Akira Toriyama's Bardock is weak character-wise.

[Geraldo]

I find this take on the character disappointing. Not just his new design, which is too Tagoma based IMHO. From an actual cold blooded character who could be Raditz's role-model, and who had been the leader of a deadly platoon with memorable members; Toriyama turned him into too much of a superhero who resembles and dwindle the speciality of his second son; who feels bad for the weak (after already slaughtering some members of their race), and who is just a grunt who works alongside other forgettable grunts who are less than background characters by all means.

I honestly didn't have any problems with him being a jerk who doesn't care about his sons, which sits well with his nature as a serial murderer but this version of him just speaks like a carebear right after a genocide and then returns to commit other genocides before his final showdown with Frieza.

It's quite obvious that the other financial powers behind the Dragon Ball franchise know that Toriyama's version of Bardock is weak in popularity and subpar in content. After all, it never got even the slightest of video games promotion. Even now "DBZ: Kakarot" chose to re-use the old Bardock for the DLC.

The whole Gas bamboozle in the last arc didn't help changing my opinion over his new version/character; it just seemed like bad fan fiction. Akira Toriyama should have just accepted that the 1990 OVA Bardock was a proven successful and goodly written character and not to mess with him. Literally. He made a mess out of him.

[Grimlock]

After all, it never got even the slightest of video games promotion. Even now "DBZ: Kakarot" chose to re-use the old Bardock for the DLC.

Dragon Ball Super Bardock appears in Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Legends. His clothes are available in Xenoverse 2. And despite Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot focus on the TV Special, it's quite possible we can still see something from Dragon Ball Super too, we don't know yet.

[Shaddy]

TV special Bardock is the one and only time he's been done right. There's no excuses, there's nothing making him more important or better than he is, he's a cog in the machine that gets out of alignment for a few hours, thrashes around violently, and utterly fails to do anything of substance. It's a tragedy that Dragon Ball had never attempted before and would never attempt again.

Toriyama's take on the character is bland, but Bardock was shit long before that. Toei and Bandai just saw that he was popular and spammed him in places he didn't belong. They made him the first super saiyan. They let him be a time-travelling warrior. They made him super important to all the dogshit multiverse lore that has never been entertaining or even remotely fit Tori's manga.

I'm not happy that Toriyama made Bardock's crappiness official in stories which new material can't conveniently ignore, but I never wanted to see him again in the first place.

[MasenkoHA]

Honestly normalize letting characters, especially characters who only exist in terms of backstory, just serve their narrative purpose. He's Goku's dead's dad from Goku's dead planet. He doesn't require character depth or strong writing he's a footnote in Goku's backstory (or at least he fucking should be this attempt to have his importance to Goku's character override Grandpa Gohan never sat well with me) Bless Koyama for doing something interesting with him that Shaddy articulated well here:

TV special Bardock is the one and only time he's been done right. There's no excuses, there's nothing making him more important or better than he is, he's a cog in the machine that gets out of alignment for a few hours, thrashes around violently, and utterly fails to do anything of substance. It's a tragedy that Dragon Ball had never attempted before and would never attempt again.

But it's not the worst thing in the world that Toriyama's Bardock amounted to "Goku's dad who sent Goku to earth to save him" It also makes way more sense that Bardock sent Goku to earth on the downlow rather than Goku just coincidentally being sent to earth on a mission....even though Freeza was calling all the Saiyans excluding Vegeta's team back??? Planet Vegeta's scientists just let that memo slip their mind for that one baby?

Toriyama's take on the character is bland, but Bardock was shit long before that. Toei and Bandai just saw that he was popular and spammed him in places he didn't belong. They made him the first super saiyan. They let him be a time-travelling warrior. They made him super important to all the dogshit multiverse lore that has never been entertaining or even remotely fit Tori's manga.

And this. Bardock had become lame well before Toriyama decided to validate Funimation's earlier attempt to Jor-Elify him.

[Grimlock]

this attempt to have his importance to Goku's character override Grandpa Gohan never sat well with me

What is this "attempt" you speak of? What has been done that somehow "override" Gohan's role? Isn't he still the one who found and raised Goku? Or has that changed?

[WittyUsername]

Toriyama’s Bardock always came across as lame, but the revelations in the Granolah arc make things even worse. Who thought that was a good idea. It feels so antithetical to Dragon Ball. At least something like EoB was just a silly little what-if story that was meant to promote an arcade game.

[Lord Beerus]

Akira Toriyama's Bardock is one of the worst-written characters in all of Dragon Ball for a multitude of reasons I've gone into excruciating detail about in the past. Toyotaro makes things even worse by doubling down on the most problematic elements that Toriyama introduces with Bardock's characterization and impact on the plot in the Dragon Ball Super manga.

I don't know why Bardock, of all characters, is even the subject of possibly having more stories told around him. The 1990 TV special already achieved everything it needed to in terms of characterization for Badrock and for enhancing themes in the original story.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Toriyama's version of Bardock is a neat story arc for the wrong character. Redemption stories are great and are a powerful tool for showing real, believable character growth. Vegeta's redemption worked because he lost his purpose in life when Goku became the only known surviving fully blooded member of their race, and he found a new destiny in training to surpass him, in which he learned to love his new home world on Earth and people like Bulma who provided him with hospitality.

The problem is that redemption was of no benefit to Bardock, he was merciless and seeked victims to enslave. Any shred of compassion or humanity in Bardock completely undermines Goku hitting his head being the reason he turned out different, because without had that not happened he would have been exactly the same as his father, a man who strives to dominate not improve themselves and seek victims rather than opponents.

Bardock's original story is also essential to what became Goku's journey overcoming his roots through a combination of dumb luck (hitting his head) with sheer dedication to the art of combat, becoming the best martial artist he can be, and unlike his father looking for amicable, friendly foes, not weaklings to torment and harm.

[Rafa Fast]

I think there's no problem in dislisking tori's Bardock, for me the problem is the reason for many disliking him.
First of all, people should know that Z Bardock's concept, personality and everything else wasn't made by Toriyama, damn, not even his char design was made by him, Toei's vision of the character isn't Toriyama's, Tori's Bardock isn't meant to be the Z Bardock
Second, people are really used to the idea of Saiyans being evil, but they doesn't seen to remember or notice that before Super came out, in the whole trajectory of the manga we could see the characters of only 3 Saiyans besides Goku.
Third, from the 3 Saiyans, only Vegeta and Raditz were truly evil, while...Nappa...the series has been slightly implying over the years that not all Saiyans are bad, Nappa's character is undoubtedly a sigh that he wasn't all evil, he definitely was influenced by Vegeta, before his death, we can see how he really trusted Vegeta, he saw him as a true friend.
It's such a weird thing to think that these guys were always evil, when we remember that they were under control of Freeza and Cold, can't we think about any chance that they influeced Saiyans to turn evil? Let's remember that Battle of Gods' original script was to have Beerus as the reason for Saiyans being evil (I know it wasn't Tori's idea, but still)
Things get even more clear in the 2008 OVA, which was written by Toriyama, there, we meet Tarble, and damn, look! He's a good guy by nature!
People should stop thinking that all Saiyans should be like what Toei estabilished for them, and remember that we could only see the true nature of 3 Saiyans, Vegeta didn't gave a damn about Nappa, he only saw him as a gear to make his plans run faster, he was truly evil, but that was his character, not the Saiyans characters, if the Saiyans are infamous for destroying planets and doing all that stuff, it's because of Cold and Freeza, they were just following orders, the ones that wanted to be truly evil would choose that path, Super Bardock wasn't one of them, his lines in DBSB let it clear that he don't like doing that, lmao, Gine literally talked about the Toei & fandom's vision of the Saiyans.
Even Paragus in Super, who is infamous for turning Broly into a war machine, we can clearly see how he really cares about his son, going desperate when he's about to lose, and Broly himself discard presentations, Gogeta's Soul Punisher literally consired him as a pure good guy.
These guys lived years based in wars and serving a lineage of tyrants, of course they would have their minds changed, maybe U6 Saiyans can even be a portrayal of the "What if Saiyans were free from Freeza's empire" turning into reality.
The truth is that the canon want to show us that Saiyans may not be able to learn how to have compassion with other races, but can learn how to have it with themselves, at least for me, or all Female Saiyans would pretty much be forced to give birth, without any real relationship going on.
Like or dislike Super Bardock as much as you want, but for what his character is, and not for him not being the character you want him to be, he's not supposed to be Z Bardock.
A single character can always have different portrayals of himself, and that's something really good, that's why we have Batman in some media being a good guy totaly against killing villains, and in other, being a murderer.
If that's not good, then Broly and Paragus from Super also suck, because they are nothing like what Toei estabilished for the Saiyans, with their Z counterparts being superior.
There's nothing wrong with Super Bardock, at least not in the case of him not being like his Z counterpart, that doesn't have anything to do with his character, if you don't like him, it's fine, don't expect much from the main char's father, as even his brother didn't do much, he's a Warrior, and just another minor nice-guy as Namu.

[Hulk10]

I think there's no problem in dislisking tori's Bardock, for me the problem is the reason for many disliking him.
First of all, people should know that Z Bardock's concept, personality and everything else wasn't made by Toriyama, damn, not even his char design was made by him, Toei's vision of the character isn't Toriyama's, Tori's Bardock isn't meant to be the Z Bardock
Second, people are really used to the idea of Saiyans being evil, but they doesn't seen to remember or notice that before Super came out, in the whole trajectory of the manga we could see the characters of only 3 Saiyans besides Goku.
Third, from the 3 Saiyans, only Vegeta and Raditz were truly evil, while...Nappa...the series has been slightly implying over the years that not all Saiyans are bad, Nappa's character is undoubtedly a sigh that he wasn't all evil, he definitely was influenced by Vegeta, before his death, we can see how he really trusted Vegeta, he saw him as a true friend.
It's such a weird thing to think that these guys were always evil, when we remember that they were under control of Freeza and Cold, can't we think about any chance that they influeced Saiyans to turn evil? Let's remember that Battle of Gods' original script was to have Beerus as the reason for Saiyans being evil (I know it wasn't Tori's idea, but still)
Things get even more clear in the 2008 OVA, which was written by Toriyama, there, we meet Tarble, and damn, look! He's a good guy by nature!
People should stop thinking that all Saiyans should be like what Toei estabilished for them, and remember that we could only see the true nature of 3 Saiyans, Vegeta didn't gave a damn about Nappa, he only saw him as a gear to make his plans run faster, he was truly evil, but that was his character, not the Saiyans characters, if the Saiyans are infamous for destroying planets and doing all that stuff, it's because of Cold and Freeza, they were just following orders, the ones that wanted to be truly evil would choose that path, Super Bardock wasn't one of them, his lines in DBSB let it clear that he don't like doing that, lmao, Gine literally talked about the Toei & fandom's vision of the Saiyans.
Even Paragus in Super, who is infamous for turning Broly into a war machine, we can clearly see how he really cares about his son, going desperate when he's about to lose, and Broly himself discard presentations, Gogeta's Soul Punisher literally consired him as a pure good guy.
These guys lived years based in wars and serving a lineage of tyrants, of course they would have their minds changed, maybe U6 Saiyans can even be a portrayal of the "What if Saiyans were free from Freeza's empire" turning into reality.
The truth is that the canon want to show us that Saiyans may not be able to learn how to have compassion with other races, but can learn how to have it with themselves, at least for me, or all Female Saiyans would pretty much be forced to give birth, without any real relationship going on.
Like or dislike Super Bardock as much as you want, but for what his character is, and not for him not being the character you want him to be, he's not supposed to be Z Bardock.
A single character can always have different portrayals of himself, and that's something really good, that's why we have Batman in some media being a good guy totaly against killing villains, and in other, being a murderer.
If that's not good, then Broly and Paragus from Super also suck, because they are nothing like what Toei estabilished for the Saiyans, with their Z counterparts being superior.
There's nothing wrong with Super Bardock, at least not in the case of him not being like his Z counterpart, that doesn't have anything to do with his character, if you don't like him, it's fine, don't expect much from the main char's father, as even his brother didn't do much, he's a Warrior, and just another minor nice-guy as Namu.

Very well saud.

[Koitsukai]

Like many others, I prefer the Bardock that gives 0 fucks about his offspring, mostly because of Goku being a natural born loser. We can relate to that, that’s like parents who don’t give a fuck about theirs kids when they suck at sports or aren’t living up to their own standards.
The only real critique I’ve read about this characterization is that Bardock becomes too powerful (yeah, powerscaling), when he is supposed to be a low class warrior. I don’t care much about this, he does bring himself to the limit, and we’ve seen Goku do the same all the time.

About Tori’s Bardock, I don’t have a problem with him being less of an asshole and caring about his kid. I think it’s too relatable, that’s pretty much a regular human father, which does seem odd coming from a race of barbarian savages. But ok, you are allowed to care for your kid, whoever you are, Cold cares for Freeza. I’ll take the toxic parent over the loving one when it comes to a sociopathic culture, but whatever.

It's when the story turns basically into Superman’s, I sign off. Choosing to save him so he can live a nice life somewhere else, compared to the original idea that he was sent there to conquer the planet… and all because his spider sense was tingling, I mean, I’ve watched that already, why I am seeing it again on another work of fiction? What’s next? Vegeta’s mother getting killed outside a movie theater like Batman’s?
The thematic value of the conqueror turned savior goes out the window just to pamper Toriyama’s affection for Superman.

[Geraldo]

I will state the problem nobody has addressed so far: So, BEFORE Dragon Ball Minus, Bardock is taking part in the genocide of the Cerealites, and has a change of heart; but LATER in Dragon Ball Minus he has no problems with continue genociding yet another race. This is plain bad writing.

[WittyUsername]

I think there's no problem in dislisking tori's Bardock, for me the problem is the reason for many disliking him.
First of all, people should know that Z Bardock's concept, personality and everything else wasn't made by Toriyama, damn, not even his char design was made by him, Toei's vision of the character isn't Toriyama's, Tori's Bardock isn't meant to be the Z Bardock
Second, people are really used to the idea of Saiyans being evil, but they doesn't seen to remember or notice that before Super came out, in the whole trajectory of the manga we could see the characters of only 3 Saiyans besides Goku.
Third, from the 3 Saiyans, only Vegeta and Raditz were truly evil, while...Nappa...the series has been slightly implying over the years that not all Saiyans are bad, Nappa's character is undoubtedly a sigh that he wasn't all evil, he definitely was influenced by Vegeta, before his death, we can see how he really trusted Vegeta, he saw him as a true friend.
It's such a weird thing to think that these guys were always evil, when we remember that they were under control of Freeza and Cold, can't we think about any chance that they influeced Saiyans to turn evil? Let's remember that Battle of Gods' original script was to have Beerus as the reason for Saiyans being evil (I know it wasn't Tori's idea, but still)
Things get even more clear in the 2008 OVA, which was written by Toriyama, there, we meet Tarble, and damn, look! He's a good guy by nature!
People should stop thinking that all Saiyans should be like what Toei estabilished for them, and remember that we could only see the true nature of 3 Saiyans, Vegeta didn't gave a damn about Nappa, he only saw him as a gear to make his plans run faster, he was truly evil, but that was his character, not the Saiyans characters, if the Saiyans are infamous for destroying planets and doing all that stuff, it's because of Cold and Freeza, they were just following orders, the ones that wanted to be truly evil would choose that path, Super Bardock wasn't one of them, his lines in DBSB let it clear that he don't like doing that, lmao, Gine literally talked about the Toei & fandom's vision of the Saiyans.
Even Paragus in Super, who is infamous for turning Broly into a war machine, we can clearly see how he really cares about his son, going desperate when he's about to lose, and Broly himself discard presentations, Gogeta's Soul Punisher literally consired him as a pure good guy.
These guys lived years based in wars and serving a lineage of tyrants, of course they would have their minds changed, maybe U6 Saiyans can even be a portrayal of the "What if Saiyans were free from Freeza's empire" turning into reality.
The truth is that the canon want to show us that Saiyans may not be able to learn how to have compassion with other races, but can learn how to have it with themselves, at least for me, or all Female Saiyans would pretty much be forced to give birth, without any real relationship going on.
Like or dislike Super Bardock as much as you want, but for what his character is, and not for him not being the character you want him to be, he's not supposed to be Z Bardock.
A single character can always have different portrayals of himself, and that's something really good, that's why we have Batman in some media being a good guy totaly against killing villains, and in other, being a murderer.
If that's not good, then Broly and Paragus from Super also suck, because they are nothing like what Toei estabilished for the Saiyans, with their Z counterparts being superior.
There's nothing wrong with Super Bardock, at least not in the case of him not being like his Z counterpart, that doesn't have anything to do with his character, if you don't like him, it's fine, don't expect much from the main char's father, as even his brother didn't do much, he's a Warrior, and just another minor nice-guy as Namu.

I’m perfectly fine with the idea that not all Saiyans are evil. The concept of a sentient race of beings that are naturally evil and barbaric has some weird implications to it anyway. The problem with Toriyama’s Bardock is that he makes Goku seem too special. Instead of Goku being a complete reject who only survived his planet’s destruction by dumb luck, he’s now a Superman wannabe whose parents were not only some of the few noble Saiyans, but Bardock in particular was the only Saiyan who managed to figure out what Freeza was planning.

Of course, aside from that, there’s also the problem that what Toriyama did with Bardock is basically a rehash of Superman’s backstory, which is very ironic, because Toriyama is the same guy who complained about how Toei made Goku come off as too heroic, yet here is retroactively validating all those years of people comparing Goku to Superman.

[JulieYBM]

I really like the Bardock from Dragon Ball Super: Broli. I like the sense that he's kind of just gotten bored with the usual Saiyan nonsense of conquering worlds and committing genocide and his act of sending Gokuu away and then challenging Freeza is more or less a case of him trying to fill a void in his heart. That is a totally relatable feeling, so there's definitely something grounding to that character. Also, it just makes him really sexy and as we all know that's the most important thing for a fictional character to be.

[jjgp1112]

It's such a weird thing to think that these guys were always evil, when we remember that they were under control of Freeza and Cold, can't we think about any chance that they influeced Saiyans to turn evil? Let's remember that Battle of Gods' original script was to have Beerus as the reason for Saiyans being evil (I know it wasn't Tori's idea, but still)

I mean Bardock straight up said the Saiyans were already conquering and pillaging planets, Frieza & Cold just made it more robust and profitable. I'd go as far as to say that the Saiyans' alliance with the Cold was as harmonious as servitude could get until Frieza came in the picture.