S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah Pics & Price

Just as King Ghidorah is released, we are treated to new pictures of the upcoming S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah. It looks pretty awesome when posed next to November's Godzilla 1995, and December's Godzilla Junior. We are still unclear of the release date, but the announced price is a hefty 12,600 yen, which is close to $161 USD! What is the reason behind this gargantuan price tag? I do not know.

I guess it is time to really start saving up!

Check out the rest of the photos at Importing Monsters.

X-Plus News

Well, here's a bit of news from the X-Plus front.

Photos of the fully painted prototype of the Toho Large Monsters Series Gorosaurus 1967 are now finally up on X-Plus' official website. They definitely look good! However, recently, I have been considering on passing on Gorosaurus in favor to save up my money for something else...

Click here for more photos

Also, images of the prototype for the Toho Large Monsters Series Varan have also surfaced! Unlike its 30cm counterpart, the 25cm version will be on all fours. Both Gorosaurus and Varan are now up for preorder at Hobby Search and Amiami. Varan's slated for a late November release.

Then, next in the 30cm series is a reissue of their Gigan 1972 figure with errors from the previous release all fixed up. The figure is apparently a RicBoy exclusive and sculpted entirely out of resin. It looks neat, but I prefer the 25cm version.

Also, according to GCrusher from the TohoKingdom forums, King Ghidorah, Mechani-Kong, and Toho's King Kong have been mentioned. Are these figures that we can be seeing next year? Let's wait and see! 

The King of Terror is coming....

I just placed my payment for the S.H. MonsterArts King Ghidorah through Amiami, about ten minutes ago. This big baddie cost me 11,000 yen (around $141.00) in total! Gee wiz, I hope he is absolutely worth it. I still have to pay off for the X-Plus Toho Large Monsters Series Godzilla 1968 as well in the coming days, so my collection budget has pretty much shrunk! Thank goodness, the next figure I'm getting - the S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 1995 - doesn't come out till late November!

On the bright side, since I'm paying out of my butt for shipping, Amiami better pack KG real good and tight so nothing breaks! Make sure to look out for my very first Kaiju Planet Kaiju Toy Video Review for this guy next week. :D

Update - I received the shipping notice on this figure almost an hour ago. So, I should be expecting him either on Tuesday or Wednesday this coming week. I am so excited!

Next in line for S.H. MonsterArts...

DESTOROYAH!

Woke up this morning, and found this scan posted at the TohoKingdom forums.
I hope we see this big guy at NYCC next month. The S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah looks great, and really outdoes itself with the detailing. Also, notice that Dessy's fingers are also articulated. That is pretty cool.

I can't wait to see more on this guy. Perhaps the Aggregate Destroyah would be a web exclusive?

Gorosaurus Release Date

A release date for X-Plus' upcoming Toho Large Monsters Series Gorosaurus 1967 has finally surfaced. It appears that it'll be coming out on November 30th. Prepare your wallets, people!

Process of Elimination

Argh,

I have to pay some on the spot maintenance bills for my car, so to save some money, I have to cancel some of my non-priority reservations. I had some games reserved on Amazon.com, and the upcoming Revoltech Evangelion Unit 02 from Amiami, which I have canceled.

I'll still be paying for the upcoming S.H. MonsterArts King Ghidorah, and X-Plus Toho Large Monsters series Godzilla 1968 (Anguirus is a gift). Sorry, Eva. I'll have to get you some other time. 

First Glimpse of King Ghidorah's Box

Earlier today, Bluefin, the main distributor of Bandai Tamashii Nations' products throughout the United States and Canada has released this image showing us the first glimpse of this month's upcoming S.H. MonsterArts King Ghidorah figure. The anticipation escalates!

Take note, the person in the image is not a child.

Taking a Break!

Regardless to the items I still have on preorder from this month to December, I am officially taking a break from buying new figures for the remainder of this year. Why? Well space, and money are my reasons. There is a possibility that I won't be buying anymore X-Plus figures until later next year, however I will still be buying figures in Tamashii Nations' S.H. MonsterArts line.

Anyways, here is a list of what I still have coming:

S.H. MonsterArts King Ghidorah

X-Plus Toho Large Monsters Series Godzilla 1968

X-Plus Toho Large Monsters Series Anguirus 1968

S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla [1995]

S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla Junior

Kaiju Toy Review - X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Titanosaurus

It's about time X-Plus showed Titanosaurus some love! Here is my review of X-Plus' latest figure, the Toho 30cm Series Titanosaurus. I picked this up at the post office earlier this morning. I was so excited to get him. Mostly because Titanosaurus is one of my absolute favorite monsters in the Godzilla series. Once I returned home, I immediately opened it up! The box design is perhaps one of my favorites. The red and orange colored on the box really bring out Titanosaurus' design on the cover. It's pretty awesome.

After carefully opening the box, there was Titanosaurus, securely fastened into its molding in two pieces - the main body, and tail. Like with any other X-Plus figure, I carefully untwined the wiring in the back, releasing the parts. I took my aunt's hair dryer and heated up the vinyl on the tail piece and inserted it into the main figure, and bippity-boppity-boo, the figure was complete!

The figure in person looks absolutely marvelous! I was so thankful that the paint job was not as extravagant as what was seen in the prototype images. The colors are more subtle as they were on the actual suit. The antenna, which were perhaps the most controversial design aspect of the figure aren't actually that bad. They suit the figure despite them not being suit accurate. Titanosaurus stands well over a foot tall, taller than July's Varan, and June's Godzilla '89 (see the final photo for reference).

The detailing on this figure is breath taking. All the bulbous bumps on Titanosaurus' body are sculpted and painted flawlessly, and the fins have a nice yellow and orange gradient. The chest area, and abdomen are nicely detailed as well. 

For one thing, Titanosaurus may be the best figure in the 30cm series to be released this year. It really stands out amongst the crowd with its magnificent color scheme. Personally, I'm going to rate Titanosaurus a 5/5 star rating. It's a great figure, and one that any collector should think about obtaining if they don't already have it yet. 

As I vowed, Titanosaurus will be the last 30cm figure that I'll be buying from X-Plus indefinitely. However, I will still buy any figure from the 25cm series that I find worthy though. By the first or second week of October I should have both X-Plus' upcoming 25cm Godzilla 1968, and Anguirus 1968 in hand! 

Kaiju Movie Review - Godzilla vs. Megalon

A lot of the Godzilla films from the mid 60's to mid 70's were quite campy, but out of all of them, there is nothing else quite like 1973's Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Media Blasters released the film on DVD under their Tokyo Shock label. I received my copy earlier today, and as soon as I got home, I popped it in, and began watching. This is the first time I've watched this film in 10 years. The last time I saw it, it was a poor VHS copy that had a piss-poor English dub. Thankfully the Japanese language track is included with this release, so I was happy enough to watch it in its original state. 

Godzilla vs. Megalon begins with a series of nuclear tests that affect the kaiju of Monster Island including Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus. It turns out that these tests have been affecting the undersea empire of Seatopia as well, and due to their anger towards the surface dwellers, they declared war and unleashed Megalon to destroy Tokyo. In the meantime, Goro, Hiroshi, and Rokoru (Goro's nephew) complete their work on the humanoid robot named Jet Jaguar. However, Seatopian agents kidnap Goro and Rokoru, and use Jet Jaguar to lead Megalon towards Tokyo. Eventually, Hiroshi saves Goro and Rokoru from the Seatopian agent and Megalon. Goro then regains control over Jet Jaguar and sends him to Monster Island to bring Godzilla to fight Megalon. In the meantime, the Seatopian emperor requests assistance from Space Nebula M and their own cyborg, Gigan.

The film is just nonstop action from start to end. The story is very simple and quite predictable throughout. Godzilla this time around isn't treated as a force of nature of defender of the earth, but more as a superhero. His actions are more human in regards to him using the peace sign, shaking Jet Jaguar's hand, and helping the robot back onto his feet in a caring manner. To be honest, I don't like Godzilla acting as if he were a superhero. It ruins his character in my opinion. However, the real star of the film was Jet Jaguar. Out of everything in the film, he's the only thing that I really appreciated at the end. His newfound intelligence and will to fight makes up his character. I believe that if Toho wasn't thinking about marketing this film for a big profit, it could have worked without Godzilla. Godzilla felt shoed in just to make this film sell amongst the general audience. Gigan's inclusion is the same. Gigan was pretty unnecessary and it really didn't help Megalon's attempts to battle Jet Jaguar anyway. 

The human characters are pretty one dimensional as well. You have your typical main characters of any Godzilla film from the 70's, the young researcher, his friend, and a kid. Then you have your villains, which are usually agents or a supreme ruler of an empire of sorts. However, the film was never really about the humans though, it's about the monsters. 

Battle scenes between Megalon and the self defense forces is basically made up of shots of Megalon waddling around mixed in with stock footage ranging from Mothra vs. Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, War of the Gargantuas, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and I think there was a bit of Frankenstein Conquers the World somewhere in there too. Clearly the major special effects sequences were half-assed due to a very low budget and limited production time. Whatever special effects that were actually made for the film were pretty subpar in comparison to other films such as the previous year's Godzilla vs. Gigan, and  Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla - which, compared to this film, looks like a special effects masterpiece. 

However, does all these complaints make me hate Godzilla vs. Megalon? Surprisingly, no! Why? Well, despite how poorly this film is put together, I really enjoyed watching it regardless to the technicalities. It's a fun film. Sure, I loathe Godzilla being treated as a superhero. Sure, I find the excessive use of stock footage quite irritating, and the muscal cues from Godzilla vs. Hedorah were not exactly pleasant to listen to. But, there is a certain charm that Godzilla vs. Megalon has that prevents it from being the worst Godzilla movie ever - that 'honor' belongs to 1969's Godzilla's Revenge aka All Monsters Attack. 

So, overall, out of a five star rating, I'm giving Godzilla vs. Megalon a two and a half. It's not the best Godzilla movie, but its not the worst either. For any Godzilla fan, it's worth a watch or two. 

UltraToy Review - Ultra-Act Red King

Today I finally received the new addition to the Ultra-Act line from Bandai Tamashii Nations, Red King! Red King is the first kaiju to be released into the line since Eleking back in December 2010... yeah, it's been that long! 

Upon taking it out of the box, I noticed that the packaging is a bit wider than even the box for the Ultra-Act Gomora. That's mostly due to Red King's slighter larger size. The box itself adopts the same design aspect as the Ultras from the past year. It's an interesting design, although I prefer the older box art a lot more. 

Like the Ultra-Act Gomora, Red King is easy to handle with. You can really grip it when you need to adjust the articulated sections of the figure. The articulation on the figure is tight to start out with - typical when you first take these items out of their boxes for the first time. However, after some fiddling around, the joints loosen up and you're ready to pose Red King whatever way you want. 

While I think this figure captures Red King really well, There are some gripes I have about the sculpt. Firstly, the joints when you look at it from certain angles are quite noticeable. It is not a huge complaint on my part, but it's one that I have to point out. The second issue I have with it is that Red King's mouth does not open as wide as it shows in the prototype images. I barely can get it open wide enough. I don't know whether I have to continue fiddling with the figure's joints or whatever, but I found that irritating.

Red King comes with several accessories. Let us first take a look at the most impressive piece of the bunch. The accessory pictured above is a rock formation being smashed and kicked by Red King as he did in his debut episode in Ultraman The Original Series. I actually found this accessory pretty cool as you can make really neat scenes with it. The exploding part is articulated actually, and you can swerve it left to right to point any direction you want. 

Another accessory that comes with Red King is a big rock... err, I mean boulder. Red King is known to utilize large boulders and the like as weapons against foes since he, unlike Gomora or Eleking, does not possess a beam weapon of any sort.

In order to have Red King get ahold of the boulder, the figure is also supplied with an extra pair of hands that are mean't to grip the boulder. The right hand is what actually holds onto the boulder. You just stick it into the socket on the boulder as shown below. 

Once the you connect the hands to Red King and the boulder to the right hand, then you can have some fun posing Red King with it. Like with the previous accessory, this one is pretty cool too, and you can really have some fun with it as far as posing and displaying go.

Compared to the only other Ultra-Act kaiju figure I have, Gomora, Red King stands a couple of inches taller, making it the largest kaiju figure in the line... however since I do not own Eleking (yet) I can't make a comparison to him. 

Red King also stands taller than the recent Ultraman figure. 

His larger size compared to Ultraman makes an interesting battle scene. 

Overall, despite my minor issues with the figure's sculpt, Red King was pretty satisfactory for me. It is exactly what I hoped it to be, an a bit more too! Out of a five star rating, Red King receives four stars. It isn't perfect, but it is certainly a great figure to have in any Ultraman or kaiju collection. The accessories really do express Red King's character as a big brute. I highly recommend you to pick one up if you're interested. Based on previous kaiju releases, the value for them just goes up and up!

For now, Red King will be my final Ultra-Act figure for a while. I am done collecting Ultramen in the line (aside from an eventual new sculpt of Ultra Seven), so I will wait till the next kaiju in the line releases before I get back into it, which may be a while based on their track record in the past. 

Red King on the way!

I placed my payment for the the new Ultra-Act Red King figure on Thursday, and it shipped out early Friday evening! I should be receiving it either this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. Expect an Ultra-Toy Review next week. ;)

X-Plus 25cm Godzilla 1966, and Rodan 1956

Two more X-Plus figures for the Toho Large Monsters Series have been announced in the last day or so. They are:

Godzilla 1966

Rodan 1956

Both figures are slated for a late October release. Personally, I'll be passing both figures this time. Why?  I have no need for another Showa Godzilla figure in my 25cm collection. The upcoming 25cm Godzilla 1968 satisfies my needs. As for Rodan, I am still 'gun-shy' due to what happened with my 30cm Rodan 1964 figure. I am also not a huge fan of the 1956 design as well. By passing these two up, I hope to save up some money for the eventual 25cm Gorosaurus figure.