[RamenRider]

It's been a while huh?

Anyways, I got this guy in today, and he's awesome.

Taking him out of the packaging I noticed this ape is heavy. Really nice heft, he weighs approximately twice as much as your regular S.H.MonsterArts figure. You're gonna hear me compare him to those a lot since they are, or rather were, my usual go-to for monsters in that scale.

So yeah, hefty plastic simian. Articulation is super tight on this guy, some might say uncomfortably so but you can work it out. One elbow joint on mine feels "loose" but only because it's not as tight as you would expect it to be and not as ridiculously strong as the rest. Still holds any pose fine, it’s not drooping at all. The overall poseability could be better; you can’t have him drum his fists on his chest but most other things work. I’m especially impressed by how well you can shift his head upwards to allow for a pose on all fours.

The sculpting and paint on him are phenomenal, no issues whatsoever. Accessories are few but useful. The chains are nice looking but I see these breaking easily, the peg that holds the two halves of the cuffs together seems weak for how much force you need to apply to it. I didn’t knew how to open them, found a video of a reviewer who broke his while trying to open them and was super careful after. It works but I don’t recommend brute force. I don’t plan to use them too much since I pose him among MonsterArts so I want him to appear giant-sized, chains don’t work there.

Same for the Ann Darrow mini figure. It’s really well made for such a tiny figurine and he holds her nicely, with the designated hand and without. The alternate head is ace. Both headsculpts are fantastic to begin with, I like the relaxed and calm one more than I imagined, but the angry roaring head is epic. Super detailed and flawlessly painted, including the inside of the mouth.

Exchanging hands and heads is super easy, they pop out of socket easily if you apply force but don’t fall off if you articulate them.

All in all – this King Kong toy blows every single S.H.MonsterArts figure I own out of the water. And that’s saying something since I’m a huge Tamashii Nations fanboy. But this? For 40 bucks you get something that feels like it has twice as much plastic, the sculpting is on par and the paint is much better. It’s no secret that the QC on MonsterArts, especially in the paint department, has been getting worse and worse over the years. Holding this Kong feels like getting the kind of quality we should get from Bandai. But you pay less than half the price. Articulation could use some work, that's my only nitpick, double jointed elbows and knees would be nice, but that’s about all.

I love this guy, honestly surprised by how much I adore him, and I really hope Mezco produces something similar in the future. Please give us the dinosaurs of Skull Island with this kind of quality in mind, I will buy them all.

If you haven’t picked up this King Kong yet, do it. I absolutely recommend him. It’s a phenomenally made quality figure for what feels like an absolute steal.

Oh, before I forget, yes, he scales with MonsterArts – kinda. He’s a bit bigger. But since it’s a unique sculpt without being attached to a particular source material that works for me. I feel like if Kong needs to have a chance beating up Godzilla and friends he could use a bit of an advantage in muscle and size.

Sorry for the wall of text, but once in a while a really fantastic, well made figure comes around that could use a bit more advertising, just so that people don’t miss out on it.

Have a picture to properly end this, his majesty is now ruling my giant-monster shelf