S.H. Figuarts Android 19
Alternate “yelling” face for the recently released “Awakened Super Saiyan Blood” Vegeta is included with the package, this is for recreating the scene where Vegeta shows off his Super Saiyan mode for the first time and easily tears off 19’s limbs.
Dr. Gero’s 19th creation, this fully synthetic (entirely man-made) android unit is the final android to be created by the genius Red Ribbon scientist. Extremely loyal to Dr. Gero, Android 19 was later entrusted with transferring the doctor’s brain into the Android 20 body.
Curiously, his face isn’t matte finished like the rest of his body. Was his face glossy in the Anime? I’ll have rewatch.
I really hate the obvious gaps in his shoulders. Bandai really should’ve executed the shoulder joints better.
Fully synthetic, Android 19’s brain is fully electronic and lacks any organic matter (unlike Android 20/ Dr. Gero).
Created with the sole purpose of destroying Son Goku, Android 19’s main attack is energy absorption, which allows it to siphon off large amounts of life force energy from its opponents when in direct contact. This android model is even capable of absorbing Goku’s Kamehameha beam attack head on and converting it into a personal power source.
As an “energy absorption” model of Android, Android 19 needs to constantly absorb his opponent’s energy to boost up its power levels. There are small absorption discs on the palms of his hands.
Aside from the usual Ki blasts from his hands, Android 19 can also shoot eye beams from its eyes.
Lastly, alternate “torn off arms” included with this set to recreate the scene where Vegeta went Super Saiyan the first time and just easily defeated Android 19. The terrified look on a supposedly emotionless machine gave Vegeta much joy that day.
With his boss and creator, Android 20
Supposedly, Androids 19 and 20 were indeed meant to be the original Androids that destroyed Trunks’ future and the main baddies in the Android saga. Akira Toriyama’s editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, commented that the duo’s design looked utterly ridiculous, resulting in Toriyama changing things up halfway in with the introduction of Androids 17 and 18 becoming the primary antagonists prior to the arrival of Cell.
Overall, not bad. The Android Saga was really where things got interesting for me back in the day with Dragon Ball Z thanks to the tighter pacing (the Frieza saga just went on forever) and it’s great to finally get an S.H. Figuarts release of one of the more uniquely iconic characters that our heroes overwhelmingly beat up. While the set doesn’t come with really much, I’m satisfied with what Bandai rolled out here. I just wish they didn’t leave such huge gaps in the figure’s shoulders.
This set was released as a P-Bandai Webshop Exclusive.
Gold
