S.H. Figuarts DragonBall Launch review

Launch is the kind of character you wouldn't immediately think of when you delve into the colorful cast of characters in the whole Dragonball universe. While she was there from the beginning, most are going to think of either the Saiyans, the Androids, villains like Cell, Frieza, and Beerus, and some of the wives associated with said Saiyans. However, what makes Launch special is how unpredictable of a lady she is. When she's Good Launch, she's very friendly and generally caring for others with her sweet blueberry hair; as Bad Launch, she's aggressive and wields a machine gun with her sour lemony yellow hair. Either transformation is triggered by a sneeze, and it's unlikely she is even a Saiyan given her dissociative identity disorder. Akira Toriyama may have forgotten her, and her VA may claim that her busy schedule made her request that Launch be removed, but she gets a review on this site as I show some love to this underrated babe.

Here we have Launch in-hand, and we have her in a pretty recognizable green crop top and yellow short shorts. Her huge green socks accompanied by the red shoes and even the ribbon on her hair and gloves almost give her a Southern girl feel. No doubt this could have been the intent on Akira 's part, and the way some of the VAs in the English dubs give her an accent to boot. With her adorable face and a blueberry colored hairdo, this is the type of gal your mother would hope you'd invite for dinner. Her proportions are pretty consistent to the way she's depicted in the series, though some would probably comment that the sculpt on her cake looks a bit off. Either way, Launch looks pretty good for a lesser known character in the Dragonball universe, even if she is almost out of place compared to the more recognizable members of the cast.

Her articulation is standard for the female engineering of this line. She consists of three points at the neck (head-tilting, rotation, and hinging for looking up and down), ball joints at the shoulders with outward hinging for the arms, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrists that can either move in and out or up and down, a double ball-peg torso, ball joints at the hips, slight thigh rotation, hinged knees, and ankles that can swivel, hinge, and pivot. Even her hair has a bit of articulation so she can look up without being hindered. She comes with a Dragon Ball with one star on it made purely for summoning Shen Long, and while she has the relaxed hands on display, she has her open smile faceplate as well as a sneezing face that could be used for other contexts if you're either looking into different photography or are a looney.

Her alternate head has her with blonde hair as glowing as on a Super Saiyan, and she not only has a determined smirk but also a snarling battle expression meant to go with either fists or two hands made to hold her machine gun. I also have her next to the WCF version of Bad Launch just to show you how cool she is despite being one of the few things you'd least expect from the Dragonball we know from Z and Super, for example. I think the price for this figure can be a bit higher give her accessory count is closer to some of the Figuart offerings you'd find at Target or Walmart, but if you like Launch more than Tien Shinhan does, then I recommend you go get her if she is around $50.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐