SH MONSTERARTS KING GHIDORAH (SPECIAL COLOR VER.) - Figure Review

Here I am trying to pose my figure and a head pops off! But that's not gonna stop me, lets do this!

This King Ghidorah figure is based on his depiction in the original Japanese poster for the 1991 film "Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah"

Out of all the SH MonsterArts figures I've wanted to add to my collection, the one I wanted more than any other was Godzilla's greatest nemesis: The three-headed, golden, planet destroying goliath, King Ghidorah!
The previous SHMA Ghidorah, released in 2012, now goes for some really outrageous prices online. I myself almost considered buying one for $300 at an anime convention, but the better sane part of my brain told me not to do that. For months after that with all the re-releases Tamashii Nations had been putting out, I kept wondering weather or not Ghidorah would be next and hoping he would be. But with the Mecha-King Ghidorah out it seemed more than unlikely.
Then in mid 2015 I got the news I had longed for: King Ghidorah was being re-issued! Along with a new paint job and brand new accessories! From that point I began setting aside portions of my paychecks to ensure that I wouldn't miss out on it this time.
So now that I finally have the figure, how does it hold up? Well...

In terms of sculpt and detail, it's AMAZING!!! You can see it in the following pictures I'll post, but even they don't do this figure justice! Upon unboxing this guy, it felt as if I was holding Ghidorah himself after he had leaped out of my TV screen after watching Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. Just look at the head above. The eyes, spikes, teeth and scales all look fantastic!
Articulation wise, each neck can curve left, right and forward, but not so much backwards. And the heads can look around pretty well and include a joint for opening and closing the mouth. One thing to note is that the lower jaw on each head wobbles a bit, so be careful.

Even the inside of the mouth looks great, along with a nice looking, sculpted tongue. Now the tongue can move up a little but, but I would not recommend trying to force it up any further.

As for the waist, it looks like it should move around a bit, but for some reason I cant get mine to move any. The joint feels really tight and I'm afraid to move it around at all for fear of breaking the figure. I don't remember Ghidorah's waist moving around that much in the films so I will let it slide.
The legs and feet have great movement. Moving forward and backward, bending at the knee and swiveling at the foot very nicely. The detail on the scales look awesome as well! I love the extra bright gold paint used, it really helps it stand out.

Same goes for the tails with a fantastic range of fluid movement! I love how the end of the tails look too, they look a lot like prickly pear cactus.
It makes me wonder why Ghidorah never uses them that much...

Now let's talk about that those wings...
They look great, and they can flap nicely. I myself can't speak for all who own this figure, but on mine, one of the wing joints isn't pushed in all the way, which looks weird and I'm very hesitant to try and correct it.

I love this figure very much, but I'm always very nervous when trying to pose it. One of the heads pops off when I try to move it. I can't say it enough: BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING THIS FIGURE!!!

King Ghidorah comes with many neat accessories. 

First up is this fantastic looking flight stand which does require assembly.

 Simply place Ghidorah on top of the clear piece which is molded to fit his neck, body and tails accordingly and the three-headed monster is ready to take to the sky and reek havoc.

Next up are the multi colored gravity beams.
 

It's common knowledge that Ghidorah's beams are all yellow, however this is the Special Color Version, based on the original poster for Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (pictured further up), which I think is a very unique addition. However part of me does wish I had 3 yellow colored ones, Tamashii really needs to make it so you can order beam effects for other SH MonsterArts figures.

Regardless of that, the effects themselves look great and after some practice and careful balancing, hold up nicely on the accompanying effect stand (which also requires assembly). 

Off topic but when you place the stand upside down it looks like the Tripods from War of the Worlds.

One of the more interesting accessories included with Ghidorah is a model of the time machine used by the Futurians in the original film, which is known as 'KIDS'. It would have been nice if it also came with a scale model of the Mothership, which is known as 'Mother' 

(Get it?)
Regardless, for such a small piece, it looks very nice. 

It fits very well on top of a normal Tamashii effect stand. Just don't try jamming it in!

Based on how the wings are posed, Ghidorah can stand from 11" to 12", the wingspan alone is almost 16". From Heads to Tails the length measures 28".

Comparison between SH MonsterArts Godzilla (Birth Ver.) and Godzilla 2014 (Spit Fire Ver.).

And with SH MonsterArts King Kong and Gigan 2004.

Yes, the box this figure comes in is HUGE!

So aside from being overly cautious about handling this figure, I am still very glad I own it. It exceeded my expectations in terms of detail and looks fantastic sitting on my shelf with my other Godzilla figures and I highly recommend that you add it to your collection, you wont be sorry. And do it now! God only knows how much this guy will be in a few months.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

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