Alright, I know the movie is pretty bad, but I've always had a real soft spot for Yonggary. When I was a kid, Godzilla and other kaiju movies were far less accessible than they are now, and while I owned a decent amount on VHS and DVD there were a lot that I only really got to see on the rare occasions they played on TV. The best bet for catching a monster movie was usually the Sci-Fi Channel (before their syphilization). In my desperation for anything close to kaiju content, I watched basically any monster movie they played, enduring the likes of Boa vs. Python and Man-Thing in the vain hope that they would in any way resemble a good movie. That's where I first saw Reptilian, the legendary US adaptation of South Korea's Yonggary. Some incredible dialogue notwithstanding ("compared to this guy, Godzilla's a pussy!"), I pretty much hated the movie, but I was willing to admit the monster designs were pretty cool. My opinion on Reptilian/Yonggary has softened a little in the years since, and as I found myself nostalgic for the time where I could sit and watch a Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie, I felt that my kaiju shelves would not be complete without a little Yonggary representation.
Now, there actually was a fair amount of merchandise for Yonggary, but unfortunately it's all extremely hard to find in the west, and very expensive when it does show up. Probably the easiest Yonggary merchandise to get are actually the chicken nuggets, which unbelievably my local Asian grocery stores actually stocked for many years (I am able to report that they are pretty much normal dinosaur chicken nuggets). The figures, though, are basically impossible to find, and even dumb, chinchy stuff like chibi wind-up walkers are way overpriced when they do come up. I had basically given up on owning any Yonggary merch when this keychain popped up on Mandarake one day. I'd seen the same keychain sell on Ebay for $50 to $75, so when I saw they were selling it for about $25, shipping to me included, I was happy to snatch it up.
So, here he is. He's a little short, minimal articulation (only at the waist and tail), and is permanently stuck in Big Head Mode. But, really, the resemblance is not so bad. The sculpt reminds me of the old Trendmasters Godzilla figures, where they'd actually look pretty close to the movie just viewed through a funhouse mirror. The figure stands about three inches tall, so it's too short to mesh with either the Bandais and too tall for Hyper figures, but it's a nice enough size taken on its own merits. The plastic does kind of suck. It's a bit thin, and even though it's squishy it still manages to feel brittle. How can something be both squishy and brittle?
This is a very stupid thing to bring up, but I think the way the keychain is attached to the figure (which I couldn't even get a good photo of) is a little strange. It's very utilitarian, in a kind of inelegant way. I've got half a mind to cut this part off so he can be a "normal" figure, but I haven't ever quite worked up the nerve. I just can't stand to circumcise him I guess. There's also this weird slot in his back, I think because they just shrunk the mold they used for a piggy bank.
Unfortunately there's no Cykor keychain to go with him, but that's the raspberries. I'm happy to say that this pretty much scratched the itch for me. The keychain comes up for sale relatively frequently compared to a lot of Yonggary merchandise, so if you're in the market I think this is one to seek out. Otherwise, I guess you can spend $700 on the big dumb walking figure or wait for Titanic Creations to get the license. Any day now!