Evolution Toy Monster Action Figure Alien Bat

The figure that I never thought would be released has finally been released (LOL). From Evolution Toy's Monster Action Figure (MAF) series, it is none other than Alien Bat from Return of Ultraman. This seijin baddie is pretty cool.

Alien Bat first went up for preorder in July of 2022. It was set to be released at the end of that year I believe. Well, that didn't happen. It got pushed back to early 2023. Then got pushed back again to mid 2023. The release date continued to get pushed back multiple times. After a while, I just began to expect to receive an e-mail from AmiAmi a few weeks before its scheduled release, letting me know it would be delayed again. I anticipate multiple delays from Mafex, but this was getting ridiculous. To my shock, I received a payment request last week, letting me know they finally had it in stock. This goofy Ultraman alien finally arrived at my door this week.

Alien Bat resembles some kind of goofy dude in a blue suit, with red wing-like cape, boots, red & white leaf shaped claws, and a face with green compound eyes, 3 antenna-like horns on his head, and a pair of long golden fangs on each side of his mouth. He first appeared in the final episode of Return of Ultraman, where he partnered with Zetton II to try and kill Ultraman Jack. He later returned for a few appearances on Redman, and wasn't seen again until the Heisei era, where he was given a more modern, sleeker, updated look. Evolution Toy did a fine job accurately capturing his early 70's appearance. The figure is painted well, with bright green eyes that really pop amid the dark brown head, and a nice royal blue on his body.

The articulation has some surprises, making him a bit more posable than I had initially anticipated. His head is on a ball joint, allowing it to look up, down and side to side. His shoulders are on hinged ball joints, allowing the arms to rest flat on the sides and twist up into a T-pose. Each arm has a small wing that's attached via a ball peg, allowing it to move with the arm. The "wrists" are on a hinged ball joint, the waist is on a ball joint, he sports drop down hinged thighs that allow them to kick forward and out a bit, and he sports thick ball joints on the knees and ankles. Despite his seemingly stiff appearance, his engineering is less stiff than it looks.

Evolution Toy Monster Action Figure Alien Bat turned out pretty good. Based on the preorder photos, I could tell his sculpt and paint looked good, and having him in hand, his articulation is a bit better than I expected. He's the 2nd of the Monster Action Figure (MAF) series kaiju that I own, the first one being Zetton II. I have seen that Shugaron was teased at some Japanese event, so I hope that he gets released this year (fingers crossed). As for Alien Bat, he's groovy.

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