NECA's latest figures have dropped. They have given us a 1989 suit (from Godzilla vs. Biollante) and a 2003 suit (from Tokyo S.O.S.). I went ahead and ordered the 89 figure as I liked it's look best from the promo shots (plus, I already own the S.H. Monsterarts Godzilla 2002 and I'm happy with that figure). Now that I have BioGoji in hand I can say he turned out fantastic.
The box art is a duplication of the classic poster from the film. When you open the "door" it has a photo of the figure in the water, surrounded by Biollante's spores, duplicating a scene from the film. I really love how NECA has upped their game with great, detailed boxes that make the entire package that much nicer. The only accessory BioGoji comes with is a blue atomic breath piece. It fits perfectly in his mouth and is a nice blueish/white color with a swirling pattern. As for the figure, it's wonderfully sculpted and nicely painted. Mine had no QC paint issues that tend to happen on some of their figures. He's basically dark grey with tannish fingers and toes, and whiter highlights on his dorsal spines. His eyes a brownish hue with white pupils. With the creases and folds of his body, as well as his segmented tail and accurately sculpted dorsal spines, it all results in one of their best Godzilla releases to date. They've been on an roll these last few years, releasing truly great figures, and 89 is no exception!
The articulation on 89 is quite impressive. He has a ball jointed neck and head that has a good range up and down and side to side, his mouth can open and close, his torso can swivel and move forward, his arms can move out, swivel around, with hinged elbows, wrists and fingers, his thighs can move out, swivel around, hinged and swivel knees that have a decent amount of range, and his feet that can rock side to side a bit. And finally his tail that's segmented, with the final section having a bendy wire. You can get his tail into a nice S pose, as well as move it up, down and to the sides all nicely. Nothing pops off either. When you see how far NECA has come with their Godzilla figures, it shows how much care they put into improving them and giving the fans the best. I had a lot of fun posing and messing with this BioGoji.
One cool thing is that the atomic breath effect pieces that came with the 62 and 64 releases fit nicely in BioGoji's mouth as well. I love how accurate this figure looks to the suit. The face is a bit on the "cutesy" side, but it's not too bad. I love his super long tail and those dorsal spines are perfect. A lot of the younger fans fell in love with Godzilla because of the Heisei films that spanned from 1989 to 1995, while the older fans like myself were psyched to see Toho producing newer G films, and to see an affordable, highly articulated version from that era is great.
And now for the bad news. It seems that NECA will no longer be producing Godzilla merchandise. Seeing how much their Godzilla figures improved these last 2 years, it really sucks, as they were upping their game and giving S.H. Monsterarts a run for their money. This 89 release is just as good as anything Tamashii Nations has put out, albeit much cheaper. This news has the collecting community bummed out. I was really looking forward to seeing what G suit they would do next. It seems that 89 and 2003 will be their final hurrah as far as Godzilla goes. But at least I can say that they went out on a very high note, as BioGoji is an outstanding figure.
So my final thoughts are: if you're a fan of the 89 Godzilla suit, then go out and buy this figure NOW! It's great, wonderfully sculpted and has awesome articulation. Many of the YouTube reviews I'm seeing are praising this guy to high heaven and saying that it's the better of the two releases. The 2003 Godzilla looks good, but the head and neck articulation on that one is just odd. I'm glad I passed on it. NECA will release special color version of 89 and 2003 next, and that will be it. So go out and get them while you can!
Comments
Post a Comment