​東宝大怪獣シリーズ 「ジェットジャガー」

​JAPAN ORIGINAL RELEASE: LATE 2010

JAPAN FIRST RE-ISSUE: LATE 2012

​JAPAN SECOND RE-ISSUE: JUNE/JULY 2016

​SERIES: TOHO LARGE MONSTER SERIES (25CM)

MATERIAL: SOFT VINYL

FROM: “GODZILLA VS. MEGALON”, 1973
ゴジラ対メガロ

HEIGHT: 9.25 INCHES / 23.4 CM​

​FIGURE WEIGHT: 3 OZ / 85 G

​ARTICULATION: SHOULDERS, WRISTS, ANKLES.

​REVIEW AND PHOTOS: JOHN STANOWSKI WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY LESTER WAYNE DANIELS

The X-Plus Toho Large Monster Series Jet Jaguar was released way back in 2010 shortly after the beginning of the modern era of X-Plus accuracy awesomeness. This size-changing robot appeared once in the 1973 film Godzilla vs. Megalon. And these days, he’s quite a prize considering his rarity and super-high price tag.

This figure is a part of the Large Monster Series (or 25cm Series as it’s often called) and is totally in scale with other figures from that line.

(Special thanks goes out to Lester Wayne Daniels for allowing me to use a few of his photos for this review.)

This figure is packaged in a box which sports the usual Large Monster Series art, although it’s sized down to look more like an X-Plus Ultraman box. Inside, the figure is wired into a clear, plastic shell. It comes with black base with a peg which fits under one foot, but this is optional since the figure is more than capable of standing on its own.

This thing isn’t just a nice Jet Jaguar figure, it’s crazy-accurate! I have to say it again… This figure looks like it just walked right out of the movie.
Now, THIS is the reason I collect X-Plus!

Even with movie accuracy aside for a moment, the details on this sculpt are pretty impressive.

The head and face on this figure really make me wonder how human hands can sculpt something like this. It just looks outstanding. And the detail is insane! Particularly impressive is the mouth “grill”. This pattern is deep and precise… and all in a space smaller than a dime!

The eyes are molded in clear, smooth plastic tinted blue. A series of concentric circles molded on the inside create the ridges for Jet’s eyes. Sidenote: I only now realized how Jet Jaguar’s face was modeled after old Japanese Noh masks and demon paintings. See for yourself: can you find Jet?

Jet Jaguar’s antennae are skillfully etched into the head with fine detail. No, sorry, they don’t fold out.

The back sports the many flat and subtle elevations found on the suit. It’s almost a shame that this has to face the wall while on your shelf. The conjoined arrows in Jet’s “belt” area is insanely detailed for something so small. (By the way, that arrow is pointing toward his junk. What’s that about?) Finally, those subtle lines which look like seams on the mid-upper legs are not seams, but an actual detail on the suit. I never noticed these lines before I got this figure. I looked for them on the blu ray to see if they were actually there and they were. This just goes to show that if you go with X-Plus, you get it all. Even the details you never noticed before while watching the movies.

The head has an unsealed joint but just wants to be left alone. Don’t try to turn his head. The shoulders a freely moving joints and you can pose your Jet Jaguar with the arms up, down or both. The wrists are free to move but are more elliptical than round so you’ll be able to get them to rotate only so far. The ankles can rotate and you’ll probably need to play with them to get him to balance on his own if you choose to not use the stand.

As for seams… they’re aren’t any! At least none that you can casually see. I hereby declare this figure seamless!

​As usual with most other X-Plus figures, the pose is pretty neutral and standard. Perfect for the shelf. Jet’s not completely static, though. His knees are bent ever so slightly making him look a bit more dynamic, especially in combination with his bent arms. With this pose, he could be posing for the camera or ready to fight. Or both.

Jet Jaguar’s silvers, reds, blues and mustard yellows are both vibrant and yet reserved enough to not look toyish. The yellows pop more loudly than the other colors yet are still reigned in. Please note that the yellows in the photos posted here are a tad more colorful that they look in real life.

These colors were also expertly applied and conform very well against the subtle elevations in the sculpt. The painters did a great job of “staying in the lines”. Well done, X-Plus!

The X-Plus Jet Jaguar fits in perfectly with most other figures from the Large Monster Series. Here he is with the X-Plus Gigan and Godzilla 1975.

​At less than four inches wide, there’s barely any footprint at all. There’s practically no reason at all to rearrange your shelf when you get this guy. Currently my figure is standing between two of Kumonga‘s legs replacing some of that dead space above them.

The Ric Boy version of this figure comes with a set of interchangeable open hands which you can see here. Not a huge loss if you can’t get the Ric version. The fist-like closed hands on the standard are cooler and make him look ready to Punch! Punch! Punch!

​By John Stanowski Originally posted December 14th, 2014 on Kaiju Addicts.