Series: Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Naruto (crossover)
Company: Bandai
Year: 2008
Size: +/- 5.5cm
Main distribution: Japan
This is a very special collaboration between Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Naruto to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Jump. The 3 animes are the biggest and most popular and are also called the DON of anime. This blind box set is called 3×3, as it’s 3 animes, with 3 characters. Each of the 3 character figures slots together to create a semicircle, and there is a 4th bigger figure on a semicircle to go behind it, creating a full circle scene of the show.
Series: Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT / Dragonball Kai
Company: Bandai
Size: +/- 6 cm
Main distribution: Japan
This a series of chibi Dragonball characters made by Bandai. They are about 3 heads tall rather than 2. They all come on a black base which has the character’s name on it. Deformation relates to the chibi nature of the figures, as chibi is also often called SD or Super Deformed. These came in blind boxes so it would be a surprise which one you would get.
Series: Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT / Dragonball Kai / Dragonball Super / Dragonball Heroes
Company: Bandai
Release: 1995+
Size: various
Main distribution: Japan / Europe
The HG series is a series of Gashapon sets of small Dragonball figures. Most you had to build as they came in pieces. HG stands for ‘High Grade’. They came out of a Gashapon machine in a capsule, although some come in boxes I believe. They were made by Bandai, and later redistributed by AB Groupe in Europe, where they were called Maxi Collection. Several series were made resulting in over 300+ figures including colour variants, and is still ongoing now. What’s cool about these is is that they are in scale with one another.
This is a series made by Bandai called the “Mini Figure Selection Plus”. 2 series of 6 figures were made. These came in blind bags. They are great 3D representations of Akira Toriyama’s art.
Series: Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT / Dragonball Super
Company: Bandai
Release: 2003-2016
Size: +/- 6 cm
Main distribution: Japan
This is a series made by Bandai done for several IP’s, like Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT, Dragonball Super, Gundam Seed etc. These are all SD (Super Deformed) or chibi figures sitting on a round object. “Chara Pucchi” means “Character Petit”. Here you’ll find all the Dragon Ball ones.
Main distribution: Japan, later re-released in America / Europe
Bandai released some of the first Action Figures of Dragonball when the show started airing in Japan. The line was called “Super Battle Collection” and 43 figures / sets were made. These were later re-released by KidzBiz, Giochi Preziosi and Irwin Toy, bringing them to the West. Bandai re-released the entire line again in 2003, updating their paint jobs with shading. Here you’ll find these.
These are action figures of Dragonball Z made by Bandai. They’re made of a soft plastic / vinyl hence the name ‘Soft Figures’. There are 14 different figures. I got 1.
These are figures from a bath bomb / ball from Pokémon. They are blind boxes that exist out of a bath bomb with a figure inside. There are 5 figures to collect; Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu and Eevee. I got 4 of them.