Tag Archives: bandai

October 9, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Cooler: Final Form – 40th Anniversary Reissue Edition

By Joe
Let’s celebrate 40 years of Dragon Ball with the timeless Cooler!

Bandai sure picked an interesting way to celebrate 40 years of Dragon Ball. Well, in the United States they did. In Japan, to mark the occasion the company released a brand new Goku and Shenlong action figure set based on the cover of Dragon Ball issue #1. Makes sense. For the US market, we get a reissue of Frieza’s brother, Cooler, as he appeared in the movie Cooler’s Revenge. If you’re familiar with Dragon Ball Z movies, then you probably know that they’re all non-canon. They weren’t written by series creator Akira Toriyama and they mostly exist just to have something DBZ related to put in a movie theater. That doesn’t mean they’re all bad or terrible, and Toriyama at least did design characters like Cooler, but if you’re looking to celebrate a milestone such as 40 years of Dragon Ball wouldn’t you want to celebrate, I don’t know, Dragon Ball?

If you already have version 1 of Cooler, this is the only reason to get version 2.

Truthfully, I can’t say I’m disappointed at another chance to add Cooler to my collection. I don’t particularly care for the movie he’s from, but as a character design he looks pretty neat. He’s like a cross between Frieza’s second form, Imperfect Cell, and the architecture of Planet Namek. He’s very alien looking, but there’s enough to him to tie him to his brother that it works really well. Originally, this figure was solicited via Premium Bandai which is a made-to-order service where the figures are meant to be one and done. At the time he went up for preorder I felt like I was all set with characters from the movies. He didn’t feel like something I needed in my collection. Fast forward the 8 months or so it took for delivery and suddenly I had regrets. Not only did Cooler look pretty cool, he turned out really well from an engineering standpoint and just looked like a damn fun action figure to have. Aftermarket prices were crazy though so I just resigned myself to my Cooler-less fate.

Cooler and a pair of Friezas. Not pictured: their sister Fridge.

Over the years, Bandai has seemingly realized that limited runs of products people might actually want down the line is a bad business strategy. For some previously Premium Bandai only releases, we’ve seen them get the convention exclusive treatment with a new deco. With Cooler, it’s not even that. This is exactly the same release as the one from three years ago. Even the packaging is the same. The only difference is now it’s labeled as a 40th anniversary reissue edition and it comes with a base. And the actual base is just the standard Tamashii Nations base that’s an acrylic disc, in this case translucent purple, and it has the 40th anniversary graphic on it. There are four ports for an action stand, but no stand is included. It’s kind of cheap that they didn’t just toss in the armature for the stand, but I’m guessing collectors who already have the first one are glad there isn’t a new portrait or effect part included to give them pause about rebuying the figure. This edition is clearly intended for those who passed on the first release or weren’t actively collecting back then. And at $90 MSRP, it’s more or less the same price as it was then too (I don’t remember what it cost exactly).

Where the big boys play.

Cooler is one of the taller figures in this line coming it at about 7.25″ to the top of his head and well over 8″ to the tips of his spikes. He’s comprised primarily of purple plastic for the base body and white plastic for the carapace like shell over the chest, head, wrists, and shins. There’s some dark purple shading on the body most prominent in the thighs while the dark purple accents on the forearms, forehead, and shins have a very glossy finish which contrasts nicely with the matte white. There are numerous hashmarks carved into the white bits reminiscent of the Full Power Frieza and its battle damage. There’s no shading applied to those parts though which is a bit of a bummer. I’d love to see what a light wash would do for those marks as I think the figure would pop more if they were brought out. There is some paint on the face reserved for the red eyes and some black outline. It’s actually more of a dark gray around the eyes with a very light gray used on the faceguard. The nails on his hands and feet are painted a shiny black and overall this is a nice looking figure. The proportions are terrific and he looks mighty imposing even on a shelf with numerous tough looking characters.

Not a perfect paint job.
“I want you for Cooler Corps!”

Apart from the fancy new base, Cooler’s accessories are relegated to extra parts of a pretty conventional nature. He does have a second head which omits the faceguard that kind of just appears when he wants it to in the movie. The alternate head features a sinister smirk and drops the gray shading around the eyes. The sculpt is nice, but the paint is not crisp along the right side on my figure. For hands, we get a set of fists, clenching, open, and pointing gestures. He also has an alternate set of feet like his brother that are closer to a gripping pose. Swapping parts is pretty effortless as the hands and feet come off and go on with little force. The head ornament, if you will, pops off and is shared between both portraits and that has a nice seamless integration on both heads.

They had to get creative with this one.
Not loving how the tail turned out.

The articulation for Cooler is rather extensive and creatively applied. The head is a standard double ball peg with a ball joint at the base of the neck as well. The shoulders are butterflied and the big armor pieces that loop over them are pegged just inside the pectorals. This allows them to move out of the way while the pecs also tend to hide the peg. Pull the arms back all the way and it will expose a small gap inside the pectoral area, but I’m impressed with the clearance and lack of part rub. Whoever designed this joint had to be precise and they nailed it. The rest of the arm is the typical hinge and ball peg at the shoulder with a bicep swivel, double-elbow, and ball hinge wrist. There is a ball joint in the torso which gets really good forward and back movement as well some rotation and tilt. You have to work around the shape of the chest to make use of it, but it’s there and it’s smooth. The ball joint at the waist provides another point of rotation and will help in getting the figure to crunch forward and lean back. There is some gapping there and on the back when bending as far as it will go, but it’s not as pronounced as we’ve seen with other figures. Hips will kick forward about 90 degrees and can almost hit splits out to the side. From there, you have a thigh swivel, double-jointed knee, and ball hinge ankles. The knees do produce some gaps, but otherwise range is solid to good at all places. The tail connects via a hinged ball peg and there’s another ball joint about halfway through. Mine is stuck at the first ball joint and won’t swivel, but all in all I don’t like the look of this tail and would prefer something that’s preposed instead.

Can Goku handle Frieza’s brother?! Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!

This is an overall impressive release from Bandai and Tamashii Nations. He looks great and aside from the tail, the articulation is integrated very well into a fairly complicated design. And even better is how smooth the joints are. They are nice and tight without being too tight. Nothing is even remotely loose. This figure was manufactured in the Vietnam factory and it’s easily their best output that I’ve handled. I think the days where you can tell where a figure was made in this line without looking are over. I was right to feel remorse at not buying him the first time around and I’m glad Bandai made him available again. It’s something they should do more of as I know there are a lot of collectors who hate that they missed out on characters like The Ginyu Force. If they do another run of Cooler’s metal form I may need to reconsider on that one too. And while I’m disappointed that we in the US weren’t given a shot at that special edition kid Goku, at least we weren’t shut out completely. Unfortunately, if you missed this preorder earlier this year then you’re out of luck. Hopefully the presence of this edition will knock down aftermarket prices on the original for those who want him.

The Frieza family is certainly an interesting one, though probably not a healthy one:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Full Power Frieza

Frieza is the villain from Dragon Ball who just refuses to die. His initial battle with the heroes of Dragon Ball Z spans a whopping 30 episodes! Thank goodness that DBZ was a weekday show or else it would have taken more than half a year to see Frieza get taken down. And that’s just…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z – Mecha Frieza

When you have an action figure line as long in the tooth as the Bandai/Tamashii Nations Dragon Ball Z line from S.H.Figuarts, you tend to find some pretty obscure characters making the jump to plastic. Characters that may have existed for a blink and you miss it kind of moment, but when one’s collection already…

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by Joe

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge

Japanese Title:  The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest Original Release Date:  July 20, 1991 English Release Date:  January 22, 2002 Directed by:  Mitsuo Hashimoto Screenplay by:  Takao Koyama Running Time:  47 minutes This seems as good a time as any to talk about the titles of these movies. The direct translation from Japanese is right at…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dragon Ball Z Movies, toys

September 12, 2025

Dragon Ball Daima S.H.Figuarts Vegeta

By Joe
Not so mini Vegeta.

Dragon Ball Daima has come and gone, but we’re still getting action figures based on the limited series. When it comes to the Bandai/Tamashii Nations action figure line, that’s usually par for the course. It’s not like the classic movie tie-in toy line where product shows up in stores weeks before the movie hits theaters. That’s probably for the best as that’s how you end up with massive spoilers like the infamous Phantasm action figure released ahead of the Batman movie Mask of the Phantasm. For the Premium Bandai figure line, the spoilery figures were at least held off until the episode premiered (the Japanese dub, anyway) while a fairly generic figure of someone like Vegeta went up for preorder last year. And likely owing to the ever changing tariff situation in the U.S., it’s actually taken a little longer than initially expected for the figures to arrive in the U.S.

If you like your Vegeta short then this may be the figure for you.

Vegeta – Daima is just that, Vegeta from Dragon Ball Daima. He is still Vegeta, still in his blue and white Saiyan armor, only now he’s styled to reflect the artwork from the show. Dragon Ball Daima has its own distinct look. It’s not far removed from what we have seen out of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, but it might be just enough to give some collectors pause if they’re not interested in Daima figures specifically. Bandai has yet to give us a base Vegeta from the Cell Saga or from Dragon Ball Super so this Vegeta might catch the attention of some. It’s also an entirely new sculpt with some new approaches to engineering and it comes at the more budget friendly price of $35. That alone might get enough collectors to take the figure for a spin.

Narrow face, fewer lines, softened features, and a paler complexion kind of sums it up for the Daima style.

Vegeta from Daima is essentially a stream-lined take on the character. Compared to the 2.0 Vegeta sculpt we’ve been receiving variations on for the past 6-7 years it’s more slender and the proportions are overall just a little smaller this time around. Compare one body part on the new figure to one on the old and they’re almost all a little smaller save for maybe the feet. This Vegeta has got some big feet and ears. The face is a little softer compared to the more recent Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, but perhaps more defined than the original Super Saiyan Vegeta on the 2.0 body. He’s also a touch shorter at approximately 4.875″ to the top of his widow’s peek compared with 5″ on the Super Saiyan Blue version, which as the most recent edition on that body is the one I’ve decided to compare directly to.

The new engineering lets him kick quite high. You can even push it higher than this.

The engineering is almost all together different with this Vegeta. Like we’ve seen with other more recent figures in the line, Bandai is experimenting with soft, plastic, overlays instead of just sculpting everything in hard plastic. The upper part of the armor is made of the more rubbery material, though it doesn’t really impact anything as it’s glued down to a plastic chest. Doing it this way basically just allows Bandai to skip out on painting the blue portion of the chest. The crotch piece is also rubbery which should allow for better posing. This does mean there is less paint overall with this figure as it’s limited to the yellow parts of the armor and boots as well as the face and neck. The paint on the neck isn’t perfect, nor is it on the boots, but it’s not so bad that I’d consider either sloppy. The overall look of the figure is solid and there are no mismatched colors at least. Some may not like how the crotch looks with the new articulation, but I can’t honestly say it’s worse than before. The one eyesore is at least reserved for the rear of the figure where Vegeta has been gifted a long, flat, ass. Watching the show, it’s fairly accurate. Old Vegeta has never been blessed with buns, but the figure draws attention to it with a sculpted butt crack where as the show usually omits that detail. The figure probably should have just done the same.

These two are always up for some sparring.

The accessory load-out for this Vegeta is pretty damn good for a $35 action figure. We get a pretty typical spread of hand options including sets of fists, open, clenching, flat palm (i.e. Big Bang Attack), and his two-finger martial arts posed hands. He also has a crossed-arms piece, as many Vegeta figures have featured, which connects at the bicep. It doesn’t separate in the middle like some of the new versions of this piece, but it has some flex and isn’t as annoying to apply as past versions. For expressions, Vegeta has stoic, smirk, yelling, and an angry expression with his eyes looking down and to his right. There’s also a second hair piece. The first is a neutral pose and the second one has some bend to it like it’s being blown by the wind. The faces this time around also do not have any bangs attached to them, they just plug into the hair, and they all look pretty good. The only thing this figure is missing is a stand and an effect part. Bandai usually doesn’t provide either of those even in its more expensive offerings so it’s not a surprise, but Storm and Jada are out here making everyone look bad these days.

Vegeta is having a long ass day.
There’s more range this time around, but it gets gappy.

Whenever we do get a new sculpt from Bandai articulation is the prime driver of curiosity. With Vegeta, Bandai did a lot of what we’re used to while also doing some different things as well. The head is a double ball and the neck is on a ball as well so that all works as expected. He still doesn’t look up well, and for that you’ll need to engage the diaphragm joint. In there, he has some sort of ball hinge setup, but not like the old hinge that allowed the chest to literally rise. This one lets Vegeta bend back a solid amount, but it exposes a pretty large gap in the chest. Going forward is almost nil. There’s another ball joint set into a hinged joint at the waist and it does provide for solid range going forward and back, but like the diaphragm it leads to significant gaps when bent all the way. Rotation and tilt at both is good, but it’s a shame they didn’t extend some of these pieces to fill those gaps.

He’s got the expressions you would expect.

The shoulders are your typical ball-hinge set into a ball peg inside the chest. This allows the shoulder to move up and down and out for a butterfly joint. The butterfly isn’t significant, but it’s enough for Vegeta’s signature maneuvers. The rest of the arm is standard stuff: bicep swivel, double-jointed elbow, ball hinge wrists. The hips are likely standard ball sockets and can go out to the sides for full splits, something past Vegeta figures could not do. He does have those weird fillers Bandai inserts onto the inside of the thigh and I don’t get why they do that. It looks weird. Going forward and back is not a problem either as Vegeta can do those splits as well and even kick past 90 degrees. The crotch flexes plenty and gets out of the way. There are thigh swivels and they look fine, double-jointed knees, and hinged ankles. The ankles do rock side-to-side and there are toe hinges which aren’t great, but you can ignore them if you don’t like them.

“Step aside, worm, I’ll take it from here.”

The articulation is good and bad. That torso falls into the bad and it’s a shame Bandai didn’t do something better with it. On the other hand, comparing this Vegeta to the prior ones I would say the range in the shoulders is better, the hips are way better, and the ankles are superior as well. The head and neck area is basically the same as well as the elbows and knees. I’ll even give the waist to the new figure even if it gets gappy.

Classic Vegeta.

Removing aesthetics from the argument, I would say this Vegeta is an upgrade over the prior one, it just could have been even more of one with a little more tinkering. And if you want to get into aesthetics, I’d say that’s entirely subjective and based on what you think of the Daima art style. I personally like it. I don’t prefer this look to Z or Super Vegeta, but it’s fine. I no longer feel like I need a base Vegeta on the 2.0 body, this will fill that hole well enough. In fact, I would prefer to never buy another Vegeta on that old body. It’s a figure that looks nice, but the articulation shortcomings in the hips and ankles are something I don’t need. And I’ve bought that figure enough already. I suspect we’ll see more from Vegeta and Daima and I’m curious what Bandai will do for the body. I don’t think it would make sense to reuse this body on a powered-up Vegeta, we’ll have to wait and see. I’m also a little surprised we haven’t seen another adult Vegeta solicited yet, but maybe they want to deliver on some of the Premium Bandai offerings first. At $35, this is a good figure and I think most SHF collectors will be happy. It’s really fun to just mess around with and pose and I hope we continue to see more improvements with future figures in the line. I’m left feeling excited for that upcoming Cell Saga Goku due later this year which can’t get here soon enough!

If you like Vegeta and Dragon Ball Daima then we have plenty more for you here:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Goku (Mini)

When Akira Toriyama sadly passed away in 2024 it shocked the world of manga and anime. While his passing was sudden to those confined to the fandom, he at least had one more adventure to deliver in the world of Dragon Ball that would be unveiled later in the year: Dragon Ball Daima. I’ll talk…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Vegeta – Older Style Battle Clothes

Vegeta is a character who has had a few looks throughout his time in Dragon Ball Z. Almost all of those looks are some variation on his Saiyan armor from his debut with minor tweaks and modifications. Since Vegeta has become one of the most popular characters from the long-running manga/anime, most of those looks…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

August 14, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Deadpool & Wolverine Wolverine

By Joe
Another figure from last summer’s blockbuster. We like to stay current here.

It feels like a theme this summer for me is buying action figures I previously deemed unworthy of my money as they go on clearance. Sometimes that’s a dumb thing to do. If I didn’t want something six months ago why should I want it now just because it’s cheaper? In the case of today’s review, the answer is because I think it’s a good figure. The S.H.Figuarts Wolverine from the movie Deadpool & Wolverine is probably the best figure yet of the character from that film, with the caveat it’s the most expensive and technically isn’t from the film. Both of those aspects of the figure is why I cancelled my original preorder, but when I saw I could get the figure for 40% off I decided that was good enough to get this imperfect representation of Wolverine.

Probably the best figure from the movie so far, even if he never looked like this in the movie.

Let’s cut to the chase – this figure is not really from the movie. It depicts Wolverine in full costume which includes the mask and the sleeves. At no point in the movie did we see Wolverine look like this. By the time he put the mask on he had ditched the sleeves. Unfortunately, Bandai didn’t base their figure on this look nor did they include an unmasked head like the Marvel Legends release. There could be reasons for that which are perfectly valid. Bandai may have been going off of concept art released to them by Disney which is probably the most likely reason. They may have also not wanted to pay for the actor likeness to include a Hugh Jackman head which would make them cheap. It would have been nice if such could be included, or if there were bare arms also included (or just made the default look), but we can only judge the figure on what is present and what it’s trying to achieve. It just meant that it wasn’t worth $85 to me. As imperfect as the Legends release is, I was mostly sated in having it, but the lure of a better price has brought me here today.

And for those wondering, no, you can’t use the Legends unmasked head with this one.

Wolverine stands at approximately 6″ to the top of his head, or just a little taller. Hugh Jackman is 6′ 2″ so that little tick over the 6″ mark basically puts him at an accurate 1:12 scale, assuming the boots he wore in the film didn’t add an inch or two. He is shorter than the Legends version which I had at 6.5″, but that’s pretty consistent for Legends which tends to run a little bigger than true 1:12 scale. He seems a little shorter than the SHF Deadpool though that seems to mostly be in the head. That Deadpool has an oversized melon that becomes more apparent when placed with this figure (for the record, Jackman and Reynolds are both listed as being 6’2″). The costume is textured all over like the one from the film and it’s comprised mostly of colored plastic. The yellow is a pale yellow, especially compared with the more saturated Legends release that is more like honey colored. This shade looks more accurate to my eye. The blue and black is what’s painted, as well as the tiny silver buttons, and everything is pretty clean. The finish is nice and on the blue of the gloves, boots, and shoulder pads there’s a bit of a glossy finish which reflects the look of the film as well. The claws are a nice, metallic, silver and quite pointy. Be careful swapping hands as those claws are rigid and will hurt if you’re not careful.

Deadpool is actually a little taller this time.
It works.
They don’t like each other.

What stands out the most with this release vs the Legends ones are the proportions. The head size, shoulder width, and leg length all look pretty accurate to the film. The Legends one was pretty stumpy despite being a taller figure and it was my main peeve with that release. There’s a solid amount of mass as well in the torso, legs, and arms, though I would have liked the chest to be pumped out just a little more, but that’s more of a nitpick. The details of the costume are all captured well and I like how they did the folds of the neck portion. The Jackman likeness also looks fine to me. Granted, it’s just the area around his mouth, but the paint is clean where it could have easily gone off the rails with all of the facial hair. The fins on the head are also a rigid plastic which likely helped keep their shape in transit whereas the Legends one is a little warped.

He comes with three sets of non-clawed hands, but I bet most will never use them.

Wolverine is much lighter than his co-star when it comes to accessories, but he also doesn’t demand the sort of weaponry that Deadpool does. For portraits we get two: neutral and teeth gritting. I like the personality of the teeth gritting head more, but both are fine. For hands, we get fists, open, and relaxed hands. For clawed hands, there are fists and open and that ends the accessories. It’s light, but in terms of hands I’d say we’re set. Yes, we should have bare arms and an unmasked head and that’s a shortcoming of the figure. If they couldn’t give us an unmasked head they could have given us a yelling one. It was five dollars cheaper than Deadpool so at least that appears to be reflected in the price, but it’s still an $85 figure so if you wanted more from it then I think you’re entitled to such feelings.

If you find fists boring there’s these hands.

Since this is a SHF release it should also make this Wolverine the best articulated figure of this version of the character and for the most part it is. The head and neck work together allowing Wolverine to look up and down, but maybe not down as much as some would want. It has all of the rotation and nuance you would expect of a SHF setup. The butterfly at the shoulders doesn’t allow for much, but the figure can do the claws across the chest pose. The shoulder pads are pegged into the front of the shoulder and can be moved out of the way. The shoulder can raise a little past 90 degrees and it rotates fine. The double-jointed elbows and knees bend past 90, and the wrists, thigh swivels, and toe hinge do what they’re supposed to.

The articulation isn’t amazing, but is probably good enough for this version of Wolverine.

The torso is a little more mixed. There’s a ball joint in the center which allows for some forward and back. In conjunction with the ball-jointed waist, the figure can bend forward a decent amount, but it adds nothing going back. There’s no rotation in that upper torso joint, but there is tilt. The waist is where the rotation comes from and even more side-to-side tilt. The hips go out to the side almost to full splits, but kick forward a tick shy of 90 degrees and have no range going back. The ankles can go back a little ways, but have little to no forward movement. The ankle rocker works fine at least, but there’s no boot swivel or swivel at the glove. In terms of visuals, none of the joints are ugly. The thigh swivel is pretty apparent, but not to the degree it has been on some of Bandai’s Dragon Ball figures. The elbow joints stand out a little because they are a slightly brighter yellow and bending them all the way will produce small gaps. The same is true of the knees.

It’s not the Wolverine I want, but it is pretty fun to have.

This Wolverine from the film is basically what I expected of the figure. It’s articulated reasonably well and for the look it’s going for it pretty much nails it. It’s just not the look I wanted and wasn’t willing to buy for full price. And that was my mind set when I cancelled my original preorder: why buy something I really don’t want? I want a sleeveless Wolverine. If he was that way and still lacked the unmasked portrait I would have paid full price. Ideally, we’d get a figure that comes with both. In a way, I place almost no value on the sleeved look. I’d happily ditch those arms in favor of the bare arms look and that’s how I felt with the Legends figure as well. I just think the costume looks better that way. At a reduced price though, this is fine. It’s very functional and I’ve had him on my desk for about a month and I mess around with him when I have some downtime. He’ll look good with my Deadpool, and if Bandai comes back with the version I want I’ll have to consider that one was as well. Since they’ve apparently had trouble moving this one though I’m not holding my breath. If this is the look you want for Wolverine on your shelf, then you’ll probably be satisfied with this release provided you feel it’s worth it vs the cheaper Legends release. And since basically everyone seems to have this one on sale, you probably won’t have to pay full price for the pleasure of finding out for yourself.

Here are all of the other Deadpool & Wolverine reviews we’ve done up to now:

S.H.Figuarts Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

Despite the fact that I own dozens of them, I don’t really consider myself a fan of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends series of action figures. They largely are able to get a purchase out of me thanks to Hasbro’s exclusivity agreement with Marvel/Disney which basically makes them the only game in town. Despite that, I will…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Wolverine

It might be hard for the young folk to believe, but once upon a time movies based on comic book characters were treated like box office poison. Unless you were Superman or Batman, you just didn’t belong in cinema. Even those characters weren’t bulletproof. Superman had a nice run, but fizzled out with the fourth…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

Despite the amount of reviews presents on this blog, I still do not consider myself a Marvel Legends collector. That’s because my interests are somewhat narrow when it comes to the Marvel brand. Over the years I’ve developed a fondness for Deadpool as depicted on film by Ryan Reynolds. I think the comic book character…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film, toys

May 29, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Goku (Mini)

By Joe
Goku is back for a new adventure which includes a literal downgrade for him.

When Akira Toriyama sadly passed away in 2024 it shocked the world of manga and anime. While his passing was sudden to those confined to the fandom, he at least had one more adventure to deliver in the world of Dragon Ball that would be unveiled later in the year: Dragon Ball Daima. I’ll talk more about the series when I finally finish it (I had to wait for the English dub so I could enjoy it with my kids), but I definitely don’t need to see it all before I can talk about the toys. Daima figures were unveiled well before the series debuted and some of them have actually been out for a little while. I wasn’t sure how deep I wanted to go with the toy line, but when I saw the subject of today’s post on sale at a discount I figured “Why not?”

He’s a little fella.

The only thing you need to know about Dragon Ball Daima to enjoy this figure of a wee little Goku is that in the very first episode a wish is made that turns all of the main cast into children. If it sounds a little like the beginning of Dragon Ball GT then just you wait until you get deeper into the series. The inaugural wave of figures from the show in the Bandai/Tamashii Nations S.H.Figuarts line is three of the main characters in child form: Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo. The Saiyan boys were released at the wallet-friendly price of $35 while Piccolo was a much more expensive $60 (I guess that’s one expensive cape he’s wearing). I was pretty smitten with the Goku, but not entirely sure I needed it. I figured I’d hold out for Bandai to revisit Dragon Ball era Goku with a similar approach as this new figure is far more appropriate in size, but obviously things changed.

This just makes me really want a new Dragon Ball era Goku.
His head gets smaller the taller he gets.

This version of Goku is titled Goku (Mini) and he sure lives up to it. He comes in a standard sized box and there’s a lot of blank space around him. Take him out and he stands at approximately 2.75″ to the top of where his head likely is and only stretches to about 3.325 at the highest point of his hair. This is a little guy, but make no mistake about it this is still an SHF release. The styling is very much evocative of Daima so if you did want this Goku for a Dragon Ball display it won’t exactly work unless you’re willing to overlook the differences. His gi is a pale orange and the top extends past the sash in the middle which is atypical for Goku (his end of Z attire is similar, but that’s in blue and gray). The boots are a bit simplified as well as they’re now all blue with rope around the lower part which is now white instead of red. The faces in the show are illustrated in a slightly different style. To me, it looks more like a conventional “toon” approach and the figure reflects that. All in all, it’s a fine looking figure it’s just very much pulled from Dragon Ball Daima so if you’re not into the look of that series then it might not do much for you.

I love this little scrunched up expression. He looks like a toddler who just had his juice supply cut-off.

In typical Bandai fashion, paint is kept to a minimum with Goku. It’s basically reserved for the details of the face, the blue undershirt, the blue wristbands, the white ropes on the boots, and the soles of the boots. The paint is cleanly applied and the blue painted parts match well with the blue plastic parts. There’s no shading on any of the orange parts of the figure. While that does mimic the show fairly well which is bright in its approach, it can’t hide the fact that the orange plastic has a cheap appearance to it. Now, maybe one might argue that it should since this is a relatively inexpensive action figure for the line, but a low price does not mean it need look like a cheap product. It would be nice if they just hit the figure with a matte coat to cut down on that plastic look. The boots have a nice, almost satin, finish and if the pants did too that might improve the look of the figure. Given that it’s so small, the cheap appearance isn’t as detrimental as it would be on a five or six inch figure, but it’s not something that’s completely unnoticeable.

The power pole is back!

The low price point does not equate to a low accessory count. And even though this Goku is quite tiny, he has some pretty familiar accessories when it comes to the hands. Goku has a set of fists, gripping, martial arts posed, and Kamehameha hands. They may be tiny, but they aren’t hard to swap, just don’t drop one on a carpeted floor or you may have a hard time finding it. Goku also has four different portraits to swap between: smile, yelling, side eyed teeth gritting, and a frowny face that is kind of adorable. In atypical fashion, this Goku also comes with a second hair piece. He has his default look and a wind swept look which is becoming a little more common. Super Saiyan Gohan came packed with the same, though he wasn’t $35, and the new Lowest Born Saiyan Goku also has a windswept option. Since Goku goes back to his roots, so to speak, with Daima he also decided he needs to arm himself with his trusty Power Pole once again. Similar to the Dragon Ball Goku figures, this one comes with a sling and holster for the Power Pole that can be easily equipped. He also has a little nub of the power pole to slot into the holster, or you can remove it and arm him with an extended version. It’s shorter than previous Power Pole accessories and is kind of cheap looking since it’s just a red cylinder of plastic, but it gets the job done. It’s about 3″ and I think it could stand to be a bit longer, but I guess he can always wield an older model if you have one. Lastly, there’s an optional lower shirt piece that’s more dynamic and should give the hips more range when it comes to articulation.

That’s a better charge pose than a lot of adult Gokus.
He can get his arms extended pretty effortlessly too.

The accessories are plentiful and Tamashii Nations also tried to make sure the articulation was up to par as well. Mini Goku has the standard double-ball setup in the head that lets him look around in all directions except for up. This is a bit of an issue for a little guy and it’s one largely caused by his hair. The shoulders are done pretty well as they’re ball pegs inside the figure giving him a butterfly joint then the usual ball-hinge on the outside. The small torso means the butterfly works pretty well and it also looks good as it’s similar to how they did Krillin and Super Hero Gohan. There’s a bicep swivel at the end of the sleeve and then single-hinged elbows that bend a little past 90 degrees with typical SHF ball-hinge wrists.

Kicks are a bit of a challenge since we’re dealing with tiny parts here.

The torso is where the figure feels more limited. Goku has a ball peg at the waist that lets him rock back a little, but not much forward. You also won’t get much tilt, but it rotates freely. The hips are ball pegs and even with the more dynamic lower shirt piece the figure can’t go out to the side for full splits. He is largely unimpeded kicking forward and back while the single-hinged knees allow for a 90 degree bend. The ankles have the hinge and ankle rocker combo we’re used to seeing on newer figures from Bandai. The hinge is pretty restricted, especially going forward, but the ankle rocker is surprisingly generous. There’s also a toe hinge for good measure.

He’s surprisingly easy to stand even with these tiny feet.

The articulation is probably enough. The single-hinged joints in the knees and elbows are not as restricting as one may expect and they do come with the added benefit of being more aesthetically pleasing than most double joints. I do wish the figure could look up better and I don’t see a good reason as to why it can’t raise the legs out to the side all the way. The shirt hides the hips so the designers were able to go bare bones in that region and yet the articulation is still impeded somewhat. A little tweaking there to give the figure more dynamic kicks would have really helped sell this one, but even so, it’s pretty good.

This is a fun little figure, I just wish I didn’t have to buy Goma to get Goku’s power pole effect piece.

Goku (Mini) is a fun little figure to mess with. It comes with a lot for the price point and those who like Daima and want a kid Goku from the show will likely be pretty content here. I do think some articulation tweaks would have gone a long way, and given that he’s so small, a flight stand feels almost like a necessity. If you want him posed on your shelf fighting adults or larger beings you’re going to need to get him on a stand. Given the $35 price tag, I’m not surprised at the lack of a stand, but I would have paid another 5 bucks to get one. Or rather, I wouldn’t have waited for a discount. Like I said though at the start, my initial pass on the figure wasn’t because I thought it was a bad deal, I just wasn’t sure if I needed anything from Daima. What i really want is an updated kid Goku from Dragon Ball as the ones Bandai already released are just way too big. A new one in this size with some styling evocative of the original manga/anime is quickly shooting up to the top of my personal “Most Wanted” list. Even if that never comes to be, this tidy Goku figure is still pretty damn good all on its own.

There’s plenty more Dragon Ball around these parts if you’re interested:

SH Figuarts Kid Goku

I was so happy with my Super Saiyan Vegeta from SH Figuarts that the very next day I purchased a second figure:  Kid Goku. Now I’ve mentioned more than once here that I prefer Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z. It’s just a tighter and more fun series with better action sequences. The characters become…

by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Krillin – Earth’s Strongest Man

My Dragon Ball collecting was once simply focused on the original series, Dragon Ball, but has been expanding over the years. I’ve definitely leaned more towards Dragon Ball Super of late, but one of my Dragon Ball Z purchases last year was the event exclusive Nappa. I don’t know why I like Nappa so much.…

by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Gohan – The Fighter Who Surpassed Goku

When Goku shattered his ceiling and became the Super Saiyan of legend to topple the seemingly unbeatable Frieza, the story could have come to an end. Where could the hero go after attaining this awesome power and vanquishing the ultimate evil? The being responsible for not just the death of his father, but the destruction…

by Joe

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April 2, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

By Joe
Marvel’s cheekiest hero gets the premium treatment.

Despite the fact that I own dozens of them, I don’t really consider myself a fan of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends series of action figures. They largely are able to get a purchase out of me thanks to Hasbro’s exclusivity agreement with Marvel/Disney which basically makes them the only game in town. Despite that, I will say perhaps my favorite Legends figure that I own is Deadpool from the movie subline. Specifically, I like the Deadpool that came in the two-pack with Negasonic Teenage Warhead. By Hasbro standards, or really any action figure standards, it’s a damn fine release. It’s well sculpted, it’s painted well, it comes with enough stuff, and it also poses pretty well. I liked it so much that I bought the almost identical re-release from the Deadpool & Wolverine movie.

“Wait! Who the hell are you?!”

I may like that figure, but I have always been interested in something a bit more premium. Legends may be the only game in town when it comes to retail in the US, but for specialty shops and online we have the imports. And in this case, I’m talking the Bandai/Tamashii Nations S.H.Figuarts line. I am very familiar with the brand thanks to all of the Dragon Ball product that’s been released and I’ve had my eye on the Deadpool offerings for awhile. I passed on the first take because Bandai, for some reason, did not include any guns in the package. Deadpool kind of needs those so no guns meant no sale. I don’t know why that was, if it was a Bandai thing or a Disney one. Warner Bros. did ban guns from being included as accessories with DC action figures – did Disney briefly consider the same? I say briefly because it didn’t impact Hasbro or really any other figure release I can think of. The issue was rectified with the Deadpool 2 version of the character, but that featured the much darker and drab color palette from late in that movie which wasn’t really what I wanted. For Deadpool & Wolverine though, I finally found a version of the character I was willing to throw some money at.

Bandai left, Hasbro right.

This version of Deadpool is, I assume, very similar to the past ones in the line. Just like the Legends version, little needed to be re-sculpted to make it work and it’s the sort of release where you really need to look closely to see what’s changed. The most obvious change though is just the color. This Deadpool is a bright red where as the others were noticeably darker. I would say the old costume was the color of dried blood, pretty useful for a character who gets shot and stabbed a whole bunch. The bright red does make the figure look cheaper by comparison. Bandai likes to stick with colored plastics as much as possible over painted parts and Deadpool is no exception. The red parts have that plastic look to them despite being richly textured. The black, both painted and non, has more of a satin finish to it. I’m not sure there’s really anything Bandai could have done to alleviate the issue with the red aside from throwing a wash on it. He does get pretty dirty in the film so it wouldn’t look terrible, but I get why they wouldn’t want to do that. It’s just one of those things that can’t be helped.

“Gasp! It’s Hugh!”

The good news is that’s basically my only complaint when it comes to the look of the figure. Aside from that red, he looks awesome. This figure is well proportioned to resemble actor Ryan Reynolds (and his stunt guys) in suit from the film. I like the head size, the shoulders, the length of the limbs – all of it. If this weren’t such a heavily articulated figure I’d say he looked like he stepped out of the movie. The hits of gold all seem to be in the right place and accounted for on the chest and the back of the hands. The belts, holsters, and straps are all where they should be. There are multiple textures throughout the body that help make the figure come alive along with little folds and creases in certain parts. He looks great, and standing the figure next to the Hasbro offering, you can tell which one cost more money.

It’s good to have the guns back.
“Time to make the chimichangas”

Deadpool also comes pretty well stocked with accessories and extra parts. For starters, we get a whopping ten sets of hands. That makes sense since Deadpool is a pretty expressive character and since he wears a full mask he tends to use his hands a lot. For those hands, we get sets of fists, fists with blades poking out, gripping, c-grip, finger-bang, thumbs up, trigger finger, relaxed, chop, and splayed open. Some of these hands have clear multiple uses. The “finger bang” hands are also pointing hands while the c-grip hands can be used to make a heart gesture. There’s basically nothing missing here aside from a middle finger gesture, but maybe Disney wasn’t okay with that? Deadpool also comes with 3 sets of interchangeable eye plates along with the set he’s wearing in the box. There’s a little tool included to help pry them out, though it’s still a little tricky even with it. For eyes, we have what I’d call neutral, happy, angry, and surprised. On their own, the differences are subtle, but it makes a difference when you get them into the head. Again, Deadpool is a very expressive character so these inclusions are much appreciated and I assume a lot cheaper for Bandai than doing three extra heads.

“What do we have down here?”
“Look! A baby knife!”
“Eat your heart out, Van Damme.”

Deadpool also comes with his usual assortment of weapons. For melee attacks, he has two katana. Like they are in the film, the katana are a little small and thin. I don’t know if they’re technically katana as a result, though I also don’t know if they’re technically small enough to be considered wakizashi. They look nice though with some gold inlaid in the hilt. For storage, he has the scabbards that go on his back and that part plugs in. These swords don’t actually slot into them though, I’m guessing to prevent paint rub, and instead the figure has two dummy sword hilts to plug into them instead. Similarly, we get a sheathed knife that plugs into his right calf. If you want Deadpool to actually brandish his little knife, there’s an empty sheath to swap it with and a little knife all by itself. Lastly, we have the two desert eagles (I think) and their holsters. Unlike the bladed weapons, these do go into the holsters when not in use. They are the black versions of the weapon and not the gold ones he acquires during the film. It would have been nice to get the gold ones, but maybe that’s for a future re-release. The guns look fine otherwise, though I find his trigger hands are quite snug with them. Posing them convincingly is more challenging than I’d like.

“Who invited you?”

That’s not everything though, as Deadpool has one other accessory of note: Headpool. Headpool is the decapitated and decrepit remains of a Deadpool from an alternate universe. He has this old school leather pilot’s helmet with a propeller on top that allows him to basically float around. What’s left of his mask just dangles in tatters while his exposed skull is free to yammer away, despite no longer having a voice box. He’s basically a visual joke in the movie that Bandai brought to life. The head is well sculpted and painted and the little propeller does rotate, but that’s it for articulation. I’m surprised the jaw doesn’t move. Also included is a clear, acrylic, post that plugs into the head at one end and features a c-clamp on the other. It’s designed to clip onto Deadpool’s forearm, which works well enough, but I wish it had an optional platform to just stick him on the shelf beside Deadpool or a way to plug into Deadpool’s back so that he’s hovering over his shoulder. With the setup provided, he’s really only useful in one pose and I don’t know how many collectors will want to clip this guy onto Deadpool’s arm? I definitely don’t so it feels like a wasted accessory.

“Ohh that’s pretty cool…”

That’s a pretty good spread, all things considered, but there are some obvious omissions. The last Deadpool Bandai released came with some gun effect parts that I would have liked to have seen included. I guess we’re getting Headpool instead, but I would honestly trade him for the gun parts. Also not included is an unmasked head. For me, this isn’t a big omission as I’d never display him unmasked, but I understand people who think one should be included. Obviously, releasing the figure without one means that Bandai didn’t have to pay Reynolds for his likeness. If that keeps the figure’s price down a bit, then that’s a worthwhile trade-off as far as I’m concerned. Hasbro did the same, and as far as I know, the only figures with the Reynolds likeness are coming from Hot Toys. Maybe Bandai will come back to this with an unmasked head? It’s possible, but none of their other Deadpool figures featured such so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Deadpool: “Snikt!” Wolverine: “What the fuck are you doing?”

This Deadpool figure comes with a lot more parts than its Hasbro counterpart, but it also features more articulation. Or at least it should. The Hasbro one is pretty well articulated on its own with only a few areas of weakness (basically the waist). This figure should remedy that, though I have to say upfront that posing this guys can be quite annoying. He is what I’d call a “fiddly” figure. He has so much extra stuff keyed into his body that will constantly pop off on you when posing him. The knife especially. It’s best to just take that off and pose him then replace it when you’re done. I already mentioned that the eyes are not the easiest things to swap, but they pale in comparison to the hands. For most, I needed to heat them up in order to get them onto the wrist pegs. This is unusual in my experience with a SHF release and it definitely does knock the fun-factor down since this figure has so many damn hands and so many possible expressions and poses to take advantage of. I basically did a lot of these pictures with a bowl of hot water at the ready that also eventually needed to be reheated. I tried to plan out my pictures as much as possible to get through as many as possible while the water was still warm enough to do its job. It makes me wish Bandai did the Medicom thing of putting the extra hands on acrylic posts to keep the entry hole as wide as necessary. I don’t know if that practice actually works or if it’s just confirmation bias at play, but I didn’t have any issues with my Medicom figures in the past.

“All right kid, hand over the pizza!”

With that out of the way, lets rundown this articulation. We have a double-ball at the head, ball at the base of the neck, butterfly joints, shoulder ball hinges, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, ball hinge wrists, ball-jointed torso, ball-jointed waist, ball-jointed hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ball-hinged ankles with ankle rocker, and a toe joint. That’s basically the standard SHF setup and most of it works as intended. You will get great personality out of the head and the elbows and knees bend well past 90 degrees. At the hips, the holsters pose issues when trying to bring the legs out for full splits. Going forward and back isn’t an issue, but out to the side is as he can’t even really get to 45 degrees. The butterfly joints work well, but he has these shoulder pads that really make getting much use out of the bicep swivel more trouble than it’s worth. The figure is going to fight you at times in the shoulder region as a result. There is rotation in the diaphragm, but that waist seems to mostly offer forward and back. He can at least get a decent crunch going forward and arch his back enough until the scabbards get in the way, but the figure is more limited than I expected.

“Ow! Fuck! I wasn’t really gonna shoot him!” “No one messes with our pizza, dude!”

This is a figure where the articulation is there, but you have to work for it. I wish Bandai had done the shoulders differently when it comes to the padding up there and I also wish they had come up with a more creative solution for the belt and the impediments there. Maybe just make those holsters peg into the belt so they can swing out of the way? That would probably make the suit less accurate to the source, but if the actual holster itself still pegged into the thigh maybe it wouldn’t matter? The old hinged ball in the diaphragm may have helped too. That setup can lead to gapping issues, but if it’s on the back of the figure (and amongst a lot of black) it may have been worth the sacrifice. This is an expensive figure, most US retailers have it at $90, so a little extra engineering should be expected. Especially when so much of what’s in the box is likely reused from past Deadpool figures.

Wolverine: “I gotta get the fuck outta here.”

I bought this version of Deadpool because I wanted a premium version of the character for my shelf. Did I get what I paid for? For the most part, yes. It looks better, it’s more expressive, and even though it can be a chore to pose it does ultimately pose a little better than the cheaper Hasbro offering. Is it just worth more than 3x what that Hasbro figure costs? Honestly, probably not. If you’re comparing the two as apples to apples then, yes, this Deadpool figure is the superior action figure. It’s just going to be a more subjective exercise when value is added to the equation. I’ve been pretty happy all these years with that first movie Deadpool I bought. Hell, I still enjoy the old Toy Biz Marvel Legends Deadpool. I really didn’t need the updated Legends figure for the new movie, but I wanted more Deadpool. I certainly did not need this one, but I’m happy to have it. A more rational and cost-conscious person could probably buy one of the Legends offerings and be perfectly content with that as well. If you have the money and want the best Deadpool on the market, then yeah, go for it. If you’re content with the Hasbro figure then I don’t blame you if you come to the conclusion that you don’t need this.

Bandai did also release a Wolverine to pair with this Deadpool. Unfortunately, it’s just not good enough for me to buy. Priced at $85, the figure is not much different from the Hasbro offering in terms of what’s in the box except for the fact that it doesn’t have an unmasked head. I don’t place much value in that when it comes to Deadpool, but I absolutely do when it comes to Wolverine. And what I couldn’t get past is the lack of sleeveless arms. The Bandai Wolverine is basically a look we never saw in the movie. When Wolverine had the sleeves on he went unmasked. He only masks up at the end when his suit is pretty beaten up and dirty. The proportions look way better than the Legends figure which is quietly kind of terrible in that area. The saving grace of that figure is the fantastic Hugh Jackman portrait. And with that figure, I can compromise at $25, but not at $85. If Bandai comes back with the Wolverine I want I’ll get it, but for now, Deadpool is going to fly solo on my shelf. Well, not exactly, since he has plenty of Deadpools to keep him company. And Headpool, how could I forget about Headpool?

If you’re looking for more Deadpool figure reviews we have more Deadpool figure reviews:

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

Despite the amount of reviews presents on this blog, I still do not consider myself a Marvel Legends collector. That’s because my interests are somewhat narrow when it comes to the Marvel brand. Over the years I’ve developed a fondness for Deadpool as depicted on film by Ryan Reynolds. I think the comic book character…

by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Wolverine

It might be hard for the young folk to believe, but once upon a time movies based on comic book characters were treated like box office poison. Unless you were Superman or Batman, you just didn’t belong in cinema. Even those characters weren’t bulletproof. Superman had a nice run, but fizzled out with the fourth…

by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool 2 Two-Pack

Look through my various toy reviews and you’ll probably notice that I’m not much of a Marvel guy. That wasn’t always the case for me though as I was huge into Marvel Legends once upon a time. I basically stopped around the time Hasbro was awarded the Marvel license. I felt there was a dip…

by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film, toys

March 14, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Jiren – Final Battle Exclusive Edition

By Joe
Whether you’re a Jiren fan or not, it’s hard to deny that this figure looks pretty cool.

It would seem that FOMO, the fear of missing out, is my primary motivation for purchases in Bandai’s S.H.Figuarts line of Dragon Ball action figures. The last one we looked at was a big one for me in Future Trunks from Dragon Ball Super. That dreaded FOMO was strong enough that it got me to buy a figure I knew was compromised and had no chance of truly satisfying me, but buy it I did. Today’s FOMO purchase was done almost for the opposite reason. Really, it happened only because I initially decided not to get that Trunks figure and put my money towards this one instead. And I am talking about Jiren.

This dude must live in the gym.

Jiren is the big bad guy from the so far final arc of the Dragon Ball Super anime. The series has continued in manga form, but as of right now there’s no real concrete proof the anime will resume. In terms of Dragon Ball bad guys, Jiren isn’t very interesting. The plot of that final arc is that the Gods of the many universes have decided to pit each universe against each other in a battle royale. For the victor, a wish from the Super Dragon Balls which are capable of granting any wish one can think of. For the losers, total annihilation in the form of getting wiped out of existence. It’s not even death, it’s just deletion. As a result, all of the warriors competing against our favorite heroes are just fighting for self preservation. While some are certainly bad guys, most are just like Goku, Gohan, and all the rest in that they just don’t want to be ended.

He’s more bulk than height.

Jiren, for his part, is not a bad guy. He is supremely confident bordering on arrogance, but he’s not the taunting type like Vegeta. Instead, when he determines that no one is worth his time he chooses to sit in a meditative state. It comes off as arrogance from the outside, but whenever he’s challenged he backs it up so it’s not like his arrogance is unearned. Furthermore, as a character design he’s a little boring for an Akira Toriyama character. His defining feature would be that he has a massive upper body and comparatively small legs. His head is almost like that of your garden variety alien just without the massive cranium. He also has those Frieza-like ear holes which show up in many character designs. As a result, he’s really just like a random video game boss from a plot-less arcade brawler. Our hero Goku just needs to get to him and then find a way to overcome him. Jiren isn’t evil, he’s also not exactly heroic, he’s just a guy.

“Don’t make me throw this at you!”

Because of my attitude towards Jiren I’ve never felt much of a pull to add him to my collection. I saw the figures before I ever saw him in the anime and was feeling incredibly underwhelmed by the design. The figures came and went though and they actually seemed to receive high marks from those who bought them. The sculpts, the way the articulation was implemented, and the overall size made them seem like really good action figures. Ordinarily, that’s not enough to get me to buy a figure of a character I’m not attached to, but then I went and got Ultra Instinct Goku and the desire to add a Jiren to pair with the figure manifested. When I felt similarly underwhelmed by Bandai’s 2024 convention exclusives, it was Jiren that I decided to preorder and Jiren alone.

He probably would need a bigger aura than the standard one. Maybe that’s why one wasn’t included?

Jiren comes in the standard event exclusive packaging with a black and red color scheme. This is Jiren as he appeared at the very end of Dragon Ball Super his body hulked up to gargantuan proportions and his uniform in tatters. Like Trunks, this event exclusive version has a new paint job and it’s trying to replicate Jiren’s red aura. His ordinarily pale purple flesh has a blush of pink to it while his black pants also have a shiny, red, hue applied that almost makes him look like he’s candy-coated. His flesh has a matte finish so this high gloss approach is far less distracting on Jiren than it is with Trunks. The only thing I don’t really care for is that his white gloves, once the pearlescent red overcoat is applied, makes them blend in a little too much with his arms. There’s not much contrast there aside from the gloss. The same is true for the boots, but since he’s still wearing pants it doesn’t look as noticeable. All that is to say that I don’t hate this approach and it’s executed well enough, but if I could have the standard paint job I’d probably choose that over it.

He’s destined to battle Goku for as long as both are on my shelf.

The selling point with Jiren is not the paint, but the sculpt. This is a big, beefy, boy. He’s really not extremely tall by SHF standards. He comes in at roughly 6.75″ making him noticeably taller than Goku, but he’s still shorter than a figure like Nappa or Orange Piccolo. What really stands out is just the bulk. Jiren has this huge, puffed-out, chest that really captures the look of the show’s art. If I have one consistent criticism with this line it’s that the chests on most figures aren’t big enough. They’re usually plenty broad, but view the figure from the side and it’s like their pectorals are nonexistent. It’s almost like they just drew their muscles on with a sharpie. Jiren does not suffer from that which makes him an interesting figure to look at and handle. I love chunky figures, and Jiren certainly fits the bill. His arms are massive as well and while his legs look small by comparison, they’re still thicker than Goku’s. I may not love the character design, but it would be hard to argue that Bandai didn’t nail what was presented to them.

Tag! You’re It!

I was pretty disappointed with how the Trunks figure had a bunch of accessories cut. With Jiren, that’s not a problem. He seems to have retained everything from the standard release including all four portraits: neutral, teeth-gritting, yelling, and a closed eyes with teeth gritting. The closed eyes head captures his frustrations when he finds he’s being overpowered late in the fight and also works as an expression for when he’s taking a blow on your shelf. They look good and the only aspect of them I don’t really care for is the thin, white, outline around the eyes. It makes it look like Jiren just has massive pupils, but when I look at stills from the anime it sure looks to me like he’s supposed to just have big, black, eyes. Any other colors are just shading and trying to create the illusion of a somewhat reflective surface.

I was surprised by the double-ball peg wrist joints.

For hands, Jiren has four sets to choose from: fists, clenching, chops, and splayed open. For his left, clenching hand, he also has an effect part. It’s basically a little handheld fireball and it’s made out of translucent orange plastic. There’s an indent for that specific hand which allows his thumb to slot into it so he gets a good grip on it. You don’t need the indentations if you just want to stand him with his palm pointed up holding it, but if you want to pose him like he’s going to throw it then you’ll want to stick it in his left hand. It’s always good to get an effect part, but it is pretty small and not something likely to stand out on your shelf. As was the case with Trunks, what we’re really missing is just an aura effect to pair with this exclusive paint job. A red aura makes too much sense here, but Bandai didn’t want to throw one in. He already cost $75 so I guess I can’t be too upset about the omission as I doubt I would have been willing to pay much more than that for a character I’m lukewarm on.

Looks like you missed, Jiren!

A bulky body presents challenges for anyone looking to cut it up and apply articulation, but it’s something the folks at Tamashii Nations are pretty adept at. Jiren’s torso is certainly cut-up for articulation, but not distressingly so. There’s no gapping at the base of the neck and he gets decent range there. The heads pop off very easily, but at least they go on just as easil, as they use that drum setup we’ve seen with figures like Krillin and Nappa. His shoulders are on big, butterfly, joints and they get okay range come across the chest, but that chest is so big that it can only do so much. It doesn’t go back really at all which is more disappointing than the range going forward. Range at the shoulder otherwise is fine and you get a bicep swivel, double-jointed elbow, and ball peg wrists. The double-ball peg wrist was a surprise as normally they use a ball hinge. It functions well enough, but if you want to get the most range you’ll have to accept a gap between the wrist and hand.

And now Jiren must pay the price for failing to land a blow.

The torso features what I assume is a double ball peg in the diaphragm. It’s mostly for tilt forward and back as there’s really no rotation. You get a little of that at the ball-jointed waist. Between the two, the crunching forward and back is nice and you get just enough rotation to make it work. This hips go out to the side almost to a full split and kick forward 90 degrees. He does have a sculpted ass so there’s nothing going back unless you kick the leg out to the side. The figure has thigh swivels, but mine won’t budge. I don’t know if that’s a common issue or not. It could be caused by the new paint job since it seems like a thick coat which may have required some tiny adjustments to the tooling that weren’t made. Or I just need to hit it with a hair dryer. Double-jointed knees are fine and the ankles are hinged. They didn’t leave enough space for the ankle rocker though so it’s pretty limited. There’s also the customary toe hinge if you want it.

Oh the agony of defeat – better luck next time, bud!

Jiren’s articulation is probably going to be good enough. He’s meant for strong, powerful, poses and he has the capability of pulling off such feats. I wish the diaphragm joint allowed for some rotation. I think their old hinged-ball joint would have made that possible. More so, I’m disappointed in the ankle rockers as he has some pretty small feet relative to his size and not being able to get them flat on a surface in some stances can make keeping the figure upright a challenge. It’s enough though and the combination of sculpt, paint, and articulation makes this a worthwhile release. It wasn’t the re-release I was hoping for, but it’s not one I regret buying. He fits in nicely on my shelf opposite Goku and now I kind of want a proper Dragon Ball Super Frieza to add to the confrontation. It looks like Bandai has taken this listing off of their website as he was available in February as an in-stock item, but that doesn’t mean he sold out. They may be holding back stock for in-person sales at conventions and pop-ups. For that reason, it may not be terribly expensive on the secondary market. If it’s a figure you feel like you need, then I do recommend tracking it down. If it only retails for a small markup then I’d consider it worth it as I don’t think we’re ever going to get another Jiren. What is out there is likely all that ever will be.

For more Dragon Ball Super action figure reviews look no further:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super Goku Black – Super Saiyan Rosé

Our last look at an S.H.Figuarts release was the Dragon Ball GT Super Saiyan 4 Goku. Now, we look at a figure from the series that effectively replaced GT: Dragon Ball Super. And perhaps the most popular villain from that new series is Goku Black. Without getting into spoiler territory, Goku Black is basically an…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Orange Piccolo

When Akira Toriyama set out to draft the plot for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero his original goal for the film was to take a favorite character of his and give him an upgrade. That character was Piccolo who had basically been left behind by the likes of Goku and Vegeta way back at the…

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by Joe

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March 12, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Future Trunks – Super Saiyan Exclusive Edition

By Joe
Trunks is back from the future and needs help cleaning up yet another mess.

When looking back on the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball Super, I think my favorite arc is the Future Trunks/Goku Black one. It does get messy at times, and like most things Dragon Ball it goes on longer than it needed to, but it had some real, emotional, stakes which isn’t often found in Dragon Ball. The time travel stuff is always a ton of fun and Dragon Ball has its own spin on how time travel works with new wrinkles introduced in Super. And it marked the return of fan-favorite character Trunks, the boy from the future. The future version of Trunks is much different from the younger one in the main timeline. That Trunks has had a relatively carefree life (though he technically did die once) whereas the future counterpart has only known hardship. And he’s basically just another son seeking his father’s approval, but he just so happens to be the son of Vegeta, not the sort of touchy feely dad. The saga provided some closure there, and unlike the Cell arc from Dragon Ball Z, Trunks got to be the hero of his own story as opposed to sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone else to take down the big, bad, guy. Though he still needed an assist from God.

I liked this version of Trunks so much that I even got the Dragon Stars version. It’s the only Dragon Stars figure in my collection to this day.

It was years ago that Bandai and Tamashii Nations released the Super version of Future Trunks in the S.H.Figuarts line. 2018, to be exact, and at a time when I wasn’t collecting this line like I am now. Even so, I considered getting it, but it seemed pretty pricey to me at the time. I had not yet been conditioned to the SHF pricing model (some would say that’s a good thing) and I decided not to get it. As you can probably guess based on where this has lead, I ended up regretting that decision. The figure is even more expensive now on the secondary market as it has never been re-released. And perhaps worse, the secondary market can be tricky to navigate when it comes to a figure as old as that one because bootlegs are a real problem. And since it’s an older figure, it’s also a bit dated and spending the extra coin in today’s dollars might just leave me with a serious case of buyer’s remorse. No, instead I’ve opted to bide my time in hopes that Bandai would return to Trunks. He is, after all, a fan-favorite and probably a safe bet to sell well. It’s just a question of whether or not the Super version is as popular as the one from DBZ.

The height is okay, but damn is Trunks tiny next to Goku and Vegeta.

2024 ended up being the year where my patience paid off. Maybe. Future Trunks was announced as a convention exclusive, but like most exclusives, it meant he was going to be a variant of the original release. To be specific, this is considered the Gallick Gun edition. Trunks has adopted one of his father’s signature moves and with it comes a purple aura. To achieve this effect, Bandai gave Trunks a coat of pearlescent paint with a purple hue to it. They also went with the translucent Super Saiyan hair which they’re rather fond of when it comes to convention exclusives. I didn’t love the look, but it wasn’t going to be a deal breaker. What bothered me more than the new deco is the cut in the accessory load-out. Gone is the standard Trunks head even though he can certainly perform the maneuver when not in his Super Saiyan form. Worse though, is the removal of the Hope Sword. In the anime (spoilers if you have yet to watch it), Trunks has his sword break while battling his foe. When all hope seems lost, Trunks basically creates a Spirit Bomb out of his broken sword. The effect part was this big, translucent, blue, sword that I think even necessitated its own stand. It was pretty awesome in the show and seeing it in figure form was a huge draw to that original figure for me. Having that get cut, plus an MSRP of $75 for this new version, really soured me on it.

And he’s even tiny next to…Trunks!

So I didn’t get it. What? But this is a review for that figure, you’re probably saying to yourself as you read this. Yes, obviously, I changed my mind. The regret of passing on that original figure was pretty hard to get over and still is. I didn’t preorder this figure, but unlike in past years Bandai apparently made more than what was ordered. Future Trunks was stocked after the fact on their webstore along with some other exclusives, and to make it even more enticing, Premium Bandai ran a free shipping promotion on its website for a week. And damnit, they got me. They got me for the Vegeta we looked at last week, they got me for the Trunks we’re looking at this week, and damn near got me on the Mini Goku, but I figured I was already giving them enough of my money. Now that I have paid for this figure, it’s time to sort out some feelings.

The paint job here is trying to sell the idea of an aura around him. Problem is, I don’t have the right color or know if they even make one in the proper shade.

Future Trunks comes in the event exclusive style box which, in this case, goes for a black and pink color combo. I’m surprised they didn’t go with more of a purple considering the theming, but whatever. It’s just trash to protect the figure inside. Trunks is, as advertised, in his Super Saiyan form and stands approximately 5.25″ to where I assume the top of his head would be with his hair extending far beyond that. Out of the box, he won’t have his scabbard across his back and to put that on you will have to remove his head. It’s not really one of those SHF heads that’s designed to come off and go back on easily and the spiky nature of his hair doesn’t help things. I went ahead and dunked him him in some hot water to make it easier. You will also likely need to remove the scarf piece that’s around his neck which tabs into the chest. The scabbard can then slide over an arm easily enough and there’s an extra tab hole behind the right shoulder to secure it in place, though it isn’t really necessary.

The Gallick Gun pose – it’s kind of goofy, but it’s what Bandai chose to hone in on with this edition.

It should be stated that this version of Super Saiyan Trunks is what some fans have dubbed Super Saiyan Rage. Trunks, during his battle with Black, taps into another fountain of power through sheer rage. His hair sticks up higher and becomes even spikier than usual similar to his Ultra Super Saiyan form from Dragon Ball Z, only this time it comes without much added bulk. His eyes do white out and his yellow aura develops a blue core which seemed to signify to the viewer that this was similar to Goku and Vegeta’s Super Saiyan Blue. It’s also seemingly just as powerful as he’s able to go toe-to-toe with Black in this form. It is an anime only thing, so who knows if Toriyama considered it canon, but Gohan’s Beast form sort of follows in its footsteps as a form that’s unique to half-saiyans.

We have a few charging effects in this line, but we’re really lacking in the beam department.

Bandai got the hair right, but not much else when it comes to the look. The outfit is all there and fairly accurate. Trunks has a more traditional jacket than the half one he used to sport and his pants are pretty much the same as they’ve always been. The figure though is just very slight. Put the new Vegeta next to him and they look like they’re two different scales. The height is okay, but the face, the arms, the torso – they’re all narrow and thin which isn’t something I see much in Dragon Ball. Place him beside the somewhat recent Future Trunks from the DBZ line, and it’s even more stark. That figure looks like it’s the more mature fighter, not this one who should be much older. Some of that is likely due to the jacket being all part of the sculpt. There isn’t a body underneath an overlay. It makes for a clean presentation, especially compared with the somewhat janky recent Future Trunks, but it definitely slims the profile. In order for Trunks to exist under this jacket, he’d have to be around 100lbs. He would be a very small man, which is not befitting the character from the show.

He’s still carrying that old blade. Well, actually, it must be a different one since he’s broken them before.

Aside from that issue, and it’s a rather big one, Trunks looks okay. The portraits have been given some enhancements and they’re nice and crisp. The paint on the body is clean and this new finish seems to achieve what it’s going for, whether I subjectively like it or not. The translucent hair is still kind of a sore subject for me. That might be going too far, but I don’t prefer it to painted hair. I think the best would be to go with a pale yellow and then a shiny coat of paint over it. The hair is coated like the rest of the figure so it has a shiny quality to it. I know it’s supposed to be the result of an aura, but it mostly reminds me of soap bubbles and the colors that dance around on their surface. It is what it is and I don’t hate it, it’s just not an improvement over what we had before. And since he doesn’t come with an aura effect to go with it, it does feel incomplete to me.

Silly boy, you can’t stop a god with a knife!

I’ve already mentioned how accessories were cut for this re-release, so just what was maintained? Well, for starters we get four portraits: smirk, teeth-gritting, yelling, and yelling with a side eye. They’re fine, but what’s missing is just a stoic, or grim, expression which is the expression I think of first when it comes to Future Trunks. I don’t think we really need the smirk, to be honest. And it would have been awesome if one of the yelling heads had whited-out eyes. For hands, we get a set of fists, gripping, splayed open, clenching, and one left, relaxed hand. I think the relaxed hand is here for him to hold his scabbard, though I don’t know for sure since it’s not in any of the pictures. The right, clenching, hand also has a hole in it and it’s for the effect part which is a little, translucent, purple, energy ball. It comes on an acrylic post that’s maybe a third of an inch long and it pegs into the hand via a ball socket. This is for his Gallick Gun charging pose which is one awkward pose. I guess Vegeta couldn’t have a Kamehameha stance so he does this thing where his palms are always pointing out as he charges the maneuver with his hands together. It’s achievable, but weird looking. Maybe that’s why he pretty much stopped doing it in favor of other attacks?

I warned you.

Lastly, Trunks has his trusty sword. We get two versions: regular and broken. The broken one serves a narrative purpose, but also it’s easier to slot into the scabbard. The hilt is painted green while the blade and pommel are silver, but like the figure itself, there’s a hit of pink on the blade so it matches the whole aura theme they’re going for. And like the DBZ counterpart, the pommel comes off so the sword can slide into the gripping hands. It only goes on one way, which is a bit annoying when you’re fiddling with such a tiny thing, but the figure gets a very tight grip on the handle. Almost too tight as it takes some elbow grease to get it out of his hands once there.

Everybody talks about the Father-Son Kamehameha, but what about the Father-Son Gallick Gun?

One area with this figure I have little to complain about is the articulation. Since the figure doesn’t utilize an overlay for the coat, all of the articulation is cut right into the figure and since the scabbard is secured via a sling, it doesn’t fall off constantly. The head is on a hinged ball peg, which I hate, but it does function fine. The scarf will limit his range though, and while it is removable, it leaves behind a giant hole in his chest so that’s not really a viable solution. Shoulders, biceps, elbows, and wrists are all standard stuff. The figure does have butterfly joints in the shoulders and they work well enough coming forward, but offer nothing going back. There’s a joint in the mid-torso that pivots a bit side-to-side and allows for some forward and back. A waist joint is where you’ll get most of your rotation and he can crunch forward and back thanks to it and the hips. Since this is an older release, he doesn’t have those annoying, sculpted, butt cheeks. Mai may be disappointed, but it allows for full splits going forward and back. Out to the side, you get about 45 degrees. If you can find a way to get the caps in his hips to slip over or under the thigh swivel then you may get more, but it’s hard plastic and not very forgiving. Beyond the hips, Trunks kicks forward well and the thigh swivel affords some pivot. The knees and ankle hinges are fine while the rocker is limited. There’s also a toe hinge if you want it.

How I imagine it would look to be in the presence of the Father-Son Gallick Gun.

I don’t want to overstate the articulation here. It’s not elite or anything by the standards of the line, but it’s functionally sufficient. Trunks can hit all of the Trunks poses well enough. He can hit his downward swing, jab, or have his hand on the handle while the blade is in the scabbard. It will work, and what holds the figure back is not the articulation, it’s almost everything else. The paint job is executed well enough. It’s something you either like or you don’t. The sculpt is dated and not true to the character. He may look off when posed with the new Vegeta, but that Vegeta sculpt is actually just as old. His proportions were never right and this is a version of the character begging for a redo just like the DBZ version received. The reason to get this figure is if you really like the character and feel better paying $75 for it as opposed to the $120 or so you’re likely to pay for a secondhand version of the old figure. That figure will have more stuff and a more true-to-the anime paint job, but will have all of the same problems as this one plus the older face printing. And if you’re thinking of using the updated face plates with the old figure, it’s probably not going to work. The flesh tone here has a purple hue to it. It may not be apparent when looking at the figure by itself, but place it beside another character and it stands out. He’d basically look like poisoned Trunks if you tried to mix and match.

He’s still Trunks and he’s still cool, but he could be so much better.

Am I content with my purchase? I still don’t know. This is an obvious compromise for my collection. It’s a character I want in my display, but not the version of the character I would like. If I could get the older version for a hundred bucks or less then I would not have bothered. Both are compromised takes on the character, but the original less so. And that Hope Sword is pretty damn cool. If you have that old figure and decide to get this one too then you could probably use the depowered head on the new body. The necks won’t match, but the scarf will hide it if you want. The only reason to do that though is if you really like Future Trunks. This version is okay, but not what I want. I would have much preferred they just give him a blueish hue and make him Hope Sword Future Trunks. At the very least, he should have his own aura to go with the Gallick Gun. A Hope Sword Trunks could have created his unique yellow and blue aura and would have looked way cooler. Plus such a display would lend itself well to being off on its own in a different part of your collection making the size issues less of a concern. Oh well. If you’re like me and really regret passing on the Super version of Future Trunks, I guess you may as well grab this one if you’re okay with the price. Once it’s gone though (and it’s no longer being offered on their website, but it may be making the convention and pop-up store rounds) I wouldn’t entertain paying so much as a dime more than MSRP. Hopefully, something better for Future Trunks is in our future.

If you like Trunks or are just really into Dragon Ball Super then you may like checking out these reviews:

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March 7, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta – Unwavering Saiyan Pride

By Joe
Now more godly than ever.

I guess we’re making the first week of March Vegeta Week here on The Nostalgia Spot, and why not? He is royalty, after all. This one should be a short one since we’ve looked at this figure before. Multiple times. Bandai has been able to extract a lot of value out of their Super Saiyan Vegeta mold which I believe was an early 2.0 body for the S.H.Figuarts line. It was also the first figure in the line I got way back in 2018. It’s funny to look back on how smitten I was with that figure and now I look at it and seem to only notice the flaws. What has at least held up over the years is the overall look of the sculpt, which is good since Bandai hasn’t really changed it. It’s not perfect, but obviously good enough for me to keep buying it. I now have four versions of this figure, plus two more that also share some parts. For awhile, I had just one Vegeta figure and now there are many, but since he is Saiyan royalty I guess that’s fitting.

Goku could use a similar upgrade.

Much more recently, Bandai reissued it’s Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta for the line’s 15th anniversary. That figure was one I had been hoping would see a revision because I had missed it back when it first came out and I have come to really enjoy the look of Super Saiyan Blue. I was, however, disappointed with the reissue because there were no updates to the original figure. In more recent times, Bandai has reissued figures aplenty, but always with improved face-printing. They didn’t do that for their special 15th anniversary figure and the result was a figure that looked dated. Fast-forward a few months after release, and we find out that another Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta is on the way and this one was ticketed to be part of the budget-friendly $35 subline. These are the figures shipped to brick and mortar stores that typically are of the most popular characters and are designed as an entry point for newcomers. Even though the price was far better than a lot of new figures in the line, I was still annoyed by the release since I had just spent good money on a lesser version. I got over it though, and when the Premium Bandai website was offering a free shipping promotion in February I decided to just grab this new Vegeta to seemingly right the prior wrong.

I have no shortage of Vegetas.

Dubbed Unwavering Saiyan Pride, this Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta is indeed very familiar. The body is exactly the same as the previous release, but the deco has been refined. The original was white and brown on the armor with a shade of blue for the bodysuit that bordered on purple. It’s a similar color to the manga. The re-release from a few years ago (which I didn’t bother to review) saw the blue altered to a more royal blue with the straps and plating on the armor lightened to a shade of tan. The white portions of the suit are a more off-white. This new Vegeta keeps the off-white while pairing it with a dull shade of yellow-brown that basically sits in between the prior two figures. The bodysuit is a new shade of blue with a touch more yellow. It reminds me of the ocean in the Caribbean giving it an almost warm feeling as opposed to the usual coldness blue imparts.

The faces on this one are so good.

This updated shade is likely here to play off of the new head sculpt. As far as I know, this portrait is entirely new. The shape of the hair is different from all of the other Vegeta figures I own. It fans out more which does seem to match his depiction in Dragon Ball Super – maybe we should think of this as a Toyotarou version? The hair is a light blue with a pearl finish. Like the body, there’s a touch more yellow making it lighter than the previous Super Saiyan Blue figure. It does help to give off the illusion of a radiating Vegeta and this figure would pair well with an aura effect.

He’s got the hands for a classic Vegeta stance, but those hips won’t let him go much lower.
This pose makes me wish he had an effect part, but for 35 bucks one isn’t expected.

I like the overall approach by Tamashii Nations here, but the execution is a little suspect. I suppose it should be expected at the lower price point, but there’s no reason to skimp on quality either. After all, it’s the same company on the box no matter the price. Paint is a little sloppy in places and most noticeably around the neckline. The blue is fuzzy and my figure has a blob of brown on the back of the neck which I guess is from the armor straps. The edgework around the armor isn’t as clean as it could be, and like the recently reviewed Old Style Battle Clothes Vegeta, some of the steel in the right elbow joint is visible suggesting it was slightly misaligned during assembly. More annoying though is the miscolored parts as the crotch piece is a darker blue from the rest of the legs. I think this is caused by the crotch being a slightly harder plastic and the legs having a little bit of a wash applied to them. I don’t know how well it shows in pictures, but in-hand and under normal lighting conditions it’s pretty noticeable.

Maybe my least favorite expression of the bunch, but it still gets the job done.

What did turn out well though are the portraits. These are Bandai’s best Vegeta expressions yet and they alone are worth the upgrade. We get four expressions this time: stoic, yelling, teeth showing, and a smirk. Maye instead of stoic I should call this Vegeta Resting Bitch Face because he looks kind of pissed. He looks really ticked off with the teeth-gritting expression and the smirk is the perfect, cocky, Vegeta we all know and love. I love all three, while the yelling one is a bit more specific. It’s also longer as a result and looks a touch off to me, but not terribly so. The rest of the accessories are the same old, same old: fists, clenching hands, martial arts pose hands, open hands, and a right thumb gesture. He also has the old style crossed-arms piece that connects at the biceps. I didn’t bother to try it out this time because I already have it on two of my Vegeta figures, three including the Namek Vegeta.

“Step aside, boy, I’ll handle the rest.”

Articulation is exactly the same as the past Vegeta figures. The new head doesn’t function any better or worse and they’re still sticking with that annoying hinged ball peg for the neck. The hips are the most restrictive part of the figure while the hinged joint in the mid-torso feels welcomed after handling the last two Vegeta figures that lacked it. It’s mostly fine, but showing its age here. We could use a Vegeta with better butterfly joints as well as better hips. The ball peg ankles also need to be fired into the sun.

Kick that imposter’s ass, Vegeta!

Is this a figure that’s worth $35? Absolutely. It’s not perfect and some aspects of it are dated, but compared to other brands at this or a similar price and it’s still damn impressive. It gets right what it needs to and that’s the color pallet and the expressions. This is probably the best Vegeta figure yet unless you really like Super Saiyan 4. I prefer a more traditional Vegeta and while Super Saiyan Blue might not be anyone’s idea of traditional, I do think the guy looks good in blue so if I had to get rid of all of my Vegeta figures but one this would be the one to keep. I do think we could do with an update and hopefully Bandai is willing to go beyond the anime and give us Vegeta figures from later in Super. Those would present an opportunity for something new. They also haven’t done his maxed out blue from the end of the anime. Perhaps an ascended Super Saiyan Vegeta on a new body could be in the cards? That would lend itself well to redos. We’re also getting a new base form Vegeta via the Dragon Ball Daima line this year and I’m interested in checking that out. For now though, I’m happy with this Vegeta and glad I didn’t pass on it. Even if I now have a small army of Vegetas.

I hope you like Vegeta…

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Vegeta 24,000 Power Level

When a toy line is as long in the tooth as Bandai’s S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z line, producers tend to start looking in all of the various crevices of the property for new material. We recently looked at a figure that did just that in Mecha Frieza, a version of the chief villain of the…

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by Joe

Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta – S.H.Figuarts 15th Anniversary Ver.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Bandai/Tamashii Nations action figure line, S.H.Figuarts, Bandai turned to the fans. There was a large roster of releases eligible for re-release to mark the occasion, and anyone who wanted to could cast a vote for their five favorites. The winner was, not surprisingly, Vegeta. And in particular, it…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball GT Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta

We’re back with another action figure review from everyone’s favorite version of Dragon Ball: Dragon Ball GT! And really, the only thing people remember from Dragon Ball GT is the Super Saiyan 4 transformation. Designed to bring the Saiyans back to their more primal roots, the Super Saiyan 4 transformation is pretty much on an…

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by Joe

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March 5, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Vegeta – Older Style Battle Clothes

By Joe
Still not a super Saiyan.

Vegeta is a character who has had a few looks throughout his time in Dragon Ball Z. Almost all of those looks are some variation on his Saiyan armor from his debut with minor tweaks and modifications. Since Vegeta has become one of the most popular characters from the long-running manga/anime, most of those looks have made it into plastic. At this point, it’s easier to pick out the few looks that haven’t received representation in the Bandai and Tamashii Nations action figure line S.H.Figuarts. Despite Vegeta’s popularity, his most recent figures have seen him locked behind the Premium Bandai delivery method. This is essentially a made-to-order process that comes in at a higher price than a general release item. For example, there’s currently a Vegeta hitting Target stores and other vendors for $35 since it’s mostly a reissue with updated deco. This Vegeta, despite also being mostly reuse of the prior Premium Bandai release, was marked at $60, but if you have always wanted to have Vegeta in his Frieza Saga look then you had to swallow your pride and pay the piper.

Did we need two different Namek Vegetas? Yes, of course.

The Old Style Battle Clothes Vegeta is what the fandom commonly referred to as Namek Vegeta back in the day. Even though he featured two distinct looks, the first one was so similar to his appearance in the Saiyan Saga that this is the look that ended up standing out. And it’s not drastically different from the former. It’s basically Vegeta in a black bodysuit with torso armor that looks largely the same as the previous armor just minus the giant shoulder pads. When Vegeta outfits Gohan and Krillin with battle suits he’s asked why his is different and he says it’s an older model and was apparently all that was available in his size on Frieza’s ship. As a look, it’s a little less dramatic and a little more subtle than what he had before. It does differentiate him from the rest of the bad guys in this era of the show and maybe that was the true point, or creator Akira Toriyama was just sick of having to draw those shoulder pads. It’s also a little bit of a preview of the look he’d feature in the Android Saga which basically just adds straps to the shoulder area and goes back to a more royal blue for the body suit.

The extra battle damage parts are the big draw here, I suppose.

I’m a bit of a Vegeta sicko so I was interested in adding this look to my collection. I was also curious how Bandai would integrate the battle damage into it as well which they showed off in the solicitation images. I was slightly hesitant though because I was a bit underwhelmed by the last Vegeta released via this method: Vegeta 24,000 Power Level. That one wasn’t a disaster, but it had some obvious flaws that ultimately frustrated me. This figure is built off of the same foundation and it was apparent even in the glamour shots. That’s not automatically a bad thing, but when the base of the figure is one that disappointed then it becomes more of a concern.

“Give me the Dragon Balls or die!”

Vegeta stands at about 5″ to where his head most likely would end and close to 6 1/8″ to the tip of his hair. I didn’t go back and check to see what I wrote for measurements on the 24k Vegeta, but they’re the same size. And as expected, there’s a lot of shared parts between the two, but not as much as I thought which might actually be a bad thing. What’s shared are the arms, neck, and everything below the waist. What’s not is the torso, which is expected since we’re talking a different sculpt with the need to integrate some new functionality. What also isn’t shared are the heads. The hair shape on the new Vegeta is a bit more narrow, the black has more of a satin finish, and as a result the faces are different. It’s a slightly frustrating choice because it means the faces aren’t interchangeable between the two. That would have been something fun to make use of, but we’ve been denied.

“Please, Kakarot, don’t let me be remembered like that idiot Yamcha!”

The look of the figure is something of a mixed bag. Even though I wish the heads were the same for some shared functionality, I’m not disappointed in how the Prince of all Saiyans looks from the neck up. The portraits are exquisite and I like this new finish on the hair. The torso is less flat looking than it was on the previous release, but the diaphragm cut still needs some work. I don’t want it gone, but it’s not particularly elegant. The neck is still a problem as there’s almost always a gap between the base of it and the torso. It needed to be larger and have a flange at the base that closes up those gaps. It’s a real bummer because the figure can’t look up using the head alone, but we’ll get more into that with the articulation. The armor is a nice white this time, which I prefer to the off-white of the 24k Vegeta. The body suit is navy as opposed to black which perhaps comes from Toriyama’s notes, but in the anime it’s clearly black. I would have preferred black, but I’m not particularly bothered by it. The shoulders though look awkward. They don’t seat into the torso very well, probably because they were designed for a figure with giant shoulder pads to work around. You can shove the shoulders deeper into the apparatus inside which is the better silhouette, but Vegeta loses his ability to place his arms at his side. If you pull them out slightly for better range, they look bulbous and disconnected from the body. I feel like they could have done a better job here as this just isn’t their best work.

“Oh Vegeta, you never fail to amuse me.”

And to add to that sentiment, we have minor QC issues on this one. The right ball hinge isn’t seated all the way into the wrist and protrudes more than usual. I’ll have to see if I can heat it up and force it in. The left elbow also has some of the steel joint inside visible as if the joint was misaligned slightly during assembly. It’s not a major eyesore, but it is uncharacteristic of this line. If you’re curious, this one was manufactured in the Vietnam factory which has had some great figures come out of it, as well as some that were of a noticeably lesser quality.

“I wish I was a Super Saiyan!”

Paint on Vegeta is, as expected, pretty minimal. It’s mostly limited to the face, the visible part of the torso around the neck, and the battle damaged parts. The paint on the torso doesn’t match the plastic used for the neck and face which is disappointing. The painted battle damaged parts look nice though and there the flesh matches much better, though it’s also aided by the distance between the abdomen and neck. We might as well talk about the parts now, but you have an optional chest piece, abdomen, upper back, and lower back. These pop off pretty easily and are a hard plastic. Vegeta was blasted through the abs by Krillin and the resulting damage is captured well. You have the brown panels, the exposed flesh, and the tattered remains of the bodysuit all sculpted and painted. They look great, no complaints here, though it does add to the gappy nature of the diaphragm joint since the upper part of the chest is a smaller piece than the default one.

“Are you crying?!” “How dare you call yourself the Prince of all Saiyans!”

In addition to the extra armor bits, we get the standard array of Vegeta hands: fists, clenching, open, and Big Bang Attack hands. For portraits, we get five different ones: neutral, shouting, teeth-gritting, sleeping, and weeping. These expressions are how the figure really sets it apart from other Vegeta figures and captures a moment in the series. The sleeping portrait is amusing as he does take a nap in the show which allows Gohan, Krillin, and Dende to sneak off with the Dragon Balls (it’s maybe Toriyama’s laziest solution to a problem) and make their wishes. The teeth-gritting face features terrific details with painted lines and beads of sweat. This is basically Vegeta realizing he’s screwed as he tries to take on Frieza. The weeping head is basically from the moment he accepts that he’s failed and the result of his pride being damaged beyond repair. It’s not from when he’s pleading with Goku to defeat Frieza, though you could probably use it as such if you really wanted to. They’re all very well detailed and I continue to be impressed with the expressions on these latest figures in the line though I’m surprised we didn’t get a cocky portrait from when he was boasting about being a Super Saiyan to Frieza. Again, if he could just share portraits with the prior release this wouldn’t be an issue. The final accessory is old reliable: the crossed arms piece. It’s the same as the 24k Vegeta’s crossed arms piece that separates in the middle and connects at the shoulder, it’s just color-matched for the new bodysuit.

“Gah! Bulma!”

Vegeta’s articulation is pretty much the same as the 24K Vegeta with all of the same pluses and minuses. I already mentioned the limited articulation at the head which is intended to be moved with the neck, but it’s gappy. Same for the torso joint which mostly rotates and is pretty limited going back and forth. The butterfly joint features poor range while the rest of the joints in the arms function as expected. The waist is basically just a pivot point as it doesn’t bend forward and back much at all, nor does it tilt to the side. The hips are able to kick forward just fine, back a little, but suck going out to the side for no real reason. The thigh twists and knees are fine while the ankles are on double ball pegs and don’t work very well. You also get a toe hinge which is fine.

There’s no sugar-coating that this is one of lesser releases in this line when it comes to articulation. It’s one thing for a NECA or a Super7 figure to not articulate all that well because those companies tend to be more aesthetic-focused. Tamashii Nations is all about the P.O.A. and it’s disappointing that they didn’t rework the 24k Vegeta more to make this Vegeta a better experience. These ball-peg ankles have got to go. They finally ditched them on Goku with the Legendary Super Saiyan release and it’s time for them to do the same with Vegeta. This torso also needs to be retired because the diaphragm joint is just bad. They stopped doing the hinged joint in the torso awhile ago, but it would have helped here.

And now it’s time for Vegeta to take a little nap.

Are the problems with the articulation going to matter much in the end? Yes, but maybe not as much as they would normally. If you’re buying this Vegeta it’s because of the very specific look. Bandai did a decent job there by providing the extra parts to capture the battle damaged look Vegeta had when he took on Frieza in his final form. There’s a good amount of portraits and the hands are as expected. The crossed arms piece is going to come with basically every Vegeta and at least it’s the newer version. The only things missing that could have added to the package would have been a new tail for Frieza Fourth Form designed to hold Vegeta in place since it’s a memorable portion of their fight. And then it also would have been nice to get an effect part which is something I wish came with every release. And since we’re paying a “premium” for a Premium Bandai figure, why not start including stands with those releases? A lot of these releases feel a little short when it comes to the value component and something as simple as a generic Tamashii Nations stand would help.

Since this is indeed a Premium Bandai release, the only way to get this Vegeta now is on the secondary market. Some e-tailers like Big Bad Toy Store might stock it, but since they have to pay MSRP like the rest of us it’s going to come at an inflated price. And with these things, it’s hard to know if the price will rise or fall on the secondary market. Bandai did just put Cooler back up for preorder so they have created the precedent that these aren’t just one and done. There’s always the possibility of a recolored edition for a convention exclusive as well, maybe in black? At $60, this Vegeta is already a hard sell. It’s relying entirely on one’s fondness for this specific look. I really can’t recommend anyone extend themself beyond that MSRP for this one as it’s just not good enough.

The Frieza Saga of Dragon Ball Z has been well-represented in action figure form:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Full Power Frieza

Frieza is the villain from Dragon Ball who just refuses to die. His initial battle with the heroes of Dragon Ball Z spans a whopping 30 episodes! Thank goodness that DBZ was a weekday show or else it would have taken more than half a year to see Frieza get taken down. And that’s just…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Vegeta 24,000 Power Level

When a toy line is as long in the tooth as Bandai’s S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z line, producers tend to start looking in all of the various crevices of the property for new material. We recently looked at a figure that did just that in Mecha Frieza, a version of the chief villain of the…

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by Joe

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October 3, 2024

S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Gohan – The Fighter Who Surpassed Goku

By Joe
The son of Goku who dresses like Piccolo.

When Goku shattered his ceiling and became the Super Saiyan of legend to topple the seemingly unbeatable Frieza, the story could have come to an end. Where could the hero go after attaining this awesome power and vanquishing the ultimate evil? The being responsible for not just the death of his father, but the destruction of his entire race? It is said that Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama gave consideration to ending things there, but doing so would have meant not following through with Goku’s son, Gohan. Plus it would have meant giving up untold millions in future Dragon Ball related products.

They’re a posse.

The story did continue and is technically still continuing to this day, though that aspect is a bit more muddled than ever before with the passing of Toriyama. Goku would survive his encounter with Frieza and return to Earth to take on a new challenge: Cell. As for Gohan, he had been introduced at the start of Dragon Ball Z as a gentle child with an incredible power hidden within. It was the type of power that only surfaced when Gohan was driven to extreme bouts of anger usually as a result of his loved ones being put in a position of danger. Both Gohan and Goku are what one could describe as gentile souls, but both view fighting from very different perspectives. For Goku, fighting is a thrill and a challenge. He wants to be the best and always improve just for the sake of doing so. For Gohan, fighting is an obligation. It’s a tool and the sort of tool one only turns to when it’s needed. If Gohan did not have to fight in order to protect those he loved then he likely wouldn’t fight at all.

I don’t have a Cell Saga Goku so this will have to do.

During The Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z, Goku decided to train Gohan in order to meet this new challenge head-on. And it was during that year long training session that Goku discovered that his son had the potential to become even stronger than he was. He kept this discovery to himself, but it manifested in an extreme feeling of confidence in his son’s abilities. He may have overestimated them a touch, because while Gohan may be even stronger than anyone he stands against, he lacks the polish of a seasoned fighter as well as the killer instinct to finish what’s been started.

To my surprise, these are two completely different figures.

This latest action figure from Bandai and Tamashii Nations depicts Gohan as he was when emerging from that training session with his pops. He’s attained the level of Super Saiyan and physically he’s matured quite a bit from the little kid he was on Namek. And even though he spent his time training with his dad, he opted to honor his first trainer in martial arts, Piccolo, by sporting his purple gi and white cape. This figure naturally lends itself to comparisons with the previously released Super Saiyan 2 Gohan from later in his battle with Cell. Bandai just re-released that figure last year with a new deco as one of its convention exclusives. If you expected this new figure to share parts with that one though you would be mistaken. Even though it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, this new Gohan is actually a little smaller than that one standing at around a tick under 4″ to the top of his face. His legs are shorter as is his torso and he’s a little more slender too. None of the parts from that figure have been recycled for this one. That’s both a good thing and a bad one as it means we get updated articulation with this figure, but you can’t swap heads and hands between the two.

Team Shorties.

As you probably have surmised based on that description, this Gohan is a bit of a dainty figure. He’s short and slight and one of the smallest overall figures in the line. Bare in mind, I don’t have the past Kid Gohan figures to compare him with, though I do have Kid Goku and Krillin. He’s taller than those figures, though they’re practically a different scale on their own. He’s most similar to Fourth Form Frieza as that’s a short, slender, figure. Krillin is similar as well, though even he’s a bit chunkier. Plus that dome is massive. The presentation is pretty typical though. The hair is a soft yellow with just the tiniest hint of shading. The flesh is pale, as Super Saiyans are often drawn, and the gi is purple plastic and it too has just a touch of shading on the front of the shirt and pants. It’s so faint that it’s barely noticeable. The only other paint is reserved for the face while the belt, wrist bands, and boots all appear to just be colored plastic.

I like the expressiveness of this scared or worried look, though I don’t know if I’ll ever really use it.

For portraits, Gohan has a decent assortment. There’s the neutral expression he comes equipped with plus a similar one that just features large eyes. That one has almost a scowl for an expression and I’m puzzled why Bandai didn’t just go with a smile? It feels more appropriate for the larger pupils. There’s also a teeth gritting expression, a yelling face, and one where he looks alarmed. That last one features some battle damage and I think it’s supposed to represent the face he makes when the head of Android 16 winds up at his feet. It’s a solid assortment of faces, but it’s a bit surprising there isn’t a more exaggerated scream with his eyes closed and tears running down his face to capture the moment he transforms. There’s also two head sculpts for the hair: one that’s neutral and one that’s windswept. It looks nice, but part of me looks at it and thinks that if Bandai was going to give us two hairstyles, why not just give us Super Saiyan 2?

The cape is going to lock the head down, but it does make him look pretty cool…

Gohan also has an assortment of hands. For sets, we get fists, flat palm, wide open, clenching “Kamehameha,” and a more nuanced clenching set. I’m not really sure what that last set is going for, maybe a reaching out kind of expression? I like them though and subtle differences are nice for hands. Lastly, Gohan also comes with his shoulder pads and cape setup. Unlike Piccolo or the Super Hero Gohan version, this cape set uses soft goods in conjunction with plastic shoulder pads. The fit is a little snug, but manageable, and it mostly looks fine. It feels like it’s just cotton and there is a wire running all around the edge. It’s not a very large cape though so it won’t pose much. The difference in material is noticeable, but I suppose it’s better than the plated, articulated, capes, though I understand those who do not like mixing materials in their displays.

Come on, Gohan! Get mad!

Gohan is constructed in a manner similar to his adult counterpart from the Super Hero film. I guess this would be considered the 3.0 body? I don’t know, though it’s not entirely the same. The head is on a double ball peg, which is nice, though it’s a little floppy. He’ll hold his pose, but perhaps not as well as he should. The neck is on a ball joint as well and is slightly gappy, but not out of the ordinary for the line. Between the two joints, Gohan has solid range save for looking up which is typical of these figures. The shoulders are ball pegs and the setup is very much like adult Gohan and Krillin. It’s not a true butterfly, but the small nature of the figure means he has decent clearance coming across the chest, but not much going back. The sleeves are basically a floating piece. They get in the way sometimes, but it’s not too cumbersome. Bicep swivels, double elbows, and wrist ball-hinges all work as expected and do what they’re supposed to.

You’re going to have to provide your own energy effect or steal one from another figure.

At the waist is a ball and socket joint and that’s it for the torso. If there is anything under the gi I can’t tell. It rocks forward and back a bit, but Gohan is not going to move as well as some of your other SHF figures. He will kick forward extremely well and can also do splits out to the side. He does have the butt cheeks sculpted on so kicking back doesn’t work well. The thigh twist is setup like other recent figures such as Future Trunks and adult Gohan which isn’t a look I love. They stick out too far, though either it’s less an issue here or it’s just the smaller figure that hides it somewhat because it’s not as bad on Gohan as it is with Trunks. The double-jointed knee will bend a bit past 90 degrees and at the ankle is a twist, hinge, rocker, and toe hinge. The range on the hinge is pretty poor, again a repeated issue of the line, while the rocker is solid. The toe hinge is what it is.

If you’re a big time collector of DBZ figures then chances are your Cell Saga display is much larger than mine.

All of that is to say that this version of Gohan is a pretty solid figure, though maybe not the most impressive. It’s a simple approach of a character with a simple design. The accessory loadout is good, though it’s lacking an energy effect or a Super Saiyan 2 portrait (I know, they’re saving that for a likely future release). The only real issue I have with this figure is the asking price of $65. This is a general release item, not a P-Bandai release, and $65 feels a little steep. I even forgot that it cost that much and assumed it was $50 until I went back and checked it out before writing this up. I guess we’re paying for the soft goods? I don’t know, Bandai’s prices have been creeping up so maybe this is just their new, non-Target, release price. I guess if you like this version of Gohan you’ll probably get it just for that. Those looking to construct a smaller collection might prefer to wait for a new Super Saiyan 2 version.

We have more from Dragon Ball Z’s Cell Saga:

S.H.Figuarts Piccolo: The Proud Namekian

When the S.H.Figuarts line was launched years ago and Dragon Ball Z was at the forefront, it wasn’t Goku who got to be the first figure out of the gate. Nope, it was Piccolo. That figure caught my attention when it was announced even though I had not purchased a Dragon Ball figure in quite…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Krillin – Earth’s Strongest Man

My Dragon Ball collecting was once simply focused on the original series, Dragon Ball, but has been expanding over the years. I’ve definitely leaned more towards Dragon Ball Super of late, but one of my Dragon Ball Z purchases last year was the event exclusive Nappa. I don’t know why I like Nappa so much.…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys