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S.H. Monster Arts Gigan 1972


An eagerly awaited figure arrived at the beginning of this week. None other than S.H. Monster Arts Gigan 1972 version. This goofy space chicken (as fans lovingly call him) is one of my favorite Godzilla kaiju from the Showa era. Last year they gave us Hedorah, so this year they treated us with this cyborg. He was announced late last year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of his film debut. I'm not exactly sure why they would announce a kaiju on their anniversary year (in Gigan's case, 2022), but then not release it until the following year. Either way, he's here now.










Tamashii Nations did a fantastic job with the sculpt. Gigan looks like he practically walked off the screen. A flying, bipedal creature with a dark green body, golden scales on his chest, belly, sides and tail, one red compound eye, spiked head, bird beak, insect-like mandibles, hooked claws instead of hands, and a row of spikes down his torso that spun like a buzzsaw made him a unique creature in the Godzilla universe. When I first started collecting Bandai Monster Island series figures back in the 90's, Gigan was one of the first ones I got. I had always wanted a highly articulated version, and S.H. Monster Arts delivered. He not only looks fantastic, but the paint job is exceptional. Unfortunately, he doesn't come with any accessories, but his sculpt is so great that I'm willing to overlook the lack of extras.













Gigan's articulation includes several ball joints on the neck and head, those side mandibles that open and close, a mouth that opens and closes, tongue on a ball peg, ball jointed shoulders and thighs, single jointed elbow, ball jointed claws, double jointed knees, ball jointed ankles, his torso buzzsaw slides a bit up and down, and multiple ball joints on the tail. The engineering on the mouth is kind of odd. The lower jaw that opens is held with neither a ball joint nor a hinge. It seems to sort of clip into place. I had seen on one of the Facebook kaiju figure groups that I'm in last week that someone attempted to fix the mouth on his that seemed to be leaning to the side by pulling it out. This caused the bottom jaw to break off and be unable to snap back into place. Suffice to say, I won't be making that mistake. The lower jaw does lean a bit to the left, but it's really no big deal and is hardly noticeable. With all his joints, he's able to look up, far down and to the sides, lift his arms up high, spin his claws, kick his legs out wide, forward, and curl his tail up and to the sides. You'll be able to achieve several expressive poses.








The other point of articulation is his wings. the 2 on the outer side plug into the back via one small little peg. Per the box instructions, you're supposed to pull them straight out, then you can move them out to the sides. Honestly, this is not great engineering, as that joint holding them in is so small, it can easily snap from the pressure. Another unlucky person posted on social media about how the joint on one of those wings broke off when he attempted to articulate them. I tried moving them only once and was able to get them to fan out, but then I moved them back into place and will not be touching them again to avoid accidental breakage. The wings never really moved on the suit anyway, so I'm fine leaving well enough alone.


S.H. Monster Arts Gigan is a great figure that I absolutely love. He looks awesome and poses nicely. I can't think of any accessories that they could have included. Publicity photos showed him shooting a laser from the small crystal on his forehead, though that power was never seen in either of his appearances in the Showa era films. It wasn't until the 50th anniversary short, where they had Gigan battle against Final Wars Godzilla, that we finally saw that beam in action. Perhaps that laser, or maybe the diamond that appeared before he would materialize could have been an extra. But I'm happy enough with just the figure alone, beyond psyched to add another Showa kaiju to my collection of articulated Godzilla figures. Since this year is the 50th anniversary of the Megalon film, fans (myself included) are hoping that they announce that figure at the end of this year for its anniversary celebration. C'mon Tamashii Nations, keep the 70's Toho kaiju coming!











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