[Den-O]

You've seen them displayed at various Tamashii events. You've seen them used to show off articulation engineering, upcoming effect parts, and as cannon fodder in battle displays. Figuarts collectors have demanded these "blank" figures be released at general retail for years. Well Bandai has finally responded with the various releases of S.H. Figuarts Body-Kun & Body-Chan! Today I'm taking a look at the most extensive of these figuarts "blank" releases, S.H. Figuarts Body-Kun Gray DX Set!

Packaging
Body-Kun DX comes in a box roughly double the size of the normal release. Which is to accommodate the much much much greater accessory count compared to the standard figure. Otherwise the packaging call outs and photos are generally the same. Mostly you're getting advertisements about how (rightfully) excellent these figures are as art reference. I personally know artists who've used them as subject models.

Main Figure
Now this is pretty straight forward. Body-Kun and by extension Body-Chan, are not Kamen Riders, Sentai, Ultramen, Makai Knights, or Metal Heroes, of any sort. So they aren't constrained by the same types of design flaws that sometimes just can't be avoided in order to accurately recreate a characters' design. These figures are totally their own, and they totally own that.

Body-Kun is a very basic male humanoid, this DX one is gray where the standard release is in beige for skin tone. I personally prefer the gray ones but that's me. Essentially just imagine a perfect and almost totally unhindered generic form, one that's totally malleable, and that's what you get with this figuart. Body-Kun manages to have a range of motion greater than nearly any other figuart or frankly figure in general, that I've ever handled. The ankles don't suffer because there are no cumbersome cuffs. Thanks to a fantastic hip design you can get maximum hip and waist movement, it also helps that there's no kind of armor impacting the hips or waist. He does look like he's wearing a bit of diaper because fo the design. But it's rock solid. The waist, ab, & torso sections float freely in unison with each other giving the entire upper body the ability to recreate nearly any form you can imagine. It's obviously still a toy so it has limitations but you can truly contort this figure into near any conceivable pose. It's just a smooth strong form.

You also get arms that are truly free of limitations unlike many mainstream release we get these days. Would you like a bicep swivel? Check. Elbows that allow the forearm to fold back and almost flat against the arm? Check. Wrists that are free to move independently because there's no cuff? Check. And shoulders that could not possibly be more free floating unless they were magically suspended in the air separate from this figure?? Check. Seriously these arms contribute so much to this figures ability to express actions. They give it life. Now of course the blank head-sculpt is purposefully generic and it actually manages to work for a number of situations despite its' blandness. But there are occasions where you wish there was an alternate head included. Body-Kun is also a rarity in that he features a Tamashii Stage plug hole in his lower back. Something few figuarts ever have. I really prefer this to the stage "hands" we've become accustomed to.

Now I get it, a lot of people have a tough time being wowed by a figure like this because it's so generic. But it really is one of the nicest things I've ever handled and so affordable for what it comes with. Breaking down the accessories below I think you'll understand just why this figure is so worth the price of admission.

Accessories
This guy is maxed out with accessories. Nearly anything you could hope for:

8.5 - set of additional hands. That's 17 hands in addition to his standard fists!! Nothing tops that. Period. No figuart ever has had this immense variety. Holding things hands for any of his other accessories, expressive totally flexed hands, waving hands, peace sign, running, etc. Just everything you need to truly bring Body-Kun to life. You also get two of the so called "hand trees" to store them.

1 - Tamashii Stage DX with arms. Now this is probably the nicest accessory Body-Kun comes with. I've been of the opinion for a very long time that every figuart should come with a Tamashii Stage by default. I would now amend that to say DX stages by default. This is a standard Act 4 stage with an additional component that plugs onto the bottom for parts storage. Allowing you to store literally every accessory this figures comes with when not in use. It even has slots to accommodate 2 of the aforementioned "hands trees". You also get one of the arms and hand sets to grip the figure with that seems to be a straight re-pack form the Act Wrestling stage. Which I will happily take. Those are the absolute best stage parts anyway.

1 - Accessory parts sprue. As misleading as that sounds, this is a sizable gray plastic sprue that contains multiple accessories for Body-Kun to use including 1 each of a:

-Katana
-Pistol
-Latop (need to assemble from 2 halves)
-Cellphone (flip phone)
-Cellphone (Iphone style)
-Tablet/Notepad
-Pen/Stylus

As If I didn't love the figure already this last parts sprue sells me completely on it. You get everything you could possibly need really to use this guy as reference material or to photograph him in various fun situations. Never have a I handled a Figuart that could wield a sword as perfectly as Body-Kun. But no matter which accessory you use, somehow this generic amorphous gray hunk of plastic communicates more personality than many figures twice it's price point.

Final Thoughts
Seriously I can not stress enough just how excellent S.H. Figuarts Body-Kun DX is. It's just a pretty much perfect figure. It comes with more accessories than you'll possibly use in one sitting, has the widest range of motion you'll find on nearly any toy, and just manages to be exceedingly fun to fiddle with. The replay value is endless and potential for customs is limitless. I had a ton of fun taking the photos below. Enjoy!