SH MonsterArts Discussion ( + related military vehicles)

[sachiel]

[Gojira Prime]

[sachiel]

[Gojira Prime]

[Timz]

Gojira Prime...you rocked that review man! Great presentation and I loved the pics showing the movie inspired fighting between KG and G. That body jump slam is pretty cool.

[Steph3dfx]

http://imageshack.us/a/img5/9316/king1k.jpg

I got mine friday and I was pissed by the product quality.
One loose left wing, multiple gap in the necks joint, far from the beautifull Bandai's prototype photograph



This one is going back to Japan.
At least I had great support from Hobby Link Japan

[king_ghidorah]

Wow. That's crazy. People still want to claim G2K and Legion are trolling but more and more people are coming out with complaints.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Who said they were trolling?

[king_ghidorah]

[Legion]

A lot of Toho Kingdom members (many who DON'T EVEN OWN THE FIGURE YET) are doing their best to gloss over complaints about this toy, trivializing everyone's concerns and claiming that the people who are unhappy with spending $150 for a piece of junk are overreacting. Seems like an extreme case of denial to me. Everyone wanted this to be the be-all, end-all King Ghidorah figure. And now that it's obviously not, and suffers from crippling design flaws, people seem to be trying very hard to "look on the bright side". It's very aggravating.

[Timz]

[sachiel]

Sachiel here with another comprehensive review, this time featuring the highly anticipated SH MonsterArts King Ghidorah. This version of King Ghidorah hails from the 1991 film Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. As a Heisei redesign of King Ghidorah, the monster has a decidedly more menacing and serpentine look to it than its Showa counterpart. SH MonsterArts Ghidorah is a physically large figure, actually being the largest to appear in the MonsterArts toyline to date. This being King Ghidorah, the figure has seen an incredible amount of attention every since it was first revealed in early 2012. The figure was officially released at major retailers in Japan and online on September 29th, 2012. Selling at a suggested retail price of 10,290 yen, this figure, in addition to being the largest in the SH MonsterArts toyline is also the most expensive. Online retailers have as usual been able to mark down the price to anywhere between 7500 and 8500 yen. However, for those who live overseas like myself, shipping cost us an arm and leg usually requiring $50 extra.

After only about two weeks, this release, like the Fire Rodan release before it has been getting mixed reviews from other collectors and casual G-fans alike. Reports of quality control issues from North American collectors have put a damper on Ghidorah’s highly anticipated arrival. I ordered my copy of King Ghidorah from Ami Ami, arriving at my post office in just 4 days. Since then I’ve had a chance to play around with my figure, putting it through a 3 day long photo shoot. During shoot I’ve had a chance to explore the articulation and possible QC issues present on the figure. Did my figure have the issues that many other collectors have voiced? Does the figure live up to the hype and extremely high expectations of collectors and fans? Is the figure worth your money? Read on to find out!






As usual the packaging for King Ghidorah is very impressive. This time its the sheer size of the box that commands a lot of attention. The Godzilla MonsterArts figure is used to illustrate this point, as the box towers over the Big G. The box is coloured in golden yellow and features a large plastic viewing window showcasing the huge figure inside. As many others have pointed out, the box features a new set of illustrations depicting Ghidorah’s heads instead of the movie props, in what seems to be a first for the toyline.






As usual reverse side of the box features pictures of the Ghidorah prototype figure in various poses along with a description of the monster’s history in Japanese. Each side of the box features attractive designs with the King Ghidorah name in glitter or a nice matte silhouette of the monster. As usual the top side of the box features Ghidorah’s name printed on plastic surrounded by a stylized cardboard cutout of Ghidorah’s wings. I always do enjoy the effort Bandai and by extension Tamashi Nations puts into their figure’s packaging.

The figure itself sits in a clear plastic clamshell tray packaging. Extra accessories are kept in a separate tray stacked below the figure. Again it’s interesting to see Tamashi Nations avoid using twist ties to secure the figure. Instead the figure is sealed tight in its plastic prison with only the aid of translucent tape. I would like to address something that has been bugging me for a while. I’ve seen a lot of collectors complain about how unnecessarily large the box is for SH MonsterArts Ghidorah.

Many have complained that there is no reason for the box to be as large as it is and the wings should have been detachable to save space. I disagree. The figure does not have the luxury of having detachable wings due to its design and construction. And if the box were any smaller, Ghidorah’s wings and tail would not be accommodated. As you can see in the picture below I’m sure this rings true.



Therefore, I do believe its asinine and completely ridiculous that somebody would criticize Tamashi Nations for releasing Ghidorah in a big box. The fact remains that the figure is big and it needs packaging that’s large and spacious to protect the figure. Anything less and we’d probably have a whole lot of complaints about broken figures.







SH MonsterArts King Ghidorah is a large figure but it also does come with a fair amount of accessories right out of the box. Ghidorah’s signature gravity beams are included along with plastic stand, plastic arms, and crescent shaped plastic pieces to hold the beams in place. More on these in a bit.






It’s been a long time since I added a new Heisei King Ghidorah figure into my Godzilla collection. Actually aside from some old trading figures from 1998 and some old Trendmaster Ghidorah figure, I’ve never owned a Heisei version of King Ghidorah My how things have changed since the 1990s with the advances in technology and new sculpting techniques developed in this industry. The figure I have in front of me now is definitely superior to anything I’ve previously owned representing the Heisei King Ghidorah. This figure as it stands is the centerpiece of my SH MonsterArts collection. And true to form Tamashi Nations even made Ghidorah fit to scale with the previous releases in the toyline including Godzilla.




Towering over the other monsters with its necks, tails and huge wings, Ghidorah is a sight to behold.



Like every other SH MonsterArt figure thats been released so far, King Ghidorah is a stellar piece in the sculpt department. The monster oozes detail thanks to the great sculptors, toy designers and original film staff that worked on designing the King Ghidorah movie prop in the 1991 film. Yuji Sakai the man behind many of the suits, props from the Heisei series along with mass marketed collectors dioramas does a remarkable job of rendering the scales, folds in the Ghidorah’s wings, the pointed tips on the tails and the horned crests and teeth on the heads.











Aside from Space Godzilla and Rodan, I would have to say King Ghidorah has easily one of the best sculpts in MonsterArts line. I mean check out more of the shots below featuring the heads and grooves and smaller spines present on each head. To top it off, the individual eyes are also present.



The above picture illustrates the amazing paintwork thats also present on the figure. While the figure is painted predominantly in gold, if one looks closely there are different shades of gold used on the figure. As well, the finer details are really well done on the figure. The eyes and teeth for example scream of a snake-like creature that is alive and ready to strike at a moments notice. While some collectors have pointed out that the figure is slimmer than its film counterpart, I do believe the figure is better off this way. The MonsterArts line has been faithful to its source material most of the time. However, I do believe that creative liberties can and should be taken to make the figures work and look more lifelike and less suit-like. Regardless I believe that combined together, the sculpted and painted details on this Ghidorah figure effectively captures the “spiritâ€

[Gojira Prime]

As I said on TK, review well done!

Btw, which stand did you purchase to hold the gravity beams in place, since the ones that came with Ghidorah are pretty useless? I need to track one down.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Seems like King Kong SHMonsterarts was sighted at NYCC today.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... nt_count=1

[Timz]

[Dr Kain]

[TripMasterMunky]

[BrollySupersj]

Hm, if the Kong they make really is the Toho Kong, then I wonder if that means the 64 Gdzilla suit will follow.

I certainly hope so, that's my favorite Showa suit, price be damned. If they make that Godzilla, it will probably be my first SHMA figure. I don't think I could hold off my urge to get it if I knew it was coming.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

[klen7]

[king_ghidorah]

[klen7]

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]

[Jomei]

'30s or Toho Kong would be a must buy for me. '30s is a classic, obviously, and if it's Toho Kong... well, a lot of people are going to "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" themselves at the sight of a Showa monster in this line.

Betting on the Peter Jackson Kong, though, unfortunately.