Godzilla Appears to Be Eating Hamtaro in Bizarre Crossover Statue/Figure

Premium Bandai is now taking preorders for a new Godzilla and Hamtaro crossover figure.

As revealed by the collaboration's official Twitter account, the new Godzilla figure features the King of the Monsters apparently swallowing the adorable hamster mascot whole, though Hamtaro still has a smile on his face and doesn't appear to mind being consumed. The figure represents the King of the Monsters with his pupil-less redesign from the 2001 film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The Hamtaro can also be removed when fans want to display a more traditional Godzilla figure.

This is not the first time that Toho's iconic Kaiju and Ritsuko Kawai's hamster mascot have met - the two have actually engaged in an on-going collaboration, entitled Godziham-kun, since 2001. The team-up has resulted in a long line of adorable merchandise, which usually depicts Hamtaro wearing a Godzilla costume, rather than the kaiju consuming the hamster whole.

Godzilla is also teaming up with several other Japanese pop-culture icons for Shin Japan Heroes Universe, a new crossover initiative that sees the King of the Monsters teaming up with Toei's tokusatsu (masked hero) icons Kamen Rider and Ultraman, as well as the influential mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Tying all four franchises together is director and writer Hideaki Anno, the creator of Evangelion, who also co-directed the critically acclaimed 2017 reboot Shin Godzilla. Anno also wrote the script for the Shin Ultraman, which is scheduled to be released in Japan this April, and is currently directing Shin Kamen Rider, which is planned to be released in 2023. The collaboration has stated that the characters will meet only in merchandise and special promotional events; an on-screen crossover of the four franchises has not been announced at this time.

Hamtaro originally began with a series of children's books, the first of which was published in 1997. The series has since been adapted into a manga, multiple anime series, and a line of video games. Hamtaro is one of Japan's premier children's entertainment franchises, have generated over $2.5 billion USD in merchandise sales as of 2002. The story books and manga have been published in English by VIZ Media.

Toho Co. Ltd.'s Godzilla was originally created in 1954 and continues to be one of Japan's biggest pop-culture icons. The newest entry in the series, the anime Godzilla: Singular Point, was released on Netflix in 2021. Legendary Pictures, which produced Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), is currently developing a TV series set within its MonsterVerse continuity for the Apple+ streaming service.

Source: Twitter

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