Bandai: Standard Mecha-King Ghidorah 1991 Figure Review

#4 on the countdown of 2011 happens to be one of my favorite rivals of Godzilla: Bandai's standard Mecha-King Ghidorah 1991 figure.

Mecha-King Ghidorah 1991 figure

Godzilla and Anguirus were once my only favorite Kaiju monsters of all time since I was a kid. I used to think King Ghidorah (Showa version) was nothing more than Godzilla's punching bag, until I saw "Godzilla vs King Ghidorah." Seeing Mecha-King Ghidorah for the first time in that movie gave me goose bumps. That cyborg is one of the most coolest monsters in the Godzilla movie franchise, and the toy is no exception.

THE MONSTER:  Mecha-King Ghidorah was created by futurians from the 23rd century to defend Japan against Godzilla's rampage. I would've preferred Mecha-King Ghidorah to have his own ability to think and move, instead of being manually operated by a pilot. His powers include (source: http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Mecha-King_Ghidorah):

• Flying with antigravity at the speed of mach 4.
• Fire yellow gravity beams from its mouths on the left and right head, while the middle head fires white gravity beams.
• Fire a laser triple beam from the central head.
• Capture Cables and a large Machine Hand restraint (from the torso) that can also discharge electricity.

THE FIGURE:  Bandai spent a lot of their time and resources in this figure. You may not believe me, but if you compare Mecha-King Ghidorah with the Hesei version of King Ghidorah, my previous sentence makes sense. King Ghidorah '91 version had his head upgraded, but everything else were parts reused by the Showa King Ghidorah mold from '84. In fact, the manufacturing date stamp on the bottom of King Ghidorah's foot still says 1984. On the Other hand, Mecha-King Ghidorah had everything upgraded which was really good news to consumers. Mecha-King Ghidorah is molded out of hard vinyl , the wingspan is around 15" long, and he stands around 1' tall. That's really tall for a standard release toy! The metal parts/armor engineered on the monster's body are wonderfully sculpted. The two outer heads are also enlarged to double the size of his (King Ghidorah) counterpart. One of my favorite details on this figure are the metal collars attached to some cable wrapped around all three necks. Despite the great details, this toy does has its own mistakes as well. The major problems are the colors on the toy. The color of Ghidorah' eyes and teeth are perfect, but his body and armor is the issue. The gold color is a little dull and the metal parts are painted more like a metallic gray. However, all of those problems have been fixed in the reissued Godzilla Forever Series. That version of Mecha-King Ghidorah features silver highlights on all of the robotic parts and a better, brighter shade of gold on the rest of the body. Unfortunately, I do not have the Godzilla Forever version to show you what I mean, but I can refer this web page: http://www.clubtokyo.org/listings/popVariation.php?varID=1105&contentID=644#

I should also point out that the middle head of this figure is tilted on it's left side. This figure in mint condition should have the middle head looking more upward than mine.

ARTICULATION:  There are 7 points of articulation. The three heads, set of wings, and pair of legs can rotate but not all the way because the figure is made from hard vinyl and other parts of the body get in the way.

SIZE COMPARISON: Mecha-King Ghidorah stands perfectly in scale with Godzilla (Ghido-Goji) allowing you to reenact or recreate scenes from "Godzilla vs King Ghidorah."

He also stands taller than Kiryu.

Can you imagine how interesting it would be to have Mecha-King Ghidorah & Kiryu team together to defend Japan against huge threats like Godzilla or other alien monsters? If the internal circuit controls do not short like they always do in the movie, they may have a chance to win a battle. Seriously folks, how could advanced, heavily armored monsters have sparks fly from all corners inside the cock pit after every blow? There's a saying, "When sparks fly, robots die!" And whenever these monsters took a hit an important control switch, lever, or series of buttons would short disabling the controller's ability to defend himself/herself from further damage.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Mecha-King Ghidorah is defninitely a toy I'd recommend for both versions. If you prefer the flawless details of Godzilla Forever: Mecha-King Ghidorah, I should warn you that this version is rare and high in demand. Your cheaper route is to buy the original version from 1991, or maybe you can buy both. Either way, Mecha-King Ghidorah deserves to be in any collector's possession. I personally love the overall look of this toy and Bandai certainly pulled out all the stops to create a figure that is huge and aesthetically pleasing!