out to be a warrior, being repeatedly saved from danger by Bardock. He also claims that a part of his more humanizing attitude is because he feels as though he spends so much time fighting and destroying things he would like to do something good for a change. He is also selfless like his original incarnation with him being depicted still trying to save Planet Vegeta on his own.
Power level[]
At the time Planet Vegeta and the Saiyan Army still existed, Bardock was heavily implied to be the most powerful low-class warrior of his time and the third most powerful Saiyan. According to the Dragon Ball Carddass, near the time of his fateful battle with Frieza, Bardock's power level was around 9,000 and was expected to one day even surpass the the ruler of the Saiyans, King Vegeta. This is backed by his ability to defeat Dodoria's Elite, despite being outnumbered four to one, as well as surviving Dodoria's Mouth Energy Wave. Later on, the heavily-wounded Bardock fights through hundreds of Frieza's troops on his own in an effort to reach Frieza's ship showing immense will power and strength.. Planthorr a Saiyan doctor claims Bardock gained his immense power from numerous Zenkai boosts because of his near death experiences and injuries sustained on every mission.
When he is transported to the past after his fight with Frieza he attains the Super Saiyan transformation, which amplifies his power level by 50 fold, enough to defeat Frieza's ancestor Lord Chilled. In Xenoverse 2 after being kidnapped and brainwashed by Mira and Towa his power was immensely enhanced by the two to assist in their goals. Bardock became strong enough to fight in par and even overwhelm Trunks and the Future Warrior. However once Bardock was freed of his mind control he engaged in a fight with Mira as revenge for enslaving him. Bardock's power only grew in his battle against Mira to the point he attained Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3, although it implied because he was inexperienced with the latter's immense power consumption and energy drain he could have obliterated himself although his fate was left unclear.
According to his arcade mode in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, Bardock's fighting strategy involves using his scouter to determine his opponent's power, and then he comes up with the most effective way to fight them.
Forms[]
- Great Ape: As a saiyan who still has his tail, Bardock can transform into a Great Ape once absorbing enough Blutz Waves either from a natural source such as a full moon, another planetary body or artificially via a Power Ball. Bardock can remember everything in the transformation state and control it like an Elite Saiyan, as evidenced by him not attacking his fellow teammates in this form. But unlike Elite Saiyans, he's unable to speak while transformed due to his status as a lowerclass. He visibly retains his scar on his cheek while transformed. His strength increases 10-fold while in this form.
- Super Saiyan: In the Dragon Ball special Episode of Bardock, he archives this transformation during his fight with Frieza's ancestor Chilled. His hair becomes golden blond and stands up similar to Goku's and his younger grandson Goten, his eyes turn into a light green, and he acquires a golden aura. His strength, like all Super Saiyans, increases in 50-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.
Bardock's visions[]
- The destruction of Planet Vegeta.
- Frieza evilly laughing as Planet Vegeta is completely destroyed.
- Goku as the only survivor being found by Grandpa Gohan.
- Master Roshi training with his two students Goku and Krillin.
- A series of events from Dragon Ball.
- Goku fighting King Piccolo.
- Goku vs. Piccolo Jr. at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.
- Goku using the Kaioken during his battle against Nappa and Vegeta.
- Goku about to confront Frieza on Namek.
Not every vision that Bardock has comes true as some visions he has can be considered symbolic of future events rather than literal. Additionally, Bardock, The Father of Goku shows that he has no control over his power to see the future.
Quotes[]
Bardock-The Father of Goku
| “ | Tora: But yeah Bardock. Guess we went pretty hard celebrating your son's birth and all. Bardock: Celebrating my son's birth? Hmph. Sure. Whatever. Fasha: Were done here. You should head back to Planet Vegeta and see the little Tyke. Bardock: Why the hell would I waste my time with that pathetically hopeless pipsqueak? Count me out. |
��� |
| ~ Bardock dismissing his son Kakarot. |
| “ | What does Lord Frieza want with a dump of a planet like this anayway? | „ |
| ~ Bardock questioning why Frieza wanted them to conquer Kannassa in the first place. |
| “ | Tch.He caught me off gaurd. | „ |
| ~ Bardock after being attacked by Toolo. |
| “ | Future Punch? What the hell are you talking about. | „ |
| ~ Bardock questioning what the Future Punch attack is |
| “ | That's enough! | „ |
| ~ Bardock killing Toolo. |
| “ | A dream...? NO. It was different. It felt so real. A planet blowing up. A pod heading for a blue planet. Who was that Kid? What a bunch of crap | „ |
| ~ Bardock dismissing his visions of the future. |
| “ | Planthor:You seemed to be having a nightmare. Are you okay. Bardock: Hmph. Yeah. I'm built better than guys like you. Where are Tora and the others? Plathorr: They were dispatched to Planet Meat under the orders of Lord Frieza Bardock: What? Dammit! I can't believe they left me behind. Planet Meat huh. Okay that's not far. |
„ |
| ~ Bardock preparing to depart for Planet Meat. |
| “ | Kakarot? Tch. A power level of two!? Garbage! | „ |
| ~ Bardock insulting his newborn son for his weak power level. |
| “ | Heh heh. Those guys sure made a mess of things. There they are. The didn’t leave a damn thing for me! | „ |
| ~ Bardock arriving on Planet Meat. |
| “ | Bardock: What... the hell? Tora: B-Bardock! Bardock: Tora! Look at you guys what the hell happened?! Tora: You lousy dumbass... You should've just stayed home and kept taking your little nap. Bardock:Forget about that did the Meatians do this to you?! Tora:N-No we wiped out all those bastards no problem. Bardock: Well, then? Who the hell did this?! Tora: It was Frieza! He stabbed everyone of us in the back...! Bardock: No he wouldn't! |
„ |
| ~ Bardock being informed by an injured Tora of Frieza's betrayal. |
| “ | You bastards! | „ |
| ~ Bardock confronting Dodoria's Elite the ones who murdered his crew. |
| “ | N-Not again! Damn it! What the hell am I seeing right now?! | „ |
| ~ Bardock seeing visions of Kakarot battling Prince Vegeta. |
| “ | Dodoria! Why?! Why are you doing this?! | „ |
| ~ Bardock confronting Dodoria for killing his crew. |
| “ | Damn it! Lord Frieza.. He actually betrayed us... | „ |
| ~ Bardock coming to terms with Frieza's betrayal. |
| “ | Th-That's Lord Frieza's spaceship. N-No... He's... He's heading toward Planet Vegeta! Damn it! | „ |
| ~ Bardock seeing that Frieza's ship is in route to Planet Vegeta. |
| “ | That's it! That Planet... Earth...! That's gotta be it! The planet I keep seeing... So I was seeing the future! Then that means... Oh no...! | „ |
| ~ Bardock realizing that he is seeing the future and Frieza is going to destroy Planet Vegeta. |
| “ | Y-You guys.. You gotta come with me. We're gonna take down Frieza! You Gotta believe me. Tora my whole team they were all wiped out. Frieza's gonna do the same to Planet Vegeta. To all of us! | „ |
| ~ Bardock trying to convince the other Saiyans to help him stop Frieza. |
| “ | DAMN ALL OF YOU! That's it I'm DONE! Bastards, all of you die for all I care! | „ |
| ~ Bardock insulting the other Saiyans for not helping him. |
| “ | FRIIEEEEZAAAAA! | „ |
| ~ Barodock charging towards Frieza's ship. |
| “ | FRIEZA! Show your damn face! Your DEAD do you hear meeee! | „ |
| ~ Bardock demanding Frieza show himself. |
| “ | Wh-What the...?! UWAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! | „ |
| ~ Bardock being swallowed by Frieza's "Supernova" attack. |
| “ | K-Ka... Kaka... rot... KAKAROOOOOT! | „ |
| ~ Bardock's final words yelling his son's name in pride being assured he will defeat Frieza. |
Bardock-The Father of Goku: Funimation Dub[]
| “ | Goodbye Tora, you were my best friend. So this is what it’s come to, this is how we’re rewarded for our hard work. We tried so hard to please Frieza. My crew, Borgos, Fasha Those pigs! So they thought we were getting too strong. Shugesh I promise somehow I’ll get them for this Shugesh or I’ll die trying. Frieza’s taken our loyalty, and paid us back in our own blood! | „ |
| ~ Bardock's realizing that Frieza has betrayed them. |
| “ | I'll stop him, even if I have to do it with my own two hands! Frieza, I'm coming for you, you murderous, self-serving traitor! It's over! Tora, Fasha, this is for you! | „ |
| ~ Bardock swearing to stop Frieza in the Funimation Dub. |
| “ | Frieza!, come out and fight me! You coward come out! | „ |
| ~ Bardock on the warpath to defeat Frieza. |
| “ | Frieza, listen up... we quit! All of us! Got it! We don't work for you! We're free! You can find someone else to do your dirty work! Oh, yeah! There is one last thing! This is for all the people that we killed in your name! I wish we were never foolish enough to obey you! Here... have it!! | „ |
| ~ Bardock preparing to unleash his "Final Spirit Cannon" on Frieza in the Funimation Dub. |
| “ | Kakarot, my son thank you for helping me, you were right it wasn't too late. I only wish I would have held you in my arms when I had the chance. Goodbye, my son. | „ |
| ~ Bardock’s last words to his son thanking him for inspiring him to redeem himself in the Funimation Dub. |
Video Games[]
| “ | My name isn't Goku! It's Bardock! | „ |
| ~ Bardock whenever he's mistaken for Goku in the games. |
| “ | How dare you make a fool of me... This time, it's not about the Saiyans... or even my son Kakarot! I'm here for payback! Never underestimate a Saiyan's power!" | „ |
| ~ Bardock after being free from mindcontrol in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. |
| “ | The one who's going to die is YOU! | „ |
| ~ Super Saiyan Bardock to Chilled, |
| “ | Heh... No! That's pathetic... I will be the one to avenge them! ...Me! ...Me! I'm going to defeat you! This...will change everything...! Uryaaaaaaaaa! | „ |
| ~ Bardock's dramatic finish in FighterZ. |
Dragon Ball Minus[]
| “ | Maybe it's because I'm constantly fighting, destroying. That I'd actually like to save something for once. Especially someone who judged to be a lower class warrior, like my Kakarot. | „ |
| ~ Bardock in Dragon Ball Super: Broly |
| “ | You have to stay alive. | „ |
| ~ Bardock's last words to his youngest son, Goku in Dragon Ball Minus. |
Audio[]
Theme[]
Note: These songs only work on PC and Android devices
|
Track |
Album |
| Dragon Ball Z: Original Soundtrack | |
| Every Six Seconds |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In a chapter of the Dragon Ball Z manga, Raditz alludes to Bardock when commenting that Goku looks just like their father.
- Bardock is voiced by Sonny Strait in the Funimation dub, who also voices Goku's best friend, Krillin.
- In the Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z, Bardock is described by Vegeta as having been "an average fighter, but a brilliant scientist", despite Bardock's apparent ventures into science being absent from the manga and all subsequent dubs of the anime.
- Bardock claims that he has some degree of self-control over his Great Ape form in the English dub.
- Bardock never mentioned his first son Raditz in the TV special, although one of his earliest lines in response to what day his son was born ("No, but that was a long time ago") may refer to Raditz, as he is significantly older than the then-infant Kakarot. However, Bardock asks about Raditz in Dragon Ball Minus.
- Bardock is one of the few Saiyans to have gone to outer space and breathe normally, while fighting Frieza and his men.
- Bardock was the first anime-only character to later be included in a panel of the manga.
- In a flashback during the Frieza Saga, it is shown 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.
- In the same flashback, Bardock is quoted as saying "I would rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave!", word-for-word lyrics from Jimmy Cliff's 1972 hit "The Harder They Come".
- The first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai shows a scene from the TV special, Bardock, The Father of Goku, in which Bardock is fighting thousands of Frieza's men and then confronts Frieza.
- A commercial advertising Dragon Ball Z Kai on Nicktoons shows Bardock as he is about to attack Frieza. No blood is present, and Bardock's scar is missing from his face. The scene was most likely censored to downplay the violence of the series as it was airing on a channel for a younger audience.
- In the Episode of Bardock OVA, when Bardock launches his Final Spirit Cannon at Frieza, his armor is intact, but when he charges the attack, it is damaged.
- It’s implied in Dragon Ball Xenoverse Bardock's trip to the past is presumably from either Mira and Towa or Demigra’s tampering with history by transporting Bardock through a time wormhole before he was destroyed so they can use him for their devious plans. However this change was seemingly corrected by the time patrol.
- Goku is preparing to fight Frieza in his first form in Bardock's last vision, when in fact, Goku only ever saw Frieza in his final form.
- It's possible the in universe reason was because the vision was actually symbolic rather than completely literal.
- Although the real reason was that Frieza's final form had yet to be revealed in the manga by the time the movie was released so the film's producers were unaware of it at the time. In Dragon Ball Super, Goku did meet Frieza in his first form on Earth.
- The one shot manga Dragon Ball Minus by the late Akira Toriyama has been a controversial subject among the community as it technically retconned the events of Bardock, The Father of Goku a film that was critically acclaimed and added a depth filled backstory to the franchise. Additionally Minus had various inconsistencies with facts and thematic elements seen the the franchise and heavily changed Bardock, Goku and the Saiyans characters to be more generic and stereotypical. Many fans consider personally the events of Minus to be non-canon. The major differences between the stories can be seen here.
- Additionally many pieces of official Dragon Ball media such as the video games disregard Minus and instead present the original special as the true depiction of events, such examples include the Dragon Ball Xenoverse series, Dragon Ball Legends and most recently Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
- Bardock has a wife named Gine, who he ironically has a soft spot for and is very passionate around. However, he refuses to talk about his loving relationship with her.
- In Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, when Bardock meets Gohan and Goten for the first time, he fights both of them as he later reveals that he's their grandfather. Surprisingly, Bardock never imagined that he had a great training with his two grandsons, but at the end, he disappeared. Gohan tells Gohan not to forget something about their grandfather's training.
External Links[]
- Bardock on the Villains Wiki
- Bardock on the Dragon Ball Wiki
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