The next May pre-order to arrive is S.H. MonsterArts King Kong from the Godzilla vs. Kong film. I was psyched to get a highly articulated Kong from Tamashii Nations, and the great ape is finally here.
Kong is a little shorter than Godzilla (just like in the film). The details of the sculpt are all well done. Tamashii Nations did a good job capturing his look well, from his hair covered body to a few scars on his chest. His faces, including his eyes and teeth on the open mouth head, as well as his axe, are all well painted. The only issue is that they seemed to have gone with a glossy finish, so he seems too shiny, especially on his face and chest. A duller matte shade would've suited him better. At least it would've kept him from looking like he over-moisturized.
As for his articulation, he's quite flexible. His head is on a ball joint, ball jointed neck as well, ball jointed shoulders and thighs, upper arm cut, single jointed elbows and knees that go in further than 90 degrees, upper torso and waist on ball joints, as well as ball jointed wrists and ankles, upper thigh cut, which includes 5 different segments on his leg, and what appear to be ball jointed toes. Most of his joints are solid and have a good range, with his right thigh being a bit looser than the other. This Kong can do some expressive action poses. Only the head and neck can be a bit limited; you cannot get him to look too far down due to the sculpt.
Due to his expressive articulation, however, you do run into the issue of having several noticeable gaps throughout his body, mostly in his shoulders and upper torso, which is a separate piece from his waist. Some might be turned off by this, and you will have to do some adjusting to his shoulders to try and hide those large openings.
His accessories include 2 heads (serious and open mouth screaming), 4 pairs of hands (fists, holding, flat and curved fingers), and his battle axe, made of Godzilla's spike and a large bone. Kong was given just about all you need to recreate your favorite scenes from the film, so kudos to Tamashii Nations for not making him a barebones release, as they tend to sometimes give us figures by themselves or will make some odd decisions (heat ray versions of Godzilla without the heat ray????).
S.H. MonsterArts Kong 2021 is a mostly solid release, if you can overlook the gaps due to articulation or his too shiny coat. He scales well with the rest of my MonsterArts figures, especially their Legendary King of the Monsters. I didn't immediately pre-order the Godzilla from the film that goes with this release, but I ended up doing that on BBTS (Big Bad Toy Store), and they tend to get their imports in about a month later, so he'll be dropping sometime in June. What I like about BBTS is that you can always cancel pre-orders with no hassle, so I'm still debating whether or not I want that version of Godzilla. I like the light up spikes, but his mouth and teeth are plastered with blue, making him look like he just ate a tube of mint toothpaste. I'll ponder it further. But as for King Kong, he's a keeper.
clanre0in_bi Melissa Hebert https://wakelet.com/wake/5ccKci8oEyYpuK_vsC7_6
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