This review will be another tag team effort, with myself, Chris Mirjahangir, providing the text review and contributor Michal Shipman offering a special look at the articulation of the Aggregate and the Crustacean/Crab/Juvenile form in the set.
Now, as a web exclusive figure, the Destoroyah Evolution Set is a mixed bag of beautiful paint work, vibrant colors, a couple of really frustrating design flaws, and light on accessories (the head with the protruding mouth seems to be the only thing in this set that can be considered an accessory).
There are three figures to go over for this review so I'll keep everything broken down and simple:
Flying Destoroyah, about 1.5 inches tall or 4 centimeters, is the best of the three and doesn't require any assembly of any parts such as attaching a tail or alternate head. He's highly detailed but like flying mode Moguera, just sits on whatever you place him on to simulate flight. A stand would have been nice.
Destoroyah Crab/Juvenile Form, standing about 2.3 inches tall or 6 centimeters, doesn't have much to him. He looks nice and his colors really pop but outside of four points of articulation, he just sits there. Oddly enough, given the usual attention to detail, Bandai and Tamashi Nations gave this form the hanging appendages that are located behined the head and claws as well. While they look cool, both of these are only found on the Aggregrate form and seems like a pretty overt screw up that makes these two forms look too close.
Movie to toy discrepancies aside, Destoroyah Aggregate form is the worst of the three. It's the biggest at 3.5 inches tall or 9 centimeters, but has its fair share of short comings. Not only do a couple of his "under legs" constantly fall off, things like his tail and alternate head almost have to be forced on. He does look pretty cool when he's not falling apart however. The extra head with the "extended mouth" is ok but the length of the extension is almost comical since it never went THAT FAR in the film.
Flying Destoroyah's mouth and appendages can all move, just not very much. His wings can move up and down slightly and his tail can move up and down as well. The head/neck area has a higher range of motion with the head being able to turn a full 360 degrees. The neck allows for movement up and down and side to side and it's very easy to move thanks to multiple points of articulation in that area.
Destoroyah's Crab/Juvenile Form isn't very interesting in this area. The front pinchers can move up and down and the upper legs can move from side to side. There are a couple of "spikes" in the back near the tail that can move up and down and the middle legs can move back and forth.
Destoroyah Aggregate Form is a disaster. His tail has to be almost forced in and when it's in, it doesn't stay in for very long. A couple of the "under legs" have a tendency to fall off when moved and the basic head's "extended mouth" needs a pair of tweezers to be able to extend it from the head. The back "legs" on the upper torso move 360 degrees but when I got to about 180 degrees, it felt like they were going to fall off. Each of these "legs" is sectioned and its three sections per leg total. The neck moves just like the Flying Form but the head can only move from side to side. However, if you pop the head off you can push the inner jaw out from the back with ease.
THIS is where this set shines. The contrast of black, blue and red are just beautiful here. The Aggregate form seems to have a little bit of red mixed in to the whiteness of its teeth-possible to simulate when it attacked Godzilla Junior in the film? The one blemish in the site paint wise is that Flying Destroyer's eyes aren't painted. They're of the same translucent material that the horn on Flying Destroyer's head is.
Video:
As mentioned, here is
Michal Shipman's special look at the Aggregate form in greater detail, in particular showing off the available articulation.
Second up is a video showing off the articulation of the Crustacean/Crab/Juvenile form.
Third video is up displaying the articulation of the Flying form.
Overall, it's really tough to recommend this set given how many problems there are with it. From the extremely high price of $90, down to the problems with the Aggregate form, this set seems like it wasn't fully finished before it was pushed out the door. The Juvenile form is a waste of a figure and should have been considered a free bonus as opposed to a third figure which ramps up the price of the set. If owning this set is a must, I would suggest waiting until a second wave where all the problems are fixed or waiting for a sale.
