Godzilla/NECA

## Godzilla

* 1985 Godzilla prototype
* KOTM Mothra Larva

From 2014 to 2020, NECA was given the task of distributing action figures based on the *Godzilla* series as a competitor of sorts to the Bandai toyline. Though between that seven year period, there were several concepts they never got bring into reality, as well as a prototype that caused controversy upon its reveal.

## Summary

In 2014, to coincide with both the Legendary Pictures reboot and the 60th Annivesary of the original *Gojira* film, NECA acquired the license from Warner Bros. to make action figures of the monster's design from the film. One measured 6" tall and 12" long, releasing on May 16th, while the other was 12" tall and 24" long, releasing later in July. Next month, NECA released their first action figure of a Toho design, namely Godzilla as he appeared in *Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla*. In November, they released the Godzilla that appeared in *The Return of Godzilla* while in March 2015, they reused the SpaceGoji sculpt to make the Burning Godzilla as featured near the end of *Godzilla vs Destoroyah*; it was originally scheduled for January before delays pushed it farther ahead. Following the trend of recycling other sculpts for retro video game variants, as pioneered by Jason Voorhees in their *Friday the 13th* line, NECA reused the 1985 Godzilla for a figure inspired by the 1988 NES game *Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!*. Releasing on June 25, 2015, it sported a light blue colour scheme with pixels all over its body. Originally scheduled for a spring 2015 release before being pushed to September, NECA released a figure of Godzilla as he appeared in the original 1954 film. Their next figure, first revealed at the 2016 Toy Fair and releasing on October 17, after its original July date was pushed back, was an action figure of the GMK version of Godzilla from *Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack*. Unveiled at San Diego Comic Con that year was an unpainted prototype for Godzilla as seen in *Shin Godzilla*, Toho's latest Godzilla film since *Final Wars*, and the painted figure was fully revealed during a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers on October 12th. The ShinGoji figure saw mass released in May 2017.

After a series of repaints (Reactor Glow Godzilla, released in March 2017 as a Loot Crate exclusive; 2001 Godzilla [Atomic Blast], released in August 2017; Shin Godzilla [Atomic Blast], released in September 2018), during SDCC 2018, NECA revealed their first original figure in years for the toyline - Godzilla as he appeared in *King Kong vs. Godzilla*. It was originally slated for November 2018, but was pushed back to late February 2019. KongGoji is also the first figure in the NECA *Godzilla* toyline to come in a window-flap box after NECA stopped using plastic clamshells and many previous Godzilla figures were re-released in this format, including the 1954 Gojira who was painted to reflect the monster's coloration on American one sheet posters for *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!*; complete with a backdrop display base. During the 2019 Toy Fair in February, NECA revealed figures of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan as they appeared in the anticipated Monsterverse sequel *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*. Godzilla was first released on May 7, sporting bigger dorsal plates; the imago Mothra came later on May 21st, and Rodan was released last on July 12. An "translucent blue" version of Godzilla with an atomic breath accessory was released on August 7 while a "Burning" variant was exclusive to San Diego Comic Con. Released on November 26, 2019 was Gojira as he appeared in *Mothra vs. Godzilla*.

For 2020, what would be their last year with the *Godzilla* license, NECA issued a repaint of the KOTM Mothra as she appeared on her character poster that May. Revealed at the Toy Fair in February, a month before all things went to hell, were figures of Godzilla as he appeared in *Godzilla vs. Biollante* and *Godzilla: Tokyo SOS*. They were each released between June and July with repaints to spare (Biollante Bile and Hyper Master Blast). On June 9, 2020, NECA revealed a figure of what was their original take on King Kong. Although the sculpt takes on the appearance of the original 1933 monster, the color scheme is reminiscent of the Monsterverse character while possessing body scars akin to Peter Jackson's version. It was released in September and received three variants in 2021. The first one, released in February as a Walmart exclusive, is a repaint that was stated to be based on poster artwork for the original film, though has much more in common with Basil Gogos'artwork, as featured on issue #108 of *Famous Monsters of Filmland*. The last two figures, each released in May as Target exclusives, each came with different accessories. One came with a tree trunk accessory and additional figures of Skull Island monsters - a Pteranodon and the Two-Legged Monster from the infamous "pit" scene. The other was based on Kong's ascension to the Empire State Building, sporting the shackle accessories from the "Eighth Wonder of the World" event and an airplane that he swats at.

Besides action figures, NECA made plenty of other products for their *Godzilla* toyline. As part of their WizKids series, NECA released 10 blindbag minifigures of Godzilla as he appeared in both the Toho and 2014 film. Some of the characters featured here were exclusive to this series and never made by NECA as action figures, including Gojira's design from *Son of Godzilla* and the MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). For Wave 3 of their Scalers series, a Godzilla was released in 2014 for it to cling onto cables and cords. As part of their series of solar-powered bobbleheads, a 1954 version of Godzilla was released in 2015, though ten years earlier, NECA produced two King Kong headknockers for the 2005 remake. One featured the ape atop Empire State while the other stood victorious over a Vastatosaurus Rex. Its also worth noting that Kidrobot, an American toy company owned by NECA, has produced several vinyl collectibles based on the *Godzilla* series.

When NECA first acquired the license to make *Godzilla* action figures, they had a strict deal with Toho stating that they could only be based on the Big G himself, meaning that with the exception of the Monsterverse versions of Rodan and Mothra, any other Kaiju from the series was strictly verbotten (ie. Anguirus, Gigan, Mechagodzilla). Though even with this tight restriction, there were still some concepts that never made it past the drawing boards.

## Not My Proto Type

In July 2014, when NECA first unveiled the *Return of Godzilla* action figure at San Diego Comic Con, it became infamous among NECA fans and Godzilla fans for how ridiculously small the head was. Once complaints became too much to ignore, NECA announced that they would tweak the prototype to give it a much more screen-accurate head. A reissue of the figure was shown at San Diego Comic Con 2019 with new dorsal plates, hands, and package box as opposed to the plastic clamshell it originally came in.

## Like Moths to the Flame

Originally, the imago Mothra figure was meant to come with an additional figure that represented her in her larval form. Unfortunately, for reasons never quite specified, the accessory was unapproved and got scrapped from its release. The only surviving trace of this concept in the final figure is the cocoon display base that supports Mothra for simulated in-air poses.

## Arrested Development

According to a fan response on Twitter, NECA once pitched several concepts for Godzilla figures to Toho, each based on pieces of semi-obscure *Godzilla* media. They included the Earth-616 version from the 1970s Marvel Comics series, the one from Hanna Barbera's *Godzilla Power Hour*, and Ghost Godzilla, an unused kaiju who was consired in various proposals of the sventh and final Heisei *Godzilla* film. All of these ideas were shut down by Toho. Its also worth noting that before Godzilla V2 (2019), NECA created a prototype of the 2014 Godzilla with translucent blue dorsal fins, but was also shot down by Toho.

## Final Verdict

After the last two figures (BiollanteGoji and Tokyo SOS-Goji) were released, excluding the King Kong figures, NECA's *Godzilla* line ended on August 2020 as Playmates wished to avoid competition for the *Godzilla vs. Kong* toyline that they released that year, even though the film's release date got pushed back by COVID-19. It is highly unlikely that NECA will ever return to this IP and as for the prototypes, while its possible they lie dormant in their New Jersey studio, the infamous 1985 Godzilla and KOTM Mothra larva have not been seen for a long time, marking them as: **LOST**.

## Source

* *Wikizilla*. NECA. (Retrieved 2020). NECA. Online article.