Tag Archives: Ultraman

#0417: Ultraman Jack

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

ULTRAMAN JACK

ULTRA-ACT

My Ultra-Act collection started off with something of a bang, but lately I’ve moved into a “slow and steady wins the race” pattern. I’ve got a number of upcoming figures on pre-order, and I’ll probably be doing a little bit more catch-up once I’ve got some freed up funds again. Anyway, one of my standing pre-orders was just filled, and it’s Ultraman Jack, the third Ultraman.

Jack was the star of his own show, titled The Return of Ultraman. Why “The Return?” Well, originally Ultraman Jack was actually just supposed to be the original Ultraman with a slightly tweaked look. However, they instead decided to go with the pattern started in Ultraseven and create and all new Ultra. Thus we were introduced to Jack. Let’s see how his figure turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Jack was originally released in mid-2013 as part of the Ultra-Act line. He was a standalone release, as is the standard release method for this line. Jack is roughly 6 inches tall and he features 40 points of articulation, another standard for the line. Jack was released after the second version of the basic Ultraman, which means he’s up to date with the rest of the more recent releases in the line. Jack features a sculpt that is unique to this figure. Given the closeness of Jack’s design to the original Ultraman, it’s surprising that Bandai didn’t go for any re-use, but that’s hardly a complaint. The sculpt is up to the usual standard of the Ultra-Act line. It’s accurate to the source material, and it actually looks like a person in a suit, which is cool. Like Ace, it seems the shoulders may be a bit too broad, but that’s a relatively minor complaint. Jack’s paintwork is solidly done. It’s cleanly and evenly applied, and all of the cuts and such are appropriately sharp. The red and silver are both nice and bold, adding some very nice pop to the figure. No Ultra-Act release would be complete without an impressive accessory selection, and Jack does not disappoint. He includes his trusty Ultra Cross, his Ultra Lance in two forms, the Ultra Shield, the Ultra Bracelet given to him by Ultraseven, an extra color timer, a clip to attach him to a stand and 10 hands: fists (L and R), open gesture(L and R), karate-chop (L and R), a hand for holding the small Ultra Lance, a hand for the holding the larger items, a hand holding up the peace sign, and a hand with the Specium Beam attached. That’s one of the larger assortments of accessories for an Ultra-Act figure, and they all are very well done.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jack is a figure I tried to get a few times. I had two separate pre-orders of his original release, neither of which came through. When his after-market price shot up, I kinda gave up. Fortunately, he was given a rerelease, this time through Bluefin, the US distributors of the Ultra-Act line. This allowed for me to place a pre-order through Amazon, who continue to amuse me with their numerous emails informing me that they have literally no idea when these figures will arrive. Jack was worth the wait. He’s rather similar to the original design, but he’s got just enough personal flair to make him a very welcome addition.

#0266: Ultraman Ace

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

ULTRAMAN ACE

ULTRA-ACT

UltramanAce1

My Ultra-Act reviews have slowed down a bit since I first got into the line, but that doesn’t mean my interest in the line has waned. I still have a few of the upcoming figures and re-releases on pre-order, so there should be a few more reviews on the way, just a bit more spaced out. I recently acquired Ultraman Ace, the 4th main Ultraman, and the star of Ultraman Ace, as well as a recurring character in the following Ultraman Taro. He’s also the adopted brother of Taro, and the adopted son of Mother and Father of Ultra, for those of you attempting to map out the family tree.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Ace was a third quarter 2013 release in the Ultra-Act line. As is the usual standard with this line, Ace wasn’t part of a series; he’s just a single release. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and features the standard 40 points of articulation sported by most of the figures in the line. Ace was released around the time of the second version of the original Ultraman, which means he fits in nicely with the line’s more recent releases, and looks perfect with the rest of the Ultra Brothers. Ace’s sculpt is a pretty decent recreation of Ace’s look from the show. The shoulders are perhaps a tad bit broader than they should be, but the proportions look great otherwise. The paintwork on Ace is nice and clean, with no noticeable slop or bleed over present. Like any good Ultra-Act release, Ace features a nice selection of accessories, including: an extra color timer, a sword, a clip to attatch Ace to a stand, and 11 hands: fists (L and R), open gesture (L and R), karate-chop (L and R), sword-holding (R), peace sign (R), a right hand with an energy beam attatched, and two hands with a different beam attached. While that’s not quite as many accessories as my last Ultra-Act figure, Leo, it’s still a pretty impressive assortment. The sword adds some uniqueness to Ace, and the hands add for some additional character as usual.

UltramanAce2 UltramanAce6 UltramanAce5 UltramanAce4 AceWilson

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ace was a purchase I took my time on. I’ve picked up several other Ultra-Act figures in the last year or so, and I had the majority of the early Ultramen, so Ace was the biggest hole in my collection. Ace’s price came down a bit on Amazon, so I decided to go for him. I’m really glad I did. Ace has a great design, and the figure conveys it really well.

UltramanAce7

#0190: Ultraman Leo

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

ULTRAMAN LEO

ULTRA-ACT

After doing a decently sized string of reviews from the line back in January, my Ultra-Act reviews certainly do seem to have slowed down a bit, haven’t they? The last one I did was Father of Ultra, and that was way back in February. One of the cool things about Ultraman is the plethora of different Ultras and all of their unique takes on the common design themes. Today, I’ll be taking a look at Ultraman Leo, the 7th main Ultraman, and star of Ultraman Leo. I know; what a shock.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Leo is one of the very first of the 2014 releases for the Ultra-Act line. As per usual for this line, he’s not part of a series or the like, just a singlerelease on his own. This is Leo’s second release in this line, and this one has been made to fit in a bit better with some of the more recent releases. The figure is a little taller than some of the others, though not quite as tall as Father of Ultra, standing about 6 ¼ inches tall. He features the standard 40 points of articulation that most of this line’s figures sports. Leo has been bulked up a bitfrom his previous figure, in an aim to keep him more in line with the current line’s releases. The sculpt is pretty good overall, and re-creates Leo’s look in the show really well. The paint apps are applied cleanly, with no bleed over or slop. Bandai looks to be trying a new technique of detailing, through a sort of air-brushing. It’s a subtle touch, but it looks pretty good and gives the figure a bit more depth. As with all other Ultra-Act releases, Leo has a large compliment of accessories, including: an extra color-timer, a pin-wheel (yeah, I don’t really know what that’s for), Ultra-Mant defense umbrella, 2 sets of nun-chucks (with and without real chain), a gold arm-band, a Leo-Kick effect, and 14 hands: fists (L and R), open gesture (L and R), open flat (Land R), karate-chop (L and R), nun-chuck gripping (L and R), umbrella grip (R), pin-wheel grip (R), Fire-Blast (R), and fire charging (works for either). That’s quite an impressive set of accessories. The color timer is standard, the pin-wheel and umbrella are definitely unique, the nun-chucks are great for letting you choose how to display them, and the hands add some real expression to the character. The piece for the Leo-kick is cool and all, but if you don’t have a stand, the best you can pull off is the “eek, my foot is on fire” look.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Leo was pre-ordered through Amazon. I guess it was relatively painless, though it did mark the first time they’ve sent me an e-mail effectively saying “we have no idea where this figure is, so we can’t guarantee we’ll get this to you… ever” for something I’ve ordered. As you can see, it worked out all right. I wasn’t quite as excited for Leo as I have been for others, but he’s a good figure over all.

#0116: Father of Ultra

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

FATHER OF ULTRA

ULTRA-ACT

It’s been 25 days since my last Ultra-Act review, but man did that fly by for me.  It feels like just yesterday I was reviewing Mother of Ultra, and today I’ll be taking a look at her husband, Father of Ultra! …Or if you’re feeling a bit less formal, Ken.  But that doesn’t really have the same presence as “Father of Ultra!”  Like Mother of Ultra, Father’s name is a bit misleading, as he’s actually only the father of Ultraman Taro.  But, let’s not split hairs.

Father of Ultra was initially released late last year, but he sold out pretty quickly.  He just received a second run of figures, and he’s just now showing up in the US.  On to the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Father of Ultra is one of the 2013 Ultra-Act figures, and he’s just received a 2014 re-release.  Ken here (I feel like I can be on a first name basis with my action figures) stands around 6 ½ inches tall, not counting his horns.  This makes him one of the taller figures in the line, and he’s certainly got the bulk to match.  He also features the standard 40 points of articulation that most of the figures in the line have.  Like his wife, Ken’s only really had the one look over the years, so Bandai had a pretty easy time picking which design to go with.  Ken’s sculpt was something of a point of contention for some of the more die-hard fans, as he’s been depicted a little bulkier than his live action appearances.  I can understand how that might annoy some, but honestly, it’s not that major, and I feel the figure really benefits from the change.  As he is now, he really stands out from the rest of the line, and has a more commanding appearance.  The sculpt is the usual fair for the line, and aside from the possible build issue for some, he looks accurate to the character’s appearance on the show.  He’s got a paint job to match, with no slop or bleed over.  It wouldn’t be a proper Ultra-Act release without a hefty compliment of accessories, and Ken certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front.  He’s got an extra head, an extra color timer, the “Ultra Array”, his cape, and 8 hands: Karate Chop (L and R), Open Gesture (L and R), Fists (L and R), Grasping (R), and a right hand with and energy beam attached.   The extra head and color timer are both in their “powered down” states, allowing you to show Ken after he’s been worn down in battle.  The Ultra Array is his dumbbell shaped weapon that he’s frequently depicted using.  It’s pretty cool and looks about right to the show.  The hands look standard for the line, and are pretty easy to swap out.  The cape is probably one of the coolest pieces.  It has its own articulation to allow you to put into various poses, which is pretty cool, and a much better solution than trying to mess with cloth capes at this scale.  My only complaint is that it can be a little easy to get it off of the figure once it’s attached.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh, boy there’s another story of annoyance, bad communication, and difficulty getting an item I had ordered.  I pre-ordered Father of Ultra from Amazon back in December when they put him up.  I was told he would be released on January 15th and I should receive mine shortly thereafter.  So I waited.  January 15th came, and nothing happened.  It’s understandable, I thought, for there to be a little bit of a delay in the item being sent out.  I’m a pretty patient guy.  I’ll wait a few days.  So, I waited a week, to the end of my projected delivery window.  Nothing.  No notification of stock arriving, certainly no ship notice.  So, I contacted Amazon.  I was told that estimates are just estimates, so the fact that it hadn’t shipped yet didn’t mean anything.  They had received the stock and they were shipping it out.  And they very kindly offered to bump mine to one day shipping so that I would get mine as soon as possible once they received the next shipment of stock.

Hold up, run that by me again.  You claim to have them in stock, but you’re actually waiting on another shipment?  That being the case, the next shipment must be arriving soon, right?  Well, no.  See, Amazon actually didn’t know when they’d be getting the shipment.

I’d like to point out, I’m not mad that they had to wait for a second shipment to fill my order.  That happens sometimes.  No biggie.  I’m not even mad about the lack of a firm arrival date.  That also happens.  What I’m mad about is the fact that Amazon didn’t feel they needed to contact their customers waiting for the item about this change.  If they’d just sent me an e-mail informing me that I’d have to wait a little extra time to get my item, I would have totally understood.  Instead, I spent a week wondering if my order had just been forgotten, and worrying about having to track the item down elsewhere.  A simple e-mail could have prevented that.

Anyway, as you can see, there wasn’t much of a delay at all.  The figure arrived about a week after I contacted Amazon, and all was well.  If they had just contacted me on the 15th, no issues would have been had at all!

BONUS MINI REVIEW!

As I mentioned in my review of Mother of Ultra, while staying at the beach over the Christmas holiday, I come across a nice little shop sell a few old Ultraman vinyl figures, and Father of Ultra was amongst them.  I thought it might be neat to do a comparison like I did with Mother of Ultra.

This version of Father of Ultra appears to have been released in 1989.  He stands aboiut the same height as the Ultra-Act version, though not as bulky.  He has a whopping 3 points of articulation as most of the vinyl figures did.  Like with Mother of Ultra the paint has worn off, which was a common problem with the older vinyl figures.  The sculpt isn’t bad.  The proportions could probably be a little better, but compared to stuff of the time it’s about average, and Father’s a bit better than mother in that respect.  It’s a fun little throwback, and shows how far the figures have come.

#0090: Mother of Ultra

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

MOTHER OF ULTRA

ULTRA-ACT

 

It’s the 12th and final day of my post-Christmas Review.  Which is kind of cool because I totally didn’t plan for it to be a 12 days of Christmas thing, but it kinda turned out that way.  Neat.

Today, I’m looking at the Ultra-Act line for a 6th time.  This time, it’s not an actually an Ultraman, it’s Mother of Ultra.  I feel I should point out that the name is a bit misleading.  She’s only the mother of one of the Ultramen, and it’s not even the one just named Ultraman, it’s Taro.  Mother of Taro would be more accurate.  Oh well, on to the review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mother of Ultra was released as one of the 2013 online exclusives for the Ultra-Act line.  It’s not too different from a normal release, just a bit more difficult to get a hold of one.  She’s a little over 6 inches tall, and has 38 points of articulation.  From what I’ve seen, her sculpt appears to be pretty spot on to how she looked in her various appearances throughout the years.  Her look has remained pretty constant, but she’s had two different face designs in her appearances, so Bandai has included two different heads so you can pick your favorite.  One has softer angles and more flatly set eyes, while the other has harsher angles, a stronger jawline, and eyes on more of a slant, in a similar fashion to most of the Ultraman designs.  I personally prefer the softer of the two sculpts, but I appreciate being given the choice between the two.  The paint work is up to the usual standard of the line, which is very good.  Everything is applied very cleanly, and she looks to have no slop or missed lines.  The paint work is pretty much in par with the original Ultraman, whose paint was pretty much flawless.   Keeping up with the rest of the line, Mother of Ultra is quite well accessorized.  She’s got the extra head, an energy effect that plugs onto her wrist, a bucket of water with two handles, and 3 pairs of hands: karate chop, fists, and open gesture.  I’ve already touched on the extra head, so I won’t go into it again.  The blast effect is pretty cool, and swaps on with ease.  The bucket of water is actually an accessory for Taro, and it has one handle with his hand already attached and one without.  The hands are pretty standard for the line, and all swap out easily, and look nicely detailed.  Mother of Ultra’s the first Ultra-Act figure without an extra color timer (well, Seven didn’t have one, but he doesn’t have any color timer at all!) which is different.  I suppose Mother of Ultra’s never really needed one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mother of Ultra was purchased by me with an amazon gift card given to me by my wonderful Aunt Susan.  She’s a really fun figure, perhaps one of the most fun in the line.  I was looking forward to the figure, but I didn’t realize how great she’d be in person.  She’s one of the more pricy figures in the line due to her exclusive status, but if you can find one for a decent deal, it’s a superb figure!

BONUS MINI REVIEW!

While I was on vacation over the holiday, I stopped by a nice little store by the beach that sells lots of older toys.  They were selling a few of the old vinyl Ultraman figures, and they had a Mother of Ultra.  I picked her up for the heck of it and thought I might do a little comparison.

It’s kind of a testament to how far the figures have come over the years.  This version of Mother of Ultra appears to have been released in 1988.  She stands roughly the same height as the Ultra-Act version, and she has a whopping 3 points of articulation.  You can see that the paint has worn off, and having owned some of the vinyl figures before, I can say that was a common problem.  The sculpt isn’t terrible on this figure, though.  Sure, the proportions aren’t the greatest, but compared to stuff of the time it’s about average.  Overall, it’s a fun little figure, and I’m willing to give it a break, given that it cost me less than a tenth of what the Ultra-Act version did!

#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!

#0079: Ultraman Taro

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

ULTRAMAN TARO

ULTRA-ACT

Today marks Day 1 of my post-Christmas Review, where I’ll do reviews of all the figures I received this year as gifts during the holiday season.  Up first is my second review in the Ultra-Act line.  Last time I looked at the original Ultraman, this time I’ll be looking at Ultraman Taro, the fifth incarnation of Ultraman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Taro here was released as part of the 2013 series of the Ultra-Act line.  This is the character’s first release in the line.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in his series Ultraman Taro, which ran from 1973 to 1974.  As far as I know, Taro only had one look, and this is it, so I suppose it’s the logical choice.  Taro stands just a hair over 6 inches tall, making him about the same height as the first Ultraman.  He’s also got the same 40 points of articulation as the previous figure.  The joints are a bit tighter on this figure, which I prefer a bit more.  The figure’s sculpt looks fairly accurate to the character’s look on the show, though it does appear that Bandai has given him a slightly more “heroic” build than the stunt man in the original suit had.  This is fine by me, as it helps to keep the older Ultras in a similar style to the more modern ones, and quite frankly, makes for a more impressive figure.  Taro’s design is a bit more detailed than the original Ultraman’s, and they’ve pulled off those details convincingly.  There’s some great work on the hands and feet showing all the seams and wrinkles present in the boots and gloves.  The paint here’s not quite as good as it was on the original Ultraman, in my opinion, but it’s still very well done.  My only real issue is that the green gem on his forehead is a tiny bit sloppy.  It’s forgivable, given the scale they’re working at, but I wish it were just a smidge better.  Like the last Ultraman, Taro’s got a wide array of accessories.  He includes an alternate red color timer, a plug to allow him to be connected to one of the figarts stands, his lance, his king bracelet at full expanded size, three interchangeable left glove cuffs, an alternate shoulder piece and 10 pairs of hands:  fisted (L and R), karate chop (L and R), action gesture (L and R), a hand to hold the king bracelet (R), a hand to hold the lance (R), a hand with a beam attached (L), and a wide splayed hand (R).  The color timer is a standard for the line.  It’s the same as the normal one, just red.  The plug for the stand is only of use if you’ve buy one of their stands, which I haven’t.  The lance and the king bracelet are nicely done, and fit well into the appropriate hands.  The glove cuffs allow you to display Taro with his bracelet in various states.  The Shoulder piece is a clever idea.  It’s bent on the right side to allow the figure’s right shoulder to be placed in more deep stances.   The hands all look great and swap out with ease, and add a lot of play value to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Taro was a Christmas gift from my parents this year.  I’ve been wanting one for a while, and my parents got a hold of one for me for the holiday.  I was quite excited to get this guy, as he’s one of the more unique looking Ultramen, and really looks cool in the display.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

#0078: Ultraman

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

ULTRAMAN

ULTRA-ACT

So, after yesterday’s review being a bit of a downer, today I’ll be looking at something far more exciting!  This is my first review from Ultra-Act, a line I’m beginning to love way too much.  The purpose of the line is to release highly-articulated, highly-accessorized figures of the many versions of Japanese hero Ultraman!  I’ll be looking at the one who started it all, the original Ultraman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Ultra-Act figures, similarly to Marvel Select, aren’t released in traditional waves, but rather single releases.  Ultraman was released as part of the 2012 series of the Ultra-Act line.  He’s the second release of this version of the character, with a few “improvements” from the original.  More broadly, he’s based on Ultraman from the 1966 series, but specifically he’s based on the design from a bit later in the series.  It’s the look that the character sported for the majority of the series, and it’s how most people remember the character.  It’s also the most refined of his looks from the show, so it was well chosen.  Ultraman stands a hair over 6 inches tall and has 40 points of articulation.  The sculpt looks fairly accurate to the character’s look on the show.  The details are a little soft, but that’s actually appropriate, so no issues there.  The eyes are really well done, with the texturing being handled very well.  The paint is superb, with no noticeable slop or smudges.  The flat finish helps to make it look more realistic, which is cool.  The accessories are definitely one of the figure’s coolest areas.  Ultraman includes an alternate color timer in red instead of blue, 2 dust clouds that can be placed at Ultraman’s feet, and 10 hands: fisted (L and R), relaxed (L and R), splayed (L and R), karate-chop (L and R), peace sign (R), hand with energy beam (R), and hand with an energy disk (R).  The hands are of course the main affair here, and they’re all done really well.  They swap out pretty easily, and the variety of gestures really adds a lot to what you can do with the figure.  The color timer and the dirt cloud I can take or leave, but they’re also neat additions and go a long way to make the figure worth-while.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy earlier this year from Amazon, with a little help from my parents funds-wise.  He’s so much fun, and I super glad to have him.  I’ve been a huge Ultraman fan since I was 3 or 4 years old, but I’ve never had a figure that really lived up to the character until now.  The Ultra-Act line is a bit on the pricey side, being imports and all, but having this guy in hand, he’s so worth it!  He’s just one of those figures that’s hard to put down.

What more do you want from me?  It’s Ultraman!