While Bandai/Tamashii Nations mainly focused its S.H. Monsterarts line on Godzilla, they have branched out to other entertainment franchises such as King Kong, Alien and Predator. Another entertainment franchise that Bandai would venture into was the Gamera series starting in 2015 with the release of a Gamera figure based on its design in the 1996 Gamera movie Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. Bandai would follow with the release of an S.H. MonsterArts figure based on 1999’s Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris at the end of 2018. Unfortunately, unlike with the previous Gamera 96 release or the later release of Gamera 95 in late 2019, the Gamera 99 figure left had significant issues.
Fortunately, Bandai revisited the figure as part of their recent releases in which they would release a figure of Gamera or Godzilla based on a certain design before releasing the figures of foes that the figure of Gamera or Godzilla had faced. Unlike with the previous release of the figure, this version, designated as Kyoto Decisive Battle Version, was a premium Bandai exclusive.
Details
The biggest improvement is the head, which matches more with the movie than the previous release. The sculpt on the body is still the same as the previous figure. There is excellent work on the shell in showing the damage and debris it accumulated during the climatic fight in Kyoto. Furthermore, the eyes are designed correctly with little notice of misalignment. The figure scales well with S.H. MonsterArts Iris.
Articulation
The articulation for the figure is the exact same as in the previous release. The main articulation is in the legs, arms, neck, head and tail.
Accessories
The accessories for this release are the exact same as the previous release of the figure. They deal with setting up Gamera in his flying mode as well as his damaged right hand and the flaming form of the right hand.
Paint
The figure has a dark skin tone to simulate how Gamera appeared at night. Along with the improvement of the design of the head, it also had a huge improvement in terms of the paint, particularly with the teeth and mouth. The paint for the claws is almost a perfect match to each other in comparison to the previous figure where the nails on the legs were far brighter than on the hands. A small nitpick with the coloring on improved face is the coloring of the eyes, which the previous release got right.
Overall
Overall, it’s an enormous improvement over the previous release of the figure. For those that had skipped the previous release, it was a very good call. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the figure is no longer readily available, but for those that want a MonsterArts Gamera 1999, get this version.
**Below are bonus images of the figure.**
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