Wastelnd: Review - Godzilla 1984 (Movie Monster Series) + Custom!

Emerging 30 years after the death of it's 1954 predecessor, Godzilla was resurrected with a brooding vengeance in 1984's Return of Godzilla; a Cold War political thriller setting off Godzilla's Heisei era, centered around the temporally displaced creature as it returns to a modern Japan. Godzilla '84 is an eerie, gritty entry very much in the vein of the original Gojira, offering a distinctly dissociated take on the monster who's motives and behavior are decidedly much more mystic than the increasingly zany adventures of the preceding Showa era; sleepily trudging through the dwarfing skyscrapers of 80's Japan as it is shadowed by the world's powers, a lost, territorial animal seeing beyond what we know, animated by an insatiable hunger for radiation. Oh, and he really, really likes birdies!

1984's Godzilla was first introduced to MMS as part of 2005's Godzilla 50th Anniversary Memorial Box, a box set featuring a wide variety of MMS figures old and new, celebrating the series' history. '84 had the honor of being among the new sculpts produced for the set, having not seen a Bandai figure since the film's original release. Bar a limited 2008 reissue featuring a sort of retro silvery redeco, '84 wouldn't see a rerelease until 2022, when a Godzilla Store exclusive reissue was revealed as part of a Godzilla Day livestream. Finally, he could be mine.

The MMS Godzilla '84 features a very expressive sculpt; lumbering, and ominous, lurched in an otherwordly daze as he wades through the neon void of Tokyo - or, y'know, your shelf or wherever. It's a great match for the misplaced monster, and a great example of how even the slightest sculpted pose can make these figures so much more. Beautifully detailed by a flow of scales and scars, the figure's a perfect representation of the very unique suit, capturing it's cascading spines, creeping hunch, and wall-eyed mug. Definitely among the contenders for all-time greatest MMS likeness.

Godzilla features five points of articulation - including a head swivel, which I always love. I also dig the choice of an elbow swivel on both arms, in place of the usual shoulders; it really works for this particularly slow, listless incarnation.

Molded in solid black, Godzilla's paint is pretty typical of a modern MMS release; very clean, and effective, but limited - and, to no surprise, nowhere near as detailed as the original 2000s versions. His spines and claws are a very nicely faded bold white, with subtle sickly yellow eyes and fangs, and, of course, a little red tongue - it's not much, but it's about accurate to what's onscreen. Since most fans find it egregious, I'll mention that it's too bad his spines are only sprayed about halfway down the tail; though, really, it's the standard nowadays, and it more or less blends in to the largely dark '84 design regardless. Same goes for the omitted sprayed highlights and such present on the 2000s figures - they'd certainly make the toy look nicer, but I don't feel like they're missing.

'84 is yet another one of my favorite MMS figures, flawlessly representing the reactor-smoking, hobo-chasing, bird-watching beast. Though the 2000's versions are only more and more hard to come by, the reissue remains widely available, and near it's original price. It's beyond wicked to finally have the official figure - I was insanely excited when the reissue was announced. Hell, I even bought 2024's new Cybot Godzilla 1984, based on the film's massive sixteen foot animatronic - maybe we'll cover that dude, too. Regardless of what version of '84 you land, though, word to the wise - just make sure you keep him away from volcanoes.

I have a longstanding history with this particular figure - Godzilla '84 has always been one of my favorite Kaiju flicks, and off the bat, I instantly wanted a figure of the dark and wonky design. Unfortunately, finding any '84 merchandise was a bit of a challenge at the time, having got into Kaiju more or less off the heels of Godzilla 2014, and MMS figures in particular were generally a bit harder to come by compared to today's floods of offerings. Characters such as '84 were locked behind exuberant aftermarket prices; far too much for kid-me... or, hell, adult-me. So, I made a deal with the devil; diving into the deepest, dirtiest, most despicable depths of depravity - partaking in perhaps the most abhorrently vile behavior known to Toy Collector kind... Bootlegging.

This figure, and variants of it, were somewhat common around the internet in 2015; beyond the strange golden eyes and wonky spines, it's a perfect replica of the original sculpt, albeit with some expected warping and whatnot. You can actually still find a handful of reviews on the bootleg floating around if you search hard enough.

Equipped with nail polish remover, tape, spraypaint, and a creative dad, I managed to rework BootleGoji into a pretty solid facsimile of the original figure - that's how desperate I was to have an '84 Godzilla, man. Really the only things I kept as-is were the base nails, though I did add grey highlights, and the mouth-tongue area, which looked fine enough.

Unfortunately, he's off in storage, so I can't directly compare my custom to the re-release - but hey, least I gave the spines full coverage. In place of something sleeker, enjoy these photos posted a decade ago on the Toho Kingdom forums. Shout-out TK.