S.H. Figuarts DragonBall Z Cell First Form review

Cell's undoubtedly a fan favorite from Dragon Ball Z, mainly due to his history of being made from Dr Gero's supercomputer and being made up of the cells taken from the Z-Fighters present during his arc. He would later get his more iconic, far superior design during his brief tenure as the titular villain of his arc, but the original design has something about it that makes it fairly interesting; I say this mainly because of the almost bird and insect-like look to him. The feet and face almost gave the talons and beak of the former, while the wings and texturing as well as his color scheme almost make him fitting for the latter. As much as I want to get Perfect Cell, that Figuart is very outdated, though the First Form version has been a fairly recent figure (at least as far back as 2022) with the version I own being a reissue that is said to fix the quality control issues that plagued many copies. Let's see if being imperfect is still good for this technorganic terror.

Here we have Cell in hand. The first thing that comes to mind with this design would have to be "exotic"; the color scheme has this wild berry look to him with the two shades of green, the baby blue, neon orange, and the eggplant purple. He looks like predatorial plant waiting for any small insects or animals to fall for his trap, and it almost fits given he would try to absorb Android 17 and 18 to further enhance his powers. The insect connections go even further with an exoskeleton comparable to that of a beetle, and there's also the "wings" on his back that eventually disappear after absorbing 17. He may be scrawny, but it also fits with a different kind of predator: the dinosaur. Sure, the beak may not do much, but the leaner design, crown shape, and reptilian feet make almost make him comparable to a raptor. Not to mention the scaly nature of his skin passing off as the aforementioned insect-like exoskeleton. So in terms of looks, he may not be perfect, but he still manages to work so well as a design regardless.

His head sculpt is just as reptilian/insectoid, with the irises in his pink eyes and a beak-like mouth that provides him fewer potential for expressions than what humans would have, and the shape for the crest on his head is almost a proto-crown of sorts for his perfect character design. As far as accessories are concerned, he has three alternate faces, the tail, the tip of the tail as either a stinger or an absorber, an alternate head piece, and four pairs of hands.

His articulation consists of double ball joints at the neck, shoulders, torso, and ankles, standard ball hips with drop downs for added range, double hinges for the elbows and knees, and swivels at the biceps and thighs. Even the tail has articulation at the points where the base connects to his body and for the tip, where two double peg swivel joints similarly functional to what Figuart wrists have. Even the wings have some articulation! While he manages to have enough range in spite of his design, the legs gave a tendency to pop off the ball sockets, and it doesn't help that those joints tend to be loose as hell. Even the ankles are weaker than on my POTP Rodimus Unicronus. The alternate parts are cool, though there is barely any major differences for the forehead crest beyond maybe the eyebrows. If I'm honest, this could be a response from fans having their first runs break too easily, but that could just be me with poor luck this time. I mean, I'd rather have floppy joints than broken joints, but for the slight price increase, the tolerances should be better. If you plan to get this figure, be sure you don't run into either issue, because I still like it overall. The design is kind of underrated, and at least he can pose better than the only Figuart we have of Perfect Cell. Still hoping we get a 2.0 of that form and the midway point before we get more versions of Goku and Vegeta.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐