1. A brief description.
The bank is a seven-inch green plastic Godzilla figure sculpted in the typical Trendmasters style. It's arms and head are poseable. The legs, tail, and body are molded together as one piece. The money slot is located on the figure's back, and a removable plug is on the bottom of the bank for easy access to your savings. The figure comes in King of the Monsters packaging with a Godzilla trading card. Retail price was about $8.00, close-out price is about $3.00.
2. What I like about it.
I did not buy this item until I saw it on close-out. I thought the original $8.00 price was a bit high, but for three bucks it was a steal. At first I was not too fond of the design, but once I got Godzilla out of the box and onto a shelf, I warmed up to it. It certainly serves it's function well as a bank. I even have some change rattling around in it as I write this review. It fits in nicely with the rest of my collection. I don't think the average visitor to my Godzilla room even realizes it's a bank.
3. What I don't like about it.
The figure is a bit chunky and its long arms make it look out of proportion. Although, as I mentioned above, the look of the figure has grown on me. The original price was too high for this item. Having the choice to spend $8.00 on the bank or $10.00 on figure with sound, the bank loses out each time.
4. Collectors value.
This is the only American release Godzilla bank that I am aware of. There are several nice Japanese Godzilla banks out there. Most of the Japanese figure banks are in the comical "super-deformed" style. They also produce banks featuring some of Godzilla's friends and foes. As with all of the KotM items, these banks are getting harder to find. Now is the time to get them since the close-out price makes buying one that much more appealing. Way down the road I think this item may be one of the sleepers in the line. It seems many fans passed it by and the Godzilla bank can be considered a "cross-collectable" from Godzilla collectors and piggy-bank collectors.
5. Play value.
This is one of the sturdiest figures that TM has produced. The poseable arms and head also add greatly to the play value. It might be a good idea not to let the little G-fans out there play around with it if Godzilla is full of coins. It can get pretty heavy.
6. Parting comments.
Despite my initial hesitation with the design, I am very happy that I added the Godzilla bank to my collection. It would be nice to see TM produce more banks featuring different monsters but I doubt that will happen any time soon.
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