Bardock Club

He only appeared in one movie and a very small number of flashbacks on Namek. Yet if it were not for him, the Earth's greatest hero and defender in Dragon Ball Z would have never been born. This is a fan club for Bardock; The father of the Saiyan Kakarot, who would later take on the name Son Goku. Like most saiyans, his name is a pun on vegetables and other herbs. The word "Bardock" is a pun on the burdock vegetable. <strong><u>In the Anime</strong></u> Bardock (Burdock, バーダック) is born as a low class soldier. Like many others of his kind, he will spend most of his life be looked down upon by the Elite class. However, despite being born with so much against him, Bardock manages to gain great power and strength by fighting countless battles. He always challenged himself. After attacking and defeating the citizens of Planet Kanassa, Bardock gains the ability ability of precognition. This is achieved when a lone Kanassan survivor attacks Bardock and gives it to him as a "gift." After gaining this ability, Bardock is forced to see the destruction of the planet Vegeta at the hands of Frieza. While recovering from his mission on Kanassa, Bardock and his crew are all ordered to attack the planet Meat by Frieza himself. This turns out to be a trap. Bardock's crew leaves before him and by the time Bardock arrives, he finds his entire crew dead. They were attacked and killed by Dodoria's men. Frieza, fearing that a super saiyan would emerge, wants to destroy any saiyan that may become a threat. It is now that Bardock learns the truth about Frieza's intentions and challenges Dodoria's elites to a battle. Bardock defeats Dodoria's underlings, but is nearly killed by Dodoria himself. Bardock, now wounded, returns to planet Vegeta to try and stop Frieza however he can. Bardock arrives on Vegeta and after one last vision of the future, Bardock sets out to fight Frieza alone. After plowing through Frieza's soldiers, Bardock demands the tyrant shows himself. When Frieza finally shows up, Bardock offers all his energy into one last attack. Unfortunately, this does not even phase Frieza. Bardocks last attack is completely over-powered by Frieza's death ball. The death ball then heads straight for planet Vegeta. The planet exploded, taking most of the saiyan race with it. Only a handful of survivors were left among the saiyans, one of which was Bardock's son, Goku. Bardock is able to see one last image of the future before dying. That is his son defeating Frieza. For a low class warrior, Bardock was very powerful. The doctors on planet Vegeta estimated that Bardock had a power level of about 10,000. This was very close to King Vegeta's maximum. <strong><u>In the Games</strong></u> In many of the Dragon Ball Z games, Bardock's story is playable. In addition to his normal story, there are the "What If" quests. The "What If" quests in Bardocks life often offer a different approach to what might have happen the day Frieza attacked. Some end with the saiyans as a group defeating Frieza, some end with Bardock confronting the tyrant and defeating Frieza alone. Whatever the case, in most of these alternate stories, Bardock seems to lose his life or end up in a near death situation. <strong><u>Transformation</strong></u> Bardock is able to transform into the giant saiyan ape oozaru. Unlike his comrades, Bardock claims to remember every moment of each battle while in his oozaru state. Most saiyans cannot remember what happened in this state, let alone control it. However, Bardock is able to remember events, showing experience as a warrior. Only Vegeta is officially recognized by the manga as being able to control and remember events as an oozaru. King Vegeta and Nappa also have this ability in the games.