Marmit
has, overtime, garnished a dedicated cult following
for their releases. Often very stylized, harking
back to the more simplistic and durable toys of
yesteryear, Marmit stands out from similar companies
like Marusan and Bullmark for their generally more
faithful color schemes. All the same, their releases
often make poor bedfellows with the more detailed
and properly proportioned vinyls from Bandai and
others. This figure, of Maguma the giant walrus
from the destruction movie Gorath
(1962), is a bit of an exception.
Due to the fairly straight forward look of the
monster itself, this Marmit release is generally
very faithful to the source character. Particular
attention was paid to the face, which was an excellent
decision as its really the only remarkable quality
of the character from a visual standpoint. The beast's
rather creepy solid teal eyes are present, allowing
the toy to convey a level of menace often not found
in other Marmit toys. The large tusks are also nice,
with each being a separate piece of plastic that
effectively convey an ivory-like appearance. On
the downside, the small teeth, while present, are
less impressive, as there is a solid brown plastic
rim with the teeth painted over. To be fair, though,
this keeps in line with the ideal that Marmit is
aiming for with their releases.
On the downside, the rest of the body is pretty
simple without much to discuss. However, the same
could be said of the original suit that appeared
in the 1962 movie, so this is nothing to fault the
manufacturer for. In fact, a bumpy-like texture
adores the creature from neck to flipper, adding
a sense of detail. The flippers themselves are a
bit simple, but effective. The are colored silver
here, including the back ones. The coloring here
is not something that was present on the original
suit that was featured in Gorath
(1962), but could arguably be presented as snow
adoring the monster's feet. Also, to be honest,
its more aesthetically pleasing versus an all brown
body. The monster's stance, while not offering a
lot of flexibility through play, is generally very
nice and similar to what was seen in the creature's
onscreen appearance.
Overall, its a nice toy that does well to appeal
to both Marmit collectors and Toho fans who appreciate
the more "photo realistic" approach that
firms like Bandai and X-Plus use.
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