Tag Archives: Bandai

#0089: Evil Tiga

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

EVIL TIGA

ULTRA-ACT

It’s Day 11 of my post-Christmas Review, and I’ll be continuing the jump back to the Ultra-Act line that I started yesterday.  Yesterday, I looked at Ultraseven, the second Ultraman.   Today, I’ll be jumping forward to a figure from Ultraman Tiga, the first series of Ultraman after it was revived in the 90s.  I won’t be looking at Tiga himself, however, but rather his doppelganger Evil Tiga.

It’s a long standing tradition in the Ultraman universe for there to be an evil variant of the main character, and Evil Tiga continues the trend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Evil Tiga was released as part of the Ultra-Act line in 2011.  I think.  I’m not sure, because all the copyright info is in Japanese, but near as I can tell from looking around, this guy was released in 2011.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in the Ultraman Tiga series in the 90s.  Evil Tiga stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 40 points of articulation.  The articulation here isn’t quite as good as it is on the others.  In particular it can be difficult to get his legs to line up properly.  However, given that this figure was released a while before the others I’ve looked at, I’m willing to give him a bit of a pass.  The sculpt on Evil Tiga is pretty much on par with the rest of the line, though he seems to be a little bit rougher than some of the others.  I’m once again going to give him a pass, given when he was released.  The paint on the figure isn’t bad.  There’s a little bit of slop here and there, but nothing so bad as to ruin the figure.  I did notice a few scuffs around the abdomen, but I think that might have to do with the tightness of the articulation in that area.  Like with the other figures in the Ultra-Act line, Evil Tiga has a decent selection of accessories, although it seems a bit lighter than some of the others.  He includes an alternate color timer, his “Evil Barrier”, his “Evil Shot”, and 8 hands: Fists, Karate chop, open gesture, and open wide.  The color timer is pretty much just like the others, a neat throw in with little practical use.  The Evil barrier is a cool piece, and can be swapped with the color timer with relative ease.  The Evil Shot is similar to the ultra-beam included with others, but this one slips over the wrist as opposed to being attached to a hand.  The hands are mostly the same as hands used on other Ultramen, with the exception of the “wide-open” hands, which allow for some cool “evil” poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Evil Tiga was purchased by me using a gift card I received from my Grandmother for Christmas.  Thanks Grandmother!  I mostly picked him up given his low price compared to other figures I was looking at, and the fact that I think he’s just got a really cool design.  At the lower price, I’m willing to forgive a lot of the smaller flaws the figure has and just enjoy him for the cool toy he is.  And he’s definitely a pretty cool toy!

#0088: Ultraseven

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRASEVEN

ULTRA-ACT

For Day 10 of my post-Christmas Review, I’ll be jumping back over to the Ultra-Act line.  This time around, I’ll be looking at the recent release of the second Ultraman to have his own show, Ultraseven.

Ultraseven has the distinction of being possible the most popular of the Ultramen in Japan itself, which means he’s had multiple series and has a tendency to show up in the later ultra-series.  Most recently, Ultraseven made an appearance as the father of Ultraman Zero, one of the more recent Ultramen.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraseven was released as part of the Ultra-Act line in late 2013.  Like the others in the line, he was a single release, not part of a wave or assortment. This is the second release of Ultraseven in the line.   He received an update for pretty much the same reasons as the original Ultraman.  Ultraseven stands just over 6 inches tall and has 40 points of articulation.  Like with Taro, the joints on Seven are a bit tighter than those on the original Ultraman, which makes the figure a little bit sturdier.  Seven’s sculpt lives up to the rest of the line.  He has a lot of similarities to Taro, as he is one of the more detailed Ultraman designs.  Everything looks accurate to the character’s design on the show.  Seven’s been given a slightly more heroic build on the figure, but I kind of like it.  It makes him stand out a bit more.  The paint on Seven is probably the best I’ve seen so far in the line, but Seven also has one of the more simplistic paint schemes, so I suppose it wasn’t too hard to pull off.  Keeping in line with the other Ultra-Act figures, Seven has a nice selection of accessories.  He includes a plug to hook him onto one of the FigArts stands, two boomerangs, a slash effect for the boomerang, a spare shoulder piece and 13 hands: fists (L and R), grasping (L and R), open gesture (L and R), saluting (L and R), karate chop (L and R), a right hand for holding the boomerang by its point, a peace sign, and a right hand with a blast attached.  The plug is really only useful if you buy one of Bandai’s separately sold stands, but I suppose it’s a nice touch.  The boomerangs are slightly different; one has a slightly longer front to allow it to be plugged into Seven’s head and the other is a bit shorter to be hooked into the slash effect.  The shoulder piece is similar to the piece included with Taro and Dyna, being partially bent to allow for deeper poses at the shoulders.  The hands are all well sculpted, and swap out relatively easily, adding a lot of options for various poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Seven was purchased by me using a gift card I received from my Grandmother for Christmas.  Thanks Grandmother!  Seven was one of the Ultras I’d wanted for a while, but not as much as some of the others.  I was really glad to get him, and he’s a lot of fun in hand.  Bandai obviously put a lot of effort into making him one of the better figures in the line.

#0080: Ultraman Dyna

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRAMAN DYNA

ULTRA-ACT

We now venture into Day 2 of the post-Christmas Review, reviewing the figures I received as gifts during the holiday.  My second review is another figure from the Ultra-Act line (Marking 3 reviews from this line in a row).  My last two Ultra-Act reviews have been of earlier Ultramen.  This time I’ll be jumping a head a bit to the 90s for Ultraman Dyna.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Dyna was released as part of the 2012 series of the Ultra-Act line.  Dyna had a few different looks in his series, but for this figure, they’ve chosen to do his “Flash-Type” look.  As it was his default look in the show, it’s a good choice, though I wouldn’t mind seeing his “Miracle-Type” look down the line.  He’s just over 6 inches tall and has 40 points of articulation,just like the previous two Ultramen I’ve reveiewed.  Once again, the figure’s sculpt remains accurate to his appearance in the show.  Dyna’s design is more simplistic, not quite as much as the original Ultraman, but moreso thatn Taro, putting Dyna somewhere in between the two.  It all looks pretty good.  I miss the details on the gloves and boots that Taro had, but that lack of them is accurate to the character’s look on the show, so I can’t really complain.  The paint is somewhere in between the previous two.  It’s really good for the most part, but there’s a tiny, tiny bit of scuff on his chin.  Nothing horrible, just somewhat noticeable.  Everything else is nice and clean.  Continuing the trend of the others, Dyna has a nice variety of accessories.  He includes the requisite red color timer, an alternate light-piped head, a plug to allow him to be connected to a stand, an alternate shoulder piece, and 9 hands: fisted (L and R), Karate chop (L and R), splayed (L and R), thumbs up (R), a hand holding an energy ball, and a hand with a beam.  Like with the other two, the color timer’s a nice addition, but I don’t have much use for it.  The extra head is nice in theory, but iffy in execution, as light piping seems to always be.  The alternate shoulder piece is similar to Taro’s, allowing the shoulder to go into deeper poses, but Dyna’s is folded on both sides to allow both shoulders to move.  The hands are similar to the ones with the others, though the energy beam is more expansive, which fits a more modern Ultraman.  The thumbs up is also cool, and I quite like the hand with the ball of energy.  As with the others, the hands really add a lot to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Taro, Dyna was a Christmas gift from my super awesome parents.  Dyna is actually pretty important to me, as he was the first Ultraman I had a toy of, back in the 90s.  As such, he’s my personal favorite,  so I was very happy to get this guy this year!

#0041: Robin & Beast Boy

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

ROBIN & BEAST BOY

TEEN TITANS GO! (BANDAI)

Keeping with the theme of cartoon adaptation toy lines from two days ago, I’ll be looking at two of the figures from Bandai’s Teen Titans Go! toy line, released to coincide with the Cartoon Network Teen Titans show.   The figures were released packaged with large, nonsensical vehicles, or packaged in two-packs.  I opted for the second option.  Today, I’ll be looking at the basic versions of Robin and Beast Boy.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This two-pack was released as part of the first series of figures in Bandai’s 3 ½ inch line.

ROBIN

First up is the team leader, sidekick to Batman, Robin.  Robin is based on his look from the show.  He stands 3 ½ inches tall and features 9 points of articulation.  I feel it’s necessary to point out that this line was NOT 3 ½ inch scale, but rather every character was exactly 3 ½ inches tall.  It’s fine for the two I’m looking at today, but it will quickly become an issue.   Robin is a decent sculpt, but not the greatest.  The arms have been sculpted to hold the handles of the vehicle it was possible to purchase him with, making them awkward if you bought his separately like I did.  The legs also have a wide stance, and seem to be a tad long and definitely too bulky.  To top it all off, the head is passable at best, but certainly looks off in comparison to the show’s design.  The paint is okay, but there is a fair amount of overspray and fuzzy lines.  As you’ll notice, the paint was also not the most durable variety, with lots of the details scratched off with very little play.

BEAST BOY

Next is the team’s resident funny-man, Beast Boy.  Like Robin, he’s based on his look from the show.  He too stands 3 ½ inches tall and had 9 points of articulation.  He’s got an okay sculpt, but he’s definitely too tall, and his head is too small for his look from the show.  He has the same issue with the oddly positioned arms, and legs that aren’t the right proportion.  The paint on Beast Boy is a bit rougher than Robin, with even more noticeable slop, and a whole lot more wear, with very light play.  Also, the two different purple paints don’t really match very well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These guys were found on an excursion to Toys R Us with my Mom (who is super awesome, and super supportive of my insane hobby).  I recall being really excited to get them at the time, as there was a bit of a delay from the show’s premiere to the release of the toys.  I remember liking them at the time, but as time has gone by, I’ve started to see the flaws more and more.  The line did improve a bit, but man was this first wave a rough one!