[Joe Moore]

Atomic Roar Godzilla Toy from Godzilla 2014

[SilverCenturion]

Not the best Godzilla design, but I know I'll buy it out of fanaticism.

[Catatronic]

I love the crap out of Godzilla but the only character I'll buy is Mechagodzilla. I used to have all the vinyl figures & all the Trendmasters stuff but it took up too much space.

Why doesn't this Godzilla have any feet? Everything looks great except it looks like they forgot to give him feet. It reminds me of Admiral Benson from Hot Shots .

Benson: "they ran out of material when they got to the knees, so don't give me any shit!".

Godzilla: "They ran out of production budget when they got to the feet, so don't give me any shit!"

[Ravenxl7]

Not the best toy rendition of the design, but for being a Bandai toy with a weird gimmick, it looks good. Probably not something I'll get for myself, but it would make for a good gift for my nephew.

[r3v3n63]

Awww, man! ...Bandai is handling this? Great, now I have to prepare myself for the toys to be Thundercat'd.

[Optimus Neeson]

I hate when Godzilla's tail is curled to save shelf space. HATE it. Godzilla's huge, powerful tail is one of his hallmarks. Toy makers should display it proudly as a selling point.

[Shadowknight1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by r3v3n63

Awww, man! ...Bandai is handling this? Great, now I have to prepare myself for the toys to be Thundercat'd.

At least poor toy sales won't get the movie canceled...kinda makes me wonder though...what is WB's fascination with Bandai? They don't make as good stuff as they used to.

[Ravenxl7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by r3v3n63

Awww, man! ...Bandai is handling this? Great, now I have to prepare myself for the toys to be Thundercat'd.

I.... I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. There were a number of things that went wrong with that toyline, but nothing that I could imagine being an issue for a Godzilla toyline.

Also, Bandai isn't perfect, but they're no Mattel.

[User897]

I'll definitely be avoiding anything Bandai releases. NECA's Godzilla 2014 product will be MUCH better. Besides, Bandai doesn't deserve to even exist as far as I'm concerned.

[Catatronic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by User897

I'll definitely be avoiding anything Bandai releases. NECA's Godzilla 2014 product will be MUCH better. Besides, Bandai doesn't deserve to even exist as far as I'm concerned.

Bandai Japan is awesome! Bandai America is garbage!

[trebleshot]

Not really a fan of this design, but I'm not sure why. It just looks off, somehow. But I do like it better than that one from the Broderick film.

As for this toy in particular, I have zero interest. I don't collect stuff like this and I see no reason to start. But it does look like the toy did a good job capturing the design, so I wouldn't give Bandai the raspberry just yet.

[Optimus Neeson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

Not really a fan of this design, but I'm not sure why. It just looks off, somehow. But I do like it better than that one from the Broderick film.

As for this toy in particular, I have zero interest. I don't collect stuff like this and I see no reason to start. But it does look like the toy did a good job capturing the design, so I wouldn't give Bandai the raspberry just yet.

I know exactly what I don't like about this design, they're several things that bother me only in certain ways.

1. His posture. To me the upright, human-in-a-rubber-suit posture is a defect of the effect used in the old Japanese movies. It's charming, but absolutely distracting. I grew up as a huge Godzilla fan. My oldest memory of Godzilla goes back to about 1990 when I was 3 or 4 years old, so I'm not talking as a newcomer who is indifferent to classic Godzilla. I grew up loving rubber-suit Godzilla. Why it bothers me now is that this is a big budget movie with incredible special effects... and yet they've chosen to preserve the stupid, defective posture of the rubber suit. This annoys me a lot. Godzilla is a dinosaur, even in his original incarnation. Modern science tells us dinosaurs had a horizontal posture, using their tails as ballasts.

Ideally, I want to see Godzilla with this posture:


But I'm willing to tolerate a compromise like this:


Yet, the new Godzilla is completely vertical. I wouldn't mind the new design having the old posture if it was actually a high-tech new rubber suit for a new Toho Godzilla movie. Alas, it's not, so I can't forgive it. This is the main thing that bothers me, but all the following items are forgivable to me.

2. His stumpy feet. Seriously, just give him some freaking toes. Godzilla has always had prominent toes. Now, it looks like he has elephant feet with sharpened hooves.

3. His humble nose. Godzilla's nostrils have always had a prominent appearance. They have their own protuberant shape. Sometimes his nose looks like an Oni's nose (Japanese demon), sometimes it looks like a cat's nose. But in the new design, they're just slits on a relatively flat surrounding surface.

4. His square snout. Once again, like 1998 Godzilla, he has a square snout. Bleh.

5. His dangling arms. Godzilla's arms are always raised at the elbow. This is actually part of what science tells us dinosaurs looked like. They always had their elbows bent.

[r3v3n63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenxl7

I.... I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. There were a number of things that went wrong with that toyline, but nothing that I could imagine being an issue for a Godzilla toyline.

Also, Bandai isn't perfect, but they're no Mattel.

...You did see the pictures above? I have yet to see a line that Bandai America has been behind that hasn't disappointing me, I have more faith in the Neca line.

[Dr Kain]

I prefer my Godzilla standing up right as he does in this movie.

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimus Neeson

Godzilla is a dinosaur, even in his original incarnation.

Godzilla is a Kaiju, not a dinosaur. Yes, some of his features were originally inspired by actual dinosaurs, but he is basically a chimeric monster. So it doesn't matter what science currently tells us about dinosaurs, especially since a hell of a lot of our understanding of them has changed since 1954.

(Btw, I've been watching Godzilla movies since the late 70's. Not a toy collector per se, but certainly a movie fan )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

I prefer my Godzilla standing up right as he does in this movie.

Agreed.

But I do have some issues with a couple of the other traits that Optimus Neeson mentioned (like the stubby feet and nose).

[Optimus Neeson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

Godzilla is a Kaiju, not a dinosaur.

It's plainly stated in one of the Toho films that Godzilla is a mutated "godzillasaurus", a dinosaur. He is a dinosaur, and his original design is meant to be understood to be a dinosaur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

it doesn't matter what science currently tells us about dinosaurs, especially since a hell of a lot of our understanding of them has changed since 1954.

I interpret that as the complete opposite. Our current understanding of dinosaurs is precisely why it does matter. We now know dinosaurs stood in a horizontal position, which is exactly why I think this fact should be reflected in the new Godzilla design.

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimus Neeson

It's plainly stated in one of the Toho films that Godzilla is a mutated "godzillasaurus", a dinosaur. He is a dinosaur, and his original design is meant to be understood to be a dinosaur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1954_film)

In the original 1954 film he is not referred to as a mutated dinosaur. At most his size is compared to one. You said "originally" and my comment was specifically in response to that. Yes, other films in the series have altered his origin story from time to time, but his design has stayed relatively the same since inception.

Also from Wikipedia:

Quote:

Inspired by the fictional Rhedosaurus created by animator Ray Harryhausen for the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla's iconic character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, spikes on its back and tail, and a furrowed brow.

So as I said, dinosaurs were part of his design, but he is not considered a dinosaur and IMHO his design is exempt from "corrections" to better match our current scientific knowledge and understanding of dinosaurs.

Quote:

I interpret that as the complete opposite. Our current understanding of dinosaurs is precisely why it does matter. We now know dinosaurs stood in a horizontal position, which is exactly why I think this fact should be reflected in the new Godzilla design.

If his original design was ONLY based on a mutated (read: bigger) version of a specific dinosaur and that the dinosaur wasn't already fictional (the Rhedosaurus), then I would totally agree with you.