The S.H. Monsterarts are Rolling Out

The SH Monsterarts line from Tamashii Nations is easily one of the greatest figure lines for Godzilla. Starting with the Heisei version of G two years ago, the line has pretty much covered the Heisei era. (The only ones without an announcement at the moment are Mothra, Battra, and Mecha King Ghidorah.) Last week another figure was unveiled, this time from the Showa era, Godzilla 1964.

This was pretty big. For quite a bit now fans have been wondering where would the Monsterarts go after the Heisei era. This figure seems to answer that question, the company is well on their way to the classic movies. In the meantime, we can look forward to my personal favorite figure coming up at the end of the month, Destoroyah.

Awesome, isn't it? We also have the the evolutionary set coming later in the year. (Destoroyah's aggregate and the long awaited Flying form.) We also have the first American monster, the Peter Jackson version of King Kong to look forward to.

But not too long ago, another hotly anticipated monster was unveiled. The thought of her getting a figure in this line was almost unthinkable.  Yes, her. She goes by the name of Biollante.

A couple of months ago this prototype was shown, mainly due to fans requesting her. That's right, the more people that post they want something made, the greater the chance. This prototype is an example of that. Many people kept requesting and it was made. Sadly since then there has been no info. She did get a mention in the latest issue of G-Fan, but that's it. So, once again, the fans must voice their desire to see her released. How? By going to Bluefin's Facebook page here. The more people that post, the greater that chance we'll see this rose of a kaiju sooner than later.

Stay tuned for my review of Destoroyah near the beginning of next month.

SH Monsterarts Godzilla (1995) Review

A year ago SH Monsterarts debuted the Heisei version of Godzilla. (And if you want to be technical, the one from the 1994 film, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.) Since then, the Monsterart line has become the new main line for Godzilla figures. It has faced controversy with some collectors, but for the most part it has been proudly praised. The last one was the highly anticipated King Ghidorah. In fact, I'd say it was the most anticipated one in the line. When it came some had the problem of 'fragile wings.' But for the most part people were satisfied with the buy. (The wings are rather weak, but my main problem is how easy the middle neck falls out!) The latest figure in this line was just released in Japan last week, the popular Burning Godzilla. (It's called Godzilla 1995 on the nice-looking box, but I will use the Burning title.) This figure is the start of the Godzilla vs. Destoroyah set. Junior is coming at the end of the month, with Destoroyah in February. Over the past few months I've acquired a few other Monsterarts, Godzilla, Fire Rodan, SpaceGodzilla, and King Ghidorah, so I know the line pretty well now. Burning Godzilla makes a fine entry and is easily the definitive figure of the character.

It would have been easy to just recycle the Godzilla figure and add the burning parts on it. But the company went the more favorable route, using a whole new mold. Burning Godzilla has a much more fierce face than his 94 counterpart. The figure captures that wonderfully. Upon playing around with it after opening is when I discovered how fierce it can look. So props to that. Articulation is very good, you can pose this guy however which way you want. However, due to it having better articulation than Godzilla, it sacrifices the more 'clean' look on the former. What I mean is that you can see the gaps of where to pose, especially in the left leg. (You can see the inside of the figure through the leg, upon first opening it was quite distracting.) Nothing really bad, it just looks more like an action figure in some areas than the rest of the figures do. Burning Godzilla is famous obviously for one thing...the patches of fire all over him. It looks quite awesome on the figure, done in translucent orange. They even got the eyes red like in the film, adding to the fierce look. The highlight is the dorsal plates. They look absolutely gorgeous, one of the best parts of the figure. Some were worried about the white dorsal plates on the side. It's really not that big of a deal, they're not as bright as they appear in some pictures online.

One of the famous things about this line are the accessories that come with each figure. Sadly the ones in this package are very lackluster. First off, it doesn't come with a beam. You can use the spiral beam from Fire Rodan's package, but if you didn't buy the bird, you're out of a luck. Seriously, it's almost a crime that it doesn't include a beam. However, it does come with two puny maser tanks. They're cool little things, but only two? At least four should have been included. But you know what else we get? Another pair of hands. A pair of hands. Instead of getting a beam, we get a pair of hands and two tiny maser tanks that could easily get lost. The accessories are the quite the letdown. Now, regarding scale. Burning Godzilla stands surprisingly above his 94 counterpart, and even SpaceGodzilla! On one hand, for all the money this thing goes for, I'm glad it's big. But for people that love 100% accuracy, it's too strange for him to be as tall as SpaceGodzilla. The real test is how he will stack up with Destoroyah.

Overall, despite lackluster accessories and showing some gaps, the Monsterart Burning Godzilla is a fine figure. It captures the fierceness of his on-screen counterpart really well. Even if it's a little bigger than it should be, it makes for a great purchase and will most definitely look great next to Destoroyah in two months. The burning patches look great, the face looks incredible, and the dorsal plates look fantastic. A great addition to the Monsterart line.

4.5/5

SH Monsterarts Fire Rodan Review

Originally I was going to get the old Bandai Fire Rodan, but when I heard that this thing would just be $43, I couldn't resist. So I ended up pre-ordering this a few months ago. The pics looked really, really great. The detail looked sharp, bright, and amazing. Now, surprising as it sounds, this is my first figure from the SH Monsterarts line. I was considering getting the Godzilla, but I ended up buying the Heisei Movie Monsters one. (The Movie Monsters was $15, I couldn't justify spending $60 on the Monsterarts one.) I would have bought SpaceGodzilla, but I had a Bandai Creation one already, so I didn't want to spend around $70 on it when it could go toward a whole new monster. (Didn't bother buying Mechagodzilla II cause I also had a Bandai Creation one.) I had a Showa Rodan and a Final Wars Rodan. What was missing? Fire. Today it arrived straight from Tokyo. (Wow, shipping from Ami Ami is awesome, only took a few days.) After opening up the very pretty box, I discovered a cute, highly detailed, but slightly disappointing figure.

First off, this thing is small. Maybe you were expecting that, but I was expecting it to be a little bigger. It looks tiny next to a 6 inch Bandai vinyl. Sadly I don't have any of the SH Monsterarts to compare it to, but I've seen pictures. The Godzilla one isn't much bigger than a 6 inch Godzilla vinyl. Scaled next to the Bandai Movie Monsters Godzilla Heisei, Fire Rodan should be a little bigger. The head looks so inferior when compared to the head on the Godzilla. Size aside, the figure has a high quality feel. The detail is of course great, better than the Bandai ones from what I've seen of those. Though honestly I gotta say the pictures online look better than what it is in person.

Doing the stand is not too bad of a process, but getting that beam in is pretty painful. It's cool to look at, but I don't know, I wish they could have made it easier to do. You're going to want the stand, cause it's nearly impossible to stand him up without it. Plus being so little he may get lost in a large collection without it. The paint job may just be the greatest aspect of the figure, it's matches his movie counterpart 100%. The Monsterarts line is famous for it's articulation, you can pose the figures whichever way you like, Fire Rodan is no exception. Every which way you could pose the figure. Stuff like that doesn't really matter to me, I just stand up the figures on the shelf, but I know articulation is important to a lot of collectors.

So was I disappointed with the purchase? Well, it's not worth over $43 let me tell you. It'll grow on me as the months go by, they always do, even if you might be disappointed when you first view it. It's a fun little figure, the detail is great, and it's Fire Rodan. It's too small however, and attaching the beam and putting it on display isn't really worth the work and space in my opinion. $43 is a bit much, I think it should be $33. But in the end, it's a great figure, just too small.