Name
 Anguirus
Version Source
 N/A
Company: Yamakatsu
Extras: None
   
Classification: Figure Reissue: No
Release: 1983 Height: 10 centimeters
Comments
Steve Johnson

1983 was a pivotal year for kaiju collectors. Not only did Bandai release its first, realistic looking Godzilla figure in the 8 inch scale (The previously reviewed Godzilla 1962 aka King-Goji), but another, lesser known company did them one better by releasing an entire lineup of nine Toho kaiju figures (Including three different takes on Godzilla himself). Unfortunately, this would be the Yamakatsu company's only foray into vinyl Godzilla figures, and except for a small amount of rubber figures of lesser quality the following year, their last Godzilla releases period.

Side View

One of their vinyl figures would be Godzilla's first enemy turned trusted ally, Anguirus. Right away, you can tell that the detail of the Yamakatsu figures is inferior to Bandai's, but compared to anything else on the market at that time they were fairly realistic. They were also a bit smaller than the standard Bandais of their day. Anguirus is approximately nine inches from tail to nose, and roughly four inches tall, with rotateable neck, arms and legs.

I'm not certain if they were attempting to replicate a certain Anguirus suit or a composite, as the color scheme and spike patterns more closely resemble the 1955 Anguirus, but with the face of the '68 and beyond version of the Showa creature. Like 99% of the other Showa Anguirus figures out there, he's posed on his hands and knees and is pretty much stuck that way due to his non-moving knees. Anguirus is a dark, muddy gray, with a white "frosted" look to the top of his head, his spiked back, and along the top side of his tail. His teeth and tusks are also painted white. It's a rather drab color choice, personally I prefer the Bandai figure's color palatte, and being an older figure these seem to suffer from quite a bit of paint wear in most examples I have seen.

Figure Comparison

Another minor complaint is that Anguirus' right knee seems to 'hover' a bit off the ground without actually touching it no matter how I have his leg arranged, but that could just be my individual figure. Either way, it's not that noticeable, I'm just being anal, like so many others on the internet....only I still have my self respect after I'm done with MY anal. Ahem. We should probably move on.

Overall there's not much more I can say about this figure. As for the Yamakatsu line as a hole, unlike the Bandai figures, Yamakatsu figures did not come tagged, so you won't find tag-holes on the figures. Instead, they came with the golden "Godzilla" sticker fans may be familiar with. They were more easily available in the 1990's, but they still pop up on eBay every once in a while. Most of the figures in the line, you can pick up for $40 or less, but a couple (Mechani-Kong and King Ghidorah) I've seen around the $100 mark.

Anguirus, being an acceptable figure and nothing more, gets a final score of 3 out of 5.

Rating: Star Rating