On one of the kaiju action figure Facebook groups that I am a member of, I came across a post from a seller who was making and selling his own articulated, custom figure. It was of none other than the Ultraman Ace kaiju Baraba. This seller posted photos online of the progress he was making on this figure, including both a white unpainted version, and painted version, as well as the accessories it came with, and a video that showed the articulation and other features. I messaged him and told him I was interested in purchasing one of his figures, so he put me on his list. Since I have no experience with painting action figures, I asked to purchase one that he painted himself. Well after several weeks, he completed them, so I sent my payment, and my figure just arrived this week.
The thing that immediately stands out is the amazing paint job. This guy is immensely talented, as the figure looks fantastic. Various shades of purples, pinks, blues and black shading are found throughout the body. The teeth are white, the eyes are translucent yellow, and his head horn and arm spikes are silver. The amount of detailed layering and shading is simply gorgeous. I've seen many wonderfully painted customs online, and this Baraba figure is up there with the best of them.
The accessories that are provided are his right mace hand, that shoots out a grappling chained hook. He also provided the chain, which has a bendy wire in it and can be inserted into a hole in the mace, with the grappling hook at the end being able to be pulled off and attach to the chain. His left hand is a curved, hook like blade. He also provides an alternate claw, that resembles a spikey fin and looks a lot like the hand of the alien monster Yapool, which was Ultraman Ace's arch enemy. It was Yapool who sent the monster Baraba to attack him. He has a blade attached to his head that's called the Terrible Sword and can be removed from the head, as he used it as a weapon that could be thrown at enemies. He also includes another claw that resembles a mace with 3 sharp fingers, and that one can be attached to a small chain. This particular one needs to be assembled, by attaching two small screws to make it a complete weapon. I haven't put it together, but it looks great. There's a small rocket effect piece that can be inserted into his nose, to duplicate one of his rocket attacks that he shot from his snout. He also comes with a pair of alternate eyes that are popping out of their sockets, to duplicate a scene from the show, where Ace punched him and caused them to pop out. This accessory is achieved by pulling off the top of the head, and switching out the eyes, that are attached to a square base that fits snuggly into a crevice within his head. The bases for both of the eyes have a round hole in the middle. This is for the final accessory, which is a round, battery operated circuit board that lights up by being touched with a small magnetic stick. He included several sets of batteries, as well as 2 separate circuit boards, for both sets of eyes. This is a very neat feature, allowing the kaiju to be displayed with glowing eyes, and you can turn it on and off by simply touching the inside of his mouth with the magnetized stick.
The sculpt is just perfect, accurately capturing the look of the kaiju. He came in several pieces, and I simply attached the arms into sockets in his torso, the head attaches to a socket in his neck, and his tail was in two pieces that attach together, and you simply pop the ball socket into the back of the torso. The fins on his back attach by lining four pegs at the ends with the holes that are molded into the back of the body. They fit well, but are very loose, so he recommends gluing them in as they easily fall out when you rub against them. I did just that, and now the fins are there to stay. As for the articulation, his head is on a what appears to be a ball peg, allowing it to look down, up a bit, and move and twist a bit to the sides. His mouth is hinged and opens and closes. His shoulders attach via ball pegs, and are hinged at the shoulder and elbow, allowing his arms to be raised up to the sides, and the elbows to bend in and swivel around. His thighs seem to be attached to a peg, and there's a hinge at the knees, that allows a bit of bending. The foot can twist to the sides and up and down a bit. And finally, his tail is multi-segmented, so it can move smoothly up, down and side to side. One thing to note is that his jaw and right leg are very loose. You can close the mouth, but it tends to fall open often. Also, the weight of his spike hands can at times cause the arms to droop. However, this can be remedied by applying some floor polish, or another product such as the one offered by a company called Kiki. I think I might get me a bottle off ebay and use it for his jaw and leg, to tighten them up. The figure is otherwise awesome.
This custom Baraba figure is really cool, and I'm happy that I purchased one. The large amount of accessories and jaw droppingly gorgeous sculpt and paint job alone are worth the purchase. Though I should add, he only offered to paint a few of them, and all those sold out fast, so a few unpainted ones were all that were left. Since S.H. Figuarts have yet to release any kaiju from Ultraman Ace, (they showed photos of Alien Hipporito over a year ago, but he never dropped), the 5th Ultra brother finally has an articulated castmate he can be posed with. And since I own the older Ace Killer from the Ultra Act line, Baraba fits right in, as they were in the 2 same episodes. For being a first attempt at an articulated figure, this seller did a damn impressive job.
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