That time of year where the wallets of toy collectors all over the world cry out in pain has rolled around again, with Bandai Tamashii Nations holding their annual Tamashii Nation showcase event in Tokyo. The event saw the usual array of reveals and announcements for their various toy lines, with a wide selection of anime, tokusatsu, video game and Western media products. While my personal hopes/predictions for the event were a bit off this year, that didn't stop Bandai from revealing a whole host of great items that'll tide me over into 2024. As usual here are my five favourite reveals from the event, as well as hopes and prayers that none of these will end up in Bandai purgatory. Though truth be told, they've gotten much better at "announce less, release more" in recent years.

Release Date: January 2020 RRP: 7150 yen When you have a gimmick as cool as turning iconic Ultra Series   into cyberspace-styled armour, then just one figure is never going to be enough.  Bandai Tamashii Nations were kind enough to give collectors a taste of that potential with the S.H. Figuarts Ultraman X & Gomora Armour Set , but if there was any Ultraman figure deserving of an additional accessory pack - it was this one. Accessory packs are a bit less common in the line than they used to be, but just over a year later Bandai came through and the S.H. Figuarts MonsArmor Option Parts Set became a reality. Naturally for something as niche as this Tamashii Web exclusive status was inevitable, as well as a price tag that's only really going to appeal to completionists. But take the plunge, and you'll have the MonsArmors of Eleking, Bemstar and Zetton to add to your Ultraman X arsenal.

Release Date: July 2019 RRP: 3240 yen If there’s one thing that Bandai Tamashii Nations have excelled at with the Ultra Series above all of their other ranges, it’s accessories and effect parts. Even though the new S.H. Figuarts line isn’t quite as expansive as Ultra-Act once was, most releases still come packed with an impressive array of optional parts. But in some cases that still isn’t enough, and that’s where these additional accessory sets come into play. Though not uncommon to Figuarts as a whole the S.H. Figuarts Ultimate Aegis/Ultraman Zero Armor Option Parts Set is the first produced especially for Ultraman , based on the dimension-travelling armour Ultraman Zero receives in Ultraman Zero the Movie: Super Deciding Fight! The Belial Galactic Empire . Later on a replica of the Ultimate Aegis is bestowed upon Ultraman X through a new Cyber Card, granting him the Ultraman Zero Armor . As such, the parts included in this Tamashii Web exclusive set are compatible...

Release Date: October 2018 RRP: 7560 yen Ultraman Ginga may have been the last "current" Ultraman figure in the Ultra-Act line before it slowly faded away, but it would be another three years before the S.H. Figuarts line picked up the slack and continued covering the more recent shows with Ultraman Orb . And though Bandai Tamashii Nations have continued this through Ultraman Geed and Ultraman R/B , there's been one titular Ultra hero missing for some time now. However the wait is finally over, as Ultraman X finally makes its high-end figure debut with the S.H. Figuarts Ultraman X & Gomora Armour set. Nicely timed just before the impending release of Ultraman Rosso and Blu , fans can finally own a full New Generations Ultra line up in some shape or form and come one step to it closer solely in Figuarts form.

Since the debut of Ultraman X in 2015 and the introduction of Crunchyroll’s worldwide simulcasting the Ultra Series has gone from strength to strength, and the popularity of last year’s Ultraman Orb only further solidified this new generation of Ultraman as a franchise to be reckoned with once more. Not content with just returning in the form of Amazon Prime prequel series Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga , the cast also returned for one last hurrah in this feature-length film, entitled Ultraman Orb the Movie: Lend Me the Power of Bonds ! As well as crossing over with other new generation Ultras X, Ginga and Victory, Lend Me the Power of Bonds! also celebrates the 50th anniversary of Ultraseven – much like how X movie Here It Comes! Our Ultraman celebrated the same milestone for the original Ultraman the year before.

2016 has been another big year for the Ultra Series . Just as 2015 celebrated the 50th anniversary of Ultra Q and the franchise as a whole as well as Tsuburaya Productions making the leap into worldwide simulcasting with Ultraman X , 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Ultraman series and the 20th anniversary of Ultraman Tiga (which at the time was the first series in over 15 years). The celebration of these two milestone birthdays and the send-off Ultraman X deserves comes in the form of a feature-length film, entitled Ultraman X the Movie: Here It Comes! Our Ultraman . Although the movie is not available through Crunchyroll like the series, it will however be receiving limited English-dubbed screenings alongside the Ultraman Ginga  movie in the US in 2017.

2015 played host to a number of great tokusatsu shows over the year, but very few of them feel quite as important as Ultraman X did. As Tsuburaya Productions gear the Ultra Series and its titular hero up for their 50th anniversary this year, X stormed screens with a 22-episode (not counting a handful of clip episodes) series that was far more than just a delight for Japanese viewers. With staple anime streaming website Crunchyroll steadily adding Ultra Series instalments to its back-catalogue over the past few years, this year it went one step further by announcing the simulcasting of Ultraman X to the rest of the world at the same time as its Japanese airing – making it the first show of its kind to do this. While Japan’s premier superhero might feel like he’s been lagging behind the likes of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai in recent years, it’s fair to say that X brought the franchise back with a bang.

These days when people think of iconic Japanese superheroes their minds probably immediately go to Kamen Rider or Super Sentai , but there's one hero that definitely stands above them in terms of legend status - Ultraman. Starting way back with Ultra Q   way back in 1966, Tsuburaya Production's   Ultra Series has spawned a whole host of intergalactic silver-faced heroes. However some might argue the franchise doesn't quite have the pulling power that it used to. Individual series have been getting shorter and less regular, with Ultraman Ginga feeling like little more than a blip despite being the 50th anniversary celebration of Tsuburuya. Even on a more personal note my relationship with Ultraman isn't quite as familiar as I'd like - having only finished Nexus and only getting about two thirds of the way through Ginga before losing steam with it. However Japan's legendary hero is back again in the form of Ultraman X , and this time a global takeover see...