The Jakks Pacific Godzilla figures have been out on store shelves for a couple of weeks and they have been hard to find. These are exclusive to Walmart and I had to check day after day and store after store just to see if they have anything in stock. After what seemed hopeless, I was ready to give up on the hunt until today. I decided to check today one last time before moving on and today was the day when I finally found one. They even had the 6" Rodan and Ghidorah toys and the Godzilla vs Ghidorah/Rodan/Mothra battle packs. As much as I would have liked to get them all, I held back and decided to choose only one. The one that I chose was the 12" Godzilla action figure.
One thing to note when buying this toy is that this is meant to be played by kids. More specifically kids 3+ as recommended on the box. That means that kids will be banging these toys around with other toys that they have. So durability is the main focus when making this toy, which is why they went with a hard, hollow plastic shell for the whole body. As for the dorsal plates, they're made out of softer plastic and the edges on the tips of the dorsal plates are rounded out. This is to make the toy safe for kids to play with and not having parents to worry about poking someone's eye out. Due to the softer plastic, you will lose some detail on the dorsal plates. However, that doesn't mean the same with the rest of the toy. For a kids toy, Jakks Pacific sculpted a lot of details on this figure from the scaly skin, to the gills on Godzilla's neck, and the ridges going down the tail. One thing that may bother some collectors are the screws and screw holes showing on Godzilla's right side of the body, but it doesn't bother me at all since this is a kids toy and in that perspective kids are not going to care about screws showing.
Godzilla is mostly three different shades of grey throughout the body and on the dorsal plates. The face is where the you will find other colors like yellow, white, and pink. Otherwise, there is not a whole lot of paint going on.
When it comes to articulation, you are not going to get much movement out of this Godzilla toy. The shoulders, legs, the tail, and the tip of the tail can all swivel and that is about it. It would have been cool if the head can turn like the mini Godzilla 2019 figures in the battle pack sets, but beggars can't be choosers, right? What is odd though is that on the box this figure came in there is a picture of one of those mini Godzillas displayed with its head turned looking to the side. Wrong picture or false advertising tactic? Either way, the 12" Godzilla toy cannot turn his head like in the promotional picture displayed. This isn't like NECA's or S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla figures, which are hyper articulated collector figures.
When you first take the toy out of the box, there is some slight assembly that is required. You have the tail that comes unattached in two pieces, but attaching the tail is a no brainer. Once the tail is attached then this Godzilla toy is ready for any child to be played with.
When it comes to size this Godzilla is going to be a shelf hog. Since you can't bend the tail or pose him in a way that takes up less space you are going to need to clear some room. So I recommend planning where you're going display this figure before picking this up. The Jakks Pacific Godzilla even towers over any action figure you may have and tied with NECA's 12" Godzilla 2014 figure.
The Jakks Pacific 12" Godzilla: King Of The Monsters action figure is perfect for any kid to play with that loves Godzilla or dinosaurs in general. As for a collectors item you would be buying it for the novelty of it. If you do choose to buy this toy just know that you are buying a kids toy and not a NECA figure or an S.H. MonsterArts figure. If you want a super posable and movie accurate action figure then I recommend either NECA's 12" Godzilla 2014 figure or just wait until the NECA/SHMA Godzilla 2019 figures are released. Otherwise, for $19.99 I think is not a bad deal at all.
Did you get any of the Jakks Pacific Godzilla figures? If so, did you get one of them or all of them? Leave your thoughts in the comment section on your thoughts on the Jakks Pacific figures. Make sure to follow me on my Facebook page and Twitter to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.