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Third Party Ready Player One Mechagodzilla


Some time ago someone had posted a video on YouTube of this figure. At the time it was believed to be a custom. Within the next few weeks, photos of it started making the rounds on various social media sites. And then it showed up on Aliexpress, a site that sells bootlegs and knock-offs of Japanese imports like S.H. Figuarts. A few people took a chance and purchased one, and low and behold, this thing was legit. It sold out fast, but eventually more figures were made so I got me one. Now I have it, and it’s pretty sweet.







It came from China in this cute but banged up box. Luckily, the figure inside was covered in thick bubble wrap, so it was fine. From the various review videos I had seen, I knew that some joints would be tight, so I dipped him in hot water to loosen everything up (or you can use a blow dryer). Once he was pliable, I started messing around with it.







The sculpt is really detailed, capturing his mechanical features nicely, from his various gears and lights, to small wires on the arms and on both sides of the neck. He’s painted silver with a dark grey wash throughout his body that does a fantastic job of bringing out details and giving him a realistic robot look. The row of spikes down his back to his tail are very sharp, so handle those sections with care to avoid injury. Also, the wires are very thin, so be careful not to press too hard on them so as not to break them. One on his neck popped out, but I was able to easily plug it back in to the small socket it came out of. The shoulder rockets attach by plugging the hole on the side into a peg. The figure also had a layer of waxy soot throughout, I noticed it on my fingers when I first handled it. Besides those things, it’s an otherwise impressive figure with decent articulation.







The head appears to be on a ball joint but only moves left and right, not much tilt. The mouth is on a hinge, allowing it to open a decent amount. The neck and upper torso are separate sections but really can’t move much. The shoulders and thighs are on ball joints and can turn a full 360 and move out a little. The elbows and knees are on some type of hinge that bends in pretty far, with a bit of rotation at the elbows. The hands are also on some type of hinge and bend up and down, as well as turn completely in a circle. The feet also seem to be attacked via ball joint, but don’t really have much range; they can’t turn to the side at all. And finally, his tail attaches to a ball joint in the back and is in 2 sections, though that movement is very limited as well. He won’t be able to achieve any intricate poses, but being a robot, that’s ok and what he has is good enough.







As far as size, he’s taller than even my NECA Godzilla figures. Only my NECA Kong, which is about 7 inches, is about the same height. However, the Mechagodzilla from Godzilla vs. Kong film was bigger than both of them, so I don’t mind too much. If the Avengers could fight a much larger Thanos, then my kaiju and Ultra figures can fight a much larger robot.






Kaiju fans were surprised and pleased when a Mechagodzilla suddenly appeared in the film Ready Player One. He fought and destroyed the Iron Giant, and then battled Gundam, but was destroyed by a bomb thrown into his control room. His appearance was very cool, and who would’ve thought a figure would ever be made of that version of Godzilla’s robot double. Leave it to the Chinese to give us a nice version of him. There’s been some talk online that this sculpt might have been a stolen NECA prototype, but no one can confirm that. When a Chinese knock-off company gave us a Showa King Ghidorah, fans were sure that it was a stolen MonsterArts prototype, but Tamashii Nations has never revealed one, so who knows. But I’m glad someone made this figure, and at about $44, it’s definitely worth it. 





Here’s a short stop motion clip I made with him.




 

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