In exciting news, the Godzilla "The Art" Bandai figure of the original concept maquette is now up for purchase at the US Godzilla Store!
I had given up on ever getting this one because the eBay prices made it more expensive than the X-Plus version of the later maquette that I already purchased. The price on the Godzilla Store is not great, to be sure, but a hell of a lot better than eBay.
For those who may only know the maquette from the promo stills for the film, the Bandai figure is based on the earliest version, when Godzilla still had scales:
The next maquette, which was used in the infamous "train biter" promo still, among others, is what the X-Plus version I have is based on. But here's that version for comparison:
And the infamous train biter image:
You can see the later maquette already had the keloid scars we know and love, but it still closely resembles the original scaly version.
The X-Plus version that I received earlier this very year also came with a woman for Godzilla to clutch in his claws, based on another promo still using the second maquette.
I love the concept design so much, scales or scars. It's so unique; much more dinosaur-like and feral than the finished suit. And you can tell the designers of the GMK suit got the idea for the white eyes from it, too.
You can definitely see why the final suit differs so much from it, though. I mean, there is no way those proportions would work for a man in a suit.
