Skip to main content

S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla Minus One



Right before the opening of the new Toho film Godzilla Minus One in the US, I received the figure from Bandai Tamashii Nations from that film. It was officially released last weekend, and about a day before that, some photos were popping up online of the final product, appearing with a very dark and bad paint job. Drama rose up in one of the kaiju figure groups I'm a part of, with one idiot in particular proclaiming that the S.H. MonsterArts line was done, despite having not gotten the actual figure in hand before he could judge for himself. After multiple posts trashing the figure and stating that Bandai was dead, he received the figure and then gave it a good rating (8 out of 10), making himself look like a damn fool in the process. I admit that those initial photos had me worried, but I decided to wait until I saw some YouTube reviews to see how it actually turned out to make my judgement (I pre-ordered it from a site where you don't pay for it until it's actually in stock). After watching several reviews and seeing that it wasn't as bad as those early pics, I went ahead and paid for the figure when I got my payment notification. Now I have him in hand, in all his spikey glory!











The first thing that stands out about Godzilla Minus One are his very sharp dorsal spines. They are quite large and jagged, reminiscent of the 2000 suit. He also has big feet like GMK Goji. The figure is sculpted well, capturing all the jagged edges of his spines, the scarring on the left side of his face, and the various bumps and folds throughout his skin. The head is quite small, so the eyes are not so easy to see. The left one is painted well, the right one is ok, but the pupil is not fully round like the other eye; it's more oval shaped. The paint job is grey with brown wash and highlights throughout to bring out the details. No, the figure is not as well painted as the promotional pics, but they usually aren't. You're not going to get a highly detailed paint job from a figure that's mass produced in a factory. I think he turned out looking just fine, there are no obvious glaring spots on his body. I'm happy with the look of the final product.













The articulation includes all the standard joints we get with most of Bandai S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla figures. The big stand-out on Minus One is the first dorsal spine on his neck clips in, allowing you to move it up and down, which helps to give his neck better range when looking up. The 3 big toes on each of his feet are individually articulated, able to bend up, down and to the sides. This helps with getting him into crouching poses where he's balancing on the balls of his feet. There's also a loose mid-section on his waist that you can move up, down and twist to the sides to help aid when crunching the torso or turning it to either direction. His tail, while sporting multiple joints, isn't as fluid as other Godzilla figures, having a more limited range of motion. As you can see from the photos above, you're still able to get him into some decent action poses. The only thing to be wary of are his dorsal spines, which you should exercise caution when moving the torso, so they don't brush against each other and potentially snap. It's also best to pick this guy up from the front and avoid those sharp back spikes.










Continuing the S.H. MonsterArts tradition, this Godzilla comes with zero accessories. No beam effect, no buildings, planes, tanks, nada. I haven't seen the film yet (got tickets for Sunday), so I don't know if there are any things that are specific to this Goji. Honestly, at this point, I don't expect their Godzilla figures to come with any extras. And considering I knew from the time the pre-orders went up that he didn't come with any, I still chose to purchase the figure, so I can't really complain.







Final thoughts? The figure turned out fine, nowhere near as awful as those first photos that were circulating online made him out to be. I'm happy that I picked him up, and this weekend, I look forward to seeing this Godzilla in all his glory when I watch the film. This will be the last release I'm counting for this year, as the other few I have won't be due until late December, which means I won't get them delivered until January, so they'll be counted as 2024 releases. As we come to the last month of 2023, I can say that it's been a good year for figure collecting, and the new Toho Godzilla Minus One is as good a figure as any to end the year on.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Titanic Creations Yongary 1967

This figure was released in late December, and I got it about 2 days before the New Year, so I'm counting it as a 2025 release. It is the Titanic Creations version of the Korean kaiju Yongary, Monster From The Deep. The film was released in 1967 as a Godzilla ripoff, with several ideas copied from the Gamera series, such as his tusks, his ability to fire a stream of flames from his mouth, and even firing a laser beam from his horn, similar to the slicing one used by Gyaos. The film is pretty goofy, but Yongary, like most of those Asian monsters, was pretty cool (to me, at least), so I was psyched that someone finally made a figure of this lesser known kaiju. When Titanic Creations put it up for pre-order, they announced a series of tiers, where they would add accessories when a certain number of orders were met. Enough fans ordered him, so that Yongary ended up with a shit ton of stuff, making him absolutely worth the price. In addition to the kaiju, you get a flame breath effect, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

RicSan Custom Toys Kyōrū Kaiju (Titanosaurus)

My latest kaiju figure purchase is the Titanosaurus made by Ricsan Custom Toys. I own and love the Varan & Gabara, so of course I had to preorder this one when it was available. He was delivered earlier this week. This kaiju hails from the last Godzilla film of the Showa era, 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The Black Hole aliens are back, rebuilding their robot in another effort to take over the planet. They enlist the help of an ostracized Earth scientist named Mafune and his daughter Katsura, who are able to control an aquatic dinosaur named Titanosaurus. They plan to use both kaiju and mecha to attack Japan. Titano was a cool monster, with his tail that opened into a fish fin, and he would use it to create whirlpools in the sea, and high winds on land. I'm hoping that S.H. Monsterarts makes one for the 50th anniversary of the film, but when I saw this Ricsan Custom version, I couldn't pass it up. Titanosaurus (called the Kyōrū Kaiju), comes in a white box, with its n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Help Me… I’m Possessed (1974) / #Missingcouple (2024)

I've watched some weird, obscure horror movies throughout my life. I can now add this lurid 1974 schlockfest to that growing list. In a castle in the desert, Dr. Arthur Blackwood runs a sanitarium filled with mentally disturbed patients (as well as staff). He claims to be working on finding a way to cure people of any violent tendencies they have, and brags about his younger sister, innocent, child-like Melanie, as evidence that his treatment works. When she was a child, their parents had to keep her locked up and chained in the basement, to control her violent fits. Now that he's cured her, Arthur has his wife Diane come to the castle to meet Melanie, so that they can be one big, happy family. Diane begins to grow suspicious that something is amiss after a Sheriff shows up investigating the murder of 2 local teens, and sets about on her own investigation, hoping to uncover the sinister secrets that she feels her husband is hiding. Help Me... I'm Possessed is an outrageous,...
Post a Comment
Read more