​東宝大怪獣リーズ
「ゴジラ（1964版）モスラ対ゴジラ」

​JAPAN ORIGINAL RELEASE: 2012

​JAPAN RE-ISSUE (WITH MOTHRA SET): APRIL 2015

​SERIES: LARGE MONSTER SERIES (25CM SERIES)

​MATERIAL: VINYL

​FROM: モスラ対ゴジラ
“MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA”, 1964

​HEIGHT (WITH BASE): 9.5 INCHES / 24.13 CM (WITHOUT BASE): 9 INCHES / 22.8 CM

​WIDTH: 4.5 INCHES / 11.43 CM

​LENGTH (NOSE TO TAIL): 13.5 INCHES / 34.29 CM

​FIGURE WEIGHT (WITH BASE): 15 OZ / 425 G (WITHOUT BASE): 10 OZ / 283 G

​REVIEW AND PHOTOS: JOHN STANOWSKI. SOME PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY LESTER WAYNE DANIELS AND RICH ESO.

​The Toho Large Monster Series Godzilla 1964 was released by X-Plus in early 2012. It’s modeled after the suit as it appeared in Mothra vs. Godzilla. This suit was used again (with some modifications) in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster which also came out in 1964. Depending on your level of OCD, this figure will do fine to represent either movie on your shelves.

​The 25cm Godzilla 1964 comes in the standard Large Monster Series window box. This same box design gets used for all of the Large Monster Series figures that will fit into it. The only thing on the box that’s different and identifies the figure is a long black sticker on the bottom of the front.

Inside, the figure is wired into a plastic shell made just for the main body, the tail which you must attach yourself and the base.

Special thanks to Lester Wayne Daniels for the photos of the box. My box is long gone.

This vinyl comes with a base which is needed for the figure to stand properly. A rare move for X-Plus. It is not attached; the figure’s feet simply rest on impressions on the top. It’s fairly snug and the figure fairly steady when on it. If you’re not diggin’ the base, you can push it out of the way and let Godzilla’s feet touch the ground. See the Footprint on the Shelf section for more on that.

​A picture is worth a thousand words, and the one above shows that the Large Monster Series Godzilla 1964 by X-Plus is unmistakably a fantastic representation of the suit. I’m going to have to say it yet again: it looks like it walked right out of the movie.

​All of MosuGoji’s unique signature characteristics are captured accurately in the sculpt. The shape of his head, his long, thin fingers and even little details like every spike on his dorsal fins is here on this figure. Note the unique “V” shaped fin at the top of this back, and the extra spikey fin further down. This guy is crazy accurate.

Not only did X-Plus reproduce the suit’s details accurately, but its personality, movement and gait as well.

​Signature features of the 1964 Godzilla suit are here in the sculpt. The smooth, sweeping eyebrows, jowls and inward slanted teeth are faithfully represented.

Once again, I have to point out this excellent X-Plus figure has individually sculpted teeth. Okay, who’s getting tired of reading that? We all know this by now, I know. But I have to consider the new collectors!

​The sculpt represents the head on the original suit very well from every single angle! A nice touch are the crinkles in the skin at the bottom of the neck, where the rubber head started to fall forward over suit actor Haruo Nakajima’s real head inside!

I’m surprised that this figure does not have the dimples in the sculpt to represent the holes Nakajima was able to see through. X-Plus usually adds that feature on other figures.

​Let’s use some camera trickery to even out the heights and focus on the sculpts.

​This is the Large Monster Series (25cm) Godzilla 1964 beside the 30cm Series Godzilla 1964. They are NOT the same size. Actually, the larger figure on the right is standing about 12 inches further away from the camera than the smaller figure on the left. This is a forced perspective in-camera trick to make the two appear to be the same size. I did this so that we could ‘line them up’ and compare sculpt details from both on even ground.

And I have to stop and say, Woah, look how similar they are! No really, holy shit, X-Plus! How are you that good?? The proportions line up and the size of mostly everything matches up perfectly. The only difference I see in in the size of the feet. Still… Wow! X-Plus’ sculpting expertise astounds me yet again.

WHO’S BETTER?
Well, what do YOU think? Comment below and let us know which is your favorite sculpt. That’s if you see much of a difference.

​First, I’d like to review my definitions of joints and seams because I’ve heard the two used interchangeably recently.

A joint in the real world is an articulate surface, like a human knee or elbow. Articulated figures have mechanisms referred to as joints because, well, they’re articulated. In the world of vinyl statues, however, a joint is limited to the joining of two separate pieces which are not glued nor have had any attempt at being filled or covered. They are, most of the time, free to rotate.

A seam is an area where two pieces are held together with glue. On a vinyl statue these are most commonly seen at elbows, knees and jaws. This connection of separate pieces does not allow for any movement at all. Basically, a seam is a visible line which ideally should not be there in the first place.

Now, with that out of the way, this figure’s only joint is at the tail. It’s reasonably concealed within the sculpted bands of the tail.

There are seams above both elbows and below both knees. They are relatively unnoticeable with the exception of the right elbow. There’s likely a seam around the bottom jaw but you can’t see it so let’s move on. The entire of row of dorsal fins, as usual, are a attached to a separate piece of vinyl glued onto the body. The seams here, also as usual, are pretty much invisible. Deduct some points from my review for even bringing it up.

To summarize, there isn’t much to see here except an excellent sculpt!

The pose is more expressive than most X-Plus Godzilla vinyls. I have to point out the hands right away. They look and feel so real. I actually feel like they’re getting ready to close by themselves.

There’s a subtle sway in the monster’s step. He’s looking down and slightly toward its left. Also, a big thing to note is that the figure is in mid-step with its right heel still off the ground. Here’s where that base comes into play for making this pose possible. As interesting as the base is, I’d rather the figure had a more standard footing so that the base didn’t have to be there all the while messing up the pattern on my shelves.

THE LEAN
Which brings me to the lean. If you look at the front and rear views of this figure, you’ll see the lean I’m talking about. It looks great from some angles and makes it look like Godzilla is actually walking. However, from some angle it also seems to be too much. Click the photo above for a larger view and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

If you happen to not like the base, or the lean, or both, I have a couple great tips for you down below in the Footprint on the Shelf section.

​The X-Plus Godzilla 1964 is a tad more colorful than other Godzilla figures. It’s black skin is glowing with a blueish/greenish glow with a dull, lighter greenish spray of highlights on the chest. Subtle neutral highlights can be found on the higher elevations of the skin all over the figure. Drab green coats the signature 1964 “eyebrows”.

The teeth are an excellent, non-stark, off white and a gummy pink fills in the rest of the mouth. The whites of his eyes are also off white and on the darker side. Like it! Black is used for combined retina/iris balls of mean stare. It looks like they dabbed over the black with a glossy filter paint to give them a little shine — a nice touch for something so small on the figure.

The claws are a dirty tan with even darker shadowing sprayed close to the ‘cuticles’. We seem to have some disagreement between the two scales on which shade these bony bits should be colored. The 30cm Series Godzilla 1964 has a dirty ivory color instead of the tan used on the 25.

​The Large Monster Series Godzilla 1964 fits in well with other figures in the line as seen here with the 1966 (left) and the 1968 (right). The 64’s base gives the figure a half inch boost and thus makes him out to be taller than he really is. But you can fix that …

If you like, you can let your 64 touch the floor with only his tail resting on the base, now pushed toward the back. Everyone is seeing eye to eye now.

​The 25cm Godzilla 1964 almost seems dwarfed by the Mothra Imago 1961, but these are the correct proportions. Mothra was a big ol’ bitch back then! By the way, you need use the 61 Mothra for only a little while longer since a 1964 version is in the works and due out later this year.

Here is the Godzilla ’64 flanked by his Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster buddies, Rodan 1964 and as a stand-in, the King Ghidorah 1968. (The non-scale Mothra larva was the Ric Boy extra that came with Rodan.) As you can see, nice fit! 

And just for the hell of it, here’s the Large Monster Series 64 with the Toho 30cm Series Godzilla 1964.

​This figure gets along well with other on the shelf and doesn’t ask more much room. It’s 13.5 inches long from the nose to the tip of the tail. It’s about one inch less if you just go by the front of the base to the tail.

​TO LEAN OR NOT TO LEAN

This figure has a lean which looks great from some angles, but looks like too much from other angles. There is an easy fix if you’d rather your 64 was standing straight. While keeping the forward leg completely in its footprint on the base, lift the back of the figure and swing it slightly toward the side so that the rear foot comes out of its footprint and rest closer to the edge. That right there will make the figure stand tall, and it’s still reasonably sturdy, too.

BASE, AWAY WITH THEE!
If you’re just not diggin’ the whole base thing at all, do this: stand your 64 directly on the shelf and place the base (rotated 90 degrees) out of the way behind the figure. Lift the tail and rest it on the same rocky hill it was resting on before, just from the side this time. Note that the figure will still have the lean.

If you want a baseless, lean-less pose, slide the tail off the rock and rest it beside it. This will make the figure stand straight.

​The Ric Boy version of the original release came with two mini Mothra larva figures. One is straight while the other has a curl in the tail. They’re a tad small to be in scale with the main figure, but they make nice addition nonetheless. Alas, I don’t have them. Special thanks to Rich Eso for taking a photo of his.

By John Stanowski Originally posted February 28th, 2015 on Kaiju Addicts.

The X-Plus Kaiju Museum is a line of small polyresin figurines. Eleven were made a year or two ago based on the original Ultraman television series. They are about 4 inches tall on average and yet have amazing detail and likenesses. Each one came with a sturdy, plastic display case.

I thought now would be a good time for an overview of these amazing figurines since the line is getting re-booted with a focus on Godzilla characters. X-Plus has told me that those will start coming out sometime in the first quarter of 2015. But, more on that further down the page. For now, let’s talk about the Ultras.

​This is the Kaiju Museum Zaragas by X-Plus. It has INCREDIBLE detail, texture and paint applications. Just look at the eyes! All of this is typical of each figurine in the series. Some of them come with translucent parts for really nice touches as in the case of Zaragas’ horn seen above.

Here’s a close-up of Ultra-Kaiju Antlar. Note the nice texture on the head and front mandibles. Antlar also has fine, thin mandible bits around his mouth. They look fantastic but seem prone to breaking. Mine actually arrived with one broken mouth piece while it was still in the box. But more on that later.

​The Ultra Kaiju Ragon looks ridiculously accurate and from every angle. …And they’re all like that!

​All of this suit accuracy, detail and texture is crammed into an average size of only 4 inches. It must have taken a secret pact with Xiliens, Kilaacks, people from Venus, people from the future and a deal with the devil to make these figures possible. How else could X-Plus manage to make these so awesome and yet so small at the same time?

And, you know what’s really crazy? They are fully capable of standing on their own. Of course the monsters with tails can stand on their own with no problem, but even the bipeds like Baltan 1 and Ragon can too. The one exception is Pigmon who absolutely requires his base in order to stand, but more on bases later.

Okay, let’s look at more figures.

​You’ve already seen Ragon, Zagaras and Antlar. Here are shots of the rest. Don’t forget, you can click on all the photos for larger, hi-res views.

ULTRAMAN
The original Ultraman is sculpted reasonably well for something so small. It may be a bit smoother than it should be. The paint job is fantastic considering someone at the factory had to ‘stay in the lines’ with this tiny figurine. The eyes and timer are made of translucent material. Nice touch! He can stand on his own but it’s just a matter of time before a sneeze knocks him over. Keep this one in his case!

BEMULAR
Ultraman’s first kaiju foe is a wonder of detail and texture. The scales are intricately and deeply sculpted allowing light and shadow to play on the texture which brings it out even more. It also has individually sculpted teeth and an amazing paint job on the eyes.

BALTAN 1
Wow! Baltan’s head is packed with texture and detail. The ‘eye pin holes’ for the suit actor are clearly visible which I find incredible considering it’s so small. And suit accuracy abounds! Just as on the vinyl version, each claw has a row of 9 square indents on the inside of each claw; exactly how many there should be. Eyes are made of translucent plastic and the figure stands on its own, but the slightest bump and he’s down. Keep him in his display case.

NERONGA
I have the same good words for Neronga. Look at the square pattern on his chest and note how the squares start to break up and scatter just as they did on the suit. His horn is made of translucent material and looks fantastic! Unfortunate for me, the tip had broken off before I even opened the box. His “ears” come as separate pieces which you can just insert either back or forward ready to fire. This figurine has a bit of heft to it compared to most of the others. It’s solid.

GREENMONS
The texture, crinkles and folds on Greenmons looks great, especially for such a small piece. One thing watch out for on this one, are the tiny protruding protuberances crowning his head and running down his sides. Again, my figurine arrive with a couple of these broken off, even before I got it out of the box. Seems like a fairly easy fix with a steady hand and some super glue.

PIGMON
Holy crap, this thing is incredible! Not only does it look exactly like Pigmon, but the level of detail knocks me out of my chair! You just have to see it for yourself in person to really appreciate it. One thing to note is Pigmon can not stand on his own at all. Don’t even try it or he may break a finger or his tail in the fall. Keep him on his stand and in his display case.

And already seen above:

ZARAGAS
Another solid and hefty entry in the line. Zaragas sports astounding detail. The shuffled, raised square pattern on his chest is incredibly detailed. And the paint job on this one is particularly impressive. Again, this figurine has a cool looking translucent horn and wicked crazy good eyes!

ANTLAR
You already got really good looks at the Kaiju Museum Antlar’s details from the photos above. One thing you may not have seen are the smaller insectoid mouth bits which stick out a good three quarters of an inch or so in front of it. This are prime targets for breakage. And even though somewhat shielded from the giant claw-like mandibles. Looking at it you would think that he’s top heavy, but he does stand well on his own. Better safe than sorry, though. Keep him in the case.

RAGON
The main thing you’ll notice from Ragon is the insane detail on the eyes and teeth. I’m looking at mine right now and I just can’t believe they got fit it all in a space smaller than a quarter. The paint job on the eyes is so good, you might almost feel like he’s actually looking at you. The top row of teeth are individually sculpted. Yes, you read that right. The bottom row, are not but do have deep enough lines between each tooth to make them appear to be individually sculpted. And, check this out, they actually painted shadows between the lower teeth. I can’t even relate to you how tiny these teeth are, so to see this … all I can say is Hail, X-Plus!

OTHER KAIJU MUSEUM FIGURES
Recently X-Plus ‘revealed’ a couple more figures from this line. Apparently they were custom made for DeAgostini. A Zarab, Baltan 2 and a (reissue of) Pigmon were made available for pre-order in October 2014. I don’t have these so I can’t show them to you, but you can click on their names to see their archived pages on the X-Plus Ric Boy site.
(Edit X-Plus' pages are no longer available, images below.)

​Everyone knows by now that polyresin is fragile. It should go without saying that these figurines should be handled with care, especially the thinner ones. But even the fat, bulky figurines have some finer details which could break. And that’s why you absolutely should keep them in their display cases.

Unfortunately, you may not even get a chance to break them yourself. I had three Kaiju Museum figurines arrive with broken pieces loose in the packaging. I suspect this was not due to rough handling during shipping. As I said, they are pretty immobile in the box. Instead, I think the breaks happened while the factory workers inserted the figurines into their bags. Greenmons and Antlar, especially, have long, thin details which could snap off just by holding them the wrong way.

Now, if you have a steady hand and some super glue, you may be able to fix these little problems easily. But keep in mind, these broken pieces may be tiny. It may require little fingers or tweezers to get the repair work done.

Most of the figurines are fairly safe to handle but as I’ve already said, some of them come with protruding details so small that the mere act of picking one up the wrong way could cause an accident. Again, watch out for Greenmons who has tiny sprouts all over it’s body. And Antlar’s insectoid mandibles and mini mouth bits need careful attention.

And just so you know, some of these are so small and thin, that they actually feel like you could crush them into pieces just be squeezing them. Ragon, for instance, has legs which are only a quarter of a inch thick!

Now, I hope I’m not scaring you away from these amazing, awesome figurines. They really will be fine if you handle them carefully. And they should be fine on your shelves if placed in their cases. They really are pretty damn awesome.

​The Kaiju Museum Ultraman figurines come in brown window boxes. And there are several layers of protection for what’s inside.

​The figurines are slipped into plastic bags and sealed into… I don’t know what to call this packaging, but there are two form-fitting plastic pieces which snap together keeping the figurines inside absolutely immobile.

Then each one is placed inside the display case which is designed to hold not only the figure but it’s plastic shells. When you squeeze a Kaiju Museum box, it’s hard and sturdy and that’s because of the display case inside cradling the contents.

​Liberate the figurines from the packaging and place them on their base pegs and they’re ready for display.

Because every Kaiju Museum figurine has a tiny footprint, you would think that shelf space need never be a concern. But since half of them aren’t prepared to stand well on their own you should set them into their display case stands which take up twice as much room as the figures alone. And the larger your collection gets, the more of these plastic boxes you’ll have. Optimally, a thin ‘knickknack’ shelf unit would be ideal to display these. But if you’re left with only standard shelves, you could better utilize space on it by lining up these figurines in their cases in two rows and employing risers on the back row for a stepped, ziggurat look.

DISPLAY CASE SIZES
The cases are all about 5 inches high. Thinner, biped figurine cases are about 3.5 inches across the front and about 2.75 inches on the sides. Cases with larger figurines sporting tails are about 6 inches across the front and 3.5 inches on the sides.

Now as for the upcoming Godzilla figurines: most likely most of those will have no trouble at all standing on their own and you could bunch them together just like you would a group of mini Sakai Dioramas. Although they’d would be much safer if protected in their cases.

Speaking of Godzilla figurines…

The Kaiju Museum Ultraman line seems to have ended. I haven’t seen a new figurine for well over a year now (except for those DeAgostini specials). However, it seems the Museum will be opening again and will feature kaiju from the Godzilla franchise. X-Plus revealed 3 new figurines at the Miyazawa Model Exhibition last November. On the table were Godzilla 1954, Godzilla 2004 and Gigan 2004. Interesting choices. X-Plus must feel that these will appeal to newer, younger collectors with two Final Wars characters in the opening line-up.

HOLD UP ONE SEC
Are you looking at that Gigan 2004 and thinking what I’m thinking? Given everything I’ve said about fragility and breakerishness of the Ultra figurines X-Plus is certainly making a very, very bold move here. Of all the kaiju in the Godzilla universe, Gigan 2004 must be near the top of the list for characters with long spikey bits. X-Plus must be really confident that they’ve solved the problem of breaks occurring in the factory. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
(Kaiju Battle Note: Gigan was never released, but a painted version was shown as well, pic below.)

X-Plus has since teased us with a painted sample of the Godzilla 2004 on their blog which you can see here.

​By John Stanowski Originally posted February 9th, 2015 on Kaiju Addicts.

​Winter Wonder Festival in Chiba, Japan is just getting started and already we have a couple peeks at the X-Plus table. Here’s our first look at a painted version of the upcoming Large Monster Series Mothra Imago 1964! Beside her is the LMS Godzilla 1964 which is expected to get re-issued.

​And perhaps even (literally) bigger news is the presence of the Large Monster Series Biollante on the table. WOW! Collectors have been clamoring for a Biollante re-issue and it seems their wishes are about to come true. And she’s not alone, the Large Monster Series Godzilla 1989 is up for reissue as well!

Oh, wait, there’s more…

Both Biollante and Godzilla are coming with light gimmicks. You can see the 光 (hikari-light-shine) symbol on the sign! It also seems they will be bundled together in a set. There are reports that this set will go up for pre-order around May 2015.

Not enough for ya? How about the next entry into the Yuji Sakai Modelling Collection? The Sakai Godzilla 1991 Hokkaido Version has been teased just like the first entry was with a sign on the table. And if you remember correctly, it was not long at all before the figure actually went up for pre-order!

Here’s a photo of the prototype X-Plus sent to me last month. Lookin’ good!

If you have the Yuji Sakai Godzilla Dream Evolution book, turn to page 29 — that’s him!

Sakai also made a Godzilla 1991 Shinjuku version which looks a bit too similar in pose to the 1989 Osaka version we already have. So I think the Hokkaido version was the better choice, especially since it has a closed mouth. (I’d like to see more closed-mouth figures.) The Hokkaido version also has killer arm and claw poses. It looks freaking awesome!

The Sakai Godzilla 1991 Hokkaido has a long, winding tail which seems to rise up higher than any other X-Plus Godzilla figure. Also, Sakai’s curious habit of sculpting the tail above the ground is back. Only this time it’s significantly higher than on the Sakai ’89. I really hope X-Plus plans on including a small mini-base for the tail to rest on.

Also on display at Wonder Festival was the special light-up reissue of the the 30cm Series Godzilla 2004 and the Ultraseven “Boss”. If you’re at the show you can grab one right now. But if you’re like most of us, you have to enter the online lottery for a chance to buy one.

And there’s a bunch of new Ultraman kaiju being teased at Wonder Festival as well. Whew! There’s a TON of good stuff heading our way!

GODZILLA 2014
Although the X-Plus Godzilla 2014 was not at the show, staff told collector Sarawud Kongkiattiwong that the latest Goji should go up for pre-order at the end of March 2015.

Thanks to Toon Narak for the Mothra and Biollante photos and for Eakarach Monwat from the X-Plus Kaiju Collectors Club Facebook Page for sharing the photos!

By John Stanowski Originally posted February 7th, 2015 on Kaiju Addicts.

Fellow Philadelphian and X-Plus collector John Ruffin takes photos of a wide array of awesome Japanese toys and collectibles for his web site My Kaiju Godzilla. With John’s permission, I’ve selected a small sampling of his skills to share with you here. 

(All Photos ©, John Ruffin.)

Visit My Kaiju Godzilla for more kaiju shots from John Ruffin!

By John Stanowski Originally posted February 4th, 2015​ on Kaiju Addicts.