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.
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X-Plus attended Super Festival 67 yesterday and had some new stuff on their table! Namely the 30cm Series Godzilla 2014 prototype. This time, however, it has two heads! One is in an awesome roaring pose (as you can see on the photo “borrowed” from the Kaiju Korner blog.) I guess that means it’s coming with a visible seam (actually a joint now) like the 30cm Baragon 1965. Sorry to complain. Hate unnecessary seams. I’m betting that the extra interchangeable head will come with the Ric Boy version and that it will be the roaring version. Save your pennies, kids. This figure looks like it’s going be a big one. It’s hard to tell from the photo angle but if you compare it to Mothra (assuming it’s as high as the ’61) and the Godzilla ’64, looks like Godzilla 2014 might be a head above most 30cm Series figures. Also gleaned from this Kaiju Korner photo is a better view of the leg stance. It looks noticeably wider than on previous photos of the prototype because of this new angle. Looks like they may be going for the big airport reveal scene pose, or possibly the victory roar pose at the end of the final fight with Mama MUTO. And, what’s this at the far end of the table? Mothra 1964? With an egg? Nice! Looks like the new figure will have the same “pose” as the Mothra Imago 1961 version. The egg seems to be attached to the base and is more than likely a Ric Boy exclusive extra. I will post more photos here as they come in. By John Stanowski Originally posted January 11th, 2015 on Kaiju Addicts.
30CM SERIES GODZILLA 2014 X-Plus revealed an unpainted prototype of their upcoming 30cm Series Godzilla 2014 at the Miyazawa Model Exhibition this month. No word yet on exact size and expected release. KAIJU MUSEUM GODZILLA LINE Also revealed: A new line of mini Godzilla figures in the X-Plus Kaiju Museum Series. These are made of polystone and are about 3.5 inches tall. Previous entries in this line included kaiju from the original Ultraman series which have insane detail and came with its own display case. (Photo credits go to Dengeki Hobby.) By John Stanowski Originally posted November 18th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
Sugoi! Have you ever wondered what your X-Plus Gigantic Series Godzilla 1995 vinyl figure would look without those itchy, burning patches? Now, thanks to collector Mark Callaway ((Leslie Chambers) a regular on the X-Plus Kaiju Collectors Club Facebook Group), you don’t have to! Mark made the bold move to cover those brilliant, translucent firey patches of red and orange with a fresh coat of standard Godzilla-black. He feathered in an ash white over those burning dorsal plates as well. The only part he couldn’t resolve were those tiny, piercing eyes which he left as they are. So, why the hell would anyone give up those awesome burning patches that came with the figure? That’s easy. Mark has more than one! By John Stanowski Originally posted November 17th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
KING GHIDORAH Woah, if this doesn’t get you excited for the upcoming King Ghidorah figure, I don’t know what will. X-Plus posted a second photo to whet our appetites even more. Wow! Hurry, December! We need King Ghidorah now! Also posted was a photo of the Fire Dragon which comes with the King Ghidorah Ric Boy version. (It also comes with a standard Kilaak Saucer.) Just posted on the Ric Boy Twitter feed, a new photo of an unpainted, soft vinyl “proof” from the factory. They seem pleased with it. And there are new details to be gleaned from this shot. The vinyl, unexpectedly, reaches out away from the body ready to help hug the wings when they’re inserted. I think this is great; not so much for the extra support but for the consistency in material and texture reaching over the wings. Supposedly the inside of the body will still be reinforced with “extra material” to really grab the wings when assembled. Also interesting are the heads. X-Plus had told me in an email that the heads would be injection molded, meaning hard plastic. It’s now obvious that what they meant was that the heads would contain injection molded parts (the horns and perhaps the tongues). Lookin’ good, X-Plus!! YUJI SAKAI GODZILLA 1989 OSAKA LANDING RIC BOY X-Plus proudly proclaimed that the Sakai ’89 Ric Boy will come with more LED lights than usual, now filling all three rows of dorsal fins. Finally, a nice, little, new feature: the Sakai ’89 Ric will come with a “lid” which you can use to plug into the power jack to hide the hole when not connected to the battery box for the light-up fins. Yuji Sakai Godzilla 1989 Ric Boy versions should be shipping at the beginning of November. By John Stanowski Originally posted October 27th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
The Fresh Vinyl Live crew chat about the upcoming X-Plus King Ghidorah, review the Yuji Sakai Godzilla 1989 and get into the Chiller convention next week where all three Godzilla suit actors will be in attendance. I’m also touched that they took a moment to make fun of me. …Bastards. By John Stanowski Originally posted October 19th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
It’s been quite a while since I joined fellow collectors on Rich Eso‘s Fresh Vinyl Live stream on YouTube. I was really glad to be back with Rich, Diego Doom, Samson West, David Dopko, Skreeonk’s Jon Bumpus, the Tokyo Toy Fiend, Cody Roberts and Dell Champagne Martinez. (Hope I didn’t forget anyone!) Saturday. We talked about the X-Plus Gigantic Series Godzilla 1995 and a slew of other X-Plus topics. If you have THREE AND A HALF hours to spare… check it out! By John Stanowski Originally posted September 22nd, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
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.
X-Plus King Ghidorah Vinyl Figure Rears Its HeadsX-Plus has just revealed the first image of the much anticipated Toho Large Monster Series King Ghidorah 1968 (東宝大怪獣シリーズ キングギドラ1968)! It’s currently on display at their booth at the Summer Wonder Festival show in Tokyo. The image was just posted on X-Plus’ Twitter account. It will be a part of the Toho Large Monster Series where most figures are typically 25cm tall (about 10 inches), but as you can see in the photo, the figure looms high above other figures in the series and has wings that teeter over even 30cm figures. They tweeted that the figure will be available later this year and that it is still pending approval. New 30cm Godzilla 1989 Figure by Yuji SakaiBut wait! That’s not all! Images ’round the web are showing a sign on the same table showing a new 30cm sculpt of Godzilla 1989 which was sculpted by Yuji Sakai. The image on the sign matches this sculpt (shown above) found on page 28 of Sakai’s book Godzilla Dream Evolution. An X-Plus figure based on a Yuji Sakai sculpt is a dream come true. But it’s going to come at a steeper price. ¥29,700. (Currently converts to $291.) X-Plus may have looked like it was falling asleep at the wheel for the past few months, but apparently they were hard at work getting ready to knock our socks off! No word yet as to pre-order or release dates. By John Stanowski Originally posted July 27th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
The X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Godzilla 1954 vinyl figure has been spotted in the Godzilla 2014 editing suite! It seems the original design was important to Godzilla 2014 director, Gareth Edwards. For the updated design, he wanted something that was derivative of the original. He asks us to imagine that the people in 1954 Japan saw his version of Godzilla and reported back with details of what they’ve seen. The result being the original 1954 design. So for inspiration and reference, he chose none other than the X-Plus Godzilla 1954 vinyl figure to display in his editing suite. This is yet another tip of the hat toward X-Plus’ outstanding sculpts and attention to accuracy! Watch the mini-documentary here. By John Stanowski Originally posted May 1st, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.
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Author/AboutJohn Stanowski
Owner/Blogger of Kaiju Addicts, a premiere X-Plus and figure related website. Kaiju Addicts is a guide to collecting X-Plus Godzilla/Kaiju vinyls. It is site that is a web portal featuring all things X-Plus including his own written figure reviews, news, release schedules as well as content from other collectors and reviewers. Kaiju Addicts Reviews and Original photos by John Stanowski, do not copy and reuse without permission. Photos are NOT to be used for selling. Kaiju Addicts also posts content from other reviewers and user submitted photos which are copyrighted by their owners and can not be copied without permission. All articles on this page are
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