A new monster outside of the Godzilla series joins the S.H. MonsterArts line with the 1996 era Gamera!

Front View

Details

Design wise, Gamera looks like a very hefty and solid figure. The skin wrinkles are very well defined in the sculpt and look really cool. The back of the shell is well done with the ridges having bumpy detail in parts which adds to the overall imposing look. Gamera's head is the real standout as it just looks so perfectly sculpted.

The chest, which holds the Mana beam "effect", could have been done better as it's the most delicate part of the figure. More on that in the articulation section. That aside, the design is solid.

Accessories

Fireball

Gamera comes with a fireball effect, standing rod, base, a base for Gamera to lay on in flying mode, "flight fins" and "jet waist". Given that the 1996 film was the first to introduce "the fin look" for the character, the flight mode in particular looks good here from all angles.

The fireball effect, while it looks cool, is pretty limited. For some reason, a straight rod was used to pose the fireball effect as opposed to the multi-pose able rod which is the norm for the S.H. MonsterArts series. You have to angle it in Gamera's mouth a little bit to get it right which can take a little bit of adjusting.

When applying the "flight fins", be careful of the extra plastic piece that slides over the shoulder section. It's an unattached floating piece and could get lost if you're not mindful. The "jet waist" is rather easy to put on I've found. Just hold Gamera's legs together and slowly bend outward to remove and you can pop the "jet waist" right on. I've also found this method to be quite useful when opening up Gamera's chest to show off his Mana effect (which I'm including in this section as an accessory even though it's technically attached to the figure). Be mindful of the moving chest pieces as they can break off easily. The Mana effect looks pretty cool with its dull yellow color and it looks great under the right lighting conditions.

Articulation

Flying View

Gamera's head can move up and down and side to side slightly while the arms can move inward and outward but very little in moving up and down. The tongue is articulated (up and down in movement). The feet can swivel 360 degrees and the knees can bend outward and back and forth slightly. The tail is nicely articulated and can move up and down and side to side easily. It's very sturdy and doesn't pop off if you move it around a lot.

Paint

Hand View

Gamera's paint is very well done for the most part. The paint application doesn't QUITE match as the level of dark brown paint mix with light brown paint varies per toenail on each foot. The elbow spikes claws, and tusks all have the same mix of dark brown/light brown paint and it really gives the figure a cool level of ferocity.

The eyes have a nice green iris with a darker green rim and black pupil which looks great against the white eyeball. They almost look like stickers they're so perfectly applied. The teeth are painted white over the light rose red paint in the mouth and it looks MOSTLY good. There are some blemishes here and there.

Overall

Gamera is a great figure. Very cool looking and imposing with really cool accessories that make the figure worth the price. The chest portion could have been done better so it's less of a hassle to deal with all the little chest pieces however. It's really cool to see Gamera in the S.H. MonsterArts line and while it's currently up in the air if any more monsters from the Gamera series will make appearances, this figure is a great entrance!

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