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Future Factory Action Figure (FFAC) Mirrorman


This is the new Mirrorman figure from Future Factory. I had initially preordered this one, thinking it would be a new figure and not a reissue of the Evolution Toy Mirrorman. Then I looked online and saw that Future Factory was taking over the action figure production from Evolution Toy's Hero Action Figure (HAF) line, so I just cancelled my preorder, as I already own the Evolution Toy HAF version, and assumed they would simply put out the exact same figure. Then about 2 weeks ago, I happened upon a review of this new release on YouTube, and was surprised to see that it was an entirely new sculpt, smaller than the HAF release (more in scale with SHF 1:12 figures). So I found one on ebay and purchased it. Now that I have it in hand, it's a great figure, and a big upgrade over Evolution Toy's version.











Mirrorman is the title hero from the 1971 Tsuburaya tokusatsu show. Using the power of mirrors or reflective surfaces, the human host turns into the superhero Mirrorman, fighting off various kaiju and alien foes. The first thing that I noticed is that this figure has much better body proportions. His sculpt is more accurate to the character from the series than the Evolution Toy HAF version, which was more stylized. He's also smaller in size, and scales perfectly with SHF Ultra figures. Mirrorman is silver and green, with gold in his eyes, the star on his forehead and his belt. Everything is painted well on the figure. He looks like what I imagined an SHF Mirrorman figure would look like, if they were to ever release one. I also noticed that they didn't use cheap plastic on the wrist pegs like they did with the HAF release. Both of the wrist pegs on that one eventually ended up snapping easily, forcing me to use sticky tack to keep the hands on. The hands on this FFAF release fit easily onto the wrist pegs, and pulling them off is just as easy and anxiety free.








His accessories include 5 pairs of hands (fists, relaxed, 2 karate chop, and 1 to hold his beam weapon), a clear base and stand, two translucent Mirror Shot beams (one for each hand), and a translucent orange Finisher Horizontal Cut, which is an energy slash that he throws at enemies to slice & dice them. This one has a peg underneath that can be attached to one of the stand attachments. The HAF version had the Mirror Shot accessories, but not the energy slice, so it was nice to get an extra beam attack. The claws for the stand are kind of wide, so they don't hold the figure too securely. I prefer to just use one of my extra Tamashii stands that I have.






The articulation is really great, on part with an S.H. Figuarts release. His head is on a ball joint and could look far up. Paired with the neck joint, he can turn and tilt easily. The double jointed elbows and knees bend in far, and the butterfly joints on the shoulders allow him to easily cross his arms. The thighs can split wide in a perfect T pose. He also sports upper torso and waist ball joints, as well as swivel hinge ankles. This figure can achieve very expressive poses, and is much more flexible than the older HAF version. Even if you own the older Evolution Toy version and like that one, the upgraded engineering makes this one absolutely worth getting.
















Future Factory Action Figure (FFAF) Mirrorman turned out to be a great release. He's a huge improvement over the HAF version in almost every way. Now that they've taken over Evolution Toy's action figure line, I'm excited about what figures they might re-release in the future with the upgraded sculpts, engineering, and better quality materials. They're set to drop a Redman figure very soon, and I think I'll be grabbing one of those. I'm hoping they redo Fireman, Spectreman, and Jumborg Ace in this new line, so I can have those rarer tokusatsu heroes that are more in scale with my SHF Ultra figures. While the last Evolution Toy figure (Zone Fighter version 2) that I purchased was really good quality, I'm excited for the future of this new line.












 

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