From now until July 10 (Monday), the Tamashii Nations Pop Up Store is open in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles by Anime Jungle. For those in the West Coast, put the following address in your GPS and head on over to: 319 E 2nd St UNIT 115, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
For those lucky residents and visitors of Los Angeles, you will walk down the hallway and first see a giant poster featuring our hero of light by the entrance. As you enter, a human sized S.H. Figuarts Ultraman greets you and not only that, you will also have access to a giant selection of S.H. Figuarts from the Tamashii Nations Ultraman collection.
As you walk around the display cases, we can find new items and reissues of some popular figures for the North American market. It’s such a great assortment of figures featuring a good mix of characters from the Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras as well as for the first time on display in the US, an Ultra Kaiju!
Let’s take a closer look! From top left, we can see Ultraman Z Original standing up high and bottom left is the Figuarts Mini Haruki Natsukawa who is Ultraman Z’s human host. Haruki even has a mini Z Riser! Ultraman Z is one of the top Ultraman series of all time that I would highly recommend to watch and is currently available in the Exclusive Videos section of UltramanConnection.com and on the official Ultraman YouTube channel. Ultraman Z is also the first Ultraman series to be dubbed in English in 21 years, which marks an important historic milestone and is worthy to be part of your collection.
Top right, the brand new Shinkocchou Seihou Ultraman Dyna Flash sports his Solgent Beam accessory. I am still amazed at how they make this elite line of action figures. The Tamashii team would 3D scan the suit actor’s body so that the figure proportions on the sculpt of the figure would be nearly identical to the suit actor but made into a 6-inch or 15-centimeter figure.
On the right, we see a fan favorite kaiju, Gomora making his first US display appearance and posing very nicely in an attack mode.
The event special, Ultraman from Marvel Comics’ The Rise of Ultraman returns in the front center spot. This figure made his debut at New York Comic Con 2022 and on rare occasions is made available in limited quantities at Tamashii events like this one.
As you enter the store, you cannot miss this amazing human sized S.H. Figuarts Ultraman Type C figure complete with light up eyes and Color Timer. This statue sports the same articulation joints as his 6-inch counterpart, allowing him to be placed into his signature Spacium Beam pose. This statue first appeared at the TAMASHII NATIONS WORLD TOUR 2023 earlier this May at New York City’s Grand Central Station.
Now, feast your eyes on this wonderful book case full of Ultraman figures! This is quite the sight to see for any Ultraman fan living in the United States. Before 2022, I personally have never seen so much Ultraman merchandise outside of Japan. I am really glad to see Bandai Namco reaching out globally, allowing easier access for Ultraman fans and collectors alike.
From bottom up, we see Gomora, Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Belial, and Ultraman Z Original available on US soil for sale for the first time officially at a Tamashii Nations event.
The event exclusive, Ultraman Marvel Comics version takes center row. This special edition of Ultraman is a very unique piece as it replicates Marvel’s version of Ultraman with the subtle blue tint in the silver paint and slightly more muscular shoulders.
Ultraman Type C and Ultraman Dyna Flash Type from the Shinkocchou Seihou line take the second row from the top.
The top shelf goes to the Figuarts Mini line up. From top left to right, we see Haruki Natsukawa, Ultraman Z Original, Kengo Manaka, Ultraman Trigger Multi Type, Kanata Asumi, and Ultraman Decker Flash Type. This is also Ultraman Dyna, Kanata Asumi, and Ultraman Decker’s first time to be on sale officially through a Tamashii Nations event.
If you missed any of these releases previously and are in the Los Angeles area, this is your chance to grab them while you can! Stay tuned on Ultraman Connection to see where Tamashii Nations may pop up next!
Article and Photo Edits by: Andrew Wong (GForever)
Photographs by: Michael
