Dragon Ball Z - Bardock, Bandai Spirits S.H.Figuarts Action Figure

As a major collector of this toyline, I can very happily say this figure is the best one. Before I get into the little details and "score" it, I just want to say this: if you are a collector, or are interested in this toyline, or just love really amazing figures (and dragon ball), this is truly the best one they've done. It is a bit pricey, but once you have it I think you'll understand why. Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more for an amazing figure than a bit less for a subpar one. (And I'll definitely take a high price AND amazing quality over a high price and... the less than stellar quality we've got on many of the P-Bandai releases...) Scoring: Real quick, I score things in five categories (Sculpt, Paint, Engineering, Articulation, and Accessories). These scores vary from -5 (terrible) to +5 (amazing), with 0 representing "Not really good, but not bad". I average these out and add them to a base score of 5 - thus, the lowest overall score is a 0, the highest is a 10. I've never scored a figure 10, and Piccolo the Proud Namekian is currently highest at 9.8. Sculpting: +5 Frieza's sculpt is simply amazing. Of great note are his faces and the two separate heads that come with the figure. Every bit of detail I was hoping to find in them I did find. His arms and legs are covered in the bands of lines you'd hope for, and the armor is perfect. His pod is even better, and is sculpted to have about half of Frieza's lower body in it (again, complete with the bands of lines his arms and legs have). It even includes details inside such as arm rests, a control panel... and what looks like cupholders! Paint: +5 I am amazed by the sheer quality of paint on display here. The finishes are just what they should be; his faces are beautifully painted; none of the show a darker color plastic bleeding through lighter coats of paint. His black nails stand out against his purple skin; the gloss on his head's purple crest feels real; and the pod seems to have mostly gone not for paint, but for an assembly of different colored plastics, making it look very clean (though the inside "control" parts are painted, and still look good). Beyond this, I am having very hard time finding any paint blemishes. Even the best of figures often have tiny, tiny smudges where the paint was applied in perfectly straight lines and sharp angles. But here, the only bit I've found is a very small bit of smudging on the white line in the back of his mid-section: and I had to look HARD to find it, whereas most figures you can usually find that little smudge pretty immediately just by getting close. Engineering: +4 I am very, very happy to report that Frieza uses the same engineering technique for his scouter that Bardock used - he has two separable ear pieces that fit onto all five of his faces, and can be popped out and replaced with his scouter at will. This was one of my favorite parts of Bardock's engineering, and I'm thrilled to see it return here. It looks good, and gives that extra bit of range to collectors on just exactly what they want to display. By contrast, characters like the Ginyu Force are lacking in this feature, so I'm thrilled Frieza brings it back. Beyond this, Frieza's upper body detaches from his waste and re-attaches into his pod, and I'm happy to report this works (and feels) great - it doesn't feel horribly loose, but is also easy to do. The pod includes a separate attach joint for Frieza's tail, which is also quite easy to pop on and off. The pod also features a slot in the back that can be popped out to reveal a placement hole for stands, in addition to the cone-stand the figure comes with. You will need to pop the head off to swap faces, but doing so is easy and the faces, ear piece, and scouter all feel nice and snug when put in. I'm actually shocked at how easily the head has snapped in when I do replace the faces. Finally, I want to touch on the fact that Frieza has two separate heads - they look almost identical, but one is for his "ordinary" three faces, and the other is for his two "yelling" faces. I'm thrilled that they bothered to include this - in other releases, there would just be the one head, and they might have tried to make all five faces work for it, or just not done the yelling two. The ear pieces and the scouter both work on all five faces, meaning it doesn't matter which head they are slotted into. **Update: With some more time with the figure, I've found a couple little problems. For one, the right leg has very easily popped off of its joint when trying to swivel it out too far. Fortunately, it pops right back in, and there isn't any loss of rigidity or general damage. For two, while the heads from one figure very easily swap in and out, on a 2nd figure the yelling head has been much more difficult to pop in and out. The actual neck-to-head joint has come out with the head a number of times - but, again, it pops back in quite easily. His body can be a tiny bit shaky when you reconnect it to his legs - not noticeable unless you shake him, but I did want to mention it. Finally, one of Frieza's joints - the knee joint - needed to be slightly oiled with how tight it was. With all of these things, I'm adjusting his Engineering score from my original +5 to a +4. Articulation: +5 This figure has every bit of articulation you'd expect from the modern releases. Butterfly joint connecting the shoulder and torso; shoulder ball joint; double peg elbow; rotation above the bicep; outward swivels for the legs along with full rotation just below; double hinge knees; and ball joint at the feet. His waist has a rotation, while the torso pivots forward and backward - not much more motion out of those, but I doubt you'll find a need for it. His arm braces can also fully rotate - something that might be missed (or omitted in lesser releases). The feet also have a sort of "double-ball-joint" where the peg is ball jointed in the leg and in the feet with a swivel. Frieza's tail connects to the body via a round joint that can pivot over 90 degrees and rotate 360 degrees, in addition to the tail being able to rotate on the peg itself. The tail also features an extra rotation near the tip. The tail has an identical connector joint in the pod. The only thing this figure would be missing is the double-joint shoulder pads that Raditz featured, but it's really not missed here (and I didn't LOVE it in Raditz anyway, though that might have been a separate issue). Accessories: +5 This is where most figures fall short, and I feel Frieza almost gets a good score on the amazing pod alone. He comes with his 5 faces, the two heads (one for the yelling faces, one for the normal ones), six hands (two grasp hands, two fists, one finger-extended right hand for his energy attack, and one bent finger left hand), a tiny energy blast to place on his finger, the cone-stand for his pod, two ear pieces (I think one is technically meant for the normal faces, the other for the yelling - it has a slightly shorter shape - but even the instructions point out that either ear will fit and work with any of the faces, even if the "yelling face" ear's shorter shape creates a slightly visible gap between its top and Frieza's head piece), scouter, and 5-star Namekian dragon ball. It feels like a lot, and I really can't think of much more they could give him that'd make sense except for maybe generic blasting hands (not that I recall Frieza doing anything like that in this form). It's a far cry from just some extra hands and faces. I do want to mention that the tiny energy ball doesn't fit super well on Frieza's finger, so make sure you press it in really good (of course, don't bend the finger!). Overall Score: 9.8 This figure is just so good! I have just about every single release so far, and this one really does stand as the best. Before this releast, my highest-scoring figure was the "Proud Namekian Piccolo" at a 9.8 score. Frieza at least matches him, and possibly even beats him. My original score was a 10, but a few little engineering quirks have reduced it just slightly. I still feel like he represents an absolute high for the Dragon Ball SH Figuarts, and I really do recommend getting him! If you're a collector, grab this one before it's too late. If you're on the fence of this toyline, I would first recommend the fairly cheap and easy to find Kaioken Goku figure and, if you like it, then possibly make this your second purchase. Honestly, fans of Dragon Ball in general would be lucky to have this figure in their collection - it's just so good, I feel like anyone with a slight interest (and the money to spend) should really consider giving it a go. I'm personally thrilled with this figure, especially after a number of less than perfect P-Bandai releases this last year. In a way, Frieza has quite well restored my faith in this line and its designers. Also - if you are a fan/collector, the designers have said that if this Frieza sells well, the Dodoria they've prototyped is likely to release as well. I've been hoping for a good Dodoria figure for a long time, so I hope this sells as well as it deserves. It really is among their best work, and I hope it's sales numbers inspire them to do more high quality releases.

Last time I bought a collectible DBZ action figure was maybe 11-12 years ago. At the time it was extremely articulated but extremely fragile. What I love about this figure is not only how amazing the details are (definition in muscle, realistic textures even down to the small things like the tail and wrist wraps), but how ROBUST this figure is. I mean this thing feels strong and like it wouldn’t break. Obviously you should still use care but I’m thoroughly impressed with how easy this is to use because of the amazing build quality. All the parts fit together nice and snug, and you can get some really cool poses or pictures with this. This is my first figure I’ve bought and I definitely will be starting a collection after this!

It was a gift for my boyfriend, who loves Dragon Ball toys, and he was fascinated. He's very particular about materials, and after a thorough inspection, he told me it was fantastic. It was worth the purchase, not only for its quality but also because it arrived in perfect condition.

"Before you begin your pathetic struggle to survive, I should warn you. Your chance of winning is nonexistent." This figure is great. It has alot to offer. The pod is super cool, and the fact that they added a stand (Kinda) is awesome! There are some minor draw backs though. The Regular face and the screaming face look better on the box than on the actual figure, just because the one on the box is a prototype. The articulation is subpar on the legs and the ab crunch going backward, but it could be worse. (Cough Cough Shf Frieza legs breaking Frame 1) I wish that the head was at least the same color as the one on the 2.0 Frieza, where it’s more dark purple, and not the same color as the armor. Also wish the white was a bit more white. Of course some more hands would be nice. Basically like the hands of the 2.0 Frieza. Other than that, it’s good! I would give a 4.5, but rounding it up gets you 5, so yeah. I feel like it is a tad bit too expensive, even if it’s at base value. Still good though. And if someone complains about the pod being Gold, that’s unreasonable. It’s just an accessory, not a character. And if it’s really that bad, then get the Figure Rise Pod and paint the Yellow Brown. Or Paint the Gold Brown on this one. Though I highly advise that you don’t do that. As a smallish Collector of SHF Dragon Ball, try to get this before the price shoots up. And remember: Premium Bandai is trash.

Legit Bandai product sold by: cyctsne. Product box did arrive a bit dented even inside an Amazon shipping box, but you run that risk with Amazon shipping. Awesome figure to add to the collection with great accessories. Check out photos *Vegeta not included.

The figure seems to be of good quality, no real issues so far. For a sh figuarts figure it meets the normal standards of the durability and condition. The figure is quite small but does have a nice variety of accessories. Got it on sale at a great price, normal price is a little pricey! Any Dragon Ball Z fan or collector would definitely enjoy this!

Esta figura de dragonballz es una gema de coleccion, buen producto y de alta calidad, para tu coleccion

Great movement articulation and quality! Not quite as durable as regular kids toys, but very solid and well made! Wouldn’t really recommend for kids as it’s more made for collectors, but still well made enough that it would be ok for kids. So glad figurearts finally gave my favorite DBZ character, Bardock the figureart treatment! Incredible detail!

Bought for my son for Christmas. Great figurine. Top notch quality

Great looking figure for nearly £60, I might buy another one some point to make a battle damaged bardock.

Envio super rápido

Amazing Sh figuarts figure, looks very nice on my shelf.

Ho reso felice mio figlio. Ottimo articolo.