Here's one that's been sitting around for a very long time - Orange Piccolo from the Super Heroes movie. Yes, the same one that was released almost half a year ago in Japan, it's kind of sat here in a corner. Good time as any to crack the seal, I'd say.
In case you somehow managed to miss it, Orange Piccolo is currently the most powerful form of my guy Piccolo. After going multiple arcs with no upgrades, despite being basically first on the scene. From what I understand, this form is strictly a power boost, not a form that gives him any new abilities.
So the contents for the set are actually pretty straight forward. As with a good number of figures from the Super Hereos lineup, Orange Piccolo came with parts for base Gohan, almost like they were either better heavy on him selling very well, or that people wouldn't buy the auxiliary figures without some other further incentive:
1x Main Figure
4 x Heads (Neutral, Gritted Teeth, Shouting, Smiling)
6 x Posing Hands
2 x Kamehameha Hands (Gohan)
1 x Kamehameha Effect (Gohan)
Basically everything about this new design says "Swole"... well, that and some weird colour fetish. LIke if they fused PIccolo into the Hulk's body. Definitely not the flashiest looking upgrade, but Piccolo isn't really about that life.
He's definitely huge compared to your typical Figuarts, though my question is how well does the scaling work between figures, as I've not seen movie yet. The figure is about chest high on Sheeva, but is only about two heads taller than Beast Gohan (spoiler alert), but according to the official height stats, Piccolo in base form is supposed to be like 2 ft. taller than Goku to begin with.
What I'm trying to say is that I have no faith whatsoever that it's actually correct.
The included headsculpts are lovely. As with most modern Dragonball faces, these ones are well sculpted and, more importantly, are equipped with the extra panel lines to help things pop. I like this continued trend and things just look much better because of these changes. What also benefits this figure is that unlike the million Goku and Vegeta out there, these are new.
Articulation on the figure is pretty good, though sadly coming up short in one particular area. This is a completely new body, though of course they're going to reuse existing concepts. The hips are dropped down but don't feature the weird flaps that are present on the Saiyan bodies, which looks better from behind but basically means you're not doing any backwards kicks. Shoulders feature butterfly joints along with the standard array of arm joints, so you're in pretty good shape there. Head tilt is OK, but anything beyond casually looking up and down is a challenge. The disappoint part, however, is for the purposes of aesthetics, they made his top a one piece, which basically restricts articulation of the chest, which is why Orange Piccolo has no twerk game.
Paint Applications are subtle, but well implemented. Colouring is predominately base plastic, with weathering on the purple to break up the monotony. Funny thing is that I think unless a mistake was made, technically Orange Piccolo is actually more colourful than base form, as the orange on the face and chest appear different than the ones on the arms. Painted areas include the arms, bottom of the shoes, the beautiful fingernails, and of course the face. Interestingly it should be noted that the pattern on the arms continues all the way down, as opposed to making a break where the elbow joint is. Decal work is wonderful, as are generally all releases from this line.
Build Quality is solid as well. It helps that there aren't exactly that many things to screw up here - by Dragonball standards, this is a pretty simple character design. Hands and heads fit on their respective pegs nicely. Joints do their thing. No rough finishes or other artifacts of production observed. The Gohan parts follow suit, though I didn't photograph them in action for this batch of pics.
I love anything Piccolo, and it goes without saying that a figure of his first real upgrade in DECADES is high on my list of figures to get. Mind you I don't think this upgrade will exactly change the nature of the character being supporting role, but at least he'll be that much more useful than Yamcha. Even from a non character perspective, it's a nicely made piece with good production qualities, great articulation, and that giant stature that everyone wants in their toys.
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