ULTRAMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

While a lot of Superman’s plot and character choices were pretty straightforward and without any crazy surprises, early set photos showed a figure clad entirely in black, with a full-face mask, whose identity was unknown.  It was eventually revealed that the character’s name was “Ultraman,” a name associated with Superman’s evil Earth-3 counterpart from the Crime Syndicate in the comics.  Rumors about the identity of the person under the mask flew about, with lots of ideas, some straightforward, and some far-reaching.  At the end, his identity is pretty straight-forward and probably the most obvious choice.  Anyway, he did get some toy coverage, so let’s look at a bit of that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman is the final single-release figure in Series 12 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, which is an entire movie-based assortment.  Ultraman is slightly quirky in his release, as he wasn’t actually shown off or put up for order at the same time as the other four figures, but he did end up shipping in the same case as the rest of them.  Perhaps it was a secrecy thing.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s built on the first Superman base body, which I usually have issues with the sizing on, but Ultraman had some definite bulk going on, so it doesn’t seem to out of place here.  Still not crazy about how it makes him pigeon-toed, but I’ve made my peace with that.  He gets a new head and belt.  They’re both on the simpler side, as is the style of the line, and it helps keep them batter matched up with the base body they’re placed on.  It means he’s definitely a lot more streamlined from the movie’s design for the character, which had a lot more padding, pouches, and stitching.  It makes him a little less visual interesting, and a bit more plain-Jane, but it also ends up a bit more in-style with the rest of the line.  His paint work is rather on the simple side.  In terms of coloring, they play up the slightly purple hue of his costume in the movie, which does read a bit better for vintage design than going more for black.  There’s a some minor paint detailing for the broad stroke elements of his costume design.  He gets no accessories.  An alternate head would have been cool, but also feels like it would have been impossible for a pre-film release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ordered the other four when they first dropped, but Ultraman didn’t go up with them, so I didn’t get him immediately.  I actually forgot about him until the other four arrived, at which point I double checked and saw he was in stock and jumped on him then.  He’s…fine.  He feels more like a space filler than anything.  The character in the movie is more a plot element than anything, and I would have liked to see just about any other major character take his place here.  But, I can hardly say I dislike the figure, and I’m at the point of being happy to get any additional Super Powers, especially from a movie that has become one of my favorites in the genre.