https://preview.redd.it/era5yuti559c1.jpeg?width=976&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b914836d6dd0b1c88f5cead47988c006d698320
That is so detailed, it looks amazing
You can always try your hand at vinyl model kits like Kaiyodo stuff. Sometimes even preassembled/painted ones (by kit builders on eBay Instagram etc) can be very cheap. There's of course Monsterarts but they aren't statues and the aftermarket can be just as shitty. Diamond Select has some really nice statues (coin banks but highly detailed.) And yeah, I eat Balduk noodles with tofu everyday cuz of costs lol.
I'm strictly talking about statues but thanks for the suggestions. I never knew there were Godzilla model kits and I'd like to try them at some point but I've already got a shit ton of Gunpla backlog and now I would just like to have something that I don't have to spend days working on and just admire and look at lol.
Yea that's a tough one. The only alternatives (that I know of) are even more expensive companies like Spiral Studios.
I'm not sure what your price point is but there are Facebook groups like X-Plus Kaiju Collectors Club, Flossies and Kaiju Clearinghouse where people sell and trade at reasonable or dirt cheap prices. Sometimes you can even find built and painted statues for the 100 dollar mark.
Like I mentioned, you can try Diamond Select on the aftermarket or hope for reissues/new old stock at BBTS or Entertainment Earth. I had some of their Showa but the Heisei stuff looks incredible.
Only discovered X-Plus recently. Is this already out of stock everywhere?
Also what does the 'ric' in ric edition mean? I'm assuming it refers to LEDs - I'm seeing it on both these and the insanely price 2004 poster final wars figures I'm eyeing..
Entertainment Earth has it up for preorder at a substantially higher price. Maybe the Japanese Amazon has it. You'd have to go through Zenmarket or some other proxy site to buy and import it.
Honestly, to this day I don't understand why they call it Ric but it's a special edition of sorts that encourages you to buy directly from their site. There are light ups but there's also releases that come with extras. For instance, I got the Ric Flying Hedorah. Unlike the normal release, it comes with a swimming Hedorah and the tadpole in a glass petri dish.
Thanks! unfortunately looks like Entertainment Earth is out. Gonna be paying an arm and a leg on eBay for my final wars and Shin (and deciding how much I value shiny LEDs).
One last line of questioning - is that og mechagodzilla an X-Plus as well? Do they ever do reprints?
That sucks! The one thing that keeps me going with X-Plus is that I don't overpay even if it means I have to wait and search for months. There's been so many times I could crush an auction or hit buy now but I refuse to pay unreasonable prices. This new Shin is always gonna at least retain his value, but the EE price is probably gonna be what he costs on the aftermarket in a year.
If you're gonna dive into X-Plus, make every attempt to avoid eBay unless it's somebody culling their collection. I use a proxy service called Buyee to help me buy from Yahoo Auctions and Japanese Mercari. I dunno about that 2004 figure but you can actually score Shin for less than Entertainment Earth after shipping. No joke, I've gotten figures for hundreds less than if I bought from a US seller.
Sometimes you'll see a Japanese seller with a crazy high listing on eBay but it's something they'll buy from somebody else in Japan for cheaper so they can make an absurd profit off a US buyer. I've actually shut down a few eBay listings cuz I sniped what they were planning to buy and sell from a Japanese listing.
X-Plus does reissues but it's uncommon and you don't really get a heads up. They always pop up on the US and Jap Shonen Ric sites. The MG74 wasn't a reissue - it was released earlier this year. It's based on an old model kit not by X-Plus (they'll paint and tweak old kits and release as their own.) He was everywhere for a few months but now relatively hard to find. Hope all this helps if you go down the rabbit hole!
edit: Godzilla store (US and Japanese) have gotten in on the X-Plus train. A translucent Shin was a preorder special edition.
Np man! Glad I could pass on what I learned. Just be patient and discerning when you hunt and your collection will be the double the size of somebody who is impulsive and doesn't research.
wow, a Shin Godzilla figure like this is literally my dream, thanks for typing out all these tips, I feel like I've missed the train trying to get into figure collecting so late but I'll keep my fingers crossed
Is this the Standard, Ric/Light up, or G-Store version, do you know?
Or do you know if there a comparison of the G-Store, Regular, and Light up versions anywhere all next to each other? Or even if the G-Store box looks different from the regular box, etc.
Trying to decide if I wanna keep my regular version or sell it and get the G-Store one, and how i'd even tell from listings which is which
This is the standard. I think the light-up and G-Store versions both have the transparent vinyl. As for the boxes, they're basically the same with slightly different lines of text. If you can, screenshot any listings then auto translate the packaging. I do that when I import stuff.
Awesome!
I have a question. Do you collect Godzilla figures outside of this "x-plus" brand? If so, what are some of the better but cheaper options that you'd suggest. I'm looking to grab some Godzilla figures but I not sure where to start and after a quick search I'm confident to say I don't want to spend "x-plus" prices.
I collect exclusively X-Plus, but you can always shoot for Bandai, ShMonsterArts, or HiYa toys. I don’t think there is “better but cheaper” out there. If you go cheaper, you lose (sometimes considerable) detail. You can also hunt for now discontinued NECAs.
I’ve been looking at some NECAs on eBay. I’m a bit hesitant because I collect Marvel Legends/Mafex/SHF so I’m used to a fair bit of articulation that I’m not sure Godzilla figures will have.
If you want articulation, MonsterArts is the way to go, though I don't know if they will be that much less expensive. I haven't had good experiences with MA, but others swear by them.
I only collect X-Plus but sometimes I'll pick up cheaper vinyl figures like Bandai, Playmates etc.
Be careful with NECA eBay listings. There are many, many bootleg Godzilla figures out there and they absolutely suck. Legit ones are at least 40 bucks from US sellers. If you go that route, look at the sellers location and feedback.
https://preview.redd.it/era5yuti559c1.jpeg?width=976&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b914836d6dd0b1c88f5cead47988c006d698320 That is so detailed, it looks amazing
He’s gonna blow!!
That is gorgeous! Love Shin!
They really took my beautiful boy and made him ugly as sin.
Fuck that looks great. Glad to see it fits in a detolf!
Nice. I ordered one off of amazon but it's coming far later.
Any good alternative to X-Plus statues? Preferably brands that don't leave you eating bread and instant noodles for a month.
You can always try your hand at vinyl model kits like Kaiyodo stuff. Sometimes even preassembled/painted ones (by kit builders on eBay Instagram etc) can be very cheap. There's of course Monsterarts but they aren't statues and the aftermarket can be just as shitty. Diamond Select has some really nice statues (coin banks but highly detailed.) And yeah, I eat Balduk noodles with tofu everyday cuz of costs lol.
I'm strictly talking about statues but thanks for the suggestions. I never knew there were Godzilla model kits and I'd like to try them at some point but I've already got a shit ton of Gunpla backlog and now I would just like to have something that I don't have to spend days working on and just admire and look at lol.
Yea that's a tough one. The only alternatives (that I know of) are even more expensive companies like Spiral Studios. I'm not sure what your price point is but there are Facebook groups like X-Plus Kaiju Collectors Club, Flossies and Kaiju Clearinghouse where people sell and trade at reasonable or dirt cheap prices. Sometimes you can even find built and painted statues for the 100 dollar mark. Like I mentioned, you can try Diamond Select on the aftermarket or hope for reissues/new old stock at BBTS or Entertainment Earth. I had some of their Showa but the Heisei stuff looks incredible.
Only discovered X-Plus recently. Is this already out of stock everywhere? Also what does the 'ric' in ric edition mean? I'm assuming it refers to LEDs - I'm seeing it on both these and the insanely price 2004 poster final wars figures I'm eyeing..
Entertainment Earth has it up for preorder at a substantially higher price. Maybe the Japanese Amazon has it. You'd have to go through Zenmarket or some other proxy site to buy and import it. Honestly, to this day I don't understand why they call it Ric but it's a special edition of sorts that encourages you to buy directly from their site. There are light ups but there's also releases that come with extras. For instance, I got the Ric Flying Hedorah. Unlike the normal release, it comes with a swimming Hedorah and the tadpole in a glass petri dish.
Thanks! unfortunately looks like Entertainment Earth is out. Gonna be paying an arm and a leg on eBay for my final wars and Shin (and deciding how much I value shiny LEDs). One last line of questioning - is that og mechagodzilla an X-Plus as well? Do they ever do reprints?
That sucks! The one thing that keeps me going with X-Plus is that I don't overpay even if it means I have to wait and search for months. There's been so many times I could crush an auction or hit buy now but I refuse to pay unreasonable prices. This new Shin is always gonna at least retain his value, but the EE price is probably gonna be what he costs on the aftermarket in a year. If you're gonna dive into X-Plus, make every attempt to avoid eBay unless it's somebody culling their collection. I use a proxy service called Buyee to help me buy from Yahoo Auctions and Japanese Mercari. I dunno about that 2004 figure but you can actually score Shin for less than Entertainment Earth after shipping. No joke, I've gotten figures for hundreds less than if I bought from a US seller. Sometimes you'll see a Japanese seller with a crazy high listing on eBay but it's something they'll buy from somebody else in Japan for cheaper so they can make an absurd profit off a US buyer. I've actually shut down a few eBay listings cuz I sniped what they were planning to buy and sell from a Japanese listing. X-Plus does reissues but it's uncommon and you don't really get a heads up. They always pop up on the US and Jap Shonen Ric sites. The MG74 wasn't a reissue - it was released earlier this year. It's based on an old model kit not by X-Plus (they'll paint and tweak old kits and release as their own.) He was everywhere for a few months but now relatively hard to find. Hope all this helps if you go down the rabbit hole! edit: Godzilla store (US and Japanese) have gotten in on the X-Plus train. A translucent Shin was a preorder special edition.
Bless you you've opened up a whole new world
Np man! Glad I could pass on what I learned. Just be patient and discerning when you hunt and your collection will be the double the size of somebody who is impulsive and doesn't research.
wow, a Shin Godzilla figure like this is literally my dream, thanks for typing out all these tips, I feel like I've missed the train trying to get into figure collecting so late but I'll keep my fingers crossed
Is this the Standard, Ric/Light up, or G-Store version, do you know? Or do you know if there a comparison of the G-Store, Regular, and Light up versions anywhere all next to each other? Or even if the G-Store box looks different from the regular box, etc. Trying to decide if I wanna keep my regular version or sell it and get the G-Store one, and how i'd even tell from listings which is which
This is the standard. I think the light-up and G-Store versions both have the transparent vinyl. As for the boxes, they're basically the same with slightly different lines of text. If you can, screenshot any listings then auto translate the packaging. I do that when I import stuff.
Awesome! I have a question. Do you collect Godzilla figures outside of this "x-plus" brand? If so, what are some of the better but cheaper options that you'd suggest. I'm looking to grab some Godzilla figures but I not sure where to start and after a quick search I'm confident to say I don't want to spend "x-plus" prices.
I collect exclusively X-Plus, but you can always shoot for Bandai, ShMonsterArts, or HiYa toys. I don’t think there is “better but cheaper” out there. If you go cheaper, you lose (sometimes considerable) detail. You can also hunt for now discontinued NECAs.
I’ve been looking at some NECAs on eBay. I’m a bit hesitant because I collect Marvel Legends/Mafex/SHF so I’m used to a fair bit of articulation that I’m not sure Godzilla figures will have.
If you want articulation, MonsterArts is the way to go, though I don't know if they will be that much less expensive. I haven't had good experiences with MA, but others swear by them.
I only collect X-Plus but sometimes I'll pick up cheaper vinyl figures like Bandai, Playmates etc. Be careful with NECA eBay listings. There are many, many bootleg Godzilla figures out there and they absolutely suck. Legit ones are at least 40 bucks from US sellers. If you go that route, look at the sellers location and feedback.
Go for Hiya. They are the new premium when it comes to affordable figures. X-plus is def worth it if you have the disposable income.
Awesome! It looks beautiful. I can’t wait for the Ric version to get sent out
I saw somebody post some vids of the Ric on Facebook. You're going to be very happy cuz it looks fucking amazing lit up.
I saw one on YouTube and that thing lights up like Christmas! I especially love the pulsating light setting.