In preparation for the upcoming GODZILLA VS KONG, Playmates have shipped a new line of toys to Wal-Mart shelves - and kindly a few of them to my house for these reviews - and the Giant Godzilla is definitely one of the more eye-catching offerings. In this instance, "Giant" is roughly 11 inches in height, so while it's not the biggest Godzilla figure to hit shelves in recent memory, it's still a big, hefty figure that kids will love smashing against their other toys!
Details
The main drawback to the figure plagues most of the other Playmates toys from the line; the hard plastic body. Collectors vastly prefer vinyl for the look and feel of the toys, and vinyl/rubber would stand up to more rough play than mostly hollow hard plastic, but these figures are meant to be affordable, mass market offerings for kids to play with without breaking the bank, and Playmates does accomplish that goal.
Viewing Godzilla from the right - as he is smartly packaged - he looks quite nice, but when viewed head on or from the left, aesthetic issues do arrive thanks to the prominent screw holes where the two sides of Godzilla's body are joined. It's rather jarring to see these screws littering the King of the Monsters' body, and I do wish they'd have done something to disguise them, either sealing in the holes after the screws are tightened or painting over them, as there's really no reason to ever remove the screws since the figure features no electronic components - which is a bit of a missed opportunity; my son is always disappointed when his kaiju toys don't include a roar function like some of his comparably sized Jurassic World figures do, and many adult collectors today will be able to look back fondly on the Trendmasters figures they collected in their younger days which did feature (mostly) accurate roars for each monster.
Articulation
Giant Godzilla features limited articulation, just his arms and legs move where they connect to the body, with an easily attached tail packaged separately inside the open faced box. The mouth does not move, unlike the smaller Godzillas in the line, and is permanently open. I do like that they colored in pupils for Godzilla's eyes which gives him a bit more character.
Accessories
Giant Godzilla comes with no accessories, unlike the two smaller Godzillas currently offered in the line, and does not feature the "battle damage" of the smaller figures either. So while there is plenty room for improvement, the toy does serve the purpose.
Paint
The Giant Godzilla seems to have more of a blue hue than other Godzilla figures, perhaps alluding to the illuminating effect of his dorsal spines, which in this case are painted a pleasant blue color as Godzilla prepares to fire his atomic ray.
Overall
A child's eyes may not notice the flaws that I've mentioned, I would have been thrilled to find ANY Godzilla figure on store shelves when I was a kid, and I do take that into consideration just a bit when I award this figure my score of three out of five stars. Instead of focusing on what the figure DOESN'T do, any younger G-Fan would likely be happy to have a bigger representation of Godzilla that they can hold and control.
Just for fun I've included a couple bonus photos, with Giant Godzilla meeting his smaller Playmates version, and a comparison with the slightly larger Jakks Pacific Godzilla from last year's King of the Monsters line.
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