Review: S.H. Monsterarts Spacegodzilla

By Justin

   Introduction:  Of all the kaiju in Toho's stable, few seem to polarize fans quite as much as Spacegodzilla.  It seems that you either love him or you hate him.  One reason is that his only film, Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla, is widely considered one of the Big G's worst films.  Another is that he was basically a bloated, motionless piece of rubber that relied primarily on beams and other projectiles to attack his enemies.  Now, I'm not going to lie...  I'm a fan.  As it was, though, I wasn't expecting much in the way of posability and surprises here.  Boy was I wrong....   

   Packaging (5/5):  As I've mentioned before, the packages for this line are just beautiful.  There's a big, menacing image of the space monster's glaring face on the front and some nice promo images on the back.  The figure itself is nicely displayed in a see-through plastic window on the left/front side of the very purple box.  All in all, a very nice package that definitely gets the point across.

   Sculpt (5/5):  The sculpt on this figure is nothing short of spectacular.  There's an insane amount of detail, and every surface is appropriately textured.  The scales are rough while the crystalline structures are smooth and so on.  Spacegodzilla's head in particular has a ton of small details like individually sculpted teeth, tusks, and spines.  The shoulders are also impressive, with the large crystals growing very organically out of his flesh.  Just like Godzilla he has an incredibly long tail.  His, however, has crystal barbs running down its length.  And it's a bit longer due to the deadly-looking, bladelike crystals at the end.     

   Paint (4.5/5):  Spacegodzilla boasts what could definitely be called the most intricate color scheme of any SHM figure to date.  He's a wild combination of blue, forest green, reddish pink, purple, and pearly white.  His eyes are a blazing orange and the crest on his head is a yellow and orange combination.  Despite the sheer amount of detail in the sculpt there is very little slop, and even tiny details like the individual teeth are flawlessly painted.  I do have one problem with the paint, however.  In the area where the shoulder crystals poke out of Spacegodzilla's flesh there are spots that should be painted that are missed.  It doesn't distract too much, though, and the figure still looks excellent.

  Something that I found very interesting was the use of translucent plastic on this figure.  Almost every crystalline structure on the monster's body is molded in clear plastic!  His head crest is translucent yellow/orange and the rest of his crystals are a translucent pearly pink with white paint in a think layer over the top.  If you hold him up to the light, the effect is nothing short of awesome.  One more thing (and please correct me if I'm wrong)...  Spacegodzilla's shoulder crystals (and indeed the rest of his torso) seem to be molded in a translucent red.  The effect is quite nice and it looks like he's getting ready to fire his Corona Beam!

   Articulation (5/5):  This figure sports a vastly improved range of motion, especially in its leg, tail, and torso joints.  His leg articulaton recieved a real upgrade in its range of motion from his predacessor.  As a result, he can achieve a wide range of poses and can even balance on one foot!  He is able to kneel and even sit down.  It appears that Bandai was listening to the disgruntled fans who complained about Godzilla's somewhat lackluster articulation.  The shoulder joint are obviously less movable due to the large shoulder crystals.  However they still have a surprising range of motion.  The tail is a work of art, able to curl around to the side of the figure into an attack position!  The ball jointed torso was also a pleasant surprise, adding tilting options to a lot of different poses.  All in all an excellent improvement!

   Accessories (3/5):  Spacegodzilla's accessories are a bit underwhelming.  He basically just comes with his signature Corona Beam breath weapon and a display base for it.  The display base this time around is very cool, featuring some of Spacegodzilla's crystals growing out of the ground.  It is nicely detailed and well painted.  The Corona Beam itself is very intricate for an effect part.  It resembles a blast of lightning molded in yellow.  One interesting thing I discovered is that Spacegodzilla's beam can be held in his mouth without the stand!      

   Watch Out!  We come across an interesting problem here.  This sucker is SHARP!  Particularly watch out for his shoulder crystals and his tail spikes.  Keep out of reach of younger children!

  Overall:  Whether you're a fan of the character or not, I would highly recommend this S.H. Monsterarts Spacegodzilla to fans of articulated kaiju figures.  It is beautifully detailed, highly expressive, and very posable.  These figures keep getting better and better!  Bring on Rodan and Ghidorah!!