Dragon Ball Teases Figures Based on “New Character”

A new Dragon Ball figure listing appears to be teasing the addition of a new character.

Youtuber and Dragon Ball news Twitter account DBSChronicles called attention to the listing, which simply announces that two figures based on a "New Character" will be released under the Bandai Spirits line next May. Speculation has already begun about who these two figures could be; the 2022 release date has many assuming the figures will be one of the new characters introduced in the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, which is still scheduled for a vague 2022 premiere window, while others have noted that the listing simply says the figure will be from Dragon Ball Super, meaning it could also be a new character from the manga.

The first trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was revealed at this year's New York Comic-Con. In addition to showing off the movie's new CG-based animation style, the clip introduced two new opponents that Goku will fight in the new movie, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. The costumed heroes have a slightly similar appearance to Cell, which coupled with the return of the Red Ribbon Army in the film, has lead many to believe that they are connected in some way to Dragon Ball Z's Androids.

The on-going Dragon Ball Super manga, meanwhile, has introduced multiple new characters in its current arc that are worthy of getting their own figures, first and foremost being the bounty hunter, Granolah. The vengeful hunter blames the Saiyans for the extinction of his race and the murder of his family, and his quest to get revenge on the surviving members of the once powerful race -- namely, Goku and Vegeta -- has been the basis for most of the current story arc. The manga has also introduced The Heeters, a group of opportunistic villains who give Granolah his orders and were previously employed by Frieza.

Dragon Ball was originally created by Akira Toriyama and first published in 1984. Publisher Shueisha has already begun the build-up to the beloved series' 40th anniversary, and recently commissioned Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto to redraw one of Toriyama's classic manga covers. Dragon Ball is widely regarded as one of the most influential anime and manga franchises of all time, and is also the third-best selling manga series in history, with over 260 million copies sold around the world. Toriyama's original manga is distributed by VIZ Media in North America, while the series' various anime adaptations are available on a variety of streaming services, including Funimation and Hulu.

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Source: Twitter