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S.H. Figuarts Birdon

One of my most anticipated figures of this year finally dropped: S.H. Figuarts Birdon, the goofy fire breathing chicken that first appeared in the Ultraman Taro series, where the flying kaiju easily dispatched both Taro and Zoffy over the course of three episodes. After its debut, Birdon wouldn't be seen until years later, in 2006's Ultraman Mebius, and would continue to make sporadic appearances in various other Ultra shows. This is one of the kaiju that I hoped Bandai would eventually release in their Figuarts line, and I'm happy to see my wish came to fruition.










As previously stated, Birdon resembles an oversized chicken, or more accurately, a rooster, with its bright colors and row of feather-like spikes on its head and running down his back. He also has two sacks on each side of his face that resemble a rooster's wattles. Bandai did a fantastic job of accurately sculping and painting the figure to look exactly like his screen counterpart. His multi-colored body includes red, blue, green, gold and brown. I love the sculpted details on the fur on his arms, legs and neck, as well as the veins on each segment of his wings. This is one of the best looking Birdon figures ever released.










The accessories that he comes with are a soft plastic flame effect that fits on top of Zoffy's head, to duplicate the scene where he shoots fire at the Ultra, lighting his head aflame. The other extra is a burst of flames he shoots from his mouth, known as his Volcanic Fire attack. This piece is painted in beautiful translucent shades of yellow and orange, and it comes with a small clear stand and base to set it on. Both of these effect pieces are the ideal accessories for Birdon; I'm glad they didn't skimp out by making this a bare bones release.





The articulation for Birdon is pretty impressive, containing more joints and range than I would have expected. The head and neck can look far up (ideal for duplicating flying poses), down and to the sides. The arms and wings are divided into multiple segments that allow you to curve them inward and out, as well as butterfly shoulder joints that pop out forward and twist fully around. The feathery spikes that run down its back are divided into 4 segments that shift up and down, allowing extra range when moving the torso. He sports a cut on his waist that can twist, lean side to side and crunch forward, with a floating piece around his waist that allows for gap coverage. The legs include drop down thighs, knee bend and ankle pivots. His thick tail is one piece that plugs in via a small ball joint, and can move in and out. All of these joints allow Birdon to be posed with a surprising range of motion, making the figure much more fun to mess with. The material on the body also feels softer than usual, allowing more ease when moving the joints. Producing this figure so accurate to the actual suit was a treat; making its engineering so smooth and expressive is the cherry on top. Great job, Bandai!


















S.H. Figuarts Birdon turned out to be a fantastic release, containing everything I wanted and more. Every so often they'll have a miss or two, but when they deliver a hit, it's a homerun, which is what this funky oversized bird turned out to be. I hope that any future Ultra kaiju get the same treatment as ole Birdon did, with a great sculpt and paint, and impressive engineering. The next scheduled release will be Bandai's Megaguirus in the S H. MonsterArts line, which is another favorite monster of mine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she turns out as good as Birdon.














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