Howdy guys. I like the original Ultraman, which I saw on DVD lately, and the few eps I saw here and there of other series (even Tiga on Fox Block! hah). Ultraman's a fun character and series with a fun power. So I have a question: My favorite scale for toys is 1/18th. GI Joe, DC Infinite Heroes, Marvel Universe, Microman, that size scale. Is there any toy series, at all, in all of history, that has articulated Ultramen in that scale? The more articulation, like Motion Revive or Microman level, the better, but even DCIH level of articulation is good. If not, then, well...when does Ultraman's Figuarts come out? Not exactly a proper size for giant, but it sorta works. Actually, come to think of it...would there be an appropriate larger Ultraman toyline with the nice articulation that would be a good giant size scale to the 1/18th figs? If I can't have Ultramen hanging out in human size/form, might as well have them try to be in scale but only in giant form instead. If there are, the names of said toylines would be most welcome. And if anyone's selling any, or trading any, we might be able to work out something.
Microman has a series of Ultramen, two of which I'm certain: Ultraman and Ultraman Zophy. Dunno which websites carry it though, only see it at my local import store
I have never seen a microman "Ultraman" if there is, I will be interested in seeing them! The closest I know is from a company called Megahouse. However, I do not know about the characters that have been released. Here's a link of a review done on one of the modern Ultraman: ????? ????????? ?????????? The next series is know was a series of "Chogokin" (super alloy) Ultraman figures that has a certain amount of diecast and the series mainly evolved around the "old school" Ultraman such as the original, Ultra Seven, Ace, Jake and Taro. The only modern Ultraman that appeared in the line was Nexus (name?). However the series is in the 6 inch scale or Marvel Legend scale. Most of the Ultraman toys that are sold in Asia are vinyl and are around 5-6 inches with minimum articulation such as torso, head and arms! LOL! For a "giant" articulated Ultraman, there's quite alot but the best would be from Medicom and the toys are in the 12 inch scale and aren't cheap. Here's a ad for it that I found online: etoysjapan.com - 1/6 RAH DX Ultraman Renewal C Type And finally to answer your question, SH Arts Ultraman is slated for a June release. Not too sure of the exact date though.
I have the classic Ultraman from this series (by Bandai) and I highly recommend it. Great articulation, great sculpt and paint, lots of diecast. One of my favorites.
Yeah! That's the series I'm referring to! If I remember correctly, I have the entire series except for Taro! The articulation, heft on the figures were amazing! The best part were the extras! I had a field day posing them with my vinyl kaijus! X)
I'm a big Ultraman fan, even if I don't own a ton of figures of the Ultras themselves, and I have no clue what Microman line you're talking about. This Megahouse line, on the other hand, I have seen. Action Works Zoffy Action Works Ultraman Mebius Yep, June release like Liger said. I'd guess late June, but hard to say more. An Ultraman figure in scale with the Joe scale would be enormous. That's like saying you want a to-scale Godzilla, and the closest figure to that without going for a model kit or statue is two feet tall. If just something large in general, there are several releases of Banpresto vinyls in large sizes, between eight and twelve inches tall. These are fixed-pose, sometimes in signature attack poses, but very detailed. Select kaiju exist in the same scale too. Medicom figures are your best bet, twelve inches and full of detail, but you need to be careful not to rip the body suits. The other advantage to RAHs is that they've made kaiju and seijin in the same scale too. Some far-flung day in the future, I WILL own a RAH Baltan! For an approximate six-inch scale, before the Ultra Act Figuarts line existed, there were two options. One was the Chogokin line that Liger mentioned in detail. The second is a sort of predecessor to the Ultra Act line, the Action Hero (and Action Monster) Series by Bandai. Action Hero Ultraman These guys are made of hard plastic and have poseable limbs, fixed bodies, and electronic lights and sounds. Their scale is just right to interact with standard kaiju vinyls, and a select few kaiju were released, less poseable but with motion-activated lights and sounds of their own. This line covered all the Showa Ultras to Taro, plus Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Agul and Mebius. The first set was a three-pack of Max, Red King, and Eleking, and individual releases of Baltan, Zetton, Red King and Gomora exist.
These guys? Micro Heritage - Takara Henshin Cyborg Series It's a microman figure that is put inside the suit, so the Microman itself is basically a suit actor. I got the King Ghidorah vs Godzilla, and they're a right pain in the tush to get it right, and sadly, the 'rubber suit' limits the Microman's articulation tremendously. So much so that I just have the suits hanging on their own w/o the micros inside. Actually, if you go to Tokusatsu, they have Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Sentai categories you can search through. I was there before I posted this. With all the toylines they had, I needed more info from Ultra-collectors to see what I should really be looking for. That's pretty cool. How much do they run you, on average? And I guess they're not being produced anymore, so besides eBay, what's a pretty good place to find them? Also, seems you're right Chosen, Ultra figs in giant size would be huge. According to Wikipedia: Ultraman's statistics Home Planet: "The Land Of Light," Nebula M78 Height: 40 meters (156 feet) If a 1/18th human fig is about (or really, a bit under, but we can just estimate) 2 meters tall, in scale representation, that means an Ultra giant size would need to be 20 times the 3.75-4 inch size of the fig. That means an 80 inch figure just to be in scale, which puts it taller than I am. I'll just have to stick with a 6" scale Chogokins or SHFs, unless I can find the 12" cheap (hah!) and just say that the Ultras are shorter in giant size in the 1/18th universe, or that is their human size and their human size is still giant compared to a regular human, or something. Ah well, thanks guys! Hopefully sometime in the future, I'll have some nice Ultras mixing it up with all my other toylines.
That isn't a 3 3/4" Microman figure but a reissue of the 12" Henshin Cyborg figure that Takara put out in 1971. Basically in the late 1960's Takara acquired the rights to Hasbro's GI Joe 12" figure and released it as Combat Joe. Then Takara made a robot head and slapped it on a clear GI Joe body with the plastic computer bits inside and made the first Henshin Cyborg figure. Then they scaled the Henshin figure to 3 3/4" size and eventually used it to make the Microman figures. That article is really misleading since it doesn't list the actual size of the figure. It would have been cool to have a Microman that could wear an Ultraman suit; like Takara did with Jet Jaguar.
Yeah, I can attest that I too have yet to seen a microman version of Ultraman. With regards to the RAH Ultraman, yeah be careful with the suit. I ripped mine but fortunately it was near the zip and it took a dab of glue to resolve the issue. I managed to snag Baltan when he was reissued a few months back but due to the lack of space, I've yet to open him up! X) Transfotaku - when the chogokin figures came out, they were priced around USD$50-60, depending on the exchange rate. I managed to find a link for you on ebay with regards to the "original" but its way overpriced! Bandai Ultra Chogokin Ultraman GD-58 - eBay (item 320297789427 end time Apr-03-10 10:41:01 PDT) Here's Taro - which surprisingly is reasonable. Bandai Ultra Chogokin GD - 97 -- Ultraman Taro - eBay (item 350284872563 end time Mar-26-10 08:30:34 PDT) I almost forgot - I have this set and the figures are around 7-8 inches. QC isn't good and mine broke after awhile. ULTRAMAN VOL 01 SRC TYPE A & B CHOGOKIN action figure - eBay (item 200357804630 end time Mar-25-10 19:45:09 PDT)
I haven't priced the chogokin figures since I bought mine a few years back (I paid around $50), but there's no way they could be worth that much. As for the Microman man-in-suit figures, I have a Gojira set and I really don't like it. While the concept is very cool, the figure is extremely difficult to get into the rubber suit. Once he's in there, it doesn't really make for a very playable toy. If they would have gone all the way and made the Microman figure look like the person who actually wore the suit, that would have made a cool display piece, but as it is...it's just kind of lame.
That's Ultraman Mebius from the Action Works line. Zoffy's also available for that series. I'd skip the Super Reimagining Chogokin. Like SIC, they can be pretty fragile. I bought a set and both their knee joints broke out of the box. There are those 12" figures which are reasonably in scale with G.I. Joe, but I reckon you mean you want an Ultraman of about the same size as Joes, not actually in SCALE. In any case, those are expensive too, especially since there haven't been too many new ones lately from what I've seen, so you'll be buying older ones with inflated secondary market prices. In my view, the definitive Ultraman will probably be the upcoming S.H. Figuarts version, since it'llbe articulated, reasonably clean in terms of sculpt and relatively affordable in price. But if you want it to be sized with your 1/18s, then go for the Action Works. Action Works are shelfwarmers because of their price, but if you find a half off sale, then that's about right for what you get. They're pretty darn articulated, but the problem is that their sculpt suffers for it (you can see all the cuts and lines on Mebius here) and the joints can be rather loose.
That's a pretty awesome Mebius actually. How much does that line usually average out to be? Cause, if I really can find a half off sale, or a cheap eBay lot, that'd be great. But yeah, I'll probably just go with the Figuarts, and just say that they're "in scale" with the rest of the 1/18ths I have, but that they're just naturally quite larger, or something. They are giants after all, so having something about 1.5 times the size of their companions doesn't seem like it would be out of place for it. Plus, it'd go in the same scale w/the SHF, Figma, Shinki, Revoltech, etc collections in the highly detailed highly articulated Japanese figure lines. Now, if I wanted a toy in scale to the 1/18th figs, I'd need an 80" tall mannequin and an Ultraman outfit to put on it. That....would take up a bit too much display space. Figuarts will due just fine. What about Kaiju to fight then? Any good, reasonably inexpensive (like, $20 or less per) line out there to go in a nice display? Something like the 12" Godzilla figs or the 6" Godzilla figs that were cheap from KB Toys closure (and clogging some TRU shelves still) in nature would be neat. Better would be nice, too.
The kaijus are simple and easy to find on auctions especially the 6-7 inch vinyl. In my country they can cost around USD$10-12. Never pay more than USD$20 for one dude - unless its the super rare and exclusive ones. Below is a sample that are found on my country's ebay auctions. I must highlight that there can be various versions of the same kaijus. I'm thinking that since you watched the original Ultraman, you would like kaijus like Baltan, Red King etc. kaiju, Toys Hobbies ? great value and good deals on eBay.com.sg
I provided you with the HLJ links already. Can't buy them here obviously, but you can see their retail cost and get some idea of value. In my previous post I briefly mentioned the Action Monster Series. Baltan Seijin 2005 Action Monster Zetton Action Ultra Monster Gomora Action Ultra Monster Red King These guys aren't nearly as articulated as Action Hero Series, the Chogokin Ultras, or the future Ultra Act Figuarts, but they are articulated and have electronics. Baltan in particular (own him) has wrist swivels, hinge elbows, swivel shoulders, and swivel ankles, more articulation than any other of his size. The rest are more disappointing, but your mileage may vary. The alternative and best bet is the Ultra Monster Series. This line has been made by Bandai since 1983! They're very inexpensive too, about $10 USD plus shipping. If there's a particular kaiju you want, especially from Ultraman and Ultraseven, it's probably been made. There's hundreds of sculpts. These are the Japanese counterparts to the Bandai Creation Godzilla figures you're talking about, but better. Fair warning, many of the most recent sculpts like Agira, Grand King, Bakishimum, Imperializer or EX Red King are smaller than 6" tall. Seijin (aliens like Baltan) and most other monsters are perfectly scaled. This image is taken from some of the magazine scans and shows Ultraman with a standard Red King, a perfect scale. And here you see one of my Ultra monster favorites attacking Kuuga and Agito.
Dang! All this discussion on Ultraman is giving me an itch to pick up some of the Medicom versions like Ultra Seven and Taro! X) Chosen - those Ultra Monsters sure look tempting to pick up. The problem is I have all their 6 inch vinyl counterparts! LOL!
All this talk about Ultraman made me dig out by Medicom Ultraman Type C! Please note this isn't the supposingly improved "Renewal" or reissue version! My opinion on the toy? It really looks good but the articulation of the toy is seriously compromised by the rubber suit. There have been horror stories of ripped suits which one can find online! I do wish, Bandai or some company can give us a 12 inch articulated Ultraman! X) More pictures will be posted under the "12 inch" toy thread!
Sigh, yeah I get what you mean. That's the main reason why I didn't go further into the line. Medicom has released characters like Ultraseven, Leo, Astra, Ace, Taro and even Ultra Father - which is a mail away exclusive. The tightness of the suits is so bad that I have to be very careful in moving the limbs. One of these days, I've dig out my 6 inch vinyls and post pictures of them!
