Toy Review: NECA’s 24-inch Godzilla 2014 proves size does matter

Gareth Edward’s “Godzilla” brought back the most popular fictional leviathan in a really big way. Initially entertaining Japanese audiences as “Gojira”, the 2014 Hollywood reboot took the King of the Monsters to Western shores with an all-new origin story, and a revamped look to boot.

 

Of course, a creature as huge as Godzilla needs an equally huge collectibles manufacturer to see him translated into an action figure. And in the business of making toys licensed from films, few are as well-established as NECA.

 

NECA has two versions of Edward’s Godzilla. This review will focus on the larger one, which stands a whopping 12 inches tall, and boasts a nose-to-tail length of 24 inches.

 

 

Sculpt – Monstrously detailed

 

Edward’s movie has been applauded not only for recapturing the classic Japanese film’s grim aura, but also for the design of its titular monster – a reinterpretation that pays tribute to the original, but makes room for enough changes to feel modern.

 

NECA reproduces the Alpha Predator’s reboot appearance splendidly. This bad boy is built like an enormous, craggy mountain. The chest and stomach are massive, his legs stout and powerful, his tail twice as long as his torso. His back is studded with those wicked spikes that have become synonymous with tsunamis and wrecked ships.

 

His head is smaller than his previous incarnations’, with a box-like snout, and tiny yellow eyes that are borderline genial. Purists have raged against this design decision, but I think it’s an excellent evolutionary step for the movie behemoth. Whether you love the new look or not, the head sculpt mirrors the cinematic 3D model’s almost perfectly. His teeth are a little stubby, though. Opening his mouth reveals a curved, pink tongue.

 

He also retains the weird, stumpy feet – the only thing about the new Godzilla I’m not a fan of.

 

This wouldn’t be NECA without those wonderful details, and I’m happy to say Godzilla is chockfull of finely sculpted scales, creases, wrinkles, and bumps. I love the gill-like structures at either side of his throat, and the armored plates on the top of his head and running down the back of his neck. Speaking of armor, it’s interesting to see the distinction between his underbelly’s softer-looking folds of flesh, and the thicker, tougher layers covering his sides, back, and the outer parts of his limbs. The contrast is most evident in the tail, which looks like a carapace straddling a long, muscular appendage.

 

 

The beautifully sculpted tail comes unattached from the rest of the figure, however, and popping his stiff butt peg into the ridiculously solid hole in his tail is extremely difficult. Seriously, you could end up bursting a couple of dozen blood vessels snapping that tail into place.

 

It’s impossible to review NECA’s Godzilla without discussing the sheer, mammoth size of this thing. Safe to say Godzilla will be the biggest action figure you will ever own, dwarfing everything from your puny G.I. Joes to even the larger Transformers. But this could also be one of his drawbacks. Finding space on your shelf or in your display cabinet large enough to accommodate his royal hugeness will be a pain.

 

Not to mention the Big G is super heavy. Younger kids will probably have some trouble lugging him around. If you’re one of the older collectors, and you find a burglar in your home trying to make away with your precious toys late one night, you can probably pummel him silly with Godzilla.

 

Cleverly disguised as a spike is a button at the base of Godzilla’s tail. Pushing it makes him – you guessed it – regale us with his glorious roar. I do wish he could have come with a few more sounds, just for variety’s sake.

 

 

Paint – Charred

 

Godzilla is no Barney, so he isn’t exactly colorful. He basically looks like a charred lizard, with plenty of blacks and very dark greens, and a nice shadowy wash between the scales. His underbelly is a dark, greenish brown. While there is generally a nice transition between colors, the sudden leap from the brown of his chest to the green of his arms makes him look like he’s wearing a vest. It’s one of those things that can’t be unseen once it’s been seen. Thankfully, it doesn’t really detract from the awesomeness of the figure as a whole.

 

Articulation – Tail whipping

 

Because of his immense bulk, Chubzilla’s articulation is only slightly above average. Still, it’s nothing to scoff at. His head and neck have a pretty good range of motion, and he can open his mouth. He has the standard shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, and he can swing his arms outwards a wee bit. His waist articulation allows him two twist his upper torso around and rock it up and down a couple of degrees. Hip joints enable his legs to move forward and backward, but not fan out. You can bend the knees and even twist them a tad, while very stiff ball joints allow some limited movement in the feet.

 

The tail is a lot of fun to play with. Though not as super flexible as I would have liked, it is comprised of many joints, allowing you to twist it, as well curl it sideways, upwards and downwards.

 

 

The King of Monsters

 

The 2014 Western relaunch of the classic Japanese franchise may not have pleased everybody, but one thing remains certain: Godzilla is as breathtaking as ever. NECA had everything going for them with this license, and it’s good to know that they didn’t slouch off in their rendition of the granddaddy of all kaiju.

 

The painstakingly detailed sculpt, fun sound feature, remarkable screen accuracy and fantastic tail make NECA’s 24-inch Godzilla 2014 a truly stunning action figure. And magnifying all these qualities is his most important asset: his colossal size. There really is no better way to pull off a Godzilla action figure because – let’s face it – when it comes to the King of Monsters, size does matter. — TJD, GMA News