Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dragon Ball Super chapter 80!
Recent events just disproved fans who think Dragon Ball Super's retcons of Goku's father Bardock made the Saiyan weaker. In fact, they basically prove he was a tactic genius!
Earlier chapters teased a tantalizing secret about Bardock who, despite being a relatively weak Saiyan, somehow defeated Gas, Goku and Vegeta's current opponent. Gas was obviously a handful for Earth's heroes before he leveraged the new powers bestowed upon him from the Cerealian dragon balls. But chapter 80 just revealed that Bardock not only held his own against Gas but managed to cause the villain to lose control and transform into a berserker - and still beat him.
Before this revelation, some of Dragon Ball Super's recent retcons of Bardock threw far too many fans into a tizzy, in part, because he wasn't as cruel a warrior as the film Bardock: The Father of Goku portrayed him. How could the manga make such a barbaric Saiyan go out of his way to protect Granolah the Cerealian and his mother who Frieza commanded him to kill? Mangaka Akira Toriyama apparently added insult to injury when he implied that Bardock's memory of when he first laid eyes on his son in the manga is what apparently compelled him to spare them. Seeing his son for the first time clearly moved the older Saiyan in a way unbefitting of a warrior. What's more, the only time Bardock did in fact fight in the manga was again in service of Granolah and his mother. Meanwhile, the original Bardock slaughtered an entire species (and took out the stragglers), survived an encounter with Frieza's henchman Dodoria, and stood up against Frieza's entire army.
What these upset fans failed to consider was that Toriyama likely not only modeled his retcon on the film's version of Bardock after his redemption, but that there could be a time when Dragon Ball Super's Bardock was more like the aggressive, cruel warrior fans remember. Dragon Ball Super first introduced Bardock in the retconned Broly film after a mission, and the manga only shows Bardock after he's laid eyes on Granolah and his mother. It can be assumed that, in both these instances, Bardock was acting very much like how he began in The Father of Goku. Toriyama just chose to only show readers Bardock's kinder side. Many fans seem to forget that the original Bardock did redeem himself in the film. After his death, Bardock's spirit even visits Goku, saying that he regrets not having held him in his arms when he had the chance.
What Dragon Ball Super's latest chapter proves is that Akira Toriyama has been intentionally withholding certain aspects about Bardock from fans. This latest revelation from chapter 80 proves that Goku's father may have been weaker than fans would like, but that he was a tactical genius who was able to defeat enemies much stronger than him. Who's to say that this new version of Bardock wasn't originally just as unfeeling and cruel like how he first appeared in Bardock: The Father of Goku?