Ultra Seven by Marmit

Before Ultraman Ace, there was Ultra Seven. Ultra Seven is the third Ultra Being after Ultraman and Ultraman Zoffy. Ultra Seven went on to become one of Japan's greatest fantasy TV series. Ultra Seven (or simply 'Seven') has appeared or at least made cameos in nearly every Ultra Series following his own and has had far more exposure than even the original Ultraman (though the original Ultraman is without a doubt the face of the Ultras).

This was Marmit's Ultra Seven version 1. It came with a nude figure, rubber suit and hard vinyl gloved hands and boots. The chest piece and shoulder armor were made of rubber and had to be painted and trimmed. Same went for the mask which was a two-piece D.I.Y. 'assembly required' clear plastic which also required painting after glueing the parts together. This was basically a vinyl model kit that required quite a bit of work and not a toy that was ready to be played with once out of the box. But the end result wasn't too bad.

The molded rubber suit gave it a sense of authenticity, much like the real thing.

Problem with Marmit's rubber suit and figure: it doesn't offer much articulation, unlike Hot Toys' Appleseed pair of Deunan and Briareos or Batman

Ultra Seven was visually different from Ultraman, being mostly red with a removable crest (which doubled up as a weapon) and more 'boxy'-looking eyes.

The mask, neck area, chest and shoulder armor had to be put together and painted.

Unlike most other Ultramen, Ultra Seven does not demonstrate any of the time constraints that plague most of the other heroes of the Ultra Series. On occasion however, the Beam Lamp on his forehead would begin blinking in a similar fashion to the Color Timer that the other Ultras had. This tended to occur when Ultra Seven was in mortal danger, suggesting it warned him how badly weakened he was rather than how much time he had left to fight.

Eye Slugger - The crest on Ultra Seven's head can be detached and used as a throwing weapon. This is Ultra Seven's most well-known weapon, and possibly the most famous of all Ultra attacks.

Next up: Ultra Seven by Medicom