Inside the box with Ichabod presents:

S.H. Monsterarts Destroyah Evolution set from Tamashii Nations/Bluefin

A face to give TheJackSack nightmares.

So here we are, with more monsters, and specifically, more Destroyah. He had a handful of forms in the movie, from microscopic demon to the 120 meter tall monstrosity we saw last Monsterarts review. So what makes this a evolution set? Well, dear reader you are going to find out. 

First we have the juvenile form clocking in at a measly 2-18 meters tall, this form was the first real time Destroyah showed up as a major threat. Roughly human sized initially it gave the JSDF hell, and temporarily turned the monster movie into a horror movie.

 You'll notice some immediate similarities to the Final form here, mostly in the skin texture and the head crest bits. The beady yellow eyes and a bug mouth are more unique to the juvenile form not to mention the completely different insect like body shape. 

 The details here are well done, showing off that wonderful mix of red, darker red and black. I am honestly impressed by the color work done on him. It looks great, and while the details do get a little smeared this close, I forgive it. On normal display, not under the hard scrutiny of a Hi-def macro lens camera, it looks great.

 His articulation.... yeah. That is where this guy totally falls apart as a toy, having swivel claws in the front, the middle leg on each side, and the two long back spikes. Also those tiny fins you see near his tail can move as well, but are ultimately useless. No neck motion, no head movement, only one set of legs? Why was this atrocity allowed to be committed!?!!

 Oh.

So he is tiny. Like... really tiny. Little Godzilla is(was) the smallest Monsterart I own coming up to the hip of Godzilla. And this guy's head comes up to just under his chin when Lil' G is sitting. The lack of articulation makes entirely too much sense, and really when you hold this one in your hand, the level of detail is impressive. Though he is hilariously out of scale if you think of him as even the 18 meter version.

 Now onto the Aggregate form. This is actually how you see Destroyah most of the movie. Bigger and around 40-60 meters tall he is seen wrecking buildings and getting into fights with Godzilla junior. Who I sadly still don't own.

 The head detail is already showing improvement of the juvenile form, but that's also because he is overall larger. Still looking far more insect than his final form, you can begin to see the more defined head shape and where Destroyah gets those creepy side of the mouth teeth. 

The detail and paint work is just as good, if not better than the previous form. More defined carapace bits, and better highlights show off some great paintwork on a smaller scale here. He is creepy and insect like the only way a Toho monster can be.

  Oh sweet articulation, welcome back. We've got multiple neck joints, all 6 legs at the body and the "knee", all those creepy underbelly claws? Ball joints, though barely useful. The claws in front of him? Both halves are on tiny ball joints. Even his tail has some movement, compared to the very static one of the juvenile. This tiny guy is made to move and pose, at least more so than the juvenile.

 But we're not done here yet, the back spikes are jointed at the base of the body, and each red segment is another joint. The problem with every joint but the neck and the tail is the range is not great, it allows for movement but not much. And they pop off a lot. Not a deal breaker, but it was frustrating during the photo shoot.

 Also he can do his best Alien impression. You just pop off the head and get something small to push out the back. It is in there solidly so no worries of it falling out. I used the tip of the stand clamp to push it out. 

 At least he can hold his own head. But popping out the alien mouth is not the only reason to remove the head. 

 Yeah, even I think this is a tad creepy. Representing his Micro-oxygen attack, this is the weapon he uses to seriously hurt Godzilla junior. Its just.... weird. Am I glad they included it? Absolutely  Now is all I need is a Daniel Planview action figure to really get a use of out this extendo-mouth.

 The heads look different. One with a more "open" set of eyes, and yet less paint. Its subtle enough I didn't notice until I took the picture.

 All that detail and articulation and he is still damn tiny!

 The difference between the two is subtle, but it is there. And with the level of detail on the juvenile form, its not just him being tiny. The evolution of a monster.

 And now we have the Flying form. He actually takes this 65 meter long appearance a few times in the movie. It was the least seen, and very unique compared to the other forms.

 The detail work, with the purple wings is just awesome. The back looks a lot like Final form's back, same with the shoulders and chest. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the paint is done so well. This whole set looks great, really. The Wing articulation is present, but minimal. Each set of wings has a limited ball joint, providing some forward and backward motion, as well as minor up and down motion. Like a lot of the joints in this set, it is subtle. 

 The little legs move a bit in and out, exposing that weird core looking thing, and the tail and neck are both pretty well jointed. Which matter more than you think, being able to tile the head/tail really gives off a lot of personality.

 That is a really awesome profile, and the sculpt even allows for a Tamashii stage clip to have a natural resting point. I was pretty happy about this.

 The face looks a lot like the final head, with the more prominent mouth, and the side teeth showing up. Also the beginnings of the translucent horn. I really love this head sculpt.

 Hey Lil' G knows his time with these creepy bugs is almost over. Flying form is the largest of the three, though it is hard to show, due to the length rather than height.

The full evolution set all together. You can really see the size difference between all three here, with flying coming in on top, quite literally as the biggest meatiest one in the pile.

Godzilla show's his mass compared to these smaller bugs. Though something similar to this scene actually happened in the film.

 Destroyah is made up of trillions of microscopic organisms, that adapt and can change to the situation. Hence the Evolution name given to the set. When Destroyah is presented with a challenge it can't beat, it evolves. During the fight between Godzilla and Destroyah's final form, it actually breaks down into the smaller aggregate form to try and overwhelm Godzilla. It was a really cool scene actually.

The full family all together, and boy, next to other monsters these guys all come off as small, but mostly in scale with the rest. The one thing I really commend the Monsterarts line for, is maintaing at their best ability the scale between all the Heisei monsters. 

 I normally don't talk about the boxes here, but this one struck me as odd. The cover art is really cool, but every other Monsterart box had a window and this one is solid cardboard all around. Plus I really do love that front image.

This is a really cool set, if you love Destroyah. And only if you love Destroyah. It retails for around 89 dollars, and that is a lot to ask for 3 tiny monsters.  Yes, they are all highly detailed, and overall pretty cool. But causal Monsterart fans need not apply. If the price was a bit lower, or it came with Destroyah's energy effects he had in the movie it would be easier to recommend  Those are still missing, and like they did with Rodan, throwing them in for other monsters would have been cool. 

Available exclusively to the North American market for mass release and  early at SDCC 2013 at the Bluefin booth, by the time of this writing it is available at all of the major US and Canadian Online stores that carry monsterarts, and your local comic shops upon request. Superpowercollectibles.com's stock of monsterarts is growing, plus if you use the Buttershoes coupon code, you get 15% off orders of 50 dollars or more.

The destroyah Evolution set was provided courtesy of Bluefin and Tamashii nations.