Another Bandai Premium figure, and it’s another disappointment. Ultron Prime was another Bandai exclusive. You know the kind — the ones that cost over $100 and have few accessories and always leave us wanting more. Ultron Prime does just that.
And it doesn’t have to! This figure has it all, it’s almost perfect in every way. Almost. And for the price it should be. But let’s start with the good.
The sculpt on this figure is amazing. It is a beautiful sculpt and completely lives up to my expectations for a Bandai premium figure. The sculpt is right up there with Hot Toys levels of beautiful. I haven’t compared the figure to actual stills from the movie, but as far as I can tell this is a pretty decent match to the movie character. There is an incredible amount of detail to capture in the design, and Bandai really nails it for me.
Now for the bad. This figure is superposable, almost; all the super-poseable joints are present but not all of them are accessible. And for a premium exclusive figure, you expect the figure be able to strike any pose. Ultron has almost all the right articulation: ball ankles and wrists, double knees and elbows, ball hips and shoulders, ball head and chest. So what’s the problem? The hips and shoulders suck. The sculpt of the hips and shoulders make them glorified swivel joints; there isn’t much ball movement. Bandai seems to have solved the hip and shoulder sculpt and articulation on their Iron Man figures, and I don’t know why they couldn’t do the same with Ultron. Especially in the shoulders where you expect dynamic posing.
The accessories do not match the extra price point of premium exclusiveness: three sets of hands. We’ve covered this before and we’ll continue to cover it, but if a toy company is going to charge 100 bucks for a toy, throw in the kitchen sink with it; give it some bang for our buck. One figure and a couple of hands just isn’t enough. Especially when you skimp on the articulation.
I’m gonna quickly hit on scale. The figure is on the small side. I thought it was larger, like 7 inches tall, but I think that is me confusing 17 cm with 7 inches. Truth is, the figure is 6.6 inches tall. It’s tall, but it isn’t “end of the movie Ultron” tall. More like “beginning of the movie Ultron” tall. I like the height. It makes him more comic-book scaled and not so much over-the-top-Hollywood-movie tall. But that might be a deal killer for many a collector wanting movie accuracy.
Final evaluation is disappointment. The inhibited articulation in the thighs and the shoulders are a deal killer for me, along with the lack of more accessories. While I love the sculpt and he figure will be vanilla on my shelf, I can’t recommend Fwooshers rush out and get this figure. Yes, it is a required character for your S.H. Figuarts collection, but I just don’t see the bang for your buck.
You can still get this figure here:
