Dragon Ball Z marked a before and after in terms of character designs: little by little more intimidating heroes and villains were arriving that put aside the comic aspects of the original manga, including Goku himself as an adult, but what about his father’s? Well yes, Bardock looked even more serious than our protagonist, one that we never saw on television!
Although Akira Toriyama was not responsible for this design, we know that what he says is done, and this first design of Bardock made by the artist Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru in the days of Dragon Ball Z was discarded by the creator of the saga, perhaps? for looking too much like Goku? Oh, and his team also had a major touch up, as we can see.
We clearly see in the image that the concept was made under the idea “that he has the same face as Goku”, something that was taken literally looking at what could well have been an adult Goku if he had never left his home planet, not to mention an armor that reminds us of the one his brother Raditz wore in the only battle where we saw him.
The face is obviously what changed the most; Despite being almost identical to Goku, Bardock sports a very original visage in his final design, one more representative of his contempt for his enemies, something we never saw even on an angry Goku going Super Saiyan or in Ultra Instinct.
Bardock has always been a favorite of many Dragon Ball fans despite having appeared so little in the canon, although Dragon Ball Super just brought him back with a new design, so we could have him back in another story if Toriyama so. decide. For now, we can enjoy his epic adventure in the new DLC for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.