When it comes to Ultraman figures, poseability sacrifices realism. This means no iconic wrinkling of the suit. If there’s realism, there’s no poseability. It’s either this or that. Well, that’s until now.
Enter the AUGTOYS Original Ultraman Action Figure. This officially licensed action figure of the original Ultraman, who debuted in 1966, is a perfect example of thinking outside the box and leveraging modern tech to achieve what toy collectors and toymakers could only dream of a few years ago.
When AUGTOYS set out to recreate this iconic character, it had only one thing in mind: to be 100% screen-accurate without sacrificing poseability. The result is an Ultraman figure that has the best of both worlds: poseability without visible joints and suit wrinkling. Just imagine an Ultraman figure looking like the Ultraman C-Type Statue, but with articulation. And also smaller, at 12-inch scale.
To achieve this, AUGTOYS chose to go with a suit-over-skeletal-structure design, with the latter built around the suit. Many materials were experimented with, including fabric and silicone, before it settled on a custom vinyl material. This material allows freedom of movement at the joints while recreating the natural wrinkles seen on screen.
The skeletal structure has been completely redesigned to replicate OG actor Furuya Bin’s body shape and has reinforced joints featuring a bulletproof glass-like material for durability and to ensure tightness. The inner structure further boasts a three-section abs/waist design to allow the figure to recreate the iconic low-bending pose seen on screen.
The only thing lacking at this point is seamless articulated fingers. Instead, it has six interchangeable hands (excluding the fist hands) for you to recreate various actions, including one with the Ultra Slash (the Spacium saw blade thingy) and a hand with the Spacium Beam. It also has a hand that allows it to grab the included SSSP Jet VTOL (aka Jet Beetle). The latter also gets its own stand with a transparent stem to simulate flight.
The figure includes an Ultraman-branded red stand with a red-and-black base, a three-fold backdrop, and a tiny Beta Capsule. Pre-orders for the toy began as early as last year, and it is set to be released this month.
I cannot locate sellers for this toy (at a reasonable price) outside of China. In any case, pre-orders for the 1,230-yuan figure have closed. It’s unfortunate. So if folks like me, we will have to just wait it out to see if there are any available when the toy gets released.
Images: Weibo (AUGTOYS) [CH].
