My power level of disappointment was over 9000 when I realized this wasn

When my fiancé first shared this real-life Dragon Ball Z Scouter with me, I almost jumped out of my skin. My obsession with everything Super Saiyan isn’t as all-encompassing as his, but I’m a sucker for a good bit of licensing and grew up with the series thanks to the Toonami scheduling TV block.

A quick glance at these official scouter made me excited over the prospect of playing through the Daima DLC for Dragon Ball Kakarot with a gaming headsets that looked like it stepped straight out of the classic anime series, or even re-watching the series from Crunchyroll while pretending I’m reading my favorite character’s power levels in real-time.

But alas, that wasn’t meant to be. On closer inspection, this scouter is actually an AirPod Max case from the brand Casetify, and all my dreams of the ultimate Dragon Ball gaming accessory were lost – and I’m still mad about it.

It’s my fault for getting my hopes up for an official gaming headset that looks like something Bulma put together in the labs of Capsule Corp, but in my defense, this AirPods Max case is pretty impressive.

Not only does it look very close to the scouters found in the actual anime series, but the case is equipped with interchangeable green and red lenses, so you can pretend you’re Vegeta one moment and Bulma the next.

Having a bit of transparent green plastic sitting in front of your eye wouldn’t be very practical when it comes to gaming, so it might be a good thing this remains an Apple accessory for now. I can barely remember all the buttons during fights in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, so I can’t imagine how bad I’d be when half the screen is plagued by a translucent green haze.

Yet, with the recent announcement that Sparking Zero is making its way over to the Nintendo Switch 2, I can’t help but think how perfect an official Dragon Ball Scouter Switch headset would be when replaying through the game on the go.

Not only that, but a Dragon Ball MOBA, Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra, is launching on Steam in the future. After playing through its now closed beta test, I can bet I’ll be just as bad at it as I am at Sparking Zero, but as someone with a room practically dedicated to everything Dragon Ball and Akira Toriyama, I’d jump at the chance to don an official Dragon Ball headset on my head while attempting to fight random people online as my girl Android 18.

Dragon Ball gaming tech has, and does, exist. There have been plenty of official gaming headsets in the past, like the Official Dragon Ball Z headset from Teknofun that’s still available for $28.19 at Amazon, but these are often wired-only pairs with imagery from the series, rather than a piece of tech that looks so real you could use it for a Dragon Ball cosplay. There’s also a lot of official scouter toys available by toy brands like Bandai, but so far, there’s no high-end gaming headset scouter out there in the wild.

• Watch Dragon Ball Z with a 7-day free Crunchyroll trial

Want some real Dragon Ball gaming goodies?

• Dragon Ball Z Kakarot Daima Edition PS5: $49.99 at Amazon
• ABYSTYLE Dragon Ball Z Gaming Mousepad: $34.99 at Amazon
• Skinit Dragon Ball Z Decal Xbox One Controller: $15.99 at Amazon

Check out our guides to the best Xbox Series X headsets, best PS5 headsets, and the best PC headsets for gaming if you’re after a new pair of cups for your console of choice.

Ever since I first held a NES controller in my hand I’ve been obsessed with gaming, and the hardware it runs on. I could hook up a NES and SNES to a telly, without instructions, before I could walk. Even now, nothing is more exciting then taking a console, or handheld, out the box for the first time and setting it up. This obsession transformed into a love of games and game music, which lead to my music degree and dream of becoming the Scottish Nobuo Uematsu. After sharing my love of games through music, I began to share my love through words on sites like TechRadar and iMore. This lead to becoming a Hardware staff writer for PCGamesN, and later the Senior Tech Writer for Dexerto, covering all things Steam Deck, PlayStation and Nintendo. With that experience, I was able to level up as Hardware Editor for GamesRadar+, where I’m still just as Nintendo, PlayStation and gaming tech obsessed as ever.