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...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a like to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/

BANDAI CREATIONS GODZILLA 2014 10" FIGURE - Figure Review

I'm always amazed when I come across figures that I don't expect to see. With all the re-releases Bandai Creations has been doing with their Godzilla figures, I've kinda just stopped paying attention to them. I did hear about their 6" 2014 Godzilla and I did pick it up. But along with that, all I saw from them in stores were more First Godzilla's (Or as I affectionetly call it: "Guhrd-zirra") and 2001 King Ghidorah's. Nothing new and then this beast comes out!

While not always known for their abundance of articulation, Bandai Creations can make some dynamically posed figures.
As with the case of this figure, you have Godzilla in a roaring position very similar to his first appearance in the 2014 film.
But that's not to say this figure has no articulation. You have full 360 rotation at the neck, the arms can move left and right, and the legs can go forward and backward.
As for the tail? More on that later...  

The original 6" figure had some great detail to its sculpt and with this larger figure comes a bit more, especially with the eyes and teeth. The dorsal fins also have a bit more detail to them. The skin color looks great too with the charcoal grey skin color and the light grey color from the bottom of the neck down to the belly, waist and tail which is a bit more pronounced compared to other 2014 G figures.

6" Bandai Creations Godzilla 2014 Tail

10" Bandai Creations Godzilla 2014 Tail

The tail looks good as well but I find it to be weird looking. The tail is not as skinny at the end as it is in the film. Actually it looks more similar to a typical Toho Godzilla tail. It's not a huge flaw that'll make me lose sleep, I just find it weird.
One thing this figures tail has over the 6" tail is articulation. With the 6" tail, there appeared to be rotation at 2 spots, however the joints had to have been glued down thus making it impossible without ruining the figure. In the case of the 10" tail, we have rotation in 3 separate spots.

Something I wanna bring up is that when you look at the back of the package the figure comes in, it shows the figure in a forward pose which makes Godzilla look more like a Dinosaur would. The problem is with the tail, if you try to pose it like that, the weight of the tail will send it falling backwards. The only reason I was able to get mine to stay up in the pic above was because I had the tail propped against my canvas. If you want to have your 10" Godzilla posed like this, I'd suggest leaning the tail against something like I did. You could also use a stand commonly used for Bandai Tamashii Nations figures to hold it up by the tail.

6" and 10" side by side

Next to Bandai Creations 12" Final Wars Godzilla 

I'm actually kinda surprised how small this figure is compared to a previous large scale BC figure.

And the large NECA 2014 Godzilla

I like this figure a lot and if your a fan of the Bandai Creations Godzilla line and you've been wanting something new for a while, this is a good figure to pick up (As well as the 6" one if you can find it). Hopefully they can get some other good new releases soon. But if not...well, there's always the figures they spoke of for 2018. -sigh-

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

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

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, You can give my FB page a like to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/

DIAMOND SELECT JET JAGUAR VINYL FIGURE BANK - Figure Review

I gotta say, Diamond Select Toys is knocking their recent Vinyl Figure Banks out of the park. First there was Godzilla 1974, then came Rodan and now Jet Jaguar. I've always wanted a Jet Jaguar figure to add to my collection and this bank looks INCREDIBLE!

From top to bottom this figure has some great attention to detail. The paint application is spectacular, I love how the metallic paint looks on him. He is a robot after all. And all the designs throughout and the coloring look stellar and really stand out.
He has no articulation, but has a very nice battle pose. Looking ready to take on all Kaiju!
GOJIRA TO JAGAA DE PANCHI, PANCHI, PANCHI!!!

Something I find particularly interesting about this figure are the eyes. In 1974's 'Godzilla Vs. Megalon' (His first and only film appearance.) Jet Jaguar's eyes can light up, but in the film they remain mostly off and so his eyes look black. In most Jet Jaguar figures I see, the eyes are black and some even have yellow eyes. But as you can see the eyes on this figure are a light blue which I don't see a lot of and is really unique.
The head contains most of the best detail. Aside from the eyes, you got the Jack Nicholson smile, the pointed head as well as the antenna things on the sides in the closed position.

There are a few tiny paint hiccups on mine, but they personally don't bother me that much. Plus if I wanted to I can fix them with little to no effort.

The coin slot is located on the back of the figure, but instead of taking off the head to remove coins, this figures splits apart at the waist. Personally, I don't think it leaves room to put a ton of coins in. Then again, most people I know don't use these as banks anyway. 

When separated, you can have a very nice looking Jet Jaguar Bust Statue. 

Jet Jaguar stands 11 1/2 inches tall which puts him a little out of scale with Godzilla 1974

As soon as I saw this figure at my local comic book store, I wasted no time adding this figure to my collection. And I suggest you do the same. You will not be sorry!

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.
So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, You can give my FB page a like to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/