Godzilla, the real deal, is returning to American theaters again this coming August with the Sony/Toho release of Godzilla 2000. G2K came out last December in Japan, and American Godzilla fans have been anxiously awaiting it's official release stateside ever since.

I grew up watching Godzilla movies. Sure, I know they're cheesy - but that's half the fun. Guys in giant monster suits smashing up scale models of cities....that's great stuff! I don't think I ever got to see a Godzilla movie in the theater as a child, and when I was older and Godzilla 1985 was released it came and went before I even had a chance to get to the theater!

But, in my youth, I watched Godzilla movies nearly every week. A local station (KTVU Ch2 in Oakland, CA) would run a Godzilla movie every Saturday afternoon (and sometimes at night on the classic Creature Features). And I would watch them faithfully each week. I would read about the movies in Forrest J. Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine (the greatest magazine in the world to me as a 10 year old kid).

But, what was missing was toys. I wanted Godzilla toys so bad, but they were few and far between. Of course the biggest Godzilla toy I had as a child (and still do have) is the Mattel Shogun Warrior Godzilla. This 18" bad boy shot his fist like a rocket (?) and stuck out a tongue of fire when you depressed a lever on the back of his neck. Only problem was, the toy bore only a passing resemblance to the famous King of the Monsters. But, at the time it had to do.

I only remember having two other Godzilla toys as a kid. One was a bendy 5" or so Godzilla made by some no-name company that actually looked pretty good (except the dorsal fins were way to short - a problem shared by the Shogun Warriors version, too). The other was a Bullmark die-cast figure of Gojira (the Big G's Japanese name) that I picked up in a store in San Francisco's Japantown.

Sure, I had the Marvel Comics Godzilla series, and I watched the awful Hanna Barbera Godzilla cartoon (Godzooky? what were they thinking?)

I suppose I outgrew the Big Guy, and had pretty much forgotten about him for 20 years or so. Television stations didn't air the movies anymore, and he really wasn't making his presence known in America...

...unless you knew where to look.

It wasn't until a little over three years ago that I had hooked up with some fellow collectors in the Bay Area, one of whom was a huge Godzilla collector (well, he wasn't huge - but his collection was!). He reintroduced me to Godzilla, and showed me a huge world of Godzilla toys that I had never known existed. He knew where to look.

Come to find out, over in Japan (naturally) there's been hundreds of Godzilla toys - all these years - and I hadn't a clue.

The bulk of Godzilla toys have been made by, and continue to be made by, Bandai of Japan. Other companies have gotten into the act over the years such as Popy, Marmit, Yutaka (a Bandai subsidiary) and even Medicom.

Medicom produced 2 awesome Godzilla figures that were actually 12" Combat Joe figures that fit inside rubber Godzilla costumes. Two versions have been made - the original 1954 incarnation and the 1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla version (Godzilla's appearance changed slightly in just about every movie).

Thanks to the internet, and a few good import dealers of Japanese monster (or kaiju) toys, I was able to revist my childhood and get some really cool Godzilla toys.

One of the things I love about Godzilla toys is that there is something for every fan. Godzilla, and his companion monsters, have been made in every conceivable size. Everything from small 1" tall figures to massive 2 (or bigger) foot long versions!

To the left you can see 3 of the Godzilla 2000 figures that came out in Japan late in 1999. The smallest is a gashapon figure (sometimes called candy toys) from Bandai's High Grade series, and stands about 3" tall. These typically are found in vending machines. The detail on these tiny figures is really amazing. These are fun figures to collect.

The middle figure is a 4" figure made by Yutaka. It has no articulation, but still makes for a cool representation of Godzilla.

The largest one is from Bandai's Kaiju 6" series of vinyl figures. There's nearly 20 different kaiju figures in this inexpensive line, including 2 figures from Gamera 3. When the Sony/Centropolis version of Godzilla made it's way to Japan (where it soundly flopped) Bandai produced a few versions of Godzilla's American incarnation. Unfortunately, this version of the monster never made it into Bandai's 6" line. But there was a few candy toys of the creature produced, including the one shown to the right. These two figures, which stand about 3-1/2" inches tall are made of hollow vinyl and again show Bandai's amazing attention to detail.

As far as sheer numbers go, Bandai's candy toys are the way to go. They're small and relatively inexpensive (at least for recent sets) and you can build up a miniature kaiju army. The cream of the crop, as far as candy toys go, are the previously mentioned High Grade Series.

One of the most fun aspects (at least for me) of collecting the High Grade figures is getting as many of the different versions of Godzilla as possibly, from the different movies. Pictured above are Godzilla '54, Godzilla '62, Godzilla '92, Godzilla '95 and Godzilla 2000. The Godzilla '95 figure, depicting the monster as he appeared in Godzilla vs Destroyer, is especially neat as it is cast in translucent orange plastic. In that particular film Godzilla's own internal nuclear power source was melting down and he spent the movie giving off a radioactive glow. The figure captures that effect perfectly.

Bandai's 6" vinyl series, unfortunately, has only produced 3 different versions of Godzilla. A Hesei version (from the movies Toho produced in the late '80s - mid '90s), a 1954 version and Godzilla 2000 edition. Each is a near perfect representation of it's particular period in Godzilla's near 50 year cinematic history.

Now, Godzilla is coming to America again thanks to Sony importing Godzilla 2000. The film is scheduled to open in theaters this August. There don't seem to be any plans to release any of the Godzilla 2000 merchandise here in the States, though so if you want your kaiju fix you'll need to go to an import dealer who carries Godzilla toys.

There are several dealers online who specialize in Japanese monsters, with everything from Godzilla to Gamera (remember him?) and Ultraman. These folks can generally find what you are looking for:

Club Daikaiju

Showcase Collectibles

And, if you want to keep track of what's going on in the world of Godzilla there is several ways to do so. G-Fan is a magazine devoted to Godzilla that comes out every other month. Each issue is chok full o' news, reviews, previews and articles that cover just about every aspect of Godzilla fandom.

As far as websites go my favorite for Godzilla stuff, bar none is Aaron Smith's fantastic Monster Zero site, which is now a part of Fandom.com. There is a new Godzilla movie currently in production in Japan called Godzilla vs. Megaguiras, and Aaron keeps tabs on all the latest developments of the movie as well as collectible news. Be sure to check it out.