For Ultraman’s 55th anniversary, Tamashii Nations decided to release Ultraman in the Shinkocchou Seihou line, the same series that their Ultraman Tiga is from. Unlike Tiga, they chose to use a different plastic material that doesn’t cause the paint to peel and chip. I’m happy they learned from their mistake, giving the Tsuburaya star the outstanding quality he deserves. This is the best figure they’ve released of the original Ultraman to date.
Ultraman comes with all the accessories needed to make him a worthy release, including alternate color timer, one hand with his Specium Ray molded into it, another with his energy buzzsaw, an extra energy buzzsaw that can attach to a stand, 2 stands of different lengths, a base for the stand, and 7 pairs of hands, including fists, karate chop, relaxed, open palm, curved fingers, flat spread palm, 1 extra curved karate chop, and 2 right hands that are molded so they could fit into each other for a handshake, allowing Ultraman to shake hands with other Ultra figures.
Ultraman is painted in his classic silver and red body suit, with oval head and clear, almond shaped compound eyes. The figure is molded in his various later appearances in the franchise. The body has a more suit-like look, unlike the previous figures, especially with the creases on his arms. His color timer is molded in a vivid green, with the low energy timer in red. He turned out fantastic, capturing the look of the suit more accurately than the others.
The other thing that makes this release stand apart from his older counterparts is the articulation. This Ultraman can bend and stretch much better. His chest, waist and thigh area are molded in softer plastic that allow the joints to bend more freely. His head can look farther up, he sports butterfly joints on his shoulders that allow for better forward range, he has better upper arm and thigh cuts with full rotation, his upper torso and waist can twist and bend better, and his legs can drop down and kick out much farther. This allows him to smoothly achieve more expressive, dynamic poses.
His hands are fairly easy to swap out and insert into the wrist pegs, and his extra buzzsaw easily plugs into the stands via a small plastic attachment. His color timer stays on much better; on some of the older releases, it can sometimes fall out if you accidentally apply too much pressure when handling the figure. This makes this Ultraman much more fun to play with.
It’s only fitting that Tamashii Nations would eventually give the star who started Tsuburaya’s long running franchise the deluxe Shinkocchou Seihou treatment. He looks great, feels solid, moves smoothly, and has enough accessories worthy of a big anniversary release. Sure, they’ve made plenty of questionable decisions throughout the years with some of their other offerings, but then they’ll do something right like this that restores your faith that they haven’t completely lost their mind. If you’re a fan of Ultraman and want a high quality articulated figure, then THIS is the one to get.
And now, enjoy this bit of stop motion silliness.
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