The official Godzilla web store is offering fans the chance to nominate their favorite giant monster for Toho’s next soft vinyl figure release, but only underrepresented kaiju will be allowed, with the King of Monsters excluded.
Japanese Godzilla made the announcement on its Twitter account, which specified that the monster receiving the most requests would be entered as one of the final ten candidates for the figure series and added that Godzilla was not a valid choice. Technically, the nomination is only open to Japanese locals or people with a Japanese address since filling out the name form requires an account on the Godzilla web store, which asks for these details. Japanese fans (or overseas kaiju fanatics who still manage to create an account despite the restrictions and language barrier) currently have until Jan. 8 to input names. The company will reveal the final 10 candidates in January.
Gorosaurus & Varan, the Kaiju Deep Cuts
As an example of previous soft vinyl releases, the Godzilla account shared images of two figures — Gorosaurus, who debuted in the 1967 film King Kong Escapes, and Varan, who made his first appearance in a 1958 movie that bore his name. Both monsters are relatively deep cuts which have received little in the way of merchandise over the years yet possess interesting histories that make them stand out from other creatures in Toho’s catalog.
Gorosaurus, for instance, was created to mimic the appearance of the meat-eating dinosaur that Kong fought in the original 1933 King Kong movie, which resembled both an Allosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex. King Kong Escapes — loosely based on the 1960s animated series The King Kong Show — saw Kong once again fighting the carnivorous menace, which this time bore a name.
Meanwhile, Varan was the last black and white kaiju film Toho produced. The titular monster was a massive prehistoric reptile that resembled a monitor lizard and a cross between Godzilla and the more popular flying kaiju Rodan.
Both Varan and Gorosaurus would appear in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters, a no-holds-barred kaiju rumble that starred Godzilla and nearly every other giant creature in Toho’s extensive library.
Aside from giving visitors the chance to vote on the next soft vinyl release, the Godzilla store has sold a number of limited edition, fan-favorite merchandise in recent months, including a mashup between Godzilla and the Eva Unit-01 of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame, as well as figures based on the recent Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex short film.
Source: Twitter
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