S.H. Figuarts Ultraman Taro Gallery

"Hikaru, seize the future!"

7 years after Earth first encountered the giant of light Ultraman, Ultraman Taro arrived! Taking the human Kotaro Higashi as his host, Taro fought against legions of Kaiju as they invaded the Earth. And for years since, Taro has fought hard and earned the respect of his peers. Mentoring new generations of heroes at the Ultra Coliseum, Taro also went on to instruct the likes of Mebius & Ginga. This Master fighter has lived a long and hard fought life, but that didn't stop him from settling down either. Passing his skills down to yet another generation, Taro instills the hope & power of the land of light in his son, Ultraman Taiga!

This figure comes to us courtesy of our friends at Bluefin Brands and Team Rider. Check out their awesome selection of Kamen Rider items, Ultraman items, and more Tamashii Nations & Bandai Japan products!

Packaging
Like many figuarts of recent years, the Ultraman style packaging has undergone some drastic changes. Taro comes in a gorgeous and colorful box with a sweeping view of the figure, and an outstanding piece of box art adorning the front. I remember when the first revision of Ultra-Act packaging that began with V2's was something special. But what the line does now is really interesting. Taking the general gray & red of the Ultra's themselves, and adapting it to each classic character, this design looks very stylish. I also find it interesting that Ultraman is keeping in line with the older shape and size of Figuarts packaging that Kamen Rider began to shift away from in the Drive era, in favor of slimmer boxes. As characters of much larger stature, I think it helps set the line apart that Ultra Figuarts still come in larger packaging than their less titanic cousins.

Main Figure
Like I mentioned in my review for Ultraman Ginga, it had been some time since I reviewed any Ultra release. Before Ginga, one of my last reviews had been of the Ultraman 50th Edition set. So after a pair of modern Ultras with Ginga and the Seven Suit, it's nice to return to one of the classics with Ultraman Taro.

In the same way as Ginga & Seven Suit, Taro is recreated lovingly and faithfully in this figure. While there is most certainly always something to be said of the intricacy of modern Ultra suit designs, I think there are volumes to be said of classic suits like Taro as well. There's something unmistakably fantastic about the classic red & silver look of classic Ultras. While I've never been a massive fan of the original Ultraman's design, the way that base has evolved over the decades is kind of magical. Somehow the placement of Taro's silver body lines on his slender build, helps communicate his youth and strength as well. While the figure is largely red, the silver paint apps go a long way to bringing out additional detail. Along Taro's legs, hips, waist, and lower torso, these apps are contoured by sculpted in body lines that help create additional depth and detail.

Physically the articulation is sort of the Ultraman standard. The typical hinged ankles we see with almost any SHF are present as are a pair of sturdy toe bends. The added gap between the base of the foot and the cuff of the boot also helps add to the range of this joint. While there's nothing new present here, what we have is a tried and tested formula for good basic support. Like Ginga, Taro features some really great knee bends as well, and similarly the silver paint app on the knee continues above and below the exposed joint. This gives you a sense of continuity for the suit as the joint bends. It's little details like this I just love on any release.

The built in hip and swiveling thigh combo works to really accent the lower legs as well. Looking far more visually pleasing than the kind of drop down style hips we see from time to time, the built in ones do a great job of keeping the sculpt and suit design flowing in a natural manner. I always appreciate a good thigh swivel as well. It lets a figure replicate the movements of an actual person in a suit in a way that doesn't compromise the figure or it's design in any tangible way.

While Taro isn't one of your new-fangled modern bulging muscle Ultras, he still looks pretty imposing. Like Ginga, Taro's torso is separated into two chunks. The lower half is inset to the waist armor on a ball joint, allowing it to rotate side to side within the waist, while the upper body is on it's own ball joint twisting around the lower half. The combination of the two will let you move taro in a number of satisfying ways, exceeding what someone in a rubber suit could actually manage in reality. Taro's chest does feature one of his more interesting design elements as well, the Protector. Something worn by many an Ultra, such as Seven & Zero, the Protector (along with Taro's head and eyes in particular, convey the familial link that Taro has with cousin Ultra Seven. Unlike old Ultra-Acts of the past, this Protector is the perfect fit for the torso, and won't impact the articulation of the arms at all.

On to the arms, Taro is another recent Ultra release that doesn't feature bicep swivels, much in the same way as the Seven Suit. Like that releases it's mostly made up for it with some very free moving shoulders. Though Taro doesn't really have the butterfly style joint of Seven Suit, the execution is largely similar. A red cup like part is inset, and the arm is plugged into it via ball joint. When you push the assembly forward the shoulders move in closer to the chest. This works pretty well, but because of the nature of the design the shoulders can also rotate up to be nearly perpendicular with the chest, and rotate a full 360 degrees around the joint. Though it looks less natural on a design based around a suit without armor, it's undeniable that it actually works. It's a pretty well implement design. Some fairly standard elbows and wrists follow this, but overall these choices make a lot of sense. Taro's left wrist features the sculpted in Taro Bracelet as well. An alternate wrist with the King Bracelet is also included.

Taro's head is by far one of the more striking Ultra looks out that. Taking influence from his dad, Father of Ultra, and cousin Ultra Seven. Taro is a half &vhalf mix of the two, getting horns like father, and a Slugger style mohawk like Seven as well as borrowing Seven's eye design. Perhaps an acquired taste, but I really love Taro's design. It's both timeless, implying his classic nature, and youthful implying his spirit and energy. He'll look like the next young punk of the bunch if you put him with Ultraman, Ultra Seven and the like, or he can look like the experienced veteran with newer generations like Mebius, Ginga, or even his son Taiga. In particular, Taro looks great with Ginga, ready to face down Dark Lugiel, together!

Avid Metal Heroes fans will of course recognize the cameo in this gallery as well. Seeing as I don't currently have any Kaiju for my Ultras to fight, I made due with the appropriately menacing looking Ganirun from B-Robo Kabutack. A favorite gimmick of mine, Kabutack's Super Change was absolutely one of the best toy lines of the 90's and I'll find any excuse I can to get them in with modern figures.

Accessories
Like almost any modern Ultraman Figuarts release, Taro comes with pretty well everything:

1 - Red Color Timer. To swap it for the standard blue one, you can just pop it right out. Take not to be very careful as too much force will make this thing fly away and it's quite small, making it easy to lose. Use this to recreate the final moments of one of Taro's battles, before he runs out of power.

7 - additional hands. That's two complete sets, one in karate chop style and another in relaxed open stance, as well as 3 additional right hands. One for his Ultra rise pose, one for holding his included weapon and another flat palmed to accent the include beam effect.

1 - Storium Ray/Strium Beam effect part. Unlike a number of Ultra's, Taro's beam attached to his left wrist. Sometimes I wish these could be a bit more swappable, but by molding one appropriate hand into the effect it does make for a far more stable connection than effect parts of old.

2 - Bracelet parts. This gives you the option to display Taro with a blank wrist, or an upgraded one that includes the King Bracelet. A power up bestowed on Taro by his mother, Mother of Ultra. The Taro & King Bracelets can also summon Taro's Lancer.

1 - Bracelet Lancer. It's gonna seem like an awkward fit to get this in the included right hand at first, but so long as you're patient and do it from the correct angle, all should be well. This is a really interesting looking weapon, and quite a pointy one as well! I always appreciate an unorthodox melee weapon for an ultra and this one is no exception.

As with any Ultra, Taro has a number of energy effect based moves he's used over the decades. Going with the Storium/Strium makes by far the most sense, but it sure would be awesome to see a deluxe release ala the 50th Ultraman set or an accessory set of some kind in the future to replicate Taro's other moves. As is though, I'm quite happy with what we have here.

Final Thoughts
Like the Ginga & Seven Suit I've also recently reviewed, I'm very impressed with Taro. This figure is a massive improvement over the old Ultra-Act attempt from Tamashii years back. Each Ultraman Figuart has begun to feel like not only a love letter to each character, but an apology of sorts for lesser figures of the past. S.H. Figuarts Ultraman Taro will stand tall with the best and brightest heroes of your collection, and I'm happy to add him to mine.

Part 2

Gotta ask, Den-O: What figure are you using as a stand-in "villain" this time!?

Not gonna lie, kinda wished you had some sillier pics in here as Taro was dumb. Nothing can stick to me from Taro more than summoning a giant bucket of water to sober up a drunk monster

Could have sworn the bucket came with the ultra act Taro but i I guess I was wrong. But it is a good looking figure and it comes with his beam finisher which is nice.. I bet if you put a couple of the aura effect parts around him it would be similar to his explosion ability, whose name is escaping me at the moment.

edit- not gonna lie, type that last part then looked to see if you did. My bad.

Havent been keeping up. Did they ditch the Ultra Act line?

Ultra-Act has been dead for several years now. In the same way that D-Arts was phased out and folded into SHF, so was Ultra-Act. When they did that, they began making Ultras all over again at an overall slightly smaller scale, but with drastically improved engineering and QC.