Captain Cadaver said:Can we really say he was portrayed on that level though? The only statement suggesting such is dub exclusive and its absence in the Japanese version is rather telling when you'd think a low class drawing close to the king's power would be noteworthy, not to mention he seemed more concerned about how Broly would turn out in the future despite him holding a battle power of 10k already. I guess you could say his son surpassing him as a kid could be seen as limiting things, though it could be Vegeta didn't make overly drastic gains during adulthood when it seemed apparent Goku was the first to make him shed blood.
As for Bardock presenting greater feats, I'd say that's arguable. Anime King Vegeta casually blowing away two planets at once was a more impressive destructive feat than anyone else in the 10-18k range presented. For battle expertise, Dr. Lychee comments in the Hatchiyack OVA that King Vegeta had intelligence rivalling that of Tsufurians, backed up by the GT Perfect Files stating his ability at battle strategies was brilliant even by Saiyan standards.
Zarbon's report about Bardock's team taking Kanassa sooner than expected and the concern for the Saiyans from this stemmed from their united strength, with him saying that they weren't worth much individually yet had incredible power as a group. The doctors did comment on how Bardock's strength kept gradually increasing with each mission, though that could be seen as a commentary on the Saiyan race in general. It's worth noting that Dodoria's revelation on Planet Vegeta's destruction also focused on the strength in numbers of the Saiyan and commented on the increasing battle powers of their later generations such as Prince Vegeta rather than directly commenting on the increased rate the combatants on missions were powering up.Southern Gothic said:However, as for Bardock potentially rivaling King Vegeta and going unnoticed (again, I may be using dub logic), the movie seemed to imply that they were growing stronger at a rapid pace due to constantly taking on missions. They were considered low class warriors and were being sent on trash missions on the outskirts of the galaxy, out of Freeza's interest.
I do seem to remember Freeza commenting on how fast certain planets were being seized by Bardock and his team, triggering his concern about the Saiyan threat. But again, it's over a decade since I watched this.
Captain Cadaver said:Zarbon's report about Bardock's team taking Kanassa sooner than expected and the concern for the Saiyans from this stemmed from their united strength, with him saying that they weren't worth much individually yet had incredible power as a group. The doctors did comment on how Bardock's strength kept gradually increasing with each mission, though that could be seen as a commentary on the Saiyan race in general. It's worth noting that Dodoria's revelation on Planet Vegeta's destruction also focused on the strength in numbers of the Saiyan and commented on the increasing battle powers of their later generations such as Prince Vegeta rather than directly commenting on the increased rate the combatants on missions were powering up.Southern Gothic said:However, as for Bardock potentially rivaling King Vegeta and going unnoticed (again, I may be using dub logic), the movie seemed to imply that they were growing stronger at a rapid pace due to constantly taking on missions. They were considered low class warriors and were being sent on trash missions on the outskirts of the galaxy, out of Freeza's interest.
I do seem to remember Freeza commenting on how fast certain planets were being seized by Bardock and his team, triggering his concern about the Saiyan threat. But again, it's over a decade since I watched this.
Whilst I don't really like to bring up DBH for obvious reasons, Ultimate Mission X reveals the idea that King Vegeta found the Demon Realm planet and used it for secret training. Considering this doesn't directly contradict anything in the canon, not to mention the Bardock Special is no longer "canon" to Toriyama (it is to me though when Virgin Minus Bardock <<< The Toei Special Chaddock), I'd say it's fair game to use as evidence King Vegeta was no slouch either (which makes sense since it's apparent he didn't like the idea of being Freeza's bootlicker forever).
Kenshi said:If Toriyama approves of Toyotaro's bullshit and still doesn't put anime and manga exclusive forms like Blue Kaioken and SSJBE into his canon Broly movie, I really doubt AT giving approval to an anime-only project really means anything. I could have even seen the merits of this argument (pre-Broly movie at least) back when Episode of Bardock was a thing, but AT retconned even Bardock's headband and clothes as of Minus.
Minus is, but it's canon. The Bardock special isn't any more canon than the Trunks special's depiction of Trunks' first transformation.
AT liked Fusion Reborn enough to praise Janemba's design, and even canonized their depiction of Gogeta. In fact, it even influenced the creation of Vegetto. None of those things makes Fusion Reborn canon, it just makes DBS Gogeta canon.