Their first figure is Jirahs: https://www.seismictoys.com/product-page/ultraman-vinyl-od I did not realize that was the official English spelling of the kaiju's name.
So I have never heard of Seismic Toys before, should I/we have? For my own curiosity, how do you know they have the full Ultraman license Roger, and how much does this cover (I didn't see any sort of press release on the website)? Kind of out of the blue it seems, but cool. While this toy is not for me, I can imagine a lot of western fans probably liking the aesthetic. It looks like it is pulled from an animated or video game version, and to be honest, I'd have been hard-pressed to identify it as Jirass without that collar. Which is actually the biggest niggle for me on the toy. Aside from the proportion of it, the angling and joint to the neck (actually just resting on the shoulders) just seems too wrong to me. I am not one to criticise, can't say as I could achieve a better sculpt, but hey this is a toy forum after all. The mouth also kind of rubs me wrong, along with the belly and oversized lower half in conjunction with a narrow 'action figure'-like upper torso. But I guess this is what they were going for. Overall a quite well executed toy, and interested play with the vinyl, but doesn't hit the right notes for a Jirass for my personal taste. I am sure loads will love it. I mean, probably because it isn't? When it comes to romanisation of Japanese names/words, there is no hard and fast rule, so I think generally a lot of different spellings are equally acceptable.
Seismic has been putting out their own designs for a while. They post on the Facebook groups frequently. Here is a press release they put out about the line: https://www.kaijubattle.net/ultra-universe-toys/seismic-toys-ultraman-vinyl-odyssey-jirahs-figure Also, when you license characters from companies like Toho, Tsuburaya, Dynamic Pro, Sunrise, etc, they provide official romanizations of the kaiju or robot names. I don't have my Mill Creek Ultraman episodes in front of me but I bet they spell it "Jirahs" in the subtitles.
Thanks for the added info ROger, always very appreciated. Re: the name, I think that could be more of a recent development maybe (or just in this particular case or other possible reasons), but - just as a very quick example - (licensed toy with alternate spelling)
Oh yeah, it's been "Jirass" forever on various products. But the Mill Creek DVDs and this toy are, AFAIK, the first time the kaiju's name needs to be spelled out for consumers in English-speaking markets. Having "ass" in the name would have been a bad idea. They fixed it.
Well that is what I was referring to, but I think that is going a bit bonkers personally. It is just a combination of letters, and appears in any number of other words in English and other languages. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So I don't know if I agree with 'fixed,' but it is what it is. Kaiju semantics; ya got to love when your niche hobby gets to this level of nerddom.
Yeah, as a retro-style kaiju figure, if that was what they were aiming for, I don't think it works too well. Overall, the softness of the 3D sculpt, the exaggerated hips and belly, and the cartoonish look of the face make me think of a Pokemon. That is the style of their other figures, though, so maybe that was the goal: https://www.seismictoys.com/product-page/arctic-blast-megadon-soft-vinyl-figure https://www.seismictoys.com/product-page/ganira-soft-vinyl-figure
