[Lbsammills51]

So...Astra!

Or, as it should've been called, "Ultraman Leo Upgrade Set...with an Astra thrown in for shits and giggles."



Seriously, virtually everything Astra comes with is tied to Leo, outside of the extra hands, timer and Tamashii adapter piece.



As for Astra himself, neck's rather stiff and he can't really look up (not surprising, given the molded-in ridge that goes down the back of his head all the way to his butt) or down, though perhaps on the latter I just need to loosen the neck a bit more.




The Ultra Double Flasher isn't difficult to peg in (though you'll want to watch where you grab it to avoid the spikes on each side of the ball piece); you will need the extra collar piece that's included for Leo so he can position his arms correctly (his standard collar gets in the way otherwise).



The Ultra Cape pegs in fine to Leo (and Astra) but it feels a bit flimsier than the standard Brothers Mantle or Father's mantle. It doesn't feel fragile, just, I don't know...dinkier? The middle cape piece unpegs really easily from the cape. The golden shoulder pieces are connected a bit loosely to their hinge joints and are a bit easy to knock off.

Both do maintain solid balance with it on and don't need a Tamashii stand, but as with Father and any other Ultra wearing the Brothers Mantle, it's probably still best to have one handy.





So yeah, if you own Leo renewal already, this is a useful upgrade set to pick up, and hey you get a free Astra thrown in too!

Leo's brother really does feel like an incidental inclusion. I know he doesn't have as much stuff (unique weapons or attacks/effects parts) as Leo does...but yeah, there's really not much here for him. Lacking the Ultra Key that the original release had doesn't help; they couldn't have thrown in an Astra Shower effect part, at least?

I know Ultra-Act has (somewhat annoyingly) stepped away from releasing kaiju figures within the line, and I wasn't expecting this either, but it's too bad they couldn't have made this a two-pack with Ron and they Ultra Key thrown in, at least. It might've helped a bit in the "bang for your buck" department.