SH MONSTERARTS MOTHRA AND RODAN (2019) | Figure Review

The reveal of the designs for 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, both excitedly and confused. As Godzilla and King Ghidorah made their way to shelves, many fans wondered when Mothra and Rodan would be released. They were announced as a two-pack. YAY! But would only be available as limited pre-orders. Oh boy...

As soon as the pre-order first popped up on BigBadToyStore, I jumped on that and got my order secured, some weren't as lucky. At the time of me writing this, Mothra and Rodan are still available to buy. But are they worth it?

Ladies first. 

 Mothra is more or less the same size as the NECA figure and is pretty well sculpted. A lot of the finer details are going to be found on the main body, particularly the abdomen. Sadly some of the smaller details on her legs are lost to the size of the sculpt, but Bandai did what they could to keep it in scale with the other figures. The wings appear to be a good size compared to the body of Mothra and have a very nice textured sculpt.

Speaking of, the paint on the wings is absolutely spectacular! To me, this more than any other 2019 Mothra figure is the one that gets the wings 100% right.
And now....the body, the one thing everyone agrees is the worst thing about this figure. And, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I share that opinion. I could accept that if it was the prototype colors, but for the final release the amount of orange was way overdone. The only part of Mothra's body that stands out are her eyes and antennae.
If they had just added some white around the eyes, upper body and then applied some light brown wash to the rest of the body, it would have been much better. 

Articulation for Mothra is minimal. The larger legs can move back and forth and twist. The inner legs in the front can twist as well. You may need to apply a small amount of heat to the legs to approve the movement. I held my Mothra over a hot stove for a few seconds.
Mothra also comes with a waist joint which lets the abdomen bend and twist.
The wings are attached via ball joints allowing them to bend and rotate at the body. Just use the utmost care when moving the wings as Mothra is small and the wings can be very delicate to handle. When displayed, the wings are able to hold their pose nicely.

Now let's look at Rodan. 

The Fire Demon has an amazing sculpt! From his spiky, ridged body to the hardened magma texture on the wings, Rodan looks great. The paint definitely helps the fantastic details pop out. I love burgundy body with touches of black weathering so much, I don't mind the lack of any paint emulating Rodan's fiery nature.

I love Rodan's head. The colors of his beak, horns and face are clearly pronounced. His eyes look great and you can even see his tongue. 

I also really, really like how Rodan's legs look.

I'm equally impressed by Rodan's articulation. 
His neck has several joints allow him to move forward, look left and right and rotate. And unlike the NECA figure, Rodan's mouth can open and close. Not very wide though. 
The wings can move forward, backward, up and down.
Rodan comes with a few waist joints allowing the body to bend and rotate.
The legs can rotate and move forward, backward, in and out at the hips. The knees can bend slightly. Feet can also bend, rotate. The feet on mine have a nasty habit of falling off though.
Rodan's leg articulation allows him to stand on the ground when not in a flying pose.
Even Rodan's tail, with the correct shape, is attached to a ball joint where it can swivel and rotate.

This set includes effect stands for both Kaiju. Nothing fancy, just typical Tamashii Nations figure stands. 

Mothra has her own attachment piece for her stand that hooks on to her waist.

Rodan has two attachment pieces, one specifically molded to have him rest on top of for a standard flying pose and the other is a claw piece that can hold his body in place for some more dynamic poses. 

Like most reviewers, I find this set to be a mixed bag. Rodan is great, Mothra is just okay and the stands are stands. I feel like this set shouldn't only be available as a 2-pack. If these figures had been released individually, more fans may be inclined to buy them but instead we have to pay the price of 2 figures of mixed quality. Some of you may not mind that, but that's just how I feel. I don't regret purchasing them though as I am somewhat of a completionist and I am glad to have the whole King of the Monsters cast. 
(Minus the other Titans, feel free to prove me wrong Bandai)

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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