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As the culminating film of the recently minted Monsterverse, Godzilla vs. Kong, finally comes close to a release, let’s explore the series of classic kaiju that made for some of the most interesting Minimates ever made. Godzilla has been a staple of many people’s lives, having one of the longest running film franchises of all time, starting all the way back in 1954. This series of three sets covers the majority of heavy hitters in the Godzilla lore, so to start off this three-part review, we have Series 1 that brings out some kaiju classics as well as one very odd character choice for a new line.

The Packaging

Lurching from the ocean depths, the monster known as Godzilla revealed himself to the world in a horrifying fashion, laying waste to a large portion of Japan. Since then, however, he has defended Earth from such threats as the ancient Titanosaurus and the extraterrestrial Gigan. With the help of his mystical ally Mothra, Godzilla has proven himself to be a hero many times over.

The bubble packaging for Minimates always bugged me a bit since I like keeping my boxes. Once they’re opened, they can barely be put back together without some sort of taping situation. Outside of that, the back artwork is great of the figures and the background imaging for behind them in the packaging is also awesome as it depicts a burning city they may have recently trampled. The most interesting part of the packaging has to be that, due to the thickness of Gigan, there is a divot outwards on the plastic of the packaging. If you would like to see that oddity, check out the packaging on the database here.

The Figures

Godzilla

The King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla received decent treatment in his Minimate rendition. Godzilla sports his regular grey/green skin tone, long winding tail and iconic dorsal fins. The figure overall is fantastic, having details in every part of it. The hands and feet have claws as the amazing paint work continues throughout. The head mold, though not distinctly any era of Godzilla specifically, aims to capture the look of them all in one tight package. I believe his look is captured fantastically. The only oddity of the head is the hole in his mouth. We realize come Series 2 that this is for the “atomic breath” effect piece that attaches inside his mouth, but when this set was the only one out, I remember being quite confused. Fortunately, for this Godzilla whose the only one without the breath effect, the hole isn’t very noticeable, so he is fine to display without.

His articulation is pretty great for having a long sculpted torso piece that drapes a third of the way down his legs. Godzilla wasn’t ever known for being fast or flexible, so the limitations on the legs don’t bother me. The thigh caps are an excellent addition and really show the attention to detail these figures received, and to top it off, they have their own paint apps as well. The leg pieces themselves also have some simple but effective paint applications, similar to the arms, that continue that detail throughout. The dorsal fins on his back are well detailed, and on top of that, they even follow up to the back of his head. Overall, this figure is not only well made, but he’s a great rendition of Godzilla.

MMC Score — 9 out of 10

Mothra

It’s strange to classify Mothra as a Minimate at all. Sure, her head and torso pieces are in fact brown and tan Minimate body parts, but otherwise, this figure is all new parts. The idea to tilt a figure on its side to portray Mothra was ingenious. The legs and body cap rest over the torso and contain a peg hole in order for a flight base to be connected. From there, we have a “hat” that serves as Mothra’s face, using the top of the Minimate head as the front of her face, wings in place of arms and a thorax in place of legs. The thorax and wing pieces are all single parts with no articulation other than the connecting joint. Fortunately, the thorax isn’t in much need of posing, and the wings can be displayed very well with the simple shoulder joint serving as the only articulation.

Mothra became a part of the Godzilla franchise’s usual suspects after being introduced as the mysterious “Thing” in the 1964 film, Godzilla vs. the Thing (later named Mothra vs. Godzilla). Since their battle, Mothra has swapped back and forth from being an ally and enemy to Godzilla, but no matter which, she was always prevalent in his adventures. As are all of these kaiju figures, the paint apps on Mothra are fantastic. The wings are the standout pieces with their somewhat detailed molding (as detailed as moth wings can be) and the vibrant patterns on them. The torso has a bit of a paint app, showing a simple tan and yellow design with some texturing for the fur. The hat/head piece is also pretty incredible. My figure has a bit of an imbalanced eye, but nevertheless, the face shines. The eye coloring contrasts the rest of the figure with an iridescent shine and the antennae stick out just enough to look fun but not absurd. The colors all blend well and make for a very earthy figure. Overall, yet another fantastic kaiju. Having one irregular, less-than-normal figure in this sets is a running theme, but of the three series, Mothra is definitely a standout favorite.

MMC Score —  8 out of 10

Gigan

Gigan is the most massive of this series which shows since he is the reason for the plastic divot in the package. Gigan is a Showa era regular villain, having been depicted most often as he is here. Gigan stands out in this set as one of the most vibrant and unique figures having bright green tones and bizarrely sharp edges. His head, as are the rest of the “heads” of these characters, is a new molded piece with four different paint color apps that all look great. His torso piece gives him somewhat less articulation than the others, having a thicker torso and longer length over his legs. Even so, he looks great, and his arms move around enough that he can be displayed in many different ways.

The sharp edges consist of his face, hands, feet and back. His face has the beak and pincers that are both silver. His hands, if you can call those crazy claws hands at all, are silver as well. The feet have a similar appearance, with the silver edges and green bits to connect to the rest of him. All the parts are molded and painted well and really capture the wild style of Gigan. His bulky torso has impressive paint and texturing as well as more spikes, and the back has three rows of dorsal fins and a tail that all adds up to a fantastic figure. Overall, Gigan’s crazy nature is captured well in this figure, and the vibrant details give him a unique style in comparison to the earth tones of the rest of the figures that really compliments the set as a whole.

MMC Score —  8 out of 10

Titanosaurus

Who would have thought our first Godzilla box set would have this guy in it? Showing up just once in the 1975 film, Terror of Mechagodzilla, as a minor antagonist for Godzilla to battle, it’s bizarre he’s even here. Despite his obscurity, he brings a welcome unique design to the set. Titanosaurus, being essentially an aquatic dinosaur, has pretty much the same design as Godzilla at the core, with a large torso piece and tail along with a newly molded head. The molding is impressive on his torso with the raised bumps on his skin and the tail being very aquatic and unique. His head also brings great paint apps and connects to his dorsal fin from his torso piece.

The actual body parts are painted with the raised bumps in a slightly different fashion, being depicted as rings rather than raised sections. His hands have a slight bit of this texture applied as well as paint on the claws to match his feet. The articulation is about as good as Godzilla, with some lacking in the legs but a great rotation space for the arms. Unfortunately, my figure has a bit of a deformity on his chest, but besides that, the yellow really pops out against the dark red tone of the rest of the figure. I don’t think I would have ever pined over not getting a Titanosaurus figure had he not appeared. However, since he is here, he is very much welcome to the collection. Nothing jaw-dropping in terms of the Godzilla figures, but there’s not not much wrong with him either.

MMC Score —  7 out of 10

Conclusion

As an introduction set to the Godzilla series, this could have gone much worse. I think there’s some oddities in this set, but no full-on misses, making it a strong beginning to the series. As a whole, I love it and the idea of Minimate kaiju in general, so finding faults will be hard for me, but overall, the Showa style Godzilla characters were all well depicted and are some very fun figures.
The next review will be Series 2 as we count down to the release of Godzilla vs. Kong. If only we had a Toho Kong Minimate, featuring a tree accessory of course, then the series would be complete!

Agree? Disagree? Why not vote for yourself below, or comment further over at the Minimate Multiverse MMC Review Forum.

Review and pictures by Dash Hauenstein.

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