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By onemall 
TL;DR
Ultraman turned sixty this year — the first episode aired on 10 July 1966, and Tsuburaya has been running a 60th-anniversary project since July 2025[1]. The anniversary series, Ultraman Teo, started on 4 July 2026 and is on air right now[2]. None of that changes the thing that actually matters to a collector outside Japan: almost the entire back catalogue of Ultraman toys is Japanese-retail-only, and the kaiju — the half of the franchise most people want — barely leave the country at all.
- 2026 is the 60th anniversary. First broadcast 10 July 1966, now registered as Ultraman Day; the anniversary project runs about two and a half years under the message “With U”[1].
- Ultraman Teo is airing now — Saturdays 09:00 JST on the six-station TV Tokyo network since 4 July 2026, with simultaneous overseas streaming[2]. Its toys are on Japanese shelves; the resale market is where the previous fifty-nine years live.
- Sofubi is the entry point. Bandai’s Ultra Hero Series and Ultra Kaiju Series have been running since 2013, with the hero line past its 127th numbered figure[3]. Current pieces retail around ¥990 including tax[4]; the listings below start at ¥1,280.
- The monsters are the gap. Retailers outside Japan stock heroes, because heroes are what non-fans recognise. Gomora, Gamakujira and Magma Seijin sell to people who already know the show, which is why they are ¥2,555–¥2,850 in Japan and essentially unavailable elsewhere.
- Beware the word 未開封. Sealed matters here more than in most categories, because sofubi paint rubs and the 1970s–90s moulds were never re-run.
What the 60th anniversary actually changed
Tsuburaya announced the Ultraman Series 60th Anniversary Project on 10 July 2025 — Ultraman Day, the anniversary of the 1966 premiere, registered with the Japan Anniversary Association. The project is scheduled to run about two and a half years and covers a new TV series, stage shows, digital content and merchandise, under the message “With U”[1].
The TV series is Ultraman Teo, which began on Saturday 4 July 2026 at 09:00 JST across the six-station TV Tokyo network and streams overseas at the same time, with Aoi Iwasaki in the lead as Ibuki Mitsuishi[2]. It took the Saturday-morning slot over from Ultraman Omega, which ran from 5 July 2025 to 17 January 2026[5].
Here is the practical consequence. An anniversary means reissues, commemorative sets and books — a 300-page all-colour Television Magazine special covering all sixty years came out this month[6] — and it also means every Japanese collector is topping up their shelf at once. Anniversary-year demand pushes second-hand prices up on the old moulds, not down. If you have been meaning to buy a 1970s kaiju, this is a worse year for price and a better year for supply, because collectors sell to fund the new stuff.
Sofubi: the cheapest honest way in
Soft vinyl — ソフビ — is the format Ultraman merchandise is built on. Hollow, hand-sized, painted in flat blocks of colour, and cheap. Bandai has run the Ultra Hero Series and the Ultra Kaiju Series in parallel since 2013, and the hero line has passed 127 numbered releases[3]. Current releases sit around ¥990 including tax at Japanese retail[4], which is the number that anchors everything below.
The Omega figure at ¥1,280 is a current-line sound-and-action toy from the series that finished airing in January — still new, still boxed, already on the resale market because Japanese parents clear out last season’s toys. The original Ultraman action figure at ¥2,000 and the Orb Origin the First sofubi at ¥3,566 show the spread: character recognition, not age, sets the price. A 1966 design costs about what a 2016 design costs.
Compare that to what an imported Ultraman figure costs in a Western hobby shop, where the same object arrives via a distributor, a licensor and a retailer, and the reason people buy these from Japan becomes obvious. There is no local equivalent to undercut.
The kaiju are the half nobody exports
Ask a non-fan to name an Ultraman character and you get Ultraman. Ask a fan and you get Gomora, Eleking, Baltan. Overseas retail stocks the first kind. Japan stocks both, and the second kind is where the collecting actually happens.
Gomora from the 2005 Ultra Kaiju Series is ¥2,555 and Gamakujira ¥2,850. Magma Seijin at ¥1,380 is listed as 生産終了 and 廃盤 — production ended, mould retired. That is the important word in this category. Bandai rotates the kaiju line constantly and does not re-run most of it; when a mould is gone, the only supply is the one that was already sold.
The 800 in “800 size” is the old price-point code from the era when these were ¥800 toys. You will see it in listing titles, and it tells you roughly how big the figure is and roughly which generation of the line it belongs to.
Campaign prizes, sealed old stock and the high end
Three categories that have no overseas equivalent at all, in ascending order of what they cost you.
Campaign prizes. The Ultraseven “Dawn Star” version at ¥1,900 came from a Yoshinoya beef-bowl campaign. It was never sold; you got it by eating at a Japanese chain restaurant during a specific window. There is no retail channel for objects like this, in Japan or anywhere else, and there never was. The second-hand market is the only market.
Sealed old stock. The Ultraman 80 at ¥1,580 is described as an early version, unopened, out of print. Sofubi paint rubs and joints loosen, so sealed examples of retired moulds behave like sealed video games: the premium is for the seal, not the plastic.
The high end. CCP’s 1/6 Ultraman Tiga with a working LED colour timer at ¥13,333 is a different product class entirely — a limited-run garage-kit-descended statue from a small Japanese maker, sold domestically to adults. This is the segment that most clearly does not exist outside Japan.
Reading a Japanese Ultraman listing
| Japanese term | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ソフビ | Soft vinyl figure | The core format; hollow, painted, hand-sized |
| ウルトラ怪玲 | Ultra Kaiju — the monsters | Search this, not “Ultraman”, to find the half that is not exported |
| 生産終了 / 廃盤 | Production ended / discontinued | Mould retired; supply is finite and will not be restocked |
| 未開封 | Unopened, still sealed | Commands a real premium on retired moulds |
| 800サイズ | “800 size” — the ¥800 price-point format | Tells you the generation and rough size of the figure |
| 非売品 | Not for sale — a prize or campaign item | Never had a retail price anywhere; resale-only by definition |
| 初期版 | Early version / first production run | Later runs differ in paint and mould detail; collectors pay for the first |
How to buy Ultraman merch from Japan, step by step
- Decide hero or kaiju before you search. They are two different markets with different price logic. Heroes are available everywhere and priced on recognition; kaiju are scarce and priced on which mould it is.
- Search in Japanese. ウルトラマン ソフビ and ウルトラ怪玲 return the domestic market. Searching “Ultraman figure” in English returns export-facing listings at export-facing prices.
- Check the anniversary premium. In a 60th-anniversary year, sort by price and look at the bottom of the list first. Sellers who priced their listing eighteen months ago have not all updated it.
- Read for 生産終了 and 未開封. Those two words are most of the difference between ¥1,500 and ¥5,000 for figures that look identical in photos.
- Buy several at once. Sofubi is light and hollow, so the marginal shipping cost of the fifth figure is close to nothing while the first one carries the whole postage. This is the single biggest saving available in this category, and it is why consolidation matters more here than in most.
- Watch volumetric weight, not scale weight. A box of hollow vinyl is all volume and no mass, which is exactly the case where carriers bill you on size. Our shipping-method comparison explains how that is calculated.
- Budget duty. The United States revoked its US$800 de minimis exemption with effect from 29 August 2025[7], so a consolidated box of figures is now a dutiable import, not a free pass.
If Japanese resale platforms are new to you, our guide to buying from Mercari Japan from overseas covers the mechanics, and what Japanese proxy shopping costs in 2026 covers the fees. Tokusatsu collectors should also read our Kamen Rider merch guide and, for the other giant monster, how to buy Godzilla figures from Japan.
The honest verdict
Ultraman is a good category to buy from Japan and a bad one to buy one item at a time. Individual sofubi are cheap enough that international postage can cost more than the toy, which makes single purchases look absurd and a consolidated box of eight look like a bargain. Work out what you want across the whole run first, then buy it in one order.
On timing: the 60th anniversary is not a discount event. It raises prices on the old moulds and it fills the market with sellers, and of those two effects the second one is worth more to you. What you should be hunting in 2026 is availability of things that were previously not listed at all — retired kaiju moulds, campaign prizes, sealed 1980s stock — and accepting that the price is the price.
When you are ready, OneMall buys, checks and forwards from the Japanese side — or go straight to every live Ultraman listing or the kaiju listings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 2026 the Ultraman 60th anniversary?
Yes. The original series premiered on 10 July 1966, which is now registered as Ultraman Day, and Tsuburaya launched a 60th-anniversary project on 10 July 2025 that runs for roughly two and a half years[1].
What is the new Ultraman series in 2026?
Ultraman Teo, the 60th-anniversary series. It started on Saturday 4 July 2026 at 09:00 JST on the six-station TV Tokyo network, with simultaneous overseas streaming, and stars Aoi Iwasaki[2]. The previous series in that slot, Ultraman Omega, ran from 5 July 2025 to 17 January 2026[5].
How much do Ultraman sofubi figures cost?
Current Bandai releases are around ¥990 including tax at Japanese retail[4]. On the second-hand market the figures in this article run from ¥1,280 for a current-line piece to ¥13,333 for a limited 1/6 CCP statue, with retired kaiju moulds mostly in the ¥1,000–¥4,000 band.
Why are Ultraman kaiju figures so hard to find outside Japan?
Because overseas distribution follows recognition. Retailers abroad stock the hero, who is on the poster; the monsters sell to people who have watched the show, and that audience is concentrated in Japan. Bandai also retires kaiju moulds without re-running them, so once domestic stock is sold the only supply is second-hand and domestic.
What does 非売品 mean on an Ultraman listing?
“Not for sale” — a prize or campaign item that was given away rather than sold, such as the Yoshinoya campaign Ultraseven above. It never had a retail price and was never distributed outside Japan, so resale is the only way to get one.
Is it cheaper to buy Ultraman figures from Japan?
Per figure, yes, and by a wide margin once you are past the hero characters. Per parcel, only if you consolidate: hollow vinyl is light but bulky, carriers bill on volume, and one figure in a box is the worst possible ratio. Buy five or ten in a single order and the maths works; buy one and the postage can exceed the toy.
References
- Tsuburaya Productions, “Ultra Series 60th Anniversary Project Begins” — announced 10 July 2025 (Ultraman Day, registered with the Japan Anniversary Association; first broadcast 10 July 1966); approx. two-and-a-half-year project; message “With U”. https://tsuburaya-prod.com/news/8542
- Famitsu, “新テレビシリーズ『ウルトラマンテオ』が7月4日より世界同時期放送＆配信” — 4 July 2026, Saturdays 09:00 JST, TV Tokyo six-station network, 60th-anniversary work, lead Aoi Iwasaki. https://www.famitsu.com/article/202604/72103
- Bandai, ウルトラソフビシリーズ大全集 (official Ultraman toy site) — Ultra Hero Series and Ultra Kaiju Series catalogue, running since 2013, hero line past no. 127. https://toy.bandai.co.jp/ja/series/ultraman/sofubi/
- Bandai product catalogue, ウルトラマン ソフビパッケージチャームDX — 990 yen incl. tax, released 8 August 2026. https://www.bandai.co.jp/catalog/item.php?jan_cd=4582770022384000
- ウルトラマンオメガ — broadcast 5 July 2025 to 17 January 2026, Saturdays 09:00 on the TV Tokyo network. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ウルトラマンオメガ
- Tower Records Online news, テレビマガジン特別編集「ウルトラマンシリーズ60周年記念 全ウルトラマン記録大鑑」 — 300-page all-colour anniversary book, August 2026. https://tower.jp/article/news/2026/08/07/tgb003
- Federal Register, “Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” (Executive Order 14324; effective 29 August 2025). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/05/2025-14897/suspending-duty-free-de-minimis-treatment-for-all-countries
Last updated: 2026-08-24.