Evolution Toy Fireman

I recently purchased this Fireman through a seller on ebay. This is my first figure from the Evolution Toy company (all my other articulated figures have been Ultra Act, S.H. Figuarts, S.H. Monsterarts and Revoltech).

I was aware that their first release of Zone Fighter from several years ago had flimsy articulation, loose joints that popped off easily, etc. However I read that they had made improvements for their new Tokusatsu heroes, so I decided to give this guy a shot. And also, there's not a lot of figures of Fireman available.

This guy so far is pretty good. The joints are similar to the Ultra Act line, so I knew what to expect, as well as what to be wary of. The photo above has arrows pointing to all the points of articulation this guy has. There are some joints that are a bit tight, and the swivel shoulders tend to be slightly loose, but not too bad. Fireman comes with a 10 interchangeable hands, Fire Knife, Fire Jack and 2 Fire Bracelets.

In some of the YouTube reviews I saw, they said that the opening of the hands were so big that the Fire Knife and Fire Jack didn't really stay in securely. I did notice that one certain hand, the Fire Knife (basically sword) does fit in reasonably securely.

As for the Fire Jack, all of the openings on the holding hands are too big, so it fits very loosely. However, based on what I've seen on the show, he holds it up in his hand and launches it at foes, so I guess they figure if you put it in that pose it doesn't need to fit snugly.

His other accessory, the Fire Bracelets, can easily be placed on his wrists by popping out the hands. They're designed that they can open a bit and stretch to fit on securely. I'm not sure what the Fire Bracelets are used for as I'm not too familiar with the show, only having seen a few clips on YouTube.

As for size, he's just a tad bit taller than the Ultra Act figures, Taller than the Figuarts, but shorter than NECA figures.

The sculpting and paint details are nice, I didn't notice any visible paint smudges or spots. His bug eyes are a red translucent material that stand out nicely.

For the most part, Evolution Toy Fireman is a decent articulated figure. I'd definitely get others that are coming out (perhaps Jumborg Ace, definitely Spectreman, a Tokusatsu hero I absolutely LOVE!).

I'm happy to add Fireman to my growing collection of articulated action figures. Time will tell if he holds up nicely (I've had several old Ultra Acts that had worn joints snap off, such as wrist ball joints and the upper thigh of Ultraseven). For now I'm happy with this funky dude.

Sayonara!

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