SHIN GOJIRA (a.k.a: SHIN GODZILLA) | Gryphon's First Impressions

-SOME SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW!-

Toho has quite a history of saying the Godzilla series is over.

1975's 'Terror of Mechagodzilla' was supposed to be the last one, then in 1984, 'The Return of Godzilla' was released and after a series of successful films, it was decided that the series would end in 1995 with 'Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah'. The filmmakers went so far as to kill off Godzilla.

Then 1998 happened and Toho wasn't having any of that. So they started a new Godzilla series the very next year, concluding with Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004. For the longest time, that WAS the last Godzilla movie, Toho even demolished their big pool where they shot all the water scenes.

And now, history has repeated itself. A new Godzilla movie was released from an American studio, but unlike the 1998 film, Godzilla 2014 was largely successful both financially and critically.
This was a great time for me and my buddy Kaiju Kidd, for the first time in a while, Godzilla was popular again. And Toho took notice of this and decided they were gonna start making their own Godzilla movies again.

But this one was gonna be a very different beast. First of all, this was the first real reboot of the series, not following any of the previous movies, not even the original 1954 film as most reboots did.

And Godzilla was given a complete head to tail makeover, looking drastically different then he ever has.

And after waiting through 2 and a half months of hype and spoiler dodging since the Japanese premiere, Shin Godzilla now has an American release thanks to FUNimation. But...did I like it?

The answer is: Yes, I did like it. However, I don't feel like I can place it on the same pedestal as I do the original film, The Return of Godzilla or even the 2014 film.
At least, not yet.

This is by far one of the most politically charged Godzilla movies ever, I don't think I've seen a Godzilla movie that looks as deep into the political side of a Kaiju attack since 'The Return of Godzilla'.
The Cabinet meets to decide on everything in this film. If you were to play a drinking game where you take a shot every time someone in the movie says "Prime Minister",
YOU.
WILL.
DIE!!!
But I thought those scenes are portrayed very well and realistically. Certainly better than our own government.

Hiroki Hasegawa and Satomi Ishihara are, by far, the stand out actors to me in this entire movie. Acting over all is great, despite a few displays of ham scattered throughout.

In a previous blog, I said I felt happy that Godzilla was still a guy in a suit. Well, it turns out that I got fooled. Godzilla is mostly brought to life entirely through CGI, and I still think it looks damn good.
Most of the time.
When you first see "Godzilla", the CG is kinda laughable, like 'CG GMK Ghidorah' laughable. Most of the audience laughed, I sat there shocked with my mouth open. But fortunately, the CG gets better and Godzilla himself looks better. But looks aren't everything.

One critic quote I kept seeing on the poster for this movie said this was "A reboot that is unquestionably Godzilla".
That's an interesting quote to me, I can say that the movie I saw was indeed a Godzilla movie, with Godzilla in it. But Godzilla himself was very hit or miss with me.

On the one hand, his third form doesn't bother me that much. I'm willing to accept that it's not a fully, realized Godzilla and if there is a sequel to this (and the ending slyly suggests that there will be) we might get a Godzilla that looks more like the traditional Big G we all know and love. And the purple atomic breath does look very nice.

On the other hand, while I'm on the subject of the Atomic Breath, it coming out of his Dorsal Fins and Tail, I find it to be a little...overdone.
That being said though, the scene where he does use the Dorsal Rays to turn Tokyo into a sea of fire and rubble is probably one of the most exciting and intense moments in the entire film.

Another thing I need to mention is the music and sound work. Aside from a really great and haunting original score composed by Shiro Sagisu, the movie is littered with stock music from previous Godzilla movies. And while it was great hearing those tracks from Akira Ifukube, I would've loved to hear more original music.
And if your familiar with previous Godzilla movies, you may recognize certain sound effects of buildings being smashed and artillery being fired.
Maybe that's what that one critic meant...

Overall, small gripes aside, I still really enjoyed watching Shin Godzilla. I don't know if I can quite put it in my top 5 or 10 Godzilla movies just yet, I may need to let it sit for a while and give it a few more watches on Blu-ray before I make my final decision.
But if you are a big Godzilla fan, go see this movie if any local theater is showing it. It is always a great experience to see a Godzilla movie on the big screen with a group of people, especially those who cheer at the appearance of the Toho logo.

The only other thing I can say is: #patterson2016

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/

JAKKS PACIFIC WORLD OF NINTENDO PRINCESS ZELDA - Figure Review.

And now, it's RANT TIME: w/ Gryphon!

How did Jakks Pacific miss this? How can they advertise a figure from one of the most popular games of all time and then use the wrong character to represent it? They used the correct version of Link to represent both the Ocarina of Time Link and Shiek figures from previous waves, so now that we finally get a figure based off of the titular, Princess Zelda....WHAT HAPPENED?!? 
This is especially offensive to me since I myself am not a big fan of Wind Waker and I hate seeing it shoved in my face all the time by any Legend of Zelda-related advertisement. 
Lord help them if they ever do an Ocarina of Time Ganondorf figure!

This has been: RANT TIME: w/ Gryphon
 You may now proceed to the review.

One other area of figures I've been trying to build a collection of is Video Game characters. Particularly from the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' and 'The Legend of Zelda' series. That's where Jakks Pacific and their 'World of Nintendo' line comes in, they had made some pretty good Link figures, but I wanted to see a figure of Princess Zelda. One had been teased for a while and I was left to sit and wonder when or if it would ever come out.  

Well, it just randomly came out much to my surprise.
And oh boy is this figure is OK.

Wow.
I think this may be the first time I called a figure just "OK".

Princess Zelda has a decent head sculpt, very nice looking eyes and her ears look great too. The hair also looks nicely detailed.
Her upper body though is OK. The thing that stands out the most is her armor, I think if they went with a more gold-ish yellow it would look better.
The detailing on the armor is fine on the shoulder pads and barely average on the chest piece.

I do like how there are folds on her torso, that was a nice touch.
The belt is just kinda there, with no other details sculpted into it.
But the bottom part of her dress looks very well done. The tabard (that long banner looking thing on the front) is by far the best looking thing on this figure, the small patterns painted on all look very well done.

Princess Zelda can move her head to the left and the right, but thanks to her hair, she cant rotate all the way around.

Her shoulder pieces prevent her arms from making a full rotation, but she can move them forward and backward a bit, and they can be moved up from the side.
Her elbows and hands can bend and rotate to create a variety of different poses.

Princess Zelda has no legs apparently. 

Princess Zelda also comes with one accessory, the Ocarina of Time. It looks pretty accurate to how it looked in the game, except that the triangles aren't painted yellow. And I think it has the correct number of holes. 

Getting Princess Zelda to hold the Ocarina in her hands can be a tricky process and she can't just grip it in one hand.

Left: Shadow Link, Ocarina of Time Link. Right: Sheik.

Princess Zelda does look very good standing next to some of the other Legend of Zelda figures from Jakks Pacific.

Probably not a fair comparison, but here is the Princess next to the Figma Skyward Sword Link.

I recommend this figure only for Zelda fans and figure collectors, but don't pay more than $20 for it.
As far as the first Princess Zelda figure from Jakks Pacific, it's an average start. I do wonder what a Figma of her would look like thou-

https://nintendofigures.com/2016/09/29/figma-twilight-princess-link-and-zelda-details-revealed/

0.0
OH MY.....

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/

SH MONSTERARTS GODZILLA 1954 - Figure Review

The first figure review I did was for NECA's 1954 Godzilla, I figure I deemed amazing and I still do today. Still, in the back of my head I wondered to myself what Tamashii Nations could do with the 1954 design.
Well, here's the answer!

And yes, I am just now getting this figure as opposed to some other people who got it as early as July. There were some who even got the new 'Return of Godzilla' Blu-ray early, now that's ridiculous!

But anyway, how is the 1954 SHMA figure? In a word, Pretty Incredible! But would you expect anything less from them?

At first I was a little worried because of the size of the figures head. I don't know why, but every time I would see a picture of this guy, I always thought the head looked a little puny in comparison to the rest of the figure.

Actually seeing the figure in person put those fears to bed pretty quickly. It looks nice and I am very impressed with the detailed sculpt on this figure. 

And the paint application looks spot on as well, it has the standard charcoal black with a few lighter grey blemishes around it.The hands really stand out against the rest of the figure to me, maybe because Godzilla's claws aren't painted at all. His toenails have a fine white shading to them, so why weren't his claws given the same treatment?

 As far as the eye issue is concerned, the right eye on mine is just a bit off-centered, but not enough to where it's going to bother me for days.

And the dorsal fins are nicely painted and are sculpted pretty good. I do have one little grip with them, but let's get to that later.

How's the articulation?

Starting from the top, Godzilla 1954 has a very articulated neck, allowing it to lean pretty far left, right and down. Godzilla's head can look up really high, but whenever I do that with mine, the head likes to pop off.

But it's still pretty cool that I am able to pose this incarnation of Godzilla in ways that I've never seen in the original film.

The arms on mine are a bit stiff at the shoulders, but they can spin all the way around, they can move left and right at the elbow, as well as bend and the hand can twist and move around slightly.

The legs can move forward and backward, bend at the knee and the feet can turn and pivot very nicely.

Godzilla can also bend forward at the torso and lean to the left and right a bit.

However that brings up one issue that these SHMA figures just can't seem to escape for some reason, the fin gap. While it's not as bad as the 1964 figure's gap, I still find it distracting. If that one fin on the middle body piece had just been moved down a few more degrees, it probably would look better to me.

Tail movement continues to be consistently fluid and perfect. One thing I did notice is that most Godzilla figures have the individual segments of their tails on ball joints, and while that is mostly true for 1954's, the end of the tail is a bit of a larger solid piece than usual. But at least it isn't snapping off like some of the other figures do.-cough-GMK-cough-

Godzilla 1954 unfortunately, does not come with any accessories. That's a pretty big missed opportunity, there could have been an added an effect piece that mimics his atomic breath as seen in the original film. Maybe even a model of the Oxygen Destroyer?

But if you want to give your 1954 Godzilla a beam effect, I recommend using the SHMA 1964 Emergence Version beam, since it looks closest to it and can actually fit inside 1954's mouth.

Speaking of which, it's kinda weird seeing this figure next to the 1964 figure. I actually expected 1954 to be around the same height, but instead, it stands around the same height as the other Godzilla's.

Left to Right: SHMA Godzilla (Birth Version), SHMA Godzilla 1954, SHMA Godzilla 2001, SHMA Godzilla 2014 (Spit Fire Version).

Left: SHMA Gamera. Right: SHMA King Kong.

Left: NECA Ultimate Lady Danger. Right: NECA Ultimate Striker Eureka.

"THAT'S what I look like in the new film?!?!?!!"

Your probably expecting me to say weather I prefer this over the NECA figure or vice-versa, right?

Well, you'll have to be disappointed. I'm not gonna say which one I prefer over the other, I'm just gonna say that I have 2, awesome, very well made 1954 Godzilla figures that are at least 20 steps above Bandai Creation and their "first godzilla" figure. And that makes me very happy. 

It's very nice to see the window packaging return.

I give this figure a very high recommendation. Go ahead and grab it for your collection if you can find a good deal on it, you will not be sorry.

Hail to the original King!

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/

Musings from the Lair - #1 (09/15/2016)

There have been quite a few SH MonsterArts related news released as of late. Not only are we getting a re-release of Destoroyah with a darker color scheme, but a re-release of Mechagodzilla 2 with the Garuda included allowing you to create Super Mechagodzilla!

This a big deal for those who may have missed out on these figures when they first came out and for Tamashii Nations themselves.
Thing is, the Garuda was originally a separate release as well as a Web Exclusive, and Tamashii never re-releases their Web Exclusive figures. But from what I've read, Web Exclusives can be re-released as long as they are not just the same figure being released. So including it Mechagodzilla 2 makes it possible.
And that got me thinking, that opens the door to other re-release options. Particularly: 

Biollante, being one of the most popular and sought after figures in the SH MonsterArts line has seen major price hikes in recent months, much to the dismay of collectors. 
But I think with a few changes to the original, it can be put back on the market for a fair price. Maybe take out the light-up feature, give her a bolder paint job and include an effect piece that resembles her radioactive sap spray.
I bet that'd make Kaiju Kidd happy!
(Speaking of which, if there are any fans of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider reading this, go check Kaiju Kidd's blog right here: Team Kaiju's Toku Review)

With all the SH MonsterArts goodness coming out does that mean I'll be reviewing them? Well...



I love me some SH MonsterArts, maybe a little too much. As you can see from the pic above, my space for them is already pretty full and it'd be kinda hard to fit a Destoroyah in there. King Ghidorah is already pushing it a little.
And there's the issue of actually purchasing them. I'm not some big reviewer who gets these figures sent to me by companies for the sake of reviewing them, I buy all of them myself.
I would love to do reviews for all the SHMA figures coming out and I have a pretty fair paying job, but it's still a big chunk out of my bank account. While trying to figure out what to do about this, I think I've come up with a solution: I may end up selling the figures I buy after I review them and the money I get from selling them would either go towards the next SHMA figure or any personal need that my come up in the future, that way I can attempt to keep my finances stable and keep giving The Gryphon's Lair content.
And when I do put a figure up for sale, I'll be sure to advertise it on my Facebook page HERE in case you may want to get your hands on it, so be alert!

And speaking of reviews, the next one I got planned is the SH Monster Arts 1954 Godzilla, since I didn't get it early like some people did because I happen to know the meaning of patience. So expect that...soon.

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/

NECA ULTIMATE LADY DANGER - Figure Review

This review has been edited from its original version. It has been reformatted for culturally sensitive reasons.

Well, here we are. The final release in NECA's Pacific Rim figure line. It's another Lady Danger, an 'Ultimate' Lady Danger, with added articulation, extra accessories and a neat little light up feature.

The Ultimate Lady Danger has a very impressive sculpt with some great added details. I'm noticing this Danger is painted with a bolder blue than some of the other ones, there are also some black smudges scattered around the figure giving it a more battle-worn appearance.
The inner workings of Danger are painted a gun metal black, and there are some nicely painted red and white stripes all around.
The majority of the details are great, but one thing kinda bugs me. Ultimate Striker Eureka had it's emblem painted on, but Ultimate Lady Danger doesn't get it's emblem painted on? No matter what Lady Danger figure you buy, it will always be stuck with just a red dot by it's right shoulder where there should be a pin-up girl with a large machine gun.

Moving on to the Articulation, Lady's head can be moved left and right, despite being a bit stiff.
Arms can rotate and can move out at the shoulders, the biceps and forearms can rotate. And the hands can rotate and move around a little bit.
There is some waist movement too, Lady can lean left and right, but only slightly forward and backward. He can also rotate at the waist.

The Legs can move forward and backward, feature double jointed knees and the feet can rotate and pivot.
All of the Lady Danger figures I've ever bought has a problem with trying to stand up without falling over, I've always had to buy figure stands from Hobby Lobby to display them on my shelf. However, this Lady seems to stand up better than the others without the use of a figure stand and that makes me very happy.

Ultimate Lady Danger comes with many accessories. A pair of Chain Swords, Plasma Cannons, open hands, closed hands and a Reactor Blast piece. All of which look great and present a great deal of possibilities for poses. 

Fun Fact: My Lady actually came with 2 right closed hands. I would be disappointed by this if I didn't have a spare left hand from one of the other Lady Danger figures I own.

Under the left armpit is a button that activates the light up feature which looks really cool, especially in the dark!

 Left: Series 1 Lady Danger. Right: Hong Kong Brawl Lady Danger

 Left: Ultimate Striker Eureka. Right: Series 3 Cherno Alpha

Left: Series 2 Leatherback. Right: Toys R Us Exclusive Kinfehead Clean Version 

Flying and Land Otachis

Like with Ultimate Striker Eureka, I have to give the utmost praise to the fantastic packaging. The use of movie posters for the front and back, the blueprints and the window packaging looking like something out of the Shatterdome, it's all AWESOME!

With all that said, should you get this figure? YES! Of all the Lady Danger figures to come out, this is by far, the definitive version of this Jaeger. Pick it up if you can get your hands on it.


Well, that's it. The last figure in the NECA Pacific Rim figure line. It was a fun ride to be on and I will miss it. While I am disappointed that we wont get to see figures of Raiju or Slattern or maybe an Ultimate Crimson Typhoon, I do like the fact that NECA was able to release so many well made figures based on some of the most popular Jaeger/Kaiju characters, as well as some of the more obscure ones.

It has been said that the license for the toy rights may fall back into their hands when Pacific Rim 2 comes out. We shall see, but for now, I will continue to sit and admire my collection as it is.

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/