X-Plus Large Monster Series Godzilla 2001 Vinyl Figure Review

FIGURE SPECS

エクスプラスゴジラ2001

JAPAN RELEASE: JULY 2012

SERIES: LARGE MONSTER SERIES (25CM)

MATERIAL: SOFT VINYL

FROM: “GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK”, 2001
ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ大怪獣総攻撃

HEIGHT: 10.1875 INCHES / 25.87 CM

WIDTH: 8.125 INCHES / 20.63 CM

LENGTH: 12.25 INCHES / 31.11 CM

ARTICULATION: NONE

REVIEW AND PHOTOS: JOHN STANOWSKI

This is one of my favorite Godzilla designs. At first glance, this figure may seem slimmer than it should be. But after comparing it over and over against movie stills, methinks they got this one right on the money!

SCULPT

Once again, it looks like it crawled out of the movie. Fantastic, faithful sculpt! The actual Godzilla 2001 suit had a number of textures over it. The standard, elongated bumps cover his legs, arms and tail. A unique, somewhat crocodilian/grid pattern covers his chest. And a set of gill-like wisps fan away from his face on the sides of his head. All of these textures are captured in the figure. X-Plus, though, did simplify the texture on the back of the head and neck.

His upper ‘fangs’ are smaller than they should be when comparing to stills from the movie. But other than that the rest of his pearly whites are faithfully represented. The real suit had a total of four teeth between the fangs and even that is faithfully recreated. His lower claws were given the extra detail the suit had.

VISIBLE SEAMS & JOINTS: There are noticeable joints above the elbows, but X-Plus did a great job of making sure you don’t see them from the front. The tail piece, which the purchaser must insert, is further from back than usual and lands halfway down the tail where it’s a tad more visible.

POSE

Great pose. Godzilla arches his back and holds his head up higher than his usual forward hunch and I think this really gives the figure a sense of reaction or personality. Offhand I don’t know if this pose was modeled after a particular shot in the film, but I did notice a similar posture when Godzilla was firing his second blast of atomic breath at Baragon. His stance is noticeably wider than it should be but that could be because moments ago he was hunched forward getting ready to fire his wave motion breath. It really looks great from all angles.

PAINT JOB

The X-Plus Godzilla 2001 is painted with the standard Godzilla charcoal color with – surpisingly – no shading or highlights. The real suit had a lot of cracks and lines that were a lighter, dustier color than the surrounding black. X-Plus made no attempt to mimic that. In their defense, though, it probably would have been too time consuming to do. They did, however, put in the time to get the extra detail this Goji has on his claws, especially on the feet. The dorsal spines look great, as usual. And unlike other X-Plus figures, this one actually has glossy paint on the teeth. On my figure the paint on the teeth is a tad too reddish in hue. As much as I hate stark white teeth on a Godzilla figure, the real suit did have big, shiny, white teeth.

FOOTPRINT / SIZE

This suit was designed with a shorter, thinner tail and that means more room on your display shelf. Its length is just slightly over 12 inches. The tail curves slightly Godzilla’s right so if you pose him diagonally on your shelf, he’d fit better facing your right.

By John Stanowski Originally posted April 29th, 2013 on Kaiju Addicts.