DragonBall Evolve Series 6 review: SS3 Goku, Goku, Vegeta
May 12, 2024 19:36:48 GMT -6
ssj2dakota, Ascat, and 6 more like this
Post by Branjita on May 12, 2024 19:36:48 GMT -6
Backstory
This year, Bandai has gone back to regular releases instead of solely store exclusives! And this time, which is extremely surprising, we don't have to wait till the end of summer to find them to buy them!! Series 6 was slated to release (via Amazon) in late May 2024, but some people started finding them at the end of April in California, and I found them today (5/12/24 in Texas). Will this mean we will see additional Evolve figures later this same year...? Let's hope so!
Let's start the review!
Packaging
This year, Bandai has gone back to regular releases instead of solely store exclusives! And this time, which is extremely surprising, we don't have to wait till the end of summer to find them to buy them!! Series 6 was slated to release (via Amazon) in late May 2024, but some people started finding them at the end of April in California, and I found them today (5/12/24 in Texas). Will this mean we will see additional Evolve figures later this same year...? Let's hope so!
Let's start the review!
Packaging
The packaging is beautiful, as always. The ki blast on it is the same design used for Series 4 and Series 5's two Gohan figures, which is noteworthy if you're detail-oriented, but that's neither positive nor negative. However, this time, the color scheme is orange, yellow, and red. It looks really great. The biggest difference this time is that the characters are now being shown at a 3/4 profile view instead of a straight-on headshot. This actually began with Series 5's SS Gohan, but for some reason I didn't notice it back then.
And, for the first time ever, the blisterpack plastic is not exactly the same size as it always has been! SS3 Goku's blister is more than twice the depth of any other Evolve figure previously sold! It is, however, exactly the same height, width, and shape, so while this definitely opens up the possibility for characters such as Fat Buu, it does not open up the possibility for extremely tall characters. We will likely need to continue getting those characters from the Dragon Stars line.
Noteworthy Comment About the Entire Series 6 Set
This might be the best set of Evolve figures EVER. The characters look fantastic, have every detail painted that should be painted, and no matter how big your Irwin, Jakks, or other 5 inch scale collection is... you don't have a Goku or SS3 Goku that look better than these two. Something noteworthy about these is that they do not have neck pegs designed like Series 5 Gohan and Piccolo. You may recall that those figures had really skinny neck pegs and a unique slot in their throat so they could look really far down. I really liked that, but it made head swapping to older figures basically impossible. These figures don't have that. Part of that reason is that Goku and Vegeta utilize some old reused parts (their upper torsos) and SS3 Goku has to support a really large, heavy amount of hair, so they needed to go with a stronger peg this time.
This might be the best set of Evolve figures EVER. The characters look fantastic, have every detail painted that should be painted, and no matter how big your Irwin, Jakks, or other 5 inch scale collection is... you don't have a Goku or SS3 Goku that look better than these two. Something noteworthy about these is that they do not have neck pegs designed like Series 5 Gohan and Piccolo. You may recall that those figures had really skinny neck pegs and a unique slot in their throat so they could look really far down. I really liked that, but it made head swapping to older figures basically impossible. These figures don't have that. Part of that reason is that Goku and Vegeta utilize some old reused parts (their upper torsos) and SS3 Goku has to support a really large, heavy amount of hair, so they needed to go with a stronger peg this time.
Vegeta
My first impression was bad, because my Vegeta's head was so loose that it wouldn't hold any position at all. (I had flashbacks to Jakks Pacific's Saiyan Saga Vegeta... which had the exact same problem). It was easily solved via the super glue trick though. I removed his head and put one drop of liquid super glue (I like Loctite brand) on the neck peg, put the head on, and then wiggled it and turned it around and around for about 30 seconds. Then, wiggled it a bit every 30 seconds or so, for around 5 minutes. It worked like a charm.
Let's talk about his appearance. At first, I thought he was simply a new head sculpt on the same old Vegeta body as SSB Vegeta and Walmart Exclusive SS Vegeta. Fortunately, I was delighted to discover he has several retooled pieces! From top to bottom: his entire head is brand new and it looks really great. It's obvious that Evolve figures are designed on computers, and they obviously revised the SSB Vegeta head sculpt. It has fewer spikes, a smaller frown, and overall it looks extremely good for base form Vegeta. The chest (upper torso) seems to be exactly the same as older Vegeta figures. The abdomen is visually the same, but they removed some of the wiggle room it had inside the upper torso. The lower torso (hips) are vastly improved. It's shorter, fits into the abdomen without as much wiggle room, and it removed some of Vegeta's annoying inaccurate height. The arms appear the same, however, they have a new, thinner elbow joint that visually looks a little better, but doesn't change any range of motion. The thigh balls are new, have muscular definition, and they no longer look like butt cheeks. The thighs appear the same, but they have been retooled to have a completely new knee joint that not only has a little more range of motion, but decreases the overly tall Vegeta's body a bit. The shins are new, have more muscular definition to them, and the kneecap is slightly smaller. And finally, the boots (the shoe portion) are a new sculpt which lacks an outer sole. They didn't do this to decrease his height, because the boots are actually a little taller than the SSB Vegeta shoes with an outer sole.
So overall, Bandai managed to decrease his height a little (not enough, but some!), they refined past mistakes, and they fixed his worst aspect (his knees). If you haven't been reading all my reviews or collecting Evolve very long, it's worth mentioning that SSB Vegeta was probably the best Evolve Series 1 figure to play with and pose, so other than the odd proportions and weird looking knees, SSB Vegeta was a great figure. They improved a lot of areas that were disappointing, and gave us a brand new Vegeta head, so I really like this one.
I do wish they gave this Vegeta some open hands. All of the Evolve Vegeta figures share the same fists, and it would be nice to have some Final Flash, Galick Gun, or Big Bang Attack hands instead of fist for the third time. And, despite the shortening, he still looks like Vegeta's head on Future Trunks' body. It's still a great figure.
I foresee the value of the Walmart exclusive SS Vegeta increasing massively, because his head looks SO good on this body. I want another one myself so I can head swap him... and if you swap the base form head onto the other body... you could make a Namek Saga Vegeta without too much trouble...
The height of the Jakks Vegetas was always a bit tall, but they look positively small next to the Evolve Vegeta bodies. This Jakks one is one of my customs...
Yet another Jakks Vegeta, this time SS Vegeta
Goku
Until I put him next to my old Irwin and Jakks Goku figures, I didn't think much of him. But holy cow, is this Goku figure good! He is surely the best 5 inch scale Goku figure ever made, even in spite of his one major shortcoming.
So let's begin. First of all, his coloring is perfect. Everything is painted that should be painted, and every color looks perfect. His hair sculpt is great, his face is great, everything is great... except those darn shoulder rings. This Goku unfortunately reuses a retooled version of SSB Goku's torso, and that torso is easily the worst Goku torso in the Evolve line of figures. It's hard (well... impossible) to pose this Goku in a standing, resting position without those shoulder rings looking awkward. They managed to make the shoulder rings look perfect on SS3 Goku, but definitely not Goku.
Like Vegeta, I was under the impression we were getting a new head on an old body. But that's not what happened. So let's go from top to bottom. The new head is both new and great. The neck has been resculpted to be wider and a little longer, fixing an old problem with the SSB Goku body that the Target Exclusive SS Goku received without any modification. It seems like the chest (upper torso) is exactly the same otherwise. The shoulder rings and ball of the shoulder appear to be the same. Surprisingly, the upper and lower arm are completely different! They are significantly more muscular and look better. (They are actually the same upper and lower arm as those used on SS3 Goku). This time Goku has fists instead of Kamehameha hands, and I like that. They are the same fists that SS3 Goku has. The abdomen has been retooled and it goes into the upper torso very, very nicely, and gets rid of SSB Goku's wiggly belt. The belt is exactly the same sculpt as SSB Goku's. The lower torso (hips) and hip balls seem to be the same to me. But here's a big surprise: the entire thigh, shin, and knee design is completely different! The sculpt is much more detailed and looks amazing. The boots appear to be the same sculpt.
Overall, he's an incredible upgrade and very worthy of every 5 inch scale collection. Since he has a beefier neck and arms than the SSB Goku figures, if you want to make a custom SSG Goku figure... you're going to want to use the SSB Goku body since the arms and neck are so much thinner. The head pops right on, though it fits a little loose. Nothing a little super glue and wiggling wouldn't fix though. The Target Exclusive SS Goku head fits on this Goku's body perfectly. In DBZ, Goku never wore this outfit (with a belt and symbols) as a Super Saiyan, but I'm sure he could appear this way in a movie or DB Super...
The beefier neck and arms really look good!
Look how much more muscular the biceps and triceps are from the side view.
The pant legs are a completely new, better sculpt.
I was curious if any of these new parts or pieces came from UI Goku or SS Battle Damaged Goku, but they do not.
The peg is a different size.
The abdomen on the new Goku is so much better, but the shoulder rings on the old body fit better (even though they rattled around loose on the old figure).
head swapping looks great, but the difference in neck design adds or subtracts a millimeter or two.
I didn't notice how good this figure was... until I put him next to Irwin's best Goku, and my custom Jakks Goku (just a head swap)... I still love the Irwin one, but this Evolve one is incredible.
New knee design.
Goku and SS3 Goku share the same arms, but SS3 Goku has a much more muscular shoulder ball.
They do not share the same legs.
You can head swap them, but the neck on SS3 Goku's body is much longer, and the Goku body cannot support the SS3 Goku's head well.
SS3 Goku
This will be the figure everyone wants, and rightfully so. This is, by far, the best 5 inch scale SS3 Goku figure EVER made. From just aesthetic looks alone, he makes every other 5 inch scale SS3 Goku figure ever made look like a piece of crap. Seriously. I've never been fully happy with any Irwin, Jakks, Bandai Super Battle Collection, or Giochi Preziosi SS3 Goku figures ever made, and so I started (and never finished) a couple custom figures over a decade ago and... they look like complete crap in comparison. This Evolve SS3 Goku is a marvel of engineering and a work of art!!
I had to start with comparisons, because... just look at this guy!
Here he is side by side with the new Goku. It seems like the only thing they share is arms and fists. Everything else on SS3 Goku seems to be brand new and unique to him.
I don't own any unmodified Irwin or Jakks SS3 Goku figures, because I basically hate them. But these unfinished custom figures utilize parts from them (and the one on the left has a Giochi Preziosi SS3 Goku head from Italy).
As I'm sure you'll agree. This new Evolve SS3 Goku makes my attempts at a better SS3 Goku figure look like complete $%@^ in comparison. The Evolve figure is a work of art, and it's a miracle that he can stand without any issues.
I don't own a Bandai Super Battle Collection SS3 Goku... just this hilarious bootleg of one... so enjoy...
The hair on this figure is perfect. I cannot praise it enough.
The poses this figure can do are a little limited. But honestly, it's hard to do SS3 Goku poses! He was extremely acrobatic when fighting Janemba and Hildegarn, and I can't think of any iconic poses from fighting Buu.
You know a figure is good when you can balance it on one foot... when half its weight is its hair!
Dragon fist!
The SS Battle Damaged Goku figure's head looks great on this body. But his body cannot support the weight of the SS3 head at all.
I knew people would ask... so I took a pic. Here's the sash transferred onto Goku's body. I don't personally like the way it looks on it.
The sash looks a bit better on the old SSB Goku/SS Goku body. It fits better and the coloring looks closer.
Final Conclusions
I think most people are going to think they can ignore Goku and Vegeta and just get SS3 Goku. That would be a mistake. These figures are all great, and I don't think a 5 inch scale collector can skip any of them.
The Vegeta is the most posable 5 inch scale Vegeta ever made. Is he too tall? Yes. But is he the most fun to play with? Also yes. Considering I expected a new head on an old body without any improvements, I'm going to have to rate this one 9/10.
The Goku has dumb looking shoulder rings, but is otherwise flawless. You'd be a fool to skip buying this. 9.5/10.
And finally, SS3 Goku is the best SS3 Goku ever made (in my opinion). He's certainly the best 5 inch scale one... and he can stand up without falling so... 20/10.
Speaking of changes, I have just changed my pfp, now I’m like a rip-off of ◄VR►, but well the character (Yoru-chan♥️) wears bikini, so I wonder if my pfp violates the rule of this website 