All About the X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Yuji Sakai Godzilla 1989 Vinyl Figure

ALL PHOTOS: X-PLUS.

It was only two weeks ago that news of a Yuji Sakai sculpt being used for a new X-Plus vinyl broke at Summer Wonder Festival in Tokyo. And before we could spend much time wondering when it would go up for pre-order, X-Plus dropped a kaiju bomb. The time… is now!

On Friday, August 8, the Toho 30cm Series Yuji Sakai Model Collection Godzilla (1989), “Osaka Landing” Vinyl Figure showed up on X-Plus’ Ric Boy site, ready for orders!

By the way, how about that name! It’s longer than Godzilla’s tail! And it’s even LONGER in Japanese: 東宝30cmシリーズ 酒井ゆうじ造形コレクション ゴジラ（1989）「第四種警戒態勢 大阪上陸」.

NOTE: I’m familiar with only a handful of kanji, katakana and hiragana. So I can’t read Japanese. And I’m not all that good at deciphering Google translations of Japanese either. So, keep in mind that I did my best to glean information you could use from a Japanese-only source. Now, on to what we know:

​IT’S SCULPTED BY YUJI SAKAI
I won’t pretend to know everything about this guy who is so incredibly verbose with his hands and a bit of clay. But I can tell you he’s one of the most respected Godzilla model sculptors. If you can shed more light on Sakai-san, please do in the comments. If you’ve never heard of him, I can say you’ve probably seen his work. Most of the S.H. MonsterArts figures were sculpted by him. This guy is good. He knows every Godzilla suit by heart and has proved it time and time again. His work can be found in the book Godzilla Dream Evolution. You can get it from Amazon.com. You can also get it a lot cheaply from Amazon.co.jp. (It’s okay, it’s a book. They will accept your money and will ship directly to you.)

The sculpt for the Osaka Landing ’89 figure was originally released by Sakai as a resin kit. X-Plus has many times in the past made figures from previous resin kits so this isn’t something new.

REGULAR RELEASE: RIC BOY AND STANDARD
This isn’t a web special or limited run. It will come in two flavors like we’re used to. The Ric Boy version has translucent fins and a light gimmick. And, even though the standard version does not, it will likely still have the same, soft, translucent fins.

IT’S EXPENSIVE
Yuji Sakai’s name and work come at a price. The Ric Boy version will cost you ¥28,944 ($284). The standard is reported to cost ¥27,000 ($264). Ouch!

IT’S SHORT
X-Plus openly admits this figure stands only at 28cm (about 11 inches). Though very disappointing, it’s not something most of us are not used to. The X-Plus Godzilla 1968, 1984 and 2004 also come in at around 28cm. (Not that we’re happy with that.)

This is the part I find confusing. Apparently the original Sakai sculpt is a full 30cm. They used the original master mold to make a wax cast, which was then used to create a new mold for X-Plus to use. And somewhere along the line there was some shrinkage, leaving us with a final product of only 28cm.

WHEN? WHERE?
NOW! If you’re set up with the Ric Boy site you can preorder an exclusive right now. Orders will be taken until August 25. No doubt the Standard version will begin to show up on sites like Hobby Search, AmiAmi and Hobby Link Japan. The figures are expected to release in Late September / Early October.

WHY ARE THE PHOTOS SO DARK?
From what I understand, these photos show a prototype figure which was painted on the spot at X-Plus Headquarters in Osaka. So what the photo shows paint-wise hasn’t been finalized yet. I’ve lightened the photos just so that you can see more detail in the sculpt.

DIAMOND RE-ISSUE OF ORIGINAL X-PLUS 30CM SERIES GODZILLA 1989 ON THE WAY
If this new Sakai figure is too short or too expensive for you, it’s good to know you have another option. Diamond announced at SDCC this year that Wave 7 will include a re-issue of X-Plus’ original Godzilla 1989 figure which is a full 12 inches tall and will cost between $139 and $159. It will go up for pre-order later this year. Check out the Kaiju Addicts X-Plus Godzilla ’89 Review for a closer look.

By John Stanowski Originally posted August 9th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.