[Disclaimer: This week's Manky Toy offering involves a little bit of descriptive looseness. First of all, I bought not one but two toys. Second of all, they really aren't that manky…in fact they're rather good. Be that as it may, I still kept under my 5 Euro a week limit, and still bought them in the "Euro 2″ shop (it really is a bottomless pit of manky goodness). Anyway, on with the show.]

Of the many dazzling and literate fan-boy/girl discussions that abound on the web, two types stand out as particularly engrossing.

Type 1 involves witty, erudite debates about the degree to which a particular cultural product "sucks" or "rocks" . A thesis is suggested, i.e. "MATRIX ROCKS!!!", before a stunning antithesis is proffered, i.e. "NO WAY DUDE. MATRIX SUCKS!!". Dazzling stuff entirely.

Type 2 (and the one that concerns us here) attempts to grapple with age-old, playground questions like: "Who would win in a fight between Godzilla & SuperTed?" (or He-man & Charlie Landsborough, or…Leatherface & Catweazle etc, etc.). Yes folks, what we're talking about here is the "Versus" phenomenon - an established (and thriving) subgenre of Horror and Science Fiction.

Where once the ambiguous "meet(s)" was used to describe horror/comedic crossovers and encounters - Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man [1943], Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy [1955] etc. - the rise of the Gojira (Godzilla) movies saw the more confrontational word "versus" (or "tai" in Japanese) come increasingly to the fore. Notable slugfests involving the Big G include - Mosura tai Gojira (a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Mothra) [1964], Gojira tai Hedorâ (a.k.a. Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster) [1971] , and (most relevant to this week's Manky Toy Monday) Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (a.k.a - obviously enough - King Kong vs. Godzilla) [1962].

Though I’ve yet to watch Kingu Kongu tai Gojira all the way through (it's tough going), I have read an admirably detailed analysis of it in Ray Morton's King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon. While Morton admits it's hardly classic stuff (in the way the original King Kong was), he does highlight the fundamental appeal of such films:

No matter how badly done, it is still fun to watch two giant monsters throwing one another around and smashing miniature sets to pieces (Morton, 150).

Amen to that. For a sample of same check out the hilariously oversold American trailer below:

"So Gigantic in Scope, It Dwarfs Every Wonder the Screen Has Ever Shown Before!": A slight case of raising unrealistic expectations methinks.

Anyway, it's safe to say that today's toys were inspired/influenced by both the above monster slobberknocker and Kong's battle with a T-Rex style dinosaur in the original (1933) King Kong. The title of the "series" is (as the post heading makes clear) "King Kong Vs. Dinosaur" and here's the hairy fella in his box:

A few things to note.

1) The box excitedly proclaims (a la Pokemon) "Collect Them All!". This might, at first, seem like a challenge until one realizes that there are but two items in the series and both of them will (no doubt) be located next to each other in one's local Pound/Euro shop. In other words, "collecting them all" should take approximately 20 seconds and set you back no more than 4 Euro.

2) Kong comes pre-chained. A bit unfair really and something that puts him at quite a disadvantage…unless of course he uses said chains to strangle his nemesis.

3) While Kong gets a groovy name, the dinosaur is simply referred to as "Dinosaur". This absence of a definite personality makes "Dinosaur" a bit hard to root for in a fight.

4) Not only is Kong pre-chained, but both monsters come "pre-wounded". It's almost as if they've already been kicking/biting lumps out of each other, prior to being boxed. Now that's animosity.

5) The box clearly shows Kong (and this is a very Godzilla-esque touch) clutching a rocket. One might think that this is intended to restore the advantage he loses by being chained but careful inspection of the box's contents reveal a sad absence of rockets. "Dinosaur" will no doubt be relieved.

Contravening another of Manky Toy Monday's rules I've decided not to return these two titans to a charity shop. As the image at the top of this post shows, they just look too cool and too at home in our back garden. There they shall stay…at least until our cats pull them apart in a bit of classic "Versus" carnage.