Games Begin Goku
Quality Control: B-⭐️⭐️
Accessories: A⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sculpt: A+⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Articulation:S⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Design:S⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wanted to spend a month with this Goku enjoying it after getting it in December and not review on Hype.
-Quality Control
The quality control for this Goku is pretty solid. It is on the more (Budget release) end, he has some paint bleeding across his boots. He came out the box tight in the ab crunch area, but some warm water did the trick and he's alright. His quality isn't anything too crazy.
-Accessories
He comes with what you'd expect: a figure in his price range comes with 10 hands, 4 faceplates and two hairpieces which feel worth it for the price, but i wish tamashii started making effects the standard in releases.
-Sculpt
Each headsculpt captures Toriyama's cell arc style quite accurately, feeling straight out of the panels when i pose with him using the anime as a posing reference. Solid sculpting in the hair and across the front of his body, but oddly, it was not continued onto the back.
-Articulation
The articulation was entirely scrapped from the 2.0 line signifying its end and its predecessor, Daima, being the slow introduction to a new wave of heavily improved engineering. Implementing softer plastic for a majority of his body brings out better posing for him. The change in torso choice was definitely intentional, but understandably, it won’t land with every collector as some are not fond of gaps. I don't mind this at all as he hits some great poses with the updated ab-crunch.
-Design
Tamashii’s DB-Team wanted to improve to try and create a more seamless design and I believe they did execute such choices quite well, probably one of the best budget-looking Gokus.
To my negatives
-Head swapping and face-fitting
I feel this was an over-engineered decision by the team, as his head does not sit on a simple double-sided ball peg but a double-sided hinge (L-shape) instead of previous releases that had a simple popping in the head onto the peg. They decided to change the location to the back of the hair irritatingly. I always prick myself trying to swap his headsculpts (which also the change of the peg means any figure released before this Goku is no longer compatible and requires a custom peg).
Now one of the few other choices is from a double-jointed knee to single. I feel this is a subjective matter for collectors, as this Goku actually hits some poses many double-jointed figures can accomplish.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This Goku is one incredible figure and comes in strong for the price. I do hope future releases sit in the oven a little more rather than have some problems he faces, but he's money well spent, and I truly love posing with him often!
