MEZCO TOYZ DESTROY ALL MONSTERS 5 POINTS XL - ROUND 2 | Figure Review

 In 2007, a company called Far East Monsters attempted to release statues of Godzilla and his Kaiju co-stars from 1968's 'Destroy All Monsters' that could be combined to make one big diorama. The first figure released was Godzilla, with King Ghidorah released the following year. Sadly, no other figures would be released as Far East Monsters suddenly went under, killing many a collectors dreams.
The Godzilla figure can be found ranging from about $50-$60 while the Ghidorah figure is a bit harder to come by and usually goes for over $300 on ebay. 

Now in the present day with NECA's Godzilla figure line defunct, a new player has entered the game to bring Godzilla figures to the US market, Mezco Toyz. You may remember them from their King Kong figure. 
Their first foray into making Godzilla figures is through their 5 Points Box Sets, featuring figures around 4-5 inches tall with minimal articulation but an amazing amount of detail. 

But now we come to a bit of an interesting predicament. You've read the title, you know I am reviewing the Round 2 box set. What happened to Round 1? It got delayed...
I've no idea why...
So, I'm gonna go ahead and review the Round 2 box and hopefully Round 1 will release very soon. 

The Round 2 box comes with 4 monsters so let's go through them one at a time.

BARAGON

It's not often we see the fan favorite monster Baragon in US merchandise and we are all the more lucky to see him here. Every time I look at these figures I cant help but think I'm looking at smaller scale X-Plus figures. While they may not be as hyper realistic as those, this Baragon figure looks great. The sculpt and the paint are pretty on point.

Looking at Baragon's head there's some very nice paint work here. The eye paint is applied well, the teeth are looking good with very little gum bleeding and the use of black paint against Baragon's light brown body really helps to bring out the finer details.  
I also really love Baragon's ears. Not just because of the paint and sculpted creases, but there's just something about a dinosaur like creature with big, floppy dog ears that's just strangely adorable.

The whole body has a lot of great detail punctuated with the black paint, including Baragon's checkered belly and the claws are painted nicely with no paint bleed.

On the back, Baragon's spikes and rows of plates are nicely sculpted and painted.

Now, why are these figures advertised as 5 Points? Because that's how much articulation they have. 
The neck, arms and legs can all fully rotate. 

In addition, Baragon comes with an alternate head and hind legs in order to get him in a 4-legged position. These pieces contain the same detailed goodness as the figure itself and are very easily interchangeable. 

It looks really good although the legs are sculpted in a very scrunched up way. But then again, 4-legged monsters always looked a bit awkward in the Showa Era.
Also, am I alone in thinking the alternate head alone looks like a taxidermy head? Now that's morbid... 

GOROSAURUS

Up next is Gorosaurus and I must say, he looks incredible. 

The detail and paint on this marvelous atomic dinosaur is a wonder. I love his rough, bumpy skin accentuated with the mix of paint used. 

While not the most extravagant looking monster, Gorosaurus still has a good head sculpt. It's triangular head looks nicely proportioned and the teeth look good despite mine having some black paint on several of them.

Gorosaurus' head, arms and legs can rotate. Unfortunately, he comes with no accessories. I don't know what you would really give him though except for maybe some kind of stand so you can pose him doing the kangaroo kick.

KING GHIDORAH

Before we can look at the three-headed terror himself. Ghidorah does require some assembly, luckily enough the tails and wings are easily attachable and you shouldn't have trouble figuring out which pieces go where.

And what a figure! Despite being so small he has a ton of presence. Of course I would expect nothing less from Ghidorah.
Each of the heads look great in terms of sculpt and the paint work for the eyes, nostrils and mouth are applied nicely. The gold paint on the heads has this glittery look to them which is interesting and Ghidorah's hair doesn't look too shabby either. 

Ghidorah's golden body spares no expense with the detail. Even if some of the scales look a bit wonky in some small area's, it doesn't break the sculpt for me. The wings are appropriately big and have some nicely sculpted creases in them. The wings also have the glittery looking paint. Ghidorah's twin tails have some spikes on the end that look a bit clumped together. But then again, they look like that in the movie so it's not too bad.

Obviously lacking arms, Ghidorah's articulation is a bit different. Each of the three heads can rotate at the bottoms of the neck as far as the wings will allow and the legs can make a full rotation.

One thing to keep in mind with the left and right heads is the spikes on the back of the necks can rub against the middle neck when being moved. 

Ghidorah comes with 3 sets of good looking Gravity Beam effect parts. Although, I feel like the peg holes inside the mouth are sculpted in a way that sets the beams too close to the upper jaw. Also, pieces are flimsy, handle with care.

MINILLA

Last but not least is the Son of Godzilla himself and he-OH GOD!!!

Okay, so there's a few paint issues with this figure. Aside from the mismatched eyes, there's some overdone black paint on the right arm. Not sure what happened there. At least the rest of the paint for the body and claws look good.
The head sculpt is gonna look a bit off putting regardless of the eyes, that's just the charm of Minilla. The rest of the body is sculpted very well, with a lot of wrinkles and warts all over. 

On the back, Minilla has some nicely applied not-so developed dorsal fins from the back to the tail. 

Minilla's head, arms and legs can rotate. 

The accessories included for Minilla mitigate the questionable paint on the base figure. The open mouth head has better eyes and the alternate arms have a better shading of black. 

The last accessory for Minilla is an Atomic Smoke Ring piece that plugs into the open mouth. It's an alright piece but I feel like it should have a blue tint.
Paint shenanigans aside, I do like this Minilla figure. Not bad for my first one.

And if for some reason you find it difficult to get all these figures to stand up or just for aesthetic reasons, each figure comes with a square base stand. 

This is an amazing set of figures and an amazing first showing from Mezco Toyz. I cannot wait to get the first Round 1 box when it comes out, as well as any of their other offerings.
Also, we're getting a Round 3 box with Varan, Manda and Kumonga, right?
Please?!
Imagine if it came with the Moonlight SY-3 and Fire Dragon ships as accessories.

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. 

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SH MONSTERARTS MECHAGODZILLA (2021) | Figure Review

 Well, I guess the whole world knows by now...

In Toho's Pantheon of Daikaiju, there exists a group known as 'The Big 5',he five most popular monsters of the group. The group consists of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla. So is it any wonder that all of them have appeared in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse? You bet your space titanium I was super eager to add the new Mechagodzilla figure to my collection. 

When it comes to sculpt and detail, Mechagodzilla is nothing short of a marvel! 

One of the inspirations for this Mechagodzilla were the Transformers designs from the live-action films and if you've seen those films or behind the scenes featurettes, a lot of work went into designing those intricate, mechanical beings.

Would you have even known that Mechagodzilla has saws in his fingers or a mouth that is essentially an industrial shredder? Well you do now. There's also some hidden features to this mecha I'll touch on in a second. The dorsal fins are sleek, simple and cool looking, but I would avoid applying too much pressure on them when handling Mechagodzilla.

 

You could probably spend just an hour looking at this beefy, mecha figure and admire all the beautifully sculpted details. That aspect of this figure is an easy 10/10 for me.

As far as paint goes, you really can't complain too much. The entire figure is painted a nice silver color with some red eyes and red tipped dorsal fins. This feels like a brand new Mechagodzilla that hasn't seen much action. I'm sure some grey dry brushing would have looked cool, but I'm fine without it. At least I don't have to worry about bad eye paint. 

Mechagodzilla has some good articulation, but that opens up several cans of worms.

The head and neck can look up/down, left to right and can slightly tilt side to side. Head also rotates freely.

The arms have a butterfly joint that lets them move in and out at the torso. Mechagodzilla has shoulder pads that can move up/down and even come with hidden rocket launchers. Lift the shoulder pads up and the arms can rotate fully and move in/out.
There is rotation at the elbows and a TIGHT bend that I haven't been able to fix with a hair dryer. Ball jointed hands can rotate and pivot. 

No torso movement whatsoever. But there are three sets of missile launchers on the belly that can be opened up.

The legs...
-internally panics-
Here's the part where I saw most people complain about. The pistons you see at the thighs tend to pop out of their sockets when moving the legs.
I'll be honest when I say that between the tight elbows and constantly watching the pistons, I've never felt more nervous testing the limits of a figures movement that wasn't named Ghidorah in my life.
So all I can say is, don't force it too much, take it slow and steady and you should be fine. If they do pop out, putting them back in shouldn't be too much of a hassle. 
Apart from that the legs can move forward, not too much backward and in/out at the hips. Knees have a nice bend. The feet are attached by a pair of hinges that lets them pivot very nicely. There are also flaps above the front and back of the feet that open up.
The feet are die-cast metal so trying to balance this figure shouldn't be too much of an issue, but I still can't help but feel like I'm gonna snap a toe off when I move them.

The tail is made of about 19 segments that can curve pretty well and hold it's position. I've also heard some people have had their tails break on them. Again, nice and easy keeps the figure intact.

Sadly, we don't get a Proton Scream or even a tail drill effect piece. That in particular is disappointing to me, considering the price of this figure. 
(Although that may have more to do with the materials used to make it)
We do get a set of extra hands. 

Mechagodzilla's standard hands are in an open position, the extra set of hands you get are in a closed position with extended fingers. The best part about this though? The fingers are interchangeable. While this is a nice feature, I would have honestly preferred the other bits I mentioned. 

You may notice right away that this Mechagodzilla figure is big, way bigger than the Godzilla and Kong figures. At first it looks like it might have been too big. But after cross referencing the film 'Godzilla vs. Kong' several times, it did help set my mind at ease. 

I'd be lying if I said that the issues with articulation and lack of wanted accessories weren't a bit of a sour point, but it would also be dishonest to not say that I love this Mechagodzilla figure. 
It looks amazing and again, as long as I handle it with the utmost care, I'm able to look past any shortcomings it may have. I don't feel like I wasted $150 on it and it will always have a special spot in my collection.
Will there be a Special Color Version with a Proton Scream effect? It's possible. Will I get one? Maybe, maybe not, depends on several factors. But even if we don't get one, I'm absolutely content with what I got. 

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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