Toybox REVIEW: Hero Action Figure Kaiketsu Zubat

Release Date: September 2020

RRP: 9680 yen

With Bandai Tamashii Nations now having strayed away from the classic tokusatsu heroes of yesteryear, it’s up to companies like Evolution Toy to fill the void and show some love to some of the most under appreciated shows of the Showa era. One of the latest releases in their growing Hero Action Figure line is Kaiketsu Zubat (aka “The Magnificent Zubat”). Starring tokusatsu royalty Hiroshi Miyauchi (Kamen Rider V3, JAKQ Dengekitai, Himitsu Sentai Goranger and more), the 1977 series follows Ken Hayakawa as he battles against the criminal organisation Dakker after his best friend is murdered. Upon donning his Zubasuit, Hayakawa gains superhuman strength and agility.

If there’s one thing Evolution Toy do well, it’s designing packaging that’s both eye-catching and has that retro feel that’s suitable to this array of characters. Zubat comes in a box following his colour scheme of red/yellow/black, sporting a uniquely shaped window at the front which only gives you a minimal look at the figure and accessories. The top corner features the Kaiketsu Zubat series logo, while that name is also proudly spelled out in English at the bottom alongside an image of the figure. More stock imagery can be found on the back of the box, also produced in a suitably dynamic fashion. The spines of these boxes, featuring a shot of the figure cut halfway down the middle, would look especially good in a bookend style display. Inside, the figure and accessories are laid out on a moulded black plastic tray.

Zubat is somewhat unique among the various Shotaro Ishinomori heroes as he doesn’t “transform” into his alter ego, and instead it is quite literally a costume. This may not necessarily be reflected in Zubat’s appearance, however the toy certainly makes reference to it with the fact that you can see a sculpted human face peeking out from behind the visor. While there are various bits of artwork (such as the commercial bumper for the show) that depict Zubat like this, generally onscreen the visor is an opaque black and rather the whole front half of the helmet can come off to reveal Hayakawa underneath. Seeing the eyes behind the mask is a pretty cool feature, although I do wish it had been done with a swappable visor just because of the overall execution of it. Not just because I prefer the black visor, but the anime-esque face doesn’t quite gel with the more suit-like look the rest of the figure is going for. It would have been nice to snap a few light box quality pictures of it and not have the eyes visible for example. The body sculpting has some light fabric folds to give it some depth and the illusion of depth but the materials give it a bit of a toy-like look overall. Proportions are generally very good, and it's also worth mentioning that these figures are much larger than your average S.H. Figuarts. You can get away with putting them together in a lineup, but you will need to mess around with perspective and posing to make it look right. What really pops most of all on this design though are the colours, all of which are really vibrant with crisp application. Zubat's scarf is made of a softer plastic so has some degree of elasticity to it as to not get in the way when posing, but sadly isn't attached to any joint or meant to be properly posed. Zubat has a great design that really stands out even among other Ishinomori heroes, and in the looks department Evolution Toy have definitely done him justice.

Zubat has the following articulation;

- Ball jointed head, neck, torso and wrists

- “Drop-down” ball jointed hips 

- Swivel hinge shoulders and ankles

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Bicep swivels

As far as amount and placement goes that isn’t all that different to what you get with an S.H. Figuarts figure, but it’s the execution of it all that wildly sets these figures apart. While Zubat (as well as the HAF line in general) don’t have awful articulation per se, it definitely feels like it could work better half of the time. Starting with the head there’s obvious problems, as the joint doesn’t quite turn the way it should and any attempt to pull it slightly to the side results in it immediately springing back to centre. It’s only with full 90 degree turns does it seem to stay exactly where it’s supposed to. Moving down the body it’s clear that HAF construction bears a lot of similarity to the Figuarts of five to six years ago, right down the construction of the shoulders and the drop-down hips. A lot of the joints are also stuff and don’t actually do very much - despite having double jointed knees the figure can only really achieve a 90 degree bend. Finally the ankle tilt is really minimal, so while wide-legged poses aren’t impossible the feet just have to lay at awkward angles to make it work. 

Zubat comes packaged with a total of ten swappable hands, his signature whip weapon and the collapsed dagger version of it. When not in use, the dagger version clips onto the right-hand side of Zubat’s belt (which is also where it’ll be in-package). The hands are the usual variety of closed fists, item holding and signature poses, and much like previous HAF releases are notably tougher to pull off/put on the wrists than they are on a standard S.H. Figuarts release. Applying a little bit of heat to the hands beforehand works wonders, but without it the process requires a fair bit of force that could end up breaking the hands if you aren’t careful. The weapons themselves are fairly basic, with the dagger simply being that distinct red cross shape and the whip being the same but with a piece of plastic cable jutting out of it. The cable isn’t properly poseable but it is bendable, and unlike some similar pieces Bandai have produced (such as Spider-Man’s webs) shouldn’t snap is you try to put it into a specific shape. Curiously the whip does look a little longer than the one shown off in all the stock images for the figure, and even stranger is the fact that the hands used to hold it are different to the ones that are actually included. This picture clearly shows it being held with some sort of fist, but the only fists included are the basic closed ones that don’t have any sort of grip. Overall it’s a fairly basic selection and the hands still have some minor issues, but as far as coverage goes they give you pretty much everything you need.

As far as character selection and variety goes Evolution Toy are completely sticking it to Bandai Tamashii Nations right now, which makes all the bigger shame that Hero Action Figure Kaiketsu Zubat doesn’t quite stack up to them quality-wise. Of course it’s somewhat unreasonable to expect a smaller company to stand up to a toy juggernaut like Bandai, but the various issues this figure has are ones that shouldn’t really be showing up given the price. Still, if you’re in the market for a Zubat figure then this is probably the best you’re going to get (at least for the time being), and it’s good to know that there is at least one company giving love and attention to all these classic tokusatsu characters.