Grahf: Interesting.

Well, at least there's great upgrade kits still being done by someone. Shame it's for their own figures and not mainline figures lol.

I never actually got the original figure. Or rather, not my MMC in any event. I have the oversized knockoff instead. However, I see that MMC is not only reissuing the base figure, they're also doing a package set. Maybe I'll get them, maybe I won't. I don't know yet.

What I wonder though is if that company that did the oversized knockoff came back around to do an oversized knockoff of this too. That I would get since I already have that base figure. I guess only time will tells after this finally comes out and the knockoff company gets their hands on it.

Grahf: The more I run into some of the other Godzilla kits out there, the more I hate this one.

As always, it just comes down to DNA's lack of design work, imagination, play testing and ingenuity. This kit just has so many problems yet is being heralded on forums as the greatest thing ever.

It's not. I own it. It only LOOKS good and only in one mode. However, it plays like trash and other than the head, there's nothing for the robot mode at all in any of these kits. Sure, the majority of the parts completely partsform into weapons, but those weapons are absolute garbage. Nothing is convincing and they're all awkward looking. As with some of the other kits and what I've been saying since DNA first revealed the kit for Megatron, was that those tail spikes should've stayed on the legs for transformation. That and the stock Grimlock tail tips should've been popped off and replaced by new pieces to form a cohesive and more useful tail section. The back spikes I know can't stay where they are, however utilizing them as a "weapon" is just bad. It looks horrible on its own and bad with the tail on top.

Oh and those forearm fillers are shit too. Not the worst things ever, but why they're bad at all is such a mystery. I just don't understand how you mess them up this badly or how you leave them like that for what is now like at least 7 releases of them so far.

And while I get that the stock dino arms on this figure are grey, why didn't they just make all those pieces blue instead? It looks so damn stupid with the grey feet fillers and forearms when everything else is blue just to keep the dino arms grey. I would imagine that the vast majority of people who purchase this kit would've wanted the dino arms to have been blue like the rest of the figure. So you know, it looks more cohesive. Someone pointed out they wanted this to look like the blue Kiryu figures that sometimes get made, but it never will since the arms are grey.

All that being said though, those new front claws for the dino feet are amazing. They get out of the way of the robot mode hands so you can actually have the figure be able to use more weapons than it can with the stock dino toes on. That's about all I can say is great with this kit though. The rest is supbar slop and the fact that such overall bad parts are being praised so highly by others is bad as it sends this company the wrong message.

I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't like them. I'm saying that the parts should be properly praised for how good they actually are and what all they really accomplish. Just because they allow you to like a figure more doesn't mean that they're above scrutiny. They can be badly designed and work terribly, yet the end result could in fact look better. These things are not mutually exclusive and can in fact, exist at the same time without issue. People will forever like things that aren't good.

This isn't a problem in and of itself. The problem occurs when the company that makes the thing that isn't good is led to believe that the thing they made is good simply because you think it looks better than it did. That's not a very high bar nor is it actually high praise. However, it's also not Takara's fault for making the figure so "lackluster" to begin with. There's so many things at play with the Godzilla license that people just don't understand and THAT'S what caused the Godzilla crossover figures to be "horrible".

I mean look at all the modern crossovers as an example. So many new figures entirely and extensive retools done. Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Macross, Stranger Things, Naruto, Sonic, Top Gun, Hot Wheels, The Mandalorian and so on. Really good figures and retools that actually fit. Then you have the Godzilla duo and they're just lazy redecos. That's not Takara's fault and if you think that, you're part of the problem. Toei caused the base issue by being so weird with the license which is something that's they're known to do, but it's also Bandai's fault as they're the main maker of Godzilla toys. And if you think that doesn't matter, you're again part of the problem. They can and most likely did interfere with this in some way through Toei which caused the pair of figures to be lame. Yes, the rivalry between Bandai and Takara is that petty. Or at least was back when those figures were in the works. it seems that maybe they're learning to play nice lately which is great. There's a lot of stuff being made that indicates that they might finally be putting their pasts as rival companies behind them in some way.

But yeah, this kit isn't good. Especially at this price. Such a shame. This is more of an impulse purchase sort of thing and at this price, you lose that impulse. It would have to be REALLY good or needed in order to impulse purchase something like this. So the poor sales I see happening with this and the yellow version will only go to further prove my point that this isn't the great kit like some people would have you believe.

Grahf: It's funny. I was looking at this kit the other day thinking about getting it. I still won't at this price, but I might have a reason to now though. I really want to try that backpack and the arm cannons on my slightly modified Nexus Prime.

Yeah, Nexus Prime.

The stupid mold doesn't have many 5mm pegs and ports to the detriment of the figure. So I ended up adding some. I put one above the cockpit to serve as a backpack plug and I put two on each shoulder. I also widened a few screw holes on the lower legs as well as put one in the bottom of each foot where the "clips" are. However, what I'm thinking will only need the backpack port.

So obviously the booster cannons will port onto the backpack port I made in robot mode. It's on an armature to move the backpack up into a different position. Which is needed as the hinge on the backpack gets in the way of things I put back there. The cannons can also angle as well which is cool. For vehicle mode, it will then plug into the 5mm port on the pelvis. Which puts it roughly about the same spot the booster pack would be on a Valkyrie or a Skyfire figure. Which would help greatly with the look of the alt mode.

I want the arm cannons for Nexus as the 5mm ports on his arms are on the insides of the forearms and are useless in robot mode as a result. Those cannons have pieces that will relocate the ports 45 degrees on the arms. This will put them under or on top of the forearms which are much better places for them. Still not ideal, but more useful. As for alt mode, they wouldn't really change anything for the configuration I have Nexus in. For the stock transformation I think there would be issues though.

As for the stock wing guns, I have plenty of other places to put those than the forearms so that's not an issue.

I might even have a use for the side missile pods that go on the legs too, but I haven't really thought that out yet.

As for the rest of the pieces though; I'd still use a few on the actual figure they'd go to. The hands and rear leg fillers obviously. The guns can go to whoever. The trailer parts would either go on the trailer or I'd sell them off with a bunch of parts from other Kiryu kits that I'm not using to try and make some money back.

So while I now have another reason to pick this kit up, that price is killing the interest in it though. Especially since some of the other Kiryu kits I got were expensive too.

Grahf: So the picture they used for the thumbnail looks like a cross between G1 B.O.T. and a Big Bad Beetleborg when scrolling the site.