Dragon Ball Z #69 Roadster
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For those who don't know, Dragon Ball Z is the story of a group of super powered fighters
who defend the world from various threats to the Earth. The characters are capable of
destroying planets, flying around the world and in one character's case, transporting
across the universe at the speed of light. So what do a bunch of super powered, half monkey
alien martial arts masters need? Why a great sports car of course.... Ok, it doesn't make
a lot of sense, but the latest offering for Jakk's small vehicle assortment is the #69 Roadster
with Super Saiyan Vegeta.
Packaging - 8/10Jakk's has retained the same packaging design for the small vehicle assortment as was started back when Irwin Toys still held the license. And if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The boxes are open on the front and top, offering a great, unobstructed view of the vehicle and figure. The box also holds up quite well to shelf wear based on the ones I've seen around here that have been sitting on shelves for more than a year. The rear of the box has pictures of the two figures in this wave, the #69 roadster and an battle damaged version of Trunk's Hover Car. as well as the figures and points out some of the vehicles' features.
Sculpting - 3/10Well, it is a car. Beyond that, this is a fairly weak sculpt. There are a few minor attempts at interior detail. The two seats are sculpted but are far too small to be in scale with the car and don't fit the figures very well anyway. This really belongs in the preschool aisle.
Paint - 2/10Ok, there are hardly any paint applications but they still messed up. None of the details that are present on the sculpt were painted. And to make things worse, they managed to get paint on both the windshield and rear window! On the plus side, the 69 logos on the doors and roof all came out perfectly, but then again that isn't a very difficult feat since they are labels rather than being painted on.
Play Value 4/10I'm scoring this on two parts, its interaction with the figures and the electronic features of the car itself. The electronics are nicely done and fairly creative. When activated, the headlights light up and the rear wheels turn driving the car forward. The car is supposed to have a feature to keep it from driving off an edge. There is a fifth wheel mounted under the car perpendicular to the rest that spins with the rear wheels. If the front wheels go off an edge, the fifth wheel is supposed to spin the car around until the front wheels get back onto the surface. Unfortunately the car doesn't work well with the figures. It is too small to accommodate the figures except for perhaps Krillan. Even the Vegeta figure that comes with the car can't fit in it properly because of his hair. Also, there is a switch to change the vehicle from a demo mode to always on, but there is no off position or any way to allow the wheels to roll freely.
Accessories - 4/10The car comes with a Vegeta figure. Specifically, it comes with the Vegeta figure from series 10 minus the halo. It's a nice enough figure except for the fact that this is the fourth time that we have gotten this sculpt or the VERY similar Majin Vegeta sculpt in a year and a half. Moreover, they really should have picked a figure that would fit in the vehicle it was included with. At the very least, they could have included a character that actually knows how to drive like Goku, Krillin or even Piccolo!
Value - 2/10The small vehicles usually sell for around $15. For that price you are getting a single $5 or $6 figure which in my case I already have, and a car that doesn't work for the figures and doesn't really look all that cool either. If this were one of the more creative vehicles from the original Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z manga like the other vehicles that have preceded it, it might be worth the price just for the originality of the design. But this is just a car, and not a very well designed one either.
Happy Hunting:The small vehicle assortments have been a rather significant albatross around this line's neck. They just don't seem to move and as a result, they few new releases that do come out tend to be difficult to find. I bought the roadster on clearance from Big Bad Toy Store. They are still available there. Otherwise, Toys R Us seems to be carrying the line yet and a handful of smaller chains like Shopko may stock them as well.
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