RRP: 7150 yen
When a new S.H. Figuarts figure makes its debut at a Tamashii Nation event, it can be a long and painful wait until it finally makes it to release – and those are the lucky ones. Having originally made her debut all the way back in 2019, it's taken a whole three years for S.H. Figuarts Ultrawoman Grigio to become a reality and it's fair to say New Generation Ultraman fans couldn't be more excited. Asahi Minato, the third and youngest sibling of Ultraman R/B, comes as a Tamashii web exclusive and it’s the first female Ultra to be released in the S.H. Figuarts range. Coming hot on the heels of S.H. Figuarts Carmeara, it's been a good couple of months for Ultra Series women.
As you would expect S.H. Figuarts Ultrawoman Grigio comes packaged in a windowless box like most other Tamashii web exclusive releases, featuring the same art design as the other New Generation Ultraman releases and sporting a rather fitting orange, black and silver colour scheme. The front of the box features a nice big image of the character as she appears onscreen alongside the figure itself, while the back displays a number of images showing the figure off in various poses. Curiously despite the release including an accessory for another figure (more on that further down) there isn't any sign of it on the box, which doesn't usually tend to be the case when there' some cross-promotion to be done. Anyway, inside the box both the figure and accessories are neatly stored on a moulded plastic tray.
Her true power unlocked, Ultrawoman Grigio emerges from her kaiju form to join her brothers in the battle against Tregear! Ultrawoman Grigio shares a similar design and colour layout to Ultraman Rosso and Blu, her orange colour scheme immediately standing out as it is so rarely used within the franchise. While Rosso and Blu's chest armour are the colour of the power up they're using, Grigio's remains a standard silver while the orange markings surround it. Her head is wider and rounder than a standard Ultra, and together with her rounder eyes give off a more feminine and cute appearance. Her unique body shape and proportions have been faithfully recreated on this S.H. Figuarts release, with the paintwork particularly good. There's been so many releases by now that the silver looking good is a given but it's that metallic orange/copper that really makes the figure pop, and the black around the chest and shoulders is perfect for breaking these two metallic colours up a bit. Despite Grigio have a more petite frame than her brothers, it's important to note that nothing feels flimsy about this release – the body still feels nice and sturdy as do the arms, despite their relative thinness.
Despite having a much dainty build than the male Ultras, Ultrawoman Grigio proves to be just as impressive when it comes to articulation – and in some areas might even exceed her peers. Altogether she features;
- Peg joint head
- Ball jointed neck, torso, waist and wrists
- Swivel hinge shoulders and ankles
- Butterfly joint shoulders
- Drop-down swivel hinge hips
- Double hinged elbows and knees
- Single hinge toe sections
- Thigh swivels
On paper this isn't really anything more than any of the other Ultraman figures have, but there's just something about Grigio's body type that seems to make everything work that much more smoothly. The butterfly shoulder joints have superb range, allowing the Grigio to properly cross her arms with ease. The drop-down style hips add that little bit more range to what's an already great area of movement, but without breaking the seamlessness of the sculpt. Even the elbows seem to have a much tighter bend than usual, perfect for bringing her arms up to her face for all those cute signature poses.
It just keeps getting better soon, because Ultrawoman Grigio comes with an incredible amount of accessories given how limited her appearances have been. Altogether she comes with 16 additional hands, an alternate red colour timer and a Grigio Shot effect part. Swappable hands are standard on pretty much every S.H. Figuarts so usually there's not much to say about them, but it isn't just the size of Grigio's selection that's impressive – it's the range as well. From signature poses to hands that capture both her cuteness and fighting capabilities, this is one of the best array of hands I've seen on a release in a while. There's even one holding a small yellow orb, which presumably is meant to represent her starting off her "Grigio Cheer Charge" healing power. Meanwhile the replacement colour is extremely small (and thus very easy to lose), but swapping between the two proves surprisingly easy. Finally there's the Grigio Shot effect part, which might seem like an odd choice (as well as a bit of a safe one given nearly every Ultra has a beam attach) given Grigio tends to use healing moves more, but the size of the beam as well as its fiery red and orange colouring make it stand out nicely against all the others. Thanks to the figure's wonderful articulation getting Grigio into her proper beam pose is a dream too, so having this gorgeous translucent effect part shooting out of her wrist really completes the look.
There is however still one final accessory in the box, and in true Ultraman S.H. Figuarts tradition it's for a different figure entirely. Also included is an additional right hand for Ultraman Zero, which allows the pair to properly high five as they did when they first met up in Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy. While most of the time I'm against releases including pieces for other figures unless there's a good reason for it (Evil Trigger for example), an extra hand isn't exactly essential and it certainly hasn't come at the expense of any of Grigio's own accessories. The student/mentor relationship the pair have in Ultra Galaxy Fight is rather touching and it's nice that this release has been able to acknowledge it in some way.
The wait for S.H. Figuarts Ultrawoman Grigio has been a long and agonising one, but now that it's finally arrived I'm pleased to see that Bandai have not let fans down. Whereas Rosso and Blu are arguably among the weakest of the Ultraman S.H. Figuarts range, Grigio is easily one of its strongest – a really unique-looking figure among the various Ultramen that has both fantastic articulation and the kind of accessory count most Figuarts releases can only dream about. There's just so much personality in this release that it's hard not to just instantly fall in love with her. Yes it was a long time coming, but Ultrawoman Grigio was definitely worth the wait.
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