Gigan is one of those Kaiju you love to hate - snickering, evil, and iconically surreal, the mutilated cyber-chicken is definitely one of the most beloved - albeit, relatively obscure - Godzilla monsters, returning to face Godzilla once again as recently as 2022's Godzilla Vs Gigan Rex short film. Debuting 40 years earlier in 1972's Godzilla Vs Gigan - the first Godzilla film to feature gratuitous neon-red blood - he's always been one of my favorite Kaiju, with his endearingly strange design and loud personality; one of the only classic Showa era monsters who seemed not only aware of, but completely elated by the death and destruction brought by he and his space-alien cohorts.
This particular Gigan comes from 2005's Godzilla 50th Anniversary Memorial Box, a highly sought after box set of twenty figures celebrating Godzilla's colorful history in vinyl. Before that, though, the figure was featured in 1997's Godzilla Island line, and is surprisingly still reissued in various forms to this day. Guy's been around.
Gigan looks awesome - there's a few issues perhaps due to the sculpt's age that superfans might notice, such as his shortened wings, or sort of thin build, but by and large he's the horrible BDSM chicken right from the movies. I really like his layered Ghidorah-esque scales and fleshy wings, contrasted against the flat cybernetic modifications defining his body. I especially dig how they've subtly replicated the suit's folds and wrinkles, meshing into the musculature and grain fading into his smooth silver appendages. It's a great figure to just look at and appreciate - The character definitely comes to life through the sculpt itself.
That said, I do think there is a small lack of texture detail compared to other MMS figures; though it doesn't all that negatively effect a design as sleek as Gigan's, he could've used more gravelly nicks and scars. The more obvious - albeit, admittedly minor - issue is the filled-in mouth, a recurring "thing" with this era's figures. It's sculpted in a typical, open roar, complete with sharp little teeth, but the blank space was left totally solid. Doesn't look all that bad, per se, but I'd rather they had just made his beak closed. Least could've painted in the void. Tends to blend in fine, though - you can hardly see it in my pictures.
Gigan moves in four places - both arms, both legs - five, if you break the glue seal on his tail. Not that you
should. But you could. Pretty average for the MMS series, though a neck swivel (or, yknow, the tail) would've been nice. Still, for a somewhat static pose and limited articulation, I think you can get a lot of cool action out of Gigan. He's so full of personality.
The Memorial Box Gigan features a unique black redeco, most likely referencing Bandai's first 1989 Gigan figure; though, it's also a pretty close representation of how Gigan looked onscreen throughout his debut film - the intense, grungey lighting often making him very dark and ominous, especially compared to his more popular appearances later on.
It's a killer look that really brings out his shiny silvers and golds, and I definitely prefer it to
the standard issue figure's seafoam green. Always looked a bit too soft. There's a bit of overspray in certain areas, but the majority of the applications are very clean cut and sharp. There's even some nice shading on his neck and wings. The only real issue is that the
fools of Bandai seem to have forgotten about Gigan's epic tail spikes... leaving them - gasp - unpainted. Break out your silver sharpies, folks.
Gigan's a tried and true classic MMS figure, still seeing re-releases to this day; with 2018's standard reissue, and 2022's glossed "retro color" variant. I think the Memorial Box variant by far offers the figure's best overall appearance - perfectly capturing Gigan's wicked campy, evil charm - and though its more typical, modern variations are naturally much more affordable, and widely available, I'd say he's worth the extra hunt for just that slick black getup. I do think an updated sculpt would be nice - the closest we've had is Bandai Creations / America's 2002 figure, which wasn't really an upgrade, as much as an... alternative?, somewhat resembling Gigan's 1973 Godzilla Vs. Megalon suit - but, it's hardly necessary, as this old chicken still looks killer.
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