Hello, kaiju fans! It is about that time again for another toy review! This time, I will be reviewing the PlayMates Toys MechaGodzilla w/ HEAV figure. I know that I am late to the party on this, but due to scalpers and Walmart's inability to restock these figures all of the Wave 2 figures were snatched off the shelves very quickly. This meant the only way for me to ever purchase this MechaGodzilla toy was to buy from a scalper for around $40 on EBay, even though the original market price is $10. Currently, S.H. MonsterArts MechaGodzilla is up for preorder, but even that figure has been in short supply due to high demand and some collectors seem unsure if they want to pay $150. Is this figure worth the hassle to search for or should this be left in the winds of scalper farts? Let's take a look, shall we?
Sculpt and Paint:
When it comes to paint, MechaGodzilla is mostly silver with red paint in the eyes, upper chest cavity, and on the dorsal plates. While the red paint is most prominent on the dorsal plates it does not stand out as well everywhere else unless you really take a close look. I would like to have seen some more red at least around the rib cage just to make the details in the sculpt of the toy pop. The only other place where there is paint is on the battle damage portion of MechaGodzilla's chest, which is painted with a dark grey color.
Even though the details are smoothed out, there is a lot of fine sculpt work and details in this figure. At one point, I honestly thought there was articulation in the claws and elbows before finding out later that it was all solid. The more I look at it, the more I can see all of the intricate mechanical details on the chest, arms, hands, legs, feet, hands, tail, dorsal plates, and mouth. What I also like are the vein-like seams and the compartments where MechaGodzilla's missiles are fired from. But as I said before, since the details are smoothed out I would have liked to see these details stand out more with the red paint.
Articulation:
Remember back in my reviews for the two Godzilla toys that I wished they had the same amount of articulation as the Kong figure? The PlayMates Toys MechaGodzilla is the perfect example of what those two Godzilla toys should have had. I wasn't looking for S.H. MonsterArts or NECA quality of articulation, but the range of articulation is fairly decent.
MechaGodzilla's mouth is on a hinge so it can open and close. The mouth can open so wide that that the jaw can barely touch its upper chest.
The shoulders have joints that look similar to ball joints, but it is more like swivel/hinge combo joints. They can move up, down, spread out, and close together to its chest.
The thighs can also swivel and move in and out on a hinge. So you can have MechaGodzilla's legs spread out like a sumo wrestler or like it is walking or even make MechaGodzilla bend forward. The knees are on hinges so you can make the toy stand up completely straight if you want them to. The feet can swivel for more stability while in different poses.
The tail comes detached out of the box and is attached to a ball joint. Even though the tail is on a ball joint, the most range of articulation is twisting in circles. The rest of the tail is one solid piece as expected from a kids toy.
Accessories:
MechaGodzilla comes with a HEAV (Hollow Earth Antigravity Vehicle). In Godzilla vs Kong, this vehicle was used to explore the Hollow Earth and was even used by Skarsgärd to jumpstart Kong's heart so Kong can help Godzilla fight MechaGodzilla. The first version of the HEAV came with the Skull Crawler, which was silver with a black window. With MechaGodzilla, this revamped version is painted with a jungle green color and a silver window. Other than that, they are pretty much the same without any detail changes in the sculpt.
MechaGodzilla even comes with a "battle damage" feature. You can remove the chest piece to reveal the compartments where MechaGodzilla fires its chest missiles.
Lastly, even though this MechaGodzilla figure does not come with a beam effect, there seems to be one planned as there is a spot for a beam to plug inside the mouth. I will say this now. In Walmart's system, there is a Red MechaGodzilla figure listed along with an Antarctic Kong figure. When or if the Red MechaGodzilla figure releases is still unknown. So if you are hoping to have a PlayMates figure in your collection, then maybe holding out until the Red MechaGodzilla figure releases would be more ideal than paying scalpers around $40 for the vanilla version.
Scale:
Here are a few other figures you may have in your collection such as the MonsterArts Godzilla (2019) and King Kong (2005) figures, both 2014 and 2019 versions of the NECA Godzilla figures, and a collection of other PlayMates Toys Godzilla vs Kong toys. As you can see, the PlayMates Toys MechaGodzilla is pretty much average in size. You can even display this figure with your NECA figures just fine, but not so much with the S.H. MonsterArts.
Final Thoughts:
The PlayMates Toys MechaGodzilla w/ HEAV is not a bad figure for $10, but with the S.H. MonsterArts figure releasing in January and a seemingly Red MechaGodzilla listed in Walmart's system it is only best to hold off from purchasing this figure. With this in mind, it gives you one more reason to not pay over $40 from scalpers (upon other reasons we all have) unless you are a completionist collector that must have every Godzilla figure in existence. If you can find this figure at Walmart for $10 and want to buy one for a kid, then this toy is a good one for your kid to play with.
That is it for this review! I want to know what your thoughts are on this figure in the comments section. Were you able to find one at Walmart? If so, do you like the toy or do you think it is underwhelming? Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, and Gab to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.