A hot product born out of shared shock with fans - an interview with a Bandai product planning manager about the much-talked-about "Shin Godzilla" soft vinyl.

Orders for "Movie Monster Series Godzilla 2016 Climax ver." and "Movie Monster Series Godzilla 2016 Transformation Set" began on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. The "Movie Monster Series" of affordable and precisely sculpted soft vinyl figures of Godzilla, which features the heat ray emitting and frozen states that were so impressive in the movie "Shin Godzilla," has become a hot topic of conversation among fans immediately after pre-orders were accepted.

⇒ The high quality soft vinyl figure of Godzilla from " Shin Godzilla" is now available for reservation at Premium Bandai !　Reservations have started at Premium Bandai!

Akiba Research Institute interviewed Mr. Seitaro Onishi of Bandai's Boys' Toy Division, who is in charge of product planning, about the appeal of such a hot product. If you are currently debating whether or not to order the product, be sure to check out this interview.

About the Movie Monster Series "Shin Godzilla" Soft Vinyl

─ ─ Reservations for the "Godzilla 2016 Climax ver." and "Godzilla 2016 Formation Change 3 Figures Set" began on March 22. They have already become a big topic of conversation among fans, but first of all, I would like to ask you about the items that these items are based on.

Seitaro Onishi (Onishi): They are based on "Godzilla 2016 (second form)," "Godzilla 2016 (third form)," and "Godzilla 2016" from the Movie Monster series released in August 2016.

──It became a hot topic because you were the first to commercialize not only the fourth form, which became the silhouette of the "Godzilla" we are used to seeing, but also the second and third forms.

Onishi Although other companies are releasing products now, I think it was significant that we were able to deliver products of the second and third forms to customers just one week after the release of the movie. Bandai's Boys' Toy Division was the only company that was able to produce the figure at that time, so fans said to us, "You did a great job in producing the figure at this time! We were the first to do this, and we were the first to do it for other companies.

───Can you tell us how you were the first to commercialize these figures ahead of other companies?

Onishi During the product planning stage, we had heard that Godzilla evolves from one form to another in the "Shin Godzilla" movie. However, there were some people in the company who thought it would be fine to just commercialize the fourth form. At the time, no one had seen the movie, so there were many different opinions.
However, when I read the scenario, I was surprised to see Godzilla evolve, and each form was so impressive in its own right that I, as the person in charge of Godzilla, intuitively thought, "This is a good idea! I had a gut feeling that it was going to be a good one, so I proceeded with the project.

─ So the surprise you felt when you read the scenario was the driving force behind your decision to make it into an item.

Onishi In fact, fans who saw the movie released in July were shocked by the existence of the second and third forms! And there were also a lot of people who wanted a three-dimensional version of the figure after seeing it in action in the movie. As a result, the items released in August became so popular that they quickly disappeared from movie theaters and retail stores. I think this was largely due to the fact that we were able to share the surprise of "Shin Godzilla" with fans.

───How was the response from fans who actually purchased the products?

Onishi: It was very good. All of the products were sculpted based on the data used for modeling in the movie, so they are very close to the shape in the movie, including the surface details. Therefore, even if we could not see the parts in the video, we can check the actual products and say, "I didn't know this was how it was supposed to be! I can check the parts I couldn't see in the video. That must have been a good thing.

─ ─ Not only did you commercialize the product quickly, but you also pursued the details thoroughly, which is why it became a big hit item.

About the "Godzilla 2016 Climax ver." and "Godzilla 2016 Form-Change 3-Pack Set

─ ─ From here, I would like to ask about the highlights of these new products. Let's start with "Godzilla 2016 Climax ver.

Onishi: Even before I saw the movie, I knew that the heat ray emission scene would be the most exciting part of the movie, and I knew that I wanted to commercialize it at some point.
In the Boys' Toy Division, we put a 2D code on the tag of each product and conduct a survey about the product, and among the comments we received from fans, there were many requests to commercialize the "heat radiation scene. This time, in response to those requests, we decided to commercialize it.

─ ─ When you put them together like this, they look quite different compared to the original "Godzilla 2016," don't they?

Onishi: We newly sculpted a large part of the so-called "upper torso," which includes the head and waist. The main points are that the inside of the mouth has been sculpted down to the fins, and the dorsal fin has been reproduced with clear parts to convey a realistic sense of heat ray radiation.

─ I see that the inside of the mouth is painted in metallic purple.

Onishi The paint was created to represent the moment when Godzilla is radiating heat rays. （I was quite torn about whether to paint it red (inside the mouth) or not, but I decided to go ahead and do it. ...... I wanted to reproduce the "moment" of radiating heat rays. I hope that those who buy this model will enjoy taking pictures of it by devising the best way to illuminate it.
The product page says "Godzilla soft vinyl has reached a critical point in its history where it is the best modeling of Godzilla in modern times," and I think the price of 2,500 yen (excluding tax) for a soft vinyl figure of this quality is quite a bargain.

─ ─ On the other hand, what do you think about the frozen Godzilla Form 4 included in the "Godzilla 2016 Form-Change 3-Pack" set?

Onishi Looking back at the reasons why our previously released "Godzilla 2016 (Second Form)" and "Godzilla 2016 (Third Form)" were so well received, I think it was because we "gave form to something that had not yet been sculpted. And in that sense, it is not that there are no products that reproduce Godzilla in the frozen state of the last scene of the movie, but there are few that reproduce the shape of the tip of the tail as well. So we thought it would be a good idea to commercialize a frozen version of Godzilla as well.
Naturally, because of this concept, the "tip of the tail" was also carefully sculpted. We hope you will enjoy it from various angles.

Also, this item is actually quite difficult to paint. At first, we tried painting it black with white molding color, but we just couldn't reproduce the image of the play. ...... In the end, I used black as the molding color, painted it once with a solid white coat, and then peeled off the white paint. This is a very time-consuming painting method that is not often done with soft vinyl (laughs).

─ Speaking of painting, what do you think about the second and third forms of the heavily painted version included in the "set of three"?

Onishi If you've watched the movie many times, you'll know that Godzilla is getting dirtier and dirtier, or rather, its color is getting darker and darker. In order to make it closer to the image in the movie, we changed the molding color and added more paint to emphasize the details on the surface of the figure.
Many users of soft vinyl models apply additional paint and weathering by themselves. However, not everyone is able to enjoy this kind of work because of the technical difficulties involved. This item is designed to make it easy for such users to enjoy a professional finish. If you already have the standard version, we hope you will compare the two items and enjoy the differences. In particular, the dorsal fin of the second form is a key point.

──They are all items that you have been particular about, aren't they? Finally, do you have a message for fans?

Onishi: Each of these items was created to capture a memorable scene or emotional moment from the movie, and to be displayed at home. Also, we have made them in such a way that when they are lined up, the size of each form is different, so I hope you will order both so that you can experience the evolution of Godzilla in the movie. We hope that you will order both items and experience the evolution of Godzilla in the movie with the same excitement you felt when you saw the movie.
If you have already ordered, please visit ......, and since there is still time until the September delivery, we hope you will watch the Blu-ray and DVD over and over again until then and enjoy them with gusto when they arrive.

[Product Details].
■Movie Monster Series Godzilla 2016 Climax ver. (Soft Vinyl Figure)
Pre-order period: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 11:00 - Monday, June 19, 2017 23:00 (scheduled)
Price: 2,700 yen (tax included, shipping and handling charges not included)
Size: Approximately 170mm in height
Product arrival: September 2017 (tentative)
⇒Product page (#)
*Orders may be closed when the pre-order quantity is reached.

■Movie Monster Series Godzilla 2016: Form Change 3 Figures Set (Soft Vinyl Figure)
Pre-order period: March 22, 2017 (Wed) 11:00 - June 19, 2017 (Mon) 23:00 (tentative)
Price: 8,100 yen (tax included, shipping and handling charges not included)
Size: Height: approx. 95mm / 2nd form, approx. 130mm / 3rd form, 165mm / frozen ver.
-Arrival of goods: scheduled for September 2017
⇒Product page (#)

*Orders may be closed when the pre-order quantity is reached.

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