Welcome to the first toy review of 2020 and perhaps my last review on the Godzilla 2019 line. This version of Mothra and Rodan appeared in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and have been eyed on by collectors since December 2018 at Tokyo Comic Con. This pack is a web exclusive release at the price of $105. Is the bundle worth the market price? I think they would be more beneficial if they were packaged separately than bundled together.
RODAN:
The details on Rodan are well sculpted. It really captures the look of Rodan in the movie with all of the grooves on the wings and the scales on the body. However, the paint is severely lacking. Rodan is mostly painted in a burgundy with some black on the talons, nails, beak, and the crest, but it makes the figure look bland and uninteresting to look at. In the movie, Rodan's wings were covered in lava and that could have easily been captured with this figure if some orange and yellows were painted on the edges of the wings and tail and perhaps on some parts of the body.
In the articulation department, you can get Rodan into a lot of poses as well as getting him to stand if you wish. However, most of his poses are going to be captured with him flying, which is why he comes with two different stands. The first stand is a claw that grips Rodan around the waist. This is so then you can have him displayed like he is in the middle of a fight with Mothra or another monster or perhaps he is retreating. The other stand just allows Rodan to be in neutral flight. Perhaps he is chasing some jets? Who knows. The range on Rodan's wings is about the same on the NECA figure, perhaps a little less.
For size comparison, I brought out NECA's version of Rodan 2019 and you can see that the S.H. MonsterArts Rodan is much bigger in size. So a lot of shelf space is required.
MOTHRA:
Mothra is certainly the most colorful monster in the S.H. MonsterArts line, but it is certainly not the greatest looking. She looks like a peanut with wings. In the movie, she had a lot more color on her body other than brown and orange. She also had white fur on her upper body and around the eyes and a little bit of black on the mouth, arms, and feet. The toy itself does not really show all the little details unless you are up close and personal because there is so much orange and it looks kind of ugly and bland. There is white on the antennae and a pearlescent blue on the eyes. However, the main focus on this figure are the wings, which I will say they look awesome. It gives this autumn look to Mothra with the orange, black, and yellow. It is a shame that they are not translucent like NECA's Mothra 2019 figure.
The biggest issue I have with the S.H. Monsterarts Mothra is that she was molded with softer plastic. There is already some warping on the legs and arms. The most upsetting thing is that on the instructions it specifically says in Japanese that the wings will not be able to hold a pose for long periods of time and they will fall off. So Tamashii Nations recommends buying Soul Stage Act 4 for the wings. If the wings are such a problem in the first place then shouldn't these stands they recommend be included in this bundle? Kind of a big draw back if I have to buy more stands for this figure just to get the wings to pose.
The S.H. MonsterArts Mothra has a little more articulation than the NECA version, but more articulation does not equal better here. The range in articulation with the arms and feet are about the same as on the NECA version as they are mainly going to swivel up and down, but not so much articulation in the wings as they don't reach very high. There is articulation with the tiny arms however they're not going to see much action. Lastly, Mothra has a waist joint that allows you to twist and bend in any direction you may so desire.
The only thing Mothra comes with is a stand that clips Mothra in place to make her look like she is flying. Other than that, she does not come with anything else. I would have preferred maybe a Mothra figure in her larva form or maybe a temple to use as a stand instead of the same flat, translucent stand to go with this figure. I have a feeling that this figure is treated more as an accessory more than a high quality action figure even though she is not really high in the quality.
For size comparison, I have her next to NECA's version of Mothra and you can tell that both figures have the same tiny body, but the wings on the NECA figure are much larger. Yet, you can fold the wings on the NECA to make more room on your shelf. The wings on the S.H. MonsterArts Mothra are smaller, yet she is more demanding on shelf space than the NECA.
Final Thoughts:
S.H. MonsterArts Rodan and Mothra figures were not worth the $105. If Rodan 2019 was released on its own then maybe the $50 would be justified. However, Mothra 2019 is not worth it. She really brought this pack down to being a disappointment on her own with a lot of issues in the quality of the figure. Mothra is more like a $10 toy than $50 on her own. If you already have the NECA Rodan and Mothra figures, I recommend sticking with those.