Ultraman's Pestar from Bandai

Pestar has appeared in 2 episodes of the Ultraman saga, this figure represents his debut in Ultraman: the Ultimate Hero or as it's referred to Ultraman Powered. The stories are fairly similar with only a few barely noticeable changes. In Ultraman Powered Pestar is an aquatic monster that's staked out a prime oil tanker shipping route as his home and has become very territorial and hungry for the sweet Texas Tea carried on those vessels. The WINR at first tried to pursue and the monster using a high tech submarine called the "Barricuda" but they didn't take into account how huge Pestar was and after a decent undersea battle, it escapes. The WINR warns the shipping companies of the dangers of that particular route, which is brilliant if they planned on luring the beast out of the ocean for round two.

(do forgive the awful song in the background. Feel free to leave hate messages on that person's youtube page, it's deplorable.)

The very next night Pestar shows up again and goes straight for an oil refinery to satisfy it's thirst for oil, but sure wasn't expecting Ultraman Powered to show up. Caught off guard, Ultraman Powered makes short work out of Pestar by tossing that big boy in the air and firing his Mega Spectrum Ray at the monster. Destroyed in true Ultraman fashion (e.i lots of cheesy sparkles and stock explosion noises) the ocean is safe again.

(Patrick's big brother heard you talkin' shit. Oh, you're awfully quiet now.)

Some of the main differences between the first introduction to Pestar and the Ultraman Powered version is the whole body has been redesigned. The edges of the body are covered in suckers and Pestar's head looks even more menacing, like a bat mixed with the Predator. Also the end fight is slightly better, as in the fight lasts a whole 90 seconds longer and Pestar actually gets a few good hits in.

(here at Raging Nerdgasm, we like big butts and we cannot lie.)

Pestar, to me at least, turned out really cool in figure form. Leaps and bounds better than the Marusan edition, Bandai really did an amazing job capturing how cool the character's design is. He's a big, bulky bastard and while he may not offer any articulation whatsoever, he makes up for it with sheer attention to detail and texturing. The paint job is spot on, even the light metallic flake on Pestar's backside does a great job at highlighting his bumpy exterior. Displaying a figure as wide as Pestar is becomes the only peeve, just because there isn't much room left on a shelf when he takes up residence. Originally, the figure was more expensive that other basic Ultraman figures upon it's initial release in Japan which has translated to an often higher price on the secondary market.

(I'm gonna eat your face!)

Ultraman Powered's Zetton from Bandai

In this series, Zetton was a mecha created by the Baltans to dispose of Ultraman, once and for all (cue evil Baltan laugh track!). So you have Zetton coming to earth and attacking WINR's base to draw Ultra out for a fight. Soon after, the military comes to save the day but finds themselves out gunned by this technical terror. Even Ultraman finds himself Zetton's bitch in an epic one sided ass kicking contest. It's only after fooling Zetton into turning his back that Ultraman kills Zetton, but at the cost of his own life from using up all of his energy. A real tear jerker, sacrifice yourself to save the world from being under the domain of blue Egyptian-styled crawdaddies.

(I'm well aware that this isn't the right series, but bask in the joy of the best Japan has to offer. And, in espanol!)

This version of Zetton is perhaps the most unique design ever done for this character. I mean, the other characters from Ultraman Powered were drastically overhauled, but this one really stands out. This version is more robotic than any previous design and has some really cool looking wings on his back. With this one having wings possibly suggests that originally Zetton has wings, hence the wing shells on its back that have never really been utilized other than adding to the bug aesthetic of the character overall. I've had the pleasure of owning 2 other Zetton figures but was never aware of this version before I ran into it at a collectibles shop. All other Zetton figure I own are roto-molded vinyl while this one is completely solid and Zetton's wings are unfurled. The paint job captures it's TV counterpart perfectly; black offset by steely silver and yield sign yellow makes the figure stand out from the rest. The only thing someone may complain about is the range of motion is very limited; swivel joints at the shoulders and just below the knee. This figure still impresses me to this day and I highly recommend you find a way to add this piece to your collection.