It's time to see if Hiya’s newest take on Kong does the character justice or if further augmentations are needed!
This release serves as Hiya’s fourth take on the MonsterVerse’s iconic Titan and is my second Hiya Kong figure in my collection. I've reviewed their original Kong based on his appearance in Godzilla vs. Kong and enjoyed it so much that I hadn't felt the need to pick up their Skull Island figure or their first Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Kong figure, which featured Kong minus the B.E.A.S.T. Glove. However, not only am I very pleased with how well Hiya’s B.E.A.S.T. Glove Kong figure turned out, I am also looking to add the gloveless figure to my collection based on my impression from this release alone!
Details
The sculpting on this figure highlights multiple wonderful details across it, which really adds so much life to this release! From the claw marks across Kong’s chest to the long scar across his back, Kong’s multiple old wounds are perfectly captured here and serve to add so much character to this figure. An additional new detail present on this Kong figure which REALY stands out are the use of what I presume are glass eyeballs as opposed to the merely painted eyes present on their prior Kong from Godzilla vs. Kong, which I previously reviewed. These new glass eyes were a bit tricker to capture in photos than the standard painted eyes, but the incredible character and personality they add more than make up for that and, in my opinion, are a tremendous improvement over their prior Kong figure! The biggest difference with this new figure is obviously the B.E.A.S.T. Glove. I thought about including it in the accessories portion of this review; however, it is permanently attached to Kong’s right arm and cannot be removed, which is why I decided to write about it in this portion of the review instead. Although mechanical in nature, the B.E.A.S.T. Glove is as lovingly detailed as the previously mentioned organic details on Kong himself and really serves to make this particular version of Kong stand out from any prior release!
Articulation
As with the sculpting, the articulation on this new figure is absolutely leaps and bounds ahead of Hiya’s prior take on Kong! As far as I can tell this figure includes all the articulation points as Kong from Godzilla vs. Kong but thanks to multiple new points of articulation, this figure is far more poseable than ever before. For instance, the inclusion of a second joint in Kong’s torso makes it possible to pose this figure in multiple quadrupedal or bipedal stances. This adds so much versatility to the figure and allows for some tremendous poses! This is made even better by the significantly improved neck articulation which allows for posing Kong’s head in multiple variations, such as looking up, down, or in just about any possible direction. I will say I had some minor difficulty when trying to pose Kong in an upright stance for a few of the photos included here, however I’m inclined to think this was the result of user error on my part and not because of any particular flaw in the figure itself as I was able to get the figure in those upright stances as you can see in my photos below. Kong’s right arm does feel slightly more restricted in movement than the left arm, but I believe this to be appropriate considering how this arm is covered and restrained by the B.E.A.S.T. Glove. Surprisingly, even the B.E.A.S.T. Glove itself is also articulated! The very front of the glove has an arrow shaped piston which can be extended outwards or inwards as well as the three flaps across the glove having a single hinge joint at their base which allows them to be set as open or closed. Finally, even the black gearhead located on the outside of the glove around Kong’s elbow is articulated and will rotate as you flex that arm’s articulation inwards and outwards! It’s a small detail but one that shows just how high Hiya’s standard for attention to details is!
Accessories
Kong comes with four interchangeable sets of hands and three interchangeable heads with different expressions. The hands come in closed fists, slightly opened fists, knuckle walking hands, and open hands. All the left hands are naturally sculpted while the right hands are sculpted with the B.E.A.S.T. Glove equipped, which means that the gloves cannot be removed from the hands just as was the case with Kong’s entire right arm. I think the chosen styles for the hands are all perfect, the only ones I find to be odd are the slightly opened fists as this figure doesn’t come with any accessories such as Kong’s Battle Axe which could be fit into these hands. The heads are all wonderfully detailed and each one captures a different expression ranging from calm, to snarling, to open mouth roaring. I’m honestly split on which of the heads I prefer as the roaring one includes the very specific detail of Kong’s new silver artificial left fang, the snarling one makes Kong look both formidable and intelligent, while the calm head with the glass eyeballs just looks so expressive and life like. Either way, all three heads are fantastic!
The only issue I have with the accessories is the fact that Kong’s Battle Axe is not included in this release. Hiya have released another version of this figure which features a right arm without the B.E.A.S.T. Glove and includes Kong’s Battle Axe. I can’t help but feel that not including the axe in this release was done to persuade collectors into double dipping by buying both Kong figures, and while I find this to be slightly frustrating, I must admit that the new articulation and detailing on this figure has made me want to purchase the gloveless version as well to complement this release. I wish the axe had been included here, but I can see why Hiya has released it with a separate figure instead.
Paint
Unlike characters such as Shimo, Kong features a much more subdued color scheme and has a suitably subdued paint scheme to match. The most visually arresting paint work comes with the bright yellow and black featured on the B.E.A.S.T. Glove. While almost entirely yellow, the multiple uses of smaller areas of black paint really enhance the mechanical details present on the Titan augmentation! While not as immediately eye catching, the small bits of painting add greatly to the fantastic detailing work on this figure. The highlights of this being the painting done to highlight the old wounds across Kong’s chest, back, and hands.
Overall
I personally thought that Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire was Kong’s strongest outing in the MonsterVerse so far and Hiya have produced a figure that’s as equally strong to match! Collectors will no doubt be drawn to this release because of the obvious inclusion of the B.E.A.S.T. Glove augmentation, but they will be very pleasantly surprised to see just how much of a leap forward this figure is in every way thanks to the new and improved detailing and articulation! I was originally content to stick with Hiya’s take on Kong from Godzilla vs. Kong, but after reviewing this new release, I find myself wanting to get ahold of the accompanying gloveless version of this figure as well!
**Below are bonus images of the figure.**
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