On sale today! Interview with the developer to commemorate the release of "S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Goku - The Legendary Super Saiyan"! What is the charm of the "Legendary Super Saiyan" that has reached the ultimate in sculpting and posability?

BANDAI SPIRITS' action figure brand "SH.Figuarts" series has released "Super Saiyan Son Goku - The Legendary Super Saiyan".

Since the brand's launch in 2009, the "S.H.Figuarts" series has been ambitiously creating action figures of various characters, both domestic and international. The "S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball" series, which started with "Piccolo" released in November 2009, has become one of the longest-running series, boasting high popularity not only in Japan but also overseas.

The "S.H.Figuarts" series has always evolved by incorporating new technologies and gimmicks, but the evolution of action figures is difficult to see at a glance. Aside from the sculpting aspect, which can be judged by appearance, the "S.H.Figuarts" series has been seeking a compromise between "expanding the range of motion while keeping joint parts as inconspicuous as possible" in terms of movable gimmicks. The "S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball" series, which requires the reproduction of poses from the movie and powerful poses, is a particularly challenging item that tests the staff's understanding of the world of the work.

The "Super Saiyan Son Goku," whose robe has been ripped off to reveal his upper body, has finally been announced as an entry in this series!

OKAMOTO, who is in charge of planning in the Collectors Division of BANDAI SPIRITS, about the background and enthusiasm behind the creation of this item.

--OKAMOTO: This Goku is a figure that every "Dragon Ball" fan would want to have during the battle against Frieza, isn't he?

OKAMOTO: The image of Goku at the climax of the battle against Frieza, "You mean Krillin... !!!!! There have been many variations of Goku in the S.H.Figuarts line, but this is the first time Goku has been sculpted in this form, and it's also the first time I've created Goku from scratch. So I didn't think about how many times I would sculpt this figure, but rather, "If I were to sculpt this figure now, how far could I go? I only thought, "If I were to sculpt this figure now, how far could I go?

--What was the reason why you chose Goku for this project?

OKAMOTO: As we have been releasing items from the Frieza Arc, I wanted to recreate this figure if we were going to release an evolved Goku with the latest movable gimmick. Even as a "Super Saiyan Goku" item for the Frieza Arc, the situation had stopped with the "S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Goku Super Soldier Awakening Ver." released in 2016, and I wanted to add a new Goku to the lineup that I would want as well. The project itself had been in the works for three or four years, since the time of my predecessor, so it was really a long time coming.

--OKAMOTO: What did you pay most attention to in sculpting this figure?

OKAMOTO: I think the most important thing was the balance between modeling and mobility. When we make prototypes, we usually have the prototype sculptor create a character that is not movable, and then we apply the usual joint gimmicks to it and adjust it later. I made the prototype without any movement. Even if the prototype looks really cool without movement, when it comes time to incorporate movement, the gaps between joints may be too noticeable, or the figure may not be able to move the way I want it to. So this time, I was very careful to avoid such deviations. All I had to do was ask the prototype designer to do it this way.

--(laughs) - For action figures, the "treatment of the shoulder joint's range of motion and appearance" may be an eternal issue, isn't it?

OKAMOTO That's right. How to make the joints less noticeable while maintaining the range of motion is a constant battle that has no right answer. In the "S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball" series, we have focused on reproducing the Kamehameha pose in a cooler way. In that sense, I think we are pushing the limits of what we can do now in terms of the movable shoulder structure.

--OKAMOTO: How exactly did you change the movable structure around the shoulders?

OKAMOTO: Compared to "Super Saiyan 4," we increased the number of movable points in the chest area, so the left and right shoulders can be moved upward respectively. Although the range of motion itself has not been extremely expanded, I think that the ability to raise the left and right shoulders independently has considerably broadened the range of nuance when posing.

--The arms can also be pushed out much further.

OKAMOTO: This time, the wrists are more firmly stacked together, allowing for more powerful poses to be reproduced. In a sense, this is the most important point for Goku figures, so we were very particular about this. The wristband was previously integrated into the upper arm, but this time it is a separate, independent part. This not only made it possible to hide the wrist joint, but also made it easier to express the twist of the wrist when posing the figure hitting the Kamehameha wave.

--I guess there are a lot of other things you tried that people don't notice at a glance.

OKAMOTO That's right. For example, for the waist area (......), soft parts are used for the first time for the straps of the dojo, the torn dojo above it, and the pants underneath. This made it a little easier to make them movable, so we also made some changes to the hip joints, and changed the base of the legs from a movable axis to ball joints. This allows the figure to be posed with both legs slightly crossed inward, which is subtle, but allows for a more natural standing posture, including walking poses. This is not so much a "major expansion of the range of motion" as a "slight nuance change," but we wanted to recreate as much of the "Dragon Ball" illustration as possible. For example, when the figure is in a wide-open pose, I wanted to add details such as the wrinkles of her street clothes where the hip joints are exposed.

--What other details did you pay attention to when making the figure movable?

OKAMOTO: The elbows and knees can only bend, but they do not rotate on their axes. In a sense, it would be easier to pose the elbows and knees if they could rotate on their axes, but since they are parts of the human body that do not rotate structurally, I personally chose not to do this with the "Dragon Ball" characters.

--OKAMOTO: In terms of modeling, the ripped condition of the dojis is exactly as I imagined.

OKAMOTO: I carefully traced the details of the uniform, but at the same time, I wanted to pursue the range of motion, so I adjusted some of the details so that the back of the knees would not interfere with the motion. We went back and forth to find the best solution while considering the balance between the desired range of motion and the appearance.

--OKAMOTO: The replacement parts, such as the wrists, are gorgeous, but the hair style in particular is wonderfully reproduced.

OKAMOTO: I knew I wanted to reproduce "Krillin's !!!!! I really wanted to reproduce the "Krillin's you mean! (Laughs) In addition to the bangs, there are two different hair parts that can be attached to the figure, and three different facial parts with different expressions, so you can recreate a wide variety of different figures depending on the situation. The face parts have also been modified to reflect Akira Toriyama's touch at the time.

--Is this the best you can do at the moment?

OKAMOTO: Considering the 1/12 scale of S.H.Figuarts, I think this is the best we can do at the moment.

--So in a sense, this is your main goal for this item.

OKAMOTO The "S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball" series has been going on for many years, but there are still quite a few variations like this Goku figure that have not been commercialized yet (see ......) or have different costumes. I'm not sure if they have been commercialized yet. For the past 3 to 4 years, we have been sculpting characters from the Frieza Arc, and due to the popularity of the series, we have been able to commercialize not only the main characters, but also various forms of Frieza, Zarbon, and Dodoria. Moreover, these maniac characters have been more popular than expected, and we are truly grateful for that. In the future, we would like to continue to produce not only the most requested characters and their variations, but also those that have not been so fortunate to be made into figures.

--I'm looking forward to seeing the future lineup.

OKAMOTO: I'd like to gradually work on the Cell Arc, but we can still dig deeper into the Frieza Arc, and I think we can do a figure of ...... Apur, or Zarbon after his transformation (laughs). (Laughs.) I would like to challenge more and more characters that are rarely made into figures. First of all, I believe that I have created Goku with my best effort, so I would be happy if you could pick one up. I'm taking on each item with the determination of "I'm going to make S.H.Figuarts with all my strength! So please look forward to seeing more items in the future lineup!

(Interview and composition by Koichiro Tokushige)

Product Information

S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Goku -The Legendary Super Saiyan

Price: 7,150 yen (tax included)

Release date: November 23, 2023

Release date: November 23, 2023 ・Sold by: BANDAI SPIRITS