I've only watched one trailer for the new upcoming Godzilla x Kong movie, and I hated it. Mind you, this was in the midst of the masterpiece that was Godzilla Minus One, which I think is one of the best Godzilla movies ever made, so maybe my impressions were tainted. GxK looks silly and childish to me, and my initial reaction was, "I don't think I'm going to even bother going to see this one." Then a funny thing happened: the toys came out, which were largely unimpressive to me...at first. But today, walking through the action figure aisle at Wal-mart, something different happened. I got pretty happy. Why? Because there are Godzilla toys on the pegs and shelves, right there among billions of Transformers, wrestlers, Jurassic dinosaurs and DC McFarlane's! It was kind of awesome. And it made me remember something: Godzilla was kind of stupid, and I loved it as a kid. I still do as an adult, but that period of 1970's films that I adored so much when I was younger - the ones with Minila being incredibly whiny and annoying all the time, Godzilla dancing with Jet Jaguar while fighting Megalon, Godzilla literally flying backwards while shooting his atomic breath as propulsion - were all pretty goofy. It seems like that's the direction the MonsterVerse is taking: appeal to the kids. And how can I fault that?
Playmates Toys Godzilla figures are not collector quality figures by any means. They are cheap but colorful, soft in sculpt, mediocre in articulation and absent of accessories. The Giant version repeats those awful and plentiful screw holes all along one side that the giant GvK Godzilla had. But...they are Godzilla toys on the shelves! And man are they meant to be played with! Much like the TMNT figures they cut their teeth on, these Playmates figures look perfect in the hands of a kid, being carried around on long car rides or hidden in backpacks. And that's what I love about them! They take me back to a time when I would have stuffed that Evolved Godzilla into my lunchbox to show the guys at school, and for $10 a pop (for the basic figures) I think that's a very reasonable ask. I'll wait for Hiya to make the adult-version collectibles.
Incidentally, I work at a school and the other day a Kindergartner walked by with a Godzilla figure in his hand. I went, "Hey! That's Godzilla Ultima!" He looked at me like, "Yeah?" and said "I know." Duh. He brought it in for show-and-tell. Remember show-and-tell? That's what these figures are perfect for!
I picked up the large Giant 11" Godzilla Evolved (at $25 it's honestly kind of pushing it - this should be $20 and not more) along with 3 basic 6" figures: Kong with B.E.A.S.T. Glove (good heavens - that's as bad as the H.E.A.V.), Godzilla Evolved and Godzilla with Heat Ray. That last is a re-release of the one they made for the last movie GvK, complete with the removable battle damage plate in his chest. I do like the paint scheme on the dorsals though (they look better than the ones on the S.H. MonsterArts version), and the heat ray blast fits into his mouth better than I remember the last version doing. Evolved Godzilla has a peg hole in his mouth for a heat ray blast as well, but none is included. Kong looks way better than he did in the GvK release, and the stupid glove is really well done with some tiny print on it for detailing. I honestly have no idea how this upcoming movie is going to go. I did not really like Godzilla vs. Kong and feel like they might have hit their high point with King of the Monsters. But for now, I've decided I'm going to ride the wave of excitement that a new Godzilla movie brings and watch the kids be excited for it, as well. These toys are fun and are reasonably priced for what you are getting. Seeing them on the store shelves makes me feel young again, and for that I'll go ahead and be grateful...
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This is the Giant Evolved version, which features a much better paint job than the basic does...
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