GAMERA - Bandai Vinyl

This version of Gamera comes from the 1999 film, "Revenge of Iris", and is stamped with a 2005 under his right foot. It's a Bandai vinyl figure (not a Bandai America release) that was originally released in the Japanese market with one of those tags attached to its shell.

Gamera 1999 stands about 5 1/4"inches tall, and is a pretty great looking figure. The sculpt features some awesome detail. There's a subtle scale mohawk atop the head that feathers away down the back of the neck. Unlike Godzilla, who (in his various incarnations) sports rough bark-like skin, Gamera has deep folds to replicate drooping skin. The arms, legs, tail and throat all the way down to where the top of the inner shell becomes his "chest" are full of layers and folds.

The face looks great from any angle, somehow coming across as "wise". The eye coloring is especially striking- a bright green. Despite the strengths of the face, my only complaint about the figure comes in here, and it has to do with the paint of the teeth. It's the tusks, actually. They are only half-painted, which looks terrible from some angles. I'll do some touching-up eventually to take care of that. Otherwise, paint on the figure is minimal, but strong. Besides the teeth and eyes, the fingernails, toenails and chest get the paint apps. The chest is especially nice- a shimmering gold has been dry-brushed over the beautiful sculpted detail to really make the shell pop. There's a little brown highlighting on some of the bone protrusions to add some realism.

The outer shell is beautiful- very symmetrical with smooth plating overlapping, with some sharper outer edges. There are a few places where the matte has some glossy marks, but the overall look is great. Gamera has cuts at the shoulders, hips and near the base of the tail. They allow for some slight adjustments of his standard pose, but this isn't really an articulated figure- it's more of an adjustable statue.

For what he is, Gamera is a terrific figure. He looks great, faithfully captures the look from the film, and is well-engineered. Until I get an X-plus figure, he'll probably remain the best vinyl kaiju I own. On top of all that, he was a great deal at under $20 from Clawmark Toys. Highly recommended!