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S.H. Figuarts Earth Garon


My next late December preorder release is the S.H. Figuarts Earth Garon. This cute mecha was the anti-kaiju robot from the series Ultraman Blazer. I admit, I stopped watching the show after several episodes. While the premiere was really good, the rest of the series continued the standard Ultraman formula. Despite featuring mostly new kaiju, the characters and storylines didn’t really grab me. Earth Garon, however, was really cool, so I got the action figure of him.








He basically resembles a mechanical dinosaur, painted blue and orange (a color combo I like a lot), with various shades of grey. His eyes are a bright translucent blue, and everything is sculpted and painted well. The simple color scheme does make him resemble a plastic toy, but I don’t mind that at all. He may not have the look of an import, but in every other aspect he absolutely is.







The accessories include 4 pairs of hands (fists, relaxed, open palm and grappling curved fingers). He has a plug in barrel weapon that clips into his mouth (this was for when he fired his mouth beam), a cockpit opening that can plug into his chest, and 5 pairs of eyes (regular, orange brainwashed, happy, angry and damaged, which is in a spiral pattern). He doesn’t come with any of his wings or guns that attach to his shoulders, but there’s a panel on his back that can be removed, and SHF has teased that another release is in the future, so I can only assume that they will be those extra wings/guns. We’ll have to wait and see.



One thing about the eyes. They are very tiny. You switch them by removing the top of the head and replacing them by inserting them into a small hole. Honestly, it was a pain in the ass at first. Once I figured what direction they go, it became easier. There’s a short, thick tab on the top, and a longer, thinner one at the bottom that plugs into the slot. You also have to make sure that the more narrow, sharper end of the eye is facing forward. You may want to purchase a small pair of tweezers to assist with switching them, especially if you have big fingers or really short fingernails. This is honestly not a very well thought out design choice, as they are too small and can easily get lost if dropped. I keep them in the small plastic clamshell case they come in, which locks them in securely.













Earth Garon’s articulation is where he really excels. Multiple ball joints throughout the body with great range make him highly posable. He can kick high, kneel, crunch forward, sit, twist his torso fully around, look high up and down and more with relative ease. His shoulder pads are on ball joints, so they don’t impede the arm rotation, the mouth can open wide, he sports double jointed elbows and knees with bicep and thigh swivel, has drop down thighs that give the legs extra articulation, his short tail is multi segmented, allowing it to bend up, down and to the sides, and the ankles have a great range of motion. He has pistons at the back of his ankles that “open and close” with the direction of the foot. They can pop out if the ankle is stretched too far downward, but they easily slide back into the opening with no hassle. They are much better engineered than the ones on Mechagodzilla from the Godzilla vs. Kong film. The tail has 5 separate compartments with hinged doors that open out (he shot missiles out of them). You simple press down on the top of the hatch and the door pops open. 










S.H. Figuarts Earth Garon is for the most part a great release. Other than the questionable tiny replaceable eyes, everything else is high quality. He was one of the figures I was looking forward to, and he did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of the series, enjoy Ultra kaiju characters, or just want a cool articulated mecha, then he’s absolutely worth getting.








 

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