Banpresto DXF Dragon Ball Heroes: Super Saiyan 3 Son Goku figure

 December 16, 2019  Toys

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SERIES DETAILS

The Dragon Ball universe has definitely conquered a wide range of ideas, in terms of promoting the franchise. Of course, the popular characters would be a waste if they’d only stay in anime and manga. That’s why we’re also seeing them in games, specifically video games and card games.

Dragon Ball Heroes, apparently, is a card game based on the Dragon Ball universe, although there’s a little bit twist with it since the story’s far different from the original on-going series. We can say that it’s a spin-off of the anime, and more surprisingly, the franchise also has its own anime for the card game — obviously for promotion.

And speaking of promotion, Dragon Ball Heroes partnered with Banpresto to gain some attention for their mind-boggling card game. The Super Saiyan 3: Son Goku figure was released under the DXF collection and the card game’s brand.

It has definitely gained some attention, and even more with figure pirates who would really get some easy cash from this design.

ORIGIN OF FAKE

Bought on: AliExpress
Origin: China
Vendor: Kitty Store
Distribution Area: Worldwide

If you’re searching for quality figures, AliExpress might be the worst place to look at. Next to eBay, the website is full of vendors who are selling unauthorized merchandise, or simply bootlegs. 

The Kitty Store is one of these shady vendors who you wouldn’t expect to sell figures like the Son Goku figure. The name of the merchant is totally out of context, and while that can’t be an issue at all, there isn’t anything related to the store’s name in their item listings. The store initially hits the red flag for the fake that we’re going to look at.

The absence of decency on this fake Super Saiyan 3: Son Goku figure is absolutely mind-blowing.

DESCRIPTION OF FAKE

Here we are, wondering how this fake DXF Son Goku figure even got here in the first place. Just look at it! The box is a really terrible sight. It’s almost squished and smashed from every side, and not only that, the bottom of the box has been taped with packaging tape — absolutely the worst example of packaging a figure.

There are a lot more flaws you can point out on this dilapidated packaging.

Logo-wise, you can see that there are expected logos on the fake figure’s box. There’s the Banpresto as well as the DXF logo, but if you’ll look on the opposite side of these two logos, you’ll notice an unbranded logo.

From that point of view, you can tell that the logo is a rigged version of the Craneking logo. Originally, authentic boxes have a black border for the logo, although it may be varying, this fake missed out on the “CRANEKING” that’s supposed to be there.

With a full view of the box, you’ll see that the texts are blurry, especially for the QR codes at the back. Regardless, the whole box is the bootleg’s own hellhole — literally!

Opening the box isn’t such a hard task, obviously, because of its condition. However, you can see that the figure is wrapped in an average protective plastic, and beside it, the base inside a thin one as well.

Initially, you will have to assemble the figure first since it’s divided into different parts. The hair and the left leg are separated from the body.

It’s challenging to put these parts together though, since there’s no way to attach each one firmly. The parts are very loose, so to speak. What’s more annoying is that you’ll need to force the figure onto its base, and when you do so, you might find yourself pissed at the fact that the figure just collapsed — it happened in our case, at the least.

The fake Son Goku figure looks very dull from a fair view. You can already see some faded paint from the overview photos above. If you’ll compare the fake figure from the images on its packaging, there’s already a huge gap in the appearance. From that, you can already judge this as a fake.

Looking closely at its head, you’ll see a small hole on the right side of its forehead. Supposedly, it’s missing hair part to complete Goku’s look, but it wasn’t included in the package. The figure’s right eye also suffers from a white ink stain.

The hair also tells you how bootlegs are badly created. The area is just full of scratches and dents. You can also see from the hair extension part that there are a couple of scratched paint.

Normally, bootlegs have these kinds of defects on them, although it may be hard to tell if you’re buying this figure online. The vendors are smart enough to mask their item listings with either using the authentic’s pictures, or simply, making the bootleg look presentable on their photos.

The body of the fake DXF Son Goku figure here is as bad as the rest of the areas. You can see that there are mild ink stains on the clothing of the item. This just tells you that both the paint and the manner it was applied is absolutely low quality. The stains can be found at the back as well.

Although there’s less to diss about the arms of the bootleg, you can see some minor flaws in there. For example, the edges of the belt area is really unrefined as you’ll see some dents especially on the right side of the figure.

If there’s anything else to be more suspicious about, it’d be by look at the bootleg’s lower area.

From a fair view, the legs may look fine, but you have to use your keen senses in detecting some minor dents in the area. And below the legs, you’ll see some low-quality carving of the shoes. Not only that, there are relatively a lot of scratches on this area of the bootleg. The paint job also failed, if you haven’t noticed yet.

The real DXF Son Goku SSJ3 figure is the refined, high-quality figure that you’re looking for. Based on images alone, you can judge that the real figure truly meets your expectations as a figure collector.

The real figure has the true color of the Super Saiyan 3 Goku. You can tell that the paint job was done appropriately. You can feel that the texture of the figure is absolutely flawless. And as a Dragon Ball Heroes figure, you can also expect an exclusive card with a purchase of the authentic figure.

PRICE

The DXF Son Goku SSJ3 figure was released back in 2014, so there’s some probability that prices were raised since then. However, we’ve located a website where you can only get the authentic item for around $32, though we’re not sure how long stocks will last.

The fake figure’s price, on the other hand, is an absolute joke. It isn’t worth even spending a penny on, even for shipping and handling. A $6 price tag on this bootleg would only go to the pockets of people who will just make more of these low-quality items.

WHERE TO GET REAL BANPRESTO DXF DRAGON BALL HEROES SON GOKU SUPER SAIYAN 3 FIGURE

There aren’t many sources of the real Banpresto DXF Dragon Ball Heroes: Goku SSJ3 figure nowadays, especially if you’re only going to look for it online. There are several online stores for anime figures that are definitely trusted, but we only found the authentic figure on Ninoma – The Japanese Market.

You’re assured of getting the authentic item if you’re going to get it from this website. Unlike eBay or AliExpress, the website sources out popular Japanese items and make these available worldwide. Most of these stuff are toy figures from renowned Japanese manufacturers. The authentic item’s $32 price tag isn’t actually a lot considering it’s already facing being phased-out. Who knows if Banpresto is still making another batch of DXF Goku SSJ3 figures.

OUR VERDICT

The fake DXF Son Goku SSJ3 figure is a complete laughing stock. It has a lot of flaws, and could probably count as a deformed Super Saiyan 3. It definitely has a rough finish as its quality goes down the drain. Its paint job really has an stainful finish of ink blots especially around its body area.

This bootleg probably has the worst packaging out of all the ones that we’ve reviewed. That is why it deserves lambasted with a 95% awful rating.