We at Kaiju Battle like a range of figures for our personal collection, like many other fans, below we have our review of the Diamond Select Toys Godzilla Vinimates and a bonus review of the Godzilla 1974 Bank, special thanks to Diamond for these items.

Recently Diamond Select Toys released their first wave of Godzilla Vinimates figures, Godzilla 1954, Godzilla 1999, and Mechagodzilla 1974. These figures are similar to other Vinimates toys, and to a lesser extent Minimates toys, basic small figures with a slightly boxy look, and they stand four inches tall. The two Godzillas are very similar but are actually different sculpts except for the legs and arms, the only articulation on each is the head and the tail which I was surprised since there are seems on both the arms and legs. Mechagodzilla has only articulation for its head the reason for this is with both Godzillas you have to attach the tail (do to package size), which was not easy even with trying to heat it, Mechagodzilla comes fully assembled, note these are solid hard vinyl figures and despite their size are fairly heavy. The sculpts are pretty good for basic figures and the paint apps were good as well with almost no bleed. These figures are aimed at the younger crowd that collect POP! figures and such but adult collectors will like these too if you're into these type of figures.
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After the first wave of Godzilla Vinimates Diamond announced the Halloween Comicfest Vinimates and NYCC exclusive Vinimate, the Comicfest ones are GID Godzilla 1954 and Shadow Mechagodzilla, the NYCC version is GID Mechagodzilla. The Comicfest figures are the same sculpt as the regular versions the difference on Godzilla is GID paint for the eyes, claws on the hand and feet, and his fins (which glow fairly well but need natural light to reach their full brightness), Mechagodzilla features a dark color scheme that is reversed light to dark from the regular figure. Like the regular figures the sculpts and paint apps are good, these are a little more collectible do to them being exclusive for Comicfest. We don't have the NYCC version but it is the same Mechagodzilla sculpt as the others. As we said above these appeal more to the younger crowd but are cool for adult collectors too.
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Bonus review, a while back Diamond released a series of Godzilla based banks, two versions were available full figure and bust versions of Godzilla (multiple versions), Jet Jaguar, Rodan, Mechagodzilla, and King Ghidorah. Here we have the Godzilla 1974 full figure bank, these banks are very similar to other larger vinyl figures being hollow inside, they feature a coin slot on the back (Godzilla's is on the right side of his fins), the figure is fully assembled with only the head being removable to get the coins out. The sculpt and paint apps are good but these are not going to get mistaken for X-Plus vinyls anytime soon, but based on their retail being a lot cheaper they are a great poor man's replacement. They are still great figures nonetheless and since the coin slots are on the back most would not even realize they are banks, these can help built out anyone's collection and proudly.

NECA has steadily, but abit slowly, been releasing Godzilla figures their lastest being the Shin Godzilla 12 inch head to tail figure (6 inches tall). With Shin Godzilla NECA may be a little late to the party but that doesn't mean it's the best yet but it's also far from the worst figure of this version of Godzilla.

NECA's Shin Godzilla has an overall excellent sculpt, yes one can nit pick it but there really isn't a lot that one could find majorly wrong with it. The head is probably the one part most will find issue with, NECA redesigned the head after complaints about the prototypes that were revealed (something that happened with the Return Of Godzilla figure as well). We think the sculpt looks good what the issue may be is more with the joint between the head and the neck, Shin's head sits "in" the neck where most other NECA Godzilla figures it sits on top of the neck.

Other issue with Shin Godzilla's overall design, not with NECA's alone, is there is not a lot of distinguishing features, other Godzilla design have specific lines or details Shin is meant to be a rough looking design. This may have gave a lot of toy companies trouble designing the figures, and cause fans to be critical.

Joints on this figure are very similar to other NECA figures there are some tight and some not so. The head on ours popped off after taking him out of the package but it just popped back on. The other joint that gave us an issue was the tail but it wasn't the joint where you need to connect the tail but the one before it on the body side it won't stay in place but it actual isn't a major issue since when the figure is on a shelf, as it normal would be  the tail's weight is supported.

The paint on the figure is actual better then I thought, I was concerned because of prototype pics showed what looked to be some issues especially his tail which was shown to be almost all red but on the final figure blends better into the rest of the tail.

One thing that we noticed, and to be honest are not sure if this is or isn't correct, is the Shin's back fins are not uniform, they different lengths and positions. A Bandai figure had uniform fins but looking at stills from the film it's hard to say if this is the way they are supposed to be. This does not hurt the figure just something we were curious about. 

While this is an great figure it is not NECA best Godzilla but for the price it is an easy figure to add to a collection. 

Thanks to Summer Mullins at NECA.
(Also of note we apoligize on the photos, we are looking into a better photo display/set-up/camera for better pics to go along with the reviews in the future, thank you.)

​If I had to find fault with anything there are two issues, both minor. The back spikes are fine on the main portion of the back but the ones where the tail starts are not painted very well, looking from one side it can be accepted but it's more noticeable from the other side. It also seems like the edges of these spikes are rougher then the others possibly part of the problem.

The other issue also paint related involves the lower jaw, looking closely it appears the entire  jaw is either the same color as the inside of the mouth or the inside was painted first and the outside skin color didn't cover it all because of the skin texture. There are a few spots if you look closely you can see it but it's not noticeable at a quick glace. A second issue with the lower jaw is the tongue, which is a separate piece, the paint doesn't cover it all the way to the back of the mouth, you won't notice it unless you look for it because when posed normally the head is tilted forward.

Other then the minor paint issues this is right there with Godzilla '54 as one of the best NECA Godzilla figures, possible the best, and a definite must have, you can't go wrong with this awesome figure.

Special thanks to NECA for providing us with this awesome figure.

NECA has released a steady stream of kaiju figures both from Pacific Rim and Godzilla franchises. With the Godzilla figures they started off with figures based on the new film then they shifted to more classic figures and nothing could be more classic then a Godzilla '54 figure. 

As NECA has gone along with this series the figures have gotten more solid, the figures have gained weight to them and feel more sturdy. The series has had it issues particularly with the Godzilla '85 figure but NECA made changes to the figure before release a rarity in the industry. With the Godzilla '54 figure they have done an excellent job the figure it feels quite nice it's the heaviest of all so far, a good looking "strong" figure. 

Detail on this figure is excellent, it looks like it was made from the suit used in the film very classic in it's design, paint on the figure is on target with a black & white color scheme that also mimics the original film. 

Articulation is excellent on this figure allowing for good posing something lacking some on the '85 figure (pic below). If there is anything to find fault with I think it should be a little thinner especially the upper body.  

There is very little wrong with it, other then the think/thin issue the only other issue which is very minor to is the arms, there is an indentation for the articulation of them it looks out of sorts depending on how it is posed. The only other issue is the tail, the tip that you have to attach, it is very stiff it should be bendable but really isn't so it can only be posed straight. Packaging is basically the same as previous figures nothing overly unique there. 

This is one of if arguably not the best figure in the series a must buy for any die hard fan and even casual fans should get this awesome figure to add to there collection.