With the SH Monsterarts Destoroyah released and King Kong almost here, I thought I’d take a quick look at one of the early items in the line.  The Mechagodzilla effects parts and Garuda aircraft have easily become my favorite bonus set so far, even at its inflated price.

Bluefin has done a fantastic job at bringing the Monsterarts line to all of us non-Japanese consumers.  Even the Tamashii web exclusives have been made available to us at retail, which is a fairly new development that I love.  Middleman fees from Japan can get steep and saving money while showing where the support for the line is really coming from is good for everyone.

Unfortunately, SH Monsterarts success outside of Japan wasn’t expected in the beginning.  So when the first two figures were released (Godzilla and Mechagodzilla), there were plans to bring over their Tamashii web exclusive accessory/effects sets.  Now these two sets are easily the rarest items in the line so far, and their secondary market value has shot up as people try to complete their collection.

Godzilla’s set is the cheaper of the two.  I don’t know if it’s because Bandai made more of them or if it’s because they’re not essential to complete the figure, but either way you can find it for about eighty dollars if you have patience and shop around.  Mechagodzilla’s set is a different story.  Not only does it have its own unique item, the Garuda aircraft, but it’s also the only way to create a Super Mechagodzilla figure for the line.  This easily pushed the set well over a hundred dollars on the secondary market.

At first glance the set doesn’t seem very impressive.  It only consists of a stand, two G-Crusher devices, the Garuda its beam effects and docking parts.  But what it lacks in items, it makes up for in design.  Ever since MOGUERA was released, I’ve said his engineering easily makes him the best figure in the line.  That’s still true, but a close runner up has to be the Garuda.

I was surprised to discover the ship was made entirely out of plastic.  I thought there may be a few die-cast parts, like Mechagodzilla.  That doesn’t take away from its complexity though.  There is plenty of sculpted panel lines, overlapping parts, and even articulation.

The cockpit area is easily visible and stands out amid the large thrusters, wings, and guns.  Seeing the design up close, it reminds me of the GI Joe Space Shuttle.  This cockpit area is on a rail and can be slid forward or back depending on what mode you want to put the ship in.  The paint of the main body is a sleek white with darkened airbrushed areas that make the craft look used.  There’s also a tampoed G-Force logo just above the wings on each side.

Garuda’s two large cannons are also articulated and can move up or down.  The barrels have been painted metallic silver and were also given airbrushed details around the seams, giving it a very realistic effect.  The tip of each barrel contains a translucent beam emitter.  These pieces can be removed and replaces with energy effects that are translucent blue with more airbrushed highlights.  Continue to page 2…