X-PLUS GIGAN 2004 - 30CM PX EXCLUSIVE | Figure Review

As an avid Gigan fan, I make it a goal of mine to collect as many Gigan figures as I can. Right now, my collection has more Showa figures then it does Millennium.
Well, that all changed when I broke into some guys house to see if they had been hoarding any of the new Prismatic Evolutions booster bundles. He didn't have any, but he did have one of my holy grail figures, a Millennium Gigan figure from X-Plus that had such a short production run that it's almost impossible to find. I swiped it off his mantle immediately, now let's talk about it!

Honestly, X-Plus peaked with this figure design! The fact that they would base a figure off of some random custom someone did as a joke, shows their dedication to giving the fans exactly what they asked for.

Much like the Nintendo World Championships cartridges, 2 variants of this figure were actually made: One featuring Gigan's regular head and another one which instead used the head of Modified Gigan. You could only obtain the Modified Gigan head version, if you were able to decode a hidden message in G-Fan magazine and send the proof of it with your subscription renewal. 
Only about 34 of the Modified head figures were produced making this figure so rare, that if I were to sell it, I would be able to buy 2 Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail cars and would STILL be down less than 10% of my earnings.

But the level of detail makes this figure worth every penny, and the paint is mostly on point. I say this because of the recent Movie Monster Series Gigan figures from Bandai, which featured a solid black tail, but mine has the metal parts fully painted. I guess this is X-Plus taking creative liberties?
I mean, Bandai never gets the paint wrong on their vinyl figures...
right?
Oh well, at least the head is painted correctly. 

-no box picture this time, this figures too good for a box-

So yeah, that's my reveiw of the greatedst gigan figure that has ever been made and ever will be made. No others will ever compare.
Feel free to be jealous in the comments below. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...
AND HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!

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GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE | Movie Review

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
March 29, 2024

S P O I L E R  W A R N I N G!
Obviously...

Kong ventures deeper into the Hollow Earth, discovering an ancient enemy that threatens to continue a war started ages ago and bring it to the surface world. Meanwhile, Godzilla, sensing the threat himself, begins to gather power to face it. In the end, the only hope for the planet may be for the two bitter rivals to team up against the oncoming threat.

With the hype surrounding the long awaited Godzilla vs. Kong at an end and the MonsterVerse at the end of it's first phase, there was still one question looming over the fanbase: "Where could the series possibly go next?"
There were the usual rumors and wishful thinking abound, but the only thing we knew for sure was that Adam Wingard would return to direct and that Kong would once again play a big role. Many thought the movie was going to be a new version of Son of Kong.

Unlike previous MonsterVerse films where the contents of the next entry were teased almost immediately, the premise for this new film was mostly a mystery. Even after the first teaser trailer in April 2023, there were still questions.
The marketing really started to kick up in late November, we got a good look at the new enemy monster, Kong sporting a nifty looking power glove and Godzilla assuming a brand new form.
This much was certain, we were in for one hell of a wild ride. The only thing missing from those trailers was Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” playing as Godzilla and Kong were charging into battle. 

Let’s start out with our humans.
We have 3 characters returning from the previous film: Dr. Illene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) and podcaster/conspiracy theorist Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry.) Our newest principal character comes in the form of Titan veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens), who is an amazing human being who deserves his own spin-off series (Preferably not on Apple TV.)
The rest of the human characters are made up of Monarch operatives monitoring Godzilla’s activities/giving exposition and a previously unknown Hollow Earth Iwi tribe. I appreciate that the main cast of characters is relatively small, it made the story easier to follow and all of our returners were great as always. I love Illene and Jia’s family dynamic, and Bernie and Trapper get a good rapport going in their own unique way.

Once again, the main stars of these movies are the monsters. Kong takes center stage and is, for all intents and purposes, the star of the movie. We follow his quest to find others like him, as well as going about his daily life. All of it is done without dialogue, just facial expressions and body language done to perfection. This is one of those rare monster movies where the monsters truly feel like the focus of the story.
Remember how I said this movie was believed to be a new version of Son of Kong? Well, we did at least get something similar in the form of a younger Great Ape named Suko. Suko is an adorable little shit to whom you’ll eventually warm up. He is also by far the greatest weapon Kong has ever wielded. I mean, the B.E.A.S.T. Glove is cool and all, but c’mon…
Once again Godzilla doesn’t get as much focus as Kong, but we still get a good amount of him so as to feel like he hasn’t been pushed aside despite his top billing. Honestly, I feel like GxK does this better than GvK. GvK had a Team Kong/Team Godzilla split story, but Team Kong’s story stayed with Kong throughout the story, Team Godzilla doesn’t even include Godzilla. GxK’s Godzilla plot at least focuses on and shows him doing stuff instead of just talking about him.
Also, Godzilla sleeping in the colosseum is genuinely amazing and wholesome. Adam Wingard stated that this moment was inspired by seeing his own cat, Mischief, sleeping in her cat bed.

Remember Barbenheimer? That whole phenomenon surrounding 2 major film releases, one focusing on a character with ties to nuclear weapons and the other on a franchise known for being bathed in all shades of pink? Well isn’t it amusing how the very next year, here comes this movie featuring a character whose origins are tied to nuclear weapons and is now bathed in shades of pink? Life’s just funny like that, isn’t it?
I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about Godzilla’s new ‘Evolved’ look. I’m used to seeing his design change in between movies, but most of the toys didn’t do the design any favors. Even so, seeing it on screen made me warm up to it a lot.

Kong eventually does find more of his kind, for better or worse. Unfortunately, the newly found Great Apes are under the tyrannical rule of the Skar King, a lanky, red-furred ape standing only a few feet shorter than Kong. Skar isn’t the most imposing Titan in the series, he more than makes up for it with his cunning and devious nature. He attempted to reach the surface before being stopped by Godzilla, who barely survived the battle.

Skar also has another trick up his sleeve: A captive ancient Titan named Shimo. Shimo is a massive force of nature who was said to have caused the last ice age.
Shimo’s first appearance was in a crossover event for Call of Duty of all things, she was seen on a cave painting depicting her fighting Godzilla.
As much as I want to see new versions of classic Toho monsters, I also crave new and imaginative monsters and I love Shimo. 

The fact that much of the movie focuses on the monsters is the best thing about it.
I especially appreciate the effort to give focus to some of the other Titans in the background lore including Scylla (previously seen in King of the Monsters) and Tiamat, a Titan who had only appeared in the MonsterVerse tie-in comics and as an antagonist in Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong. We were introduced to the Hollow Earth in Godzilla vs. Kong, but we are now taking our first steps into this larger world. One of the goals Adam Wingard had with New Empire was to expand on the Hollow Earth lore, that was certainly something I was excited about seeing. He did deliver on that promise. Among the beautiful/dramatic landscapes and the unique/fearsome monster designs, we see another tribe of Iwi, possibly more ancient and advanced than the ones previously seen in Kong: Skull Island. Also, it turns out the Iwi are psychic, which gives us a plausible way to incorporate a character like Miki Saegusa into the MonsterVerse.

And now we come to THIS movie’s worst kept secret. Although it wasn’t as egregious as spoiling Mechagodzilla, I still think it would have been better if the initial trailer didn’t show that frame of Mothra being visible in Jia’s eye. That being said, far be it from me to deny the glory that is the return of the queen. Every time she appeared on screen was simply mesmerizing.
The visual effects in this movie continue to impress and the monsters are beautifully designed down to the smallest details. Huge kudos should be given to the VFX team for their efforts in having the monsters drive the story through looks, vocalization, and body language alone. Props especially to motion capture actors Allan Henry (Kong/Skar King) and Luke Hawker (Suko)

The score by Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio fares a little better to me than GVK even if most of the themes don't stick around in the back of my mind after the film is done.
In addition to the mix of mellow/boisterous compositions and 80’s style synthwave tunes, we get a good mix of popular rock songs to go with the action. Wingard’s song placement here is far better than the ones in his version of Death Note.

You want some great fights in your monster movies? You’ll get your money’s worth here! One of the things I always want to see with a new monster movie is something I haven’t seen before. Well, a monster fight in zero gravity was not exactly on my bingo card, but I’m glad I saw it. 

The movie isn’t perfect. Some contrivances are inevitable and there’s no shortage of cheese surrounding the goings-on, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Its monster focused story, balanced and well done human characters, over the top action and creativity completely won me over. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is now my second favorite MonsterVerse film (with the first being King of the Monsters).
Fans will always have their preferences and disagreements about whether or not Godzilla should be portrayed as a dark and serious metaphor about the horrors of war or weapons of mass destruction or fun and action packed monster wrestling. In my opinion, it’s very fortunate that both sides are able to coexist as they do now. I’ve seen many instances of Adam Wingard and Godzilla Minus One director, Takashi Yamazaki meeting each other and praising each other's films. If that isn’t proof enough, I don’t know what is.

At the time of writing this, Yamazaki is hard at work on another Godzilla film and Legendary Pictures are preparing a new entry into the ever growing MonsterVerse. No matter which direction these films take, the future of Godzilla, Kong and their creature co-stars looks very promising. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon and thank you for joining me here in my lair. So long...

Special thanks to my dear friend River for helping me edit this review!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair including updates and other related stuff:

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I’m also on Bluesky now if you want to follow me there:
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Thanks!

Good Night, Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Pleasant Dreams.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE | Movie Review

GODZILLA MINUS ONE
(Gojira Mainasu Wan)
November 3, 2023

As a devastated post-war Japan begins to rebuild, the threat of annihilation appears again in the form of a giant monster called Godzilla.

Starting in 2006, the Godzilla franchise was put on hiatus after Godzilla: Final Wars, and so began nearly a decade of no news of a new film being made.
With the advent of the video sharing website known as YouTube, some people took it upon themselves to make fake trailers of a "totally new Godzilla movie that's gonna come out next year guys, I swear!"

I remember nearly all of them used the exact same clip of a CGI Godzilla turning to look down at the humans below and roar at the sky. But where did this clip come from? Well, let me tell you about a director, writer and visual effects artist by the name of Takashi Yamazaki.

While he was inspired to become a filmmaker after viewing such works as Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Yamazaki was also a huge Godzilla fan. When it came time in 2007 to make the sequel to his 2005 film "Always: Sunset on Third Street", he included a dream sequence in which a city is being attacked by Godzilla, with the signature Ifukube march for good measure. Little did he or any of us know, this would not be his last time working with the Big G. 

In March 2021, there came a theme park attraction called Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle, a 4D simulation that puts visitors in the middle of a cataclysmic battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Not only did Yamazaki direct and write the rides story, he also designed the monsters. 

Finally, on November 3rd, 2022 during Toho's annual Godzilla Fest, after years of speculating on when the next Godzilla movie would come out and weather or not it was a sequel to Shin Godzilla, it was finally confirmed that a new movie would be released exactly one year from that day, with Yamazaki as director, writer and visual effects supervisor. It was also revealed that the movie was going to take place post World War II, which led to some thinking it was going to be a full blown remake of the original film. But of course, that was not the case. 
What the movie actually was, was something far greater than we could have ever imagined. 

It's no surprise that your average Godzilla movie review consists of something along the lines of: "Monsters great, humans boring", regardless of how well written and preformed they are. So I expected to hear plenty of that after I saw the movie, but the moment I exited the theater, I literally said out loud: "I do not wanna hear ONE word about the human characters being boring." 
Our lead character is Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who ultimately couldn't carry out his "duty" and tried to get out alive only to be one of the only survivors of an attack by Godzilla. He returns home to Tokyo finding his town in ruins and his neighbor calling him a coward, despite his promise to his family to come home alive.
Later on Koichi meets up with a woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) who also has an adopted child named Akiko (Sae Nagatani). Koichi and Noriko decide to live together to take care of Akiko and while they manage to pick themselves back up and build a better life overall, Koichi cannot bring himself to fully commit to a full relationship with Noriko, still haunted by his failures, cowardice and survivors guilt, despite Noriko's best efforts to help ground him. Kamiki is clearly acting his ass off as Koichi, going above and beyond to make you feel his pain and sympathize with him. Later in the movie after Godzilla attacks Ginza, Koichi lets out the most painful, broken hearted, primal scream I've ever heard an actor give, it's legitimately heartbreaking. 

I really love the supporting characters Koichi meets when he gets a job clearing out mines leftover from the Pacific conflict. Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a former Navy technician who'll later be an indispensable player in the fight against Godzilla (and he has the best hair), Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), the captain of the minesweeper boat justifiably disillusioned with the Japanese government, but still willing to fight for his country, and Mizushima (Yuki Yamada) the young buck who never got to join the fight but is eager to serve in some regard. 
The dynamic between Koichi and his shipmates is one of my favorite parts of the movie and overall, there's not a single character among the principle cast that I can say felt wasted or underwhelming and for the most part, audiences seemed to agree (shockingly). 
The story is so compelling you may find yourself forgetting to even think: "Where's Godzilla?"

Speaking of, Godzilla is incredible in this movie. Not since GMK has Godzilla been depicted as maliciously evil, attacking everything and everyone in sight indiscriminately. 
Takashi Yamazaki had already designed Godzilla twice before and each design felt like a natural improvement over the other. This design is scarred, sharp and terrifying. The elongated and pointed dorsal fins really add to the imposing nature of this animal and the way they extend as he charges his atomic breath is both horrifying and cool at the same time. 
We also get to see Godzilla before he gets irradiated by the Operation Crossroads nuclear test, a proper looking Godzillasaurus in my opinion.

This time around, Godzilla is portrayed entirely through CGI without motion capture. But like Shin Godzilla before it, the CGI for Godzilla in Minus One is spectacular if not better than Shin, even without the performance of an actor.
In fact, there's a lot of CGI in this movie, there pretty much has to be if you wanted an accurate depiction of the Ginza district of Tokyo in the late 1940's.
It is truly inspiring to see what Takashi Yamazaki and his minimal team of 35 visual effects artists were able to accomplish by blending CGI with minimal sets and miniatures, mock ups of ships, a plane and downtown markets, clever camera movement and a lot of green screen. It's no wonder they deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects

What? Oh, you're expecting me to compare this movies handling of VFX to American films?
Sorry, I have no interest in that discourse, let alone sounding even remotely like a grifter. 

Of course, I have to mention the soundtrack by Naoki Sato. Sato also happens to be a frequent collaborator with Yamazaki, providing the scores for his projects that Godzilla appeared in previously. 
His score for Minus One is great, many of his tracks are epically chilling which greatly enhances the terror you feel whenever Godzilla is on screen. And you can't have a Godzilla movie without adding some classic Akira Ifukube tracks, the ones they do use were expertly chosen, particularly during the climax. As soon as the original 1954 march starts to play, it just gets you super pumped up!

If you were to ask me to find any faults or things I didn't like about this movie, I gotta be honest, I'd be stretching for complaints like the middle of the movie after Godzilla's first attack on Ginza moves slower than the rest of the movie or Godzilla's walk can look a bit awkward at times. But apart from that, there really is nothing I can say that is really bad about this movie. 
I know some people like to bring up the conveniences that occur during the climax or the ending, but even knowing or guessing how the events play out does not negate the emotional payoff I got from them during my first viewing.

Godzilla Minus One was first released in Japan on November 3rd, 2023. Its release in the United States was set for December 10th, with the added bonus of IMAX showings, something that has not happened for a Japanese Godzilla film. I as able to attend an early access fan event a day before the official premiere where I not only got a free poster as a memento of this historic event, but also once again see theater owners underestimate how much Americans LOVE Godzilla.
With those first showings, word of mouth spread like wildfire leading to a considerable box office gross, high critical praise and its theatrical run extended due to it's continued success. 
It almost makes me wish Shin Godzilla had lasted longer in theaters then a day over here. 
For its final week in theaters, Toho released a special version of the film called "Godzilla: Minus One/Minus Color", a black and white version of the film. 
With the early access event and times I saw it with friends including the Minus Color showing, I've seen Godzilla Minus One in theaters 5 times, making it the Godzilla film I've seen the most times in theaters.

Godzilla Minus One is nothing less than a true masterpiece of a film, not just in the Kaiju genre. It has some of the best writing, acting and visual effects of any Godzilla movie that I've seen, so much that I could easily call this my favorite Godzilla movie of all time. Though it still has competition given my nostalgia with The Return of Godzilla
If you haven't seen Godzilla Minus One yet, I implore you to at least give it a chance. Take it from me, this is a movie that anyone can enjoy regardless of being a Godzilla fan or not. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GODZILLA!
LONG LIVE THE KING!

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair including updates and other related stuff:

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HIYA TOYS MUTO (Female) | Figure Review

When I collect Godzilla figures, I like to have complete sets of characters from the movies I love the most. Back when the 2014 Godzilla film was new and the merch was becoming more readily available in stores, I had to get my hands on as much as I could. By far my favorite figures came from NECA, their 2014 figure was a knockout to me and I was anticipating more, including Godzilla's opponents from the film. Months turned to years and the Muto's were nowhere to be seen. 
NECA wouldn't do it, seeming to only favor figures of the Big G himself.
Bandai made smaller and less detailed plastic Muto's, but seemed to scared to introduce them into their SH MonsterArts line, save for a severed head. The Muto's have been my most wanted SH MonsterArts figures for a long time and after a while, it seemed like I wouldn't get my wish for SOMEONE to make detailed, articulated figures of these unique creatures.

And then Hiya entered the scene and was like: "Fine, I'll do it myself"
At least, the female one for starters. 

Out of the box, this figure looks very impressive. 
Hiya appears to have knocked it out of the park when it comes to the sculpt of the Female Muto.

The texture work all over her body looks incredible and is accentuated nicely with the various weathered coats of black and grey paint with a nicely applied red streak for her eyes. 

Muto has a great head sculpt with an appropriately sharp looking beak. One nice touch that I love is when the mouth is open, her tongue looks like it's sticking out during a roar. To me, she looks plenty fierce whether her mouth is open or closed. 

Luckily, the Muto's don't have traditional monster claws, so no need to worry about paint bleeding over the fingers.

On her belly you can see what appears to be her egg pouch. Despite it not all glowy, it's still nicely detailed. 

Before we get to articulation, I'd like to point out that my figure came out of the box with the majority of it's joints super stiff. If yours is like this, it might be time to whip out the handy hair dryer to get them nice and loose. Carefully, of course.  

Muto's head doesn't offer much movement other then being able to move up/down and an opening mouth. 
I do like how the back is sculpted so when her head moves up, the back looks folded up.

Both of her front and mid forearms can fully rotate at the body (provided you maneuver the other arms accordingly.) the front arms can move in/out somewhat, not too much and the mid forward can move forward/backward. Both sets of arms can bend and rotate at 2 sperate points and her little hooked feets can bend forward/backward and rotate. 

Muto also has a set of smaller arms beneath her forearms that can move forward/backward and in/out at the body while her hooked appendages can bend forward and rotate freely. 

The body of the Muto can be moved forward/backward and we even get rotation at the waist.

Her legs can make a full rotation and slightly move in/out at the hip. You once again get 2 points where you can bend and rotate her legs and her hooves can only bend at the ankles. 

The Muto's have a weird anatomy, I know, but I think her possibility is still really good. 

No accessories for Momma Muto.

This has been a dream figure of mine for years and I would say Hiya Toys has met my expectations. 
In my opinion, at least when it comes to MonsterVerse figures, Hiya Toys is definitely the superior company.
Now we just need her mate and the 2014 Godzilla coming out soon, and I'll finally have the set I've been wanting for a long time. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

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SH MONSTERARTS JET JAGUAR (1973) | Figure Review

A lot can change in 9 years, like my posting frequency. 
In October of 2015, back when I was starting this blog and trying to find my footing, I made a Top 5 list of Godzilla monsters I wanted to see get made into SH MonsterArts figures. In the 9 years since that list, only one has managed to materialize itself into existence: Jet Jaguar.

I've only reviewed a handful of Jet Jaguar figures, the last of which was the Playmates Toys one and after that dumpster fire, surely things can only go up from here?

I mean, just look at this figure, it looks fantastic!
There are a few area's where the sculpt isn't quite suit accurate, e.g., the hips are slightly thiccer than they should be. I also think the neck should be a tiny bit more extended, but none of that kills the figure for me and I still think the sculpt is very well done.
The paint work is also spectacular, brightly colored and evenly applied with no major bleeding. 

Jet Jaguar's head looks wonderful and the details all look great. The eyes are a clear plastic piece with sculpted circles.
And that smile? Perfection. 

The main body including the chest, arms, waist with his trademark emblem legs and feet (Air Jaguar's anyone?) looks overall great.
Aside from the hips, nothing else looks too off to me. 
I also really like how the back seam blends into the back of the figure. 

Being a character known for striking a variety of poses, you'd expect a figure of Jet Jaguar to have good articulation, right?

I mentioned the neck should've been extended a bit. As it is now, Jet Jaguar's head movement is restricted by the neck.
It can still move up/down, turn left/right and tilt side-to-side, but maybe not as much as some would like. 

The arms can rotate and move in and out at the shoulder, bend at the elbow (with rotation at both ends) and a piece of the upper arm is separated to help with articulation.
The hands can rotate and bend at the wrist.

The body can lean forward, backward and side-to-side very nicely. The waist of this figure is actually made of rubber, nice touch. 

The legs can move forward/backward and in/out at the hip.
There is a double bend (kind of) at the knee. While there is a basic bend, you'll have to pull the leg to access a double bend. Also the leg can rotate at the knee, something I don't think was necessary, especially since it misaligns the blue pattern on the leg.
The feet can rotate, bend and pivot.

While the articulation can be a bit awkward in some areas, you can still get Jet Jaguar in some fun poses. 

Jet Jaguar does come with a few accessories:

You've got your standard set of alternate hands: Open, closed and grabbing. And obviously he comes with a thumbs up hand because there would probably be riots at Bandai HQ if it weren't included. 

We have a piece to emulate Jet Jaguar's brighter eyes. To install them, you simply remove the head, then remove the eyepiece with an included plastic piece also included, then place the new piece in.

Next we've got antenna pieces for Jet Jaguar's flight mode.
Now, both the standard and flight antenna pieces are tiny (ESPECIALLY the standard center one!), and I have larger than normal hands. So while removing and replacing them can seem scary, it actually ended up being pretty easy once you get used to it. 

If for whatever reason you lose the center antenna pieces, this set comes with extra replacement parts.

And if you've got an appropriate stand, Jet Jaguar looks pretty dang good in a flight pose.

And finally we have a mini Jet Jaguar figure which...is fine. 
I get why it was included but it feels largely unnecessary. 

Overall, is this a perfect figure? Not really. Is it a cool figure? Hell yeah it is! His mother may have never love him, but I do.
I've been wanting a posable Jet Jaguar figure for so long and this scratches so many itches for me, enough for me to give it a recommendation. 

Next time, I review another figure I've been wanting since forever. Stay tuned...

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

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SH MONSTERARTS RED-EYES BLACK DRAGON | Figure Review

On June 15, 2023, Tamashii Nations announced a new series would be added to the SHMA line, with a teaser image showing a very distinct background with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Everyone guessed right away, Ancient Egypt + monsters = Yu-Gi-Oh!

Now I am on old school Yu-Gi-Oh fan who fell off the series around the time the first anime ended it's run, I don't know anything about synchro summons or XYZ/pendulum whatchamacallit's...but I do have a fond nostalgia for the classic series, so I was naturally curious about this upcoming figure line. The first figure revealed was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a staple monster of the series. Personally though, I was a bigger fan of his counterpart. I even made a post on Facebook that said if they were to announce a Red-Eyes Black Dragon figure, I would pre-order it without question.
Sure enough, only a couple months later, I got my wish!

Being my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh monster, I may have had high expectations for this figure and I'm happy to say that most of them were met!

This figure looks incredible! It's been awhile since I watched the show, but Red-Eyes looks pretty spot on, none of the proportions look off and the sculpt lives up to the reputation of being a ferocious dragon with a deadly attack. 

You know what else if ferocious? Just how spiky this figure is. From the beak, horns, claws and the body in general, there are various pokey bits on this dragon so be mindful of that. 

The only real nitpick I have with the sculpt is regarding the feet. The talon on the back (which I believe would be called a Hallux(?)) is sculpted in a way that makes standing Red-Eyes up without any support stands a bit tricky. It can be done, but that may run the risk of bending the talon too much 

As for the paint? Well, it's black dragon and he does in fact have red eyes, what more do you need?
Well, OK, there is a bit more to it than that. The inside of the mouth along with the teeth and the tongue are painted quite nicely. 

Remember those pokey bits I mentioned? Many of them are coated with a silvery dry brushing from head to tail and it looks great.

So Red-Eyes looks amazing, no question, but how does he move? Well, let me just play my Articulation card. 

His mouth is double jointed allowing it to open pretty wide. The head can rotate and the various neck joints let him look up/down, left/right and tilt side-to-side. 

The arms have unique ball joints that you'll have to fiddle with in order to get their full range of movement. But when you do the arms can rotate and move in/out at the shoulder, bend/rotate at the elbow and the hands can bend/rotate at the wrist.

The body of Red-Eyes doesn't offer a lot of movement, but you can have him tilt side-to-side and only the slightest lean forward/backward. 
Again, the pokey bits may or may not hinder your ability to move this dragon around. 

The wings are able to flap at the back and can rotate slightly. 
They also have a point of rotation and are separated into pieces that can be made to looked spread out wide for flight or folded closed. However you choose to pose your dragon, the wings are going to give it some presence. 

At the waist, the legs have the same hinged ball joints the arms do, some work will need to be done, but once you get a hold of it, the legs can move forward/backward and move in/out. The knees are double jointed, and have a decent bend. The feet can move up/down, rotate/pivot and you even get a bend at the toes and back talon.

But the back talons on Red-Eyes' foot aren't the only things that'll prohibit the dragon from standing, what also doesn't help is how loose the joints are in the legs. They have trouble dealing with the weight of the figure as a whole. 

And finally, the tail. It's everything you want in a SHMA tail, multi-jointed and fluid with tight joints that hold it's pose.

If you can get past the pokey bits, Red-Eyes is quite posable and will look great if you can get creative enough-
OH, look at that! You activated my Accessories card!

Red-Eyes comes with a variety of stands that can be attached to the included base. 

If you ask me though, the wing tip attachments are a bit superfluous at best. I've had my Red-Eyes held up by just the crotch holding piece and it's worked out pretty well so far.

You also get a pair of more open hands if that tickles your fancy.

We even get an effect part meant to emulate the dragon's signature attack: Black Flame Bullet. (or Inferno Fire Blast, in America!)

This is a great effect part to place in Red-Eye's mouth, and the lighting bits are made of a softer plastic so you don't have to worry too much about them breaking unless you're actively trying to do so. 

In the end, while this Red-Eyes Black Dragon may come with it's own unique hindrances, I still love it very much. Tamashii Nations did my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh monster justice and I can't wait to see where this line goes from here. You know they'll have to do the Egyptian God Monsters at some point.

Also, if they consider doing an Exodia figure, I dare them to release it as the individual pieces that you have to buy separately. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...

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