Godzilla 2002 joins the S.H. MonsterArts family and while the design wasn’t really a favorite of mine in the film, I do have a new appreciation for it in its S.H. MonsterArts form though.
Details
Godzilla 2002 is a nice looking figure from angles where my eyeline is slightly above dead on. The back plates are as sharp as the Godzilla 2000 figures, so if you’re new to this style, be careful with them. The scales look really nice as well and feel great to the touch.
Godzilla’s hands can do the usual 360 degree rotation and the legs can move to the sides to do the splits. The arms can rotate at the shoulders 360 degrees and the elbows can bend at the elbow joint (more on this in a minute) and the arms can move outward a little. The tongue is articulated as well and can move up and down. The head can move up and down and so can the piece just below the head. The chest and waist can move forward and backward and twist side to side and back and forth a little bit. The tail has some pretty cool articulation and can hold a pose without getting all droopy. It’s my favorite part of the figure.
Now onto the big problem I had with the figure: The right arm falls off. A lot. I’ve tried the hairdryer trick (heat the socket with the hair dryer and put in the arm) and it doesn’t work as well as it should. The problem seems to be that the ball joint on the arm is too big for the socket. I was able to get the arm in via the hair dryer trick and after it cooled down, I tried to move the arm at the elbow and it popped right off. There is however, a remedy for something like this although I have never tried it to test to see if it works. Apparently, you can apply a little bit of floor wax to the ball joint/socket and pop in the arm and it will fix the problem. If anyone out there has tried this, please reach out so I can update this review with the info.
I’m just going to get this out of the way right now: getting a figure with eyes pointed dead ahead perfectly most likely isn’t going to happen. Mine wasn’t as bad but there have been some with real bad paint applications out there (see here for an example).
I like the mix of grey and black on the backplates and the color fade is done really well. The bumps in the backplate sculpt really add to the texture. The gums are painted nicely and with little paint bleed on the teeth. The toenails are awkwardly painted with more yellow (with the fade to green) on the right foot for the toenail color and more green on the left. How hard is to make this uniform?
I must say that while I am aware that this is a mass produced figure and mass produced figures aren’t perfect 100% of the time, I feel that Tamashii needs to try just a little bit harder in the quality control department. S.H. MonsterArt figures are largely used by some collectors/enthusiasts in a diorama setting. It messes with the art of creating the piece when the eyes are in different directions and the artist has to choose which pose to go with depending on the position of each eye (if posing from the side). Tamashii did put out a behind the scenes video of their figure creation process and it would be nice if the same care that went into painting the eyes of the figure in the video, went into the S.H. MonsterArts line.
Overall
Godzilla 2002 is a pretty cool looking figure but with the arm falling off and the eye issue and the toenail paint weirdness, it’s tough for me to fully enjoy the figure. Again, I feel that if Tamashii is going to put out a promo video showing he process of creating the figures, the final product better deliver.
In the end however, I do recommend picking it up if you are a fan of the design/are new to the line and want a Godzilla figure to be your introduction. It can produce some fantastic photos in the right setting!
**Below are a number of bonus images, including some close-up shots of the body.**
