Ah, Toho's
King Kong, one of the rarest of the rare when it
comes to kaiju that hardly ever get figures. I believe,
but I may be wrong, this particular release is the
only figure ever released of this version besides
the YMS-F one released sometime ago also. By now,
any collector wishing to add the mighty ape to their
Bandai collection will probably have to shell out
a bit. I got mine for $45, a decent price compared
to the normal where they stretch to over $70. Unfortunately,
mine also isn't tip top condition, as can be seen
in some of the pictures, but it is in fine enough
shape to be on display and reviewed.
Released in 1993, Kong was sent out with a wave
of figures that included, but weren't just
limited to his dinosaur co-star from his second
Toho epic (King
Kong Escapes) Gorosaurus, Hedorah, Kamacuras
and, of course, the cast of 1993's Godzilla
vs. MechaGodzilla II. What is interesting
here is that while all of the other figures had
normal tags, Kong didn't. While my figure
came without it, I have seen pictures of the tag
and can say that it only had Kong's name, in Japanese,
with a jungle background. Awkward.
Moving on, Kong falls under the eight inch scale,
but isn't that big. He's roughly seven
inches tall, much like many other figures such as
Gorosaurus and the Showa Rodan. The arms and legs
are the only parts of this figure that are moveable.
While this may be a rather strange complaint, I
would loved to have seen some articulation at the
elbows, just so he could be posed as if beating
his chest. Right now, there's only three possible
poses: Arms slung down, arms stretched forward in
a zombie-Kong walk, and up in the air.
The mold of Kong is pretty good, but not without
its flaws. The first thing you will be likely to
notice is the hair style Bandai gave him: it looks
like Elvis' hair. It looks funny, but sad at the
same time since this is one of the few Kong figures
and they had to go and do that. The rest of the
sculpt is pretty accurate, but get ready for a laugh.
Kong's chest is completely flat and Bandai gave
him nipples. Of all things, they could have ditched
the nippies and gave him good hair! Sigh. Well,
besides those things, Kong is spot on. The fur is
as good as it will look in vinyl and is much, much
better than the work found on King Caesar's.
As for the paint job, he looks like his old self.
A few darker highlights here and there wouldn't
have hurt, but oh well. Nothing overly spectacular
or bad. What is funny, however, is Kong seems to
have been possessed by the spirits of GMK, resulting
in the all-white eyes.
Something I do applaud Bandai for is Kong's
mouth. The teeth are painted and the rest of the
mouth appears to be some sort of reddish purple
which blends in nicely with the tannish face.
In the end, a decent figure. Kong will forever
be Godzilla's most famous adversary, no doubt, and
due to rights, I doubt Bandai will ever re-release
this figure or make a new. Get one if you want one,
but don't expect a toy that can be used a
crown jewel. It's a decent figure all around
and for that I award it 3.5 stars.
Rating:  |
|
