NECA’s Godzilla 1989 is their most fun and yet goofiest figure they've ever released.
Details
Unlike a lot of releases of the Godzilla 1989 figure that I’ve seen, it seems like NECA decided to give Godzilla a little bit of personality by adding a snarl on both sides of the face. But, because of that snarl, it gives it the most animated looking and most hilarious expressions. Simply by moving the head from side to side it opens up a lot of options for comedy. It's great! As for the rest of the design, the back plates look nice and are soft but firm to the touch. The scales look nice and to the touch they do feel a little smoothed out.
Articulation
For articulation, Godzilla’s head can move in the usual 360ﾟ and so can the neck piece below his head, the arms can do the usual 360ﾟ and bend at the elbow, and it can turn 360ﾟ at the torso. One thing to note though is if you are going to animate this figure in stop motion or what have you, be careful of the hinges at the palms because too much movement can cause them to come loose or possibly fall off. It's not a big deal, it just means that you have to pop them back on. In addition, the legs can move 360ﾟ along with the feet and the legs can bend at the knee cap. The tail is nice because it can really hold a pose and doesn’t droop. Finally, the mouth can open and close as usual.
Accessories
For accessories, Godzilla comes with a beam effect. It kind of doesn't work with the figure, however. The beam itself is a cool addition, but because of the colors of a mostly white mixed in with a light blue color, it stands out like a sore thumb. It easily fits into the mouth snugly and is able to hold its pose.
Paint
The paint’s a little bit of a mixed bag. The claws and toenails seem to be quickly painted with bits of mold color in them. The teeth look pretty good with a dirty white color and there are no blemishes in the application, which is quite nice. Lots of times the teeth can be messed up, but not here and they mix nicely with the dark red mouth/tongue color. The eyes are painted nicely individually (but they could have less of a white eyeball and have more of a film accurate brown iris), but dead on, you’ll notice that Godzilla is crosseyed. In my experience, getting perfectly painted eyes on a figure doesn’t happen very often. That aside, I do like how they look and they help give the figure the expressions I was speaking about earlier in the review. The paint on the back plates on the sides could have been a little bit better. It seems like there's just touches of white paint that have been haphazardly applied. For the main back plates, they look alright, but some black paint is on the higher ends of the backplates. It's not distracting, it's just a little sloppy.
Overall
Overall, this is a great figure and I really love how you can get so many expressions out of the face just by tilting the head. I can only imagine how many creative videos and photos people will use this figure for. At the end of the line’s life, it’s nice to see a fan favorite be released!
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Addendum: 1989 "Biollante Bile" Godzilla - Target Exclusive
Normally when there’s a repaint version of a figure, approximately a year has passed since the original hit shelves. Now, weeks after the original release, a repaint/special version of Godzilla 1989 is here. The strange thing is that there’s no description on the box whatsoever as to what this version is - it has no name. If you haven’t watched the film (enough or at all), you wouldn’t know what you were looking at. You’d be thinking “why is Godzilla covered in green paint?”. To answer that question, there’s a scene in the film in which Biollante spits acid sap on Godzilla. That’s it. That’s the story behind this version of Godzilla 1989.
Paint
The spray effect consists of a yellowish green (and bits of green) paint application to the face, torso, body, legs, and a couple of back plates. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. The face application looks great but it’s hard to tell just exactly it was supposed to look. Bits of green paint are just randomly painted on the figure in places like under Godzilla’s right arm and on top of his right hand. On the legs, there’s a bit of a spattering effect which I like. The rest of the paint is the same as the original version with the toenails not looking finished with the paint not coloring the mold/mold seeping through the thin layer of paint and the eyes are still crosseyed. The teeth and mouth are still nicely painted so no complaints there. A big difference on this figure over the original version is that there’s a glaze that covers the whole figure. It makes the figure feel slightly greasy but it does make the articulation in the tail feel a little smoother.
Accessories
The same beam accessory that came with the original is included here and it’s even weirder this time mixed in with Godzilla’s paint scheme.
Overall
Even though the paint is applied strangely, I do like this figure. It’s something that, when on display, is such a strange thing to look at, but it’s also charming and it really stands out. I just wish that there was some context included in the box description.
**Below are a number of bonus images for the original and repaint.**
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