Review – Velocitron Larvagon

NOTE Velocitron (website, Twitter) sent me this toy for review purposes, so keep that in mind as you read my rambling words of nonsense. There are days when running battlegrip.com is way too much fun; especially the days when free toys come in the mail.

A Monstrous Beast

The Larvagon is a worm-like monstrosity with two tentacle arms, tail coiled beneath it, and a strange helmet that fits down over the monster’s head . . . but still leaves the jagged teeth ready to go and chomp the hell out of anything and everything that gets in its path. And at 9-inches long there’s a lot of monster here, making this one mean kaiju for my shelf of Japanese vinyl toys.

Sculpt

The Larvagon’s really weird, as you can see by the photos. The sculpt is pretty detailed, with folds of skin, a brain-like texture under the helmet, and jagged and wicked-looking teeth. But as a unique monster it’s hard to say whether or not the Larvagon’s sculpt matches the original vision, but I can say that what we got is sweet and scary all at once.

Articulation

As with most kaiju the Larvagon’s articulation was less about playability and more about what the toy needed for manufacturing. The arms swivel up and down, but that’s basically all of the articulation you get. There’s some play in the neck joint, but not enough that the monster can turn its head more than a few degrees in any direction. It’s possible that you could heat the plastic and twist the head more, but I’m quite happy just letting the monster stare dead ahead.

Paint

The Larvagon is molded in orange plastic and has very little in the way of paint apps. White spray on the helmet’s horns, the teeth, and one spiky tentacle arm look pretty good, but it’s the black paint wipe over the entire body that brings out the sculpt and really makes the toy. And the wipe covers the entire body, including the underside, so they definitely didn’t skimp when it came time to paint the toy. It’s not as detailed as we see on action figures, I know, but it’s a standard approach to painting Japanese vinyl and when done right it can look quite stunning.

Closing Thoughts

Creepy and crawly all in one toy, the Larvagon is unlike a lot of the toys we’ve looked at before because it is nowhere near the humanoid standard and is instead a true monstrous beast. Not a lot of play value or poseability options, but it does make an attractive addition to my collection and should scare just about anyone who comes across it in a dark street.

If you want your own Larvagon see the Velocitron webstore for the toy in different colors. The price is about average for kaiju, and there are a couple of different colors available right now.

Philip Reed will keep one eye on the Larvagon, because that monster looks hungry and is probably mean enough to snap off a finger with those razor-like teeth.