Tamashii Buddies

I want Bulma Cell and Broly

Got the Wave 1 buddies on the way. I'll post pics and a review when I get them!

Yeah, Frieza and Broly are also up and various U.S. online sites as well.

Review first!  I'll take pics soon.

The Good
    Wave 1 starts off with some strong characters.  All fan-favorites with SSJ Goku, SSJ Vegeta, SSJ Trunks and Piccolo.  The sculpts are sharp and well done.  Goku has fine detailed waves through his outfit while Vegeta has his muscles sculpted along his blue jumpsuit.  There is also slight height differences as well so Vegeta is indeed shorter than Goku, though the Buddies' style makes them look almost the same height until you see them next to each other.  All the characters have a consistent "look" across them all so can easily identify them as "Tamashii Buddies".  The colors are solid and vibrant with a slight sheen to the Super Saiyans' yellow hair to give it a very subtle metallic look.  The eyes on each character are extremely well done and capture the DBZ style with sharp black lines.  Each figure comes with a unique stand and backdrop that is tailored to the character's history.  Goku has a grass stand with Shenron coiling through the clouds as his backdrop, Vegeta has a red gridded floor with the gravity amplifier in his background, Piccolo has a Namek-themed set, while Future Trunks has the rocky background and floor from his first appearance in the series when he took on Mecha-Frieza.  The backdrops are well detailed and printed on quality paper so they stand out as well.

    Each figure comes with four posts to put in each corner of the stand.  These then attach to the bottom of the other characters' stands and this is how you "stack" them.  If you prefer not to, they are all removeable and they even give you a top piece that connects between two stands so you can "lock" the backdrop in for each character.  They're pretty self-explanatory but there are directions on the back of the figure boxes.  The boxes are pretty plain, nothing really eye-catching about them but they do store the figure between two plastic bubbles.  Gaps in the bubbles around the head allow it room to "breathe" so the plastic doesn't mess up the characters' faces.

The Bad
    The paint jobs aren't as crisp as you know and expect from Tamashii.  There is no subtle airbrushing or shading, so Goku's outfit is a solid matte orange, Piccolo's white robes are all white, Vegeta's blue jumpsuit is all blue, etc.  There's some overlapping or incomplete paints.  For example, they overlapped and painted some extra blue along my Goku's left wrist-wraps.  These are minor to me considering the price-point and how they were going with these figures, but knowing Tamashii's trail record, you would expect slightly better.  You can also see how Piccolo's pink muscles with red outlines aren't as sharp and there's some slight over or underpaint as well.  I think Tamashii could've given these figures some slight shading to really make them "pop" more.

    Each character retains the same standard pose.  Legs spread, arms at waist level and they all appear to be powering up.  The expressions are relatively the same as well so no character really exhibits any different "personality" than the others aside from their appearances.  This line I think could've been slightly better if they gave each figure a unique pose from scenes in the anime/manga.  They might be redundant as we've seen them in countless statues, gashopon, etc. but would've added MUCH more personality to these little Tamashii Buddies.  Trunks could've been slashing his sword through the air, Goku could be charging up a Kamehameha, Vegeta could've been doing his infamous kick to Imperfect Cell's stomach, Piccolo could've been launching a Special Beam Cannon.  Different poses would've made each Tamashii Buddy more special in their own way and screamed out the character's personalities.  Instead, they all have the same boring ol' "powering up" pose.

The Ugly
    My biggest gripe about these figures...THEY ARE STUCK TO THE BOTTOM STAND!  Unacceptable.  I should be able to take my Buddy off if I want to and put him anywhere!  This is where I think Tamashii made a big mistake.  If you're not a fan of the backdrop and stand, you can at least get rid of the background, but you're stuck with the stand!  Of course, you probably can use some tools and get them off, but this review is based on what you get.  I would love to take these guys off their stands and have them stand alongside some other DBZ mini-figures.  Locking them to the stand really restricts these figures especially because the stand is so much wider than they are.  A smaller stand maybe have been beneficial as well.  And if you collect a lot of these, they're going to eventually take up lots of room with the stands.  The stack-able feature is nice, but if you just wanted all these guys to stand amongst one another in close proximity, that isn't happening.  Hopefully Tamashii wisens up and makes them removeable and perhaps even gives them a mini clear plastic brace/stand to put under them to help them stand without the larger square one.  The stand is about 3.5 in. x 3.5.  When you see it, it's bigger than you might expect!  Especially in comparison to the figure.  There's a lot of empty space behind the figure and the backdrop.  Making the stand slightly smaller would've helped.

Should I Collect These?
    If it came down to it...I'd say NO.  Even though they have great sculpts and overall solid paint-jobs, the boring poses and similar expressions don't sell their personalities or make them unique in any way.  Even all the video game figurines with e-Chips in them like Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Nintendo Amiibos have better poses than these guys.  And the fact you can't remove them from their stands also adds that they'll eventually take up a lot of room once you get more.  They seem more appropriate as desk ornaments than they do within a collection and could serve as some great gifts for any DBZ/Attack on Titan/Sailor Moon-and-whatever-other-series fans that they're making Tamashii Buddies of.  Perhaps the big highlight of the Dragon Ball Tamashii Buddies is that they're making some characters that we haven't seen Tamashii make yet like Piccolo Daimao, Kid Goku, First Form Frieza and a few others.  Personally, I'd buy the characters you like and want to fill some empty space you have around the house or at work.  As a collectible, I'd look elsewhere as they're really missing that "IT" factor that knocks them out of the park like some other Dragon Ball collectibles like Figuarts ZERO, SCultures and even some of the Gashopon series.

Thank you. I'll pick up a few more from the upcoming Waves, but I already know I'm not getting them all.

  I like them, but they're missing that "WOW" factor. That's why I say some unique poses would've been cool. They could've kept their slightly chibi Tamashi buddy "style", but put them in dynamic poses. Even take advantage of the 'stacking' theme and have some figures that can match up for scenes (like Goku vs. Frieza or Goten and Trunks doing the Fusion pose).

  Not being able to take the figures off the stands is a big blunder! What if I wanted to store them on a small shelf? The stands are too wide to pack a few of them together! I'm not a fan of having static figurines like these attached to their stands. Other figurines make "sense" being attached, but these don't. I also feel like it's a missed opportunity if you want to put a character on a certain stand and backdrop. What if I want Goku on Namek? Or Piccolo with the gravity amplifier. You can change the backdrop but the stand then doesn't fit.

Tamashii is on the right "track", but they have to make some fixes if they want this line to appeal to more collectors.