Today I decided to review my two Ultra-Act figures, the 1st edition Ultraman (Hayata) and Ultraman Dyna. I'll start off with Ultraman, who was so disappointing to me at that time I didn't even bother to fiddle with him much. Totally forgot he had a cape (which I didn't bother to take out at that time) until I read a review somewhere recently. So here goes...
Being the first wave to introduce Ultra-Act, which is under Bandai and Tamashii Nations, Ultraman was rather appropriate to be included in that line. And to enhance it's value, the figure came with a lot of accessories! There is the Ultra Slash and Specium Ray effect, an assortment of hands, the red color timer, and a cape. I'd say that it was pretty generous of them.
The sculpt is good; it's rather accurate. The paint job is well done too, with almost no mistakes on my figure. But none of these could make up for the poor quality of the figure.
The proportions felt a bit off. Ultraman was rather tall and skinny, as if he didn't eat much. Also, the joints (especially those at the legs) became loose really fast, making posing without a stand a burden to do. The articulation, while a lot, felt weird, especially the part connecting the shoulders to the main body. When I first got this figure, I gave up almost immediately because I wasn't used to Japanese action figures (used to collect US toy brand figures like Hasbro and Mattel prior to this).
To make matters worse, Ultra-Act started a new habit of having "renewal" editions, which improved the figure's scuplt and joints, and even adding more accessories. So when they announced that they are making a renewal edition of Ultraman, I felt really, really cheated. It was like I wasted money on a "trial product" instead of getting the renewal edition. I'll never forgive Bandai/Tamashii Nations for doing this to customers like that. Or at least, I don't trust the Ultra-Act line anymore. S.H.Figuarts are still awesome.
Despite feeling cheated about Ultraman, I really wanted Ultraman Dyna when it came out. Dyna is my all-time favourite of all the Ultra, and I made sure to read all the reviews first before buying it. Apparently Dyna was using a whole new figure that Ultra-Act used for later waves, which was new and improved. And they were right. The proportions were much better, and the leg joints were actually not loose. A noticeable change in articulation for me was the loss of the ankle swivel that allows the feet to bend left and right. The colours were more vibrant, and the eyes on Dyna were nicer.
Dyna definitely beats Ultraman hands-down, except that he comes with less accessories. Dyna has displayed many powers in the TV series, but all we got was the Solgent Ray and the Ultra Fork. There were a few alternate hands, with a nice thumbs up hand. He comes with an interchangeable collar piece and second head. I think the 2nd head is suppose to allow light to enter from the back to make the eyes look "lit up", but I didn't find it effective or impressive. The collar piece allows Dyna to do poses where the arms needed to come in more, like when he crosses his arms for Solgent Ray.
One thing that bugged me about Dyna was his head articulation. While it was ball-jointed, the shape of his neck piece made it impossible to turn his head left and right. Not too sure what the manufacturers were thinking there.
Overall, Dyna is a really good figure. If they started the Ultra-Act series with this kind of standard I might have bothered to invest in the series and collect the Ultra-Brothers or something. Ultraman (1st edition) is decent if you can be patient with it, but I'd recommend anyone interested to get the renewal edition.
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