Admittedly I do not use them that much, but I have never had a problem with a preorder being honored by HLJ. I will have to keep that in the mind for orders in the future.

EDIT: And the V1 Ultrasevens have started popping up on eBay...

So I finally got Jean-Bot, Taro, and a Mantle in today. Taro is definitely awesome. Jean-Bot is as well, but he has quite possibly the loosest hips of any figure I've ever owned. Ever.

2 of my Jean bots are the same. The hips are super loose. But Jean Killer's hips are tight.

Wait...that doesn't sound right....

Anyways, more Ultra spam..

Bandai Ultra Act Ultraman, Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Zoffy. Ultraseven
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/TCrac...s/p1020363.jpg

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/TCrac...s/p1020367.jpg

The 2nd pic is cool, bro! You need Leo and Astra!

How I wish I could display my Ultras...my room is packed and I'm worried if I display them, the little ones in my house will get their grubby mitts on them! XD

Thanks man, appreciate it. There us one ebayer in SG selling Leo. But not sure whether I want to pull the trigger..

Just for this once my kid was away and I took the opportunity to snap this.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/TCrac...s/p1020370.jpg

And my kaijus...
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/TCrac...s/p1020378.jpg

And chicks just dig Taro..
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/TCrac...s/p1020374.jpg

Amazing Collection TCracker :thumb:, I prefer to wait until there are renewal versions of Astra and Leo.

My wish list are:
Ultraman 80
Ultraman Leo (renewal)
Ultraman Astra (renewal)
Ultraman King
Ultraman Mebius (renewal)

And of those who have shown, but we do not know anything:
Ultraman Hikari
(Optionals) Ultraman Type A and Type B:

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps4fbdb8bc.jpg

At this point, I mostly want 80. With Ultraman, Jack, Taro, and Leo already in my collection, and Ultraseven coming next month, 80 will finish the "regular" Showa Ultra Heroes who starred in their own show. No, I am not counting Jonias for this purpose, although if I can get Jonias at a good price I would snag him up.

I also would really like to get an Ultraman Great, because he was the first Ultraman I ever saw in live action!

Hopefully they do not take too long in order that Ultraman 80 finally take his place in this great line.

True, I have to add Ultraman Great too, and I forgot to put the newest one, named Ginga.

Ultraman 80 would be tiiiighhtt! With the way Showa utra-acts have been going, I'm actually hoping he'd be an exclusive...seems like exclusives are now easier to obtain, than non-exclusives. :(

Unfortunately I missed the order window for Jonais without thinking :( But on the topic of Leo and Astra, I love my Leo and while I'd welcome a V2 I think the V1 is just fine. Don't have an Astra yet so I'd definitely be down for a V2 there, just so I don't have to pay 10,000+ yen for him :lol

all this talk on Ultraman 80 and the thougjt of him having a tpy makes me drool. and while they are at it. Make Yulian. she has got to be the most unique Ultrawoman design out there.

I'm with you, Den-O, I like Leo just the way he is. Even if they did a renewal, I would pass him up. He's just very dynamic and looks ready to kick some kaiju butt.

And HEAR HEAR on Yulian!

Yulian and 80 would both be sweet. But thanks to recent exposures to some other newer series I'd really like to see Cosmos, Reimon & Burst Mode, Saga, The Next, Nexus Anphans, and some of Mebius' other forms.

Does anyone know if Leo and Astra wear the brothers' mantle?

It's just that I recently saw this image:


EDIT: I can already cross off one of my wishlist, in The Kaiju Planet show that inside the information from Tamashii's page of Zero mentions that the renewal version of Leo arrive in 2014 :cool:

Images from Tamashii Feature's Vol. 7 at Hong Kong:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...16252853_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...81397915_n.jpg

Source: Toysdaily.

Preorders for Zero v.2 are up, along with the reissues of Father of Ultra and Glenfire. I snagged a Zero, passed on the other two... not because I didn't want them but mostly because if I buy Glenfire, I'll have to buy the rest of the team, and if I buy Father, I'll have to buy ALL the Showa Ultras!

And my wallet cannot tolerate that! :D

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...%24pagecnt%3D1

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...%24pagecnt%3D1

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...TOK-03019-S001

As of this post all three are still showing available.

So is it true?!?!?!?!?
Bluefin has acquired the rights to import/distribute SHOWA ultra-acts?!?!?!?

Yes and Bluefin will start with the Father of Ultra in January at a price of $48.99, the other Showa Ultras hopefully arrive soon and their prices will have to stabilize.

In AmiAmi Zero lasted 8 hours the first time and this second time around has lasted much longer.

Anyone have details as to what happened behind the scenes? Wasn't there a property tie down with some Thai film company? Or was that for Asia only?

I have most every Showa Ultra-Act regardless, but it doesn't matter one iota, making all series of Ultraman available via Bluefin is fantastic! All we have to surmount next is the Tamashii Web exclusive barrier and I'll be set.

Are you being vague on purpose? :lol For obvious reasons it will probably never be discussed in full detail, but the expectation is that the longstanding international rights feud between Tsuburaya and Chaiyo was the reason Bluefin shied away from releasing the merchandise here. Distribution rights to the series Ultra Q through Ultraman Taro continue to remain in Chaiyo's hands, and Tsuburaya has no hand in the Shout Factory sets of Ultraseven or Ultra Q. It is very possible that merchandise rights are no longer an issue. A couple Showa Ultraman vinyls made by Marmit were made available via Diamond earlier this year, an Ultraman mobile app game is coming to the US, and now this announcement... something's definitely gone right!

Of course, retail Ultra-Acts from any series from Ultraman Leo or later have always been available via Bluefin.

Agreed, Web Exclusives will be a big question mark which we will have to play The Waiting Game with. The ones I would have to really think might make the cut (as of the upcoming web exclusive items right now) would be Jonias and Mother of Ultra. Jonias at least had some tiny, itsy-bitsy US presence as the anime movie was dubbed into English and released on video. And if you are going to release Father of Ultra, then releasing Mother would follow. Of course this is pure speculation on my part.

Well, that and wishful thinking when it comes to Jonias, because if I could get him through Amazon or something I would do it in a heartbeat.

Baltan, have you heard any rumors or anything about Chaiyo licensing the other Ultra shows for DVD release in the US? A Malay DVD set of Return of Ultraman has turned up online in the last few weeks, which got me thinking about the possibility of seeing Return, Ace, or Taro released via an outfit like Shout Factory. Although with their recent cancellations, I don't know how viable releases like that would be -- I have no idea how sales of the two Shout Ultra sets are doing relative to releases like VR Troopers or BBB.

I keep hoping I'll see a tweet or Facebook post over the next few weeks, before the Tamashii web ordering period cut off at least, confirming that Dark Zagi and Noa will be brought over next year by Bluefin. Don't know if it'll happen or not, but fingers remain crossed.

Even if the Bluefin announcement was covering both exclusive and retail Ultra-Acts, which it isn't but I'll play along with the best-case scenario here, it would already be too late for any current exclusive to be covered in the deal. It's like the way Bluefin was able to get permission to do MonsterArts exclusives stateside as well as the standard figures - Little Godzilla had just recently been announced, but the deal didn't retroactively cover Garuda or the G-Force set. Ultra-Act sales have never been as strong as MonsterArts or DBZ Figuarts since the best characters were untouchable, so it probably wouldn't happen anyway, but I will continue to hope.

Regarding what could come of other Ultraman DVD releases, I'll quote myself on Monster Zero:

Ah, I see, thanks for the clarification. I don't think I was playing as close attention to Bluefin and the MonsterArts line at the time so I was unaware of that sequence of events. But yeah, I'll keep hoping too.

That aside, I just opened up the Ace I picked up from AmiAmi. Nice figure, more striking in-hand then I expected it to be.

Yeah, it's all speculation/hope at this point. The thing about Jonias and Mother Of Ultra is they are not released yet; Jonias is due in October, and Mother of Ultra in November. Whether or not that would make any difference, who knows? Like you said, the coverage of Web Exclusives is little more than wishful thinking, but wishful thinking is free, heh!

Thanks for the info regarding the DVD releases. It's unfortunate that Return, Ace, and Taro wouldn't rate a release here in the States, but it's not entirely unsurprising. Although I am a little surprised that an outfit like Shriek Show would not try to work something with Chaiyo for their Tokyo Shock label, which has released some really nice daikaiju DVDs in the past. They could market those sets with giant "First Time In The US!" stickers and such, ha ha! :D


Ace is awesome. I wasn't sure how I would like him compared to Leo, whom I really liked, and Ultraman, but he poses really well and has some very sharp lines on him. I have him in a two fisted pose, almost like a boxer, and he looks great.

I have been re-arranging my bonus room where all of my crap is displayed, and I have my 5 Ultra-Acts all together, ready for combat. That's a fearsome visage, seeing Ultraman, Jack, Ace, Taro, and Leo staring back at you. It'll only get more fearsome with the addition of Seven, Gaia, and Zero... and eventually 80!

Unfortunately typing this has made me want to get a bunch more Brother's Mantles...

According to the Cybergundam Blog, Ultra Seven arrives on the 19th.

For once Figinstock pays off! Just got an e-mail, was actually awake to see it, and scored an Ultra Seven pre-order at amiami :D

Nice one, dude! I'm champing at the bit for Seven!

Cool! Good to hear.

I'm glad you've already pre-ordered Ultra Seven.

Images of King Gridman at Toysdaily:

http://i.imgur.com/E04j3aW.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps38a32b29.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2bbaba90.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...psc9e51b37.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9ad6c7db.jpg

Where'd you snag the Tector Gear from? Looks awesome.

From the Ultra Heros soft vinyl figure. Cut t up and test fitted it. Not a good fit, but it works. :D

Nice. It works pretty well. I've considering doing that with some Sentai vinyls before, so I'm glad that this sort of thing turns out okay. And it's a good use of the V1 Zero :p

Dark Tiga & Kyerieloid

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...psa8606d57.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f06938d.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps98ea8940.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...ps433e076d.jpg

For those interested the Brothers Mantle is currently available at AmiAmi.

Been wondering:
Am I the only person that wants an Amphans Ultra-Act?
I mean the mold is already there, it would be a simple repaint, plus Amphans truly represents the "Silver Giant" and ties up the different deunamists.

Then again Noa and Zagi are exclusives some maybe it won't happen...

I've said since the day Junis was first shown off that I want an Anphans as well! Yeah, Junis Red would work well with most of my Nexus vinyls, but Anphans is a memorable form for me too, especially in the early days. Man, you have no idea the effort I had to put in to find a way to watch Nexus when TV-Nihon was first subbing it!