5/24/16

Godzilla Puzzle "City Rampage" (HG Toys #458-02, 1978)


As promised, here is a bit closer look at the three 150-piece HG Godzilla puzzles from 1978.  The first one is the "red" one, also known as "City Rampage" (although you won't find the name on the box, if I remember correctly, and mine is out of reach at the moment).  The name may have come from HG Toy catalogs, but who knows.  The most we can be sure of is that they gave it the number of #458-02.
 The art is lovely, and again, my opinion is that they were going for a "realistic" depiction, as if they were fleshing out the (then-current) H-B cartoon.  It has everything you'd want from a scene of Godzilla in the city:  buildings being destroyed, citizens fleeing in panic, the pavement cracking open...although, if this were an American poster for a Godzilla film, the running woman would be in a red dress, which is more common than you might think.  We need to look at that one of these days.
And then there's this poor guy, who is behind one of Godzilla's humongous toes:
Did he narrowly missed a very flat fate? Either way, it's a nice touch, and a good start to a unique series of American Godzilla puzzles.

In the "equal time" category, here is the Canadian version of the puzzle, put out by a company called "Frolic":

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The "City Rampage" name appears on the side of the box... the other two in this series are similarly identified on their box sides.

I still have these after buying them for myself all those years ago as a Christmas gift. Loved the artwork on all three, but the 'you are there' feel of the panicked crowd in this one is still my favorite.

CR