Godzilla is a kaiju, a fictional Eastern giant monster. His first film was Ishiro Honda's 1954 film Gojira, and since then, he has made lots more appearances, and has changed into a pop-culture icon. In total, Godzilla has appeared in 28 films, all of which were produced by Toho Company Ltd. Godzilla has also appeared in numerous comic books, Playstation games, and stories.

The 1st film was simply titled Godzilla. In this film, Godzilla was portrayed as a frightful and detrimental monster. Following the success of Godzilla, Toho started filming a sequel. In this follow up film, a second Godzilla was set up to fight another giant monster, named Anguirus. This second film started a trend for Godzilla films, where Godzilla would fight other giant monsters. In this film also Godzilla was portrayed as a villain. This portrayal would continue for two more movies. In his fifth movie, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla took the job of a hero. From that point onto the end of the Showa series, Godzilla stayed a hero, protecting Japan against attacks from other monsters, aliens, for example. At 1 time, Godzilla even adopted a boy, Minilla, in child of Godzilla, who would make appearances in later Showa-era films.

From the gleaming gold eyes to the catlike face and serpentine, cobra-like neck, this finely made vinyl figure captures the essence of the Heisei Godzilla, and particularly the more dragon-like appearance of the 1991 film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. 6 inches is the best height for a Godzilla figure, and this should make it comparatively straightforward to pair him with taller enemies ( a general rough rule : Godzilla's opponents are some meters taller than him ). I suspect Bandai made a pair Mechagodzillas, Space Godzillas, and Detoroyahs in the 7" - 8" range.

Still looking for a good King Ghidorah, though... Though the listing for this product just announced, "Godzilla Action Figure," I was reasonably certain from the photo--and the "gold eyes" in the product description--that was the 1991 GvKing Ghidorah version of Godzilla. That did turn out to be the situation, as was confirmed by the copyright date on the tag. Though all the 1990s Godzilla figures are pretty similar, this is my favourite ( apart from the 1995 Burning G ). The vendor from whom I bought this ( ABCTOY4ME ) has reasonable costs and provides great service. They could attract even more collectors if they'd make a point of trying to say which Godzilla they're selling. Even if there is no other information in English on the tag, the version can frequently be inferred from the copyright date. This is a well-detailed figure of Last Wars Rodan. The detail is amazinng and strongly resembls the flick monster. I like the tiny bumps on his wings, his metallic green eyes, and the samurai armor-like scales / plants on his chest and thighs. He stands very good on his very own, too. The sole posablility he has are his legs, which twist, but he could be a great display figure. His superb detail more than compensates for the absence of posability. I highly endorse this to any Kaiju, Godzilla, and / or Rodan fan : ).

MechaGodzilla is my fave of Godzilla's many nemeses. The star of almost 5 Godzilla films, more than any other monster, there's just something cool about this cyborg anti-Godzilla.

This figure relies on the Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla film in the Millennium series, the one built over the skeleton of the original Godzilla. The outline lists this figure as being from Last Wars, which is wrong as MechaGodzilla didn't appear in that flick. It isn't the full deal, and does not have the shoulder cannons that he sported in the flick, but aside from the detail is great and with moving arms and head the figure is more than simply a plastic statue, and in a position to make some cool poses with it.

It's study, and could face up to play pretty well. For me, it is just sitting on my desk at work, but it may simply be a kid's toy too. How much fun is this toy? My age four child loves it! How instructional is it? While not a science project, the toy does encourage my child to ask about body parts ( wings, horns, tails, etc ). The toy is sturdy, but, like all Godzilla PVC toys, the paint often scratches.

I didn't buy this toy to be a collector's item that sits on a shelf.

I acquired this toy so my boy can play together with the Godzilla flick that stars Mecha King Ghidorah. Almost all of my boy's tiny toys at last get scuffed up, so we are able to endure the paint scuffs. Strongly recommended toy for young Godzilla fans. Though there were Godzilla toys made during the past that were bigger than this, they were often stupidly dear resin statues and such most fitted for hardcore collectors. Kiryu ( aka MechaGodzilla three ) stands a full twelve inches tall, even handling to dwarf the other "12-inch scale" toy in this line, Godzilla 2004. He is sturdy, posable in many places, and shockingly light.

The details are glorious and true to how Kiryu appeared in both the films and the up to date Playstation game Godzilla Unleashed ( Wii ). I heartily recommend this figure - it is the crown jewel of Bandai Creation's USA Godzilla toyline. Though I myself like Anguirus' design from the older Godzilla flicks of the 60s and 70s, the 2004 version has its charms. Anguirus has an easy but effective painting and a decently unique design - there are not too many four-legged monsters in Godzilla lore. This toy is sturdy and fairly big. His head and all 4 legs are posable. Definitely advocated so far another great Bandai vinyl.

The Showa-era movies played on lots of fears and interests of people during the period of time in which they were made. For instance, Godzilla was a flick built to warn folks about the use and testing of nuclear weapons. Similarly, Godzilla vs. Hedorah was built to carry a message about the risks of pollution. As space exploration and the Space Age were very popular in latter 1960s and early 1970s, lots of Godzilla's pictures revolved around Godzilla fighting alien monsters, or concerned an alien invasion in some shape or form. As an example, in the movie Destroy All Monsters, an alien race had managed to take control of all of Earth's monsters, who were ultimately freed from their control, and destroyed the aliens who had put them under control.

Gojira is a mixture of two Eastern words : gorira ( lit. "gorilla" ), and kujira, lit. "whale" ), which is fitting because in one planning stage, Godzilla was described as "a cross between an ape and a whale", referring to his size, power and marine origin. A favored story is that "Gojira" was essentially the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio. The story has not been determined , however , because in the 50 years since the film's original release, nobody claiming to be the worker has ever stepped forward and no pictures have ever surfaced.