Readers of my review of Hiya Toy's Godzilla Vs Kong Exquisite Basic Godzilla will know that I had high expectations when Hiya announced their acquisition of the MonsterVerse license and their initial Godzilla figure absolutely meet those expectations if not exceeded them. With the release of their Godzilla Vs Kong Exquisite Basic Kong figure, it’s time to see if their second entry can stand up as a worthy contender against its Godzilla counterpart!
Details
The King of Skull Island arrives in a similar style of box as his rival’s, covered with the familiar blue and orange color scheme of practically every Godzilla Vs. Kong tie in merchandise, alongside some fantastic product shots of Kong from multiple angles. I do find this box to be more beneficial to this particular figure thanks to the clear plastic tray in which Kong and his various accessories are contained inside the box itself.
In many ways this Kong figure is the perfect opposite of the previous Godzilla figure. I remarked that the prior Godzilla figure felt remarkably light for such a bulky character design and this trend is repeated here with Kong, although to a less noticeable degree as Kong has a far slimer design and body type than Godzilla. While Godzilla has so many different skin textures and design elements at work for his MonsterVerse incarnation, Kong seems very basic at first glance. However, thanks to Kong's humanoid body and face, any flaws in his sculpt could easily be far more noticeable to the discerning eye. I'm very pleased to say that Kong's sculpt is top notch and on a par with Hiya's Godzilla sculpt. The sculpted fur looks great as do Kong's chest muscles. I particularly appreciate the inclusion of the three scars on his chest from his final round bout with Godzilla.
My absolute favorite aspect of the sculpt here (and maybe the entire figure) is in the 3 heads with come with the character. Although technically these heads are counted as Accessories, I’ve decided to talk about them in the Details section because of just how good the detailing on them are. Each head represents a distinct look and emotion which means you'll be trying out all of them to capture Kong's wide range of emotions. First, we have a wide open mouthed roaring head. This absolutely captures Kong's proud confidence and aggressiveness displayed in this incarnation of the character. The detailed painting and sculpting of the teeth and mouth are absolutely first rate. The second head is a closed mouth and snarling head. This is actually my favorite of the 3 heads. The snarl shows off Kong's fighting spirit, but keeping the mouth closed draws my focus to his eyes which works to highlight his intelligence. The screen accuracy of the figure reaches peak accuracy here, as the sculpt looks like a perfect capture of the expression Kong makes after slamming his shoulder back into place (Lethal Weapon style) before squaring off against MechaGodzilla. The 3rd and final head is one of a completely closed mouthed Kong with a more emotional sculpt that perfectly captures a softer side of the character. This head sculpt perfectly captures Kong’s human level of emoting, and instantly reminds me of the scene on the trip to the Hollow Earth where Kong displays his ability to communicate with sign language. Considering how nearly every figure of monsters such as Kong or Godzilla often default to an aggressive or roaring face, I feel that the choice to include this somber sculpt to be an absolute delight!
Articulation
Kong’s articulation is kingly! He features standard joints at both shoulders, rotation in his biceps, rotation on his wrists (which also aids in the swappable extra hands he comes with), rotation on his heels, double jointed knees and elbows, rotation in his biceps, a ball in his neck which the various heads plug into thanks to sockets on their backs, and while I haven’t tried to disassemble the figure to be sure, I believe Kong’s upper chest portion also rests on a ball and socket joint system which allows for you to move it left, right, backwards as if roaring at the sky, or hunched over as if preparing to pounce. The number of poses you can put Kong into are quite frankly insane! I tried to take photos of the figure in 3 separate and very distinct poses, and I feel like I’ve only just started to learn how many ways I can pose or even play with this figure! I do believe I was slightly more impressed with Hiya’s Godzilla articulation but that was because of how well Hiya took a design I had difficulty seeing super articulated and pulling it off. Kong’s naturally humanoid physique ensured that he’d be easier to articulate for this kind of figure than the MonsterVerse Godzilla design. So, while Kong’s articulation may not be the absolute revolution that Godzilla’s was, in many ways it could be considered even superior to that of his rival! The clearest example of this is how much better Kong’s head articulation is incorporated into the sculpt than Godzilla’s was. The large gap that would appear on Godzilla’s neck is nowhere present on Kong! While it is possible to tilt Kong’s head a bit too far back so as to appear unnatural, it’s far better than the cavity that can appear on Godzilla’s neck.
Accessories
Preferences aside, I think Hiya’s Kong figure has been neck and neck with their Godzilla figure, but now that we have arrived at the Accessories section, it has become incredibly clear that Kong is king!
Kong comes with 3 different heads, an incredible 4 pairs of hands, and of course, his awesome Dorsal Fin Axe! I discussed the heads in the Details section because of how terrific the detailing on those were, so let us move on to the different pairs of hands. This figure has a relaxed/opened pair, a gripping pair, a pair of clenched fists, and a pair of knuckle walking hands. Each pair is wonderfully sculpted, with the sculpted lines for the knuckles changing between each set as the hands relax or tighten up. The most interesting aspect of the hands are the gripping hands, or more specifically how Hiya incorporated the Axe with them. Rather than use a more flexible material for these hands in the standard manner used by most modern action figures, Hiya instead chose to keep the fingers and thumbs of the gripping hands permanently closed together. Rather than try and force them apart to squeeze the axe into the hands, Hiya instead designed the Axe to be split into two parts right at the bottom of the wrapping which keeps the Dorsal Fin lodged into the bone that serves as the Axe’s handle. Once disassembled, you then take the bottom half of the Axe (the bare bone portion) and push it up INTO the clenched hand of your choice. After that, the Axe blade can simply be pegged onto the top of the handle portion, completing the Axe! I really must congratulate Hiya for coming up with such a clever method of both preserving the integrity of the sculpt for the gripping hand, while allowing us to attach or remove the Axe while always ensuring a perfect fit! The wonderful texturing of the Axe’s sculpt, particularly of the wrapping and the Dorsal Fin, are just the icing on the cake!
(Author’s Note: In an effort to avoid any confusion, I’d like to be clear that while you will see a clear stand being used for the separate heads and a black stand holding Kong in a pose above Godzilla in some of the photos I took for this review, neither of them were included in this release and were sourced from the author’s own personal collection for use in the photography of this review.)
Paint
The painting on this release is somewhat hampered by the more muted color scheme that this incarnation of the Kong character displays. However, Kong is decidedly more colorful than Godzilla, and the paint work on display here is top notch, from the light brown of the hair to the bone yellow of Kong’s teeth. As muted as these colors may be, they still look fantastic and are very well applied to the figure. The highlights of this figure’s painting work being Kong’s multiple eyes and the wonderful blue detailing of the Dorsal Fin that composes the blade of Kong’s Axe.
Overall
Kong is only the second figure of Hiya’s in this line, but expectations between releases have changed from cautiously optimistic to full blown eager anticipation. While Hiya’s Godzilla came as an initial shock to the system from a newcomer, Hiya’s release of Kong has certified Hiya as an apex predator in the domain of Godzilla, Kong, and MonsterVerse licensing! Kong may be the second release from Hiya, but by no means can he be considered a runner up! Just like his cinematic incarnation, Hiya’s Kong bows to no one!
**Below are several bonus images of the figure.**
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