Piccolo: Dragon Ball (S.H.Figuarts)

S.H.Figuarts Piccolo

This next Dragon Ball Z character is not your typical little green dude on a flying saucer coming from outer space. Meet Piccolo, a kung fu-trained BA with a name of a flute-like instrument from another planet notable for his insect-like feature and eastern Indian dress code. He is one of my top favourite characters up there with Gokou and Vegeta in the Dragon Ball universe. I finally got me my own Piccolo figure from S.H.Figuarts and I am very pleased that they reissued such a prominent character for DBZ collectors like me.















Now to the figure! This is yet another amazing work by Bandai Tamashii Nations. Although I'd say the paint application is not that perfectly done unlike the Son Gokou figure. Notice that the shade of purple on Piccolo's torso is not the same as the ones on his legs. Apparently, it is not that obvious once this figure is on a display shelf, but on a still camera, the mistakes are visible. The rest of the paint job otherwise, is nicely done. I am fairly satisfied with the choice of colours even with its simplistic application.

The selling point with this figure to me is the sculpt and body mold. No large looking hands or oddly long or short extremities; he is anatomically proportionate. Also, I like how the wrinkles over his clothing are sculpted; forming like waves crumpling together around the edges and corners. Piccolo's insect-like arms are nicely done with all these grooves swerving and almost looking like fingerprints alongside with these yellow thingies sticking out from it. The one thing that surprised me though is that Piccolo suppose to have pointy white fingernails. The ones you've seen here are short with black nail polish, which is I believe not accurate. You might think that I'm nitpicking but this is not what Piccolo-fingers look like.

If the S.H.Figuarts Son Gokou got the kamehameha effects, Piccolo's unique accessory is his... folded arms. As simple as it is, Piccolo's crisscrossed/folded arms is one of his signature pose. Installing this accessory/interchangeable part is a pain in the neck, like you have to keep both shoulders aligned once you replace his regular arms into this one solid piece of plastic. Along with it, comes this "half-bib" that latches unto his folded arms, which completes this entire gimmick. Also, Piccolo has four (3) interchangeable hands: fisting hands, high five hands, grabbing hands, and one (1) two-finger pointing hand.

And furthermore, Piccolo has 3 interchangeable heads: the turbaned head, the regular head (without the turban but with the highly pliable soft plastic antennae), and the angry-faced head (with veins popping, no turban and so forth). Last but not his least accessory is his white cape that has that flowing effect and kind of windswept to the right to make that more dynamic pose.

The articulation on the S.H.Figuarts Piccolo is the same as with our Son Gokou figure. The neck is on a ball-joint that lets his head lean at different angles and rotate. Shoulders are on ball-joints that work like armpit pivots along with hinges that allows his arms to move laterally. He has rotation at the biceps, double-joints at the elbows, ball-jointed wrists, double ball-jointed waist, double ball-jointed hips, swivel at the upper-thighs, double-jointed knees, hinged ankles with an ankle pivot and toe articulation.

So we finally get to see Piccolo size-compared to Gokou. Without counting the hair, Piccolo stands just a little bit taller than him. Despite the issue with the paint and source material, this figure is still must-have especially if you're a Dragon Ball Z fan because of the overall looks and design. You probably couldn't ask for a better Piccolo figure other than this one.