I'm so excited about this one, I don't know where to begin, so let's take a historical perspective, and begin at the beginning!
The existence of this Godzilla figure has puzzled fans for years. We all know Doom Island ended up as a cancelled line, but at Toy Fair that year, the Trendmasters display looked like this:
You'll see this page cropped and shared all over the place, but its origin is TOMART'S ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #38, and the full page is presented here, above. There's a prominent photo in the middle of this montage that caught the eye of many a fan. What was this cool-looking Godzilla figure? To further add to the mystery, it got a full page in the Trendmasters Doom Island catalog:
What in the world was this figure, and why did we never see it?
Well, now it can be told!
Enter Jeff Bergeron. Jeff is an artist and designer, and worked at Trendmasters from day one of their Godzilla license! He has now shared the long-lost details, and the facts are: this wasn't a Godzilla figure...it was TWO Godzilla figures!
Shockingly, there was to be both a 4-inch and a 6-inch figure of this Godzilla for the Doom Island line. As Jeff relates on his Etsy listing (which we will get to momentarily), they were designed by Bill Bronson at Trendmaster's request to take the line in a new direction, and to make Godzilla more "edgy." The 6-inch figure was never tooled (therefore what was seen at Toy Fair was a painted prototype, which is not an unusual practice), but the 4-inch figure was, and only somewhere around 12 were produced! So, what happened to those? How many survived?
Well...who knows, but what's important here is, Jeff owns one, and now you can own one too! On his Etsy page, Jeff is offering high-quality recasts of this Godzilla, professionally made in the exact same way that they would've been back in the day, using high-quality resin and dowel rod joints for articulation. Each piece is custom-cast and all edges are sanded off. He will even give one a Trendmasters paint job for you, if you so desire!
For me personally, I chose unpainted, because I want it to look like the unproduced figure that it is. As you can see, the casting job is excellent, and loses no details (I recommend that you view these photos at full size to take it all in). He looks great.
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| I forgot to mention, the figure bears the date of 1997! |
Interestingly, you can see that this figure would've had lights and sounds. There are small vent marks on the front, but directly above them is a square cut-away that would've held (or been) a button! Take a look at the photo of Jeff's disassembled figure on his Etsy listing, and you can see that some of the pieces are transparent (not just fins, but also hands)! This would've been an interesting figure indeed. On the underside, you can also see where the battery compartment would be, which looks similar in design to other Trendmasters figures.
Another thing that's cool about this figure is that its design doesn't shorten the tail, like they had to do with their earlier Godzilla figures:
In fact, as you can see above, the tail would've had an extra joint for added articulation!
I can't say enough good things about this figure. It's a piece of history, and it's an incredible feeling to be one of the lucky collectors to own one. It's in a place of honor in my collection, and will be a bragging point to friends from here on out!
You can buy one for yourself right here:
Not only will you receive the figure, but Jeff also includes a personalized Godzilla drawing with his orders! An original Godzilla drawing, from an original Trendmasters artisan? It doesn't get any better than that!
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