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Far East Monsters King Ghidorah

Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures

Tonight I'm looking at the second Godzilla figure from Far East Monsters - King Ghidorah. In the spirit of complete disclosure, I must say that as a kid, I hated Godzilla.  Much like Elvis and classical music, I didn't get the fascination with the character.  A guy in a bad rubber costume stepping on obviously fake buildings, while B level Japanese actors spoke poorly dubbed exclamations?  Uh, no thanks.

But also like Elvis and classical music, as I grew older I understood better. I appreciate the kitchy nature, as well as the post war themes.  And I also better understood that I liked some other seriously bad crap too, and sometimes it's merely a matter of different crap speaks to different people.

Far East Monsters produced one of the nicest Godzilla figures of recent history with their figure based on the Destroy All Monsters look. This second figure, King Ghidorah, is designed as either a stand alone figure, OR as an addition to your display with the earlier Godzilla. By combining them, you can re-create their battle, complete with lights and sounds.

This guy runs about $70, depending n the retailer.  I have some suggestions in the Where to Buy section from my list of outstanding sponsors.
Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures

Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures
Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures
Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures
Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figuresFar East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures

Packaging - ***1/2
The front of the box is die-cut, with the interior plastic sleeve set back from it.  It makes for an interesting look, but you might find that the die cut edges end up taking a lot of abuse.

There's some background on the character and the film Destroy All Monsters, and I like the cave-like appearance of the package. The wings require it to be fairly large, but it's a minor issue, and it is completely collector friendly - take out the good monster king and put him back later, no damage, no fuss.

Sculpting - ***

This figure is intended as a companion piece to the already released Godzilla, and is scaled to work well with him. That figure was about 6" tall without the base, and Ghidorah is around 7" or so without his, allowing him to look down on Godzilla as they battle.  If you included the base, and measure to the very top of his tallest wing, you'll be closer to 12" overall.

Like Godzilla, this sculpt is very detailed, particularly in the scaly texturing of his skin. The wings have a leathery look, even in the gold color, because of the way the wrinkles are sculpted. There's also a nice, uneven roughness to the scale patterns, making the figure look a bit more real and a bit less like a guy in a rubber suit.

I do have a bit of an aesthetic, personal taste issue with the design.  The third head, with the closed mouth, just seems at an odd and awkward pose.  It's placed closer to the top head, leaving quite a gap between the top two and the lower third head.  I would have liked something a bit more balanced in terms of the location of the three heads, but it's a minor nit.

I also would have liked a less obvious attachment line between the wings and the body. A bit more of a smooth transition would have bone a long way to making this appear more like a high end statue.

Paint - ***1/2
Much like an Asian ceramic statue, Ghidorah has that bright gold paint color. In person, it has an almost plated look, and it's extremely clean and consistent. I don't think it was cast in this color, but rather painted, based on the tactile feel of the surface.

The other paint work is on the eyes, mouths and teeth. There's a little slop on a few of the teeth, but the eyes are surprisingly even and clean, with a smooth cut line between the eye and the gold skin.

The base is a bit on the dull side, much like the one that came with Godzilla.  It could have used a little sprucing up, particularly with some paint details, but it's a minor issue.

Articulation- Bupkis
While this is a non-existent feature, I won't be hitting them up too hard for it since there wasn't an expectation of 'action figure' with this collectible.  On top of that, the light up features tend to preclude allowing the necks to move.

Still, some folks would be wondering if there were any joints, so I didn't want to assume you'd know that there were none.

Accessories - *1/2
The only accessory here is the small "MO" section of the eventually "DESTROY ALL MONSTERS" logo.  Each monster will come with a chunk of letters to complete the full logo.

Usually, the base would be an accessory too, particularly if Ghidorah could stand on his own.  However, the electronics that connect from the monster to the base make that impossible, and require that the entire figure and base remain one piece.

Light up/Sound Features - ***
The figure has both lights and sounds, both activated by pressing the single button on the base.

Ghidorah roars just like he does in the film. I'm assuming it's a sound clip directly from the movie.  It's fairly loud and clear, and the speaker and batter compartment are in a fairly decent location on the base.

The lights include both open mouthed heads on the dragon. The center head has a light deep inside the throat that's a bit difficult to see, due to the downward position of the head.  In fact, unless you have most of the lights in the room off or are looking directly down his gullet, you won't notice it lighting up.

The lower right head has the addition of the plastic flames coming out of his mouth, and this makes the light much more obvious.  It travels down the flames fairly well, lighting them up brightly.

Because of the location of the lights (right at the base of the head where it attaches to the neck), there's also a section of the neck that lights up, particularly in a darkened room.

The features work pretty well, especially when put together with the previously released Godzilla.  It's a monster fight!

Fun Factor - **
Without any articulation, he's not much of a toy, but that's probably not a surprise. This line is designed for the adult collector who's a big fan of the old films.  Kids will give the light up and sound features an 'oooo' when they first see it, but that's something that quickly becomes less interesting for them.

Value - *
The Godzilla released previously was a bit smaller than this, and at $50 I was pretty hard on it in this category.  That's a lot of money to spend on a unarticulated plastic statue, even with the light and sound effects.  This one, although larger, is even more expensive at around $70, and I've hit it even harder in this category.

Far East Monsters is a very small company, and these figures are being done in a very small production run. These issues tend to drive up the costs, but collectors have to be aware that they aren't getting a great value for their dollar.

Things To Watch Out For
Not a thing.

Overall - **
For the big Godzilla fan, these figures are some of the nicer produced in recent years, particularly here in the US. The fact that this figure works well with the previously released Godzilla (I tried to find mine to take a shot of them together, but I have been unsuccessful...) adds quite a bit to the desirability, but my big issue is with the price.

A $70 price tag is quite high, and is likely to be something difficult for many collectors to accept. If you're lucky enough to have the disposable income so that the price point doesn't even make you blink, then you'll be happy with this guy.  If you're working off a stricter budget, you might want to consider your options.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Bupkis
Accessories - *
Light/Sound effects - ***
Fun Factor - **
Value - *
Overall -  **

Where to Buy -
There are several options with my sponsors:

- Things From Another World has him for about $69.

Related Links -
I covered the first Godzilla released by Far East Monsters as well. Other Godzilla related reviews include:

- There's the guest review of the Final Wars Godzilla, the Final Wars Gigan and Burning Godzilla, the Complete Wars series 3, Complete Works 2, Complete Works series 1, the RAH 12" Godzilla, and the Bandai's Movie Monsters version.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Reader Ratings!
Here's your chance to weigh in!  Select your rating for this figure(s) to the right.  Yea, it's a five star system and not a four star system like mine, but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far.  You can only rate once from any particular IP.  Averaging and Converting to a five star system for comparison is: 2.5

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Far East Monsters Godzilla King Ghidorah action figures



Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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