This figure was released in late December, and I got it about 2 days before the New Year, so I'm counting it as a 2025 release. It is the Titanic Creations version of the Korean kaiju Yongary, Monster From The Deep. The film was released in 1967 as a Godzilla ripoff, with several ideas copied from the Gamera series, such as his tusks, his ability to fire a stream of flames from his mouth, and even firing a laser beam from his horn, similar to the slicing one used by Gyaos. The film is pretty goofy, but Yongary, like most of those Asian monsters, was pretty cool (to me, at least), so I was psyched that someone finally made a figure of this lesser known kaiju.
When Titanic Creations put it up for pre-order, they announced a series of tiers, where they would add accessories when a certain number of orders were met. Enough fans ordered him, so that Yongary ended up with a shit ton of stuff, making him absolutely worth the price. In addition to the kaiju, you get a flame breath effect, an alternate nasal horn firing its beam, 3 silver gas tanks with lids, 3 planes, 1 helicopter, 4 bendy wires to stand the aerial vehicles on, a street base, 3 military tanks, a small castle, and a bridge that's composed of 5 pieces. Every accessory is wonderfully detailed and painted, giving Yongary an entire diorama set of endless display options.
The flame breath plugs into a hole inside his mouth, and one funny thing about that is that when his jaw is open, it looks like he has an exhaust pipe in his throat. In the film, whenever he would shoot fire, you could visibly see the pipe inside his mouth that the flames shot out of, a hilarious detail that disclosed the film's cheap low budget. Not sure if they made that hole in his mouth so obvious as a little inside joke for those of us who've seen the film, but it's a small detail that I find comedic and much appreciated.
The figure came out looking pretty damn good. He's painted a dull grey with tan highlights on his neck, torso, back spikes and running down his tail. The teeth, claws and nails are painted a dull bone white, with the nasal horn a pale yellow, and his large eyes yellow with brown irises. The end of the tail has 4 spikes on each side, like an Ankylosaurus. They did an impressive job making him look like his film counterpart, even capturing his forward leaning posture. I did notice that on the ankle joints, there seems to be a little paint rubbing off. However, the base color of the ball joint is pretty much the same grey as the body, so it doesn’t stick out so badly.
The articulation is ok, not as expressive as I anticipated. The hinged jaw can open and close, though it is a bit loose. I am able to get it to stay shut, so that’s good. I may try applying a tiny bit of Kiki to see if that helps. The head can look up a bit, and turn left and right, though not fully around. The neck has limited range, only twisting a bit to each side, and slightly up and down. The shoulders can turn fully around and be held out in a T-pose. His thighs can kick forward and a little bit outward. Hinged elbows, knees, wrists and ankles, and a multi segmented tail. He also has a torso cut that can move forward and twist to each side, but not fully around. While I would’ve liked a bit more range, Yongary didn’t do a lot of expressive moves in the film; he was mostly a lumbering monster, so his articulation is acceptable.
Titanic Creations Yongary ended up being another nice release from this company. I’ve also preordered a red Pulgazary, which should be delivered sometime in January. I’m looking forward to what other kaiju this company decides to tackle in the future. I would LOVE for them to give us a Guilala (The X From Outer Space). The Gappa family would be great as well. I’ll keep my fingers crossed to see what they do next, and enjoy my Korean fire breathing, exhaust pipe-mouthed goofball for now.
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