Full Review: X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Baragon 1968 Vinyl Figure

2/25/2014

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FIGURE SPECS

東宝30CMシリーズ「バラゴン（1968）発光版VER.」ＷＦ2014 冬開催記念商品

JAPAN ORIGINAL RELEASE: 2010

WF RE-ISSUE: 2014

DIAMOND RE-ISSUE: APRIL/MAY 2016

SERIES: TOHO 30CM SERIES

MATERIAL: SOFT VINYL

FROM: “DESTROY ALL MONSTERS”, 1968
怪獣総進撃

HEIGHT: 10.5 INCHES / 26.6 CM

WIDTH: 7.75 INCHES / 19.6 CM

LENGTH: 14 INCHES / 35.5 CM

FIGURE WEIGHT: 15.4 OZ / 436 G

ARTICULATION: NONE

REVIEW AND PHOTOS: JOHN STANOWSKI

The 1968 Destroy All Monsters version of Baragon was first put out in the Toho 30cm Series by X-Plus back in 2010 making it a rarity today. But eighty lucky collectors got their hands on a 2014 Re-issue made specially for the Wonder Festival toy show in Japan in February 2014. Forty figures were sold at the show, and forty more were sold online.

This figure was re-issued in 2016 for the North American market through Diamond Distributors. The “Godzilla Kaiju Baragon 1965/1968 Version” was released, to everyone’s surprise, with a bonus alternate head so you could go for the Frankenstein Conquers the World look or the Destroy All Monsters look.

This review is for the 2014 Winter Wonder Festival Commemorative Edition. This figure should be mostly identical to the original release (sans the light gimmick).

THE BOX

The 2014 Wonder Festival version of this figure comes in a plain 30cm box. If you’re hunting down the original version online, the box will have art on the front. The figure comes in two pieces (body and tail) twist-tied in an open plastic shell.

Heat the hole on the body with a hairdryer until it’s soft, and then push the unheated tail in. The tail joint is a sort of triangular / elliptical shape and requires a little more effort attaching.

SCULPT

If you’ve been looking at the same production photos available on the web over and over when trying to decide whether or not to get this guy, know this: it looks a whole lot better in person!

HEAD
The head on this figure seems a little wider than it did in the movie. I suspect that would be because he’s standing and has nothing behind him, whereas in the movie he was crawling and had his bulk behind him.

The real giveaway that you’re looking at the 1968 version is that the horn is pointing up instead of forward as with the 1965 suit. As for details, they’re all there. Note that the corners of his mouth, as seen from the side view, really stretch far back into the head. I’m assuming this is because this suit was so beat up from being repurposed as Ultraman kaiju over and over again.

The jaw is crooked on my figure and leans towards the left. I don’t know if they are all like this or not but it’s not overly noticeable.

As usual, X-Plus figures have individually sculpted teeth.

The bumpy texture on the top of the head looks amazing! But, I think, the details on the nose and snout are a little soft and look flat under normal lighting. I’m not complaining, though. If you’re a fan of Baragon, this is a must have!

The mushroom-combed texture on the back ridges is very detailed.

The chunky, bunchy nature of the smooth-skinned Baragon suit shines on this figure. The reptilian-pattern on the chest looks fantastic.

JOINTS & SEAMS

The Toho 30cm Series Baragon has more visible joints than on most other X-Plus figures. The arm and leg joints are visible and aren’t glued or sealed. The sculpt, though, attempts to hide these seams with bulges and ripples in the suit. Unfortunately, nothing can hide the line running around the bottom of Baragon’s neck. It’s times like this that I need to remind myself that these are almost, but not quite, the super perfect statues I’ve always wanted to collect. They are still vinyl figures, and vinyl figures have a long history of doll-like joints. X-Plus just does a better job of hiding them… most of the time.

The ridges running down Baragon’s back and tail do a good job of concealing the tail joint.

POSE

The pose is simple and I like that. Though I don’t know where the inspiration for this pose came from. The only scene with Baragon in Destroy All Monsters that I can recall, which was really more of a super quick cameo, had him on his hands and knees in crawling position. But I’m actually glad this figure is bipedal since it’s from the 30cm Series. They’re so big, they look better standing up on two legs.

And this standing pose demands less room on the shelf. His head is turned ever so slightly to his left so displaying him from a forward three-quarter angle on his left side would look best on the shelf. It also helps that his left arm is lower than the right so this angle of him looks especially nice. But this guy looks good from any angle!

PAINT JOB

The Wonder Festival Baragon Commemorative Edition has a base coat of a dull brown, with plenty of reddish brown highlights which are awesome. They are very subtle and give the base color an overall realistic quality. It does lack, though, the extra layer of brighter highlights which the Large Monster Series Standing Baragon had.

The ridges which run down the back and tail are painted a lighter brown (almost tan) and is much more refined and subtle than on the Large Monster Series version. This looks top notch! That same lighter brown feathers over the claws and ears.

The teeth are a realistic-looking dirty white and look very un-toylike (which is a GOOD thing!) The inside of the mouth also has a more grown up unsaturated shade of red. The eyes are a brighter white and a bit stark, but that’s a good match for the real suit. They also have a glossy sheen to them.

The paint job is just great in my opinion.

SIZE COMPARISONS

The X-Plus 30cm Series Baragon is, as one would expect, taller than the Large Monster Series (25cm) Standing Baragon released in 2013, even though the smaller figure is really big for the line it belongs too. Pictured in front is the Large Monster Series (Crawling) Baragon.

It fits in well with his Destroy All Monsters buddies, X-Plus 30cm Series Anguirus 1968 and Godzilla 1968.

Baragon sizes up well with the rest of his Toho 30cm Series buddies. Shown here: Hedorah and Mechagodzilla 1974.

FOOTPRINT

Baragon’s tail is short and curled up in the back which gives him a length of only 14 inches, three of which you can subtract if you only care about the distance from the toes to the tail. This figure is very accommodating when it comes to finding room on the shelf.

2014 Wonder Festival Special Feature

The Ric Boy version of the 2010 release came with an extra alternative head sculpted to look like the 1965 version. That extra head does NOT come with the Wonder Festival Commemorative Edition. Instead you get yet another light gimmick. The horn lights up brightly. The eyes light up as well, but not as bright.

And then there are….

LIGHT LEAKS
I’m sad to report that my Baragon figure is plagued with light leaks. Speckles show up all over his face and even more drastic are lines around the eyes. The figure you get may not be this bad, or have leaks at all. Then again, they might be worse.

I’m seeing light leaks from X-Plus figures all the time now. My 30cm Series Space Godzilla has them, and the entire right side of the face on my new Ultraseven Standing figure gets flooded with unwanted light when it’s turned on. I’m not sure how to fix this. Adding black paint on the inside may help, but in Baragon’s case, his face is deep inside the head piece and requires a 90-degree turn to get to it. Plus the wires are in the way. I guess there’s nothing to do about this problem except to keep the lights off.

Careful!

WATCH OUT FOR TOE SCRAPES
The paint on the claws and toes of most X-Plus vinyls can scrape very easily when handled. Toe scrapes usually happen when removing a figure from the shelf, moving it and, of course, drops. My Wonder Festival Baragon took a tumble while shooting photos for this review. Above you can see in the photo above: one toe was scraped and another lost a noticeable chunk of paint. My fault, yes, but it’s very easy to do, especially with Baragon’s long, thin toes.

The very nature of these vinyls tend to make one think that they’re safe, can take tumbles and don’t need the same care that, say, a resin model or statue require. But it’s that thinking that makes one overly carefree when handling these figures. Be careful!

SUMMARY

Despite having more visible joint seams than usual, this figure is multi-textured, highly detailed and deliciously retro-60’s-kaiju-looking! And the careful and detailed paint job makes it even better! Either release of the X-Plus Toho 30cm Series Baragon is sure to add some awesome sauce to your shelves!

By John Stanowski Originally posted February 25th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.

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