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One of the most fascinating lines of figures to come out in recent years has been the "Creatures" line from Banpresto. The exaggerated molds showcase another side of these characters, all somewhat lizard-like in appearance as if they were directly out of the Aliens series of movies...
... which would be entirely appropriate to talk about with third-form Freeza, but that is not the Freeza this particular review will be taking a look at!
Figure Line: |
Assembly Style
DX Dragon Ball Creatures (4) |
Character: |
Mecha Freeza |
Maker: |
Banpresto |
Release Date: |
2009 |
Going Price: |
$15-25 |
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Review By: Mike LaBrie (VegettoEX)
As detailed in prior figure reviews, while I have always (very casually) collected figures from all sorts of different lines, I would never consider myself an "expert" in the area. I try to keep up with what the latest lines are and what high-priced products I should be drooling over for the next six months, but as you can imagine and are probably familiar with yourself, it can be incredibly difficult to stay on top of things.
After seeing a few images posted by our forum member Mike of this "Creatures" line, I was intrigued. Like many other things I see on the Internet, though, they would fade from my memory until I would next randomly come across them.
As luck would have it, many of the dealers at Otakon 2010 had a select few figures from this line for sale. Over and over again I saw Mecha Freeza and Dodoria from the fourth line, and occasionally one or two others. Mecha Freeza called out to me, and I eventually plopped down the $18 or so to take him home.
The box does a fantastic job of "selling" the figure. Still branded as DragonBall Z before the gigantic Kai takeover, Mecha Freeza stands out like a madman against the otherwise-black background. The aforementioned exaggerated features (such as the robotic left arm swaying in front of his body) are front and center. The figure looks oddly organic on the packaging, as if he might actually walk right off the cardboard. The purple glow surrounding the lettering helps convey the creepy factor, playing everything up to the extreme, while still staying classy.
The back of the box showcases the same (well, the only) pose of Mecha Freeza alongside this line's counterpart, Dodoria (who is somewhat hunched over resting one fist on the ground). The figures take a back seat to the overwhelming amount of general text and logos.
I was somewhat surprised to see how little there was inside of the box — just a thin, cardboard tube with the materials wrapped up inside, themselves in plastic wrap. I really do not know what I expected to find in there in terms of pieces and additional packaging, but it just all seemed very minimal.
Contained inside were two plastic bags, each with their own segmented compartments for the six pieces that comprise the figure (arm / arm / upper body; leg / leg / tail). The underwhelming feeling of "small" continued here. I could already tell that the coloring, mold, and overall grandeur of the figure was probably not going to match up with my (admittedly un-researched) expectations.
The box, the cardboard tube, and the plastic wrap... that is all there is to the packaging.
After taking the figure's pieces out of their plastic wrapping, the moderate disappointment truly began to set in. It looked perfectly adequate, but I was hoping for more than just "adequate". At the same time, the figure cost less than $20. What else should I really have expected?
The figure was easy enough to plug together, with the exception of his mechanical right leg. This appendage in particular sticks forward at a very strange angle, and to the point where all of his pieces essentially overlap each other with this final leg in place. This was the last piece I tried plopping in, but ended up having to take out the overlapping pieces to put the leg in first (which was a very tight fit) before placing the rest back in.
As anticipated, the coloring seemed much more dull than the vibrant box would lead one to believe. That "real" feeling was somewhat lost. He still looked pretty damn cool, though... right?
He stands tall perfectly fine on his own, and while there is no articulation, this is not the type of figure you will do much more with other than stare at him in a combination of disgust and awe.
Mecha Freeza's "Creatures" figure stands approximately five and a half inches tall. From the front of the forward-extending foot to the back of the trailing foot, he stretches out over a four and a half inch area.
The figure holds up relatively well at close examination. Details such as scrapes and the cyborg accessories do contribute to that "cheap" feeling, but not to the point where they are falling off. This harder-vinyl figure feels pretty robust when assembled together, with the possible exception of his tail — it just is not a very tight fit in the back, and will likely pop out from time to time if you move him around a bit.
The Mecha Freeza "Creatures" figure certainly is not a bad looking one by any stretch of the imagination. I feel that by harping on what little disappointment I had with his appearance really does more harm than good for this figure and this line.
It is hard for me to describe the Mecha Freeza "Creatures" figure without resorting to that word: "disappointment". That really is not fair to the figure, though. For the price, it is very well-made, a nice size, and creates a nice contrast against other figures you may have. The coloring may be a bit dull and slightly misrepresented on the fantastic packaging, but it certainly is not "bad". This is a great showcase figure to have, and perhaps in conjunction with some of the other "Creatures" line, may be more impressive than just having the one by itself.
The Mecha Freeza figure from the Creatures line is no longer readily available, but may be occasionally found on retailers such as (general search links provided where appropriate):
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