Anime’s most famous martial artist enters his ultimate-bling form, and so does one of his many rivals-turned friends.


In the modern era of anime fandom, fan art isn’t limited to just 2-D illustrations. Talented and dedicated craftsmen have also created accessories in the likeness of their favorite animated heroes, showing off their creations at anime conventions as well as online.

But we don’t think anyone has produced a piece of unlicensed anime art quite like this one.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGknluFY4Z/

As an unofficial product, you could argue that, technically, this counts as fan art. On the other hand, the golden Goku was created by Ben Baller, a professional accessory maker from southern California. The 41-year-old Baller previously worked in the music industry, and can count several A-list recording stars among his customers to date, including Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, Drake, Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber.

It’s not clear if Baller produced the necklace by request from a client, or if it’s merely meant to be a showpiece for IF & Co., the jewelry brand he co-founded in Los Angeles in 1997. Goku isn’t Baller’s first Dragon Ball muse, either. Previously, he crafted a precious-metal tribute to fellow Saiyan Vegeta.

Out of the two, Baller says Goku was the harder to work with, likely because his less uniform spikes and flowing bangs required more time to sculpt and stud with diamonds than Vegeta’s more symmetrical hairstyle and pronounced widow’s peak.

But if the gold color is a bit too flashy for you, you could always go with a diamond-encrusted (even the green stones are diamonds) Bubble Bobble pendant instead, since Baller can make that too.

By the way, despite his celebrity client list, Baller wants to let everyone know that he doesn’t have any policy about dealing exclusively with household names. Along with one of his posts about the Goku necklace, he wrote:

“There’s still a big misconception that I ONLY make jewelry for celebrities and pro athletes… But if you followed protocol on how to get a custom chain by me, made the down payment and were patient, I promise the end result is only upper-echelon type custom jewelry.”

In other words, you don’t need to be famous to have Baller create an eye-catching, one-of-a-kind accessory for you. You will, though, need to be rich.

Sources: Next Shark, The Hollywood Reporter, Instagram/benballer
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