KRILLIN — EARTH’S STRONGEST MAN

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

It’s been a bit over a year since my last Dragon Ball Z review, and I’ve got to keep these infrequent stops back at that particular well going, right? Right. Honestly, it’s not even a conscious thing really. They just keep putting out one figure I want just every so often enough to keep me from completely falling out of it. Last year it was Piccolo. This year? We’re finally circling back around to my man Krillin. And I sure do love me some Krillin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Krillin – Earth’s Strongest Man is a 2022 release for the DBZ subset of Bandai’s SH Figuarts line. He started showing up domestically in the last month or so. This is the third version of Krillin in the line, and the second to be specifically DBZ-based. As with Piccolo, it had been a while since that last DBZ Krillin, so another version was definitely due.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and has 43 points of articulation.  As I noted in my review of Piccolo last year, there have been some definite adjustments made to how Figuarts implements articulation on their figures, especially for this line in particular.  Krillin continues that trend, and, despite his smaller stature, he’s still notably sturdier than some of the earlier figures, which is a definite plus, and something that makes the figure a lot nicer to actually mess around with.  The legs are notably a lot less prone to getting all floppy in certain poses, and his arms have less pieces that just float around during posing.  You still want to be somewhat careful, as parts can still pop out of place (as his right shoulder did during my initial posing), but for the most part, it works a lot better.  Krillin’s sculpt is all-new, and aims to address some of the issues with the last DBZ Krillin.  The biggest of those, ironically, was the size of the original figure.  He was far too tall to be an accurately scaled Krillin to go with the rest of the line.  Given his supposed canon height is supposed to be 5 feet, this new figure’s scale seems to be more or less on the mark.  Beyond that, the new sculpt is just a solid match for Krillin’s animation model, as well as the overall style of the more recent figures.  In terms of sizing, design, and how the articulation is worked in, he’s just an overall better representation than the prior release.  There are four different heads included with this one, each with a different expression.  The standard, right out of the box one has a fairly basic intense looking stare, but there’s also a surprised one, a yelling one, and an angry one.  They’re all consistently sculpted, so they look like the same character, and they’re all a good match for the character as seen on the show.  I wouldn’t mind getting something with more of a friendly smile, but the ones we got are solid.  I myself am partial to the surprised head, because that just feels so very Krillin.  The color work on Krillin is generally pretty basic.  A lot of it is molded colors, but there’s enough paint to get all of the important details.  The application is all pretty sharp, and he looks appropriately the part.  Krillin is packed with six different sets of hands (pointing, two different styles of open palm, two different styles of open gesture, and fists), an extra left hand holding a bag of Senzu Beans, and a Destructo Disk effects piece.  Pretty much all of the essentials are covered here, and I can’t really think of a ton of other stuff you could give him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first DBZ version of Krillin was released just enough before I got into the line that there was no way for me to get him at a reasonable price.  I’ve kept my eye out for other options in the scale pretty much ever since, and ultimately made do with the Dragon Ball version of him for a little bit.  That said, as soon as this one was announced, I was on board, and I eagerly awaited his release.  In hand, he’s a ton of fun, and very much worth the wait.  Given how much I like Krillin, I’m kinda glad I didn’t settle for the earlier version, and waited for what is definitely the best version of him out there.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.