When I first heard this kaiju was receiving the MonsterArts treatment, I knew I just had to have it. Rodan is one of my favorite monsters, and a member of Toho's Big 5, which are Toho's most recognizable monsters. They include Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, and MechaGodzilla. Plus, the Heisei era design from which this figure's design originates from is honestly one of my favorite incarnations of Rodan besides his 1964 design.
I knew from the start that Fire Rodan would be one of the smaller and cheaper figures in the S.H. MonsterArts line. However, to compensate its smaller size, a bunch of added accessories were included to satisfy customers. Before we get onto the accessories though, let's take a look at our favorite flying monster!
Fire Rodan stands at least four inches in height. It has articulation in its jaw, head, neck shoulders, wings, thighs, knees, feet, and tail. The detailing is pretty spot on, and the coloration pretty much expresses how Fire Rodan appeared on film in the 1993 entry, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2 internationally). The figure is difficult to display by itself and requires at least one of two types of stands. There is this one, above, which can display Fire Rodan in a hovering position near the ground. Then there is the other stand, which you can display Fire Rodan flying. I honestly prefer the latter since I never had a figure of Rodan displayed while he was flying. I found that a very cool addition to the figure!
Like almost every figure released so far in the S.H. MonsterArts line, there is indeed a breath beam effect. In this case it is Fire Rodan's uranium beam, which is very similar to Godzilla's atomic ray. The uranium beam is actually sculpted pretty well, and has a swirl kind of effect.
One of Fire Rodan's bonus accessories is a spare head for the S.H. MonsterArts MechaGodzilla figure. There is one busted eye on the head, which is wear Fire Rodan punctured MechaGodzilla in the film. Since the middle tooth on the top jaw of my MechaGodzilla figure is broken, I am now using the head that came with Fire Rodan as its primary head for display. At least it has a full set of teeth!
The next and final accessory included with this figure is a new mold of the Red Spiral Beam for the S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla. This new version of the beam is a lot better than the one that came with the Web Exclusive set for Godzilla back in December. It is a lot bigger, better molded, and has bolts of spiralling energy coursing around it. This will actually go really well with the S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 1995, which is coming out in November.
Overall, the S.H. MonsterArts Fire Rodan figure is really neat. Even though there are some collectors who may disagree with me, but I think the figure is pretty much spot on. People complain about Fire Rodan's 'derpy' eyes, however, that is how they actually appear on film. In my rating, I'll give this figure a 4/5. It may be small, but its nifty as well as the added bonus accessories! Another fine entry into the line.
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