Ultra-Act Ultraman Coming

Guess what everyone. I’m back. That’s right; alive and ready to write. So the main question after a several month hiatus is what to write about? The answer is: The upcoming arrival of The Ultraman Renewal figure from the Ultra-Acts line from Bandai Tamashii.  Please note this figure has been out for sometime (since 2009 to be exact), the arrival I am referring to is the one to my house after purchase.

What’s that you say? How about a little bit of back story on this Ultra guy? SURE, Be glad to tell you about Ultraman.

Ultraman is a character from the fine folks of Tsuburaya Studios in Japan. He was the star of the popular tokusatsu show “Ultraman” (surprising right?) that broadcasted in 1966 to 1967. The show was one of the first tokusatsu shows on television and capitalized on the Giant Monster craze that was booming all over Japan.

It inspired the Super Sentai series (so Ultraman is the reason we all wanted a Megazord in the mid 90s), Gridman, and several other “giant hero fights giant monster” shows that have come and gone through the years. As a matter of fact, Ultraman has enjoyed multiple spin-off shows and remakes himself through the years. As a matter of fact, the original Ultraman is often referred to as Ultraman Hayata to help differentiate him from the Ultramen that followed. Why Hayata? Because that is the name of human in which Ultraman shared his life force with during the original series silly. Did I forget to mention that Ultraman accidentally killed the human Hayata at the start of the show and shared his life force with him to keep him alive? Silly me.

Anyway back to the overview.

There has been near four decades of spin-off Ultra Crusaders since the original. From Ultraseven (that followed Ultraman’s show by a few weeks with his own in 1967) all the way to today with the newest Ultraman: Ginga, Japan has been Ultra-crazy for decades now.  As another point of interest, Ultraman is itself a spinoff of Ultra Q (the only show in the series not to feature a giant silver hero fighting huge evil monsters).

So why this figure? Well, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Ultraman, ever since I first saw “Ultraman Great” in the early 90’s. Ultraman Great was one of the few times that Tsuburaya produced Ultraman outside of Japan. They produced it in association with the South Australian Film Corporation (guess where they’re from).

I remember fondly the Dreamwork Toys that resulted from this show. Those figures from the early 90’s had maybe three points of articulation. I remember the arms moving but I’m not sure about the head. The legs, I remember, were stuck in their dynamic pose and would not move.   So when I stumbled upon these Ultra-Act figures (and after some prompting from a friend) I have dived in and am now eagerly awaiting this figure. They seem to be compared in some form or fashion to the line by the people of SH Figuarts. Since I have yet to purchase one of their figures a lot depends on my impression of this Ultraman.

Will this figure impress me more than a possibly mis-remembered figure from twenty years ago? Will a new avenue of toy collecting be opened to me? Will I suddenly find myself more cash strapped than before?   Wait and see. A review of this figure will be coming sometime in September, when the figure is set to arrive.