The X-Plus Shin Godzilla figure came out around January 2017 in Japan. It sold for about $150. There is both a standard version and an exclusive Ric Boy version. The standard version is charcoal black with red at the seams. The Ric Boy version is purple in some spots rather than red. It’s head has purple, and so does its neck and its spikes. Also, the Ric Boy comes with two heads: one with the mouth mostly closed, and one with the mouth wide open.

We tried our own customization of the figure by placing an LED flashlight inside, and it made the red seams of the figure glow a really cool dark red color. The tail comes off, and the figure is hollow, so we got the flashlight inside by removing the tail. The effect works especially well since the figure is made of a red plastic with the charcoal black painted on top. So putting a light inside makes the red plastic glow through the cracks in the black paint.

The NECA Shin Godzilla 6 inch figure was released in May, 2017. It retails for about $24 and should be sold in most ToysRUs stores, as well as some comic book stores. This is the first and only Shin Godzilla figure sold in the U.S. All other Shin Godzilla figures were sold in Japan.

S.H. MonsterArts Shin Godzilla figure was released in Japan in November 2016. It sold out extremely quickly, originally costing around $100. People are now paying from $200 to over $300 for it on ebay from second hand sellers. It was only sold in Japan, so some U.S. buyers, who expected it would also be sold in the U.S., were caught off guard.

In 2016, both NECA and S.H. MonsterArts released figures of Godzilla 2001, from the movie "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack", or GMK for short. Both figures have their merits, and this is a good opportunity to more generally compare and contrast the NECA Godzilla figures to the S.H. MonsterArts figures.

Hey Folks, as you are probably aware, Shin Godzilla will be playing in select theaters for limited release from October 11 to October 18, 2016. The movie will be in Japanese with English subtitles. Check out this Google Map locator of all the theaters that are showing Shin Godzilla. I find this to be more accurate than the locator on Funimation's site as there is one theater in Massachusetts that is showing the movie but is not appearing on their locator. All G-Fans unite and support this movie whether or not you like the new design. Rally up your friends and show them the power of the Japanese Godzilla. 

The official Funimation USA website for the movie is located here: http://www.funimationfilms.com/movie/shingodzilla/ 

Source: Funimation

As we get closer to the release date of the latest Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla in Japan and accross Asia, some major and exciting news was revealed by August Ragone, our well known Godzilla Friend and author of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters. 

Toho held another press conference for the film and announced that Godzilla Resurgence will be distributed to 100 countries around the world as of July 19th. More sales are pending. This would make Godzilla Resurgence being Toho's greatest global distribution of any film of all time. The Asian countries will be the first  to receive theatrical release dates starting with Taiwan, first up on August 12, Philippines on August 24, Hong Kong and Macao on August 25, and Thailand on September 8th. Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America are all on the list.

Just minutes ago, another one of our good Godzilla friends, Keith Aiken at Sci-Fi Japan has announced that Funimation Entertainment, has received the license for American distributor. This includes rights to theatrical, home entertainment, video on demand and broadcast rights for North America, Central America and South America. Funimation will make an announcement and provide more details at the San Diego Comic-Con convention.

The Japanese GODZILLA is back and returning to the dark terrifying roots of the original 1954 film. Less than 24 hours ago, Toho released their first trailer for their upcoming Godzilla film. This is the first Godzilla film produced by Toho since 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. Filmmakers Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Higuchi (Attack on Titan live-action) are co-directing the film which was done last summer. Anno wrote the screenplay for the film while Higuchi oversaw the special effects.

Toho will be utilizing CGI technology for this film and moving forward with a very unique mutilated design which has stirred the fandom. Higuchi calls it the “most terrifying” version of Godzilla to date and as a Godzilla fan seeing this design, I have to agree with him! The flesh on his arms is all gone, the tip of his tail seems to reveal bone, and his face is burnt to a crisp. It is also interesting to see the full shot with an extra long tail and this Godzilla is the biggest yet, trumping the 2014 Godzilla at 118.5 meters tall or about 338 feet. The filmmakers are pushing the film into away from the happier installments, citing that "the world has lost its innocence after the various terrorist attacks and natural disasters over the past few years". 

Additionally, on April 1, Toho's official webpage and Twitter posted artwork and a promotional campaign for Godzilla X Evagelion. Since Anno has worked on both, what does this mean? Is this the call to Legendary's Godzilla Vs. King Kong in 2020? Initially the fandom thought this was a clever April fools joke but the announcement of Anno working on Godzilla 2016 was also on April 1. There are official T-Shirts, keychains, and misc items that depict Godzilla's fins and each other's footprints. Only time will tell if this is just a promotional stunt for the 2016 film or if we may get a featured animated or live action film. 

Also to note Godzilla and Evangelion, along with Ultraman, have also been teased participants in the game Kyoei Toshi (City Shrouded in Shadow). More news to follow! 

Source: Toho Movie Channel Official Youtube feed
Images from Cinematoday.jp 
G vs EVA info: Toho Website

The MonsterMania Convention will take place this weekend starting March 11 - 13 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill New Jersey. Ken Satsuma who played the Heisei Godzilla, Hedorah, and Gigan as well as Mizuho Yoshida who played the GMK Godzilla, Dagarah from Mothra 2, and Legion from Gamera 2 will be in attendance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

http://www.monstermania.net/MMC33_Guests.html

First off, for those who stopped in to the website earlier this morning, I would like to appologize for the downtime we had to do some house cleaning.

As you probably heard and seen by now, the new 2016 Godzilla has been revealed. In Japan, the movie is officially titled Shin Gojira, aka New Godzilla, Revival Godzilla, Death Godzilla, or perhaps, the True Godzilla. The Japanese word for "Shin" can take form of many meanings in Japanese so it was a very interesting title that they chose. For the English title, the movie is officially called Godzilla Resurgence. As you look at the poster, you will see this Godzilla is quite different. He shares a lot of resemblene with the original 1954 Godzilla but you can see his open flesh wounds, scars, burnt skin, just like a burnt victim survivor. Even his arms and hands are melted to the bone... With the makers of Evagelion and Attack on Titan working on this film, I can see a lot of resemblence from the damaged EVA unit as well as the flesh and bones of the Clossal Titan.

The spines appear to be the classic design which is nice. Eyes are tiny, and the mouth is wide showing off lots of shark like teeth. Reminds me of the Shinagami from Deathnote. Earlier a few days ago leaked photos of the large "3 person" suit was revealed. This suit is not pretty on the eyes.... kids might even have nightmares. ****Spoilers / Rumors now so stop reading... **** Godzilla will have 3 forms in the movie with the last form being the Godzilla that we are use to and love. If this is true, I like the idea of Godzilla regenerating from whatever happend to him. Some rumors are this is a direct sequel to the original 1954 film and Godzilla is regenerating from being killed off by the Oxegen Destroyer. Others like myself think this is a reboot and all the damage caused on Godzilla is from all the nuclear bomb testings. The film makers made the suit extra large investing money in the minatures. Godzilla will be a mix of suit and CGI similar to the live action Attack on Titan movie (which I have yet to see). Scroll down below to see more photos of the new design. We believe this is his first form.

Additional Godzilla 2016 news.

Three actors have been announced. Thanks for Gormaru Island for the translation. Gormaru Island: Shin Gojira Cast Announcement/Plot Sample/ Shin Gojira IS THE OFFICIAL TITLE *Translations!!*

"Shin Goijra" Plot Samples: The story takes place in modern day Japan that is attacked, and the United States are involved within the chaos. Hiromi Hasegawa is our male lead character. Hasegawa is an honest and staight-forward kind of guy, leading as the male lead for the movie. Yutaka Takenouchi plays the roles of government officials within an attacked modern day Japan. Takeno states that the 29th Godzilla film, like the 1954 film will be one of the strongest Godzilla films within the series. Satomi Ishihara plays a US Agent, and the heroine in the movie when swept into the madness.

GODZILLA(2014) has set the height bar at 108 meters, Shin Gojira is expected to exceed that into becoming the largest incarnation of Godzilla. Executive producer Yamauchi confirms that "Shin Gojira" IS the official movie title.Behind the title of "Shin Gojira", as the title indicates, "Shin Gojira" is meant to be an expression of resurrecting the true Godzilla. As this Godzilla will put the fearful "God" rightly in its name. Anno however states that Shin Gojira also has a variety of meanings, feelings that they invested into the icon and film. Apparently Shin Gojira started Production since August 10th, shooting in the Kanato suburbs, and plans to end in October. The decision to join Shin Gojira was seemingly a nervous choice, they felt intense pressure given how big of an icon Godzilla is. But upon reading the script, the cast decided to join. Ishihara apparently shed tears while reading it at home. To her though, the pressure is greater weighed on her because as the heroine of a Godzilla film, she feels greatly responsible in delivering her best. Shin Gojira will release Summer 2016.

The following 4 photos are courtesy of Scott Signorelli.

Hello, again!  Wow!  It has been a while since I posted.  It has also been a while since I cleaned out the boards.  Man, that is a lot of spam!

Anyway, on to the main event!  As many of you know, I'm something of a Trendmasters fetishist fanboy.  I've always wanted to share my love of this brand and these figures with everyone by posting all I have available.  This stems from the utter lack of Trendmasters information and photos available while I was hunting down the rare 10" Biollante and beyond.

Sadly, I am also increadibly lazy.  So I have been hoping to release some design sheets from Trendmasters when a system to view them was implemented on the site, but have yet to begin the reader system, here.

I was informed that someone was selling copies of these design sheets on eBay, copies that may have been printed from my own scans.  That doesn't sit well with me, but I have no one to blame but myself for delaying the wide release of these for years, now.

With this series of articles, I hope to give you all some insight into the inner workings of the Trendmaster design process.  For instance, why the hell did the TM guys call these design packets "ABC's"?  The answer comes from a different time: "Design packets sound too gay!"  And thus, ABC's stuck from 1993 on through the rest of Trendmaster's life.

For this first round of releases, I'd like to present Manda and Kamacuras: two figures that never saw release.  Although, Kamacuras seems to have made it to resin form for the 1996 Toy Fair as part of the ill-fated Doom Island lineup.

So, here they are, ready for you do download and share for absolutely free.  Please spread the good word and keep this information in the open for everyone.  I will post more packets, soon.  Sorry for the long delay.

• Manda ABC - PDF - 39 pages - 1.47MB
• Kamacuras ABC - PDF - 25 pages - 1.05MB

Today marks the 61st anniversary of the original Godzilla film as he step foot ashore to theaters and became a global icon. At the Godzilla hotel in Shinjuku, there are some celebrations going on to celebrate Godzilla's special day followed by movie screenings. The Heisei Godzilla promotional suit along with the Kiryu Goji (GXMG 2002 suit) Promotional suit, and the original Millenium Godzilla suit made appearances. From the limited amount of photos, some other Kaiju suits & props were on display. It also appears that the 1992 Mothra twins (Cosmos) stopped by to give Godzilla flowers.  Art by Shinji Nishikawa and Photos from Gomaru Island. 

Other news: The new Japanese Godzilla movie for 2016 has begun filming and they are seeking lots of extras in Japan. The film will be titled Shin-Gojira. Shin has several meanings in Japanese. The Evagelion and Attack on Titan Live Action team chose to keep the title in Katakana instead of a Kanji characters to give it to the audience to decide the meaning of shin. To me, I feel it means new or revival.

Legendary has announced that Godzilla vs Kong will be the official title to their 2020 film. Who would have thought there will be a rematch between these 2 movie monsters. The only issue fans are seeing with this film is the size difference. Godzilla is around 300ft while Kong is 30ft. Legendary's new Kong will need to bumped up in size. 

Source: Legendary.com
Image credits to the artist, unknown. 

G-Fans we did it! Nakajima and Takarada will be coming to Anime Boston!!! While we couldn't get all 3 Godzillas this time, this is definitely a huge step in the right direction to make the way for more Toku guests in the near future. Thanks for your support and see you there!