HIYA TOYS Godzilla

I’m getting so pissed off over my order from INS for the Hokkaido Heat Ray 91. it’s been 15 days and I still haven’t received my order yet, there was a glitch from USPS that said I had to send them payment once it arrived at customs. And when I tried to inquire what that was about the postal service told me that it looked like the package was being sent somewhere in Texas rather than my home address in Illinois. Not sure what this is about. My shipping address is clearly on my PayPal and stuff shouldn’t be getting mishandled like that. And INS hasn’t responded to my email when I inquired about the incorrect address.


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Finally received Hokkaido. I'm usually one of those people who scoff at super articulated Godzilla figures because who cares for that, really. But holy cow, is this Goji expressive thanks to the wonderful neck, arm and tail engineering. Huge props. If only theu gave him a better mid torso joint, or even separate waist and ab ball joints.

Other than that, I'm not as impressed with the blue glowing effect because there isn't one, it's just a few translucent fins. Kinda meh, I'll have to do some paint highlights myself.
 
Hiya toys had an excellent showcase at WonFest in Shanghai today with many new pieces on display including the prototype for Behemoth, Suko, Kiryu, a Warbat and what appears to be a prototype for Godzilla 2003? It might be the normal Kiryu-Goji suit we’ve seen already but I think this one has the scar on his chest.

Photos courtesy of the Hiya Collectors facebook group

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adrienveidt said:
Shit, when are they getting Gamera?
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I don’t think Gamera will be announced in the near future. That’s a completely separate license and Gamera is owned by a completely separate/rival studio. They are owned by Daiei not Toho and this line by Hiya focuses on monsters from the Toho library


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I'd love them to get the Gamera license. SHF did/does both at the same time, yeah?
 
cmoney said:
I'd love them to get the Gamera license. SHF did/does both at the same time, yeah?
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Yeah the SH Monsterarts line has made monsters from the Gamera trilogy as well as the Peter Jackson’s King Kong Movie, the Monsterverse and even Monster Hunter. But the Monsterarts line was devised as a catch-all kind of line dedicated to offering a line of hyper articulated Diakaiju figures from popular franchises across the globe. Godzilla has obviously gotten the most support because Yuji Sakai, one of the main sculptors has been doing work for Toho when it comes to licensed figures and model kits since the 1980’s. And he’s even was offered the chance to make a few Maquettes based on early concept suits for some of the films in the Millennium series back in the early/mid 2000’s.

The Hiya situation is much different and more narrowly focused though. They are allowed to make figures from the Monsterverse courtesy of the partnership between Toho and Warner Bros, and then there is the Toho Classics line which just focuses on figures from the 70 year history of Godzilla as conceived by Toho. But for now their focus within that specific genre is limited to the Millennium and Heisei era. The Showa and Reiwa periods are still off limits.


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I've seen speculation about Showa being off limits to them before, but has that ever been outright confirmed? Not that I'm complaining about what we've been getting though!
 
I assume they were just focusing on a couple of eras and will get to Showa eventually. Guess we'll see.
 
From what I’ve been told it’s kind of like a probation kind of deal. Toho is testing Hiya’s mettle to see if they are capable enough as toy makers and artists to see if they have what it takes to produce Godzilla figures at a minimum standard that meets Toho’s expectations and should Hiya meet Toho’s standards, they will be allowed to carry on with the Godzilla franchise in a more expanded capacity and that includes making Godzilla figures from different eras


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Well they've proven themselves to me! That sounds awfully self important on Tohos part though
 
cmoney said:
Well they've proven themselves to me! That sounds awfully self important on Tohos part though
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I mean it’s their brand and they want to make sure that their number #1 IP gets all the positive press they think it deserves. And if a company representing Toho doesn’t do a good enough job providing that representation, then it’s their right to terminate any contract they so choose and pursue a marketing deal with someone else.

And while I’m in total agreement with you, you have to admit, Hiya has had a few stumbles here and there. They’ve had to completely go back and redo their MechaGodzilla ‘93 and their Kiryu-Goji sculpts.They’ve fired one of their biggest artists and designers within the first 5 months of the line taking off. The eyes on the 91 sculpt were bad and they had to redo them after the product had already shipped. And let’s not forget the constant complaints from customers that every time Hiya announces a figure, inevitably a “better” beam effect will be produced and will trump the current figure. (Which is totally subjective IMHO).

Also if that wasn’t enough, through no fault of their own, this tariff and blockade for all products that are coming from China to overseas markets has caused significant delays and Toho isn’t able to see a return on their investments with Hiya. This couldn’t have possibly happened at a worse time given that all of these preorders that were dropped last year are finally starting to release. So yeah these have been some costly setbacks and Hiya needs a few more wins before they’re in a better position to advance to the next stage of their relationship with Toho.


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