S.H. Figuarts Ultraman Z Original

Late last week I received the original version of Ultraman Z. It was released at the end of September, but since the place I ordered it from was in the process of moving their inventory to a new warehouse, it was delayed a bit. But at any rate, he’s here now, and he’s great.

Unlike the Alpha Edge form, this one comes with more accessories, extra hands, and the articulation is better. Z Original comes with a total of 7 hands (fists, 2 karate chop pairs, 2 pointing pairs, relaxed, and open palm). He comes with an extra hand that’s attached to his beam, and a low energy color timer. The beam is really nice, with its jagged shape and translucent blue color. The color timer fits snuggly onto his chest, and doesn’t easily slide off when brushing against it, like on Alpha Edge. With all his hands, he’s very expressive and fun, and can easily duplicate his “say my name” pose (arms out to the sides, with palms wide open).

His articulation is an improvement over Alpha Edge. His thighs can slide down a bit, and the design doesn’t impede from moving out too far forward or to the sides, something that Alpha Edge had issues with. The rest includes head and neck on pegs, pegged, ball jointed shoulders with butterfly swivel, shoulder pads on peg, double jointed elbows and knees, upper chest on ball joint, slight swivel at waist, upper thigh cut, swiveled ankles and toe hinge. His joints allow for better range of his limbs, making him more expressive and less stiff.

I always preferred Zett’s original form, and I’m glad Tamashii Nations made him more ambulatory and gave him a good amount of extras. His design (blue and silver with splotches of red) is simple but cool. Ultraman Z looks to become the iconic one of the new generation, and rightly so. His show was fantastic and one of Tsuburaya’s best.

S.H. Figuarts Ultraman Z Original is a worthy release of the beloved character. He’s absolutely worth picking up if you like this Ultra. I’m happy to finally have him.

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