presents

By Ray H.

DragonBall Toys from Japan

The Super Battle Collection

This is the most well known and easiest to get of all import DBZ toys. Produced by Bandai, this line does not have a lot of articulation but does have a big character selection. In all 43 Volumes plus the incredibly rare Movie Seven 3-Pack was made. These figures on average are about 5 inches tall, then taller or shorter characters are scaled around that.

This line covers toys from DragonBall Z which are volumes 00-27, and DragonBall GT which are volumes 28-42. These toys come with snap on clothes, and have articulation at the arms and sometimes the head. Some of the figures are two packs and some figures have inter-changeable parts.

There is a slight difference in scale between the DBZ and DBGT toys in the line, in general the DBGT figures are about a quarter of an inch bigger than the DBZ toys.

The Super Battle Collection started in 1991 and ended in 1998, the first 10 volumes of figures were designed and made in Japan while everything after that was made in Hong Kong where DBZ was very, very big. The first 10 original Japanese figures also used to come in different boxes than the ones your used to seeing now. The originals had a different design plus more info about the character on the back. The average price nowadays for SBC figures is about $13-$15 in the U.S. Prices may vary somewhat because of the sizes of certain characters.

The Full Action Pose Collection

The Full Action Pose [FAP] line started around 1991/92, and consist of Cell Saga characters. These toys are about 8 inches tall and are the most articulated DBZ figures out there, and even have opening and closing hands. These have cloth costumes as well. Expect to pay around $40 to $60 for these, except for the Yardrat Gokou, that goes for much, much, more. Four toys are in this line:

• SSJ Future Trunks
• SSJ Son Gohan
• SSJ Son Gokou
• SSJ Son Gokou, in Yardrat costume limited exclusive.

The Super Collection

These are some of my personal favorites as far as DBZ toys go. The Super Collection was produced in the 1991/92 era as well, Gokou is about 6 �" tall to the top of his hair and everybody else is scaled around that. They feature some very minor trivial articulation, if you want to call it that, at the arms and the waist (not all the figures are like that), but that's more than the SBC. These are so cool because the sculpts on them are excellent probably the best renditions of the characters ever toy wise. The Super Collection includes some cool nifty details like individual strands of hair draped across the foreheads of characters to give them a more animated look. They are made of a semi soft vinyl. What's pictured here is all that were made. Unfortunately these are very hard to find these days. You can expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $120 for these guys.

Full Action Kits

These are really nice toys, highly articulated and great sculpts these and the Super Collection are neck in neck for the best DBZ toys around, although Irwin might change that soon. These were made in 1994/95 and cover characters from the Buu Saga era. These do require assembly, but there's no paint or glue needed. Everything is pre-colored. They take about 45 minutes to assemble. The really cool feature on these is that their clothes are made of a very soft vinyl so it has the "sculpted look", but there are fully articulated legs under those pants. FAKs also come with interchangeable hands (open and fist) as well as interchangeable regular heads and Super Saiya-Jin heads (SSJ3 Gokou and Gogeta only come with 1 head). These stand about 7 inches tall for the adult characters, and the adult body features 21 points of articulation. They used to go for a lot more, but nowadays they go for like $12 each. 6 volumes were made:

• Vol 1: Son Gohan
• Vol 2: Son Gokou
• Vol 3: Son Goten and chibi Trunks 2 pack
• Vol 4: SSJ3 Son Gokou
• Vol 5: Gotenks
• Vol 6: Gogeta

A few more FAKs were produced in other countries as you'll see in the next section and Irwin will also be producing some FAKs of there own soon.

DragonBall Toys

There was a small line in 1988 based on the original DragonBall series, featuring a Gokou, Kuririn (aka Krillen), and Yamucha. These had a basic range of articulation and were about 4 to 5 inches tall. They all had an "action feature".

Battle "Z" Collection

This is what you get if you combined DBZ and G.I. Joe: Real American Hero toys. These guys are about the size of Joe's and have similar articulation. Produced in the 1991/92 DBZ toy boom, the BZC require assembly and some painting to get them to look "just right" (the image on the far right is them "un-painted"). These came in 2 big multi-packs with 5 figures in each pack. All the characters are from the Cell Saga and are very nicely detailed.

Super Deformed

There is a line of Super Deformed vinyl toys, featuring the cast from the Cell Saga. These are about 3 inches tall each and no articulation whatsoever. I believe there are 12 figures in this line but don't quote me on that.

DBZ Best of the Best 16" Figures

These are supersized Dragonball figures with minimal articulation they make SSJ Gokou, SSJ Future Trunks and Majin Vegeta.

Other

There are a ton of mini PVC DBZ figures and "one shot" toys out there. Ever since DragonBall began to air in 1986 tons of little "doo dah's" have been getting produced like small little rubber toys similar to old M.U.C.L.E.S. figures, these were all semi-super deformed and quite a few were made. Another little known figure is the Master Roshi Full Action Kit!! Well okay maybe not "full action" but there was a "kit" toy produced of Master Roshi back in the 80's. It's about 6 inches tall when completed (theirs a pic of it in the top right hand side next to the Roshi grabber). Additional nifty toy is the DBZ "scouter" (bottom center). While not an "action figure" it's still a pretty neat item. Just slap it over your eye and go read peoples power levels. The guys at work will think it's cool...really! There are some more versions of the scouter toy, but the one pictured is the best. Plus there's all the Gashapon, Claw Catchers and plushies you'd expect of any franchise show. So keep checking the sky's... er... I mean auctions.

Who knows what rare gem you might find.

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