Popy Kingsaurus King Ghidorah

5.10.2022

Saturday was washed out by rainy weather but that didn’t ruin the weekend. I hit the road for a quick trip across the Delaware River to Jersey and The House of Fun. The House of Fun got in some new Godzilla collectibles. But I picked up what I had my eyes set on several weeks earlier. A few months ago I purchased the Godzilla from the Popy Kingsaurus (ポピー キングザウルスシリーズ キングギドラ). Recently, the shop added the Popy King Ghidorah from that series. So I had to give Godzilla one of his favorite fighting partners.

This King Ghidorah was released in 1978 as part of the Popy Kingsaurus series. The year 1978 was the start of the big Godzilla boom in the U.S., where Mattel would release Kingsaurus Godzilla as part of The Godzilla Gang. It is about 145 mm in height. The modeling color has been described as “yamabuki color” (山吹色, #FFA400).¹ It is “a traditional color of Japanese culture. It literally means golden yellow. The names of most Japanese colors come from nature – animals, plants and flowers.”² Its eyes are black eyes with a red mouth. Metallic and gold spray was applied on the body.

This Popy sofubi Ghidorah is listed as H-4 on its header card³ and catalog, Godzilla being H-1 of course. A red variant repaint was also released.⁴ “Popy Co., Ltd. was a Bandai subsidiary originally established in July 1971. They became most well-known for the Jumbo Machinder and Chogokin lines of die-cast robot toys, while also producing a line of 16 cm vinyl figures dubbed the “King Zaurus” (キングザウルス) series from 1978 to 1980, which included a number of Toho and Tsuburaya characters, all with a distinct footprint molded into the vinyl. In 1983 Bandai absorbed Popy back into the larger Bandai Group, and by 1986 the division was no more.”⁵

This is a cool classic sofubi that I’m happy to have on the shelf with the my Popy Godzilla. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Godzilla Gang welcome your newest member, King Ghidorah.