Bandai has another superposeable action figure line available called Ultra-Act. This line focuses on the Ultraman TV Series that first aired in 1966. Another Tokusatsu TV program in Japan, this one focused on an alien being that came to Earth to help defend it against giant aliens. Yes, that was an over simplification, but roll with it.
As with much of the giant monster shows in Japan, there were a lot people dressed in rubber suits and stomping around on scale-model sets. Kaiju (strange monsters) is an ongoing theme.
This is a 6-inch figure that sports a ton of articulation: toes, swivel feet, jointed ankles, swivel calves, double knees, swivel thighs, ball hips, jointed crotch, ball waist, ball abs, double ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, swivel forearm, jointed wrist, swivel hands, ball neck, and a ball head. You can pose this figure in some great positions. Almost.
The left ball hip on this figure is so loose that he almost can’t stand. The right hip is better but not by much, which is really too bad since there is some great out-of-the-box fun to be had with this figure.
The sculpting is great. This is the second version of Ultraman that Bandai released in this line. While Ultraman has a simple costume, the right sculpt makes this figure pop. Bandai chose to cover the shoulder joint by sculpting the bicep section up, integrating a shoulder piece that cups/covers the ball joint. At first it seems odd, but it grows on you and as you look at it the suit aspect of the costume starts to take shape.
Most of the sculpting is simple and smooth, and most of it comes in the back detail on the fin, the headsculpt, and the accessories. The head sculpt is superb — it’s like the helmet jumped out of the TV and landed on the action figure standing before me. Amazing work.
The paints are OK, but not without issues. The overall paint masking is perfect, very well handled. But there is paint rub along the abs and this sucks. Nothing worse than scratches to ruin good posing.
There are a ton of accessories: extra hands, a couple of hands with energy effects, and some sort of foot effects. All of them are fun to switch and pose with. As with S. H. Figuarts figures, it feels like the pins might break off when changing the hands. It is extremely important that you take your time and be careful when switching the hands.
After releasing the figure from its plastic prison, joint inspection showed that the left hand was stuck and good. I had to heat the left hand with a hair dryer to loosen the joint, but there have been no problems since.
I can only recommend this figure as it is excellent fun. Despite the hip issue, there are hours of posing and play fun. If you can, pick him up via Amazon.com today.
As always you can discuss this figure further on the fwoosh forums: https://thefwoosh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=66742
