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S.H. Monster Arts SP Rodan


The next figure released from the Godzilla Singular Point anime series is Rodan. Unlike all previous incarnations of the flying kaiju, the anime version resembles an actual pterodactyl or pteranodon. Rodan was always one of my favorite Toho monsters, and the flying dinos were always my favorite of the prehistoric creatures, so I had to get this release. 







SP Rodan is small, about the same size as Fire Rodan. His scale is accurate, as the anime version was smaller than both Godzilla and final form of Jet Jaguar. The paint and sculpt came out nice, accurately capturing his large head, long foldable wings, the spikes on his torso (a feature he shares with his Showa counterpart), the thin membrane going down his back, and his small feet and tail. The detailing on the mouth is particularly nice, with well sculpted and painted rows of teeth, his tiny eyes, pink membranes on the inside corners of his mouth when opened, and turkey like folds on his chin and neck. He’s painted a medium brown with highlights and shading, a grey and red beak, and several light colored spots on his wings and body. That Tamashii Nations put a lot of effort into a figure that’s smaller than the rest goes to show that they can give us great paint jobs when they feel like it. Some past releases weren’t so lucky.





The accessories he comes with are a stand, and 2 sets of tiny Rodans that are on bendy wires, also attached to a piece of plastic that can plug into the stand. The cup at the end of the main stand is sculpted on the inside so that the torso of the big Rodan’s body slides in just right, resulting in a secure fit. All 8 of the tiny ones are a solid brown, but decently sculpted. They came out much better than the small Jet Jaguar figures that came with Godzilla Ultima.



For the articulation, Rodan’s head and neck are on ball joints that allow him to look up, down and turn to the sides. His beak can open wide. His wings are where the fun engineering is at. They’re on ball joints that can twist fully around and inward. Divided into 3 segments, the middle and end are on small ball joints that allow the wings to fold backwards. His “shoulders” contain a loose piece with a membrane. This helps to not “break” the design when articulating his wings. His upper torso and waist are ball jointed and allow the body to arch back a bit. His fingers can twist around, and his ball jointed legs can move forward and spread out a bit. And finally, hinged toes. Since the joints on the folds of his wings are small, you should exercise some caution when moving them, to avoid bending them too far and risk them snapping. Otherwise, the figure moves great. Rodan can achieve both flying and crawling poses, and with the small ones on bendy wires, you can duplicate and incoming flock attack.










With this figure, Tamashii Nations is on a 3 for 3 winning streak with their Godzilla Singular Point releases. For a cartoon that was quite divisive with the fans (I found it to be a dreadful bore with occasional good moments and ideas), the figures we’ve gotten from it have all been impressive. S. H. Monster Arts SP Rodan turned out great. I’m glad that I pre-ordered him.










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