Jet Jaguar was then and still remains a one-time wonder, a character created in a kiddie contest in order to headline a feature film in the "giant hero" mold. What probably would have been called "Jet Jaguar vs Megalon" ended up becoming unlucky number 13 in the ongoing Godzilla series instead, with Toho deciding to add their biggest star, as well as Gigan. Toy company Bullmark never released a standard scale Jet Jaguar figure in 1973 - only releasing medium and giant sized versions - so Bandai's original 8" Jet Jaguar became the first version of this character in this scale.
Jet Jaguar is, at least in my opinion, a generally overlooked figure from this era. Standing at a hair under 7.5", the figure was cast in a glossy, very light gray vinyl and on closer inspection there appears to be a slight iridescence to it, much like with the Bandai Mechaghidora figure. The rest of the toy is painted with simple, glossy (but masked, though the feet are a little sloppy) sprays of blue, red and yellow, with black eyes finishing off the look. The rim around the insignia on the stomach is unpainted (it should be blue) but these colors are accurate enough, if very boring. It's a shame the gray sections of the toy aren't painted silver like they should have been - ironic because most other Bandai figures of organic creatures were bathed in metallic paint - but this is par for the course with Bandai from this time, who failed to add any metallic paint to the Mechaghidora figure.
The sculpting is strong enough if you're not comparing it to any reference materials. But once you do the various shortcomings become immediately apparent. The head is proportionately off, looking far more angular than it should, which humorously accentuates it's Jack Nicholson appearance. The back is off, not just in overall design but it lacks the characteristic suit flap/strip. Last and most obvious, this Jet Jaguar has obviously been working out, as the size of it's upper body is far larger than it should be. In all, this is a decent figure, but more of a caricature of the robot than an actual true to film representation. But honestly, expecting something like that from a Bandai toy made in 1993 is probably expecting too much.
Flash forward almost 15 years to 2007 and we discover Godzilla's popularity at an all time low. Godzilla: Final Wars - both Godzilla's 50th anniversary and "final" film - had already made history for being a huge box office bomb in Japan. Niche toy companies were still churning out Godzilla figures aimed at adults but Bandai - despite the leaps and bounds in realism and accuracy their kaiju figures had achieved - was no longer putting out Godzilla figures on a reliable basis. In fact, what has so far been their last new Toho kaiju sculpt (and I believe one of their last new figures available widely at retail) was a completely resculpted Jet Jaguar.
Despite one's feelings towards this character (some hate him, some love him) I'd hard not to say that Bandai went out with a bang with their 6" scale Jet Jaguar. Standing at about 6.5" this figure corrects every single failing of the original '90s toys and succeeds in looking exactly like it's film counterpart. The paint job is absolutely perfect with just the right shades of blue, red and yellow-orange used, unlike the "Crayola red, yellow and blue" colors of the original. Correcting a major flaw in the first figure, everything else is painted silver. Probably the most appealing part of this figure paint job is the way the yellow-orange is blended with red for a nice shaded appearance. The actual filming suit didn't look like this, but this creative paint app gives the toy a polished appearance regardless.
And it goes without saying that the sculpt is dead on. The sculpt obviously followed reference material to the letter here. The angular face is translated perfectly and rivets along the back of the head are retained, something the original figure lacked. The proportions are just right and the decision to give the figure closed fists gives it a bit more life than the '93 figure, which was sculpted with open hands. Finally the back of the figure reveals the strip/flap on the back of the suit where the actor would climb in and out. Even more so than the flap on the back of the Titanosaurus figure, this seems more like an essential design element than something worthy of being eliminated in favor of "film" accuracy, if not suit accuracy.
But the Bandai of the 21st century is one that prides itself in going above and beyond. In the tradition of sculpting indents, wrinkles and cracks in the Mechagodzilla II figure's legs, the sculpting on the Jet Jaguar figure goes all out to remind collectors of the fact that this is a toy based on a rubber suit. This is best seen in what I can only best describe as the visible "panty lines" around the thighs of the figure, which is evident on the legs (made from a wet suit I believe) on the actual costume. On top of that, the sculptors go through the trouble of sculpting the curves of the suit actor's lower ass cheeks. It's ridiculous, but it adds to the realism of the toy.
Before wrapping up, it's worth mentioning the Hyper Hobby exclusive versions of the toy, released in 2007 and tying in with the DVD release of the Godzilla Island TV show. The fire fighter Jet Jaguar is cast in red vinyl and left unpainted save for the black eyes. The medic Jet Jaguar meanwhile, is cast in solid white, has black eyes and red cross on it's chest. Funny enough, Gigabrain would do the same thing with their own Jet Jaguar figures the following year.
The tags for both figures represent Jet Jaguar as seen on the show, which aired in 1998. There, they used original 8" scale Jet Jaguar figure, which brings this entire review full circle.
Feedback? What next?
