Godzilla

Even before I got into robots, I was a fan of Godzilla. I would sit home on Sundays as a kid and watch old black and white monster battles and Godzilla was always my favorite. Funny thing is I never had any Godzilla toys. Robots eventually creeped into my childhood and Godzilla was slowly pushed to the back of my mind. Fortunately, Godzilla is still readily available in major stores. More recently, they have been lowering the prices and placing them on clearance due to slow sales. After all, these are boring toys to the uncool masses. Because of this I was able to pick up a few Godzilla vinyls. This vinyl is based on the 1968 Godzilla, Otherwise known as Soshingeki (Attack)-Godzilla, as seen in Destroy All Monsters (1968), Godzilla’s Revenge (1969), Godzilla vs the Smog Monster (1971) and Godzilla on Monster Island (1972). The suit used in the movie is referred to as Suit 7. The toy comes in a cardboard “basket” which has a black and white movie background and red Godzilla graphics. The toy is held in with zip ties.

Here is our friend Godzilla.

It’s a very simple figure. The only articulation you will find is the arms, legs and rotation of the tail. If we take a look at the face up close, you can see that it is a faithful small scale reproduction of what you see on-screen. Although meant to be a cheap plaything, in my opinion, they did a good job in the sculpt. The interior of the mouth is painted a soft pink with individual cream accents for the teeth.

Here is what he looks like from the side. Take a look at those wonderful dorsal plates.

You can see the plates have a very simple but effective paint application. The sculpt detail is very nice. Notice how they work in the texture to the sides of the dorsal plates.

Speaking of texture, let’s take a close look a the skin texture on this little Godzilla. It is similar to what you would see on screen. It looks very rough and matte instead of smooth and shiny like on other cheap Godzilla toys.

Now, it may just be the randomness of the sculpt’s texture, but surprisingly, this sculpt seems to have suit holes that were necessary for the actor inside of the suit! Very nice touch and ultimately not necessary for a mass produced toy aimed at kids here in the US. I admire their attention to detail… or it could just be a coincidence. You decide.

GODZILLA!!

Here is a shot of Godzilla under normal lighting.

Bottom line, it’s not for everyone. It’s not very articulated, probably verging on being a very boring toy to most. However it is Godzilla, it will take a beating, it looks cool on a shelf and it’s cheap. I imagine that most people, including kids, won’t understand the coolness of this toy unless they have it in their hands and take the time to appreciate it for its simpleness. Check out the Japanese market Godzilla 1968 Standard review by JoshB if you dig this one.