Godzilla 1954 [Godzilla Monster Series 5"]

While I've certainly enjoyed Playmates kaiju offerings, Bandai's sofubi returning to US shelves is reason to celebrate around here. Godzilla Monster Series is a wonderful line of kaiju toys in a form factor that I vastly prefer and the 5" scale is absolutely perfect. These figures can really take up some room (the tails alone... ) and no detail is lost at the slightly smaller size. Not to mention... I like smaller toys. They're priced fairly too, I've been seeing them from $12 to $15 at retail. 

Some online stores are charging more, so choose where you buy these wisely. Of course the older, larger figures were only $10 a few years ago... "sigh". This is classic Godzilla as he appeared in the original 1954 movie. It's 5 inches tall with 5 points of articulation in the shoulders, hips, and tail. The colors are great. I've always loved that darker, muted shade of green. Sculpting is really well done with appreciated attention to detail. It's always great to see a Bandai Godzilla figure on a shelf and I'm elated for their return after a long absence. Nature is healing.

Suko w/ Titanus Doug [Godzilla x Kong]

Ever since Godzilla vs Kong came out in 2021, Doug has been in the hearts of many a kaiju fan. Don't ask me how this cute little guy who makes the briefest of appearances managed to become so beloved... but I had to have one too. Fortunately the little guy reappeared in the follow up Godzilla x Kong : The New Empire. Playmates released a toy of the lovable little guy in a 2 pack with Suko... that little shit you wanted Kong to punt into lava for 3/4ths of the movie. I've been speaking highly of Playmates kaiju figures and they did a great job with this two pack. Suko is pleasantly articulated for such a little guy and Doug has the movement you'd expect from a toy his shape. For $10 these are a great value. There's even a rock for Suko to throw. I do wish Doug had brighter paint apps... but it's pretty true to form. Playmates has seemingly shifted from GxK to Monsterverse as a whole and I'll be getting into some of those here eventually. With Bandai sofubi making a return to US shelves I don't know if Playmate's kaiju run is over, or if they're strictly Monsterverse now. Either way, what they've been churning out is solid toys. Playmates always makes good stuff and I'm really looking forward to their upcoming Power Rangers figures.

Happy Birthday Godzilla!

70 Years Strong!

Shimo (Godzilla X Kong/2 pack version)

Following up on the Godzilla from the Godzilla vs Shimo 2 pack we looked at earlier this month is Shimo. Like Evolved Godzilla, Shimo is a variation of the standard retail release with an alternate paint deco. Shimo is an interesting looking ice monster who caused the last ice age 11,700 years ago. Avoiding spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie as of this writing, she's an antagonist alongside The Skar King and quite a threat. Like many others, I thought her design was really cool (no pun intended). The blue crystals against the white skin is a much different set of colors than what normally gets used for kaiju.

An ancient frost dragon type monster just makes great example of why Monsterverse is so fun. In this action figure, Shimo is fairly faithful to her onscreen appearance. A quadruped, Shimo's legs move at the hips. Her head and tail also rotate and move around as you'd expect from a toy like this. Her mouth can open which allows the blast effect to be plugged in for the FROST BITE BLAST. It's a fun toy and to make her fighting against the Evolved Godzilla complete, there's some additional included cardboard scenery (not pictured). Playschool makes great toys and this 2 pack is a lot of fun.... as is everything about Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.

Evolved Godzilla (Godzilla X Kong/2 pack version)

I've been singing the praises of Playmates Godzilla and Kong line since they launched and for good reason. These are great toys of classic characters. Evolved Godzilla is from the newest movie, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and this version is specifically from the Godzilla vs Shimo 2 pack. The 2 pack is exclusive to Walmart (I believe) and features the two figures with variant decos and scenery for them to fight in. Godzilla is in his Evolved form as you've seen countless times for the marketing for the movie. It's a cool new look that comes with extra abilities that I can't tell you about yet as of this writing I haven't seen the movie yet. I will have by the time you read this and will likely be raving about it non-stop. But as of now, not yet. The wait is killing me... I love this stuff.

Godzilla is pretty much the same figure as his standard release, however with a slightly different deco. The regular version is a darker green, while this is a brighter shade with some teals thrown in. I'm sure it's meant to represent the lighting in a fight scene between Shimo and him, but even on it's own looks cool. A regular complaint I've seen about this Evolved form is the pinks in his dorsal fins. Personally I don't get it, as we all thought it looked cool in Shin Godzilla. That and I appreciate the new look. I like the Monsterverse version of Godzilla, but admit it doesn't always translate well into toys and such. This new form seemingly does pretty well. This is a pretty decent action figure of him with a fair amount of articulation... or about as much so you'd expect. Shoulders, legs, tail,and head move in the standard fashion for Godzilla toys. Also like toys before, his mouth opens and the included Atomic Breath blast effect and plug in. This is a great toy to stomp around and make 'skreeonk' sounds until someone tells you to be quiet. Between Minus One in December and Godzilla X Kong in March... it's an amazing time for Godzilla fans. I'm taking in as many monster toys as I can and this 2 pack was a great set of figures in cool colors (I got the Kong one too). I love it, now if you'll excuse me, I'm getting to work on my aftermarket bus accessory packs for Godzilla toys. To pick up and putting back down.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Empire of Old weekend saw not just yesterdays movie, but a viewing of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Easter Sunday (today) morning. I've been chomping at the bit for this one despite the heaping of kaiju love I've been getting lately. Since the movie just came out, I'll avoid spoilers, but it's obvious this was awesome. The Monsterverse movies are basically modern Showa era (and a touch Heisei) with big Hollywood budgets. One of the biggest gripes when watching Godzilla movies is waiting for the human scenes to end so we can get to the monsters. Monsterverse is almost all monster mayhem and it's wonderful. Godzilla and Kong (with some friends) team up to take on The Skar King and Shimo (with some friends). GxK an insane mixture of giant monsters and cool visuals. It's hard to cram 2 hours of awesome into a short post... freaking badass.

Godzilla '57 X-Ray Glitter (Godzilla ReAction/Super 7)

Guys, I love Super 7's ReAction figures. They do so much fun stuff that it's ridiculous. The Mrs loaded up my stocking this past Christmas with several of their blind box Godzilla figures much to my delight. The only doubles I received was this wonderfully translucent variant of the Godzilla '57 figure that was so cool I didn't mind having extras. I spoke about the other blind box version of Godzilla '57 a little while back. This is the same idea but in a different direction. As the name says (it's literally a description), this is the X-Ray Glitter version. X-Ray meaning translucent and glitter... because glitter. It's a common variation in these types of things with different colors available for different versions. X-Ray figures are an evergreen cool toy aesthetic and despite there already being Microman Godzilla toys, I can't help but to dub this a Time Traveler Godzilla. I love the translucent green paired with the gold glitter.

IT'S SO PRETTY.

Kong with B.E.A.S.T Glove (Godzilla X Kong/Playmates)

Kong is back for another Monsterverse adventure with Godzilla in the upcoming Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. This new action figure by Playmates represents Kong from the new film with his new gadget, the B.E.A.S.T GLOVE. Short for Bio Enhanced Anatomech Seismic Thunder, the B.E.A.S.T GLOVE was built by Monarch is a gadget that gives the King of Skull Island extra powerful punches. Strong enough to shatter a meteor! Or at least that's what Gojipedia says- as of this writing the movie won't be out for awhile. He does have it in the trailers and seemingly all the new toys, so I'm guessing Kong is packing his kaiju sized Power Glove for a good bit in the movie. Not sure what else it does, part of me likes to think he can keep up with his steps, heart rate, Spotify, and other phone apps like I do with my Galaxy Watch.

As a toy, Kong is great. Retaining most of the features that made his prior figure from Godzilla vs Kong so good. All the articulation and heft from that prior widely regarded figure returns with a new sculpt and includes a mini BIO-MIMIC HEAV, a small aircraft Monarch gets around in. Missing is the hunk of flesh that could be removed for battle damage and his Ancestral Battle-Axe. Thanks to the bio on the back of his packaging, I'd like to think there was plans to include the axe at some point. Maybe a future version will include it.  The prior figure was popular not only with kaiju fans, but several other fandoms. I recall many Masters of the Universe groups having fun with him and including it in their ranks of warriors. I'm pretty sure this new figure will as well. Like the prior figure, this Kong will probably be available in multiple variations. This is the standard release and there's also a VS 2-pack with Skar King available in a different paint deco available. Playmates makes really good toys and they've been knocking it out of the park with their Godzilla and Kong figures. This is just another great example of that.

Fire Fighter Jet Jaguar (Godzilla ReAction/Super 7)

Godzilla Island is a crazy place. With all the monsters with their heat rays causing a ruckus or the Xiliens creating chaos with their random schemes... sometimes things catch fire. Thank goodness Fire Fighter Jet Jaguar is here to help control the flames of madness! Fire Fighter Jet Jaguar is yet another variant of Godzilla's robot ally that appeared on the Godzilla Island show and in the Super 7 Godzilla ReAction Blind Box series! A series of which I found many waiting for me in my Christmas stocking thanks to my beautiful wife! The super solid ReAction figure of Jet Jaguar is cast in solid red with a touch of black bringing G-Guard's inferno battling robot to life! Once again Jet Jaguar in the styling of an old school Kenner Star Wars figure really works and just looks fabulous in the red!

Gamera 1995 (Bandai/Movie Monster Series)

Gamera is the Guardian of Earth, savior of children, protector of humanity... and completely ridiculous. He's a giant turtle with tusks that breathes fire and has jet engines that light up when he draws his arms and legs inside his shell. None of that is anywhere as crazy sounding as his roar. Ever been super emotional and stub your toe? It kinda sounds like the noise you'll make. His adventures usually revolve around rescuing some kids whom somehow found themselves in danger from some other giant monster or space aliens who specifically kidnapped them and have a giant monster. Despite how silly it sounds (and is)... Gamera is completely bad ass. His fights with other monsters are absolutely BRUTAL beat downs full of carnage.

In 1995, Gamera got a much grittier reboot with a new series of films that took away all the corniness of the older movies and gave the world the hardcore Gamera he always was. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and it's sequels were amazing kaiju movies that I fondly watched after classes in college. They revitalized the big turtle and even though newer appearances (like the recent Netflix series) have returned him closer to his more friendly roots, nobody has forgotten how hardcore he is since. This soft vinyl of Gamera represents his appearance in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. It's a newer figure, released around 2020 (I think) by Bandai (the best) in their Monster Movie Series. It was a Christmas gift from my wife who somehow tolerates all my nonsense. Gamera fits in wonderfully with my other Bandai kaiju and represents the character very well. His sculpt practically mirrors his on screen appearance and while articulation is the standard amount for a toy like this... it feels like all he needs. This is a great figure of our protector and I'm proud to call it mine. 

Godzilla '57 Silver Screen (Godzilla ReAction)

One really cool aspect of the Godzilla ReAction line is all the deep dives they do with the figures. Super7 always makes neat special editions and their Blind Box Godzilla figures really digs in. In the regular carded line is a figure of Godzilla '57. There's two special versions of that in the blind box series, today we're looking at the 'Silver Screen' version of the figure. As you can see, Godzilla is colored as he would appear projected onscreen in a black and white movie. What makes this '57 figure a deeper dive is that he represents a version of Godzilla from an unmade movie. The Volcano Monsters was a planned American made sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters. The movie would have used footage from Godzilla Raids Again combined with new footage to create a separate movie.

Toho assisted in this effort by making new suits of Godzilla and Anguirus for filming additional scenes. The suits looked a little different from the orignal ones used for Godzilla Raids Again, being hand made that tends to happen. The monsters would not have went by name on screen and instead would have been portrayed as dinosaur like monsters that were preserved in the volcano from the movies title. Those dinosaur like monsters would have awakened in modern times and wreck havoc.

The production company for The Volcano Monsters went out of business during production and instead Gigantis, the Fire Monster was made from the existing Godzilla Raids Again footage. Whatever happened to the suits is a mystery, but the Godzilla suit was named Gigantis Godzilla in various publications and merchandise like this toy. So you see, this little figure of Godzilla is pretty neat. The toy alone without all the history is pretty cool on it's own. The ReAction figure format really suits kaiju, making for a nice smaller toy. Trust me, kaiju toys can get BIG and take up A LOT of space. Thankfully the Mrs got me a bunch of these for Christmas. The sculpting is really well done. Godzilla has about 6 points of articulation (legs, shoulders, head and tail), what you'd expect from this type of figure. He's one of the more common figures in the Blind Box line, which is fitting being the main character and all. I'm really happy with it overall. How could I not be?

Godzilla Minus One

My local movie theaters clearly didn't want me to see Godzilla Minus One. Though after planning a short road trip, everything changed and it was suddenly showing at my regular theater. So, I finally got to watch the movie without any trouble aside from a delay. It wasn't easy feeling like missing out as I kept hearing about just how good of a new film this is. That's one of my biggest take aways from the movie... it's actually a really good movie. I think it's fair to say it'd be just as good without Godzilla in it. Though I'm not complaining about his role either.

In so many ways, Minus One feels like a remake of the original Godzilla film from 1954 with a different story. It hits the familiar notes and tones, but differently. I also appreciate just how much like an actual animal Godzilla feels. They really captured that well. Not to mention just how big of a threat he imposes. I've been watching these movies my entire life and this is probably the first time the threat felt real. It's just so tangible in this movie. They did a really good job. Not to mention, Godzilla's design is just great. Talking about this without spoiling is hard, as I just want to go over every scene with anybody and everybody. There's no other way to say it, this movie is perfect.

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Let's have a Spirited Week!

Another Monday has come to ruin the fun we were having all weekend. However Zone Base is here to help make your week a little bit more awesome. This weekend was spent with the Mrs watching paranormal videos and old Halloween specials. A little shopping resulted in some fun toys. A trip to Ollie's brought Bug-Eye Ghost and Fearsome Flush home for pretty cheap. Now if I could just find that Ecto-1, the vintage collection would be complete! I'm pretty close on the Fright Features figures from Afterlife, so hopefully Ollie's will eventually come through. 

A trip to Walmart finally brought me Legacy Inferno! The original is one my my favorite Predacon toys, so this update was much desired. Now if I can ever find Transmetal 2 Megatron or the new Armada updates. When they update favorites, I can't say no. The back to school section is always fun. A few weeks ago, I got some cool Star Wars stationary. Saturday I found a Stranger Things notepad with some way cool Demogorgon and Hellfire Club art. It looks like the old occult books I checked out from the library back in the day. 

There was also time spent doing household chores and much playing of AEW Fight Forever on our PS5. Currently I'm eating breakfast and drinking some iced coffee. It's a rainy day, but it's Ultraman Day! So there will be plenty of Ultraman watched on Tokushoutsu before work tonight. I've got a fun week planned for all you readers. Thank you so much for reading Zone Base and supporting my nonsense. Please share posts with your friends and check me out on Threads!

Go Go Godzilla Channel!

Just incase Pluto TV wasn't awesome enough already, they've announced the all new Godzilla channel! That's right, 24 hours of non-stop kaiju mayhem. The channel launches officially July 1st. I'm pretty excited, as you probably guessed. I already watch Pluto TV pretty much all the time as is... now, there's just no turning it off.