Animals, God's animals
Don't go away, don't go
Flowers, my flowers
Don't go away, don't go
The sea has cobalt, it's full of mercury
Too many fumes in our oxygen
All the smog now is choking you and me
Good Lord, where is it gonna end?
Got to get it back, someday
Got to get it back, and soon now
For tomorrow maybe you and me
We're movin', we're movin', movin' to the Moon now
It's up to us to make a choice
We know what it's worth to save the Earth
Come raise your voice
Save the Earth!
You all know the words...
It took me a while to really appreciate the 1971 film, Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, directed by Yoshimitsu Banno. Once I did, it's titular antagonist, the Smog Monster a.k.a. Hedorah, became one of my favorite Kaiju in the entire Godzilla series. Hedorah is the result of an alien spore feeding off on the pollution dumped into our oceans. It feeds off smog from factories and power plants, and spews acidic vapor that disintegrates people in seconds. In its final form, Hedorah is a force to be reckoned with and has proven to be one of Godzilla's toughest adversaries.
I was unable to acquire the original Japanese release of the X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Hedorah, but when Diamond Select announced that they'll be releasing it, amongst various other older X-Plus sculpts, for a North American release, I was quickly drawn to it. I just had to get it!
Even though in the 12 inch line of figures, Hedorah stands at a whopping 14 inches tall and is one of the largest figures in the Toho 30cm Series (the other being Space Godzilla.) The figure, except for the eyes, is entirely sculpted out of soft vinyl. Every sludge-like flap oozing off its body is meticulously sculpted and manages to replicate what we see on screen. There are various seams on the body such as the neck, legs, and tail. However, the figure's sludge-like appearance manages to hide said seams very well.
The detailing in colors is just amazing. The vivid mixtures of greens, reds, yellows, and a hint of faint silver highlights here and there, give this figure a very psychedelic edge to it and expresses the creature's polluted origins quite well.
When displayed with the Toho 30cm Series Godzilla 1968 (which is the only figure I have that closely resembles Godzilla 1971 - essentially it's the same suit,) Hedorah towers over him, seemingly in scale (more or less.) X-Plus has also released a Godzilla 1971 figure in their Toho Large Monsters Series figure line, which is considered to be appropriately scaled with this figure.
The X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Hedorah vinyl figure is definitely one figure all hardcore Godzilla figure collectors should have in their collections. The sculpt, details, and colors really stand out, making this figure a real eye catcher. While the original Japanese release for the figure is rather hard to find nowadays, the Diamond Select re-release is still widely available at BigBadToyStore, Flossie's Gifts, and Amazon.com.
If one has not yet seen Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), be sure to do so. It's undoubtedly one of the more unusual entries into the series, but it's considered to be a great environmental film and a testament of the times when this film was produced. Also, who can resist this catchy tune?
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