The new Godzilla film opens in just over two weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. My favorite movie-related collectible released so far is easily JAKKS Pacific's Giant Size Godzilla. It really took some work to track down, but he was well-worth the trouble!
Giant Size Godzilla comes in a great box. The colors are striking, the graphics are awesome, and the size is just fantastic. There's a terrific black cardboard insert above the head, and his feet are fitted nicely into a couple of holes cut into a water-design insert. The tail is roped off to the side in two pieces. The box is heavy, and does an amazing job of showing off the figure while still protecting it. There are a lot of open edges and interesting shapes that can easily get bent or creased on the shelf or in shipping for MIBers, though.
The box actually makes Godzilla seem bigger than he is. Don't get me wrong, he's big. Just not quite as big he he first seems, boxed.
The figure itself is great. The sculpt does a nice job of capturing the look of the new design, though the head, legs and tail seem to have more intricate detailing than the torso and arms do.
The head sculpt is closer to the screen shots I've seen than any other toys released so far. The mouth opens, and there's a prominent tongue in there (though it's painted a vivid shade of Hubba Bubba pink) along with only about 20 teeth. The eyes are yellow with tiny black pupils, set deep amidst some great wrinkling. There are scales sculpted on the sides of the head and top of his neck, but they don't look like gills the way the Bandai toys do. Besides the opening mouth hinge, the head swivels at the base of the neck.
The torso is made of a very hard plastic that feels and sounds hollow. It really reminds me of the Clash of the Titans Kraken toy I had as a child. There's some lighter browning shading on the front, but the detailing over all of the torso isn't as defined or plentiful as it is elsewhere.
You'll find screw holes on one side of the figure and some prominent seams holding the figure together. The undersized dorsal plates are rubber and the arms have cut joints at the shoulders and wrists. There isn't a great range of motion, and the cuts make it so things look a little disjointed the farther you get away from how the basic sculpt fits together.
There's some more great detailing on the outside of the legs and the feet look way better on this version than on any of the Bandai figures. There are cuts at the hips and ankles for some fine-tuning.
The tail is absolutely immense. This version measures about 21" to the top of his head, and his tail extends back about 40". The thickest main portion attaches with a rotating lock that I had no trouble with. There's a (largely useless) hinge about midway back that allows for a little swinging motion, but it really can't be "posed". The last portion involves a couple of swivel/cut attachment points that don't really fit as well as the other pieces. Altogether, it's quite impressive!
The main selling-point for JAKKS is the "giant size", and Godzilla really lives up to that billing. Finding a place to display him is a challenge, and moving him around is a real trick for anyone, especially a kid. He's not highly detailed, he's not very pose-able. The paint is minimal and the electronics were never completed (there's a speaker opening in the torso and a sealed battery compartment inside the tail, but no actual working electronics), but this is the Godzilla toy that every kid would want to have. Combine that with a very reasonable $50 price tag, and this guy has stolen the toy show so far. I'm still waiting on NECA, Tamashii Nations and X-Plus to show their hands (with NECA promising their 6" version some time this month), but in the mean time Giant Size Godzilla is a real joy to add to the collection...
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