I’m what could be called a late entrant into the Godzilla world. While I remember watching the American version of the original Godzilla (the one with Raymond Burr inserted into the storyline for American audiences) years and years ago, I’ve only seen small samplings of some of the follow-up movies and therefore have never been what you would call a “Godzilla fan.”
That all changed with the inescapable hype behind 2014’s brand new Godzilla movie. Godzilla Godzilla Godzilla, everywhere. Because of this unstoppable juggernaut of hype and publicity, a hefty amount of older Godzilla movies received brand new Blu-ray editions, so I figured it was about time I got educated on the Tokyo-smashing lizard who inspired that ubiquitous Blue Oyster Cult song.
Well, needless to say, that started me down a dangerous road. I’m a handful deep and I’m already engrossed in this strange world. And, of course, I needed toys to celebrate this brand new appreciation.
The first place I went was Fwoosh’s own Monsterarts thread, and that was all it took. After that, I headed to Big Bad Toy Store to see what was still available and what I wanted to get. I immediately added two things to my Pile of Loot — a 1964 Godzilla and the awesome-looking toy I’m reviewing here: Gigan.
Gigan was one of those toys that I couldn’t stop looking at. He’s got that special mixture of weird and unique that I seem drawn to. Even though I’m not up to the movie that this version of the character appears in, I knew I had to have him to go along with my more classic Godzilla. I wasn’t disappointed. The Pile of Loot that included both Godzilla and Gigan also included the Figuarts Mario, so, needless to say, I was left pretty impressed by Bandai Japan’s offerings.
Gigan was a character that first appeared in the obviously titled Godzilla vs. Gigan, making an appearance a few more times before fading away. He was brought back in Ryuhei Kitamura’s apparently polarizing Godzilla: Final Wars, receiving two updated appearances, one after being damaged. After fiddling with the toy, I can’t wait to actually watch the movie itself. But on to the toy.
Gigan has an insanely detailed sculpt. He’s loaded with texture all across his Giger-esque body, from plates and seams to ribbing and tech detail. There’s not a section of his body that didn’t receive eye-straining detail to bring him as close as possible to his cinematic twin. His tail alone is exhausting to look at, with insanely meticulous attention to detail peppered along the segments.
Sculpt alone would be pretty, but he’d be useless as a toy if that sculpt was not coupled with great articulation. While I had heard good things about Bandai’s Figuarts line, I wasn’t sure how well that would translate to the monsters of the Monsterarts line. Gigan is loaded with articulation. Seriously loaded. 
There are double-ball joints everywhere. Admittedly, a certain amount of range of motion is hampered by the fact that he’s not necessarily a humanoid, but I wasn’t able to find any pose that I couldn’t satisfactorily put him into. His arms have a great range of motion, and while he won’t be doing splits, his legs have a wide range as well, allowing him to lunge and strike at his opponents as much as he wants. His head can look around, and his jaw is articulated, though the teeth get in the way of his closing his mouth fully. He has a clever series of overlays that obscure the joints while preserving their articulation, giving him a seamless look that makes him look like a statue in any pose. It’s pretty much the best of both worlds.
The downside of this amount of ball joints — and the only thing that really bugs me about him, in a minor way — is the ease with which a handful of them pop out. The majority of the ball joints are tight, but the one or two that aren’t as tight do end up popping out with minor stress. Depending on how rough you are with your toys, this can be a bit of a bummer, but I’m pretty used to babying my toys, especially import toys, so it doesn’t ruin the figure for me. Still, it is something to consider, especially factoring in the price… you will have to be careful with them.
That niggling detail aside, the plentiful articulation is a lot of fun if you’re careful. The greatest example of his higher levels of articulation is his tail.
Not satisfied with a rubber tail, or even rubber with a wire running though it, Gigan’s tail is a series of ball-jointed segments, allowing a wide range of expressive articulation along the entire length of it. I had read that his tail was jointed, but I was expecting maybe a handful of stilted segments, not a fully articulated tail with those same overlays that hide the articulation, resulting in a fully moveable tail unbroken by joints.
This is the tail I was wishing the Masters of the Universe Classics Whiplash would come with.
To further my gushing, his paint job is equally impressive. He’s a dark blue with a light blue dry brush, and his entire body has a pearlescent sheen to it that makes him look realistically metallic. His metal sections have a dark shading to properly sell the metal effect.
The figure has a few alternate parts to recreate his upgraded look after receiving damage in Final Wars. Among those parts are a new armor-plated neck, some new plug-ins for his head, and most important of all, chainsaw hands. Which is the most awesome thing ever. And those chains? They actually move. The saws are made of a flexible rubber, so all four of them can be manually rotated.
Gigan was smaller than I was expecting, especially for the price, but I don’t mind it. I prefer him this size, actually, because he’s easier to play with. And it’s impossible not to pick him up and play around with him. This has started me down a dark and expensive road, and I’m already looking forward to picking up some more Godzilla-themed Monsterarts in the near future.
