When I ordered this guy, I had three pieces of information, reliable or otherwise. First, it was advertised as 9 inches tall, a figure some sellers with similar items hedged as 8". Second, it had no markings except "China". Third, it was speculated that it might be from Dormei, the same infamous manufacturer that made Generic Godzilla. I knew I wasn't getting to the bottom of this without a specimen in hand, and it was pleased with the unusual and vaguely attractive color scheme, so I ordered it for not a lot less than I paid for a full-sized Dormei original. Here's a pic of him straight out of the plastic.
What was moderately intriguing was that the figure came with the tail off. It could have been removed for shipping, but it seemed possible that this was in fact a "vintage" specimen that never got sold. That raised the further possibility that the plastic wrapping was original shipping material, but I didn't see any signs that it was particularly old. What was most significant by far was that the socket for the tail looked quite a bit like that of Genericzilla. Here's a couple more pics.
Something else I determined on further examination was that the figure as about 8.5 inches, which happened to be pretty close to the "authorized" but not very good Godzillas made by Imperial in the 1970s and/ or early '80s. Given that context, there was a definite potential tie to Dormei. While I consider it doubtful that they were the manufacturer (apart from anything else, they put their name on things way too goofy for this to be the one they covered their tracks for), there is a very good chance that both makers knew each other's handiwork. As a further experiment, I detached an arm for inspection, which I knew I could do without ill effects on the Dormei specimen. It turned out to be harder than expected, mainly because of considerably softer material, but it wasn't too hard to remove and reattach. It turned out, if anything, that it looked even more like Dormei.
When I play with Godzilla, he can actually get hurt!
One more thing I decided to look into was the "original" Dormei Genericzilla, a variant I acquired when I posted about it last Spring. As I noted at the time, he had a head a lot more similar to the actual Toho design, especially in the 1970s. On examining them side by side, I found them too similar to be simple coincidence, insofar as even finer details on the snout match up. I'd have to watch a few Godzilla movies to decide if it can be accounted for by a common source. Here's a comparison shot and a closeup.
And, while I'm at it, here's a back shot. This is where we get into unusual territory. The spiky stuff on Godzilla's back are a distinctive feature I never quite worked out as a kid, and notably absent from many knockoffs/ bootlegs. Here, the protuberances, sometimes described as "shark fins", aren't close enough to be in litigious territory any deeper than it was already, but remain strikingly elaborate, especially with the triple rows. Incidentally, one of the lesser spines on the tail outright broke off, which should show in the pics.
And that's the end of the trail, for the moment. Having examined this carefully, I believe that it could if anything be older than the Dormei Genericzillas. What's decisive in my mind is the nearly indescribable feel, rough and almost powdery. (The skin texture is one more thing a lot more like the source material.) I tried looking for more info, but found only more online listings with no more information than I could figure out. One thing that was evident is that these things cost way too much not to be relatively rare, to the point that some are actually priced higher than Dormei Genericzillas. What made things more interesting is that there are some strange mutations out there still clearly based on the same molds. Here's my favorite.
Generic Godzilla or generic Gigan?
And it wouldn't be complete without a lineup, this time with the Walmart giant robot and the Robotech Red Guy!
And now I'm calling it a night. That's all for now, more to come!
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