Unlike most reviews of this figure you’ll most likely see, this is my first time actually seeing and holding an SH MonsterArts Kiryu. Kiryu is my favorite incarnation of Mechagodzilla so my expectations for this figure were pretty high. Fortunately, they were met with flying colors.
I got much of the same reactions I had when I first saw 2002’s “Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla”. Simply put, this is how a character named “Mechagodzilla” should look. Similar proportions, not too bulky and a tail that isn’t laughably short.
Kiryu's sculpt and details are outstanding! This is one impressive looking figure and the amount of work that went into making it look this good should be commended to the highest extent possible. I especially admire the look of the inner wiring of Kiryu, the black colors work with his overall metallic silver body perfectly. This Kiryu figure also comes with several black smudges around the body, most likely sustained from battles. The ones on the dorsal plates I can tell may have come from being hit by Godzilla's atomic breath.
What else is cool about this figure is the inside of the mouth. You can see the individual teeth of the original 1954 Godzilla, one of the best features of Kiryu in general. And the maser cannons are a nice touch.
Kiryu’s head and neck can be moved to make him look up, down and to the left and right. But unlike other Mechagodzilla's, this one cannot rotate his head all the way around.
His arms can rotate and bend at the shoulder and the elbows. And his hands rotate at the wrists. Overall, the arm movement is pretty free and loose. Much better than that other figure…
Waist articulation is a bit tricky. Kiryu can move forward a tiny bit, but there is this loose back piece you gotta wiggle around to make him stand up straight. But you should have no problem turing Kiryu’s body left and right. On the chest are 3 panels that open up to reveal the Absolute Zero Cannon and the boosters on his back that can move around.
When moving Kiryu's legs forward, you’ll notice a wire connecting to the hip which will move along the hip as the legs go forward and back. Just don’t move it too much or you might risk popping it out. Otherwise the knees bend and the feet move around pretty well. The legs even have side panels that open up to reveal more boosters.
And the tail can move around pretty well.
Now let’s look at Kiryu’s many accessories.
Kiryu comes with 2 alternate eye pieces: a second pair of yellow eyes for normal function and a pair of red eyes for when he goes berserk.
But with Cosmetics out of the way, let's look at the real fun stuff: the firepower!
We got his rocket, missile backpack rocket rocket fire! (Kudos if you understood that reference) and a pair of twin laser cannons with attachable blades that fit into the front slots.
Attaching these pieces requires the removal of a few pieces on Kiryu.
The laser cannons attach to the side of the arms easily. But for the wires, you need to pull out the knob looking piece on the elbows and attach the end on the wire into the hole.
But it wouldn’t be a true SHMA re-release without some new accessories.
For the new Shinagawa Final Battle Version, 3 brand new pieces have been included.
A battle damaged arm, battle damaged Absolute Zero (spoilers?) and an Absolute Zero effect piece!
Both of the Battle damaged pieces look pretty good and can be swapped out without failure.
Fun fact: At one point, I was gonna make a list of SHMA figures that should be re-released and I was gonna give some ideas as to how certain figures could be released. One of them was Kiryu and I figured it could have been released with these very same battle damaged parts.
The Absolute Zero piece is the icing on the cake, it looks fantastic. It actually comes in 2 pieces. Simply wiggle the long piece loose from the large end and you have a piece for when the beam is charging.
The only thing that would make this better is if it came with a piece for the Maser Cannons in Kiryu’s mouth.
The only thing that would make this better is if it came with a piece for the Maser Cannons in Kiryu’s mouth.
If this review didn’t make this obvious enough, this Kiryu figure is amazing, I recommend it wholeheartedly and it should be bought immediately. Especially if you have the Godzilla 2002 figure. If you missed out on the other SH MonsterArts Kiryu figures like I did, now is the time!
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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