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11-16-2015, 01:35 AM | #1171 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Alta Loma, CA
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Finally got around to opening Tsurugi & Cosmos!
(Nerdy packaging bits I noticed - Cosmos doesn't come packaged with the fists attached like just about every Tamashii Nations product I've ever bought, and the tape on the sides is a normal strip, instead of that circular piece I've seen used on a lot of recent Ultra-Acts.) Tsurugi is quite striking. The differences in the suit compared to the average Ultra probably help, but there's so much more going on with him. Cosmos is a bit boring in comparison. The Full Moon Rect, however, is interesting and quite different from your average Ultra-Act effect. It's quite heavy though & Cosmos can't hold it aloft on its own without tipping over. This is the only pose I could get where Cosmos could hold it up without aid, and even then it's quite precarious. The nice thing is that, though it's not a full-on Tamashii Stage, Bandai did throw in a base & pole that can plug in to the Full Moon Rect and allow you to set it up as normal. The Knight Shot on Tsurugi is pointy in all the wrong places when it comes to gripping it, so swapping it was kind of painful. One note on Tsurugi - the Knight Brace on mine was tougher to remove, and swapping the Knight Blade was much more difficult to get completely pegged in then it was on Hikari. Tsurugi's a gem and, despite owning Hikari already, doesn't feel like a redundant purchase at all. Cosmos isn't as exciting, but that's mostly personal preference due to the suit colors & design. That said, if the line does fade away after Mebius Phoenix Brave next year, I'll be very sad. With Cosmos finally coming out, there's still plenty of ground to cover with Ultra designs there, on top of stuff that still hasn't made its way to retail (Powered, the missing Tigas) or more recent stuff (Victory). I've given up on ever getting kaiju from the line again, but I was hoping we'd get all but the most obscure Ultras before the line went kaput, given how much we've already gotten. Fingers remain crossed the line won't be killed by the SHF Ultras, but seeing the line die will annoy the hell out of me if that's what is about to happen. Anyways, here's an updated "blue" Ultra shelf. |
11-16-2015, 04:02 AM | #1172 |
Sky Henshin!
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Henderson, NV
Posts: 4,778
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Cosmos looks great, I want to get him sometime. I love his suit.
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01-10-2016, 02:09 AM | #1173 |
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Location: Alta Loma, CA
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Finally got around to picking up (and then, opening, after a while) the Glitter Tiga/Kamila two-pack.
Random nerdy packaging note - After removing the actual bubble, there are two smaller bubbles holding the hands & collar pieces in place. Despite being pretty basic in the color department, both are pretty striking. Kamila's gold accents help make her more distinct from the average Ultra, despite the primarily silver body. Posability-wise she's pretty solid as most Ultras are; she doesn't have much at the point where her head connects to her neck, but the actual neck itself is able to move up/down & left/right pretty well to compensate. She's also able to balance well on her heels. Glitter Tiga is something else. Despite the (even more than usual) monochromatic appearance, the opaque (not truly clear) butterscotchy gold is really pretty. Tiga's admittedly never been my favorite Ultra suit (something about the head), but this figure came out really nice in its appearance. When it comes to hand-swapping...yeah, that's where this set became a pain in the ass. Both figures have hands that fit a bit too snugly on their ball joints, and it makes popping anything back on a pain in the ass. What doesn't help with the effect pieces is where I usually would grip them with one hand is where they are the most pointy, which makes it a literal pain. With Glitter Tiga, I can't even get the usual "pop" to let me know the extra hands or Glitter Zepellion Ray are on snugly. All in all, while it's a very pretty two-pack (probably the most aesthetically appealing of the two-packs we've gotten), it's not the most fun functionally. (I think I'd rank the two-packs Zeros/Tigas/Darks/Glitter&Kamila in that order.) Even if Glitter Tiga came with more effects, I don't know how much more I'd like it given how much of a pain it is to parts-swap. Despite all that, the potential of nothing else to look forward to after this & Mebius Phoenix Brave is sad to think about. Last edited by Lbsammills51; 01-10-2016 at 02:11 AM.. |
06-28-2016, 01:21 AM | #1174 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Alta Loma, CA
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Dusting the cobwebs off of this thread, perhaps for the last time (at least, for new purchases, anyways). I totally forgot to post pics of the last official Ultra-Act from a couple months back, and I opened the latest hybrid release today, so figured better late than never.
Pour one out for the last Ultra-Act (as far as we know) in Mebius Phoenix Brave. It's...kind of boring. Not terrible, but if this is how the line ends, it's gone out with a bit of a whimper. The suit, at least, is interesting, with the gold providing a nice departure from the usual silver/red suit for Ultras. Aside from the combo effect with Zoffy, he doesn't really come with much. I'm glad it got made, but in hindsight if I had a choice between this and another Ultra character that never got a release previously (hello, Powered from that TN event many moons ago), I would've preferred they go in that direction. It is what it is, but it's still sad that the final Ultra-Act figure is one that leaves such a minimal impression that I completely forgot to post pics of it I took months ago. Either way, this line did a lot of good things, so if this is really the end, and not just an odd dry spell, I'll be sad to see it go. As for the latest U-A/SHF release, Ultraman Special, it's basically a nicer version of what we got the first time around. The colors ARE slightly different, and noticeably brighter in-hand compared to the original retail release. The silver is brighter and red is lighter; even the white used for the eyes is, well, whiter and actually noticeable this time around. Replacement forearm pieces make for the easiest parts-swapping ever for an Ultra-Act and its primary beam effect. The flashy new pieces are the energy wave effects. They're much more attractive than the generic "tron" lightstick bars on the retail release. They lend themselves to dynamic posing very well. This figure does come with its own Tamashii Stage as well (though I didn't feel like taking it out of the bag it came in). (Also, something this release made me realized that I didn't try out the first time around - this guy can balance decently on just a toe joint, as shown in the picture here. It's not rock-solid, but despite the long, slender clown feet, he can hold a pose without both feet needing to be flat and without the help of a Tamashii Stage.) The other notable addition is the human head. Despite some improvements in head sculpts based on real people (SHF CW Cap, SW Mace Windu), Tamashii Nations has typically fared much better with anime style headsculpts over real life head sculpts, so it's probably for the best that this design is taken from a manga and not a TV show. The head here is fine, but the downside is we didn't get any optional faces or hair pieces. Maybe if we get an Ultraman Specialer Version down the road, we'll get additional display pieces then (and I'm not even being that sarcastic here). He also comes with an additional left hand, which is shown in the instructions as a "helmet holding" hand. It doesn't really hold the helmet, it just rests on it a bit better than the other hands, I guess? The original Ultraman Manga was already a nice figure, and this is a better version of that. I just wish we had either gotten this the first time around, or TN had opted for an upgrade/bonus parts set instead with the new goodies we got here, plus any other stuff. I doubt many others need to order this twice, and having to sell the original, "lesser" version after picking up this won't be fun for any that bothered. It's a good figure, but this could've been planned a bit better. |
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