Tim Burton's Batman

Tim Burton's Batman

Before Christopher Nolan reinvigorated the Batman franchise, Tim Burton had his share of success. Under Burton's guiding hands, Batman was relaunched in the 90's in a more artsy and Gothic world with funnyman Michael Keaton donning the cowl. The Keaton starred Batman had two successful films (Batman and Batman Returns) before a downward spiral from two more sequels (Batman Forever and Batman and Robin) snuffed the life away from the franchise. Keaton was replaced in Batman Forever by an up and coming star in Val Kilmer with Burton still guiding the film as a producer. In Batman and Robin however, an even newer up and coming star in George Clooney took on the role. The story suffered in favor of making the Batman films star studded and a more merchandise friendly (think toys that could sell) costume changes and bat gadgets aplenty. The star studded cast that the whole four movie run was able to produce involves Jack Nicholson as Joker and Kim Basinger as Vicky Vale for Batman, Danny De Vito as Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman for Batman Returns, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as Riddler in Batman Forever, and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze for Batman and Robin (with a small role for little known Pro Wrestler Robert Swenson as Bane). The Tim Burton led four picture franchise simply tells the story of Batman's first appearance up until he forms his team of Bat family. In Batman, Michael Keaton goes up against Jack Nicholson as both of these stars played the pivotal role of Batman and Joker respectively. Keaton's portrayal of a brooding Bruce Wayne and a jawline that screams of Batman made him the best Batman to ever appear on the big screen. Even to this day, Bat fans still have these heated debates as to who among Keaton and Bale is the best Batman on film. Jack Nicholson's portrayal of an animated Joker brought to light the more sinister side of Joker without sacrificing this evil villain's love for mischief. Some fans even prefer Nicholson's portrayal of Joker than Heath Ledger's more sadistic and psychopathic Joker. But that is still up for debates and I personally feel that both actors brought different facets to the Joker as seen in the comic books. The first Batman movie simply tells the story of the birth of Batman and Joker as both of these arch nemesis face each other head on until the brutal death of Joker. In Batman Returns, Tim Burton once again returns with Michael Keaton as Batman goes up against the filthy Penguin (played by Danny De Vito) and the sultry Catwoman (played by Michelle Pfeiffer). This follow up is even better in my opinion as we are even drawn to the sympathetic side of Penguin as an outcast and Catwoman's thirst for revenge. Penguin's run for the mayoralty of Gotham City under the support of a corrupt businessman however turned Penguin into a drunk for power as he thirsts for revenge against the surface world who deemed him as a freak and outcast. From there, all bets are off as Batman deals with both of these villains while also escaping the police force that goes after him after he was framed by Penguin.

Batman

The luster of the franchise however went into a drastic turn by the time Tim Burton relinquished the directorial duties (in favor of a producer role) to Joel Schumacher in the third installment of the franchise, Batman Forever. But there was no forever in Michael Keaton's book as Batman as he leaves the role due to his distaste of the direction of the film. The prior two Batman films were more brooding in nature, but Warner Brothers wanted a lighter Batman film for the third installment. Keaton was replaced by golden boy Val Kilmer in his one off role as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were brought in respectively as Two-Face and Riddler, but Two-Face was more of a filler as his origin story was only featured through flashbacks. Riddler on the other hand was the main villain of the film as he was given a more fleshed out role. But Jim Carrey's over the top portrayal was too distracting for the film. Chris O' Donnell as Robin was also introduced in the film, and for the first time on the big screen, Batman is paired up with his partner Robin to form the dynamic duo not seen since Adam West and Burt Ward's Batman TV series. The mild success of Batman Forever led to another sequel, but this time without Tim Burton's involvement as producer. And from one golden boy to another, Kilmer leaves the franchise and George Clooney took over the cowl. Schumacher returns to direct and brought in Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Mr Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. Chris O' Donnell also reprises his role as Robin and Alicia Silverstone was brought in to play Batgirl to bring in an even more crowded superhero mix. O' Donnell would later on lament that filming Batman and Robin felt like filming a two hour long toy commercial than filming an actual film. Among the four movies, only the Keaton starred Batman movies were highly praised by critics and Batman fans, the last two however killed the franchise. It took 8 years from a duo composed of Director Christopher Nolan and Writer David S. Goyer to come up with a new Batman for the new millennium. The Dark Knight Trilogy would explode on the movie screens as perhaps one of the best comic book movies ever made.   

Michael Keaton as Batman

The Toyline: Kenner managed to milk this incarnation of Batman through the four films that this version of the franchise appeared. Fresh from the success of their Super Powers toy line (which was based from the Super Friends cartoon series), Kenner re-uses some of the body molds (most notably Joker and Penguin) of that toy line. Batman on the other hand lacked the knee articulation that the Super Powers toy line possessed. But the lack of articulation in Batman action figures would be made up through the various gimmicks that the Batman figures possess. These action figures simply possess the standard five points of articulation of the vintage toys of the 80s, namely the swivel head, swivel arms, and swivel hips. Here in this entry, I'm posting a photo of the Bruce Wayne to Batman dress up gimmick. This was the first Batman toy that I ever had when I was a kid. Other gimmicks consists of a Silverhawks like Batman, a Sky Commander like Batman, and other Batman action figures with a different color scheme. The Batman action figures for Batman Returns on the other hand (save for Penguin and Catwoman) were re-issues of the same ones from the first movie. The action figures for Batman Forever and Batman and Robin however, are more stylized than the Super Powers like action figures from the first and second movie. These were more in line with Kenner's Total Justice toy line as the toy company decided to improved their action figure's sculpts. Check out the other action figures not seen here in this blog. I've still yet to complete these action figures as I'm on the process of deciding if I should get these. Though I'm not a die hard Batman fan, having them in my collection helps beef up my DC Movies collection.

Christian Bale donning Keaton's cowl and costume

A tale of two Bruce Waynes, Michael Keaton and Christian Bale

Join me in my next entry as I delve into Christopher Nolan's the Dark Knight Trilogy. See you!

A look at my Toy Collection Display Cabinet

A view of my New Toy Collection Display Cabinet

After 2 weeks of painstakingly displaying my collections in their new display cabinet, I'm finally (almost) done. The easiest part was essentially unboxing/unpacking them from their large containers as seen here. The hardest part was displaying them. Now when it comes with my toy collections, I'm a very meticulous hack as I make it a point that no figures' parts should stick with another. I have this Obsessive Compulsive Disorder belief that if the figures would rub on each other, and under the warm climate of a tropical country like the Philippines, the paint apps of the figures would smear/smudge on each other. So I always made sure that all the figures will have spaces between them. That two weeks was also spent on planning as to how to display my action figure collections in a certain theme or grouping. I wanted my display to tell a story. I could have opted for a diorama like display but space constraints prevented me from doing such. What I opted to do instead is to present them in a way where there will be some sort of a cohesive theme. And the largest and most noticeable theme is that it's DC and Marvel all over again occupying the extreme opposite sides of the cabinet with Japanese and American pop culture icons standing in between them. Join me below as I take you a tour to my Toy Collection Display Cabinet.   

DC Direct, DCSH, and DCUC

Top Most Left Corner: Among all of my collections, hands down my favorite are the six inch ones from DC and Marvel. I put both of these on the extreme corners of my cabinet. The six inch DC action figures from Mattel's DCSH/DCUC and DC Direct/Collectibles occupies the top most left corner. They are separated into five layers with the top most layer housing an assortment of Super Villains of the DC Universe. Half of those are from Superman's Rogue Gallery while the other half are the main arch enemies of the other DC Superheroes. The second layer houses the Bat Family (Batman and his allies), Teen Titans/Young Justice, and Justice Society of America. For me it's a natural grouping for Batman to be standing side by side with the Teen Titans and Young Justice teams because Batman basically mentors Robin, the leader of the aforementioned teams. Justice Society of America (JSA) is also put on this layer because in the latter incarnations of the team in the comic books, the older JSA helped mentor the newer JSA members. The third layer meanwhile houses the Justice League of America (JLA) and the Green Lantern Corps (GL Corps). I put both of these teams together in one layer because majority of the GL Corps (the human ones that is) were also JLA members. Human Green Lanterns such as Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner were members of the Justice League in one time or another. The so called big seven (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter) of the JLA teams is also placed front and center. Martian Manhunter is partly covered because his role as one of the team's big seven diminished when the New 52 reboot happened. In fact, he was replaced entirely by Cyborg, a mainstay of the Teen Titans teams before the New 52 reboot. The fourth layer on the other hand displays the Superman family. As a huge Superman fan, I had to devote a special layer for my Superman collections. The fourth layer comprises the different Superman related characters as seen in the comic books. Prominently displayed on the left side are the Daily Planet staff while on the extreme right are the Reign of the Supermen characters that appeared after the Death of Superman. Of course you can also see two Supermen standing in front, the Classic costume and the New 52 costume. This helps transition into the last layer where I displayed an all exclusive Superman action figures that highlights some of the key incarnations of Superman by different artists or eras. In this layer, you could see the first appearance of Superman in the comic books down to the latest incarnation that he sports in the New 52 Universe. As of now, I'm trying to complete all of the DC Direct releases of Superman because I'm such a huge fan of DC Direct action figures that are artist centric. Noticeably missing here is the DC Direct Superfriends Superman, MAD Superman, and Dark Side Superman, among others. That wraps up the upper left corner of the shelf.    
  

Vintage DCs and Movie Masters

Lower Left Corner: The last layer of the top most shelf also transitions to the smaller scaled (five inch below) Superman action figure collections that I have which is housed in the first layer of the lower left corner of the shelf. The reason why I separated them from the six inch ones because basically they are vintage toys of the 80's to the 90's mixed with the more recent releases that were geared towards the kids. Among these are the more rare ones like fast food toys and other kiddie toys. This layer still has a lot more spaces left and I still might toy hunt on more Superman toys that would fit in this category. The second layer meanwhile houses the grittier DC Superhero Movies action figure collections. Prominently displayed in this layer are the action figure sets from Chris Nolan's Batman: Dark Knight Trilogy, Martin Campbell's Green Lantern, Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, WB's Smallville, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and Snyder's Watchmen. I also managed to sneak in a custom Christopher Reeve Superman in this layer. Since neither Mattel nor DC Direct had released a six inch version of Richard Donner's classic Superman movie, I took it upon myself to customize one. I'm also contemplating on completing the older Batman movies from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, but space constraints might prevent me from doing such. Moving on to the third layer, I opted to display the vintage Kenner/Hasbro Total Justice toy line from the 90's. I Absolutely love this toy line back when I was a kid because of the ultra sculpt detail it sports, way advanced during its time. It is also joined with other Kenner made DC action figures, namely the Man of Steel toy line. I also managed to sneak in a Justice League fast food toy collection set from Jollibee. This transitions to the fourth layer which houses the various animated incarnations of the Justice League in toy form. Of course on the center is the highly popular Vintage DC Super Powers toy line that were derived from the Super friends TV show. Displayed on the left most corner is the more recent Justice League Unlimited toy line which was derived from the highly successful Justice League animated series of the 2000s. This animated series in my opinion is the best animated series ever (yes it trumps Batman and X-Men the animated series). Joining them on the display is the Batman centric animated series that replaced the Justice League animated series. This Batman centric animated series is simply called The Batman and featured the Justice League in its last season. This animated series was also cancelled and replaced by a more kid friendly Batman centric animated series that involves a rotation of DC characters that served as Batman's guest stars. This newer animated series is called Batman the Brave and the Bold and I've made it a point to try to collect some key Justice League members that I could find in this toy line. Lastly, this layer is joined by the Young Justice animated series toy line, the most recent animated series from DC Comics. The last layer meanwhile houses the Masters of the Universe toy line and the Thundercats toy line. You might wonder what both of these toy lines had to do in a generally DC Comics part of the cabinet. Well, Masters of the Universe have been for the most part assigned by Mattel (the toy line's owner and current makers of DC Comics related action figures) to DC Comics for their resurgence in comic book form. Thundercats on the other hand in the mid 2000s was also assigned to Wildstorm comics (DC's sister company) when it came to producing comic books. So basically both of these properties were in one point or another a part of the DC Comics stable. I also decided to join both together because of their almost similar theme (sword wielding strongmen and both are 80s cartoon series). It does not help that when I was a kid, I always wondered who would win in a fight, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe or Lion-O from Thundercats. So merging them together in one shelf was only natural for me. This wraps up my left most corner of my display cabinet.

Hot Toys and Japanese live action series

Top Center Cabinet: I made use of the center cabinet to house the bigger action figures in my collections. By bigger I mean those who are scaled at 10 inch and higher. The top most layer of the center cabinet houses my one and only Hot Toys collection. And that Hot Toys is none other than the Christopher Reeve Superman. I have always been a fan of Superman ever since I saw the 1978 Superman movie which was starred by Christopher Reeve. Though Hot Toys are quite pricey for someone like me, I managed to turn a blind eye on its price just for this once. This is perhaps the holy grail in all of my collections. The Hot Toys Superman is joined by a cheaper 12 inch Superman Returns action figure/doll. I intentionally purchased this so that I could have him join the Hot Toys Superman since they are similarly scaled. Hidden at the back of this figure is my very first Superman toy that I owned since I was a kid. I also included in this layer the 10 inch version of the Justice League Unlimited Superman and a complimenting scaled Krypto the Superdog as well as the Kryptonian Battle Suit from the Kenner Man of Steel toy line. A Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman also stands there for the meantime as I contemplate if I should get a Hot Toys Henry Cavill Superman from the recent Man of Steel movie. The second layer on the other hand is devoted to Japanese pop culture icons such as Super Sentais (Power Rangers),  Rider series (Kamen Rider), Kaiju (Ultraman), Tokusatsu (Ryukendo/Shaider), and Mechas (Voltron) among others. Growing up, I've been a fan of Japanese live action series such as Bio-Man, Shaider, Ultraman, Power Rangers, and Kamen Rider. So I made it a point to collect some of the characters that I watched as a kid. I got them more for nostalgias sake.      

Anime and Basketball action figures

Lower Center Cabinet: The first layer of the lower center cabinet is a continuation of my Japanese pop culture related theme. This time, I focused on anime (Japanese for cartoons) like Dragon Ball. This is actually a work in progress layer as at this moment I temporarily displayed a Real Steel Rock em' Sock em' play set. I'm not quite a fan of anime except for Dragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, and Samurai X. I'm a confessed Dragon Ball junkie and lately my toy hunting is spent mostly on completing the key Dragon Ball Z characters. Samurai X is also on my radar, I'm just waiting for a good deal to fall on my lap. The second layer is devoted to vintage Basketball figures from the Kenner Starting Line Up toy line and Space Jam. I'm a huge fan of Michael Jordan, and I have been collecting Michael Jordan memorabilia ranging from trading cards, shoes, to action figures. For the vintage basketball action figures, my focus was to collect all of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls' main nemesis during their 6 championship title run. The bottom shelf meanwhile houses the more recent McFarlane NBA action figures. For this particular toy line, I focused on collecting Chicago Bulls action figures and the more recent NBA Superstars with championship titles such as Shaquille O' Neal and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat. I also collected some of the more popular NBA Superstars of the 90's like Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley among others. Basically the whole display cabinet is still a work in progress and I might change the contents over time. I'm still planning to collect a couple of Wrestling action figures that I might display here. I've also kept some of my Star Trek and Transformers action figures in storage while I'm still contemplating if I should put them in this display cabinet or if I should just sell them.  

Marvel Legends and Marvel Select

Top Most Right Corner: Since I'm a more outspoken DC fanboy, not many may have known that I'm also a keen follower of the Marvel Universe. And if my love for DC is well represented in 6 inch form through DCUC and DC Direct, my love for Marvel had brought me to collect their own 6 inch toy lines. Marvel's Marvel Legends and Marvel Select stands on the extreme right corner of my Display Cabinet. You could actually see from a distance that the extreme opposite corners of my Display Cabinet is devoted to two of these competing comic book companies. The first layer houses the Marvel Super Villains. I only cherry picked on the key arch enemies of the Marvel Superheroes and left out the more obscure ones. The second layer is devoted to the Fantastic Four and various Marvel Superheroes that are neither a member of the Avengers or the X-Men (except for multiple figures like Captain America, Iron Man, and Wolverine). Meanwhile, the third layer houses the Avengers. Majority of my Marvel collections are from the Toybiz Marvel Legends as I find them better compared to Hasbro's Marvel Legends. The last layer on the other hand houses the X-Men and their fellow mutants. And if you noticed, I chose to complete the X-Men movie versions first before going to the non movie characters. I've always hated Toybiz and Hasbro's uneven release. They are constantly releasing X-Men action figures sporting their costumes from different eras, eliminating the chances of having them displayed together with the same eras. The movie version at least gives the key X-Men characters a uniform look. So basically, I completed the X-Men movie action figure series first before venturing into the other characters that did not appear in the movie. So majority of the 6 inch X-Men action figure collection that I have does not actually represent the comic book versions. The comic book versions however will be represented in the lower corner.

Vintage Marvels, TMNT, and some G.I. Joes

Lower Right Corner: If I owned a number of vintage DC action figures from the 90's, I also own a number (albeit smaller) of vintage Marvel Superheroes action figures from the 90's. Though not as wide as DC's, I managed to collect a few vintage Marvel Superheroes from the 90's. The first layer houses the vintage 90's Avengers action figures, Sam Raimi's Spiderman movie trilogy, as well as the more recent kid friendly Avengers and Spiderman movie mighty battler toys. I opted these instead of the more pricey Marvel Legends movie action figures because these are great toys for my son because of their playability. When he's not playing with them, I usually store them in my display cabinet to balance my DC Superhero movies action figure collection. The second layer houses the vintage 90's X-Men action figure that I had since I was a kid. One can clearly see that I'm a huge X-Men fan because of the sheer number of these vintage X-Men toys that I managed to accumulate when I was still a kid. These toy line went into popularity right behind the strength of the 90's X-Men animated series, one of the best animated series of my time. So while my 6 inch X-Men collection are mostly the live action movie versions, these vintage ones represents the comic book versions. I think it's a good balance in my collection as I have both the movie and the comic book versions well represented in my display cabinet.  The third and fourth layer meanwhile houses the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. I'm a kid of the 90's, and I'm sure those who grew up in the 90's in one point or another owned a TMNT toy. The third layer houses the different versions of the TMNT. This ranges from the vintage TMNT, 2003 TMNT, CGI Movie TMNT, NECA Eastman and Laird TMNT, and the recent TMNT classics by Playmates. The fourth layer houses the allies and villains from the vintage TMNT toy line as well as the recent Nick Toons TMNT deluxe battle sound fx action figures. I opted for these battle sound figures in favor of the  basic ones because of its playability. My son enjoys all the noises that these Turtles (and Shredder) makes while he's playing with them. And finally, the last layer is an odd mix of Western and Eastern pop culture icons that I find very nostalgic. The left side is composed of the Western gun wielding action stars like the vintage Rambo action figures from Coleco and the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon series. On the right side, I displayed the Eastern Martial Arts action stars like Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, and the cast of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I also included in this layer the vintage Street Fighter action figures that was produced by the makers of the G.I. Joe toy line. So basically, the front row is composed of the G.I. Joe scaled action figures like the G.I. Joes, Robocop, Rambo, A-Team, Indiana Jones, and the Street Fighters. While the back row is composed of the 7 to 8 inch action figures of Rambo and the Force of Freedom, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. And as usual, all of my comic books are stored in the compartments below the showcase cabinet.

So this wraps up my blog entry for today. Hope you guys enjoyed the little tour that I gave. Will be reviewing all of my toy collections in this blog whenever I could find time. It just sank in to me just now that it feels daunting to remove all of these action figures from their display and one by one do a review on them. But we'll see. See you in my next entry.

Bootleg S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ball Z

I'm not much of an anime fan but I have always been a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z. I always enjoyed the fast pace action and the humorous stories that the Dragon Ball anime series always brought to our TV sets. I've got a couple of Dragon Ball action figure collections, mostly the Bandai Super Battle Collection and the Irwin Dragon Ball action figures. But that entry will be for another time. What I do want to share in this entry is one of the most fantastic bootleg toys that I've ever laid my hands on, the bootleg version of S.H. Figuarts' Dragon Ball Z action figures. The original version of this toy line is to date the best Dragon Ball action figure ever created. Stands at an average of 6 inch, this toy line is packed with extra head, hands, and accessories that makes them standout in your Dragon Ball toy collection. The action figures also boasts an assortment of articulation that rivals Hasbro's Marvel Legends and Mattel's DC Universe Classics. The bootleg versions however would sport lesser points of articulation. The bootleg version also comes with a couple of extra accessories, but not as complete as the original ones. Will be doing a figure by figure review below.

     Perfect Cell: Dragon Ball Z's main baddie.

The Perfect Cell bootleg action figure boasts nicely detailed sculpts. It's clear from here that the bootleggers made use of the original mold of this figure to come up with a bootleg version. The paint is also well applied that you wouldn't think that this is a bootleg action figure. This actually looks nice as a display piece if you are a Dragon Ball junkie who couldn't afford the more pricey authentic ones.

The Perfect Cell bootleg figure also comes with an extra face and hands that can be used alternately on the figure. This nice little gimmick for a bootleg action figure is really a nice touch as it tries to be more at par (in terms of playability) with the authentic ones.

The figure boasts an impressive points of articulation despite being a bootleg figure. It sports a ball jointed neck, swivel arms, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, and ball jointed ankles. This is quite close to the original and too many for a bootleg action figure.

Piccolo: Namekian adversary turned ally

The bootleg Piccolo action figure also borrowed from the original mold. The details that can be found from the original can also be found here. Starting from the costume's creases down to the defined muscles of Piccolo. The figure had some minor paint slops though, which is natural for a bootleg action figure.

The Piccolo figure also comes with an alternate head and hands. The alternate head features his turban, the signature Piccolo headwear he uses in the anime series. His cape is also removable, giving it maximum playability for those who wants their Piccolo in his fighting form.

Piccolo without his cape

Piccolo's articulation is the same with that of the Perfect Cell figure. My complain for this figure is that its ankles are made of rubbery plastic. The weight of the figure deforms that weak rubbery plastic material in his ankle, making him hard to stand. I think the authentic ones are made with hard plastics. The bootleggers must have scrimped on the plastic material.

Vegeta: Saiyan Prince, Son Goku's former enemy turned ally

I think Vegeta is the weakest in this set. The paint used in painting his head is that of those cheap quality glossy paints used in most bootleg acton figures. The armor's paint is also very weak. These weak paint applications makes this Vegeta action figure look very much different from the authentic ones. You could easily surmise that this figure is a bootleg one. The exact original sculpt of the authentic one used for this figure could not even save this figure.

Vegeta also comes with an extra face and hands. It would have been nicer if we were given a non Super Saiyan extra head as the alternate one. It would have made this figure's playability more desirable.

Again, the articulation on this figure is pretty much the same with the other ones. His larger set of feet helps the displaying stability of the figure as compared to Piccolo's.

Trunks: Vegeta's son from the future

Trunks is one of my favorites in this set. His clean paint applications mirrors that of the original. The only problem with this figure is that it couldn't quite capture the minute details of the original's intricate sculpts, particularly on his belt and his sword. I'm not sure if those came from the original molds as both looks like they were just lazily sculpted on the figure.

Just like the Perfect Cell figure, Trunks also comes with an extra face and hands. But it would have been more cooler if we were given a Super Saiyan Trunks extra head instead. And also, a removable sword would have been a great addition to the figure.

Removable jacket but non removable sword

Trunks sports the same articulation with that of the others. He also shares the same problem with Piccolo in terms of its displaying stability. But nevertheless, it's one of the best figure in this set.

Son Gohan: Son Goku's son and Piccolo's apprentice

For those who are not familiar with Dragon Ball Z, you might be wondering why Son Gohan is garbed in Piccolo's signature suit instead of his father's. The reason for this is that Piccolo trained Gohan when Goku died. Again Gohan's sculpt is an exact carbon copy with that of the original. It even captures the intricate details of his suit's crease lines. The paint applications are also nicely done for a bootleg action figure. I think Gohan is my favorite in this set.

Gohan also comes with an extra face and hands. His cape is also removable, just like that of Piccolo's. I would have wanted a non Super Saiyan Gohan extra head as the alternate head for this figure, too bad the bootleggers didn't do that, but instead stuck with what the authentic one came with.

The removable cape helps Gohan maximize his articulation

Although Gohan also shares the same articulation with that of the others, there are some parts in his body that hampers the articulation. The hip articulation is restricted and his legs can't be moved upwards. Gohan also shares the same displaying stability problem with that of Piccolo. Something which shouldn't be too surprising considering they wear the same type of shoes.

Son Goku: The main protagonist of Dragon Ball Z

I could have easily said that this was the best action figure in this set, but unfortunately a painting error prevents me from treating it as such. Goku's shoulder shouldn't have been colored blue, as that color should have been painted on his upper biceps, signifying the sleeves of his inner shirt. But nevertheless, the sculpting remains faithful with that of the original. I also particularly like the detailed facial expressions which included some facial lines to give it a maximum expression. The face, I could say, looks exactly the same as the original ones.

Again, Goku comes with an extra face and hands. While both facial expressions are of my liking, I still would have preferred a non Super Saiyan Goku alternated head. That would have made this figure the best among this set. But I think Figuarts is releasing that non Super Saiyan Goku as a separate figure from this Super Saiyan version. The bootleggers I guess stuck with the Super Saiyan Goku release. Still not bad for a bootleg figure.

The articulation are the same with that of the others. Goku's larger boots also gives him better displaying stability compared to the others. Goku's facial expressions still are the best among this set. Should be one of the top two figures in this set.

P.S. These are not the Benda ones as the Benda ones are composed of a more hollow plastic. Benda's Goku looks better paint wise (the inner sleeves), but Benda's Trunks and Vegeta looks inferior compared to these ones. These came without boxes compared to the Benda ones.