Following up their giant Godzilla Classic 1989 Vinyl Figure Bank, comes a bust version. Reduce, reuse, recycle as this bank was previously released as the San Diego Comic Con 2014 exclusive Burning Godzilla Bust, but with a different paint job. Regardless, this release excels in most areas with only one fault: its eyes.
Based on the ever famous Heisei design that populated the films from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) through the end of the series, this bust is the upper half of Godzilla. He is split at the midsection making him look like he is submerged in water. It's promoted as measuring about 10 inches in height, although is closer to 9.
Like its full figure counterpart, the detail placed in the bust bank is extraordinary. The double rows of teeth are captured and the tongue is highly detailed. The skin looks excellent as well, with detail placed on every centimeter of the bank from head to end. Like the figure bank, though, the best part are the dorsal fins which they knocked out of the park and really capture their appearance that was seen on the suit.
Unlike the figure bank, this pre-assembled bank is composed of several parts, none of which have articulation. The two arms and lower jaw have been been pre-assembled. Unlike the figure bank, which had a single piece that was pre-assembled for the dorsal fins, this one many parts that were attached to create the back. In total, 12 fins have been glued into the back. This required more work and ultimately paid off. It looks better under scrutiny and doesn't have the awkward transition that the larger bank did near the neck area.
The paint job is, sadly, the Achilles' heel of the bank. For the most part it's good. The claws look a little simple, all being a single shade of gray and fade into the rest of the hand rather than having more detail on them. Still the claws get the job done. The teeth look simple, but the paint job is clean without any bleed into the red part of the mouth which is appreciated. The best part of the paint job is easily the dorsal fins. The fades on these is great and the view from a distant is very faithful to the movie appearance as well.
So a lot of praise has been given to the paint job, but not everything is roses. The downside is the paint job on the eyes. The bank looks solid from the sides, but head on the eyes look awful. They appear cross eyed and goofy and while it might seem like a small detail, it really detracts from the angles that the bank looks good and as a desk item that's kind of a big detractor.
In terms of its functions as a bank: the coin slot is quite large and located near the dorsal fins and the neck. To remove the stored coins, the bottom of the figure can open up. There is a large sticker here that you will have to remove first, but unless you are hoping to resell the bank in pristine order that shouldn't be much of a concern.
Overall, the bank is pretty solid and aside from the awkward paint job on the eye, is top notch. The previous figure bank was already pretty good, and I do appreciate that they improved a few things on this one as well. This one retails for $23, which seems a little steep in contrast to the full figure bank which was about $5 more. Still, it's a solid investment and it pairs very nicely with their amazing King Ghidorah Bust Bank... because who can resist the temptation of having them battle it out?
In closing would also like to thank Diamond Select Toys for sending this in for review.
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