LEGENDARY GODZILLAS & MUTO - Bandai Vinyl 6" figures

I recently picked up a trio of 6" scale vinyl Godzilla figures based on Legendary's 2014 film: Godzilla and a MUTO by Bandai Japan and Godzilla by Bandai Creation. They are all neat in their own ways, and though none of the three are perfect, I'm glad I ordered them.

We'll start with Bandai Japan's take on Godzilla. The figure stands just under 6" tall and about 11" from nose to tail tip. There are cut joints at the shoulders and hips, and there's one at the base of the tail (though I don't think that one's really meant for posing). Godzilla is pre-posed in a very standard straight-ahead vanilla pose. Even the tail goes straight back with just a minor curl to give it some personality. The sculpt is mostly good, if not very reminiscent of the NECA 6" tall version. There are some nice pronounced details on the back and legs, and the neck and tail, as well. There's a couple of proportional issues, though, with an unusually small head and really long and thin arms.

There's some tan sprayed on the chest, inner thighs, toenails and half of the underside of the tail. The teeny tiny eyes are orange, and this $12 figure managed to do what the $70 SH MonsterArts version of the character couldn't: the tiny black pupils are aligned correctly. Godzilla has a red inner mouth and tongue and a shockingly white band of Crest Whitestrips...I mean, teeth. He's captured mid-roar, or yawn, and comes with a tag card attached.

In many ways, the MUTO is more interesting. For one, this is the only 6" scale version of the character we have gotten in any form so far. This is the winged Male MUTO, and he stands just under 5" tall and measures about 6" across from wing to wing. He's got cut joints at the shoulders (of the long orange arms) and hips. The wings are incredibly thick and smooth - they don't really look much like wings to me. You'll also find some really obtrusive seams all over this guy: the wings are 2 pieces each, there's one where each attaches to the torso, and there's a seam mid-torso, as well. All that said, this guy is still pretty cool. The head sculpt is neat, and despite the fact that the vestigial arms are curled against the body in one solid chunk (the mouth is also sculpted as a solid piece, with no opening between the jaws), MUTO does a pretty good job of looking like its movie counterpart, shape-wise.

There are almost no details or textures worth noting, other than the face and a little soft stuff on the chest/belly. Besides the orange spray over the front of the long legs, MUTO has a orange eye stripes on its face. The figure is cool, but he's a little too small to scale up with NECA's 12" tall version, and too big for the SH MonsterArts or NECA 6" tall figures. Nevertheless, he looks great on the shelf and it's nice to finally have a larger version of this kaiju than the Destruction Pack gave us.

Finally, we have Bandai Creation's Godzilla 2014. Usually, I feel like the American arm of Bandai produces vinyls inferior to those made for Japan. However, in this case the exact opposite is true. Bandai Creation's Godzilla surpasses Bandai Japan's in every way. This Godzilla comes in an open cardboard package resembling those used for Bandai's Tail Strike and Atomic Roar versions, and no tag. The figure is in much more of an in-action pose, leaning forward into a really angry-looking roar with his tail curling around to the side behind him. This figure is larger, standing just under 7" tall despite the lean, and measuring about 9" front to back, despite the tight curl of the tail. I love the pose. It's the closest any toy Godzilla 2014 has come to portraying the anger and strength he projected in the film, especially mid-roar. It's actually pretty close to the pose found in some of the promotional art when viewed from certain angles.

Godzilla has swivels at the tops of the arms and cuts at the hips. There's no tan highlighting on the toenails for this version, but the chest and entire underside of the tail are painted. The interior of the mouth is left black, but the bright red tongue is painted flawlessly, and the teeth are painted individually, making for a much sharper look. The eyes are yellow and pupil-less and awesome! I love the way it looks - they aren't beady and there's no misalignment to complain about.

There's plenty of detail on this guy, with a little more texture on the dorsal spines than some other versions have. His head is much larger, and his neck thicker than the Japanese Bandai's version mentioned earlier and if I've got any quibbles with the sculpt it's with the legs- they seem a little short and stumpy to me around the upper thigh area. Otherwise, this is a great looking Godzilla. His size, pose and sculpt are enough to really make him stand out on the shelf, and for about $13 he's a great deal.

MUTO, NECA Godzilla and Bandai Creation

MUTO, NECA Godzilla and Bandai Japan Godzilla

A trio of G's: NECA, Creation and Japan versions

Atomic Breath!

S.H. MonsterArts Legendary Godzilla 2014 figure review

Bandai Tamashii Nations has delivered a stylized version of Legendary's newest incarnation of Godzilla (2014) as the latest release from their S.H. MonsterArts line. The figure retails for just under $70 and showcases the "essence" of Legendary's Godzilla, with the sculptor sacrificing some screen-accuracy, resulting in a figure that is both unique and slightly divisive. Those seeking the ultimate screen-accurate Godzilla 2014 will probably have to make do with NECA's versions for the time-being, at lease until X-Plus unveils their version.

MonsterArts Godzilla 2014 has a sharper brow ridge with deep-set eyes, shoulders set closer together, thicker fingers and longer toes than the screen-version did. The thick brows really set the facial sculpt apart from the smoother rounded look of the NECA versions.

My initial excitement over this release faded quite a bit as pictures and early reviews began to trickle out: this guy's got a couple of really glaring issues (all having to do with paint), and they appear to be common enough to be the rule rather than the exception. First, his eyes are misaligned. The left pupil looks down while the right one looks straight ahead. That said, those pupils are really tiny dots, and the heavy and sharp brow ridge keeps them in shadow for the most part. So, yes, it's frustrating knowing they are there like that, but it's really not as noticeable as I feared it would be. Second, he's got too much "blood" smeared across the front of his snout. Third, the teeth are terribly mis-painted with lots of slop, especially down over the lower jawline. Not quite sure what's going on with these latter two issues, but that these figures shipped from the factory like this is frankly unacceptable. I have walked away from several lines because of QC issues (MOTUC, DC Direct Arkham Asylum, DCUC, to name a few), and it won't take too much more sloppiness like this to dull my enthusiasm, but a little paint and a very fine brush helped a lot here (though these pictures were taken before I did any paint adjustments).

Aesthetics:

S.H. MonsterArts' Godzilla 2014 actually looks pretty great. The sculpt and 95% of the paint are just beautiful. There's tons of great texture over all of the skin, and unlike NECA's and Bandai's versions, the detail carries over onto the jagged and roughly textured dorsal plates and spines. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. Personally, I like what they've done with the feet here, giving him some slightly longer claws/toes along with a wider spread. The result is a really stable figure, no matter the stance. The fingers are a bit thicker than previous versions seemed to be, and that severely pronounced ridge above the eyes is one of the most unique aspects of this particular sculpt for me. Godzilla had a really expressive face in the movie, and this figure comes closest to capturing the fury and rage that he unleashed in every roar. He's also not quite as "narrow" up at the head. When viewed from head-on, most of my Godzilla 2014's look like  giant "A's" to me. This version overcomes that better than any of the other 2014 versions I own.

On the down-side, there's an odd-looking cut joint in the torso that runs just under the armpits. It really breaks up the sculpt from the front, and I can't get much articulation out of the joint, so that's one part I could do without. But the sculpt is otherwise really excellent.

I mentioned the paint issues earlier - they were true with my figure, as well, but I was able to reduce the slop around the face with some dark grey paint. The eyes I can't do anything about. There's a great faint drybrushing over the scales on the back, and I really like the way the chest coloration was handled. It's not quite as jarring as it is on many other versions. The overall color of the figure is a terrific flat dark grey and there's a wonderful tan applied to the toenails.

Playability:

This Godzilla is a lot of fun to play with. He's got a lot of joints and they work well together to allow for a variety of poses (I was able to replicate the poses from the back of the box pretty well). All of the earlier releases of Legendary's Godzilla, from NECA to JAKKS to Bandai, have him  standing very upright with little to no ability to lean forward, which I felt like he did a lot of in the movie, head thrust out in that massive roar. Even when he stormed into battle with the MUTOs, he leaned into it. None of my other figures could do that. This one can (sort of). He looks great in a forward lean. Despite that, he still can't get the head out and forward as much as I'd like to get that mid-roar pose I want. The joints are quite loose in many places, but that's par for the course with this line. I think the sockets that Bandai uses for the ball attachments are intentionally left fairly shallow, which makes them pop apart easily. My figure's tail fell off right out of the box, but it snapped together again without much of an issue. He's had fewer parts falling off than my 1995 Birth version did, if that's any consolation. It should also be noted that there's a great deal of side to side movement you can get from the thighs, and the sculpting that was done on the inner thighs, which is mostly hidden unless the legs are spread pretty wide, is just amazing.

Value:
There are no accessories included with Godzilla 2014. At around $70 shipped, this is a mid-range offering from Bandai Tamashii Nations, and is an average value. The figure is tons of fun, even alone, and is able to strike some great poses. I added the MUTO figure from the Destruction Pack in for some pictures and it seemed to work out pretty well. I love that this figure isn't just like my others. It keeps the essence of Godzilla 2014 while adding some life of its own to the character, and it looks great with the rest of the line...