Overview

Minilla sucks. He has a joint at the shoulders and hips, and a seam at the neck that looks like a joint but isn't. He's such a tease.

The alien includes only a tag, and the power to suck up your Final Wars shelf.

The Figure

BanDai must really love this ugly freak because we sure don't. Many fans, including she who owns this toy, claims he ruined the movies in which he appeared. He was a kid-identifier character before they really became the plague they are today, the Robin to Godzilla's Batman or the Jar Jar Binks to the rest of the freaking Star Wars saga.

There's not a lot of detail to represent here but BanDai managed to catch it all-- there's so many warts, folds, wrinkles, and subtlety in the design that they could have left out, but didn't. For that, BanDai deserves a pat on the back because most companies would realize they could have spent the time and money making a toy you might actually want.

He looks stupid, and often acts stupid. Sure, it's a fairly banal way to put down the figure, but frankly he really never did much in the Godzilla series of films that would cause you to laud him. It's nice they gave him some joints, and it's nice that they don't hurt the look of the character. Score one for great execution, but take one away for not executing the character earlier.

Packaging

Minilla's tag is his only form of packaging, which is just as well as he fits in with the rest of the line.

There really isn't much to it. I mean, it's a tag.

Fin

For collectors only. And even then, consider that there are better toys to buy in other lines. Barney toys are more widely available and cheaper, and can be painted. It's always unfortunate when a company spends a lot of time and effort making a great example of a character that's universally disliked, but Hasbro made a lot of Jar Jars and as one of the poor suckers with all of them, what can I say? Sometimes we like to have a complete set. As such, that's the kind of appeal Minilla (aka Minya) has to us-- as part of a set. The toy in and of itself is well done but the polar opposite of fun, much like Alien-X.

Text and photos by Adam Pawlus
Review posted on February 15 2005
Sample purchased from a Japanese importer for roughly $9 in January, 2005.