Chris Mirjahangir: I'm talking today with Jakks Pacific Senior Designer Danny Pestonji. Jakks Pacific is one of the companies producing merchandise for the upcoming 2014 Godzilla film, which comes out this May. Jakks Pacific has created an incredible giant toy of the King of the Monsters, which right now is available exclusively at Toys "R" Us.

Now without further ado, I would like to ask my first question - When did work on the figure begin?

Danny Pestonji: April 2013.

Mirjahangir: Will there be any other Godzilla figures down the line or just this Godzilla from the new film?

Pestonji: Only Godzilla from the new film. If they decide to do a sequel then we would do another Godzilla.

Mirjahangir: How many versions of the Godzilla model did you have before you reached the final?

Pestonji: Three versions, mostly it was the color/deco that was challenging for us. We had multiple samples with different colors trying to get the right color. We even painted up multiple generic dinosaur toys to see what color would be best. Basically translating the color of Godzilla from the movie to a toy was a task. We needed to be as close as possible to what is on the film, but not make it scary for kids, yet keeping it true to the film for the collectors.

Mirjahangir: How was it decided that the figure be 31 inches tall and 43 inches across?

Pestonji: We started off with a 31" tall Godzilla (Head to Foot) and he was way too BIG so we scaled him down to 24" tall with the tail expanding over 40". We have other characters/brands in our line that are 31" tall and we wanted to expand the line and thought Godzilla would be a perfect fit.

Mirjahangir: How involved was Toho/Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures with the design process?

Pestonji: We dealt mostly with WB (Great Team to work with) and whatever WB approved, it was sent to TOHO for comments and approvals. We didn't work much with Legendary.

Mirjahangir: How many different variations of poses for the figure were there?

Pestonji: Two variations. We pretty much nailed on the second round. We made sure that we had a swinging tail. We had a another version with sounds and one other cool feature (which I won't say to give anything way), but decided not to do it.

Mirjahangir: How did Jakks Pacific become involved? Who reached out to who? What was the first meeting like? Did the designers meet the director Gareth Edwards? if so, where?

Pestonji: How did Jakks become involved? Well, we did other successful 31" line with WB (Batman and Superman) and we wanted to continue the Big Figs line with them. Who reached out to who? Funny thing, we were all in a meeting at WB on a different topic and it was announced that Godzilla movie was happening. We all looked at each other and smiled. Both sides of the party said "How about a 31" Godzilla?" and that's how it all happened at the first meeting.

We did not get to meet Gareth Edwards, however we were on location in Vancouver Canada. We arrived on site and they were in the middle of filming so we just hung out with the Producers (Alex Garcia Ex.Prod and Mary Parent Producer). We chatted about the figure, they gave us updates on the character of Godzilla and talk about the film.

JAKKS PACIFIC

Having issued toys for Frozen and Star Wars, Jakks Pacific is creating a mammoth Godzilla figure for the 2014 film. Standing at over three feet, its one of the largest toys produced on the character.

Date:	03/21/2014
Interviewer:	Chris Mirjahangir

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