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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