GODZILLA 2000 - Art Spirits Plex Hyper Solid PVC figure

I was so taken by my first Art Spirits Godzilla figure (Shin Godzilla, reviewed earlier on the site), that I decided to go ahead and purchase their earlier, first release: Millennium Godzilla 2000. I did so with some trepidation. Despite the fact that it's been out for several years now, there isn't much in terms of reviews or comments about the figure that I could find online. And most of what I did find seemed lukewarm, at best. So, I sort of lowered my expectations as I awaited the figure's arrival. I am, however, very glad to say that I'm quite happy with the figure. It's not as impressive as Shin Godzilla (the Art Spirits version is currently my favorite Godzilla in my entire collection), but it's really a rather nice addition, and the two look great alongside one another.

Much like their Shin Godzilla, Art Spirits Godzilla 2000 is a creature of pure action. The figure leans forward, mid-roar, legs spread in a wide stance. His arms frame the upper torso, with his tail whipping up in a tight curl. Even the tail seems to be pushing forward. The pose is striking in the sense that it is much more dynamic than the film version could ever hope to be. The head is similarly "stylized", not really matching the on-screen Godzilla. It's got a distinctly cat-like appearance, with slitted eyes and pointed ears swept back in a threatening hiss.

The texture of the figure is excellent, with plenty of detail and roughness for any Godzilla fan to appreciate. The throat and neck is particularly eye-catching. The purple spines are razor blade jagged, while remaining rubbery enough not to cause injury. The figure comes with a circular black plastic base to peg into, so there's no danger of him toppling forward. There's a small nameplate fixed to the base, written in Japanese (I'm guessing it says "Godzilla 2000"). The figure is noticeably smaller than the Art Spirits Shin Godzilla, coming in just a bit larger than the SH MonsterArts figure. That said, I think the two Art Spirits figures might be in scale to one another.

The figure is really nice, though not as nice as their Shin Godzilla. The head/face sculpt might throw some, as it differs quite a bit from the film version, and the toe and finger claws are not as detailed or well painted as they should be (the Shin Godzilla nails are fabulous in comparison, so I'm guessing they learned a bit from this initial release), but otherwise this is an excellent Godzilla figure. There's another version of this figure with glow-in-the-dark dorsal spines, sold as a Bandai Premier Website Exclusive figure in case you are interested in searching out every Art Spirits figure released.

The eyes don't look as bad in person...

Art Spirits Pair

With Shin Godzilla

Alongside S.H. MonsterArts Millennium Godzilla

Texturing from above

ZANGIEF - Storm Collectibles Street Fighter V Action Figure

After years of absent or poor quality Street Fighter figures, fans are finally enjoying a flurry of fantastic options from several companies! S.H. Figuarts released their second wave (Cammy and

Rashid) earlier this past month, and Storm Collectibles' Zangief arrived on my doorstep this past week. Zangief is the fifth different Street Fighter figure released by SC this year, and he is by far the largest! Zangief comes in a package that matches the earlier releases in terms of design and functionality, with the exception being that it is larger and thicker, by necessity. This guy is going to take two hands to carry!

Zangief comes with 3 interchangeable heads (grimace, teeth bared grimace, and shouting), 5 pairs of interchangeable hands (fists, karate chop, fingers splayed, splayed with more curl, and pointing finger extended), a display stand and 2 effects parts to clip onto his hands. The head

sculpts are absolutely amazing, with all three matching one another in terms of proportions and design, while looking different enough to make each worthwhile. My favorite is the teeth bared look. The paint is equally impressive, with the eyes having a glossy sheet to them, pupils aligned perfectly, and no slop whatsoever, even around delicate parts like the lips and teeth. The mohawk is sharp, with a bit of five-o'clock shadow around the hair. One of my three heads has a small blip on the underside of the beard where the paint was not applied, but that's not likely to be an issue beyond my own figure.

The hands are truly hunormous, as my four-year-old would say, and are made of the same slightly-flexible rubbery plastic as seen on previous releases. There's a very slight difference between the two curling fingers pairs, with one having the index and pinky fingers more curled, while the other has the pinky and the one right next to it more curled. I guess one might be better for gripping and the other for motioning. Personally, I'm going to stick with the fists on my shelf.

The rest of the figure is equally as impressive, in terms of both paint and sculpt. The flesh tone is perfect and uniform, with no bleed or overage at any of the many scars (which are sculpted as raised details) adorning his body. The laces, boots and boot tops are amazing (and considering the level of slop on the Figuarts Cammy's boots, are worthy of high praise), as are the clean yellow and red lines of the wrist bracers. Overall, the figure is gorgeous to look at. If sculpt and paint are your primary reason for buying into this line (as for me), you will be very impressed and happy with Zangief!

The articulation is present, though it may not have as wide a range of motion as one would like. As with previous releases, the upper portion of the torso and the trunks are made of rubbery plastic, allowing for additional flex when posing. The joints on Zangief are a bit quirkier than those on the other figures: my standard head is bobbly, with the socket being just a tad too large for the ball in the neck, and the torso separates at the waist pretty easily if there's any strain put on the joint by a twisting pose, as does the arm at the shoulder. It's the kind of reaction that many of my S.H. MonsterArts figures would have if the joints are extended to their maximum. The girth of Zangief makes him a little tricker to pose, but as you will see from shots around the internet, he can achieve a wide variety of them.

The effects parts are cool translucent plastic sprayed with a bit of white, and clip onto his fists securely.

For my purposes - a shelf of beautifully sculpted and painted Street Fighter action figures - Zangief is a perfect hit. If you are someone who loves action poses or who expects a great deal of articulation out of their figures, you might find him more restricted. That said, given his look and design, I'm not sure how the articulation could be worked any differently - Storm seems to have done the best they could, given the circumstances. Zangief really pushes the boundaries of price, though, with a final shipped cost of $115. I'm thrilled that I have him, but I'm also hoping we don't end up with any other figures in that price range. Otherwise, I'd have to start making some really hard choices.

Alongside SOTA Toys Zangief

The Storm Collectibles Street Fighter V Collection so far...

SHIN GODZILLA - NECA action figure

NECA's version of Shin Godzilla was a figure I had decided not to pick up. I have quite a few of the earlier NECA releases, some of which I have been very happy with (Godzilla 1954) and some of which I have been fairly disappointed by (Godzilla 1985). I think the figures are generally well-made, but they seem to be (almost intentionally) just a bit "off" in their final look. It nearly always seems like the head is tweaked just enough to be inaccurate. I've come to the recent conclusion that this is intentional. NECA is one company that gets their sculpt details as close to accurate as possible. Their Aliens and Predators lines are brilliant and are well-known for their level of accurate detail (not only for the creatures, but for the humans, as well). The best recent video-game figures I own from them (Kratos and Nathan Drake) are, again, spot-on. Terminator? Check. Godzilla? Nope. The bodies have plenty of detail, the paint is usually good, the tails are a worthy attempt, but the heads? Clearly not accurate, just about every time. My guess (a total guess) is that their deal with Toho says something to the effect of, "Make the head look just a little off, so Bandai Tamashii Nations isn't threatened." Case in point: Shin Godzilla's head is too long. Anyone can see that the snout is elongated too far when compared to what you see on-screen. It could be that the jaw design necessitated the longer skull, but that's an aspect of the NECA Godzillas that I'd like to see changed, as well. The way they've done the opening jaw for several figures results in a notable underbite when the mouth is opened. That's the case here, as well. As a result, I don't like the way Shin Godzilla looks with his mouth open (same case with GMK, 1994 and 1995). Now that that's out of the way, I'll admit that I bought this guy once I had a chance to check him out in-hand. And he did, in fact, turn out better than I had thought he would. There are a couple of design choices that are not my favorite, but the overall figure is a good one, and I like having it in the collection.

Shin Godzilla looks pretty cool standing in his standard marching pose. The sculpt (other than the head proportions and the interior of the mouth, which is sorely lacking) is generally strong. The crevices and folds are deep and sharp, with good paintwork to support the look (the red seeps up from underneath effectively). The spines are a bit too candy-apple red for me at the base, personally. The tail is interesting. It comes in several separate pieces that are sharply angled where the ball meets the socket. The interesting part is that they are angled in the opposite direction than I thought they should be. As a result, the tail has some sudden reversals in direction. Like the spines, the tail tip is too red, the sculpt is poorly defined and there's a sloppy black drybrushing made worse by some sloppy random dabs of orange paint. For me, the tail tip is probably the weakest part of the sculpt. Incidentally, the feet and toe claws look awesome, but Shin Godzilla's random claws all over his feet are absent on this version.

The articulation is there, but unfortunately I can't really get much use out of the joints. My figure's right arm doesn't want to move at the shoulder, and it seems very asymmetrical with respect to the left one. The assembly of the chest piece seems a bit tilted, and one leg moves very differently than the other. I'm also wary of messing with the tail too much for fear that it will come apart at the attachment points. As a result, I don't try to pose this guy much. I've got him in a basic, standing upright, faced forward pose, and that's how he's going to stay.

I just realized that I'm pointing out so many negatives, it might seem like I don't like the figure, which would be the opposite of the truth! I do like it, actually. I appreciate the details of the body sculpt, and I like how gloss has been applied to specific areas, like the toe claws and the red undercoat. It does a lot to bring the figure to life. I like the choice of materials: it's a really solid, heavy figure that could put up with some play, while keeping the dorsal fins nice and soft (do be aware, though, that there are some REALLY sharp edges to the body's hard plastic sculpt which might be tricky for young kids - you might want to check it out closely before handing one to a little Godzilla fan). The figure is light years ahead of the typical Bandai America vinyls, and the biggest positive NECA has going for these figures is the price point. It's priced right (though it seems to be creeping up as of late) at between $20 and $25. I haven't heard much from NECA about moving forward with their Godzilla line, other than that they want to. It would be a shame to see the line end, as they do look pretty cool all lined up alongside one another on the shelf, and they are a real cost-efficient alternative to the bloated overpricing of the S.H. MonsterArts line.

SHIN GODZILLA - Art Spirits Plex Hyper Solid PVC figure

This past July Art Spirits released the second Godzilla figure in their Hyper Solid line. I had a very difficult time finding any reviews of the figure online, but decided to take a chance and order it anyway. It carries a pretty hefty price tag (mine came to just over $200 shipped), and without a proven track record for the manufacturer like, say, X-Plus has,  I knew I was taking an awful chance. I'm happy to say that - in this instance, the chance paid off - the figure is wonderful! It's a great addition to my Godzilla collection, and might be my favorite incarnation of Shin Godzilla in figure form!

Hyper Solid Shin Godzilla comes in an enormous window box. Because it's made of PVC, not vinyl, the tail comes attached, and the box needs to accommodate that. It's a bit difficult to see the details of the figure even with the window, because it's wrapped in protective plastic. There's another smaller window on the back of the box, which had me puzzled for a bit - it doesn't allow you to see much of the figure, so I was wondering about its purpose. Then it dawned on me - Shin Godzilla's two most distinctive features are his hideous face and his hideous tail tip. Yup, the window allows for direct examination of the grotesque appendage. Other than the windows, the box has several shots of the figure from a couple of angles. Inside, the figure and accessories (yes, it does have a couple) are plastic wrapped and trapped between two plastic shells. Everything is well-protected, while remaining easy to open and collector friendly. Once out of its package, the figure honestly felt smaller than I expected. Part of this is due to the immensity of the box, I'm guessing, which really raises expectations. In hand, it's slightly larger than the S.H. Figuarts version (there's a comparison picture below), and much smaller than the X-Plus standard version.

That said, the figure itself is gorgeous, and quite heavy. It seems to be "solid" red PVC, with a translucent quality to it, painted over with charcoal black. I'm assuming the "Hyper Solid" moniker refers to the insanely dynamic pose (hyper) and to the hefty nature of the PVC (solid), but that would probably be too obvious. The sculpt is VERY detailed, with varying textures and beautifully sculpted musculature, especially around the shoulders. The face is striking (as it should be) in its monstrous nature, with special attention paid to the interior of the mouth(s), and plenty of razor sharp teeth. I find the teeth a be a bit more symmetrical than on other versions, but man are they needle thin! They are also everywhere, cropping from the lips and jawline at truly crazy angles. The lava-like texture of the thighs wind down to heavily wrinkled feet studded with random haphazard claws, before ending in the large, clearly defined toe claws. The arms are perhaps longer than they should be - long enough to be sharply bent at the elbows and still have the claws reach the chest area - but they look good.

The tail is enormous in terms of length and girth, and curls up and back to end in the nightmarish tail-tip "face", which comes off looking less like bubble gum and more scarred than in other versions I've seen. The black paint could maybe have been applied a little heavier in places, but I think the intention might be to shine a light through the figure from behind and allow it to "glow." The dorsal spines, especially, are quite devoid of black paint except along the very edges.

Hyper Solid Shin Godzilla is in a much more dynamic pose than any other static figure I've seen, and comes across as even more dynamic than he might have been in the film. The statue catches him mid-roar, leaning forward and twisting to the side, head thrown forward and tail sweeping up and curling around. In contrast, my X-Plus Shin Godzilla stands nearly upright, head tilted downwards in a forward march. Additionally, Hyper Solid includes an optional second head, with the lower jaw spread apart in preparation for his devastating atomic breath. It's not purple and there is no effect part - this catches a very specific moment just before his full fury was unleashed. Both heads are equally well-done, and slide out from a thick post at the top of the neck. It does leave a very noticeable seam. A nameplate is included, as well, but it's in Japanese. It's worth noting that a variant version of this figure has been solicited with purple for the mouth interior and spines, but for some odd reason it's listed at $330 or more and there's absolutely no way I'm willing to pay an extra $170 for purple plastic.

There are two other things worth mentioning, both having to do with QC issues (unfortunately). First, the weight distribution of the figure is just a tiny bit off. As a result, his feet don't both sit flush - he tips slightly to his right. It hasn't been enough to cause the figure to fall over yet, but it does seem to want to. The other issue is probably pertinent only to my figure and may not be one anyone else encounters: there's a large spot where the tail was glued into the body and the glue spilled over. It looks like crazy glue or epoxy of some sort, and has left a large white spot at the base of where the dorsals transition to the tail. I may try to rub some cleaner in there to see if it will get rid of it, but it is the only disappointment I have with the figure (and it is something that should NOT happen at this price point). Otherwise, I love everything about the Art Spirits Hyper Solid Shin Godzilla! It's a really striking piece, and might even command more attention on the shelf than my much bigger X-Plus version, simply because of its super-dynamic pose. It's a pricey figure, no doubt, but I'm guessing that its value will increase over time. I really hope Art Spirits continues the line, as I'd be very happy to have a shelf set aside for them, especially at this scale! This figure is what I wanted my S.H. Figuarts Shin Godzilla to look like, and I'd love to see what they would do with GMK (and honestly any other Godzilla)! Art Spirits did release a Godzilla 2000 as the first figure in the line, but there are some things about the head sculpt that have kept me from buying it so far. If the line expands, I'll probably regret not having it, but only time will tell...

Hyper Solid on the left, SH MonsterArts on the right