Although NECA's 24 inch HTT (head to tail) Godzilla 2014 is the most accurate representation of the figure, it can also be one of the most frustrating. What do I mean by this? Read on! As a bonus, following the text review is a video review by Noah Percival as a tag team review of the figure.
Like their Modern Godzilla 12" Head to Tail figure, the digital files from the CGI model from the film were used. The level of detail on the figure is stunning with seemingly every scale and bump represented. The figure has a sound feature built in which adds to the heavy midsection which also gives it the heft it needs to balance the figure as well. The frustrating part of the figure is the tail. When I got the figure, the tail came in three pieces. I quickly and easily attached the tip end piece to the tail with no problem. When the time came to attach the tail to the ball joint on the figure, THEN it got frustrating.
The hole on the tail that is supposed to attach to the ball joint on the tail is too small to attach. After about 20 minutes of trying, I did the "hair dryer trick" which toy collectors use to attach stubborn joints. What worked for me was I turned the hair dryer on full blast and kept it about 1 ½ inches away from the hole on the tail piece for about three minutes. It slipped right on to the ball joint. I then laid the figure on its side and let it sit for an hour so it would cool and the tail would be firmly attached. This fix did work for a few months and the tail would stay in place but after a few times with it popping off and being re-attached, it won't stay attached. Looks like its back to the hair dryer trick again. Also, the outer backplates have a tendency to curve inward due to how it's packaged. The hair dryer trick on those should help even them out.
For accessories, well, I'm going to include the sound feature as an accessory. By pushing on one of the lower backplates near the tail, Godzilla will emit a loud roar that comes from the speaker box located in the same area. It's nicely loud but still the same "stock" roar that came with Bandai Creation's Godzilla Atomic Roar figure.
In terms of articulation, Godzilla's arms, hands, and elbows all can turn 360 degrees and the elbows can bend at the joint as well. Like The head and neck are two separate pieces and can rotate independently of each other 360 degrees while the head can move up and down slightly. The mouth can open and close as well. The legs can rotate 360 degrees and so can the feet and knees and like the elbows, the knees also can bend at the joint. The tail is very nicely articulated and can be posed in a variety of ways giving the figure lots of cool stances. The torso can also move 360 degrees as well.
The paint on the figure is hit and miss. Parts of it have blobs of a bluish green color while the rest of the figure (save for the light green underside of the figure which extends from the neck all the way to the tip of the tail-part of the mold) is the green color of the mold. The eyes have a nice yellow paint to them and are mixed in with a black pupil. The teeth are a mix of dark brown and black which doesn't look as cool as if they were white. The inside of the mouth is pretty sloppy-especially the roof and bottom of the mouth-has a mix of black and dark pink which is all over the tongue and the mouth.
Overall, paint and tail problems aside, this is a VERY cool figure and would be a true stand out in any figure collection. It looks downright menacing under the right lighting conditions and the sound feature is just fantastic. Highly recommended!
Now as mentioned, here is a video review of the figure by Noah Percival:
