Kong: Skull Island - Trailer Thoughts

I was originally going to do a blog where I posted my thoughts on the Comic-Con trailer for Kong: Skull Island. However, it came out around the time when I had way too much stuff going on. I had to work on at least 5 different figure reviews, my job was being hard on me and I had to help my friends move from and to new apartments. 

It was tiring, I missed my window of opportunity and I needed a break from writing. But I will say right now, I LOVED it. It had great character moments, awesome music and fantastic build up. I also loved the little peeks we got of Kong himself.

And now, not only do we have 2 new posters (both of which I want!) we also have a brand new trailer which has all that with a lot of extra meat!

I love Kong's design, it echo's the familiar 1933 look and even adds elements that resemble the 70's/Toho Kong. Rather fitting considering whats about to happen in a few years.

Fun fact: The actor doing the motion capture for Kong is Terry Notary, who also did the motion capture for Rocket the Chimpanzee in both 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and the upcoming: 'War for the Planet of the Apes'. Ya know who else was in those movies? Andy Serkis, who did the motion capture for Kong in the 2005 Peter Jackson film, an amazing coincidence!

One moment that I really loved is when that one dumb helicopter pilot looks out and says "Is that a monkey?", and then -BAM!- gets a tree to the face like the racist bastard he is. At least, that's what I hope happens.

Of course I'm looking forward to seeing the characters in this movie portrayed by a really good cast, especially John Goodman.
John C. Reilly is looking to be the one who steals the show.

But Kong's not the only giant monster inhabiting Skull Island. Aside from giant Spiders and some weird Water Buffalo-looking thing, there's the Skull Crawlers, a 2-legged lizard based on a creature that appears briefly in the original King Kong. These things look wickedly cool and I can't wait to see an all-out war unfold between Man and Beast.

 Needless to say, this Kaiju Groupie is excited to see Kong return to the big screen after almost 10 years, as well as what direction the stories for both Kong and Godzilla will go in the future. 

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!

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NECA GODZILLA 2001 - Figure Review

It's been quite a long wait for this one.
Seriously, it's been over a year since I've last talked about a NECA Godzilla figure.

Last year, I made a Top 5 list of Godzilla figures I wanted to see NECA make (CLICK HERE) and coming in at #3 was the Sokogeki Goji suit from 2001's 'Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack' 
-moment to breathe-
We've already seen what SH MonsterArts can do with the design, how does the NECA one hold up?
In my opinion it is a good figure, but there are a few things that I find odd about it.

Let's begin at the top. Overall the head sculpt is pretty nice with the iconic ghost eyes and menacing, bulldog-like face.
The figure's body is painted the usual charcoal grey with a bit of a light greenish tint to it, which is an interesting choice. However, the paint work on the lower jaw looks unfinished, there are flesh colored marks peeking through. It really clashes with the rest of the figure. And if you look inside the mouth you'll notice that the lower jaw hinge is not painted. Why?

Looking at the teeth, you'll notice that there are smaller teeth sticking out above the main row. I know that's something that the majority of Millenium Godzilla suits were known for, but at first I thought it was a mistake. I had to go back and watch GMK just to be sure, and sure enough, in some scenes you can see a few smaller teeth sticking out beyond the main row. Not necessarily in the same place as the figure, but it's still neat to see NECA take the time to add that detail, it actually shows up better than it does in the SHMA version.
(And that's the only comparison other than size and scale between the 2 figures you'll hear from me.)

I have to mention the Claws and the Toenails, they're painted white, but there are these weird white-orange streaks on them. I don't know why they look like that, though I'm not sure if it'll matter to some people.

I do kinda wish the tail was longer. The individual segments are larger than on most NECA Godzilla's, but the rubber end piece is shorter than past ones have been.

Now, don't misunderstand me, I don't find these issues big enough to call the figure bad, but I feel they are worth mentioning.

The rest of Godzilla 2001's body looks good, especially the Dorsal Fins which are painted very nicely, and have a rough texture added to them which makes them stand out really well.

Articulation for Godzilla 2001 is as follows:
The Head can look down and rotate, the mouth opens and closes, the neck can bend forward making Godzilla look straight down.
The Arms can rotate as well as move in and out, there is a bend at the elbows and the forearms can rotate. The hands can rotate and pivot slightly and the hands can also bend at the fingers.
The Torso rotates and bends forward.
Legs move forward and backward as well as in and out. They can bend and rotate at the knees and the feet rotate and pivot.
The tail segments can bend left, right and down a bit. The end piece is made of rubber with a bendable wire built inside, try not to force it's movement too much though.

Godzilla has a very nice range of Articulation that makes for some very nice and fearsome looking poses.

Left to Right: NECA Godzilla 1954 and Godzilla 1994

Left to Right: Bandai Movie Monster Series Milenium Godzilla and Bandai Creation Godzilla 2014

Left to Right: SH MonsterArts Godzilla 1954 and SH MonsterArts 2001

While I may have brought up a few issues in the beginning of this review, I can still say that NECA's 2001 Godzilla figure is still worth picking up as a good piece to add to your Godzilla collection and would make a nice compainion piece to the SH MonsterArts version. If you have that one to begin with.
And it would make a nice stocking stuffer for Christmas.

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!

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FIGMA LINK: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS VERSION (DX EDITION) - Figure Review.

To be perfectly honest, I never thought I would come to posses the original Skyward Sword Link Figma. That changed when for one of my birthday's, my buddy Nick got it for me. I was very impressed with it and at that point, the Figma bug bit me.
When the next figure in the line, Link from the Nintendo 3DS game 'A Link Between Worlds' was announced, I knew I had to get it.

As decent looking and cheap as the World of Nintendo Zelda figures are, Max Factory's Figmas completely blow them away!
This figure is absolutely amazing!
I'm pretty sure my pictures for this review can't do it enough justice. (Bad lighting aside)
Looking at the figure's sculpt, details, coloring, everything about it is just great!

Link's head is especially stands out for me. He has a great looking face with the wonderfully painted eyes and the expression. The hair piece is very nice looking, the side pieces are a bit flexible so it doesn't impede on head articulation. Same can't be said for the hair on the back though. And I think this has the nicest looking hat on any Link figure I've ever seen.

The rest of the body is very nicely sculpted, there are a fair amount of wrinkles and creases in the Tunic and Boots.
Once again, I've gotta give mention to the paint work on this figure, it's bright, very much how it looks in the game, and it looks amazing!

Link comes with stellar articulation.

The head can turn/tilt left and right. It can look down, but as I said, the hair prohibits the head from looking up. Also, the back of the hat can be rotated.

The arms can move outward, and rotate at the shoulder. The hands and elbows can bend and rotate, leading to a ton of creative poses.
There is rotation at the waist and you can sort of get him to bend Link forward and backward.

The legs can move forward/backward and rotate at the hips, surprisingly the tunic doesn't really hinder the movement. The lower part of Links tunic is separated into 2 individual parts, which I think is brilliant.
The knees can bend. The feet, can bend up, rotate and pivot. The front part of the foot can also move upward.

Since this happens to be the Deluxe Version of this Figma, it comes with a few more accessories than the standard edition (some you have to search the whole box to find). All of these look great, even down to the smallest detail. A figure stand is also included which can lead to a lot of dynamic poses.

One of the more obvious ones would be Ravio's Bracelet, which can be removed by taking off the hands. 

One thing to note though is that when you do remove the hands, sometimes the connecting joint piece will pop off attached to the hand instead of the arm. You'll probably need to use a pair of pliers or your finger nails to get it reattached to the arm.

Link also comes with an added face piece, which gives Link a more determined and ready for action expression.

A variety of different hands are included. You have hands for holding items, closed fists, open hands and open hands with an added peg for holding certain items.
Items included are as follows:

 Tornado Rod (w/ a spinning part)

Bomb

A Rupee (w/ a stand)

A Pot

 Hook Shot (w/ an extended piece)

  A Baby Maiamai

 And a Wall-Merged Link piece. The stand included for it will only stand up if attached to the figure stand, otherwise it'll fall over on it's own.

And of course, no Link figure would be complete without his signature weapons, the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.An instruction manual is included for the purposes of showing you how the items attach to the hands. The manual is in both English and Japanese, for your convenience.
Now, a lot of these accessories do come apart into several small pieces so make sure you are in an area where you can easily keep track of them without getting them lost.

The Link Between Worlds Figma stands at about 4 inches. Being a younger Link, it stands a bit shorter than the previously released Skyward Sword Figma.

Standing next to the World of Nintendo 'Ocarina of Time' and 'Skyward Sword' Link figures.

Figma has created another superb Link figure that I am proud to have in my collection. The accessories included in the Deluxe Version definitely make it the preferred buying option.

However, if that's not your cup of tea and you wanna save a few bucks, you can go with the standard version which only has the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, the extra face, hands and the Wall-Merged piece.

But which ever version you end up going with, you're still getting one of the best Link figures ever made!
At least until the Twilight Princess Figma comes out. I really NEED that one!

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!
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