Evolution Toy Jumborg 9

Today I received Evolution Toy Jumborg 9, from the Tsubaraya show Jumborg Ace. 9 was the robot controlled via a transforming car (Ace was through a plane).

This figure comes with 3 pairs of hands (fist, flat and open/grasping), 2 alternate chest pieces, and an extra belt. The extra chest pieces have a higher cut in the middle to allow for more movement of the arms, especially forward. They attach to a small peg on the chest, and smaller one on the back. Once they're in, the can swing up and down a bit as well.

One thing I noticed is that there's a gap between his middle and lower waist due to the articulation. It allows for ab forward and backward crunch, but it is a bit loose. I recall reviews of their Zone Fighter figure that had that as well, but that was so loose the top half seemed to pop off easily.

Other than that, the rest of the joints are decent, though their Fireman is a bit more solid. I do notice that the arm and thigh joints on the right silver side are slightly more loose than on the left red half. But you can get him in some decent poses, nothing broken on mine.

His articulation points are the neck that moves from side to side and forward a bit, his face plate that can look up and down, upper waist, lower waist, shoulders move around though they don't move too far out so you can't pose him in a T, upper arm swivel that goes all around, elbows, wrist, thighs, knee joints, ankles that move all the way around and downward, and toe hinge.

I'm not sure why they included an extra belt. It's identical to the one he's wearing. I would've preferred a beam of some kind or even a small version of the car he transforms from. Jumborg 9 has many attack beams and weapons, so they could've included any of them with this guy.

It's a decent figure, nicely detailed and painted. Other than the slightly wonky upper waist gap, limited shoulder movement and odd accessory, it's not bad for an articulated figure. My Fireman seemed more solid, though from what I've seen of the Zone Fighter reviews, this guy is an improvement. I've also pre-ordered Spectreman and Mirrorman from this line. Hopefully those are as solid as Fireman. Until Figuarts or some other company takes a shot at these less popular tokusatsu heroes, Evolution Toy is your best shot.

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