Android No.17: Dragon Ball Z (S.H.Figuarts)

S.H.Figuarts Android 17

A smug little prick that is, if I want to give him a name! Android 17 is one of those anime/cartoon characters that gets into your nerves and I love how DBZ made his personality the way it is. But taking that aside, it's interesting how Goku and his buddies never gave these androids actual names even after the Cell Saga and the following seasons. I would definitely feel awkward and funny if I still call my wife Android 18 and my brother-in-law, Android 17... or just "18", "17" for short. I guess we'll never know what's going on inside Klilyn's round-perfect head.















One thing I know for sure is that 17 is 18's twin brother and you can't just get an Android 18 action figure without getting Mr. Smug Little Prick here. For a character that played a slight big role in the animated show, this action figure is considered a must-have for collectors.

First,... the accessories. It's plenty but sadly and annoyingly some of them are not necessary! He got two interchangeable holsters- one has a gun in place and the other one has none. Why can't we just have one holster for one removable gun that holds and keeps it?- that way Bandai could make some room inside his box for accessories that might be important. Also, he got two interchangeable belts- one has the holster hanging while the other has none... again, this could have been better if it's removable. The only accessories that made sense to me are his two scarfs that you need to interchange for that crossed-arms you might want to attach on 17.

He got a total of 5 pairs of interchangeable hands plus one for holding his gun, but what truly impressed me are the interchangeable hairs, especially the one that is windswept and kinda like it's moving that has a nice sculpt. Along with it, comes 3 different faces of Android 17- normal, mad and angry.

Now for the sculpt. I hate to say that the sculpt of this figure is a bit ruined because of one single mistake Bandai did to his shoulders. They didn't do a good job of gluing 17's "shoulder pads" thus every time you raise his arms sideways, you see these pointy flaps hanging underneath his armpits. Also, he got these gapping crotchpits that are too obvious but not as angular as the ones from DCUC. The overall sculpt is not that perfect nor too horrid.

There is nothing much to say about the paint application except for those bright perky colours on his shoes and socks, and that a few colour shading over his scarf. The rest of the body parts are painted solidly and mostly with blacks and blues. Paint smudges and scuff marks?- none of that exist with S.H.Figuarts action figures like this one.

As usual for S.H.Figuarts figures, you got tons of poseability options. His head is on a ball-joint that allows him to move his head at any directions except for having him "look up" because of that long straight hair. The shoulders are on a double-ball peg, elbows are on double-joints and the wrists are on ball-hinges. He got a diaphragm swivel plus a waist swivel on his torso. 17's hips are on T-joints with double-ball pegs in it. He got rotation to the thighs, double-joints at the knees, ankle hinges and pivots, and toe joints.

If there are things I want to complain about S.H.Figuarts figures it would be its poor execution and the unnecessary accessories and this Android 17 is a perfect example of an action figure having those flaws. Nevertheless, this is probably the best Android 17 action figure out there (if there are any other) being well-rendered and very much articulated. Standing at 5.5 inches tall, he's in perfect scale with the rest of the DBZ figures. For the sake of completing a collection, I recommend this figure.