Long overdue, the Final Wars version of Gigan makes his debut to the super articulated line. Boasting his vicious Millennium design, the cyborg even has accessories to boot. Gigan's first appearance in the "high end" line of S.H. MonsterArts line is quite awesome. How awesome? Read on!
In terms of sculpt, Gigan (2004) is one of the coolest looking figures in the S. H. MonsterArts line largely due to the overall bad-assness of the design. He just looks DANGEROUS and honestly, with all the sharp points on the figure, he is one to be careful with. Gigan is one of the more lighter figures in the line which is interesting because he looks like he'd be heavier due to all the decorations on his body like the buzzsaw chest and the seemingly heavy scythe-like hammerclaw arms. Gigan's visor is a standout and it looks really cool when under the right light and it just makes the whole figure really great for photos. The wings are a great mix of blue and red and go well with the body which is a mix of blue, dirty metallic grey (the dirty part due to the black paint application).
A word of warning though: Gigan contains some VERY sharp sections. From the spiked kneecaps to the spikes behind the knee, to the spiked tail, the figure isn't exactly fun to touch at times so be careful! Rounding out the figure are cool metallic grey studs that adorn the base of the wings and the upper chest area. I should also mention that I do not consider the moveable shoulder pads to be articulate pieces. They're more to help make sure that you're able to swap accessories for the neck.
Gigan's somewhat tricky when it comes to articulation. He can move into a variety of poses, but at the same time I didn't want to pose him that much for fear of breaking the figure. His arms can rotate 360 degrees and move side to side but his legs are a little more limited. The legs can be spread apart and can move back a little but that's about it. The articulation on the legs extends all the way down to the actual foot (in sections) which is great for more dynamic posing. Gigan's head/neck can move up and down and side to side which looks cool from any angle. The mouth is a bit of a disappointment however. It doesn't open very far and by design, isn't possible to fully close. It never fully closed in the movie either but that's just my own little gripe. The toes, made of die cast metal, are articulated as well (they can move up and down) are a nice touch.
The BEST articulation on the figure is the tail however and it has quite a range of motion and the tip of the tail can spin. One thing to watch out for are the metal plates and spikes on each section of the tail as they can bunch up and break easy if you move the tail around too much. Finally, Gigan's wings are able to move back and forth and the middle wing is able to, for whatever reason, move up and down. Be careful with moving these around too much though. They can become loose and not hold their pose.
There's not much in the way of paint on the figure since most of the color comes from the mold itself. Gigan's mouth is the most painted and it's an okay job. The white paint on the teeth looks nice except for the black under paint blemishes. They're not noticeable from afar however. The rest of the paint seems to be in small light bursts of black on all of the metallic areas of the figure. They're applied in all the right places and add some detail to the figure as a whole.
Gigan comes with "upgraded" accessories to make him look like his second form from the film. Chainsaw hands, serrated mandibles and horn and armor plated neck are all here. The white chainsaw blades are soft to the touch and actually rotate which is pretty cool. They weren't white in the film so some creative license was taken but it doesn't detract from the figure. DO be careful when applying the neck armor and the mandibles. To take off the normal neck and replace it with the armor head, you must grip Gigan from the chest area and be VERY careful when removing the normal neck section. The instructions included with the figure tell you which direction to remove the head. I wasn't a fan of doing this the first time since Gigan is so light and I thought he'd break apart in my hands. But, the more I changed up the head, the easier it became. For the mandibles, they look really nice in both normal and upgraded, serrated forms but they can fall off easily if you're not careful. All in all, it's nice that these accessories were included and Gigan looks great in both forms.
Overall, Gigan is an OUTSTANDING figure and one of my favorites in the line. The mix of blue/red/dirty metallic grey all pop and make the figure a standout in the line. Again, DO be careful when handling and please keep the figure out of reach of small children. That being said, Gigan is not to be missed!
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