Coby One Piece - Figures

One Piece is a manga series that is written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda and has been published in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 1997. As of early 2021, the series has amassed over one-thousand individual chapters that have been compiled into nearly one-hundred volumes. The popularity of the manga quickly caused an anime adaptation by Toei to be produced in 1999, which has aired over 950 episodes and continues to air nearly every week. As the series continued, it grew a worldwide fanbase, resulting in a variety of other kinds of media to be produced as well. Aside from the decades of manga and anime, the franchise has seen a plethora of films, video games, and other kinds of media based on One Piece have also been created.

With such a high reputation, one would likely expect that demand for merchandise would be incredibly high. While there are hundreds of different items based on characters like Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Roronoa Zoro, and the other Straw Hats, many of the secondary characters that appear in One Piece have their own following as well. One such character is Coby, one of the first characters that Luffy meets at the beginning of his adventure. The “Figuarts Zero One Piece Coby & Helmeppo” figure from Bandai is an especially popular figure of this character.

Figuarts Zero One Piece Coby & Helmeppo Figure

This set of figures features both Coby and Helmeppo in their standard Marine attire before the time skip that occurs after the Battle of Marineford. Coby stands at attention and salutes with one hand raised up and the other behind his back. His outfit is more or less a standard Marine uniform, with dark navy pants, a white shirt, blue neckerchief, and a bandana that rests under his glasses. On the other hand, Helmeppo gives off a disgruntled look with his arms crossed. Helmeppo’s outfit deviates greatly from Coby’s and is made up of a pair of purple pants, a white undershirt, a green vest, black gloves, and a narrow, black visor that covers his eyes.

This collection also includes a variety of different extra parts to allow for a variety of different expressions and poses. Coby’s figure comes with extra hands and head to change his cheerful salute to an embarrassed laugh while Helmeppo’s extra parts turn his impatient stance to a battle-ready pose with a confident smirk on his face. Furthermore, Helmeppo comes equipped with a pair of kukri, which can be shown both sheathed or drawn.

Product Name: Figuarts Zero One Piece Coby & Helmeppo
Series: One Piece
Manufacturer: Bandai (Tamashii Nations)
Specifications: Set of two painted, non-articulated, non-scale ABS and PVC figures
Height (Approx.): Coby: 125 mm; Helmeppo: 145 mm

About Coby

Coby is a member of the Marines that Luffy came across during the first major arc of One Piece, the Romance Dawn Arc. The following passages are a brief overview of his character and notable abilities.

Background

Coby is a young man that, at the beginning of One Piece, was forced to join the Alvida Pirates and clean their ship. After Luffy jumps out of a barrel he hid in, Luffy tells Coby about his dreams to become the Pirate King, which in turn causes Coby to overcome his cowardly nature and follow his own dreams. When they escape from the Alvida Pirates, Luffy and Coby end up at Shells Town, an island that is heavily populated with Marines. Here, Luffy attempts to recruit Zoro into his crew and Coby discovers his desire to join the Marines, despite becoming friends with Luffy. As time passes, Coby eventually finds himself under the tutelage of the Vice-Admiral of the Marines and Luffy’s grandfather, Monkey D. Garp.

Special Abilities

Through his training under Garp, Coby gains an incredible amount of strength that greatly contrasts with the wimpy, cowardly boy that Coby was first introduced as. He is also shown to be an excellent swimmer that can keep up with torpedoes with ease. Furthermore, Coby shows great proficiency with Observation Haki especially and can detect attacks and incoming threats much quicker and more efficiently than others. His training has also honed his body enough to use some Rokushiki techniques as well, like Soru and a derivative of Rankyaku.

Other Important One Piece Characters

Although Coby is a secondary character in the large-scale world of One Piece he does have particularly notable relationships with two characters: Monkey D. Garp and Helmeppo.

Monkey D. Garp

Monkey D. Garp is a Vice-Admiral of the Marines and is Luffy’s grandfather. He is known for joining forces with Gol D Roger to take down the Rocks Pirates, a legendary feat that he is still praised for in the present. Although he generally values the freedom for a person to choose how they live their own lives, Garp desired to raise Luffy to become a Marine and was disappointed to learn that he became a pirate.

Helmeppo

Helmeppo is often seen assigned to missions along with Coby, leading to the two often being seen together. When Coby and Luffy first met Helmeppo, he was a young man that lived a privileged, luxurious life due to his father’s status as a Marine. After he is taken as a hostage by his own father, he decides to abandon his life of luxury and become a proper Marine. His training under Garp has made him a considerably powerful opponent that specializes in swordsmanship.