Mafex Shin Ultraman (Dx Version)

I still have a few late December pre-order figures that are yet to be delivered. I wasn't expecting any of them to arrive until after the first of January. This figure, which I preordered from AmiAmi, was released last week. I got the payment notification, paid for it, and the delivery service said it was supposed to arrive Friday. To my surprise, it showed up Tuesday afternoon. So Mafex Shin Ultraman gets to have the honor of being the final delivered figure of 2023.

Shin Ultraman is basically a thinner version of the classic Ultraman body, without the color timer (he would turn from red to green whenever he began to weaken). The paint and sculpt is basic but good, no scuffs or paint bleed. The Mafex version is bigger than the S.H. Figuarts, which is a bit on the smaller size compared to most standard Figuarts' Ultras. Unlike Bandai's offering, which was a bare bones release, Mafex gave their Shin all the extras to make him a complete package. He comes with a total of 8 pairs of hands (fists, karate chop, open, etc.), one hand to hold his Beta Capsule, the Beta Capsule, one hand holding his energy buzzsaw, an extra energy buzzsaw that's attached to a stand, an extra pair of feet, an alternate head to switch him into Imitation Shin Ultraman, a regular sized specium beam, a longer specium beam, and a clear stand with several different attachments. All of this makes this release absolutely worth it. If you don't own an articulated Shin Ultraman, then this Mafex is the one to get.

The articulation is great, much better than the Figuarts. His head is on a curved ball peg that allows it to look far up and down. The neck is on a ball peg and can turn in all directions. With butterfly shoulders, upper arm swivel, double jointed knees and elbow, ball pegged upper torso and waist, and drop-down thighs, he is quite flexible and can achieve multiple, expressive poses, including kneels, crunches, flight, one-legged kicks, crouching, and sitting. Together with all his accessories, posing, photographing and displaying Mafex Shin Ultraman will be a lot of fun.

Final thoughts? I had completely forgotten that I had pre-ordered this dude (Mafex does take FOREVER to release their figures). And since I had purchased the S.H. Figuarts landing version of Shin Ultraman, that came with a bunch of extras that could be used for their basic figure, I had considered cancelling this order. Well I didn't and I'm glad, because this release is much better than I had anticipated. I don't purchase a lot of Mafex figures, so I tend to forget how fantastic they are. Shin Ultraman is no exception, a terrific figure that's the definitive version of the character in super articulated form.

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