#goku meets bardock

[shannonsketches]

I just think Toei gives Vegeta a lot of shit for a guy who's maintained his rank within the top ten most powerful beings in the mortal realm since he was like five years old.

[nullen-void]

Raditz is such a ridiculous character.

This guy is Goku's brother. He is the last blood relation Goku has aside from his own son at that point, and he's evil. He's stronger than Goku was at the time, he's smarter than Goku, he's a link to their culture that Goku never had before and never had again, because Vegeta is a prince and has a skewed concept of Saiyan culture.

And then he dies and is never mentioned again. Not ever. He dies in his first encounter, and yeah he takes Goku with him, but they didn't even meet in the afterlife. Goku spends the next twenty episodes dead and jumping across Snake Way and we don't even get a glimpse of Raditz in HFIL below.

He could have been anyone. Raditz could have been the legendary Some Guy who's just here to do his job and--oh what's that? A wild child Saiyan? Weird, but whatever, let's kill him.

It would have made no difference. It should have been Nappa showing up to wreck shit up and then Raditz is palling around with Vegeta. They could have had a epic, emotional character arc where Raditz is struggling between loyalty to his prince and his desire to protect his baby brother, but no.

Imagine, for an instant, if Supergirl was one of Zod's minions, and she appeared in exactly one comic as a herald for Zod's arrival before Lex Luthor kills her with Kryptonite after Superman manages to beat her once. And then she's never mentioned again. That's Raditz.

It's insane, really. He's the main character's brother and they don't do anything with it. Absolutely bonkers.

(I'm not a Dragonball superfan so I don't know, did Raditz even appear in any of the movies? I know there was one where Goku's dad was the main character and another that takes place partially in the past on planet Vegeta. Does Bardock even mention Raditz? His eldest son?

Totally insane.)

[smellpelt]

Some au situation where Goten ends up stuck with Turles and Bardock for some reason some time shenanigans or something like that. This Goten would be from the timeline where Goku Black killed him and Chichi but he didn't die just ended up here instead, meeting two other men that look like his father but are much less forgiving. I feel like I could work on Goten's design more but otherwise I found it quite fun giving him like the end of Z mullet but with the main goku haircut still being there. The colours are inspired by one of his GT outfits. Bardock is the tallest then Turles then Goten. I'm interested in how they'd all get a long with Goten having such a different personality and background to these two... also Goten being super saiyan and how they could use that to their advantage along with his ability to sense ki.

[ap-kinda-lit]

Tien: Who is he?

Vegeta: That’s Bardock. One of the few third-class Saiyans to become Captain and the one who openly rebelled against Frieza.

Yamcha: Cool.

Vegeta: He’s also Kakarot’s father.

Krillin: *gasp*! The creator!

Yamcha, shaking Bardock’s hand: Nice to meet you, sir. Let me just say I’m a big fan of your work.

Yamcha, gesturing to Goku: Namely this lug right here.

[amebanworld]

So... what happened with Raditz? I mean...

Cetain thing I find infurating about the (random) DragonBall canon is how imprecisse and "let's forget our own canon" it can be. Sure, Mr. Toriyama never took a big deal about this b/c he just wanted to make something entertaining. But, at the end of the day, it also happens to be contradictory or just unfair. That's the case of Raditz. Let me explain myself... After so many years, Mr. Toriyama finally could acomplish his idea about how saiyans were and what happened with Bardock, Broly, King Vegeta, Freeza, etc... Till then, we only had Toei's movies and OVA's, not Toriayama's. Therefore, we learned about Goku's mother, Gine, as well the dinamic of his parents. Unlike Toei's movies, here we could meet Raditz as a kid. And happens to be the character is something less "saiyan like" we had in mind. Let's check these canon scenes...

We can see Raditz playing with beetles along other younger saiyan children. Sure, this is a Japanese thing and they can be related with it, but in DBall canon, we can see saiyan kids aren't different from human children. And overall, Raditz is NOT evil here, he's just behaving like any other playfull kid.

Now, we also can see Gine holding Raditz's hand, like any other mother would do with really young children. Yes, we know Gine was sweet (at least, for saiyans standars), but we don't see Raditz is infurated or anything because his family.

Also, we have this "Kid manga" about their saiyan tail's training. It's suppused to fit the real manga, but obviously it isn't really canon (an alternative universe, perhaps?) But putting aside the fact is nonsensical Raditz cannot recognize Kakarot, in this manga we see Vegeta uses to menace Raditz for any faliure, and he's afraid of him (as any saiyan would do with the Prince). But, on the other side, we see Goku-Kakarot and Raditz getting along nicely and being supportive with each other. In the end of the story, they wish for a future meeting. On the other hand, we also have the inverse situation, also in canon...

Raditz and Vegetas reaction after learning about the fate of their planet and people. They both acting like little shits. Vegeta says "Duh! I don't care!" and Raditz copying his answer. Sure, we can say Raditz did so because he's coping the prince b/c, well, Vegeta's the prince and Raditz is now going to go in the opposite direction. Anyway, his behaviour here is totally different from the image of him playing with beetles and other kids. And they both are canon!! Anyway, these facts bring up a lot of questions the fandom seem doesn't care about. I mean... At this point, we asume saiyans aren't cold hearted butchers, but people like humans are, but in a different stage of civilitation. Something similar to Mongol horders under Gengis Khan emperor. For them, fighting to survival is something and not showing weakness is something cultural. We knew, in the end, Vegeta did care for his people and wanted revenge, so this answer as kid was just wordiness. But, why we never got good answers? And why the fandom keeps saying Raditz, Nappa (and any other classical saiyans) are a bunch of plain assholes? Afterwards, Brooly happens to be a kind of shy boy and Vegeta's little bro (yeah, another canon break), is a sweetheart. I'd like to see more about the saiyans and how Raditz, being the main character's bro, could get a full arc about his story. It is unfair for this character, as well as the fandom ignoring him (except for another shipping story/ new saiyan from nowhere/ expendable villan).

I don't think Goku, at this point fo "Super" even cares. Son Goku turned into a plain egoistical idiot in later stories after all.

Oh! BTW, the beetle thing seems to be something that runs in the family. Goten also likes to play with insects. Uncle Raditz would aprove this.

[carnal-lnstinct]

May I please request wedding day (and possibly wedding night) hcs with the Saiyans?

Let’s do Bardock, Goku, and Gohan.

WEDDING DAY HEADCANONS

☆☆ Content: ( au, female reader, wedding day / night headcanons, fluff ) ☆☆ Warning: ( implied marital sex )

☆☆ A/N: Went with FoG!Bardock for this one! And an au version of that since it's an earth-style wedding

GOKU —

Knowing what to expect after all the planning and rehearsal dinner, he has no worries and is looking forward to today

Goku most likely visited his grandfather’s old home/shrine early in the morning or even to watch the sunrise as he “spoke” to his grandfather about how excited he was for today, hoping to make him proud going into this stage in his life.

His best man Krillin, along with his other friends, are somewhat babysitting him to make sure he doesn’t ruin his suit trying to help out where he really shouldn’t.

He wants to help make sure everything is in place for the way you all practiced it, but he does sorta want an excuse to take off his suit jacket and tie for a bit. It was tailor-made specifically to account for his muscles, but he still fidgets in the fabric.

His friends and some of yours are filling him with all sorts of marital advice for your future life together. Goku’s not sure how to keep it all in his head as fast as it’s coming at him. It’s appreciated, just too much all at once. But keeping you safe and happy is his priority.

He stood at the altar pretty stiffly when it started, trying to look his best. When you finally come down the aisle and he sees you, his demeanor relaxes entirely. His bright beam toward you is visually no different than his usual big smile. But meeting his eyes as you approach and are given away to him, you can feel it in your heart that his is racing at the moment. Goku can’t seem to stop grinning looking at you, being in your presence. He wasn’t prepared for how breathtaking your beauty was going to be when you appeared in your dress and adornments.

It’s definitely captured on video and in your pictures how he missed his cue to start speaking his vows because he couldn’t stop staring at you.

You repeat the traditional vows to each other and then finish the ceremony with a warm, loving kiss and (if you decided to include it) a traditional custom of your heritage as well.

Night

Keeping it traditional, Goku carries you over the threshold into your honeymoon suite or your now-shared home.

The next thing he does is remove his shoes, his tie and his suit jacket removed long after the food was served at the reception. He couldn’t wait to get out of his formal clothes.

The excitement for the day might not have worn off, but your body sure felt exhausted from it all. With help, you switched to a more comfortable pair of shoes at some point during the reception, but due to your dress had issues reaching your feet to get them off. 

When Goku noticed he knelt down in front of you and carefully held your leg up to help you out of your shoes. He was very careful loosening the straps and removed them, but his touch lingered on your leg.

He reminds you again how beautiful you looked today and kisses your shin up to the top of your knee in appreciation for your love and beauty, and that you pledged to share with him. He vowed to honor that and do what he can to take care of you until the day he leaves this world.

It was when the innocent act of helping you out of your wedding dress did his touch become more frequent and slow on your exposed skin, leading you to consummate your first night as husband and wife. 

GOHAN —

He’s been excited about today since he asked you to marry him, or maybe when you both grew comfortable after moving in together. But now he’s just as nervous and keeps pacing around to triple-check that everything is as it should be.

Gohan’s been with you through every step of preparing for your wedding like a true teammate. Except for your bachelorette party if you had one. Hell, he completely overlooked his own bachelor party not wanting a single thing out of place for the big day.

Since it was her firstborn’s wedding, Chi Chi was also very present and helpful. It brought you and her closer, though most of her advice was a little too orthodox for the life you and Gohan planned together.

Regardless of his age, Goten was Gohan’s original choice for his best man but the responsibility of it was just not what his mother would allow for him to take up. His little brother was still present and supporting Gohan as his best man through every step except for the bachelor party, however. 

The groom’s section for the seating arrangements consists mostly of Gohan’s parents, his grandfather, and their friends, but also Gohan’s friends from school and Earth’s own guardian, Dende. If Piccolo wasn’t defaulted to be the Best Man, then he’s definitely in the section as well or is a groomsman with Goten.

There was no doubt Gohan was thrilled to officially become your husband, but the wedding was also important to him because it was the first time in years his entire family was together. He’s filled with so many happy emotions about his own father being here to witness him become a husband as well. His family grows with you being added to it, and eventually (if you both agree on it) he’ll have his own family and he can’t wait for that.

Seeing you come down the aisle left Gohan fighting through his emotions to try and keep himself presentable. 

You were a beautiful vision unlike he’s ever seen before, and by some luck, you’re offering to share all that you are with him for the rest of your life. And you accepted everything he was. His glasses smudge trying to hold back his tears and clean his face before you were given away to him. 

Gohan knew he’d be too nervous to exchange his own vows out loud to you, so you both wrote them in letters and read each other’s out loud instead. Instilling everyone around you with emotional tears and romance. Except Vegeta and Piccolo.

Your own traditional wedding customs are included as well.

Night

Even when you're alone, you and Gohan share another slow dance with each other as husband and wife. Driven by your official love song that currently only played in your minds, but rang clear in your hums and the warmth of his arms. Maybe you’re holding each other up at this point as well, neither of you is exactly sober or filled with the same high energy you started today with, but pulling apart now feels impossible. 

He eventually helps you to the bed where you could finally get off your feet. You sat in front of him and pressed your forehead into his abs behind his shirt, your arms around him waist. Cherishing the highlights of your day with him, the pure expression of his love for you, and this amazing body you get to have forever. 

It’s not like the two of you exactly waited for your wedding night to explore each other’s bodies for the first time. But Gohan was very particular about taking his time with you. As if being married now made it your first time all over again.

BARDOCK ( FoG ) —

Your wedding with Bardock isn’t particularly a large one, mostly due to the fact the guest list consists of mostly your friends and family. Marriage by human customs isn't that different from saiyans: a little ceremony, plenty of food, and congratulations from those that attend. You agreed to be his wife and now he’s making good on his word to honor your devotion.

The majority of the planning is handled by you simply because of the more notable differences. And Bardock expected to at least be married to you the very next day after you accepted his proposal.

He’s slightly embarrassed by the attire on the day of the wedding. But any stiff or formal clothing usually made him uncomfortable. Bardock likes to be able to move freely and he can’t really do that the way he wants in a tailored suit.

Bardock won’t wear his red bandana on his head for the wedding. He made the decision himself and wore it around his left arm instead, similar to Tora. 

While getting ready, he is comforted by imagining the business his friends would give him seeing him dressed like this, and poke fun at how a “dog” like him could end up with a human like you. 

That being said, if he has his red bandana then that means none of his teammates or anyone from his past are at the wedding. But he keeps their memory and his oath alive by keeping the bandana on his person. 

Being able to keep moving forward and commit himself to another living being, to love and be vulnerable with you, reminds him that he is capable of living a life outside of the obsolete way he was conditioned to be. He still wants his revenge, but he finally sees a future beyond that for you and him.

There is one person from his past that is able to be there. Bardock’s youngest does show up to the wedding, however, they get mistaken for each other a lot. The benefit of aging slower than humans makes them look like they could be twins. It happened enough that Bardock is almost replaced by him at the altar when the wedding begins. And he does make a fuss about it.

Not that he has to fight anyone to marry you, but he’ll find a reason to get his hands dirty if he feels disrespected. Since he promised you not to, he’s gonna glare and growl at people he doesn’t want in his face or keep mistaking his son for him. As if the scar on his cheek and tail didn’t make it clear who was who. Bardock then wears his bandana on the outside of his suit to help him stand out. 

The natural harsh look on his face lightens when you finally come down the aisle toward him and he seems entranced by the sight of you. It’s very much the woman he is entrusting his heart to, but somehow you look different to him. As if you yourself were from a different world and you had revealed your true, superb self to him for the first time. You can see his tail slowly slip from around his waist as he stares at you approaching him.

Similar to Goku, you exchange traditional vows and complete the wedding custom of your heritage to complete the ceremony itself.

When you share your first dance as husband and wife, Bardock does seem more stiff than usual with everyone waiting to watch him dance with you. But you’ve practiced with him leading up to this moment and he just keeps his eyes on you as you go.

The sense of community and praise celebrating the two of you left him in higher spirits for the rest of the reception.

Night

Bardock may be a bit on the reserved side of showing his affection for you in front of others, but he’s not shy about claiming you as his. Especially now that, by human customs, you’re married. You belong to each other. 

Once you were alone again, very few words were exchanged between you. You spoke to each other through your kisses and touch. The way you helped him out of his suit and fondly stroke the arm that hugged you close to his bare skin. You don't think you have ever seen his gaze so soft for you. 

He helped you loosen your dress, but he didn't wait for you to slip out of it before he claimed you for the night as his cherished wife 

[tobiasdrake]

If Saiyan military doctrine is to meet substantial resistance with Oozaru transformations as soon as possible, that probably explains why they operated in such small groups (lone infants are sent to conquer the weakest planets; Bardock's squad was five people; the crown prince had *one* bodyguard). You only need a handful of Oozaru to crush any non-mutant resistance, even on a planetary scale. There's never really any point in mustering a company-level complement of Saiyan warriors, is there?

Yep. The main purpose to mustering a group of Saiyans would be for attacking planets without a moon, which Raditz indicates is a predicament they run into from time to time.

It's worth noting that Raditz also expects Goku's campaign to have taken a few years. This suggests that Saiyan long-term war strategy involves prolonged campaigns of Oozaru violence, then hanging out for the next full moon to unleash more Oozaru violence. You get a few weeks of reprieve before the colonizer erases another country.

There is some value in numbers. Raditz's whole purpose for being on Earth was because he needed reinforcement for a new planet they were about to hit.

But legitimate armies made up of hundreds or thousands of Saiyans all marching on a world at once doesn't seem to have ever been a thing that they do. As the strongest race in the universe, especially with the Oozaru, large numbers simply aren't necessary.

The Saiyans and Planet Trade seem to have this whole thing locked down. Whether or not a planet has a moon is a factor they consider, right alongside with the threat level of the world, when determining the right caliber of Saiyan to send in. They are incredibly calculating genocidal capitalist barbarians.

[eggdoodles]

I don't talk about this HC much but I love the idea of Goku and King Vegeta getting along

Maybe it's after meeting Goku's less than savoury counterparts (ahem BARDOCK ahem TURLES) that Goku is a breath of fresh air

[randomthefox]

I do like the interpretation that Raditz was basically toxic masculinity The Character. Even moreso than Vegeta, since the prince honestly seems like he was just born broken and had to be pieced together very slowly. Goku getting amnesia and becoming a sweetheart does seem to suggest that the tabula rasa for the sons of Bardock is to be decent people, and it's the culture of the Saiyan species that turns them into what they are.

Raditz was a low class warrior, and the son of a low class warrior. His species was wiped out and his planet blown up. And the only Saiyans left in all of existence were two Elites, who constantly looked down on him for being garbage who was barely as strong as literal vegetables (the saibamen). They probably only barely tolerated him because he was also a Saiyan, but especially considering this is Vegeta we're talking about here that tolerance probably didn't extend very far. Raditz might have felt the urge to prove himself to his superiors, to show himself worthy among these Elites, by overcompensating and amping up how ruthless and brutal he could be so that he could earn their respect.

And then one day they find themselves having difficulty conquering a planet. Even these two Elites would be challenged by it! But then Raditz remembers, he has a baby brother. Another low class cast off just like him! Surely Kakarot will be enough to tip the scales in their favor, and if he does maybe these Elite's will see them differently. They'll see that they have value as Saiyans despite how low class they are, he and his baby brother will finally earn the respect of his (male, violence obsessed) peers.

So when he finally meets his little brother Kakarot again and finds out what became of him, you could read quite a lot into his reaction and what must be going through Radtiz's head. Based on the way Raditz talks to Goku, it's clear that Raditz EXPECTS Goku to remember him on a personal level. They MUST have interacted before Kakarot was sent off to earth to at least some capacity, otherwise dialog like this doesn't really make sense.

Raditz and Kakarot KNEW each other before the calamity that befell their planet. They've been separated for decades and a lot happened during that time, but Raditz still expects Kakarot to remember him. He seemed genuinely shocked that Goku had suffered from amnesia, and his demeanor was pretty flapped. His only family left in the entire galaxy, his fellow low class Saiyan and kin the only person in the entire galaxy who is on his level. And those memories of their childhood as brothers was erased. Read this panel with that in mind.

Raditz WANTS his brother back. But he has also had 20 years of living with Vegeta to sculpt him as a person, and this is where the Toxic Masculinity creeps in. The desperation and confusion he let drive his interactions with his little brother thus far is put under control, and Raditz starts playing the aloof and bemused monster. He puts on the mask of being the ideal saiyan warrior. Someone who laughs off the destruction of their home planet

Someone who relishes in the thrill of carnage and bloodshed. It's the very reason they became the most powerful race in the galaxy. It's the very reason they are both still alive.

He's TRYING to wake Kakarot back up. He's TRYING to get his brother back. He's overcompensating, he's playing it up, he's EMULATING VEGETA because he thinks this will rile up the Saiyan inside of Goku that has laid dormant.

When Goku rejects him it must be crushing, but he hides it under a confident veneer. Because he's still confident that he can make this work when he notices Gohan. If Goku won't be motivated by the promise of battle and wrecking death, MAYBE Goku will be motivated by the paternal instinct to protect his son?

Think about this given what we know: Saiyans aren't supposed to CARE about their children. At least that's what we've been told. And yet Raditz is trying to wake up Goku's Saiyan instincts by threatening his son. It's almost a Catch-22, Saiyans are supposed to only care about strength and fighting and killing over everything else, and yet Raditz is hoping to stoke those flames by tugging on Goku's love and protective instincts for his child. It's like Raditz is blending what he knows about his own family with what is expected of Saiyans - if Goku was a "real" Saiyan then he shouldn't care about Gohan especially considering he's such a weak child, but Raditz is COUNTING on Goku caring enough about his son that he'd be willing to slaughter a hundred earthlings.

He hopes that if he's FORCED to kill for the sake of his son, that experience will bring Kakarot back out and he'll remember what being a Saiyan who lives to fight and kill is like again. And the only reason he'd think that plan would work is if he assumed, BASED ON NO OBSERVABLE INTERACTION HE'D HAVE WITNESSED SINCE ARRIVING ON THE ISLAND, that Goku cares about his son. THAT'S the true Raditz, the Raditz who assumes based on nothing that his brother would love and value his son more than one hundred random strangers. It's the toxic masculinity of living around Nappa and Vegeta his whole life that makes Raditz think that "a real man Saiyan" SHOULD only care about battle that makes him think that engaging in senseless slaughter will wake Kakarot back up.

He's trying to impart this onto Goku because he wants Goku to join him. He's trying to turn Goku into a monster because that's what Raditz thinks he is, thinks that they both should be, so that they can fit in and be seen as worthy by the only two other Saiyans left in existence. He wants more than anything for Goku to join him so they can both go back to Vegeta and show those Elite's what they're worth. And Goku is rejecting him, rejecting his very nature as a Saiyan, CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN TAIL just so he could fit in with these weak earthlings?

Rejecting his family, his species, his heritage, and for what? So he can be a weakling who isn't worthy of standing next to the Elites?

So that he can leave Raditz alone with those two Elites who he can't possibly measure up against? Again?

He HAS to try and convince Goku to become a monster. That's the only solution, truly. Surely, once he sees how fun it is to commit genocide, he'll come around and be his brother again, right? After all that's what Saiyans are all about. He's a Saiyan, just like me, and we Saiyans HAVE to be this way otherwise we're not worthy, that's what those Elites have always said and they should know because they're the creme de la creme of Saiyan society! I have to be ruthless, I have to be obsessed with strength and power and nothing else, I have to be willing to kill my own brother and nephew otherwise I'm not a real man. And maybe, just maybe, if I show my poor brain damaged little brother that that's what we Saiyans are all about, maybe he'll Wake Up and come back to me and we can be a family again. A family of monsters.

The poison drips through.

[42069memesfordays]

These four have me gripped by my heart, and I cannot help but imagine them in the funniest OT4 ever.

Three Saiyans and a Cerealian.

Brainrot ramblings beneath.

I have Fantasy AUs of them now; sometimes they’re all adventurers, sometimes they’re all knights, sometimes they’re all royalty from different kingdoms, or even the same kingdom. My primary take has Gine as a paladin, Fasha as a barbarian, Muezli as a rogue, and Nion as an alchemist, where they’re all reluctantly brought together and end up bonding over how similar they really are while also finding respect in each other’s differences.

I have modern day AUs where they’re just vibing and not being dead.

I have them as one of the central ships for my Transformers and Dragon Ball crossover on a Discord server I’m part of that’s been going since last April.

They get to be strong enough to do things like break canon MUI Goku from the Tournament of Power over their knees.

Goku has two whole brothers now; three, depending on how solid I am on headcanon Turles to be Nion’s kid somehow.

I’m already thinking of a new modern day AU where they’re all single moms who’d each been with Bardock before and meet up at his funeral; shenanigans happen from there, and there’d also be a B-Plot about their kids all having to learn to get along with each other.

They’d sit on a couch in a massive pile of blankets, sipping on hot chocolate as they watch one of those sappy Christmas movies that Gine picked up; Fasha, Muezli, and Nion probably wouldn’t be wholly into it, but seeing Gine’s smile throughout the whole thing is worth it.

The Transformers x Dragon Ball AU forces them through the worst self-hatred and imposter syndrome conceivable, but it’s all made worth it when they realize that they genuinely love each other in a way that can never be understated.

They try to have a small wedding with just their friends and family, but Bulma, being Bulma, gets way too invested and sends it over the top accordingly.

I have an AU where they’re just office workers and also single moms who find solace in each other as the days go by.

I have another AU where one of them’s just a mortal, the other’s their best friend with a major crush, and the last two are an angel and devil fighting over the former over something petty; it then slowly escalates into all of them genuinely being really into each other through loads of romcom and sitcom type shenanigans.

I have an AU where they’re in RWBY as a major hunter team.

I have an AU where they’re Cybertronians; sometimes they’re all Autobots, sometimes they’re all Decepticons, and sometimes it’s a mix of both, depending on my mood.

I’ve had thoughts about them in Mortal Kombat, where they either become new characters entirely or take the place of Scorpion, Harumi, Smoke, and Kuai Liang.

A Thomas the Tank Engine AU sees them being Gordon’s crew in the modern day, where they and the Number Four have to put up with each other after the latter gets off on the wrong foot with them; their growth comes during a tour across the mainland, where Gordon’s old crew are helping them to finish up the last of their training; this is also a proposal that I have in mind for a co-op project I’m working on in yet another Discord server.

All four of them died without much to them; Fasha and Muezli both did so for the sake of Bardock’s development. Gine and Nion just got wiped out on Planet Vegeta by Frieza.

They’re kinda nothing burgers, and yet I just can’t help but latch onto them like they’re life preservers in the middle of a cold, storm-ridden ocean.

I have many questions that only a select few seem to really care about, but not necessarily as deeply as I seem to; what exactly did Gine and Fasha think of each other? What would Muezli and Gine have thought of each other if they ever met? What would Nion think of any of them, and they think of Nion? What would they think of the others in general? Would it be respect, reluctant or not? Would it be contempt? Hatred? Who knows?

They are my Roman Empire.

They fundamentally mean way too much to me, given that they all died as either background characters, plot devices, or some mix of both.

I have a Star Wars AU with them where Gine is a Jedi, Fasha’s a Storm trooper, Muezli’s a bounty hunter, and Nion’s a scientist for the empire before Order 66 where they also get brought together through sheer circumstance and learn to bond with each other; they run away post Order 66 and then end up settling on some random little planet that’s out of the way.

They keep each other grounded.

They feel comfortable enough around each other to regularly poke fun and make jabs at each other, but so help you if you do the same to any of them while the others are in earshot.

Somewhere in the back of my head lies a Dragon Ball Z: Abridged version of my Transformers x Dragon Ball AU where one of their running jokes is that they’re all absolutely unhinged for each other without the other knowing; when they finally do get to know about what the other is like, those tendencies somehow get even worse.

I’m going mad, and it’s great.

[bumblingbriars]

Another DB oc 💥 (made her around the middle of my og db watch, so I didn’t know there was another timeskip lol)

Cheri, head doctor of the Z-Fighters and your local quarter Saiyan (oh yes)

Cheri is my own twist on the “last saiyan female” trope, however like Pan she is a quarter saiyan! First appearing when Goku goes to West City for the first time, she gains a lil crush on him (though it doesn’t work out… canonically anyway heh…)

I haven’t decided whether or not she has a tail, we’ll get there.

Her grandma, Letta, was a famous scientist known for doing several things that advanced saiyan technology (though her true love was for blutz waves). However her little brother is killed in a local conflict, making her have a meltdown crisis that ends in her leaving planet plant (this is before it becomes vegeta) and landing on earth. As expected she falls in love, has a daughter, etc. Unfortunately that daughter and her son-in-law are killed, leading to Letta raising Cheri as an intellectual rather than a fighter. Thus Cheri becomes a doctor, initally working at the hospital before working at Cap Corp full time like her gma (as Letta took a job there to atone for what she had done)

I multiship her but primarily ship her with Raditz. As you can see, their relationship mirrors Bardock and Gine 😌 though their first meeting isn’t exactly one of the meet cute variety……..

(Yes, she is able to go super saiyan etc. She also knows how to fly and feel for ki by the end of og. She just chooses not to fight… most of the time. She is, after all, a saiyan)

(Yes theres an au where shes pure blooded. Ill post about that some other time)

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Minus

So I’ve been covering the Jaco manga, but there’s one last chapter to go over, and that’s the Dragon Ball Minus feature at the end of the collected edition.  The finale of the Jaco story revealed that Jaco was sent to Earth to intercept a Saiyan invader, which turned out to be baby Goku.  So Jaco was a prequel to Dragon Ball all along, and now Dragon Ball Minus turns the clock back even further to show how and why Goku was sent to Earth in the first place. 

So let’s unpack this a bit.  In 1990, Toei produced the TV Special “Dragon Ball Z: A Lonesome, Final Battle – The Father of Z Warrior Son Goku, who Challenged Freeza.”  The English dub shortened this to “Bardock: Father of Goku”.  If you’re not familiar with it, I wrote about it here.  The special was a grim tale of Goku’s father, a brutal, uncaring cog in Frieza’s war machine.  Before he dies, one of Bardock’s enemies curses him by giving him visions of the future. This allows Bardock to see horrifying scenes of Frieza destroying the Saiyan homeworld, as well as the life of his infant son growing up on Earth. By the time Bardock understands what’s happening, it’s already too late.  But as Bardock dies with his homeworld, he takes solace in a vision of his son growing up to confront Frieza someday. 

It’s a darker story than most of Dragon Ball.  While DBZ had gotten very violent, it was still pretty clear who the good guys were.  But Bardock was an antihero at best.  I’m pretty sure the only purpose of the psychic powers was to make the character at least a little sympathetic.  By giving him a peek at his own destiny, you can have Bardock confront his own mortality, and share in the audience’s appreciation for his son.  Without those insights, Bardock would just be one Saiyan among many, with nothing to make him stand out besides a familiar haircut and a famous son that he doesn’t even know.

The story goes that the special left such an impression on Akira Toriyama that he decided to canonize Bardock by writing him into the manga.  When Frieza first meets Goku on Namek, Frieza finds Goku’s face somewhat familiar, and he recalls that one Saiyan who opposed him right to the very end.  So even though the Bardock TV Special was anime-only, I think a lot of fans considered it to be canon, since Toriyama had included the scene of Bardock opposing Frieza from the very end of the special. 

However, to quote Toriyama himself:

“I really like the story of Bardock, Goku’s father. It’s quite dramatic, and the kind of story ‘I absolutely wouldn’t draw’ if it were me. It was like watching a different kind of Dragon Ball in a good way, so I thought it was nice.”  --Akira Toriyama, Interview on October 5, 1995, published in Daizenshuu v.6.

So he enjoyed the Bardock special, but if he had to create his own story about Bardock and the destruction of Planet Vegeta, then it would be very different from “Father of Goku”, which he “absolutely wouldn’t draw”.  Not because he disliked the special, but because it’s just not the kind of story that he would tell. 

I say this because I think there were a lot of fans who took umbrage with Dragon Ball Minus for changing Bardock’s backstory from the lore we got in the special. But Toriyama practically warned us all way back in 1995 that if he ever did a Bardock story of his own, it would almost certainly be very different. 

So now that we’ve established that, let’s get down to business.  In this story, Bardock is killing aliens just like he did in the TV special, only he only seems to have one other Saiyan backing him up.  That unnamed Saiyan gets a call on his scouter, and he relays the message to Bardock: All Saiyans have been ordered to return to Planet Vegeta.  Bardock is immediately suspicious, since this seems to be an unprecedented move.  The Saiyans have been working for Frieza for some time now, and they’ve been spread out, conquering various planets for him.  Why would Frieza recall all of them back home at the same time?  When he sees Frieza’s spaceship in orbit around Planet Vegeta, he gets even more suspicious. 

Frieza’s visiting the planet because he’s had his henchmen talking to the Saiyan locals, asking them about their folklore.  His goons dismiss the tales of the Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan God, but Frieza refuses to overlook even the slightest possibility of a Saiyan growing powerful enough to oppose him.  As it is, he knows the Saiyans are too proud and willful to be truly loyal to him, so he feels justified in wiping them out before they inevitably turn against him. 

This... might just be my favorite character moment for Frieza.  A lot of DBZ was devoted to explaining and re-explaining his decision to destroy the Saiyans.  His reasons generally boil down to the following:

1) If the entire Saiyan population revolted, they could pose a threat to his rule (Early Namek Saga, the Bardock TV Special)

2) Frieza’s afraid of a Super Saiyan emerging from the Saiyan population and overthrowing him (Late Namek Saga, and Dragon Ball Minus)

3) Beerus wanted to destroy the Saiyans but was too lazy to make the trip, so he commanded Frieza to do it for him.  (Battle of Gods)

What sets this story apart from the others, though, is that we get to see just how Frieza heard about the Super Saiyan Legend in the first place.  He asked around.  And apparently this isn’t the first planet where he’s done this sort of thing.  “I’m sure they’re just the usual heroic legends we hear about all the time.”

At some point, it hit me that Frieza has an interest in this sort of thing.  Not that he’s particularly fond of alien legends, but the characters in those stories the only thing that can possibly challenge his power.  So he seems to make a point out of learning about those mythical heroes whenever he can, just so he can weigh the risks of the legends coming true.

And maybe if the Saiyans were more devoted to him, like Zarbon and Dodoria, maybe Frieza might have chosen to ignore the Super Saiyan tale.  But he knows the Saiyans hate his guts, and he probably only kept them around as long as he did because his father had gotten so much use out of them.  And he might have been willing to keep the Saiyans alive a while longer, but then you have to factor in Beerus’s command to destroy them.  So in this story, Frieza asks if all the Saiyans are back home yet, and his men report that most of them will return within a month, but they’ll have to wait for stragglers if they plan to get them all.  Frieza won’t do it, though.  He plans to destroy Planet Vegeta one month later, and he can deal with the handful of survivors later.  He can just tell them Planet Vegeta got hit by a meteor. 

The story doesn’t spell it out, but I think Frieza accelerated his plans because he didn’t want to risk angering Beerus.  Not that Beerus was going to show up a month later to check his work, but Frieza had no way of knowing for sure, so better to blow 99% of the Saiyans away as soon as possible. 

And this is what saved Saiyans like Vegeta and Raditz.  Well, that, and the fact that Vegeta had no intention of obeying the order to return home.  Maybe he had the same suspicions as Bardock, or he just felt like he should defy Frieza wherever possible.  In this case, he could get away with ignoring the order, so he chose to ignore the order. 

As for Bardock, he finds his wife Gine chopping meat in his home village.  The narration informs us that the Saiyan population is only several thousand strong.  They’re warlike, so their population doesn’t increase too easily.  That sounds kind of vague, but interpret it as you will.  Bardock embraces Gine and asks about their children, which I think rubbed some fans the wrong way.  Gine wasn’t even in the TV Special, so the idea of Bardock being a loving husband and father bugged some people.  Hell, I think some fans can’t stand the idea of Bardock being anything other than a relentless badass.

Gine explains that Raditz has already been sent out into the field, with Prince Vegeta as his partner.  As for Kakarot, he’s been in an incubation tank for three years, and it’s almost time to take him out.  As he looks at Kakarot, Bardock resolves to steal a space pod and send the boy to another planet. 

Now, this also bugged some fans, because this directly contradicts what Raditz told Goku about how and why he ended up on Earth.  According to Raditz, Saiyan babies were tested for their combat potential, and those with the worst scores were sent to relatively defenseless planets, where they could either die alone or conquer with a bit less of a disadvantage.  Saiyan elites, like Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta, were allowed to remain on Planet Vegeta and receive proper training and resources, so that they could fight as part of the Saiyan military. 

Dragon Ball Minus flips that idea on its head.  Yes, Raditz was correct about the Saiyan practice of “infiltration babies”, as Gine puts it.  That is a thing Saiyans do with their weakest children.   However, in this case, Bardock is using that practice without permission.  Instead of waiting around for the authorities to decide where to assign baby Kakarot, Bardock is going to send him to Earth, just to keep him safe from anything Frieza might be planning. 

And, perhaps unintentionally, these differences provide a critique of “Father of Goku.”  Like I said earlier, the only real purpose of giving Bardock visions of the future was to make him sympathetic.  He could foresee Frieza’s treachery and realize he was doomed, but he could also foresee his son thriving on Earth, eventually rising up to avenge his people. 

But Dragon Ball Minus cuts the Gordian Knot in half with a sword.  Why does Bardock need psychic powers to predict Frieza destroying the Saiyans?  The Saiyans have resented Frieza from the beginning, so why would they expect anything less than treachery from him?  Bardock doesn’t need the gift of prophecy to figure this out.  He just needs to pay attention to what’s going on around him.  And as for his son, maybe Bardock could just care about Kakarot from the beginning. He doesn’t need to see visions of Goku growing up on Earth.  He can just see the baby floating helplessly in an incubator and then imagine what will happen to him if he’s still on Planet Vegeta when Frieza makes his move. 

And this might irritate some Bardock fans, but at least this way he gets some agency and character development.   The dirty little secret about “Father of Goku” is that Bardock is a puppet of fate in that special.  The Kanassan is destined to give him the curse of foresight.  And once Bardock has that curse, he’s powerless to prevent Planet Vegeta’s destruction.  He sees Goku’s future, and seems to approve, but he has no control over that either.  Others make the decision to launch Goku into space, and so everything Bardock does in the special is futile. 

Sure, “Father of Goku” kind of works because of that futility.  I’d argue that “futility” is a theme of the story. That’s what makes it dark.  But I prefer Toriyama’s take, where Bardock suspects that he’s already doomed, but he still gets to make a choice to do something about it.  By sending Goku to Earth, Bardock gets to make a difference, even if he doesn’t realize how big a difference it will be. 

As they prepare the pod for launch, Gine asks why they don’t just all leave the planet in pods, and Bardock explains that Frieza would just track them down with scouters.  Kakarot, with his miniscule power level, can escape, but they’re trapped here, on Planet Vegeta, while they wait to find out what Frieza has planned for them all.  The two of them say their goodbyes, and Gine makes plans to contact Raditz to tell him where they’ve sent Kakarot.  She also promises to retrieve the boy if Bardock’s fears turn out to be unfounded.  But we know how that will turn out. 

So they watch the pod leave in an emotional scene. 

But the launch has not gone unnoticed.  The Galactic King has discovered the Saiyan invader heading toward Earth, so he orders Jaco to intercept it.   He clearly isn’t too concerned about the matter, though, since he regards Jaco as one of his least reliable Patrollers, and the Earth as a backwater planet of little importance.  I guess he sort of cares, but not enough to send the best.

But we already saw how Jaco handled that mission.  He missed Kakarot’s arrival on Earth, and he was adopted by Son Gohan instead, and grew up to become Son Goku, who would confront Frieza on Namek.  And now you know.... the rest of the story.   Paul Harvey... Good Day?

So that wraps up Jaco.  The only real issue I see with all of its retcons to Dragon Ball lore is the fact that Jaco has such close ties to the Brief family, and he even gives Dr. Brief his spaceship to reverse engineer, and yet this never came up in the Namek Saga, when the good guys desperately needed a way to travel through space.   Instead they use Kami’s old spaceship, which took a month to make the trip, and then Dr. Brief reverse engineered Goku’s space pod, which made the journey in six days.  Maybe Jaco’s ship was slower?  Or they just forgot about it?  Oh well. 

I’ll be taking a break for a couple weeks, and when I get back, we’ll star in on Dragon Ball Super. Until then, keep watching the skies.

[timaeuslover001]

Bardock Headcanon (Au-ish)

( so I noticed before hai character got rebooted like HECK, when we first meet Bardock he’s lying down with a pice of wheat or grass in his mouth not even knowing when his son was born, his friends called him lazy and I thought that was different , he wasnt this hyper active or angry aggressive type of person. He fought when needed. I’m sure the creators did that to distinguish him as much as possible from Goku.

Which is good. Goku is his own person and so is Bardock , they can be alike in more meaningful ways like their bravery , in the face of certain death he still wanted to fight frieza and even too on his “elite Gaurd” and killed most for him EXCEPT didoria who fled. )

Bardock is lazy.

He doesn’t put a whole lot of effort into fighting like he could, never in a battle where his life could be in danger but if he doesn’t have to then why would he?

Even in trading with his friends, he’ll do that sometimes which they get on him about.

But when he does put the effort in he is quite impressive. Especially since no one can lay a hand on him because he’s so fast. 💨

But if he doesn’t have to fight, he’s probably layed out asleep or relaxing somewhere.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Episode of Bardock Abridged Review

Originally posted December 14th, 2015

I’m not sure what’s going on, and I’m okay with that.

The scenario for “Episode of Bardock” set up by the source material is a very strange one. After being hit with Freeza’s planet destroying energy ball, Bardock is somehow sent back in time four thousand years, and he finds himself meeting the previous evolution of the Saiyan race and encountering Lord Chilled, the ancestor of Freeza.

He also apparently gains the power to go Super Saiyan, starting the legends that inevitably spread throughout the galaxy when he uses this power to defeat Chilled, which would seem to break every rule about time paradoxes that we know to exist.1 That scenario creates a problem very different from the problem of Revenge of Cooler; Team Four Star has to figure out a way to get us to suspend our disbelief despite the ridiculousness of this story.

Their solution is a damn clever one. To make this story palatable, they turn its ridiculousness up to eleven and add a layer of meta-commentary to the story itself. Right before Bardock gets transported to the past, the narrator claims that this should be Bardock’s end if it weren’t for the need to merchandise him, and then for good measure, the chorus to “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror plays. The purple Saiyans all sound like the exact same impression of Kermit the Frog, and their names are all misspelled derivatives of 90s rappers, with town doctor being named Dr. Dray and his son being named Twopock.

Lord Chilled, Freeza’s ancestor, is even more eccentric and demanding than his future progeny, and he has the most ridiculous British accent and high pitched voice of any character in the series. When Bardock realizes what is going on, it is the ridiculousness of this scenario that causes him to transform into a Super Saiyan and gain the power to defeat Chilled in time to Beethoveen’s Ode to Joy.

And finally, we cut to Goku telling Gohan this tale about his grandfather, who immediately questions the logical flaws in the scenario only to discover that hearing this story had actually all been a dream. Whether or not any of this actually happened to Bardock is left completely unresolved, and we the audience are left more confused than the story’s scenario ever could have made us on its own.

Rating: 5/5

If you enjoyed this review, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

1Unless time travel in the Dragonball Z: Abridged universe works like time travel in Lost, but as we find out in future episodes, it doesn’t.

This episode also serves as a much more effective introduction to Bardock’s character than “Father of Goku” did. His first reaction to meeting the purple Saiyans is to enter into an unfathomable rage, he critiques the people terrorizing the purple Saiyans for doing so ineffectively, and he casts shame upon the purple Saiyans for attempting to praise him. He’s also nicknamed “Violent Savior,” and if that doesn’t tell you a lot about him, I don’t know what will.

Narrator: “So ends the tragic fate of Bardock. Or so you’d think, if you didn’t know a thing about merchandising!”

Bardock’s “spiker” train of thought is very similar to a lot of the things we see Goku thinking.

Chilled: “In honor of their deaths, my men shall now and forevermore be given the names of fruits! Pineapple, bring us to planet Plant.” Yellow Alien: “So am I Pineapple?” Chilled: “Yes!”

Henchman: “Hello. We are the Space Police.” Aice Cube: “Man, fuck the police!”

Space Police: “We are here to collect space criminals and other ne’er-do-wells.” Dr. Dray: “I can assure you we have already exiled Chris of the clan Brown from our planet.”

So, if the purple Saiyans get pregnant by being hurt, does that mean I have to kinkshame an entire race?

Chilled: “Because of Raisins! Raisins is my intelligence officer.”

Chilled: “These people seem to have great respect for you. What is your secret?” Bardock: “Maybe it’s because I don’t look like a giant purple and orange tampon.”

[ap-kinda-lit]

I had the coolest dream last night about Bardock in the afterlife getting a wish for his redeemed behavior and he wished he could have his family all together, so he was allowed to go to earth to meet Goku. At the same time, Raditz, in hell, learns about this and gets angry and jealous (I think Bardock didn’t know Raditz was still in hell at this point) and Gine isn’t anywhere to be found so Goku, Raditz, and Bardock all have to go find her in heaven. I don’t know, I thought it was fun dream.

[dragonballwish]

Related to recent Bardock discourse: What gets to me about how the fandom especially is trying to push the "relationship" between the two is that even Toriyama's additions didn't do that. Like, the most that was added is "Bardock decided he didn't want to see his kid die and sent him off". There's no bond there, there's a single fleeting memory, the entire time Goku was alive he was in an incubator to sustain him until he was "strong enough" to be made into a killer, and even then it's still shown Grandpa Gohan takes him in and cares for him. Like even the anime has gone out of its way to reiterate that Goku learned his morals from his grandpa, and even had him shadowbox at Baba's while mimicking the exact same moves he used when fighting Gohan there. Just... strange to me how some people want to shove him to the side anymore.

I think partly it's because the fandom at large doesn't really know much about grandpa Gohan outside of what Z and Super might be saying? I remember there wasn't a whole lot of detail there, and I always found it more heartwarming seeing Goku meet Grandpa Gohan as a kid and the unfortunate reveal of how he died.

Bardock is cool, and the lore there is interesting, but you're absolutely right that it doesn't really make sense that he's kinda replacing Gohan and his influence... like.. CMON Goku named his son after his caretaker!!!!! That is pretty significant !!!! We could have EASILY had an Ox Junior instead !!!

I'm not totally sure what all Super has been getting up to about it lately, so I'll ignore that, but. I do know fanart and see it and so on, and I hardly ever see things about Grandpa Gohan... I don't know of a single fic that is about Goku and Grandpa either?? I've said it before I'll say it again: If anyone knows of a fic or something that is like pretty much about those two, especially kid Goku I will love you forever if you share

I see a lot of fandom stuff exploring Brdock and Gine (and not really Raditz, who Goku has actually met canonically!) and their relationship and potential to be figures for Goku.. and I think it's cool and interesting. Still, I really do wish there was more about like. Goku's actual parent? the guy who raised him, helped him even when he was a menace out of the goodness of his heart, nursed him when he was hurt, and loved him like his own child.

Dragon Ball has always felt more like a story about the family you make along the way rather than the ones who give birth to you, and this is just another part of it. I think it's worth emphasizing!!!