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Wednesday 25 March 2015

Special Figure Re-Review - NECA 24" Head-to-Tail Godzilla


Today we are doing a first for The Kaiju Planet, a special figure re-review where we look back to one of our top favorite figures and see if our opinions on it have gone unshaken. For this special re-review we will be taking another look at the NECA 24 inch Head-to-Tail Godzilla action figure originally released back in July 2014. If you have read our original review for this figure back in September 2014, we were ecstatic by it and I called it my top favorite Godzilla (2014) action figure.

The main reason I am doing this re-review is that I bought myself another 24" HTT Godzilla figure. My original figure had some paint issues on the left eye, and it kind of got on my nerves over time. I bought my second figure from Flossie's Gifts. Go check 'em out now! They have a wide range of stuff including Godzilla, Dr. Who, Ghostbusters, Disney, and more.

Does this figure still hold up well with us? Let's take a look!



The NECA 24" Head-to-Tail Godzilla stands a shy under 14 inches, and is - as stated in the figure's full name - 24 inches (2 feet) long. The level of detail in this sculpt is amazing. The fact that this figure was sculpted using some of the digital renderings for the actual film, sculpt-wise this particular Godzilla is 100% movie accurate. The paint work on this figure is pretty well done as well. The base color is a dark charcoal gray and on top of that is a wash of bluish greens that help the skin details pop out. The underside is a nice dark tan color, which flows really well with the main body coloration. The claws and toes are a glossy black color. The eyes of the figure are yellow with slitted pupils - this bit of detail is not film accurate since Godzilla's eyes are actually a more darker amber-like color with rounded pupils. The teeth are individually painted and the inside of the mouth has a nice flesh pink color. 


When we look at Godzilla from behind, there is a large amount of detail to be seen. The dorsal plates are accurately sculpted. They are made of a softer rubber-like plastic. It's inevitable that when you take this figure out of the packaging, some of the spines will be bent a little. The solution to this is pretty simple. Just take a hairdryer and aim it against the bend to straighten it back up - this method requires a little bit of patience though. As we move down to the tail, it is much more smoother than the rest of the body with many skin folds per joint. 


Articulation on the 24" HTT Godzilla is pretty much like its 6" counterpart with a few notable exceptions. Firstly, the mouth opens a little wider, the midsection can bend more forward, the knees are a lot more flexible, and the tail is fully segmented, allowing for some dynamic articulation. What I find humorous is that the tail of NECA's larger figure can achieve more in-air poses than that of the S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 2014's tail due to the fact that the joints on the NECA figure are much more tighter and snug on their ball joints. 

The main gimmick on this Godzilla figure is the roaring sound effect. There is a little button, disguised as one of the spikes on the base of the tail, which you press down on. The roar is loud and captures the true essence of the king of the monsters! One must be careful though. The figure comes in two parts when you take it out of its packaging (main body and tail.) The sound box and speakers are located in the base of the tail. If you try to forcefully attach the tail to the ball joint, it might bust the device. This has happened to several people I know. In response to this issue, NECA released an instruction sheet online to show people the best way to assemble it. 


Speaking of smaller counterparts, the size difference between the 24" HTT Godzilla and the original 12" HTT Godzilla is quite drastic. The 24" figure completely dwarves its smaller counterpart. Even though being twice as tall, the figure feels a lot larger due to its overall mass. 


Compared to the more recent Pacific Rim figures, also by NECA, the 24" Godzilla still is the true king of Kaiju! While the scaling is slightly off, the 24" Godzilla still sits nicely amongst the Pacific Rim 7" figure line. It gives you a good idea of how much bigger Godzilla is with the already gargantuan Kaiju and Jaegers from Pacific Rim. For you collectors who want an idea of the true scale between Godzilla and Gipsy Danger, the former (Godzilla) is around 105 meters while the latter is 79 meters. Meaning that there is a 26 meter difference between the two. In that regard, given that Godzilla stands approximately  13.5 inches and Gipsy is around 7-8 inches, to be truly in scale with ther 24" Godzilla, NECA's Gipsy Danger figure would need to be in the range of 9-10 inch range. So overall, it's not too far off when it comes down to it. 


So, does the NECA 24" Head-to-Tail Godzilla still hold well? Absolutely! The figure is still the BEST Godzilla 2014 out on the market right now. It's movie accurate, super articulated, highly detailed, and has a great shelf presence in any Godzilla collection. For those who collect X-Plus figures, this figure really sits well amongst them - However, with X-Plus releasing their own vinyl figure for Godzilla 2014, that might become obsolete. Still, it is an amazing figure to have and I highly recommend it! 

2 comments:

  1. Do you know when the X Plus Godzilla 2014 will be released?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Where did you order it? Amazon or Bigbadtoystore? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete