Ahhh Jiren. Introduce in the Dragonball Super series, Introduced in the Universe Survival Saga as the main antagonist, he's in reality a hero in his own Universe 11, but was hand picked to represent his turf in a battle for existence. It'll be interesting to see if canonically he meets up with Goku again as there's no multiverse travel... yet, but who knows.
I managed to get one of these Figuarts transferred from a remote Quebec EB Games as I discovered that the store was clearing them out, so it was fortuitous timing on my part. It was also better I ended up getting the later released non Japanese batch, as I'd heard all sorts of stories about QC issues with this figure. Mine seems to have a somewhat tight right shoulder joint, though it isn't as bad as the one on my SAC 2045 Mokoto.
For a standard release, Jiren is packing quite a few pieces in the package:
- 1 X Main Figure
- 4 X Head Scupts (various stages of anger)
- 7 X Posing Hands
- 1 X Flame Fist/Effect
- 1 X SSGSS Goku Face Clasp Hand
- 1 X Crossed Arm Effect
From a design perspective, Jiren is possibly one of the simplest I've seen from Dragonball, not that it's a bad thing. He's got no hair, and basically he's wearing a body suit and boots. Like every other action hero, looks like he's perpetually having bad day.
Or if you're me, you can see a jacked up Marshall Mathers aka Enimem.
The body features excellent musculature, which is honestly kind of expected given the nature of the character. From what I can tell, Bandai either used a scaled down Infinity War Hulk, or something very close to it, as the groin area is one of few modern Dragonball figures that does not use that new hip design, though I kind of wish they did as he doesn't look that great from the back.
From an articulation perspective, things are looking good. With Jiren, you get all the great modern Figuarts level articulation, including double jointed elbows and knees, as well as the shoulder expansion hinge. There are no bits and bobs getting the way of movement, so overall if its physically possible with the hardware, you'll be able to do it.
The overall potential is very good, considering how bulky Jiren is.
Paint Work is clean and crisp, though admittedly things are relatively easier to get right given the relatively simple nature of the outfit. The detailing on the head sculpts is sharp, and is one of the few open mouth heads that I haven't facepalmed over the quality, though admittedly it's varying degrees of gritted teeth.
From a Build Quality perspective, there's the aforementioned shoulder tightness issue. Other than that, Jiren seems pretty good. Everything else seems to be move very smoothly, with no assembly or other relevant QC items... for now. I did notice that the socket of my crossed arm part seemed to be getting damaged from use, so it's possible that will chip away in the future, hopefully not affecting actual connectivity.
The flame fist/effect are both made from a translucent plastic, and I did not see any bubbles or anything that would suggest there would be material failure.
While I'm not sure if there are any long term product stability issues, but for now I can say that Jiren is a well assembled product with great pack ins and articulation capabilities. A great clean up for the palette after the disaster that was Whis. Of course, now that I have this, I'll need to keep an eye out for the even more jacked up Final Form Jiren... but I'm in no hurry, I suppose.
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