Ricsan Custom Toys 1954 Storyboard Godzilla

The first of my double box delivery from Ricsan Customs Toys was this Storyboard Kaiju, based on the storyboard concept art for the 1954 Godzilla.

These are some photos I found online that depict the concept art they used for the storyboard. They gave Godzilla a fish-like tail, with his face resembling ancient paintings of yokai from Japanese mythology, and smaller dorsal spines. As we all know, the look of the actual 54 suit turned out different, with a more menacing, imposing appearance. Ricsan Custom Toys decided to try his hand at doing a figure based on these early concepts (he's already done a Godzilla based on Stan Winston's unreleased design). The result turned out nice, with a very creepy face.

The details of the sculpt are quite nice. His face has that yokai Goblin appearance, with big eyes in the front, and ears on the side of the head (one of the details that made it to the actual 54 suit). The mouth is filled with large teeth, the arms are medium size, with the body getting wider as it goes down to the waist. The thighs are thick, the dorsal spines are small, and the tail ends in a shark-like fin. Throughout the body, there are fish-like scales. The figure is painted a lighter charcoal black, with the eyes being white and red, and white on the teeth, finger and toe nails, with white shading along the dorsal spines and tail end. There is pink on the inside of the mouth. Overall the paint is pretty decent, with the eyes looking the best. When looking at the face from the front, the expression appears both goofy and scary, staring you down with a sinister smile. Not something you’d want to see looking down at you in the middle of the night.

The figure, like all of Ricsan Custom’s, has string articulation in lieu of ball joints and hinges. The mouth opens and closes, the head and neck can look up, down, turn and tilt from side to side, the shoulders and thighs can be moved up and out a bit, the elbows and knees can bend and twist a bit, the ankles and wrists can twist and pivot, the torso can turn a lot and crunch forward and backward, and the tail can curl up and to the sides. You can achieve cool poses, just move things carefully and slowly. This figure can work well with stop motion, too, as the string articulation allows for smoother movements. He’s in the 1:12 scale and stands about 6” tall. He fits in great with the SHMA Godzilla 54, as well as SHF Ultra figures.

This figure is another great release from Ricsan Custom Toys. He sells them for pretty cheap, and the sculpts are always very detailed for a third party item. It’s nice to have an articulated figure based on the storyboard Godzilla concept art, especially with that unique face and fin-like tail. In addition to this one, I also purchased one of his Gargantua figures, the evil green Gaira. He also had Sanda, but I’ve always preferred Gaira’s more sinister look, so I just purchased that one. He also has a few Anguirus figures and a Baragon. I think I might purchase one of those soon. But for now, I’ll enjoy this exclusive Storyboard 1954 Godzilla.