Kiryu marks the first entry of the Millenium series in the S.H. MonsterArts line and it is one hell of an entrance. This is a beautiful figure and it sets a high benchmark for quality in the line, and with great articullation that is highlighted by an amazing video in this review from site contributor Michal Shipman.
In terms of design, Kiryu is a crowning achievement in the S.H. MonsterArts line. The figure is light yet has a bit of a grounded weight to him thanks to his die cast feet and chest area which houses the Absolute Zero Canon feature (more on that in a bit).
The amount of detail that went into this figure is staggering. Even on the side of his head and hips are plastic hoses that bend with each movement. Inside his mouth is the Maser canon which is really detailed.
Kiryu does pretty well with articulation but one should be mindful of moving his feet too much. His feet are anchored by a metal hinge that seems like it could become loose if moved too much. That aside, Kiryu has some nice points of articulation included. On either side of his thighs, are rockets that can flip out. On his back, you can move around the little jets. His arms can move outward and rotate 360 degrees and so can his hands. Kiryu's mouth and open and closes, although his head in general can't move around as much as I'd like (and as much as it did in the films) due to one of the reasons being that there are tiny plastic hoses holding the head in place. These plastic hoses are also on Kiryu's thighs and they move with the thighs when they are moved. Kiryu also has the Absolute Zero Canon in his chest and it's covered by three die cast pieces that fold out. It's cool but a bit underwhelming with no beam accessory. If there's a standout bit of articulation, it's in the tail. It's very flexible and sturdy and holds its position well. If there's one part of the figure that is something "different", it's the mid section piece of the figure. It sort of floats around as you pose Kiryu. It doesn't count against the figure. It's just kind of…there.
Now, to better demonstrate the articulation, here is an amazing articulation walkthrough from site contributor Michal Shipman:
For the accessories, Kiryu comes with a rocket pack, two replacement heads, two arm cannons, and two wires for attachments. There are two heads with yellow eyes and one with red. They look the same but the yellow eyes are different as one of them is in sections in the yellow paint. The wires attach to holes behind the elbows which you have to remove pegs to get to. Be careful with those pegs since they're really small. Keep them in a plastic baggie when not in use. Fantastic figure aside, I do with he had come with more accessories such as an effect for the Absolute Zero Cannon or the Hyper Maser from Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003).
Paint
For the paint job, Kiryu's is really well done. He's a solid metallic silver on his armor and for the black "suit" portion, there are mixes of silver/grey. Especially around the tail. The eyes and the dragon tears are really well done with no missed paint. Even the teeth are perfectly painted with no errors.
Overall
Overall, Kiryu is an outstanding figure through and through. The level of detail on him is astounding and he's a very worthy purchase!
Rating:
Addendum: MFS-3 Type 3 Kiryu Mechagodzilla 2002 [Shinagawa Final Battle Ver.]
I wrestled for a little bit on giving this figure its own review as opposed to this addendum. It’s only SLIGHTLY a repaint because of the additional paint in certain spots on the figure and not a full repaint. Along with that, it comes with the same accessories as the first release with the exception of a new arm, chest piece, and a beam effect with stand. I also must add that I didn’t have the loose foot problem with this release like I did with the last two releases.
The figure/accessories/paint/final verdict
Although MechaGodzilla has the same mold as the first release, it still feels like a new figure because the joints seem to be tighter this time around and not in the annoying Poster Version MechaGodzilla way.
Moving onto the accessories, the extra arm, the damaged one from the end of the film, looks really cool. It can be a little bit of a hassle at first to pop out the regular arm out of its socket but once you get it, it gets easier to swap the arms. The beam effect is actually two effects in one. You can take off the round end to simulate the effect of the Absolute Zero beam charging which I would imagine would look pretty cool in a diorama setting. The full beam effect looks pretty awesome however.
The chest accessory can be applied pretty easily and it comes off with no effort. I expected to be trying to pry it off with my fingernail for a bit to loosen it too so the transfer of effect parts was pretty quick. It’s a nicely detailed effect and when combined with the arm effect, it really makes Kiryu look like he’s been through the ringer like he did at the end of the film.
For the little bit of paint added, the bits of black accentuate the figure nicely. The backplates, arms, and legs, and tail all have a nice, sparse paint application to them and it really adds some detail to the figure.
So, there you have it. It’s a cool release and a great buy if you missed out on the first release. Since it comes with all accessories of that release plus more accessories and the only real difference is a sparse paint job, it’s totally worth it. The Kiryu figures tend to shoot up to a very high price in the aftermarket once the figure goes out of print. Since this a web exclusive figure, I’d say the sooner you get it, the better if you’re a fan of the line.
**Below are a number of bonus images for the figure.**
