This was, and still is, one of my favorite toys EVER, the Power-Up Mecha-Godzilla. Though some people call the Trendmasters designs "stylized" or outright "inaccurate" depictions, this was the figure that demonstrated Trendmasters was truly not blind to their source material at all, as it's heavily based on the design from one of the theatrical posters for GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1993), then obviously utilized a few features from the actual film design.

I think my favorite features are the hollow fins. :D

Despite the fun I had drawing and coloring it, I think this one really got me conflicted about which Mecha-Godzilla I should do - the Power-Up version, which everyone remembers (and again, one of my favorite toys of all time), or the 1993 design, which served as their standard releases of the character.

This entire project has been to showcase the designs Trendmasters came up with for the figures, from minor stylizing to outright overhaul. Of the standard-release figures, Mecha-Godzilla was the only one Trendmasters did not put their own spin on. If I recall, Trendmasters actually did base the 10-inch figure on a Bandai figure (which is pictured on the back of the King Of The Monsters packaging), and the 4-inch figure practically uses the exact same sculpt as the Bandai "Hyper" figure (I believe that's the one I'm thinking of). The Power-Up figure is the only one that's actually a different design and sculpt all around.

So why all this conflict on which one to do, then?

Well...despite not being redesigned, I do think Trendmasters did boost a bit of MG93's popularity, at least in the US. It may not have been the poster child for Trendmasters' tendency to put their own takes on the characters, but he still had a prominent role throughout the toylines. I eventually did settle on the Power-Up version because, again, he fits the entire idea of what this project is all about, as well as being probably the most remembered figure of the entire run.

But if I haven't implied it enough, I'll likely be doing the '93 design in similar fashion eventually. ;)

Anywho, I had a lot of fun with this one. Something I've tried to do with this ongoing project is try to loosen up and get a little "cartoony" with some of the poses and expressions, so I went with a macho "YEAH!" pose here.

To get the metallic effect, I've since adopted a method of shading with multiple layers - highlights (set to "overlay"), depth, and form - rather than shading directly onto the color layer, like I used to do. I just mess around with each layer's opacity, then I simply draw with black on the form and depth layers and white on the highlights layer. And primarily for metallic surfaces I add a fourth layer, gleam, to add that extra bit of shine.