Tag Archives: vegeta

April 24, 2026

Dragon Ball Z – The Legacy of Goku II

By Joe

In the late 90s, FUNimation and various stakeholders tried to make Dragon Ball Z a thing in western markets. Both the original Dragon Ball and its sequel series Dragon Ball Z were partially dubbed and released on VHS with a syndication package sold to local networks. For the first in the US, a Dragon Ball video game (yes, I’m aware of Dragon Power, it doesn’t count), Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, was localized and released on the PlayStation outside of Japan while retailers were sent repackaged versions of the Bandai and AB Toys action figure line. It didn’t take off. Maybe people in the US weren’t quite ready for DBZ? Or maybe the video game was terrible, the toys sucked, and the show was aired in horrible timeslots where it had no chance to take off?

If you’re at all familiar with the Dragon Ball franchise then you know that didn’t last forever. Eventually, networks gave up on it and so did apparently everyone else. Everyone except Cartoon Network who loved acquiring cheap programming to freshen up its broadcast schedule as it tried to incorporate more than just old Hanna-Barbera cartoons into its lineup. Dragon Ball Z found a home on the cable channel and it soon gained enough popularity that Cartoon Network was able to center a new anime block, dubbed Toonami, around it. The only problem was that by the time DBZ had found its audience all of the old product was basically gone. Sure, the VHS tapes were still around, but a lot of the toys had been sent to the discount bin and everyone was doing their best to forget about the PlayStation game. Well, some poor souls paid exorbitant prices for copies on the secondary market that they almost certainly would come to regret, but there was a hunger for more: more episodes, more merch, and definitely more video games.

I had to include a shot from the game’s intro because the lone DBZ animation cel that I own happens to be from this scene.

The delayed fandom in the US meant that everyone basically had to play catch-up when it came to Dragon Ball Z. And in the backs of the minds of those involved was probably the worry that this was just some fad that would crash out so speed was necessary. Infogrames was awarded the video game license which it would release on its Atari brand it had acquired somewhat recently. The first game out of the gate was The Legacy of Goku in 2002. The Game Boy Advance action-adventure role-playing game put the player in control of Goku in a top-down, Zelda-style game where the legendary hero did battle with…wolves and snakes. And often died. The game was a mess with poor collision detection and little refinement. A true cash grab in many ways as the team at Webfoot Technologies was likely given a very small window to develop and release the title. Reviewers were not kind, but since it was the first DBZ game released to a fanbase practically frothing at the mouth for a new game it sold like hotcakes and a sequel was quickly greenlit.

By all accounts, The Legacy of Goku II improved on its predecessor in just about every way possible. Set during the Android/Cell Sagas, Legacy of Goku II puts the player in control of multiple heroes in the same action RPG style with improved collision detection, new maneuvers, and new power-ups. When it arrived on the GBA in 2003, I didn’t pay it much mind. I had played the first game and can confirm it was trash so I wasn’t going to just throw money at a new one. I’m pretty sure I was aware of the improved reviews, but I never did seek it out. Not until almost ten years later when I got the itch to play a DBZ game and wanted something that wasn’t a one-on-one fighter. I picked up a copy on eBay and the post office promptly lost it. I never did get it and didn’t want to double-down by just grabbing another so I moved on. Recently, my local comic book store posted on Discord a bunch of games it had taken in on trade recently and among them was a copy of LoGII. I figured now was finally the time to put my money down (again) and see just how much better than its predecessor this one truly is.

You’ll spend most of your time fighting enemies that look like whatever this thing is.

Legacy of Goku II is once again a top-down or isometric action RPG. Since it’s on the GBA it’s a sprite-based game and all of the characters have a slightly chibi quality applied to them. They’re cute, and most of their faces are just eyes so it’s kind of like everyone has become Krillin. It works even if it’s not as impressive to look at as the later Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. The music follows the style of the english dub at the time and while it’s not my preference, it’s largely fine if a bit repetitive. You begin the game as Gohan, but as you progress through the story you’ll unlock Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks, and Goku. And if you clear certain conditions, there’s a post game bonus character in the form of Mr. Satan (referred to as Hercule in this one because it’s for the kids). The game picks up basically right where the previous one ended with Frieza defeated and Goku missing. The game bypasses the Garlic Junior Saga with the only reference to that being the in-game excuse for why the animals attack in the forest (they’re corrupted by the Black Water Mist). The game will take the player through the bullet points of the Android Saga and culminate with the Cell Games. During the game playable characters come and go as the story dictates meaning you will rarely have access to all of the characters at the same time. The game utilizes a Final Fantasy-like world map complete with Mode 7 scrolling which you will utilize to access various locations that are mostly familiar to fans of the show and manga. Within those maps are Capsule Corp logos where the player can save as well as switch characters. There are also maps posted in a few places within each area that will allow the player to return to the world map if they so choose.

The meat and potatoes of the game is walking around and smacking enemies. Most of the enemies you encounter will once again be relegated to wolves, snakes, and the like. Yeah, it’s pretty stupid that any of these characters would pose a challenge taking on any of these guys, but it would also be pretty boring if you could just massacre everything with ease. Characters attack with a standard melee attack while the other button is reserved for ki attacks. You have two resources to manage: health and energy. Health naturally depletes when you take damage while energy depletes as you expend ki either via attacks or transformations. Ki will slowly replenish itself, but health can only be restored by finding consumables as you defeat enemies and smash rocks in the environment or via senzu beans, which are limited, but not finite. Leveling up will also completely refill both meters. What’s much improved this time around is the hit detection. In the first game, Goku’s range was positively puny while this game is quite generous. If you think of the display as a grid your character occupies one square, but his attack will impact the three squares in front of him (the one directly in front, the one diagonally to the character’s right, and the one diagonalley to the character’s left) so you don’t have to be lined up perfectly with an enemy to strike it. It also means the enemies have an easier time hitting the player and this might get you a few times when projectiles are introduced, but it’s definitely more good than bad. Enemies and the player also can’t get pinned against a wall as being knocked back into something will cause the character to bounce off of it usually resulting in them ending up on the other side of the attacker. Again, this means you can’t pin an enemy down, but they can’t do it to you.

Behold! The best attack in the game!

When you first acquire a character they can just punch and shoot a generic ki blast, but during the course of the game they’ll learn new attacks and it’s these attacks (as well as their underlying stats) that separates the characters from each other. Each character will learn one, charged, melee attack which doesn’t cost anything to use, but leaves you open while charging. With any attack, charging it locks the character in place and they can’t change direction so you do need to make sure you have the enemy lined up properly. For Gohan, he gets a a jump kick that helps close gaps. Vegeta has an overhand smash while Trunks attacks with his sword in an arc. Goku has a flurry punch while Piccolo gets the lamest attack as he just spins around with his fists outstretched. It seems to lack the range of the others, but he arguably makes up for it with one of the best energy attacks. And that would be his Special Beam Canon which fires straight ahead and through any enemy it touches. Piccolo can easily clear a screen of enemies with that one while his second attack, the Scatter Shot, is basically a spread shot from a game like Contra. Vegeta has his Big Bang Attack which has a slight vacuum quality to it as it pulls enemies in, though his second energy attack is just a punch. I have no idea where they got that from. Trunks gets perhaps the most abused special attack, his Burning Attack, which is just a weak ki blast that happens to stun the enemy it touches. And unlike say Sub-Zero and his freeze attacks in Mortal Kombat, the stun doesn’t dissipate after Trunks strikes the enemy. It basically persists for 3 seconds and since it’s so cheap to use it makes playing as Trunks a breeze. It even works on bosses! His second attack is just an energy sword wave. Goku has his Kamehameha which is surprisingly weak. It persists like Piccolo’s Special Beam Canon as long as the attack button is held down, but it doesn’t go through enemies and seems to burn through ki incredibly fast. On the other hand, his Spirit Bomb is quite destructive and will stun all of the enemies on screen as well, even ones it doesn’t hit. This does have a downside as once the stun vanishes the enemy immediately goes aggro, but it’s usually nothing Goku can’t handle. Gohan, who will likely end up being your most powerful character, has pretty lame special attacks. His Masenko was turned from a beam attack into a grenade as it arcs making it hard to aim. The longer you charge it the further it goes. His second attack is the Kamehameha and it sucks just as much as Goku’s version.

Transforming into a Super Saiyan is now possible and believe me, it’s most useful moment is for moving these stupid eggs.

Introduced for Legacy of Goku II are transformations. As expected, all of the playable Saiyans will eventually unlock the ability turn into a Super Saiyan. Doing so requires the player to stand still for a couple of seconds to initiate the transformation, but once completed the player’s speed will be increased and damage output is also better. It’s not a huge boost and it’s really the speed that matters here, a point driven home during the brief period in the game when the “Ascended” Super Saiyan power-up is unlocked via Trunks and Vegeta who suddenly move like tanks. Thankfully, that chapter is short-lived as it renders the transformation worthless. While transformed the player’s energy reserves constantly deplete and if you’re not finding replenishing items you will likely run out and revert back to your standard form. This is really only a concern in boss battles, but if you have a senzu bean or two you can mitigate that. As for the one non Saiyan, Piccolo gets his “Fuse with Kami” transformation which is treated just like a Super Saiyan transformation even though it makes no sense. Instead of getting a new hairstyle though, Piccolo removes his cap and cape.

The game is not terribly long and features a level cap of 50. It’s also not really well paced as there will be times when you need to grind away in order to gain levels and progress. There are even some areas locked behind a level gate (I think you have to get to level 40 to challenge Cell, for example) that are part of the story while others are extra areas. They’re key in unlocking Hercule as every character has a level 50 door only they can open, including Hercule himself. If you don’t enjoy playing as Hercule, I’ll save you the time and tell you his door is just an alternate ending that’s not particularly interesting. Just more of Hercule taking credit for killing Cell. He unlocks at level 40 so you have some grinding ahead if you want to access the final door. Playing as him is not as challenging as you may have expected for even though he’s incredibly weak, his lone special attack stuns every enemy on screen (he simply poses which I guess entrances all around him) and costs almost nothing to use.

Open all of the level 50 doors and beat the game and you get to play as this guy.

The game is an improvement over The Legacy of Goku in almost every way, but what it fails to do is create a compelling gameplay experience. Legacy of Goku II is still a pretty shallow experience, it’s just no longer broken. Most of your time is spent just mindlessly slaughtering woodland critters that will respawn the second you return to the same screen. There are a few special items to find throughout the game and non-player characters will make requests of the player, but it’s all very basic, easy, stuff. There’s one optional boss, Cooler, but little in the way of easter eggs. I would guess there was still a tight schedule with this one and just not enough time to insert more content into the package. Not that bonus fights against Broly or Super Android 13 would add much as the boss fights are truly lackluster. The only ones I found challenging are actually the earliest as Androids 19 and 20 are able to absorb energy attacks forcing you to take them on with just your fists. For many, you can often place some structure in between the enemy and player character and cheese them. Once you’re powered up, overwhelming bosses is also pretty easy and there aren’t many enemies in the game that will force you to change tactics. Just pound them and when their health is low bust out an energy attack. The only challenge with boss characters is that they have ranged attacks and melee ones. For most enemies, the tactic is to hit them with a ki attak and then charge the melee one as they approach. You can’t always do that against a boss, but there is a certain range that once you’re inside it they basically stop using ki attacks so it’s still pretty easy to do them in with charged melee strikes.

Later game bosses like Cell at least have some presence, but they behave more or less like every other garden variety enemy in the game.

The lack of spectacle with this game is a bummer. It’s also the little details which tend to bother me too. After Goku and Gohan emerge from the Room of Spirit and Time they’re in base form, not Super Saiyan. Gohan, for some reason, wears his Saiyan armor into the fight against Cell and not his typical gi and, post game, you can’t use Super Saiyan 2. There’s a lot of stuff that could have been playable, but isn’t. And when you do summon Shenron you don’t even get to see him! Just his tail dangles from the top of the screen. As a result, I hesitate to call The Legacy of Goku II a good game. It’s not bad. The first game was a broken mess (and the third seems to be as well) and was rightly slammed for it. I think with this one being at least a competent experience it caused some to overrate it when it came out. And when it came out in 2003 the pickings were still incredibly slim as Budokai had come out the previous December and was similar in that it was a pretty middling experience that Infogrames would need to improve upon with a sequel. The Legacy of Goku II was almost by default the best Dragon Ball Z game available, but that is no longer the case. I don’t think it’s even the best game for the franchise on the Game Boy Advance as I’d much rather play Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. Still, I didn’t hate my time with this one and I’m glad I did finally play it. I’m just unlikely to ever return to it.

If you’re curious about some of the other Dragon Ball video games covered in this space then check these out:

Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure

In the West, it took awhile for Dragon Ball to make an imprint with US audiences. It was localized and brought over in the mid-90s in the hopes of making money in syndicated markets. There were over 200 episodes, so the reasoning was sound, but it just didn’t take off. It wasn’t until the property…

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by Joe

Dragon Ball Z – Budokai HD Collection

Oh, you thought we were done with DBZ?! Oh no, I have some more Dragon Ball related material to share with you and even though we’re done with the movies, I thought now was as good a time as any to talk about some video games. If you’re a usual reader, you may recall I…

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by Joe

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

I need a break from action figure reviews so why not turn to the world of video games? I don’t get to play many these days, but I did splurge on a PlayStation 5 not that long ago and was looking for something to play. And ideally, that something would be budget friendly. The good…

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by Joe

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March 27, 2026

Dragon Ball GT

By Joe
Step into the grand tour!

One of my Dragon Ball blind spots is the sequel anime series Dragon Ball GT. It’s not exactly a true blind spot as I had seen some episodes and experienced the bullet points of the series via video games, but I have never sat down and watched it from start to finish. And that’s largely due to the series having a rather poor reputation. When the Dragon Ball manga ended in 1995 it marked the end of a decade of nose to the grindstone work for series creator Akira Toriyama. The life of a manga writer and artist is a busy one and the guy was ready to take a break and move on. The only problem was the manga had been adapted into an anime series and was very successful. Toei, the company that produced the anime, wanted more and like they had done already with a series of Dragon Ball movies they decided to create a new series largely on their own. Toriyama, to his credit, was fine with that. He gave the company a concept, a name, and even provided new designs for his characters and then largely left the rest to Toei. Aya Matsui would write, Osamu Kasai would direct, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, designed the new characters and power-ups, while Akihito Tokunaga composed the music for the new series which Toriyama had named Dragon Ball Grand Tour, or Dragon Ball GT for short.

Considering that we are in a bit of a holding pattern with Dragon Ball following the death of Toriyama, I figured now was as good a time as any to make some time and view all 64 episodes of Dragon Ball GT for myself. I have certainly been guilty in the past of dismissing it out of hand or referring to it as a lesser show, and while that may be true, it’s not exactly fair of me to pass judgement on something I’ve never actually sat down and watched. I did sit down and watch the English dub of the series which is presently available via Hulu. It is perhaps not the best version of the show because while the English cast is fine and comprised largely of the people you know and love from the past series, it contains a new soundtrack that I really did not like at all. I suppose it was similar in spirit to the original English broadcast soundtrack for Dragon Ball Z credited to Bruce Faulconer, but I strongly would have preferred the soundtrack from Tokunaga. This soundtrack is more guitar driven, but it’s a very synthesized sounding guitar like industrial music. There’s often a dissonance to it and it’s very plodding and I just found it exhausting. It might be the rare anime where if given the choice I’d just go for the subtitled option if it meant I got to enjoy the music. And considering it’s Dragon Ball, it’s not like there’s a ton of dialogue that I really felt I needed to pay attention to.

We have ourselves an ominous new dragon.

That said, what are some things that I found Dragon Ball GT did well? Well, for one, there’s the music and it extends to the opening theme “Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku” which was adapted for the English broadcast and adapted well. It does unfortunately contain vocals by a voice actor who was outed during the whole Me Too thing so I don’t feel like name-dropping him, but I’ll at least acknowledge that I enjoy the performance. The ending themes I enjoyed less so, but the initial one “Hitori Janai” was the best of them. That one was performed by Stephanie Young. The animation and artwork throughout GT is consistently good as well. It doesn’t have the same action set pieces of Dragon Ball Z, but it also never has episodes where the quality drops in an obvious manner. In this, it’s much closer to the consistency of the Buu saga. The voice actors also do a fine job and Stephanie Nadolny gets to reprise her role as Goku for plot reasons which is a treat to experience again.

As for that plot. While I like the setup, it does seem to quickly run out of steam. At the start of the series we find Goku (Sean Schemmel) and Uub (Sean Teague) engaged in a sparring match at Earth’s look-out. A few years have passed since the end of Dragon Ball Z where Goku abandoned his family to train Uub, the reincarnation of Kid Buu, so he could be Earth’s next defender. He’s apparently done now so Uub heads home while a familiar trio invades the lookout. Pilaf (Chuck Huber), along with Mai (Julie Franklin) and Shu (Chris Cason), have returned and are after the Black Star Dragon Balls. What are the Black Star Dragon Balls? They are apparently the Dragon Balls created by Kami before he purged himself of the wickedness in his heart which gave birth to Piccolo. They have apparently just been hanging out at the lookout this whole time and for some reason did not become inert when Kami ceased to be. Pilaf and the gang have little trouble in locating these balls, which look just like the regular Dragon Balls save for the stars are black instead of red, and they summon Red Shenron to grant their wish. Goku, noticing the changing color of the sky, investigates before a wish can be made and recognizes the now elderly Pilaf. Pilaf gets frustrated because Goku always messed things up for him in the past and, in a moment of frustration, wishes he was just a kid again. Shenron, hearing this, takes it literally and turns Goku into a child and then disappears scattering the Black Star Dragon Balls not across the Earth, but across the galaxy. This is apparently a big problem as King Kai (Schemmel) pops into Goku’s head to tell him that without the Black Star Dragon Balls the Earth will explode. Yeah, a pretty big deal and it sure seems like Dende should have taken better care of these things given that. It basically falls on Goku, Trunks (Eric Vale) and Goku’s middle school aged granddaughter Pan (Elise Baughman) to travel the galaxy in a Capsule Corp spaceship and bring those balls back before the Earth explodes.

I do like that it’s Pilaf that sets this whole thing in motion, even if it makes little sense.

What I like about this setup is it takes GT back to the roots of Dragon Ball and quite literally by turning Goku into a kid again. After that though things start to go down hill and rather quickly. The first dozen or so episodes are adventure focused, but the gang never really finds a worthwhile adventure I enjoyed watching. Pan is portrayed as an annoying character who is quick to get angry, especially when the crew takes on a little android named Giru (Sonny Strait). She is vicious to the sympathetic little robot and it’s like the show wants me to hate this kid. Goku, for his part, isn’t all that much better. He’s a bit aloof, but constantly complaining about being hungry. I know, we get it, Goku likes to eat and eat a lot. GT returns to that well far too often and it loses any and all comedic value. He also tends to forget how powerful he is and there were many moments where I just felt frustrated by what was going on because Goku should be able to handle it no problem. He just chooses not to. Sometimes the show will make a joke out of it, but not often. They do take away his ability to use his instant transmission maneuver as I guess they just found it was too powerful, but there’s no attempt to explain it. He just can’t do it as a kid for some reason. Trunks is more of a stabilizing presence and he’s fine in that role.

The show arguably doesn’t get rolling until we enter the Baby saga. While hunting for the Dragon Balls, the gang encounters a Dr. Myuu (Duncan Brannon) who is a total rip-off of Dr. Gero. He’s created an artificial lifeform called Baby (sound familiar?) which can absorb others and use them to gain power, but also requires a host body to reach his full potential. Baby (Mike McFarland) is born of the Truffle race, an alien lifeform that was eradicated by the Saiyans, which is a detail I actually do like. He wants revenge against all Saiyans which is what brings him to Earth. He there takes over the body of Vegeta (Christopher Sabat) and also infects almost everyone on Earth creating a sort of hive mind. It’s during this arc that we get introduced to the most memorable part of Dragon Ball GT: Super Saiyan 4.

If the show had stuck to the adventure theme it starts off with it might have been better, though it still might not have been very good.

As a concept, I like Super Saiyan 4. I don’t know if I would have designed the look exactly like the one presented here, but the idea of a Saiyan reverting to his primal ape form and then harnessing that into this new Super Saiyan form is a good one. However, I hate Super Saiyan 4 Goku. For some reason he gets extremely cocky in this form. He talks in a lower tone (think Goku Black if you’ve watched Dragon Ball Super) and just comes across like a dick. It feels so out of character for Goku who can display confidence, but not to this extent and not in this manner. He acts like the fusion character Vegito, just without Vegeta’s voice literally filtering into his speech. It was also during this arc that it really became apparent that Goku basically has one move: Kamehameha. You will get sick of hearing Goku say that long, drawn out word by the time you’re done with GT. The action is so uninspired throughout the series and seems to only get worse as it goes on. Almost every confrontation is between two fighters who are unmatched. Whether it’s Goku or the villain, someone is at an obvious disadvantage to the point where they don’t even have to take the other fighter seriously. It makes for a drama-free experience and the only thing that turns the tide of battle is basically a new power-up.

After the Baby saga comes the Super Android 17 arc which is quite brief. It’s also inexplicable because the show basically draws attention to how the character Dr. Myuu is just a Gero knock-off by having the two team-up! And their team-up occurs in Hell where for some reason they’ve been allowed to keep their bodies (it’s best not to think about continuity with this series) and create a carbon copy of Android 17 in Hell. Some how. He is apparently able to control the real 17 and get him to open a portal to Hell so all of the bad guys can escape and run amok like an episode of Animaniacs. It’s a bit of a rehash of the twelfth Dragon Ball Z movie, but without charm. It’s terrible, let’s move on.

Oh, look! Another Kamehameha!

The final arc is the Shadow Dragon one and, again, it’s a solid concept that is just not well executed. Goku (who is still a kid and will remain one the whole series) and the gang try to make a wish with the Dragon Balls only for them to break. Black smoke comes out and with it comes the Shadow Dragons. Earth has made too many wishes in a short period of time and they’re being punished for it. The writers are essentially punishing themselves for this easy get out of jail free card baked into the series. In order to set things right, Goku has to beat each Shadow Dragon and recover the Dragon Ball imbedded in them. A few have a gimmick to them that Goku has to overcome while the finale, Omega Shenron (Sabat), is just a really strong guy. It culminates in a battle that’s really drawn out and almost never interesting. It’s always one-sided. The writers also never figure out a new way to end a confrontation. It’s always a riff on something from before. They absolutely love having the other Saiyan characters lend their energy to Goku so he can power himself up which is something that only previously took place in the movies. It’s not a gimmick I have ever liked. There wasn’t one new wrinkle to come up with?

If you like Super Saiyan 4, save yourself some time and just get an action figure or learn to love it from afar.

Dragon Ball GT has the reputation of being the worst Dragon Ball series to date and it’s a well earned reputation. While I do think the people working on it had good intentions and tried their best, it just feels formulaic and too derivative of itself to be any good. There’s very little in the way of creativity and while Dragon Ball is certainly guilty of repeating itself quite a bit, it’s usually able to find some way to put a spin on things or at least be charming in the process. GT drops almost all of that charm in favor of a cookie cutter, disposable, experience. It’s ending is lackluster and just as unsatisfying as the ending to Dragon Ball Z, something I’ve never talked about in this space but is an ending I despise. I get that Goku is a bit of a dolt who just loves to eat and train, possibly in the opposite order, and we’re supposed to laugh when he just up and abandons his family to go train Uub. If Z had not created Pan and showed us how much she idolized her grandfather in those few episodes at the end of the series it might have worked for me, but instead it just makes me sad. I don’t like thinking of Goku as a selfish piece of shit, but he’s sometimes written that way. GT has a very similar ending, but since I was looking forward to the series being over it didn’t bother me nearly as much. This isn’t a good series. You’re actually way better off just experiencing it through the video games which basically gives you the Cliff Notes version of the series and lets you act out battles that are probably way more satisfying than what’s actually in the show. And if you love Super Saiyan 4, go buy an action figure or just watch Dragon Ball Daima which takes a lot of the concepts baked into GT, but actually does them well. Only watch the series if you’re like me and don’t properly value the 30 or so hours of your life it takes to get through all 64 episodes.

If you must hear more about Dragon Ball GT then here are some toy reviews you may find interesting:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Super Saiyan 4 Son Goku (Mini)

It’s no great secret that the black sheep of the Dragon Ball universe is the anime Dragon Ball GT. Created in-house by Toei animation, Dragon Ball GT was a continuation of Dragon Ball Z without creator Akira Toriyama. While Toriyama had to grant approval to many aspects of the series, he wasn’t directly involved with…

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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

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

In the world of Dragon Ball, there are varying opinions on which version of the anime is superior. Dragon Ball Z is unquestionably the most popular, but there are people (like me) out there who swear by the original Dragon Ball that came before it. More recently, Dragon Ball Super has entered the fray and…

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by Joe

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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

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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…

Keep reading
by Joe

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

July 8, 2024

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

By Joe
Way over 9,000

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 series that appears briefly in the series and gets summarily dispatched with relative ease. Today’s figure appeared in more episodes of the show, but is still a fairly nuanced look at a popular character.

Assemble The Vegeta Squad!

Depending on who you ask, Vegeta is either the most popular character from Dragon Ball Z or just one of them. Everyone likes the bad boy and Vegeta fits the bill as he started off as a brutal antagonist of Goku before becoming more like a rival with a conscience. When Vegeta first showed up, he was a little guy with outrageous hair and big shoulder pads. He also sported a tail and what was basically a skirt of armor. Following his defeat by the Earthlings, Vegeta winds up on Planet Namek in search of the Dragon Balls so he can have his wish for eternal life granted. And when he showed up on that planet, he was basically in the same attire as he featured on Earth minus the tail and also minus the skirt. And that’s what we have here in Vegeta 24,000 Power Level, the latest delivery from Premium Bandai.

He’s a little guy.

First of all, before we get into the figure do we really think this Vegeta needed to be a Premium Bandai release? Vegeta is immensely popular and this version has never seen release before. The Scouter Vegeta is old at this point and it’s the most similar to this release. I think this should have been a general release. There’s enough new stuff here that I get why it wasn’t one of the $35 Target releases, but if the recent Super Saiyan Gohan (Cell Saga) can be a general release then surely this could have been as well. It being released as part of the web store means it was $65 and required a shipping charge of $10.

I’m not sure how I feel about the off-white armor, but at least the hands will match to past releases.

That out of the way, let’s talk about the figure. This Vegeta is mostly new and it takes some old problems and attempts to rectify them. In some ways, Bandai and Tamashii Nations are successful, but in others not so much. Let’s start with the good and it’s that this Vegeta is short. To the top of the exposed flesh of his famous widow’s peak, Vegeta is just a tick over 5″. To the tip of the hair he’s more like 6.25″, but either way it’s shorter than Goku and noticeably so and that’s the way I like my Vegeta. When he became a good guy he basically had height creep as the show and manga went on. He never got as tall as Goku, but he definitely got much closer. And since he is shorter in stature it means he’s mostly new parts. The engineering is the same, but the muscle definition when compared to the Super Saiyan Vegeta release is a touch softer which is a nice detail. It’s very true to the look of the series at this point as this is before the characters became more defined and Toriyama incorporated more straight lines into his art.

You may opt to use this hand with other Vegeta figures.

And speaking of, the thing that will likely stand out most are the included portraits. Bandai took care to make sure Vegeta’s facial features reflect the artwork of this era, something I don’t think the old Scouter Vegeta attempted. It’s ultimately a subtle thing, but likely anyone who has spent a lot of time with DBZ can spot a face from this era vs a later one. The lines around the eyes are rounded off and the chin is less angular. He has more pronounced cheeks and overall the faces look terrific. The rest of the body is true to the show with the broad chest, yellow shoulder pads, and all-white boots. As is often the case with this line, paint is minimal. The white portions are more off-white and it almost looks like there’s a wash, but I don’t see any difference between the exterior whites and the interior so I’m guessing there’s nothing here. The yellow paint for the armor looks fine and the faces look great, but more shading would have helped.

“How is his power level so high?!”

One thing that has plagued characters from this era of the show when making the move to plastic has been these damn shoulder pads. Bandai’s solution over the years has been to make them hinged which allows access to the full range of shoulder articulation, but the trade-off is the shoulder pads look bad when the arms aren’t in a neutral spot. For this figure, Bandai opted to ditch the center hinge and instead use a hinge and peg system located at the base of the rear of the shoulder pad. This allows the shoulder pad to rotate back in addition to hinge up. It’s better, I suppose, but still not ideal and the most annoying aspect of the figure is that the shoulder pads just won’t sit flush against the chest no matter what position the arms are in. It’s worse on the figure’s right side, but it drives me nuts. I don’t like the old hinges, but they at least didn’t have this problem. Really, we should have multiple shoulder pads that peg in so we have a neutral one and one for when the arms are raised. They did this with Jeice of the Ginyu Force, but I don’t know why they’ve never done it again.

“This time, Kakarot, I shall be the victor!”

The accessory loadout with this Vegeta isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either. We get four different portraits: neutral, smirk, teeth-showing, and really angry. The really angry expression is nicely stretched and looks really expressive. It’s very much of the era. For hands, we get fists, clenching, splayed open, and chop with the thumb in front, otherwise known as Big Bang Attack posed hands. Even though this era of the character didn’t feature that move, he still held his hand up in such a pose to fire energy blasts. And since the Super Saiyan Vegeta and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta lacked this hand, it’s nice to get it here and the whites match well enough. We also get a scouter and a left ear for when he’s not wearing the scouter. It looks great, though going without means there will be a seem in front of the ear. It doesn’t really bother me, but I also plan to always go with the scouter anyway.

With the arms sitting high, you will need to rotate the shoulder pads back which also exposes gaps between the shoulders and body.

Lastly, we get a new crossed-arms piece. Previous figures have had this feature and it’s always been done as one piece that connects at the bicep swivel. With this figure, Bandai made the piece the entire arms so they plug into the shoulder, ball, joint. It’s a little harder to work with, and there’s a floating shoulder cap that might go flying when you first pull the arm out, but it does work. The left arm and right arm also separate where the blue sleeve meets the glove of the left arm. This makes it a lot easier to focus on getting the shoulders in place before moving onto adjustment. At first, I couldn’t get the arms to fit on the figure in a way that would allow the shoulder pads to sit in a neutral pose. Even the image on the back of the box couldn’t pull it off and the shoulder pads are up. After more fiddling, I did get it to work better. If you want the arms towards the bottom of the chest, it’s do-able. If you want them higher, you’ll have to rotate the shoulder pads back or up. Either way, while I don’t know if I’m sold on this piece attaching at the shoulder vs the bicep, I do like how it’s two pieces instead of one and it works well enough. Much better than the same for Raditz, anyway.

Pulled back for a more “shelf look,” which honestly doesn’t look terrible.

Articulation for this release is both familiar and yet not. Some of it is pretty good, and some not so good. We already talked about the shoulder pads so we’ll start at the head where Bandai is, once again, using a hinged ball peg. It’s not great, especially if you lose track of what direction the hinge is facing. It’s also tight, which means the much looser lower neck joint will do the heavy lifting when moving the head. The problem there is that the piece sits really high and gets very gappy. It’s ugly, and I can’t think of a figure in this line with a neck joint this unpleasant. The shoulders are on ball pegs with a hinge in the shoulder itself so you get a butterfly joint, but it doesn’t work that great. You basically pull the arm out first to bring it around the front, but the chest is so broad that it would need to move out much farther. Biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows, and wrist ball-hinges are all fine.

The torso features a joint in the diaphragm that feels like a single ball peg. It does very little. The upper torso will rotate and shift side to side, but it gets almost nothing forward and back. The waist joint is just a ball and socket that only swivels so you don’t get to leverage the joint for more forward and back. The legs kick forward and back nicely, but splits aren’t possible as the legs only go out to the side about 45 degrees. The thigh twist is fine and the double-jointed knees as well. The ankles are back to the old ball pegs which are very limited in all facets aside from rotation. There is a toe hinge, but it doesn’t have much range.

With the arms lower, the shoulder pads won’t need to be rotated back, but damn those persistent gaps!

For an S.H.Figuarts release, the articulation is pretty mediocre. We’re used to that when it comes to figures with this style of armor, but there’s no excuse for the lower half being as poor as it is. I’m surprised they didn’t go with a hinged peg in the diaphragm to get more crunch as his articulation there is worse than older figures in armor. This type of thing should be getting better, not worse.

When it comes to this edition of Vegeta, I’m a bit torn. Visually, it works for me as a representation of the character. The shoulder pads drive me nuts and the neck is pretty ugly, though I can at least pose around that to some degree. And the new crossed-arms piece works well enough. As for the rest, the articulation is lackluster and the paint is minimal. We get a nice array of faces and hands, but no effect part. He breaks one shoulder pad pretty quickly in the show so why not a swap-able piece for that? It also would have been nice if they made this figure convertible to a Saiyan Saga one with an included skirt and tail, but oh well. With a little more love, this could have been exceptional, but instead it’s merely passable.

We have plenty more Saiyans to look at:

S.H.Figuarts Nappa – Event Exclusive Color Edition

When it comes to my S.H.Figuarts collection, I’ve been able to largely keep to just Dragon Ball. And by Dragon Ball, I mean the original anime and manga that centered on a young boy named Goku. Even though that’s my favorite edition of the venerable series, it doesn’t mean my favorite is the one shared…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Event Exclusive Raditz and Son Gohan

I’ve been getting a little taste of July of late in the dead of winter as not one, not two, but three action figure exclusives from San Diego Comic Con have arrived at my door. That’s because the nature of the exclusive has changed over the years. Why make a limited number of something and…

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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

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February 21, 2024

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

By Joe
Here come the Vegetas!

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 was the Super Saiyan God/Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (yeah, I know) version of the character that had been released with the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly. That movie actually marked the first time we saw Vegeta use the Super Saiyan God form in animation (he used it in the manga) so it made sense to finally do a figure of that version. Rather than make it a dedicated Super Saiyan God figure, Bandai included a second head so he could also show off his Super Saiyan Blue look.

He has a snazzy slip cover and a disc stand. Those are the only additions.

When that movie and figure debuted, I was still feeling my way through this line. Did I need such a release? Yeah, I kind of did, but it took me awhile to figure that out. As a result, I never got it so this figure was indeed among the five I selected when I made my voice heard. It wasn’t my number one choice though (that would have been the Dragon Ball Super version of Future Trunks), but at least it was a choice. This was to be a special edition too, but all that meant is we were getting a fancy slipcover and a disc stand. For me, someone who never bought this figure before, it seemed worth it. Was it worth it for those who already had it? That’s a much harder question.

Assemble the blue-haired Saiyans!

Vegeta comes in the standard S.H.Figuarts box with the usual assortment of artwork. I don’t know if the photography is the same or not, but the name printed on the box does acknowledge the anniversary edition. There’s also a slipcover that goes over it with an image of the figure posed on the included “stand” with a timeline in the background and “2019” in a larger font since that was the year this one was originally released. The font and printing on the sides is surprisingly plain though. Like bootleg plain. If you’re an in-box collector you may be underwhelmed. If you’re not then you probably don’t care.

This figure will likely feel pretty familiar, whether you bought the first release or not.

The actual figure is basically the same Super Saiyan Vegeta figure that’s been released multiple times. This is my third version, personally. He has the same Cell Saga style of Saiyan armor only now it’s painted gray with a brighter yellow on the straps, abdomen, and lower back. The body suit is a very dark navy that’s almost black while the gloves and boots are more of an off-white. The only difference with this figure for me are the feet which feature a more rounded toe. I think they’re from the Resurrection F version of Vegeta? I’m not positive though.

I don’t have an all blue aura so this one will have to do.

It all means that this release of Vegeta has the same pros and cons as the other ones, only with more paint means more room for error. The paint on the abdomen, actually not a new spot to be painted, sucks. It doesn’t come all that close to the edges considering we’re dealing with a premium collectible here. At least the brightness of the yellow obscures that to a degree, but in-hand it’s pretty noticeable. The gray parts are okay and I like how it contrasts with the white piping. There is a scuff under my figure’s right arm and there are a few spots where it doesn’t properly fill the area.

The face printing on this release is not on par with the recently reissued Super Saiyan “Awakened Super Saiyan Blood” Vegeta. That one cost $35 at Target, this one cost $70 with a $10 shipping charge.
The Super Saiyan head looks pretty good on this body too.

The two portraits are the defining feature of this Vegeta. You basically get two hair pieces: one metallic magenta and the other a metallic blue. The sculpt is different from Super Saiyan Vegeta. It’s more narrow and less spiky, though still plenty spiky. I literally poked holes in the skin on my fingers swapping all of these heads as I moved them around the different bodies I have to figure out which combination I liked most since I intend to display all three versions. Nevertheless, I prefer the more full version of the Super Saiyan head’s hair, but this is fine. What’s not fine is the lack of options. Yeah, it’s great we get both the red and blue hair, but we only get one faceplate for Super Saiyan God (cocky smirk) while Super Saiyan Blue gets three expressions (stoic, teeth baring, and yelling). This is a re-release with 100% reuse sold at a fairly high price, why not just toss in more expressions? I feel like both looks need the cocky smirk, that’s just a Vegeta necessity, while the God head should at least have an angry look too. And perhaps more disappointing is that the face printing isn’t all that great. It’s not up to the new standards of the line and I don’t know if they’ve been improved at all since I don’t have the original release. Last year’s re-release of Super Saiyan Vegeta looks way better than the original release when it comes to the faces, it’s a shame the same can’t be said of the prestigious Premium Bandai 15th anniversary version.

For the God head you only get the one face. At least it’s the right one.
The stand is pretty lame, and hard to photograph since it’s so glossy.

Other than the heads, you get the usual assortment of Vegeta hands: fists, open, clenching, martial arts posed, and a lone right thumbs up hand. The crossed arms piece is also included and is just as annoying to fiddle with as it’s always been, but it does also look pretty good once you manage to get it into place. That’s it though as there are no effect parts or anything like that. You do get a special stand, but it doesn’t really earn that title of “special.” It’s just a black disc, the same that came with the event excusive stands a few years ago that featured Goku’s insignia as well as Whis and a Saiyan Space pod. Now it’s just all black with a 15th anniversary logo printed on it in metallic blue. It doesn’t say Vegeta or even Dragon Ball. It has slots that can be punched out for an action stand, but one wasn’t included.

This one is going to articulate just like the past iterations, which is pretty good.
I do think I prefer the red hair on the darker body.

The articulation for this guy is the same as the old one, so you can check the link down below if you want the full rundown. This figure is supposed to be a celebration of the line and it should have appeal to longtime collectors of the line because of that, but I don’t know if many would agree. Simply put, if you have the first release of this figure there’s really no reason to get this one. The extra stand sucks. It’s cheap and lazy. There are really no extra bells and whistles that I can see with the figure itself and the paint job is lackluster and not really reflective of the price point. If you’re like me and you wanted a version of Vegeta in these forms then it’s fine. It’s still a good figure despite the flaws, it’s just as a special release it seems phoned in. There’s nothing special about it.

“Yawn! You Saiyans bore me.”

Can’t get enough Vegeta? Here’s some things you may enjoy:

SH Figuarts Super Saiyan Vegeta

He’s the Prince of all Saiyans. The last survivor to have laid eyes on Planet Vegeta, home world of the mighty warriors and birthplace of the legendary Goku. And he’s also a pretty fine toy. Vegeta, arguably the most popular character to emerge from Dragon Ball Z, has seen his likeness cast in numerous forms…

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Dragon Ball Super: Broly

The first movie under the Dragon Ball Super umbrella is one that sets out to take what was previously non-canon and adapt it into the main series. The most recent two Dragon Ball Z films; Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’, ended up being the start of Dragon Ball Super which is now well over…

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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

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

May 11, 2023

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

By Joe
I can just hear him yelling “Damn you!”

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 island all its own when compared with other versions. It’s essentially been erased too with the creation of Dragon Ball Super and is but a footnote in the world of Dragon Ball at this point. Maybe it will come back at some point, certainly never say never, but for now it’s the black sheep of Super Saiyan transformations.

They think they’re so cool.

The Super Saiyan 4 power was achieved in Dragon Ball GT by Goku. Not wanting to feel left out, he was soon followed by Vegeta, as he often is. Vegeta took some shortcut to get there, pretty much a betrayal of his character and something to add to the long list of reasons why many fans don’t particularly care for GT, but once he did the look was pretty similar. It was a little different though which is actually yet another unique aspect to this transformation. It’s certainly terrific fodder for fan art as individuals try to imagine how Trunks or Gohan would have looked if they had done something similar, but as for the actual series only Goku, Vegeta, and their fusion Gogeta managed to pull this off. Bandai released the Super Saiyan 4 version of Goku last year and I think most expected that Vegeta would follow just as likely many expect a Gogeta next year. And at the time, I assumed it would be an easy way to make a quick buck off of some unique tooling that had to take place for Goku, but it looks like I was wrong with that assumption. Vegeta has a lot of new parts and is almost a completely different figure from Goku despite looking very similar. Maybe since both were manufactured at Bandai’s factory in Vietnam there was more room in the budget for new tooling? However it was accounted for, it’s nice to see that really no shortcuts were taken with this release.

“Behold! The true evolution of the Super Saiyan form! Jealous?” “Uhh, sure…”

Vegeta in his Super Saiyan 4 form stands at approximately 5″ to where the flesh of his head ends and a tick over 6″ to the tip of his hair. He looks good beside Goku as he’s noticeably shorter, but also not as bulky. And it’s really that slimmer profile that necessitated the need for new parts for Vegeta as he can’t really share anything with Goku as a result. In fact, I don’t think a single part is shared as I thought maybe the tails were, but Goku’s is a little more full than Vegeta’s. Even the little pieces for the butterfly joints appear to be different. Design wise, there’s a lot that’s different as even though both follow the same design principals with big hair and a furry torso, Vegeta’s ended up red compared with Goku’s more hot pink. Vegeta’s hair also became more of a chocolate brown. It retained it’s main Vegeta shape, except with hair going down his back as well and the same two parts coming over the shoulders. Because of that desire to keep Vegeta’s classic hair shape, he almost looks like he has a super mullet of some kind. It’s a bit of a goofy look, but that’s Super Saiyan 4 for ya.

Well that isn’t pretty.

With Goku, there was a sense that the figure was a bit rough around the edges coming out of the Vietnam factory and some of that seems true of Vegeta. This look required more paint than Bandai seem to like as we get the red fur on the torso which meets up with a bare chest and some of the abdomen. The paint is pretty crisp along the right side of the flesh-tone parts, but less so on the left for some reason. The painted belt looks nice though and most of the colors appear to match when it’s painted vs plastic. The neck, which is bare plastic, is just a touch off and glossy in comparison. The faces all look great when it comes to the eyes, mouth, and linework. The paint on Vegeta’s trademarked widow’s peak is not as well done though with the stoic expression looking downright terrible. The other portraits are at least acceptable. It looks like his gloves are all bare plastic and so are the arms. They appear to have cut off his forearms past the elbow so they could key the gloves on and avoid having to match paint here, which is fine. The pants are really nicely painted though and have a lot of shading applied. I have no idea if they’re supposed to be leather or some other material, but it looks nice. The boots are mostly bare plastic with the yellow portions painted on. They look all right, but juxtaposed with the shaded pants right there makes them take on a very plastic look. There’s also no shading on the rear of the pants so apparently that’s where they cut a few corners. Aside from the one portrait though, this figure does a good job of nailing this unique look for Vegeta so if you wanted a Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta for your collection I think you’ll be pleased with how he looks on your shelf.

I bet his mom thinks he’s cool.

Vegeta has a pretty similar loadout of accessories as Goku. It basically comes down to a bunch of hands, four faces, and an effect part. For hands, you get a set of fists, Big Bang Attack flat palms, open hands, clenching hands, clenching hands with a peg in the palm, and a set of stye-posed three finger gesture hands. The clenching hands with the peg in the palm works with the effect part, which is this little, translucent, green/blue ball of energy with some sculpted lightning cracking around it and a hit of blue air-brushing. It’s not as visually impressive as Goku’s charging Kamehameha effect, but it’s fine. Vegeta can either palm it like he’s getting ready to shoot an energy blast or it can be positioned in-between his clenching hands like he’s powering up a Final Flash technique. For portraits, we get four: stoic, smirk, clenching teeth, and yelling. All four have his eyes forward, so no side eye, and the actual face is painted very well on each. It’s just the previously mentioned widow’s peak that is an issue with the stoic head being so bad I consider it unworthy of display. The other three are fine, with the yelling head being the best under close scrutiny. If I felt confident I could match this shade of brown with a Gundam marker or something similar I’d probably attempt a touch-up. At least it’s the stoic head, which is a bit boring for Vegeta, and not an expression I was likely to use anyway. It should still be better though and it’s also missing some paint behind the ear. All in all though, a solid spread of accessories. I suppose I’m a little surprised at the lack of a crossed-arms piece, but those are always a paint to fiddle with anyway so I don’t miss it. One quality control issue I’ve had with this figure is the ball hinge on the right wrist keeps coming apart. It snaps together, but it’s pretty annoying.

Vegeta is probably angry that his effect part is smaller than Goku’s.

Vegeta may be comprised of all new parts, but he’s still pretty familiar as far as articulation goes when compared with Goku. The head is on a double-ball peg, but since the head is basically all of the hair, he’s a bit limited. He can rotate, but he can’t look up, and he mostly looks down as a result of the joint at the base of the neck. The hair on the back of his head limits how far he can rotate as well and he basically has no room for any nuance type movement. Tamashii Nations tried to lessen the impact of the hair by making the tufts that come over the shoulders and hang off of his head separate pieces connected via ball pegs. They only do so much though. The shoulders are on ball pegs, but they’re quite tight and really don’t get much play in the joint. They are hinged though and Vegeta can lift his arms out to the side past a horizontal position and rotate all around. The butterfly joint in there lets the arms come forward a bit, but almost nothing back. It’s a little messy looking due to the nature of the design, but at least he can do his Final Flash pose so I guess it’s worth having. There is a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows that bend past 90 degrees, and ball-hinged wrists that work fine. All of the joints so far are on the tighter side. Nothing scary or that required heat, but nothing is remotely loose so far.

Final Flash!

In the torso, we have what I assume is a double-ball peg in the abdomen. I don’t feel a hinge, so this guy just can go forward, back, rotate, and tilt to the side. The range back isn’t very good, but he crunches forward a solid amount which is probably more important. The tilt going to the side is sufficient and he rotates plenty far, possibly all the way if you really wanted to push it. I’m also not seeing any paint rub or gapping issues which is probably more important. At the waist, it’s another ball joint so you get more rotation there and some pivot. The hips feel like ball joints, but it’s hard to see in there since there’s some pieces in the way. Vegeta can do splits just fine, but he can only kick forward to a horizontal pose and really can’t kick back much at all. There is a thigh swivel which works fine, but isn’t the prettiest thing. It’s so poorly implemented that it creates the illusion that these legs don’t belong on this figure. It’s easily the ugliest aspect of the figure and it’s something I’d like to see Bandai move away from. The double-jointed knees really don’t go much past 90 degrees. They also create some gaps at the base of the knee joint when pushed as far as they’ll go. At the ankles, it looks like we just get a hinged ball peg. The foot can go back a little, and basically doesn’t go forward at all. The ankle rocker is a touch restricted by the design of the boot. The ankle can rock in a fair amount though that I don’t think it’s going to be too problematic for posing. There’s a toe hinge, but it’s pretty damn ugly and implemented so poorly that I don’t think it’s usable. The tail is also connected via a ball-hinge, but it’s essentially pre-posed in an S shape and the articulation just serves as a way of making sure it doesn’t get in the way.

I have no idea what Vegeta’s aura looks like in this form, but this looks pretty cool.

Vegeta was doing pretty well until we moved below the waist (hopefully, that’s not what she said). I think he absolutely should have more range kicking forward and back and the knees are pretty limited for a SHF release. Some aspects of this release though are definitely an improvement over Goku. The shoulders look more natural and the neck doesn’t sink in like it tends to with the Goku figure. Sometimes the joint at the base of the neck slides past the chest and leaves a gap, but it can be pushed back into place easy enough. It’s more finicky than anything. The thigh cut looks worse on Vegeta when compared with Goku since his baggy pants mitigated it some. Removing the subjective component of which Super Saiyan 4 looks better, I think Vegeta turned out better than Goku as a result and it just feels like he’s less rough around the edges. The joints being tight and smooth helps, and the only thing Goku has over Vegeta articulation wise is better range at the hips. And even there, Goku came up a bit short too so it’s marginal.

Whenever Vegeta wants to feel tall he calls Krillin.

This whole review is honestly kind of pointless because what’s going to drive someone’s purchasing decision is how much they like the Super Saiyan 4 look. If you think it’s the coolest transformation of all, then this is a no-brainer. If you hate it and consider it an abomination then save your money. This isn’t going to convert you or anything. I feel like the rare person who occupies the middle on Super Saiyan 4. I think there’s an absurd component to the look, but that’s also what makes it charming and unique. I don’t have any love for Dragon Ball GT, but getting this goofy look into my display feels like the right choice. And as a figure release, Vegeta is solid. The sculpt is great and some of the paint is good, but it’s still not up to standard for the price point. The accessories make up for that a bit, but at an MSRP of around $65 this one is definitely pushing it. The fact that this one features all new tooling helps justify the price, but a bargain it is not. Still, if you like the look of Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta then I think you’ll be content with the purchase. And for me, this is probably all I need from GT so if that Gogeta does follow as expected don’t count on seeing a review for it here.

Missed our review of SS4 Goku? You can check it out below along with other S.H.Figuarts releases from the world of Dragon Ball:

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

In the world of Dragon Ball, there are varying opinions on which version of the anime is superior. Dragon Ball Z is unquestionably the most popular, but there are people (like me) out there who swear by the original Dragon Ball that came before it. More recently, Dragon Ball Super has entered the fray and…

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by Joe

SH Figuarts Super Saiyan Vegeta

He’s the Prince of all Saiyans. The last survivor to have laid eyes on Planet Vegeta, home world of the mighty warriors and birthplace of the legendary Goku. And he’s also a pretty fine toy. Vegeta, arguably the most popular character to emerge from Dragon Ball Z, has seen his likeness cast in numerous forms…

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by Joe

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August 22, 2022

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

By Joe

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that Dragon Ball Super has been the thing I’ve loved most that I never knew I wanted. I was done, or at least content, with Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball GT wasn’t good, but I didn’t need it so it wasn’t something that bothered me. Then Battle of Gods came out which ended up being the start of something new for Dragon Ball and here we are. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is the second Dragon Ball Super movie following 19 volumes of manga, 131 episodes of the anime, and the movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly. And really, the last two Dragon Ball Z films were basically Dragon Ball Super since they were adapted into the anime in a longer form. The original Dragon Ball anime will likely always be my favorite, but there’s something to be said for Super which is more self-aware and comes across as being very confident in how to depict these characters, some of whom have been around almost 40 years. It’s funny and willing to poke fun at itself without resorting to more meta humor or fourth wall breaking. And it’s still action-packed and contains all of the tropes of Dragon Ball Z that have somehow become more charming as the years go by, maybe because of the nostalgia. Probably because of the nostalgia.

Super Hero is written by series creator Akira Toriyama and it’s very much a film a designed to place the spotlight on the B-team. When Toriyama was writing and illustrating the Cell Saga for the manga, it was conceived as a passing of the torch, and even a finale, from Goku to Gohan. Obviously, that changed quickly as Toriyama was convinced to keep going and we got the Buu Saga which basically returned Goku to the top of the mountain while Gohan trended towards a more peaceful existence and characters like Piccolo, Krillin, etc. settled further and further into the background. When Super came around, it largely followed that with the only difference being Vegeta moved into an almost co-lead with Goku, but when the anime came to an end, Goku was firmly back at the top.

The Red Ribbon army is under new management.

Now, the anime ended a few years ago, but the manga has continued. We basically have two different canons going on now. While there was always some differences between the two, they were often subtle and inconsequential. Now we have Broly and this film while the manga has gone in a very different direction. This film even features a time-jump that I don’t think has taken place in the manga. I’d have to go back and look, but regardless, there will likely be debate on what is and is not canon and I think the simple answer is we simply have two timelines at this point until (if?) the anime comes back.

Needless to say, this one takes place after the events of Broly and Goku (Sean Schemmel), Vegeta (Christopher Sabat), and Broly (Johnny Yong Bosch) are now comrades. They train together on the planet belonging to Lord Beerus (Jason Douglas) and it’s implied that Broly still has a ways to go in order to get his temper under control. Elsewhere, Piccolo (Sabat) has taken to training Gohan’s daughter Pan (Jeannie Tirado) in martial arts, though the young girl is having some trouble learning to fly. Gohan (Kyle Hebert) has immersed himself in his work neglecting his training and even fatherhood, which it’s hard to say what irritates Piccolo more as he and wife Videl (Kara Edwards) have become more and more reliant on Piccolo as a babysitter of sorts.

Gamma 2 (left) and Gamma 1 are the latest in android technology.

Brewing in the background is the threat of danger. The Red Ribbon army has been re-assembled by its new leader, Magenta (Charles Martinet), who is dissatisfied with being a mere pharmaceuticals producer and longs to restart the androids program. In order to do so, he turns to the great grandson of Dr. Gero, Dr. Hedo (Zach Aguilar), a young prodigy in robotics who was recently incarcerated. Despite the fearsome origin, Hedo is a bit childish and enjoys cookies. He also doesn’t aspire to be a great villain like Magenta and would prefer to create stylish androids in the model of a super hero. Magenta is able to woo the young scientist to his side by claiming that the individuals who took down Cell years ago are aliens out to conquer Earth and Hedo is willing to go along with this since it means money for his research.

With Dr. Hedo onboard, the Red Ribbon army successfully restarts the androids program leading to the creation of the twins Gamma 1 (Aleks Le) and Gamma 2 (Zeno Robinson). It’s Gamma 2 that comes into contact with Piccolo, whom he confuses for King Piccolo (we get a running gag of people referring to Piccolo by one of his former aspects throughout), and picks a fight since he fancies himself a super hero. Gamma 2 makes the mistake of thinking Piccolo was defeated and inadvertently leads Piccolo to the Red Ribbon HQ where he makes a startling discovery. Unfortunately, Bulma (Monica Rial) is unable to get ahold of Goku and Vegeta so it will be up to Piccolo and a rusty Gohan to save the world this time.

Daddy’s not coming to save you this time, Gohan, time to power up!

And that’s basically what it feels like this film waned to do. Unlike other Dragon Ball films, Goku is not going to swoop in at the end to save the day. This is Gohan and Piccolo’s fight, and both are going to power-up to new, largely unexplained, heights. Do we care that these new forms are unexplained? No, because they’re both fun and expected. There’s a fair amount of fan service at play, especially with callbacks to some of the forgotten lore of Dragon Ball’s past, and the sort-of return of an old villain. That’s actually the one criticism I have with the fan service elements as the returning villain is more like a shell of its former self with no personality. It would have been fun to see that personality rekindled and its reaction to the current state of this universe, but oh well. The story is fun, and Piccolo’s infiltration mission he undertakes creates a surprising amount of plot for a Dragon Ball feature. Usually it’s just bad guy shows up, and a long fight ensues. This one actually has pacing and needs things to happen in order to get to the fight. And we’re also dealing with villains who think they’re the heroes, which adds a different twist. It might be less action-oriented as a result so some fans may dislike it, but I found it rather enjoyable and it definitely gave the film more of a Dragon Ball feel such as when Kid Goku basically did the same with the old Red Ribbon army.

The character and story are certainly familiar and a whole lot of fun, what’s different is the production. This is the first Dragon Ball film to be rendered in 3D. It’s a 3D that can look like 2D in some parts and it’s something the past film did in certain shots. This one, outside of 2D flashback sequences, sticks with the 3D throughout and the results are mostly fine, but there’s some ugly parts. For some reason, Goku seems to look the worst in this style and comes across far too much like a character from a video game. I guess it’s a good thing then that he’s not in a lot of this one. There are a few other shots and moments where it gets “video gamey” and it is distracting. And a lot of those shots happen early in the film which is unfortunate because the film begins with a 2D refresher that looks awesome and made me wish the entire film was animated in such a fashion. I would prefer this, and any future episodes of the anime, to look more like that, but I suspect this is the wave of the future for Dragon Ball so I better just get used to it. I do like the use of colors and light with this film going for a manga look. Scenes pop and some of the tracking shots and angles this film goes for are dynamic and really engaging. Director Tetsuro Kodama has done a fantastic job of presenting Dragon Ball as there’s a great energy to the animation and a real weight to the blows.

Piccolo is the film’s heart, and as a longtime Piccolo fan, I approve.

Another strength of the film rests with the audio. The voice performances are all as expected, which is pretty great, while the soundtrack is maybe the best Dragon Ball has ever had? There will always be plenty of fans that love the old stuff from the 80s, but this one has a terrific presence. Composer Naoki Satō really got the message across that this one should sound heroic. There’s a lot of super hero sounding compositions and the music is very dramatic. There were no odd moments, like chanting which was used in the last movie, that took me out of the moment at any time. Some might be disappointed with the lack of more familiar songs, but I for one really enjoyed this soundtrack and found it quite suitable for what the film wanted to present.

Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero is another great addition to the Dragon Ball universe. It continues this high quality return for the series which has really seen the film version of the franchise taken to new heights. Before, Dragon Ball Z films felt like filler. They were simple stories that basically were like the Cliff Notes version of the main series with placeholder villains standing in for the real thing. These last four have felt more like full-fledged movies and I suspect that’s because those involved in the creation of them wanted that to be the case. Dragon Ball has become this warm blanket for me that always shows up. It would have to be really bad to be a disappointing experience and this film is far from it. Because I seem to ask so little of the franchise to entertain me, it’s become harder to decide what’s best among these films, but easy to say that they’re all good. If you’ve ever liked Dragon Ball definitely check out Super Hero. Dragon Ball on the big screen is an experience in and of itself so this gets a strong recommend from me. And Bandai, if you’re reading, we need some more figures based on this one. You know what I’m talking about!

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September 1, 2021

S.H.Figuarts Nappa – Event Exclusive Color Edition

By Joe
Here comes Nappa!

When it comes to my S.H.Figuarts collection, I’ve been able to largely keep to just Dragon Ball. And by Dragon Ball, I mean the original anime and manga that centered on a young boy named Goku. Even though that’s my favorite edition of the venerable series, it doesn’t mean my favorite is the one shared by millions across the globe. Most fans prefer Dragon Ball Z to any other iteration of the anime (the manga just kept the name Dragon Ball until Dragon Ball Super became a thing) so there is ton more merchandise for those fans than there is for me.

Now, just because I have a preference, does not mean I dislike Dragon Ball Z. Like many American viewers, I saw DBZ way before I ever saw Dragon Ball. I saw it briefly when it was on a broadcast network in my area really early in the morning, but I became a fan when Cartoon Network started airing it. The popularity of the show led the network to center a whole block of action cartoons, most of which were anime, around it and Toonami was born. During those early days, only the first 56 episodes or so were dubbed in English (it’s confusing because there was enough material cut that the English dub had a smaller episode count for awhile), and since the show had failed to catch on initially, there were no plans to dub more. Those same episodes then aired over and over so we American fans came to know those characters and arcs rather well. And one of the early villains of the show was the Saiyan warrior: Nappa.

I hope you like yellow and black.

Nappa arrived with Vegeta following Raditz’s defeat with the idea being to get vengeance for his fallen comrade. Even though he viewed Raditz as weak and pathetic, there was enough Saiyan pride in the grunt to want to seek revenge. His comrade and superior, Vegeta, had other ideas though. He cared nothing for Raditz and only wished to find the Dragon Balls so he could wish for eternal life. Unfortunately for Nappa, Vegeta’s lack of affection for Raditz extended to him as well, and when Goku delivered a devastating blow to the warrior that left his back snapped in two, Vegeta decided to put the beast down rather than help him rehabilitate.

Yeah, I know, it’s the wrong Vegeta.

As a result, Nappa’s presence on the show was fairly brief. He shows up, beats up the lesser fighters, and then gets to be the sacrificial lamb to Goku in a bid to demonstrate how far the warrior has progressed in his training. Still, I always thought he was a really effective bad guy. A remorseless killing machine who just loves to fight. His design is simple in that he’s just a massive piece of man-beef with a bald head and moustache. He wears the giant Saiyan armor that was still rather new to viewers at the time, but has shown up in a myriad of places since, and just really looks the part of a guy you wouldn’t want to mess with. So many villains in the show are intentionally drawn small and unimposing as series creator Akira Toriyama seemed to enjoy toying with expectations. Nappa was different, though also kind of the same since the much smaller Vegeta was considerably stronger than him.

I love that scouter look.

A few years ago, a version of Nappa was released in the Bandai/Tamashii Nations S.H.Figuarts lineup that was really tempting. A comic book store near me had one on display in a glass cabinet, but I never could bring myself to bite on it. He even got marked down eventually, a paltry 10%, but a discount nonetheless, and I still passed. That version of the character had more of a manga appearance. His armor was basically black and brown, but he still looked cool. In the anime, his coloring was slightly different which happened from time to time. His shoulder pads were more of a yellow and the black portions had a blue hue to them. That was my Nappa, and when Bandai unveiled a version of the character that matched that appearance I finally gave in.

“Hands off the tail, Namek!”

During the virtual San Diego Comic Con in July, Bandai put what would have been its exclusives on its Premium Bandai webstore. The whole thing was a shit show, and getting from one screen to the next was incredibly tiring as the website was just overrun by collectors looking to buy one of the five Dragon Ball exclusives. It took me over an hour, but I did get an order in for Nappa. I had to wait over a month for delivery though, which funny enough, makes Nappa the first SDCC exclusive I have received in 2021. Either because the global shipping crisis delayed release, or because manufacturers expected they wouldn’t need to have product on hand for a physical con, most of the exclusives ended up being pre-orders. My NECA purchase might arrive in October, or it might arrive in December and my Mondo purchase is dated January. My guess is the reason for the delay is actually a combination of both reasons spelled out, but ultimately, it’s a case of “it is what it is.” You want this stuff? Cool, you got it, but you’re going to have to wait.

These chop hands really draw attention to how massive his hands are.

Nappa arrived in the usual SHF window box only this one features a black and yellow motif to accentuate that it’s an event exclusive. My event exclusive Kid Goku was packaged similarly, though I never did post a review of that figure since he’s the same as the other Kid Goku, just with a blue gi instead of orange. Nappa is a chunky boy. He’s not the tallest SHF figure I own, but he’s probably the heaviest. He stands just a tad shy of 7″ and really fills out the package he comes bundled in. He’s a great figure to hold as he looks and feels like a collector grade action figure. The plastic is firm and each, individual, piece has a lightness to it, but the sum of its parts results in a nice heft for this guy. All of the musculature is well sculpted and the anatomy and design of such really echoes the source material well. As is the case for most of the figures in this line, there’s not a ton of paint, but what’s there is clean. Nappa actually commands more paint than usual as his gloves and boots feature some gray piping with mustard braids around the wrists and ankles. The mustard yellow of the abdomen, shoulder pads, and skirt pieces are all painted and there’s even a slight wash on his muscles. The painted portion of his upper chest area matches the sculpted flesh color of the neck well. The only paint application that looks a little odd to me is the moustache on his smirking head because it doesn’t follow the crease of his smile on the right side. I don’t think it’s supposed to though, it’s just one of those things that looks odd. I’d have to closely inspect the source material to see if I’m wrong, but it only looks odd when the figure is placed right in front of your face. Otherwise, I have no complaints about the aesthetics of this guy.

He’s a bit of a ham for the camera.

Where the SHF line rises above most is in its ability to wed these impressive sculpts with a ton of articulation. Nappa has a whole bunch at his disposal and it’s all of the stuff you would expect. He has a ball joint at the head plus another at the base of the neck so he can look all over the place including up and down. At the shoulders, he has a ball joint plus a butterfly joint. Because of the bulky armor, he can’t bring his arms out and across his chest as well as some figures. The shoulder pads are on hinges so they can be moved out of the way, but the bicep hits the edge of his pec. There’s a biceps swivel and double elbows, but his arms are so thick that he can’t bend past 90 degrees. On the plus side, none of the plastic joiner pieces are over-exposed to accommodate a truly wide range of motion so his arms look pretty nice in whatever position you place them in. His hands are attached via ball pegs, and even though they’re recessed in those gauntlets he’s wearing, he can still move them around pretty well. In the abdomen, he has a ball-joint that I don’t think is hinged. At least, mine won’t go up. He can bend back okay, but not forward very well and you definitely have to be mindful of the upper chest area rubbing on his abs and ruining the paint. At the waist, he has a very small ball-peg that basically just affords swivel rotation. There’s a little tilt there, but nothing game-changing. At the hips, he can kick forward and back about as far as you would ever need him to. There’s a thigh twist and double-jointed knees that go just a tiny bit past 90. At the ankle I believe we have a ball-joint. It’s nice and tight, which is what a big figure like this needs, but doesn’t provide a huge range of motion. There’s also a toe hinge, but it’s not very good and is kind of ugly because the joint is too far forward.

I couldn’t really get him into a kneeling pose to sell this one better.

Nappa moves reasonably well. Obviously, there’s no getting around that armor he wears. It’s big and bulky. The hinges on the various flaps help to some degree, but there’s only so much they can do. While I wish he could reach out in front of himself better than he can, I wouldn’t want to put any cuts in the armor to facilitate that so I’m happy with the choices Bandai made. It helps that Nappa doesn’t really have a signature energy blast like a Kamehameha or Special Beam Canon that he needs to mimic. He’s more of a brawler, and if Bandai ever did want to do a more articulated version of him they could also do a battle damaged one that doesn’t have the armor. As I mentioned in the prior paragraph, the lesser articulation means his joints mostly look really good. His elbows and knees look pretty great whether bent or out straight and there’s not a lot of gapping issues on him. The only area, besides the useless toe hinge, that I think looks a little unsightly is the neck. He’s always going to have a small gap there and since his neck is bare there’s no way to hide anything. The trade-off for the neck articulation is one I’d make though. He is an action figure, after all, not a statue.

Time to fly!

There’s a lot of plastic in Nappa, so it’s probably not surprising to see his accessory count is on the smaller end. Nappa comes with four, distinct, facial portraits. He comes with a smirking face, a yelling face where he’s looking straight-ahead, a yelling face where he’s looking down and to the left (or like he’s trying to look behind himself because there’s a guy grabbing onto him) and a smirking face with scouter. The scouter is non-removable so you only get one display option if you wish to use it. I always think of him as having the scouter on so that’s my preferred look, but I like the others as well. The head where he’s trying to look off to the side is definitely present so you can recreate the scene where Chaoz blows himself up why clinging to Nappa’s back. It’s even illustrated on the back of the box. I don’t have that figure though.

The base of the stand looks pretty cool, it’s just that Nappa isn’t the best figure for such a stand.

In addition to the alternate heads, Nappa also comes with 3 sets of hands. He has fists in the box, but also has grabbing hands and a set of hands that are in a “chop” position. I’m assuming he does some chops in the anime, though I really can’t recall specifics (maybe when he’s smashing up the jets) and the product shots on the box are of no help as none feature them. He also has a seventh hand which has two fingers extended. It functions like a cool, style, pose sort of thing and he may have done an attack that utilized such a gesture, or I could be mistaken. I think it’s present because that’s how he makes holes in the ground to plant the Saibamen. Of the sets, I definitely prefer the grabby hands, but all of them feel like they have use and I’ll likely switch them up, though I don’t know that I’ll ever display him sans scouter. That’s it though for accessories. As usual, there’s no blast effect which would have been nice. A big, mouth, blast would have been pretty fun and unique. I think the standard version might have come with a small one? Or the shop I used to see him at just happened to display him with such. That blast effect wasn’t the best, but I’d still take it over nothing.

Goku, on the other hand, works just fine. The third stand (not pictured) uses Whis’ symbol for the base.

That’s not all I have to talk about though. For SDCC, Bandai had four figures available plus a fifth set which was a box of action stands. They’re personalized to coincide with the figures they did and I grabbed a set. I think it was 40 bucks, but it got you 6 stands, 2 each of the following design: Goku, Whis, and a Saiyan Space Pod. I grabbed it because I really did need more stands and I thought they looked pretty slick. Unfortunately, when it comes to Nappa it doesn’t work too well because he is just so thick. The stand is designed to grab the figure around the waist and has some added crotch support, because even action figures need crotch support. The clasp really can’t get around Nappa’s waist, but he can at least be position on the crotch piece. You will likely need to tighten the screws in the stand as far as they’ll go to accommodate his bulk or else it will just topple. I like that the pack came with two of each style though since anyone who has the previously release Saiyan Saga Vegeta will likely want to use one with him. I do not have that figure, though if he ever gets a re-release I’ll probably grab one now. I was able to finagle a flying pose for Nappa with the stand, though I don’t think I’d trust it on a shelf. That means it’s more like a base for Nappa, and having the space pod as a base is kind of cool in its own way, but it would have been nice if it had been specially engineered to work better with the bulky Nappa.

This figure has some shortcomings, but ultimately it nails what it needed to the most and that’s the look. This looks like Nappa from Dragon Ball Z and he looks fantastic. It would have been awesome if they had found a way to make him move a little better, (and at least one of the product shots on the back of the box must be a render because he can’t wipe his mouth with the back of his hand) or stuck in a cool effects part, but he can definitely can hit all of the important poses for the character. Really, the biggest negative about him is now I want more figures that display well with him. A Saiyan Saga Vegeta is the most appropriate, but it did cause me to look at the recently released Kid Gohan, but I don’t think I need him. I considered Kaioken Goku, but he squared off with the unarmored Nappa so that doesn’t feel necessary. I did grab one figure, and I’ll tell you about him soon enough, and I also pre-ordered the new Krillin so Nappa should have a few guys to play with in due time. This is a guy that enjoys being violent, so I definitely need to feed him.

This dude looks good and he knows it. He’s not quite as tall as King Piccolo, but definitely chunkier.

This action figure is an event exclusive from Premium Bandai. Other retailers did buy some stock, but they tack on a sizable surcharge. Even with that surcharge, it looks like most have sold out so if you want him you may have to go to the secondary market. Some people are probably looking to flip him, and Bandai did open a pre-order window since their website was so terrible so some people (and possibly retailers) will get him in Q1 2022 so if you don’t like the prices right now you can wait and see if they improve next year. Bluefin Brands has also been hosting a pop-up shop that will be selling the con exclusives. They’ll probably only hit major cities like LA and New York, but maybe you have a buddy who can get to one for you or something. If you prefer the older version, maybe the release of the more anime-accurate Nappa has knocked the price down on that guy a bit. I’m pretty happy with him, even if my Saiyan Saga collection is rather light, and I don’t think any DBZ collection of S.H.Figuarts should be without a Nappa.

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