Rebuild of S.H. MonsterArts 1.1 [ABRIDGED]

[shadowgigan]

Going off that, I'm not sure why everyone is convinced a 1968-1972 Godzilla is coming. A 1974 version certainly didn't join Mechagodzilla.

I mean this is a fair point.

[Petezilla]

Unfortunately everything Legion said is a fair point.

[miguelnuva]

I didn't see anyone saying a 68 is coming we were saying we wanted a 68-72 Goji.

[Platypus Prime]

For the train, it's just a cheap little Micro machines Trains set, there are lots of types and even in package are cheap on ebay. I just wanted something close enough to look good. No motors or anything, it just slides back and forth on the simple plastic track.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

Both the surveys with figures and the constant 50th anniversary Showa characters show a bit more interest in Showa then before.

I'm not expecting 1968, as much as I joke. Tbh, my best guess would be a 1975. Terror of Mechagodzilla isn't very popular but it's seen as the definite look for the late 70s Godzilla from what I've seen

[Platypus Prime]

Eh, could be worse. My Monsterarts 'Holy Grail' would be a King Kong Vs. Godzilla Kong, with interchangeable long and short arms, an alternate 'totally drunk out of his mind' head, and maybe a 1930's style head as a bonus, plus several drinking barrels. I don't expect that to EVER be made. Though he DID spend a lot of that movie a bit out of it...

[_JNavs_]

Yeah every comment on the last page was in regards to *wanting* a 1968 Godzilla release. Then everyone agreed it’s essentially *The* Showa Godzilla suit if SHMA were to ever pick another Showa era Godzilla design.

Added in 1 minute 38 seconds:

Eh, could be worse. My Monsterarts 'Holy Grail' would be a King Kong Vs. Godzilla Kong, with interchangeable long and short arms, an alternate 'totally drunk out of his mind' head, and maybe a 1930's style head as a bonus, plus several drinking barrels. I don't expect that to EVER be made. Though he DID spend a lot of that movie a bit out of it...

Need this

[CyberZilla]

Eh, could be worse. My Monsterarts 'Holy Grail' would be a King Kong Vs. Godzilla Kong, with interchangeable long and short arms, an alternate 'totally drunk out of his mind' head, and maybe a 1930's style head as a bonus, plus several drinking barrels. I don't expect that to EVER be made. Though he DID spend a lot of that movie a bit out of it...

To add to that, a SHMA Giant Octopus/Oodako would be hilarious/cool, complete with more barrels and some miniature tribesfolk accessories. It would never happen, even if ‘62 Kong made it to the line, but I sure can dream.

[Petezilla]

If the '62 Toho King Kong wouldn't be such a licensing mess they'd have already done one to go with their' 62 Godzilla in the wake of the Legendary movie. That specific Kong design sadly seems to be so completely unavailable for BANDAI to use at all that even the respective movie poster was the only one that was blatantly missing from that neat BANDAI movie poster magnet collection, which otherwise featured every Godzilla movie poster from 1954 to the time of release in 2002.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I still question if there really is any actual "legal mess" to 1962 Kong, or if Toho in general is just too lazy to sort it out.

[Legion1979]

I still question if there really is any actual "legal mess" to 1962 Kong, or if Toho in general is just too lazy to sort it out.

Not laziness. If Toho could find a way to make money off something they'd do it in a heartbeat. Keep in mind Toho is not only ridiculously litigious, they also fear things coming back around to them and getting sued. If there's even the most remote possibility that they might get in legal trouble for doing anything, or if they're not 110% sure who owns the rights to what, they avoid dealing with it.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

Eh, could be worse. My Monsterarts 'Holy Grail' would be a King Kong Vs. Godzilla Kong, with interchangeable long and short arms, an alternate 'totally drunk out of his mind' head, and maybe a 1930's style head as a bonus, plus several drinking barrels. I don't expect that to EVER be made. Though he DID spend a lot of that movie a bit out of it...

To add to that, a SHMA Giant Octopus/Oodako would be hilarious/cool, complete with more barrels and some miniature tribesfolk accessories. It would never happen, even if ‘62 Kong made it to the line, but I sure can dream.

It's always funny to me that the most basic Showa kaiju designs (Oodako, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Ebirah) would unironically be FANTASTIC Monsterarts for that reason, as their basic biology would require some insane articulations.

[canofhumdingers]

I still question if there really is any actual "legal mess" to 1962 Kong, or if Toho in general is just too lazy to sort it out.

Not laziness. If Toho could find a way to make money off something they'd do it in a heartbeat. Keep in mind Toho is not only ridiculously litigious, they also fear things coming back around to them and getting sued. If there's even the most remote possibility that they might get in legal trouble for doing anything, or if they're not 110% sure who owns the rights to what, they avoid dealing with it.

Yeah, I also suspect it’s not laziness. It’s fear (the cowards). But I also suspect it wouldn’t be THAT hard to sort out if they really cared. Heck, I’m sure they own the likeness. Why not just make him and call it “Drunken Monkey” or something. It seems most of the Kong rights issues are tied up in the actual name “King Kong” anyway…

[Poe Ghostal]

The Kong '62 situation reminders me of the way the merch rights to the 1960s Batman TV show were tied up in legal knots for decades. That was finally sorted out in 2012, so never say never.

[Jetty_Jags]

What are the takeaways from the idw attempt at using mechanikong?

[John Pannozzi]

What are the takeaways from the idw attempt at using mechanikong?

What IDW attempt at using MechaniKong?

[Shenanigans]

What are the takeaways from the idw attempt at using mechanikong?

What IDW attempt at using MechaniKong?

An artist tried to throw a tiny Mechani-Kong in the background as an Easter Egg but Toho requested he alter the design anyways. Evidently they're still quite wary of using Mechani-Kong in any capacity, even a tiny background cameo.

Regretfully, Petezilla is correct; if there was ever a time to get shit sorted out, it probably would've been to coincide with his first rematch with Godzilla in 60 years. Though I will say with Kong, its not just Toho's Kongs who could use more toys; there's a distinct lack of merchandise for all the pre-2005 Kongs. Most Kong figures feature generic designs, and there's quite a few (Kong '76, Kiko, Lady Kong) who as far as I know don't have any proper figures.

[Havoks]

I would wonder why Toho hasn’t just outright bought the rights for their version of Kong and Mechani-Kong, or even found a way to do so. I don’t know how many hoops they’d have to jump through but I don’t think it’d be terrible leap to dive in to wrangle up all these rights issues. Never say never.

[Legion1979]

I would wonder why Toho hasn’t just outright bought the rights for their version of Kong and Mechani-Kong, or even found a way to do so.

Probably beciase it's not that simple. The rights situation with Kong has been a mess for decades.

I don’t know how many hoops they’d have to jump through but I don’t think it’d be terrible leap to dive in to wrangle up all these rights issues. Never say never.

That's not really Toho's style. Who do you think they are? Disney?

[Mac Daddy MM]

That's not really Toho's style. Who do you think they are? Disney?

I mean, you never know in time.

I don't know, I'm still a pretty firm believer that most issues like this could just be solved by a few phone calls between high level execs and their lawyers. In this case, Toho, Universal and a representative from the Cooper estate. It's not like a movie over 60 years old is really going to make the companies go all-out on one another in law suits. Toho only really got pussified over Kong from back in the '90s when Turner of all people claimed he owned the character (he doesn't). After that... They've shied away from even mentioning the monster outside of the movie's title, save a few exceptions.

And before someone responds, I know this type of "call" isn't how things work in the business world. It just seems like it'd be an easy fix for a problem that's complicated for no real reason do to time.