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S.H. Figuarts Hyper Zetton [Imago]

After waiting a while, I finally received my Hyper Zetton figure last week. It had initially released at the end of April in Japan, but the place I ordered it from didn't get it in stock until June. Even after it was shipped, it still took about 3 weeks to get to me. Thankfully, he eventually arrived.







Hyper Zetton hails from the 2012 film Ultraman Saga. He's created by Alien Bat, and started out looking like a giant caterpillar-like insect, before evolving into the more humanoid Imago form. This Zetton differs wildly from the original, with a sleeker, more menacing design, with large spikey claws instead of hands, a series of armor plates on his body, shoulders and legs, as well as a small tail. He also eventually gains a pair of wings and an elongated tail, making him capable of high speed flight. Bandai did a fine job capturing his look in action figure form, incorporating all his details well.










His accessories include his large pair of wings, some shoulder blade parts that go with the wings, and that extra long tail, that plugs into a small ball joint in the back. Also included is an arm piece for the Ultraman Victory figure, so that he can wield the Hyper Zetton arm (called Hyper Zetton scissors). The claw end of Zetton's hand simply pops out, and can be plugged into the Victory Arm piece.







The articulation is pretty good, utilizing some interesting, unique choices to get the joints to move. The head piece is on a ball joint and can spin fully around. The neck section can only be moved forward to make him look down. The head piece does most of the heavy lifting. The arms have hinged ball joints, with a floating piece at the shoulders. The black armor on his shoulders is also on a retractable joint, allowing you to push it up and out, allowing you to get his arms in a T-pose without getting in the way. The elbows are double jointed, and can swivel at both the base and the claw, which is connected via a ball peg. His upper torso and waist can twist and crunch. His legs sport drop down thighs, and the pieces of armor on the front and side of each leg are on small ball pegs, allowing you to move them up and to the sides, so that they don't impede the range of the legs. He sports double jointed knees, and hinged ankle ball joints. One thing to note is that the shape of the feet, combined with him being top heavy, can make it a bit of a challenge to get him to stand firmly. For his wing accessories, you insert them by removing two plates on his back, and plugging the ball joints into the hole. Since those wings are large, they also make his upper body heavier, so you'll have to position the legs and feet just right to get him to stand. The ends of the wings also move up a bit, to give them more of a flight pose. I own some cool flat stands that you slide your action figure's foot into, so I use those with my Hyper Zetton to get him to stand more securely. All in all, he can achieve some pretty decent poses.














This is yet another nice release in the S.H. Figuarts Ultraman line. The figure is sculpted well, down to the smallest details, the paint apps are good, and the engineering is good, once you get used to how the joints move. The interchangeable wings are also a nice touch. Zetton has always been one of the more unique and infamous kaiju from the Ultra series. After all, he's the one who defeated Ultraman in the last episode of the original 1966 show. This upgraded version, with its sleek, modern design, is also cool, and it's nice to finally have a super articulated figure of this character. Despite taking a while to get to me, Hyper Zetton was worth the wait.










 

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