After the insanity of Enies Lobby, Thriller Bark felt almost like a breather. A plain fun One Piece adventure with wacky villains, a fun setting, and plenty of Straw Hat hijinks, all leading up to one of the most surprisingly tense climaxes for a One Piece arc yet! While there are certainly more important arcs for Tamashii Nations to tackle in their S.H.Figuarts line I would still love several of the designs and characters from Thriller Bark, with this post looking into just that.
Honorable mention: Straw Hat Crew
This time around the members of the Straw Hat crew didn't change up their looks as much as they had in prior arcs. Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper didn't change up their looks. Luffy would be an easy repaint of the Romance Dawn Luffy they have put out (and I'd love a larger figure of Nightmare Luffy), Usopp would just the same upcoming Romance Dawn version we're getting with add on pieces for his superstition gear, and Franky is just wearing a different colored shirt. Nami and Robin had truly different looks, but overall none of these looks demand a figure at this time so that's why the crew lands in the honorable mention slot.
5. Dr. Hogback
When the arc started off they built up the mysterious Dr. Hogback as a miraculous doctor that Chopper idolized. He was far from the hero that Chopper envisioned him as, turning out to be a true mad scientist and an alarmingly riled up foe that panicked easily. He was not the most action oriented character in the series, but had plenty of influence on what occurred during the series, and his silly fish-net shirt lends to a fun action figure design.
4. Perona
Speaking of fun action figure designs, all of the colors, patterns, and details of Perona's costume would make for a very fun action figure in the Figuarts line. Her negative ghosts would be perfect accessory pieces for her, along with faceplates that recreate her terror towards Usopp's power!
3. Brook
The biggest even during this arc was the addition of the musical Brook to the crew! I love Brook so far, and his connection to Laboon gave the series a very interconnected feeling. His skeletal design alone makes him prime candidate for the action figure treatment and his lanky design is one I'm very interested in seeing Tamashii Nations handle. Necessary accessories would be his sword, his violin, and possibly even an openable skull to store the dial containing his crew's final song.
2. Samurai Ryuma
We're already getting a version of Ryuma in S.H.Figuarts from the Monsters special, but his zombie appearance from Thriller Bark is what I'm really wanting to see in action figure form! He was undoubtedly one of the coolest foes of this arc, especially once he squared up against Zoro and Brook realized how powerful samurai Ryuma truly was.
1. Kuma
Thriller Bark itself was fun, but the instant that Kuma appeared on the Straw Hat's ship while Perona was planning to flee the entire atmosphere shifted uncomfortably. Kuma's arrival and presence completely altered up how I saw the arc and I suddenly had no idea where things were going next, and after the crew wiped themselves out defeating Moria and Oars I had no fathomable idea how Kuma would be handled. This ultimately lead to episode 377 which I agree is possibly the best episode of the whole series! It has me even more excited about the upcoming Romance Dawn Zoro, and Kuma would be an absolutely amazing figure to get to go along with him.
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