Bandai HG Ebirah (1966) Review

Welcome to Mini Kaiju Spotlight, the five day marathon that will review mini toys from Bandai HG sets! This fun project will focus on a few allies and villains from various Godzilla movies of different eras. Kicking off this marathon is a figure based on one of the most obscure Kaiju from this genre. Here is Showa Ebirah!

Ebirah

Compared to other Kaiju characters of these HG sets, Ebirah must be one of the most simplistic designs to make. There's no paint on the toy itself, just orange molded pieces of plastic. Although this toy lacks in paint, Bandai's neatly crafted details easily make up for any shortcomings.


The crustacean shell accurately feels bumpy and pointy in some areas. Ebirah's tail has carved layers of exoskeleton with wavy rows of swimmerets and a bristle looking fan at the end. Those bristle patterns are also very consistent underneath Ebirah's body.

Ebirah's right claw is larger than the left one, just like on film. However, one slight issue with this figure is the thin, flexible material used on the crustacean's antennas and antennules. Because of the packaging, the thin pieces of plastic became naturally curled and bent out of shape. Perhaps, using a blow dryer will be an easy fix, but considering how thin these pieces are and the likeliness of something breaking during a course of repair, they were left as is.

Ebirah's stance, when displayed on flat surfaces, is rather odd. All eight legs fold in, but they are not firmly planted on the ground. The unnatural design and weight of this figure causes Ebirah to lean his weight on both claws. Other figures on a bigger scale, like X-Plus' version, did have the proper design and distribution of weight that caused Ebirah to naturally lean towards his tail, even with all eight legs folded in.

Figure Stand

As an added bonus, Ebirah does come with his own stand to alternate between two different poses. Simply detach the tail and legs, then peg the body on a special stand of jagged rocks and white painted ocean shore breaks. The display is really cool, but the stand lacks blue paint that would better mimic waves or tides. At least this option saves some shelving space and pays a decent homage to this sea monster.


Figure Specs

Size Comparison

I do not have a HG Godzilla 1966 figure because this toy was never made. The closest things to compare Ebirah with would be HG Godzilla 74 and Godzilla 1968 from Yuji Sakai's Real Product Stage Godzilla Complete Works 3 set. When compared with these two miniature Godzilla figures, Ebirah is a tad bigger than his on screen sizing scale, in length and width.


For the heck of it, Ebirah was also placed next to an S.H. MonsterArts Little Godzilla and Godzilla '64. Of course, both figures are much larger as expected.


Conclusion

Despite the flaws, where else can we get a great sculpted figure for a decent price? Bandai's HG version is pretty accurate and they can still be found on eBay for under $20. Iwakura/Orion's figure is another great substitute in small scale toys, but they are harder to find.