American collectors might be unfamiliar with the Japanese Revoltech line, so here's the concept in a nutshell: Revoltech is a line of hyper-articulated, hyper-detailed anime-themed action figures from Japan. I have little experience with the line myself, limited exclusively to this open-faced Gaiking. The figure looks awesome and has plenty of articulation, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't the impetus it needed to be in order to get me into the line. Maybe it's the fact that the Revoltech joints can be difficult to pose, or maybe it's my preference towards jumbo-sized Shogun Warriors. Whatever the case, I wrote off Revoltechs... until the recent science fiction waves featuring kaiju, that is. I just couldn't resist picking up one of my favorite kaiju of all time, Rodan.
As a trivial aside, George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek, had one of his first acting gigs as a voice-over actor for Rodan. George dedicates a few pages to his experience on the Rodan sound stage in his autobiography, To The Stars. He doesn't seem to be the most avid of kaiju fans, calling the premise of a prehistoric flying monster returning to life to terrorize modern Japan "the most farfetched of science fictions" (which is probably true), but it's a cool insight behind the scenes of American kaiju dubbing. Anyway, let's get back to this figure.
Stats
Company: Revoltech (Is that the name of the company or the line of figures? Whatever.)
Size: 4.5" tall, ~10.5" wide
Price: $43 at Big Bad Toy Store
Packaging: Boxed
Appearance 
Revoltech managed to perfectly capture the look of Rodan from his classic solo movie with an incredible sculpt, impressively sharp paint apps, and lots of washes for depth and detail. The sculptors should also be commended for designing the sculpt in such as way so that it hides those garish Revoltech joints as much as possible, saving the figure from the Microman curse. (Microman figures are similar hyper-articulated Japanese toys, but they often don't hide the points of articulation well.) This Rodan looks amazing, and is easily the best-looking kaiju on my shelf.
The proportions of the figure's body work well, although I'm not entirely sure how screen-accurate they are. The wings in particular are hard to nail down, as it seems like different puppets in the movie have differently-proportioned wings. The figure seems to have wings the size of the flying puppet, which works well here.
Articulation
A Revoltech joint is a bit different from the usual ball-socket or ball-hinge joint, so if you're unfamiliar with it, check out the scan above to see how it's constructed. Rodan has an impressive range of articulation, not limited to just Revoltech joints:
- Hinge jaw
- Triple-jointed ball neck (might be Revoltech-jointed)
- Revoltech shoulders
- Hinge claws
- Bendy wings
- Revoltech hips
- Hinge knees
- Revoltech toes
Revoltech Rodan is roughly to-scale with the Microman Godzilla suits.
That's about as much articulation as you can possibly get in a Rodan toy. And the joints move much more easily than the awkward joints of Revoltech Gaiking. The toes make it a little difficult to stand the figure (as you might expect from such a top-heavy creature as Rodan), but you can take off the toes and insert the pegs into the building display base for added stability. Speaking of which...
Accessories
Rodan comes with more accessories than you'd expect from a kaiju figure:
- Destroyed building: This works great as a display stand for the figure. It even comes with removable sections of the roof so you can display it relatively intact or with its roof caved-in from the weight of the monster.
- Metal Rod: This helps to stabilize Rodan on the roof of the building if you want to display it with the roof intact.
- Mini-Rodan: While it's a cool mini-figure accessory, I'm not exactly sure what the deal is here. Maybe it's a just-hatched, bug-eating Rodan?
- Name tag: Perfect for Rodan's office.
- Coin: It looks like this is for mail-away promotions. It's too bad I have no idea how I could redeem it, though.
- Storage Bin: A great place to put all your extra Rodan parts.
Above: Mini-Rodan, with other mini-figures for scale.
Value 
Revoltech Rodan is an import, so don't expect to be bargain-hunting if you're trying to buy one. It can difficult to eat the $43 price tag, especially for a 4.5"-scale figure. But the quality of the figure's sculpt and paint apps, along with the nice array of accessories, makes the cost a bit more palatable.
Coolness
Rodan has always been one of my favorite kaiju and to me he's almost as iconic a monster as Godzilla or King Kong. He can be a bit difficult to capture effectively in plastic (check out the American Bandai Final Wars-style Rodan above-right), but this figure nails it perfectly. The character-appropriate accessories, especially the super-awesome building display stand, cause this figure to max-out on the coolness scale.
Overall
Despite the borderline exorbitant price tag, this Rodan still manages to score a 5. It's easy to see why: the sculpt and paint apps work to make this a gorgeous-looking figure, the articulation is extensive so you can put the figure in interesting and dynamic monster poses, and the accessories help to make the figure a stand-out on the shelf. The price tag will probably scare off all but hardcore kaiju fans, but if you're a fan of Toho monsters, you can't go wrong with Revoltech Rodan. Given my reaction to this figure, it's obvious that I'm officially on board with the Revoltech kaiju line at this point. Next up is Anguirus, so stay tuned!
6 comments:
I really like the Revoltech Kaiju stuff and I'm glad they're doing it. Rodan is an odd choice, but shows their willingness to do things that are different.
I wish Revoltechs were a bit more "playable", but they are fun toys. It is a shame we can't use the Revoltech coins here in the states.
Rodan doesn't strike me so much as an odd choice, but Baragon and Moguera definitely do. I appreciate the attention to third-tier kaiju, but I'm wondering when a Revoltech Godzilla will be released.
Next is Anguirus and after that is Gigan, so at least they're more recognizable. But if they're going for obscure, I'd like to see Varan and Gabara. :)
I'm not sure where you guys are coming from with "odd choice" for either Rodan or Baragon. Both of these kaiju are absolute classic characters from the peak period of Japanese monster movies. RODAN and FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD are quintessential Toho masterpieces, and it makes nothing but sense to me that Revoltech would releases these fantastic figures. As for them doing Godzilla, that would seem to be a waste of time. I only say this because we are already drowning in an ever growing sea of literally countless Godzilla toys / figures. Dear lord, how many does one need? And "Amen!" to Revoltech doing a Varan figure! That would be a godsend! The Varan suit is one of the finest creations of the Toho effects technicians, and it has been grossly neglected over the years by most manufacturers. A last request for Revoltech: "Please release a Frankenstein figure to go with your magnificent Baragon!"
By referring to Baragon as an "odd choice", I was saying that he's one of the less important Toho monsters in the grand scheme of things. Baragon was in only 3 movies, and he was only a supporting monster in all three. (I understand their choice of Rodan because he was in more movies and had a starring role in one.) I don't mind that they made Baragon or anything, just that I'd expect them to release monsters that have a more established fan base (Godzilla, Gigan, Ghidorah, etc) in the first few waves.
But maybe the Revoltech strategy is to release the more obscure characters first to get collectors interested. More "seasoned" collectors don't have as many Baragons as, say, Gigans. So they might be more excited for a Baragon release.
I'd love to see a Frankenstein figure, too. Although I think my dream would be Revoltech Gargantuas.
As for Godzilla figures, I'd especially be interested in some of the costumes that don't get nearly enough representation in plastic, like 1984.
Nathan, of course it's true that Baragon only appears in three films, and the original monster in only two. But we all know this is because the Baragon suit made numerous appearances, in disguise, in multiple Ultraman episodes - so many episodes in fact that the suit was too weathered and worn for anything but a fleeting cameo in DAM. I would argue against his role in FCTW as being merely "supporting". His screen time is extensive in that film, and his place in the overall narrative flow and structure is potent. I'm sure no one sees FCTW and walks away thinking of Baragon as a bit player! As for his fan base, I'll admit that you may know more about this than me, but nonetheless it has been my perception that Baragon has always enjoyed rather solid and across-the-board appreciation. Unless I'm mistaken the 1992 Bandai figure has always been one of the most coveted by collectors. I would also add that (in my opinion) FCTW is one of the most important of all the Toho giant monster movies. I imagine it would be on many fan's list of top-ten dai-kaiju films of the classic era. I firmly believe it to be one the most unique and perfectly executed fantasy films of the 1960s. The night scenes of the monsters fighting on the hill top, illuminated only by the eerie glow of a raging forest fire, practically qualify as stunning images of Fine Art - frame grabs would be good enough to hang on art gallery walls! / In the excellent review of Revoltech's Rodan you write of the Mini-Rodan: "While it's a cool mini-figure accessory, I'm not exactly sure what the deal is here. Maybe it's a just-hatched, bug-eating Rodan?" I'm pretty darn certain that the manufacturer's intention is that this be viewed as a mini-sized bonus figure specifically representing "Rodan in flight". In the film most, if not all, of the scenes of the monster zooming through the skies were done with a model and not the suit. The mini-figure is a sculpt of this "flight" model. / Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to get the Revoltech Rodan wing studs into the shoulder joints? I'm a big guy (6'9") and it took all my strength to shove those dang wings into place! Sheesh.
I didn't have any problem with Rodan, but I did have to put some serious elbow grease into getting Anguirus' arms into their sockets. It was almost unreasonable the amount of effort it took to do so.
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