In the lead up to the release of Legendary Pictures's Godzilla in May 2014, many companies jumped onto the merchandising bandwagon. This resulted in churning out products ranging from toys, books, soundtracks, models, and more. Bandai, the main Japanese toy company, was no exception as it released vinyl figures of Godzilla and the male MUTO. Meanwhile its Tamashii division also got involved in the merchandising blitz as it announced a 2014 Godzilla figure for its S.H. Monsterarts line. When it came out in September 2014, the figure proved to be controversial due to defects as well as the fact that it didn't match completely with that of Godzilla as seen in the movie. The latter is explained by the fact that the designers and producers of the figure only had the early drawings and design ideas of the new Godzilla that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures provided them. Most of those complaints focused on the teeth and the eyes. For the price it went for along with no extras was enough to rile some fans into avoiding buying the figure. It did not help that NECA had recently gotten into the game with a version of Godzilla 2014 that was a far closer match to its movie counterpart and for a far cheaper price.
After the initial release of Godzilla 2014 S.H. MonsterArts, Bandai/Tamashii Nations would release two additional versions of the figure. The first re-release of the figure in February 2015 came as part of the release of the movie on Blu-Ray with about 8,000 figures produced and it is based on the poster version for Godzilla 2014 where he was illuminated by flares. In that form, Godzilla had dark orange and yellow skin.
The second re-release, a Bandai online exclusive, arrived in August 2015. Titled "Godzilla 2014 Spit Fire version", it came equipped with accessories. In addition, the dorsal fins had been recolored to illustrate Godzilla's use of his atomic breath. It also had improvements in place to avoid as much as possible the problems on the earlier editions of the figure. However, some versions of the figure still had problems that bedeviled the previous release.
Details
On the issue of design, the figure is almost a complete copy of the original release. In fact, besides changed accessories, the only new aspect is the paint job, which we will touch on later. On an interesting note, the figure is a bit more upright than the character appears in the movie, looking more like earlier versions of Godzilla. Like a lot of the S.H. MonsterArts line, a lot of attention to detail was also placed into the figure. This includes a good deal of work to convey skin folds or to convey scales.
Articulation
The Godzilla 2014 Spit Fire version has articulation in its tail, hands, arms, legs and feet, upper section of the neck and head and finally in two sections in the waist area. Both the tail and the legs of the figure need some adjustment in order to get the figure into the right pose as Godzilla appears in the movie.
In comparison to the original figure, there seem to have been adjustments made to tighten the joints and ensure the stability of the figure. This is particularly in the case of the tail, although it still is not strong as the tails on the other Godzilla figures. Overall, the figure has superb articulation, which in this case is required due to the movements that Godzilla makes in the movie.
Accessories
In comparison to the original figure, there seem to have been adjustments made to tighten the joints and ensure the stability of the figure. This is particularly in the case of the tail, although it still is not strong as the tails on the other Godzilla figures. Overall, the figure has superb articulation, which in this case is required due to the movements that Godzilla makes in the movie.
The other accessory is an additional hand, used to simulate when Godzilla holds the severed head of the female MUTO after decapitating it with a point blank blast of his atomic breath. That particular accessory can also attach itself to the right arm of the original Godzilla 2014 figure.
Paint
While the details on the Spit Fire version are similar to the previous S.H. MonsterArts of the 2014 character, the paint job has been changed to simulate Godzilla releasing his atomic ray. This means the dorsal fins have been colored blue to match with this. The coloring of the fins on the figure is not an exact match to the color of the fins when Godzilla uses his atomic breath in the film, though. While there are improvements over the original, some of the paint issues, particularly with the mouth are still present although it depends on which figure you purchase as some figures have that problem corrected and some do not. The same situation also applies to the eyes in the sense of them being crooked or cross-eyed although it seems to be not as bad as with the original releases of the figure.
Overall
Bottom line, Godzilla 2014 Spit Fire version is a bit expensive although this is the preferred choice to go with due to the improvements to the figure itself as well as its articulation in in comparison to the previous versions of the figure. However, the fact that Bandai/Tamashii Nations had to re-release the figure three times in rapid succession was a huge failure on its part. In fact, some have stated that the 2014 Godzilla Spit Fire version should have been the one that Bandai/Tamashii Nations released in the first place. The resources taken up to produce three versions of the 2014 Godzilla figure could have been used elsewhere for greater benefit to the S.H. MonsterArts line.
As of this writing, interested buyers can still purchase S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 2014 somewhat easily although at prices that were higher than the price the figure had in its initial release. It depends on where one knows where to look.
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