Bardock

Bardock (バーダック, Bādakku; Viz "Burdock") is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball franchise. He makes his debut in the 1990 special Bardock - The Father of Goku. His name is a pun on the greater burdock herb (this pun is more apparent in the Dragon Ball manga, where the character's name is literally spelled Burdock).

Bardock's name, like all other Saiyan characters, is a pun on edible plant material, in this case a burdock vegetable. 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', Funimation's dub of The Father of Goku spell his name 'Bardock', and as well this is how Frieza pronounces his name while speaking aloud during the Frieza Saga of Funimation Entertainment's Dragon Ball Z dub.

Bardock displays personality traits fairly typical of Saiyans. He loves fighting and destruction, and is a cold-blooded killer. He has a laidback and fearless personality, as evidenced by he and his crew accepting missions that baffle even Frieza's elite soldiers, and his taking responsibility in confronting Frieza alone. Until the Kanassan's gift of foresight begins changing his life, Bardock thinks fairly little of his being a father, and so he generally doesn't acknowledge the newborn Kakarot except

when the child is a topic of conversation among his platoon, and when he begins experiencing visions of an up-and-coming Kakarot. However, unlike a typical Saiyan, most of who cares little for comrades, Bardock deeply cares for the members of his team, and is enraged after finding them ransacked on Planet Meat, particularly Tora during their last conversation.

Bardock showed his bravery when he saw his impending doom: instead of fleeing for his own life, he chose to stay behind and fight to the death. By his final confrontation with Frieza, Bardock has had a significant change of heart. Having faced the panic and distress of his life and the existence of his race coming to an end, he loses all concern for exterminating civilizations for selfish gain and instead tries to avenge those he killed.

Bardock's sons and team

The biological father of Kakarot (later rechristened Goku) and Raditz, Bardock is a low-class Saiyan mercenary who leads a small platoon comprised of four other Saiyan soldiers, Tora, Fasha, Shugesh and Borgos. Together, the five make a living by traveling to various planets where they decimate the defenses of these civilizations and prepare them for Frieza's planetary market.

Battle for Kanassa

After clearing a society on the Planet Kanassa, 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 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 homeplanet by the hand of Frieza. 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, Shugesh and Borgos are instructed to clear the civilization of Planet Meat. Before long during their visit to the planet, the group encounters one of Frieza's most esteemed minions, Dodoria, and his elite who, by Frieza's orders, betray and make short work of the Saiyans.

Battle on Meat

When Bardock is informed that his team has accepted an offer on Meat, a still injured Bardock hurriedly makes preparations to pursue his friends, unaware of the dangers that await at his destination. 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 (providing an emotional backstory for one of Bardock's most recognizable physical features). 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 Super Mouth Blast, overpowering Bardock 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 bystanders to believe Bardock is overreacting after having finally met his match during a typical mission.

Terrified at the reaction he has received and the helplessness of his situation, Bardock in 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 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. Intending to wipe out the Saiyans anyway, Frieza doesn't 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 manically as he expands a charging Supernova. Within moments, the Supernova is set free from Frieza's fingertip and careens through numerous bystanding soldiers en route toward the Planet Vegeta; Bardock is among the first 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 dying regret however is that he never had a chance to hold his infant son in his arms before he was commissioned to Earth only days after being born.

Special abilities

• Divination - A psychic ability granted to Bardock by a Kanassan as a form of retribution for the misdeeds of he and the Saiyan race in general. This ability gives Bardock the gift of foresight, but he has limited control over what visions he receives and when they occur.
• Final Spirit Cannon - A whitish-blue sphere of ki that Bardock uses in an

*attempt to assassinate Frieza.

• Flight - the ability to fly with the use of ki.
• Great Ape - as with all Saiyans with a tail, Bardock has the ability to transform into a Great Ape at the sight of a full moon (or another source of Blutz Waves). Bardock transformed into it while on Planet Kanassa, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Heat Phalanx - a heated ki punch technique which appears in the Budokai video game series and the video game Burst Limit.
• Ki Blast - The most basic form of energy wave.
• Final Revenger - One of Bardock's Blast 2 attacks in the Budokai Tenkaichi series. Bardock knocks the opponent up into the air with powerful attacks and finally knocks them down to the ground.
• Saiyan Spirit - A combination technique of ki-powered punches used by Bardock in the video games Shin Budokai - Another Road and Burst Limit. It also appears in Budokai 3, under the title Spirit of Saiyans. Saiyan Spirit is likely Bardock's most powerful technique in the Budokai series.
• Power Ball - A ball of Blutz ray, which simulates the effects of a full moon to allow a Saiyan with a tail to become a Great Ape. (Vegeta claims that Bardock was the inventor of this technique, however as this line was dub only, the canonicity of it is disputable at best).
• Kamehameha- Bardock never uses this attack in any other game but in Shin Budokai: Another Road, Bardock participates in the True Family Kamehameha.
  

Other appearances

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, albeit a two-panel cameo appearance. This was followed by Bardock making cameo appearances in the mainstream Dragon Ball Z series, in the episodes "Fighting Power: One Million?", "The End of Vegeta" and "The Ultimate Battle", mostly during Frieza's flashbacks to the 'final confrontation' scene featured at the climax of The Father of Goku. He also appears in Cooler's flashback to the Destruction of Planet Vegeta in "Cooler's Revenge", during the planet's last seconds. The flashback was shown once again on Dragon Ball Kai's first episode.

Bardock has been featured as a playable character in several Dragon Ball video games: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3,. Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, and its sequels, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast.

• Japanese dub: Masako Nozawa  
• Funimation dub: Sonny Strait  
• Latin American dub: Mario Castañeda
• German Dub: Tommy Morgenstern
• Portuguese Dub: Henrique Feist
  

• In a chapter of the Dragon Ball manga, Raditz alludes to Bardock when commenting that Goku "[looks] just like [their] father."However his eyes and skin complexion are inherited by Raditz.
• Interestingly, in the Budokai Tenkachi series, Bardock is briefly reunited with with his son, Goku, noting how strong he's become before they battle and even

*assuring him that he will know who he is after they fight, continuing Bardock's apparent reconciliation of his formerly cool relationship with the infant Kakarot upon his death and possibly lending credence to the popular (but never confirmed) theory that Saiyans consider battle, like so many other things, a term of endearment. In Burst Limit, he did meet Goku and fights him and was shocked to see that Goku can turn into a Super Saiyan.

• 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 such claims of Bardock's venture in sciences being absent from the manga and all subsequent dubs of the anime.
• It is interesting to note that Bardock has never mentioned his first son, Raditz, although one of his earliest lines in response to what day his son was born ("I don't quite remember, it was long ago") may refer to Raditz, as he is significantly older than the then-day old Goku.
• It is likely that Bardock was the most powerful lower-class Saiyan soldier of his time. Near the time of his death, Bardock was rumored to have a power level of nearly 10,000 which is said to be in the ranks of King Vegeta's elite strength.
• This is backed by his ability to defeat Dodoria's Elite dispite being out numbered 4-1 as well as surviving Dodoria's Mouth Wave Blast. Later on, Bardock fights through hundreds of Freeza's troops by himself in an effort to reach his ship, although the fighting strength of the soldiers were not revealed, and Bardock was already heavily wounded before setting off.
• In Budokai 3 his alternate costume looks similar to Turles's outfit.
• It is unknown if Bardock was a veteran of the Saiyan-Tuffle war, as his exact age was never given. However, he appears to be around the same age as King Vegeta, so it is plausible that he may have battled in the war, which took place from 720 Age to about 730 Age
• In the Tenkaichi games, If Bardock fights Dodoria or Zarbon, he states "I'll take you down and then Frieza!"
• Bardock was the first anime character to be included in the manga.
• Bardock is a smart fighter using two of Dodoria's Elite's as shields and making the captain kill them both by accident.
• In the series, in a flashback during the Frieza Saga it is shown that during his 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 Dragon Ball: Raging Blast There is a What-if fight between Bardock and his grandsons (Goten and Gohan)