When the Godzilla fandom first received word that Hiya Toys had acquired the rights to produce new merchandise based off the on-going MonsterVerse incarnation of their beloved character, there was a small but vocal group of fans who immediately took heed of the news and eagerly awaited to see what Hiya had in store. I'm happy to say that once I heard Hiya had acquired the rights to Godzilla, I immediately became one of those eager fans excited to see what this newcomer to the Godzilla franchise would bring. While Hiya was an unknown quantity to many Godzilla fans, I myself had already become a fan of them thanks to their figure line known as Exquisite Mini, a series of highly detailed and very well articulated 3.75 inch tall action figures (for reference consider the original G.I. Joe and Star Wars toys), which featured multiple figures based on multiple beloved properties such as Judge Dredd or Predator. I myself had picked up their Exquisite Mini versions of the original Robocop and Alien and had been very impressed with these releases particularly Robocop. The amount of attention to sculpt and paint detail while maintaing a very impressive range of articulation had essentially certified them in my mind as a company equivalent to NECA, just producing figures in a scale that very rarely sees as many collector appealing releases as NECA or Bandai's 7 inch figures.
The thought of highly detailed and articulated 3.75 inch tall Godzilla and other MonsterVerse Titans was exciting enough to me, but then we recieved news from Hiya that these would not be apart of their Exquisite Minis but a new line named Exquisite Basic and would be at starting at 6 inches tall! I was 100% sold on both Hiya's commitment to the Godzilla property and the first figure of their new series, a over 7 inch tall and over 13 inch long rendition of Godzilla as he appears in the titular 2021 film Godzilla Vs. Kong! Now that the long awaited figure has been released and Hiya was kind enough to submit a review sample of the figure to me, I think it's time to take a look at what may very well be the greatest depiction of the MonsterVerse incarnation of Godzilla ever captured in collectible form!
Details
First things first, let's talk about the packaging. This figure comes in a very eye catching box covered in splashes of blue and orange color. While the box does share the same Godzilla Vs Kong logo and graphic of the two titans facing off as the corresponding Playmates line did, I really appreciate that Hiya was able to include a fantastic profile shot of their Godzilla figure posed as though he were standing in the middle of a destroyed city roaring at the sky. This box has no plastic window showing off the figure inside so having some eye catching art on the box is essential. Because Hiya used the same merchandise artwork as Playmates I was slightly worried they may have to feature another company's product on their own packaging much like NECA's classic Godzilla figures, which originally came in clamshells with a Bandai Creations Godzilla 1954 figure on the interior, but I'm glad to see this was not the case. The box is most definitely collector friendly and can easily be opened after running a knife through the slip between the back of the box and the cover flap. Inside, you will find a plastic clamshell tray that can easily be parted in half with a completely assembled Godzilla inside wrapped in a clear plastic material.
For the figure itself, we'll start by looking at the surface details and that entails reviewing the sculpt and the paint.
The first thing I noticed was how light the figure feels. He isn't nearly as heavy as I expected him to be. I am always a bit superstitious about accidentally breaking my figures but so far the materials this figure is made out of feel nice and strong and my fear of breaking him has decreased the more I pose or play with him rather than increase. The sculpt here is absolutely first rate and on par with any of the high end Collector's Godzilla figures I own including Bandai's S.H. MonsterArts and NECA products. One of my favorite aspects of this Godzilla design has always been the multiple different texture types shown across Godzilla from the gills on his neck, to the hard plates on his chest, to the almost molten rock like texture on his legs, all of it has been lovingly recreated here with Hiya's work. I have to assume that Hiya was able to acquire the digital models that were used in the film productions themselves in order to achieve this level of accuracy. If I had any issues with the sculpt it would be that the spines are made of softer material than I would have preferred and I noticed they appeared slightly warped when I first opened my figure, however they seem to have improved the more I look at them. Finally a mold seam line can be noticed across some parts of the sculpt like his arms which can be distracting but don't take away too much from the figure itself. Speaking of Godzilla's arms, I have noticed that the joints for the left and right forearms are not perfect mirrors of each other. One arm can bend back further than the other, but that other arm can bend towards the body closer than the other. I don't know if this is some defect or intentional design choice. If it's the latter I find it slightly confusing, however if it's a defect it hasn't broken on me or worsen over time. I have noticed one rather obvious aspect with the sculpt that alot of other people have noticed as well, however I believe it plays into the figures articulation so I'll address it in that section.
Articulation
Next up is the articulation and in case it hasn't been obvious that I'm a fan of this figure, this next part should more than drive the point home. The articulation implemented in this figure is absolutely incredible! I have a nearly complete collection of the NECA Godzilla line and the very first S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla figure, but Hiya's debut Godzilla figure blows all of the figures out of the water. His articulation scheme closely mirrors the one NECA used for their Godzilla figures across the arms, body, and tail. However, his legs and neck are closer to how S.H. MonsterArts figures are articulated. Specifically, Hiya gave Godzilla double articulated knees which provides so much more range for posing and expression than NECA's single joint at the knee did. For instance with this figure, you can re-create one of the most memorable scenes from Godzilla Vs. Kong where Godzilla pursues Kong by crawling on all fours and chomping at Kong's feet! An additional pose you can place this figure in is what I like to call the "Crash Position" where I posed this figure in a similar manner as depicted by concept artist Mark "Crash" McCreery in a famous piece of concept art depicting his Godzilla design for the unmade 1994 TriStar Godzilla script. It's also possible to pose him doing the famous "Shie" dance from Monster Zero! My absolute favorite feature of this figure's articulation is the inclusion of an articulated tongue! Thanks to a single point of articulation at the base of the tounge, Hiya has added so much range to this figure's expressiveness! The only downside to this is the rather obvious peg on the right bottom jaw which isn't present on the other side of the jaw. I wish there was some way to have hidden that peg but I think the added expressiveness of the articulated tongue makes it worthwhile.
As much as I've been praising the articulation of this figure, it is also the source of the weakest part of the entire figure and that would be the neck. Hiya abandoned the method that NECA used when making Godzilla's neck one solid piece that the head would rest either within the neck or over it. From what I can see, Hiya articulated the neck by placing the head on a jointed "arm" structure and placed two "rings" sculpted as Godzilla's neck to cover the articulated arm up. While this provides an incredible range of articulation, it can lead to a rather distracting and large gap in between the neck rings when putting the figure in specific poses. There's no other way to say it but unfortunately this means the figure could look fantastic from one side but on the other side it can look as if it may have been broken or lost a piece because of how wide that neck gap is. This will be a problem for some fans and I will say I find it slightly off-putting myself. With that in mind however, there have been countless figures of this Godzilla design that have a cohesive neck design with no visual gaps but have significantly less articulation than Hiya's figure. Much like the tounge peg, the neck gap could be a point of contention for some collectors but speaking for myself I can only say that I find the articulation that these sculpt issues allow for to be a more than worthwhile trade. If what you're looking for is a seamless or gap less sculpt there are plenty of figures, busts, or statues of this Godzilla already available to buy, but there is no other Godzilla figure that features the range of motion and articulation that Hiya's does.
Accessories
None.
Paint
The paint work here is very well done as well. It's not particularly eye catching but that's inherited from the onscreen MonsterVerse Godzilla, which has always been one of the most color muted takes on the character yet. That being said, the paint does vary across multiple different and specific areas. For example, Godzilla's mouth has a fantastic sculpt and the muted fleshy pink paint highlights the sculpt there perfectly. My favorite paint work is the eyes. The eyes are almost too small to provide a detailed description of, but however the painting was done, it looks incredible and the eyes of this figure alone make this my favorite MonsterVerse Godzilla figure in my entire collection. This Godzilla has always had an expressive face and the perfectly done eyes captured that aspect flawlessly.
Overall
In summary, this may be the most impressed I have been with a single Godzilla collectable in quite some time! There are flaws as I have mentioned, but over all I am incredibly happy with how well this figure turned out! I was already expecting good work from Hiya but this figure has met and exceeded my expectations! Long live the King! Here's looking forward to what Hiya brings to Kong next!
**Below are several bonus images of the figure.**
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