#I might think up some others for different versions of Godzilla

[multimuseforme]

If Godzilla could speak, what would he sound like? I can see him with a deep, booming, bellowing voice - it's only fitting for the King of the Monsters, no?

Just thinking for Legendary Godzilla

In English, I'm on the Keith David as Godzilla train

In Japanese, I'm thinking Tessho Genda would be the best choice

Especially when he voices Optimus Prime, but I can't find a good clip of that

[downtofragglerock]

So Godzilla, being film franchise that dates back to the 20th century, understandably lacks a large female cast, I wanted to see how many female kaiju the series actually has, but while thinking this over an interesting thought occurred

Japanese, as a language, has some differences regarding pronouns compared to English, and a lot of Kaiju get referred to in much more gender neutral language in original Japanese than they do in English, this has resulted in some interesting fan interpretations over the years regarding the genders of kaiju, and you bet I'm going to catalogue the ones I've encountered

Starting off, the explicitly canon female kaiju of the Godzilla cast:

Mothra

Biollante

Zilla (I think the movie tried to deny it, but the cartoon confirmed it, although final wars zilla is another question)

Megaguirus

Monsterverse actually brings a number of explicitly female kaiju into the fold including:

The female Muto from 2k14

Barb, the other female Muto

Scylla

Tiamat

Na Kika (formerly Kraken)

Shimo

Phosphera

Some of the other unseen titans from King of the Monsters might also be ladies, but given as they are still unseen, that's just blind speculation

Now we get to the interesting part, the fan interpretations

Manda, Kumonga, and Destoroyah all being female is a pretty common and old fan interpretation, I know from firsthand experience that it at least dates back to the 2000s, but it could even be older

Baragon by comparison is far more recent, and I know for a fact this interpretation can be sourced primarily to the fact that in GMK, Baragon's performer was Rie Ota, and a behind the scenes clip of her doing the roars in the suit made waves around the fandom and even outside it in the 2010s

Hedorah is another more recent one, but interestingly enough I've also seen enby, bigender, and genderfluid interpretations of Hedorah as well. I guess there's something about the smog monster that screams gender to fans

Titanosaurus is again a newer interpretation, but fascinatingly a even newer idea has popped up in the past couple years that Titanosaurus is the kaiju equivalent of a femboy twink

Rodan being female is a very interesting case, both in origin and mainly due to the fact it only really applies to the Showa continuity and various fan continuities that desire. Basically the origin of this is that in the original 1956 film Rodan, there are two Rodans, a mating pair. At the end they both fall into Mt. Aso. When Rodan reemerges from Mt. Aso in Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, there's only one. There's been speculation for years as to the origin of this Rodan, but for the longest time it was either assumed to be the male or somehow the child of the pair from the original movie. But in 2010s a new idea rose to greater prominence: What if the Rodan that survived and subsequently appeared in the rest of the Showa films was the female of the pair?

Battra is an uncommon interpretation, but I have observed it

@lydiathespiderqueen did some fanart of a female version of Toho's Frankenstein, as well as the Gargantuas, and it's really good

and @thesilkenlair did a compelling analysis of Spacegodzilla being female due to possessing physical characteristics of Biollante, as well as their behavior in the movie lining up disturbingly well with a phenomenon in nature where an animal will kill or try to kill the extant children of a prospective mate so undivided attention can be given to it and any potential offspring it may have

And that's all I've encountered, please do tell if I've missed some

[solemnv0id]

Monsterverse au where almost everything is the same except Godzilla can just become a guy whenever he feels like it

some rambles about the au under cut

ok hai idk what sparked in my brain to come up with this idea but I just think it would be very funny to see how a guy who fucks up cities on the regular would deal with being in a city and trying to figure out how the fuck society works

in this au, whenever he either turns back into Godzilla or goes into guy mode (which is the term I’ve decided for when referring to him changing to his human form), a massive cloud of mist forms around him. So while people don’t know that this guy in particular is Godzilla, they do know that if a cloud of mist suddenly appears and you didn’t see Godzilla anywhere beforehand, it’s time to panic.

There’s usually 2 main reasons why he turns into a person

One is boredom. There’s a shocking lack of things for the king of the monsters to do when there’s no monsters to beat up, he’s not tired, and is fully fed so has decided to spend some of his free time figuring what the hell these humans are getting up to these days

Two is quick maneuvering. It generally throws other monsters way off guard when the guy they’re fighting just vanishes in a cloud of mist.

also for funsies here’s some facts about goji in this au because it’s funny

1) Very good at picking up languages,,,verbally. His ass canNOT read.

2) Doesnt understand the point of paper money and credit cards. Only thing he somewhat understands is coins because “at least they’re nice and shiny”

3) In this version of KOTM, when he was getting final wars’d by Ghidorah he briefly went into guy mode in order to get out of there but couldn’t stay like it for long because yknow he was about to explode

4) Sleeps in loads of different spots bc who knew there’s so many more places to sleep when you’re not the size of a wonder of the world, and like what people gonna do? Move him?

5) Pretty much all his prior knowledge of humanity before deciding that exploring cities is cool is from eavesdropping the humans that were in that weird Atlantis place in KOTM and still remembers how to speak their language, only problem is that that culture and language has been dead for several thousand years so it’s not super helpful these days.

6) Thinks straws are a top 10 human invention

7) Chilled in Japan for a bit before 2014 happened and was given the name Tamaki which is what he uses to introduce himself since he didn’t know for a while that people called him Godzilla and even if he knew, telling people your name is Godzilla or Gojira makes them look at you funny

8) He can still use his atomic breath in guy mode but it’s usually by accident, like he sneezes a bit to hard and lasers a bit of a building by accident

9) For some reason is always surprised when people guess his age because they usually guess like,,, late 30s, early 40s and not several hundred thousand years old for some reason (his ass has no clue how long human life spans are due to both his lack of knowledge on them and the fact his perception of time is kinda fucked, he thinks they’re at least 1000 years)

10) Knows about Monarch but just generally views them as annoying bastards that don’t leave him alone (except Serizawa, he thinks about that one moment a lot). Also Monarch knows about the fact he can go guy mode but they haven’t been able to identify which guy he becomes.

11) Can still breathe underwater in guy mode (he still has his gills on his neck but you can’t see them bc of his hair) and will sometimes chill in the ocean whenever he decides that humanity has pissed him off for whatever reason

12) Will never deny that he’s Godzilla, he might not admit he is but if someone asks he won’t say that he isn’t, he just might indirectly say yes

[i-just-want-to-destroy]

the last chapter for walking study in demonology was CRAZYYY im so happy you updated. im so curious about what your thought process in writing it and if youre willing to share?? you dont have to if you dont want to btw! but in any case thank u so muchhh

hey thank you! appreciate it

okay super long answer below

honestly this one was difficult. idk if its bc its been a while since i write fics from scratch so i might have forgotten how difficult the whole thing is, but this one was tough. ch 8 wasnt from scratch tho cos i had the drafts since like 2022 or smthg lol

ik the formatting is non conventional in ch 8 and i was aware that itd be hard to read for some people. but i do think abt the readers often when i write.. mainly not what the readers want in terms of storyline (altho ofc i consider this too sometimes lol) but what the reading experience will be like for them.

i.e consider if id written the chapter in a linear, traditional way and narrated the confrontation between 1-A and LoV (or even other wackier “Villains” like godzilla and invading aliens or whatever). the truth is, although def easier to read, that version will be very boring.

(i know bc i tried and scrapped those versions.)

(im sure a better writer can write it interestingly but i am not a better writer.)

the thing w writing these traditional fight scenes is tht im sure — im 1000% positive in fact — that the readers have read it before. there r literally thousands and thousands of bnha fics out there with great fight scenes, on top of the actual manga, where youve read these characters fight their assorted villains. why would i make you read that again, esp when i know i cant do it better? i already know the readers r just gonna skim the chapter if thats the case. ive been a reader, ik what fic fatigue is like — esp with bnha when everythings been rehashed infinity times in infinity different ways.

same thing also applies with even the “metaness” of the fic itself.

i dont want the fic to come off like its talking down to readers, whom i believe alrdy have the instinctual knowledge of what the fic is trying to do. im willing to bet tht the readers have read something similar to this before, like multiverses n time loop n meta stuff, also cosmic horror. i still end up narrating some things even though often i feel im being too explanatory. i jst feel like the readers will know what im talking abt by virtue of their familiarity to the tropes involved.

therefore the least i can do is serve it in an interesting way, aka the fuckass formatting. like although the tropes im doing r done so many times before, at the very least i cld let the readers hopefully have fun by piecing it together puzzle-style with the fragmented formats — so its more of an experience thing rather than jst a lore dump. i dont like lore dumps, they can be condescending.

demonology def doesnt succeed in avoiding that however. in fact its fallen to that exact trap. ch 4 and 6, those r very lore-dumpy. i tried to make it fun w the humor dialogue style but its not perfect. i know tht by ch 8 that tricks alrdy old, and the readers have all the puzzle pieces at this point anyway so itd be even more repetitive than it alrdy is. even so i still feel im being too explanatory esp with the emotional arcs but thats a skill issue on my part

overall i feel demon can be more oblique and “elegant” in its mechanics.

but anyway, it IS crack… it was never meant to promise intelligence, least of all eloquence lmfao. its never meant to be taken seriously.

of course, at this point u can tell that i actually am taking it pretty seriously LOL. i never meant to write meta fiction. i have some gripes w it, namely that i feel meta fiction is used by weaker writers as a storytelling crutch n it can come off as lazy — demon is guilty of this too. but now that i end up writing meta fiction, i might as well fucking commit and try to push it as crazy as i can. if its not gonna be good, at least it can be interesting, or weird.

blah blah im yapping. point is, ik the end product might look very “random” and pastiche as if i was jst doing whatever i wanted … which, true … but it went thru a lot of trials and errors until this final version. you would not believe the amount of time ive rewritten this chapter, due to all those ^ considerations.

however i always knew i was going to start ch8 with the classic mary sue “fanfiction” — that segment was written a long time ago like in 2022/2023?? and mostly stayed unedited since, unlike the rest of the fic which i stripped and repainted and restripped again lol

ok thanks for reading abt my wack anime crack fic writing process that, again, shld not be taken seriously. i will admit however that i do put a lot of effort n heart into it so i cannot pretend i am aloof and disaffected. id be lying if i say its been easy. i consider it a miracle i updated at all. i keep saying its not meant to be taken serious but if i managed to make it even a little bit meaningful, id be very happy.

ah also. bnha ending actually forced me to scrap a lot of things too. but it kinda ends up for the better, maybe.

[duckieduccss]

im here for revenge!

do you have any specific things you'd like to share about your versions of the cyborg space chicken and goofy beetle god that you would like to share? 🎤🎤

Aaaa (1st ask in a longtime jumpscare) /j

Anything specific??? Hmmm…i think i might have some!!

First off, how they FIRST MET!!!!

To be more accurate, how they first bumped into each other by fate lol. So things do sorta go the same as for the events of Godzilla vs. Megalon. But with a twist, Megs pretty much got forced to go out & seek revenge on the people who disturbed the peace of the Seatopians (he didnt want to cuz he was in the middle of a SUPER long beauty sleep when he was awaken again). But he did so anyway, & did his best to act tough. Tho he isnt all one (but hey he tries) & does do his best & actually boosts his ego a bit after first taking down the annoying oversized robot. Gigan just happened to be chilling off somewhere else but got dragged by Godzilla actually & Gigan (being the angry short evil guy he is) goes to confront Godzilla (sizing him up; ironic cuz my Gigan is really short but will still fight literally anyone & be pushy for one until it happens lol). Godzilla isnt having it so they just leave & Gigan’s pissed but then notices Megalon trying to take down the other guy. So Gigan goes “well might as well help” & so he does. Megalon’s in a pretty good mood so they actually bond over something together (hence the iconic high five between each other). But well we know what happened. (Megalon gets his as$ kicked (traumatized for a bit there) & Gigan felt embarrassed & left; both losing the fight.

Poor Megs was actually too afraid to go back home from fear that he’d get scolded at for what he failed to do. He isnt much of a tough guy in reality even though he really tried. If anything, he wanted to make his people happy & seeing how much they saw him as their protector so it was almost more like he failed to do his purpose. Gigan ended up not actually being that far away & spotted Megs looking sad. Gigan recognized him & decided to talk to him. Megs was really nervous at first but surprised when Gigan actually apologized for leaving so soon & admitted that he had a lot fun fighting alongside him. That meant a lot to Megs in someone else saying they really wanted to be with him. He confessed to Gigan that he didnt feel as confident about his fighting & being a more confident (bug) himself. Gigan then proposed a deal to him agreeing to help him be a better fearsome kaiju by being his fighting partner. Megs happily accepted (& that’s where the giant hugs began)

(Btw Megs did go back home only for him to be really scolded by the Seatopian leader (he ended up going back to his bed curled up into a ball of disappointment)

As for other things:

Both of them have been very good friends actually. Megs actually really looks up to Gigan (as a role model) & once again ironic cuz Megs is considerably bigger than Gigan but ofc his ego & boosted overwhelming confidence is much more. Gigan does also have a soft spot for Megs. He’d be very mean or arrogant towards others but the moment he’s with his best buddy, he’s quite literally a different person. Megs is really a sweet guy as well & will sometimes do things (especially for Gigan) that admittedly makes him (Gigan) question things👀

Also Megs’ the best hugger ever. He’s best known for his big bear hugs (& his own love language of saying he loves you). He always does it for Gigan & even though he hates to admit it out loud, Gigan does love his hugs so much he actually craves them & even when he’s in a bad mood/having a bad day, Meg’s can usually tell & beforehand asking “Wanna hug??”

They like to goof around (either messing with the humans or with other kaiju) or do whatever they feel like (for example doing dumb “what if” experiments that cause a lot of destruction or some sorta big consequence as a result & then act all “oopsie my hand slipped😊”. They pretty much be gay & do crime (as of now they arent aware of the first part dont tell them that yet)

Both are very good “friends” right now but wont be much of a surprise until things get more between them both

Also may i mention too, Meg’s level of imitation so far is as much of enough to make him feel more brave to not sleep with the night light on (but both him & Gigan are working on it)

Anyway that’s the end, i do intend to go more into each one eventually (about how I interpret them ^^)

[foundfamilyhq]

Actually while im thinking about it, if I have multiple versions of a character I want to submit, how does that work for the form? For example, Monsterverse Godzilla is very different from the Godzilla that appears in Godzilla Minus One (since one was made in America and the other is from Japan). Or like, Donatello from Rise of the TMNT vs the 1987 TMNT cartoon. If I wanted to submit both versions next time the form opens, would you count them both as from the same fandom, or would they be considered different fandoms?

They would count as two different submissions for the same fandom and take up two of the four slots I know that might seem unfair. To me as a Sonic fan, the version of Dr. Robotnik from the SatAM cartoon is very different to the version of Dr. Robotnik from the AoStH cartoon, but to an outside perspective, that's still two Sonic characters. So I have to think of people following the blog who just aren't interested in that fandom as well Just think of it as only accepting four characters (or versions of the same character) per franchise as a whole. That way stops us getting the big backlogs for some series we've had problems with in the past

[thekaijudude]

Do you think Ultraman could become more popular in the west if, instead of (or in addition to it, but realistically, it'd probably be exclusive) YouTube, TsuPro put new seasons on Netflix or Disney+ or something? I think people are more likely to stumble upon the series there, especially if the platform promotes it. And parents might find it while looking for something to show their kids.

Oh i was actually discussing this specific topic with friends over our last hangout, on what it actually takes for Ultraman to become more popular in the west.

Tbh rn as we've seen from the latest TsuPro doc leaks that i posted and discussed in detail a few months back, they are actually going in the right direction in terms of expanding into the West, by focusing on building a western Ultraman brand first.

Let us first discuss their efforts in SEA as itll be easier to juxtapose with the west later. Because Ultraman has a very solid foundation in terms of audience exposure to Ultraman in SEA for at least 2 decades already (Especially first 6 series, TDG and Mebius) so they already have a whole generation of SEA kids that essentially grew up with Ultraman to the point where virtually everyone in SEA knows who or what Ultraman roughly is even tho they watched it only in their childhood. This is especially the case in China with Tiga, which is no surprise we then got the numbers for ShinU where it earned 20 billion yen compared to less than a Billion everywhere (outside of Japan) combined, as well as the setup of SCLA (TsuPro's arm in China for official distribution)

(Which is also why there will be an Ultraman movie made in China in 2025 from the leaked timeline but i digress)

So this is where expanding into the West has some issues. Because it lacks the 2 decades-long pre-existing brand identity that SEA has. So, people dont really even know what Ultraman is about or even who he is. And tbh it wouldnt really stand out at first glance as something that is "fun-to-watch" for kids or the general audience in the first place, not to mention the cultural differences would be hard for the mainstream audience to really appreciate and watch more even assuming they start watching it.

The existing Western fanbase is probably too small to really warrant TsuPro putting their series on Netflix or Disney+, and paying whatever amount to promote it either. As before Ultraman:Rising, the Western fanbase primarily consists of a very small group that started watching Ultraman independently and those who pivoted from KR or SS. But based on what I see from years of interacting with the Western fandom, it mainly consists of those who pivoted from Godzilla. This brings me to another point where TsuPro is also waiting for Godzilla (Japanese version) to expand further in the west before piggybacking on their success as more people would at least be easier to pivot to watching Ultraman then.

This is why you see in the leaked documents, TsuPro's western expansion plans are kind of lacking, because 1, they are more focused on expanding in the far more lucrative China and SEA. And 2, they are primarily only building the very bare foundations of a western Ultraman brand.

To recap, the current western expansions include Ultraman Rising, 3 Marvel Ultraman lines (Marvel Ultraman, Ultraman x Avengers, Ultraman/Spiderman crossover manga) and the concluded Netflix Anime series.

(Everything else under the "Global expansion" timeline is more geared towards China and SEA tbh)

So primarily rn, TsuPro is obviously more focused on riding on Ultraman Rising's success to build an image of Ultraman that is more aligned with Western culture, which is why Shannon got the go-ahead to make the 2 sequels (or a prequel plus a sequel, TBC)

(Not to mention, Ultraman Rising was the only "successful" western ultraman media of their list of plans)

Considering that we saw no other plans for western expansion till 2028 in the leaked docs, I suppose the next major change in western expansion plans lie solely on the reception of Rising's next 2 installments

In conclusion, the Ultraman brand has to be more recognized in the West before TsuPro can really expand in the same way as they are doing right now in China, which means actively licensing series to be shown on Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV etc. Currently, they are still focused on building the bare foundations of their influence in the West.

Thanks for the question!

[turtleations]

The Fire-Extinguisher/Car Escape/Alarm-Bell/Firetruck/Bed Stealing Incident

These are the events of one particularly memorable night during which hide went out drinking with a bunch of other people from the band and the band’s staff and chaos ensued, as told in INA’s book “Kimi No Inai Sekai” (The World Without You), published in 2018.

There is another version of the same story, told by Heath ten years earlier in an interview. If nothing else, it is interesting to see where their versions differ, and what parts Heath decided to leave out. You can find a summary of the entire interview here.

The story, which must have happened in 1993, begins in an establishment in Little Tokyo, L.A., that had a bar area in the front and a more private club area with beautiful ladies in the back. INA, hide, Heath, and an unknown number of other staff members of X Japan start out in the bar area where a lot of bourbon is consumed. But the realm of the pretty ladies is calling for their attention, with INA apparently worried they might never get there. They move over to that area eventually, though it seems that hide would have preferred to just stay at the bar and drink.

Here INA gives a bit of explanation on what is known as “Hidera” – a mash-up of "hide" and "Godzilla" (spelled Gojira in Japanese), aka what could happen when hide was very drunk and started rampaging. The state came in various emotional patterns, like happiness, anger, sorrow or fun. That night seemed to be the latter. When they left the place, hide was very cheerful and sweet, waving at the girls at the elevator and thanking them in Japanese and in English and generally being like an angel until the moment the elevator doors closed. But it was like the elevator was taking their angel from heaven straight to hell and he started kicking and attacking the door with increasing violence while the others watched in astonished confusion.

The moment they arrived at the underground level, hide took off towards the parking garage. On the way there he came across a fire extinguisher that was sitting in a glass case and liberated it from said case with a Karate-chop. Glass flew everywhere and hide started running around the garage with the fire extinguisher in his arms. Everyone else ran after him yelling, eventually caught him and threw him onto the backseat of their van. Hide just started flipping out even more. A security guard came running over, alerted by all the noise, and the rest of the team kind of panicked and decided to make a run for it. As the car fled from the parking garage, hide yelled at the security guard from the car window: “What do you want, asshole? How many years do you think I have been living here?” (For some reason.)

Since the guard was American, he had certainly been living there for longer. And since hide was yelling in Japanese, he probably didn’t understand him anyway…

Their car flew from the parking garage with screeching tires, like a car chase in a Hollywood movie. And just after they had escaped, hide suddenly started wailing in pain. Now that they had a moment to pay attention to it, it seemed that he was kind of bleeding over the car seats. A lot.

As it turned out, he had cut up his left hand, which must have happened when he used it to explode a glass case. So the others were now facing a dilemma, because that hand needed some rather urgent first aid, but they didn’t have anything at hand, their apartment building was still an hour away, and they couldn’t go back to the place they had just run from.

So someone had the idea to turn the car around and go to Mama instead. “Mama” was an elderly Japanese lady who was running a karaoke-bar in Little Tokyo that the guys sometimes visited to drink. They made it there just in time before closing and after they explained what had happened, Mama kindly took care of hide. By then, “Hidera” had gone to sleep and hide was quiet and obedient. Mama bandaged and cooled his wound, warned the others to take him to the hospital first thing in the morning because that cut was pretty deep, and then pushed them out of the door.

Back in the van, on the way home, everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the end of an incident that could have ended with the police being involved. Except it wasn’t over yet. Because they had not expected the Return of Hidera.

Hide, who had been silent so far, suddenly came back to life, tried to figure out where he was, and upon being informed that they were on their way home decided, since he apparently did not want to go there, to just leave the car right away.

The car was going down the freeway at more than 100 km/h.

Undeterred, hide pulled open the sliding door of the van and tried to throw himself out. The staff, who were in the back with him, pulled him back in. hide pulled the door open again, tried to throw himself out. The staff pulled him back in. Over and over. By the time they arrived at Oakwood Apartments, where they lived, everyone was bathed in sweat.

Once at Oakwood, they got out of the car and before doing anything else decided to see hide to his room safely. As they climbed the stairs to the right floor, Hidera spotted something on the wall that caught his attention: A sign with the words FIRE ALARM.

Politely accompanied by the instruction: PULL DOWN

And Hidera was like “Don’t mind if I do!” and ran down the corridor where a number of such fire alarms were conveniently located. And he pulled down every single one of them.

All this happened at about 3 in the morning and the result of hide’s drunken, inexplicable attraction to fire fighting devices was a noise that INA describes as “JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN, JIRIRIRIRIRIRI…..” Except louder.

At this point, everyone kind of panicked. A brave, alcohol-fueled attempt to stop the noise by putting the levers back into their original positions failed, and so they reverted back to Plan A: “Escape!” They tried to hide in hide’s room but couldn’t find the key. Meanwhile, more and more of the other residents of the building stepped out into the hallway to see what the fuck was going on. Having lost their hiding place (hide’s apartment), they turned to the only safe place they had left: Heath’s apartment, which was on the same floor. They all stormed inside, locked the door, and then turned off the lights and pretended not to be home.

There was one bright idea that penetrated their alcohol-soaked brains, and that was to call X Japan’s current manager, asking him to come at once.

As they sat in the pitch-black room and waited for the manager’s arrival, the sound of the alarm eventually stopped. In the silence that followed, they pressed their ears against the door and heard a voice outside say: “They went into that apartment! It was that guy!”

And from outside they could hear the incoming sirens of no one, not two, but four fire trucks.

“Eh?” someone asked at that point. “Where is hide-chan?”

hide-chan, as it turned out, was in bed – in Heath’s bed, that is. After fighting the elevator, stealing a fire extinguisher, picking a fight with a security guard, causing a Hollywood-esque car escape sequence, bleeding all over the car seats, disrupting Mama’s night, repeatedly trying to throw himself out of a speeding car, ruining every single neighbor’s night and causing the dispatch of no less than four fire trucks, hide-chan had apparently decided that his work was done and just gone to sleep. With his limps spread out as wide as possible, to take up all the space on the bed that the bed could give.

At this point, all INA could do was laugh. Except, no.

The manager arrived. And then, just after they had given him a quick report on the events leading them there, someone else arrived, and knocked on the door, and they looked out though the peephole and saw a fire fighter in fire-proof clothing standing outside the apartment.

So the manager said, “You guys stay out of sight. I’ll take care of this.” And the guys hid in the other room and peeked out from the doorway as the manager slowly opened the door and the fire fighter said, “The guy who caused the alarm went in here, according to the other residents. Is that true?”

And the manager was like, “Hahahaha, I don’t know. I am Japanse. I don’t understand.”

And he got away with that.

There was some more back and forth, but in the end the fire fighter left and INA rejoiced their rescue. Now that the danger was over, the manager said, “Since hide-san is asleep, everyone should go to their own rooms and go to bed.” Which they did. Except for Heath, who was already in his room and had no available bed to sleep in. And the next day, he had to go to the studio and record the bass parts of Art of Life…

hide, on the other hand, had to take a break from recording while his hand healed. A few days later, when he visited INA, he complained that while the wound healed well, the itching was driving him crazy. And he couldn’t scratch it. He was going up the walls.

And somehow, because of that, no one could be angry with him for all the chaos he’d caused.

The end.

[talenlee]

MtG: How To Un-Who The Rings

I really like Universes Within. Not Universes Beyond, the system whereby Wizards of the Coast make cards using other people’s IPs, I’m very conflicted about that. Like the idea of it doesn’t bother me, I don’t think there’s a ‘purity’ of Magic to defend, Magic is a corporate product and anyone who wants you to think that it somehow is above these things thinks differently of the game than I do. It’s a game about faeries and elves and ripping off fantasy licenses, using licenses for real isn’t that big a deal.

Uh, but Universes Within is when they do that kind of thing and then come back to make a version of the card with their own specific Magic: The Gathering flavour that’s meant to fit on a Magic: The Gathering set world. I think that rules, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.

I also have come to think that I might never see another Universes Within product ever again.

A bit of history to frame this. When we got the original Universes Beyond cards of the Walking Dead (though they weren’t called that at the time), it was October 2020. These cards were original cards from The Walking Dead, which were legacy playable, available in limited supply and for a limited period of time. These cards were the source of a lot of controversy, which I didn’t feel particularly strongly about at the time. My basic take at the time is that Legacy is an ocean of piss, into which pissing does not dilute much at all, and I say that as someone who likes Legacy. If a card is a problem, it’s not like Legacy’s price barrier is meaningfully made worse by another hard to get card, and people should just play with proxies anyway. I mean did I say that? because I mean it now, that’s for sure. Point is, Walking Dead was followed then by Stranger Things and Street Fighter, little secret-lair drops of about ten to fifteen cards.

An important detail here is that in this context, there were three franchises, three secret lair products, and in total there were 23 cards. These cards were released in other sets, as part of a bonus list of cards that show up in ordinary boosters. This put some of them out there but it didn’t just replace the original versions and change their value. The relationship of Wizards of the Coast to their secondary market is a positively space-warping kind of conversation, which always needs to accept some nonsense because a lot of the criticism is bad faith and badly made and mostly involves comparing Wizards to even worse actors in similar spaces. When I talk about these cards being made available, I’m just trying to describe the scale of what Wizards did and how they did it.

As a side story here, in Ikoria, we got cards that could show up in boosters that were Godzilla-themed reskins of existing cards, with a little name tag that showed what their real name was with a new flavour, art, and pseudonym to turn it from, say, Zilortha, to Godzilla. I liked these a lot, I thought these kicked ass, but anyway. These were existing cards in sets that had two versions from the jump (except Godzilla until recently), and they were a way to get fun cool different versions of cards, and introduced the idea that these ‘official proxies’ that transformed a card into some cool tie-in or other franchise was an option. That’s cool.

Point is, they gave us 23 cards that didn’t fit Magic, then promised they would, eventually, release versions that did fit Magic, and that way, players who liked the cards but didn’t like the flavour of them had access to these cards. They could show up in other sets, as a slow drip of cards and that lined up okay with a small pool of cards they were updating.

There are 289 cards in the Lord of the Ring set. To make versions of these cards that are from and fit in the Magic: The Gathering franchise’s existing flavour and lore, you would need forty sets trickling out a few cards at a time. At the current release schedule, jokes aside, that would take ten years for Lord of the Rings.

To be fair to Lord of the Rings though, it’s not like they’d need to do all 289 cards. A lot of them are generic, kind of. I suppose I need to explain what I mean by ‘generic’ though. Many cards, almost all the cards, in the Lord of the Rings set are doing a lot to stretch the Magic rules over what people are pretty sure they kinda vaguely remember The Lord of The Rings has in it, especially filtered through the prominence of the movies. That means that there are a lot of cards that are there that, realistically speaking, aren’t really actually representing anything as much as they are wearing a name or a flavour text quote that’s there to remind you what they relate to. They also want you to buy them, so the cards have to be good cards that, hopefully, evoke what they’re trying to sell you…

…but they don’t make sense. Just as an example, The Eastfarthing Farmer is a peasant with a stick who’s meant to be a farmer from a place that has not known war and avoids conflict and conquest entirely, and he’s a better fighter than a trained soldier. A single Nazgul was a terrifying monster that rendered the Hobbits immensely scared, but an actual Nazgul without access to the ring is just a 1/2. You can just throw some rocks at that and get them to fuck off. The card is great, the card does an amazing job of being an interesting play experience, mind you, but it doesn’t fit the Nazgul in the books or movies. In this, there are a number of Lord of the Rings cards that are just generic Magic cards, with generic effects, that are then tied to the Lord of the Rings through the artwork and flavour text (two things mutable from card to card) and card type and name (two things not mutable from card to card).

The hardest thing in Lord of the Rings to retheme is the mechanics around the One Ring, which, fortunately, the card ‘The One Ring’ has nothing to do with. It’s just a really powerful card draw card – it could even just be themed around an existing object that exists in the Magic: The Gathering canon, the Bloodletter Quill used by Lazav. Heck, Circu’s could be the Palintir. But even then I’m just wasting my energy trying to fix a minor problem that shouldn’t be a problem but always will be, because Lord of the Rings is now inextricably linked with a bunch of cards anyone will want to play because of how good they are. The issue is the ring tempts you.

The funniest thing is, because the ring tempts you is so bad at conveying the problem of The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings it’s pretty easy to retheme. It’s just an adventure – it’s an adventure that elevates someone to a new position but also rewards them for being sneaky and teaches them things in desperate situations while it pushes the game to the end state. Easy. That doesn’t seem impossible to recreate in a Universes Within way. Skulk says Innistrad, but the whole affair could be a Trial from Amonkhet or whatever.

There are 56 cards with The Ring Tempts You or Ring-Bearer on them.

That’s 56 cards they’d have to redo entirely for the appeal and interest of players like me. Sure, they’ll have enough slush art for that eventually, but there’s always a use for slush art. And then they’ll have to find some place to print that many cards just for someone like me, who wants to play with the mechanic but despises the previous execution. Not only that, but some of the cards that do that are mainstream and very significant cultural signifiers, so you’d have to be, in a broad sense, very silly to consider it worth it to not be Frodo Baggins.

It’s very hard to imagine that being a thing.

The problems present in Lord of the Rings can be kind of routed around. Like, it’s not like Arwen is a meaningful character in The Lord of The Rings so her legendary card doesn’t do much to demand attention in the game. Sure, it’s a legendary elf, she can live along with Gwenna, A Person People Definitely Know And Care About. But Lord of the Rings is generic fantasy – like, literally, it helped to define the genre – and Dr Who is…

Dr Who is fucking nonsense.

Dr Who has ‘alien’ as a creature type. It represents multiple different creatures from multiple different worlds, as a catch-all type that recenters the entire universe as the world of humans and the world of aliens, where whole cultures only exist for one appearance in one story and don’t have a meaningful existence of their own. Dr Who has the first two-word creature type in Magic: The Gathering, something they’ve said doesn’t count and won’t be done on any in-universe versions. And then, above all else, Doctor Who has the absolute brain wrinkler that is Doctor’s Companion.

If you’re not aware there’s a mechanic on some cards called Doctor’s Companion. In the context of Dr Who, this is pretty sensible and makes some degree of obvious sense. If you want to play a commander deck headed up by one of the Doctors and a Doctor’s companion, you can; they’ll both sit in your command zone and you can play them as you would any given partners. Your deck gets to have all the colours of both cards. This is a good mechanic for enabling deckbuilding and flavour appropriate to the world they’re from. After all, all those cards are the Doctor, and he travels through time – they I guess – and their companions might meet them at different times. Easy.

Now try and translate that idea to any other mechanical framing.

Bear in mind it’s very specific; it’s not just ‘you can have a Time Lord as your second commander,’ it’s got to be a creature whose creature types are Time Lord Doctor only, so no fun with Morphoron. This is going to cover 42 cards, 15 of whom are Doctors, and 27 cards which are companions, and you need to have a narrative fiction that explains why all of these legendary characters associate the way they do, but always in an A+B combo but never a B+B combo.

And by the way, don’t look to the existing cards for reasons that makes sense, because it won’t show up on the cards. You have to know these characters from another source, because the cards aren’t going to tell you why and what they care about.

I love Universes Within because it’s a fanfiction puzzle of trying to find a place for an impossible piece. But with that love of seeing the things I like show up there’s the dark mirror of just how much I’ve realised I hate Universes Beyond. Not on principle – the idea is sound, and you might notice I haven’t remarked on the fairly anodyne, easily separated Warhammer 40k cards. I hate Universes Beyond not because it’s some kind of bad trend or bad imperative – evidence indicates it’s very commercially successful after all – but I hate it because so far they’ve used it for two major full-scale product releases and I think both those releases suck shit and make their franchises look stupid and bad.

As someone who isn’t part of the Dr Who fandom, I can’t imagine these cards exciting me to learn more. I find myself actively resistant, like these cards make these characters look awful. There’s a bunch of cards that have the extensive flavour of ‘a guy’, like Wilfred Mott and Adric and Ace and Graham O’Brien. Their flavour text is contextless mush, stuff like ‘I always come prepared’ and ‘wicked!’ and ‘Anyway, nothing to do with you surprises me any more, Doctor.’ One of those cards doesn’t have that flavour text and I bet you could tell me if you were a big fan but please understand how meaninglessly similar that kind of talk is. It’s like Secret Lair: Joss Whedon.

Look, here’s an example. The Eleventh Doctor, a man who looks like he could be defeated by a thrown cup of tea that doesn’t even have to hit him, has a mechanic that triggers on successfully dealing combat damage to an oponent, sneaking past defenses and, once he’s dealt damage, sets up a card from your hand to come into play later, for free. It’s probably best used with really cheap spells, suggesting a weenie swarm strategy or a lot of cantrips. And we get flavour words to indicate what this character’s about, how they’re doing what they’re doing.

It’s the words “I. AM. TALKING!” in full caps. Like it’s a shouted oath. Like it’s someone interrupting someone daring to interrupt him in the middle of some plan or some powerful speech or something.

Now.

I bet if you’re a Doctor Who fan, that moment that phrase evokes for you is badass. It’s probably really cool. But to me, it looks like someone took a famous moment of this character, jammed it onto a card that has nothing to do with it, and put flavour text on there so you would mark out.

Sometimes it’s a function of how complicated the cards are. There’s a lot of text on them and they have art, name, and flavour text that’s meant to inspire you to engage with what the card is. They don’t. And don’t say ‘oh no, no, the flavour here is really good if you know about this thing from the show that sucks,’ because these cards aren’t here to get me to know about things. They’re here to reward me for already knowing them. This is your fandom showing off in my space and trying to look as cool as possible and I think it looks like it sucks.

These are the worst kind of fandom detritus.

They are Funko Pop Magic cards.

They are Certificates of Fandom Investment.

And I will probably never get to see a version of these things made to the standards of Magic: The Gathering to which I had become accustomed.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[ericmhe]

Godzilla Series Rewatch #19

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

I will finish a bigger project I start, even if it's just this dang it. First off, the copy I have of this movie is a cheap double sided deal with Godzilla vs. Mothra that doesn't seem to have a subtitled option.

This movie turned out to be another one where I really can't remember character names the day after except for the one gal, half the time they call her Amy but other times it sounds like her name might originally be Ami. I know I could look it up.

I definitely have some mixed feelings on this movie, on the one hand it's just so goofy looking and badly written there's a charm to it that the previous movies in this continuity didn't have, but it also feels the most nationalist of the Godzilla movies so far. I don't want to divert from talking about the movie though, so I don't plan to expand on that element.

The movie moves fairly fast for a time but it's coherent enough at first. There's a UFO! It's from the future, not space! We're going on a field trip to World War II!

Then time travel hits. Godzilla's been erased from history, but everyone remembers him. There are so many questions and no answers to be had, regardless of how hard fans try. King Ghidorah replaced Godzilla, that seems like it almost needs a movie of recap on its own. Did Ghidorah target boats at first too, were they different? Or did he start with planes, or settlements? Did Ghidorah destroy Tokyo like Godzilla did or did he have a different target? Did Ghidorah even attack in 1954 or did he spend the time chilling on the island until the future people activated him? Is there a Ghidorah Returns in this alternate timeline, a Ghidorah-ized version of Biollante? How did Super X and X-2 fare? Presumably no better, but the battles must look very different. It sure doesn't seem to be anyone's first time hearing about giant monsters, but again it doesn't seem to matter if they were on the time traveling ship or not, no one's curious about what should be a new monster coming out of the sea to fight Ghidorah. That's just Godzilla, he was there through the other timeline, of course we remember him. In the original Hesei timeline when no one went messing with history does Godzilla still go on to fight Mothra, Battra, MechaGodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, and Destroyah or are there different monsters?

The questions don't stop and to have any piece of mind I just have to accept this movie is crazed and it can't make sense. Which is kind of freeing in its way but I don't want it for every movie, not even every Godzilla movie.

I prefer space demon Ghidorah, but Heisei Ghidorah makes some sense to me. Think of the attitude problem so many of our over-bred pets have. Every Chihuahua I've met seems to know its existence is wrong and humans are to blame, so how hard is life on completely bio-designed pet Dorats? Made to be extremely helpless with their weird little wings and tiny feet, they were probably very happy to become something that could maim and kill with impunity.

Japan has a nuclear submarine it's hidden from everyone and just has parked out by some friendly neighborhood country that doesn't rat them out, is if you think about, a very wild and out there idea. It's just utterly lost in the pile of crazier things about this movie. Why not just a new Super X or something? The gal, Amy or Ami or Ame or whatever – is fine with going along with the plan to create King Ghidorah and wreck the first city, but she's appalled and switches side when she finds out the others weren't going to stop at one? Not really a winning sympathetic character there and yet by the end she's the hero of the movie, piloting Mecha King Ghidorah to stop Godzilla. With very little concern for collateral damage. “I could accidentally kill an ancestor of a friend of mine if this fight goes on too long.  BEAM SPAM!”

It feels like I could be here all day finding weird and awkward things to bring up, but I think I'll focus on the positive. I really like the ambling fat Godzillasaurus and his useless immobile arms tottering his way through the landing force. It's even a bit touching how the soldiers want to honor the dinosaur since they can't do more for it. It's a fun movie in its way if you don't waste your energy looking for a good movie in it. Ghidorah's rampage is nicely done and it's rare to see Ghidorah actually fight with a military in spite of all the havoc he unleashes. I'm mostly ok with the fight scenes in this movie, they are beam heavy, but it doesn't feel like the monsters ever consider beams their only means of fighting.

[ash-rabbit]

Reading Recs for Each Entity

When Magnus ended, I thought back on different media that I've enjoyed, some of them fit very neatly into the dread powers, unsettlingly so in some cases, others not so much. If you enjoyed the show for it's horror, and want more of that, then I've got a list for you.

Assume everything here is rated M and has some gore, death, and general dark themes.

Beneath the cut, because there's 15 of these fears. Feel free to add on if you like. By the way, I'm citing writers, not directors when there's a movie.

Beholding

1984 - by George Orwell: Classic surveillance society. Very boring to start off with classical lit, but it was and still is a relevant commentary on society.

Psycho-Pass - by Gen Urobuchi: Has anyone read Hobbes' 'Leviathan'? It's like if that met psychological horror. This anime engages in what it means to live in a world where crimes can be stopped before their ever committed due to the Psycho-Pass system. This system allows authorities to monitor ones emotional state and likelihood of turning violent. I think there's a brief mention of sexual violence, but it's been a hot minute since I've watched.

Panopticon Theory - by Michel Foucault: Yes, political theory. I've read it multiple times (not by choice) and it offers some interesting insights into the world of the Magnus Archives. It's greatly influenced how I regard the dread powers, that being that Smirke's 14 is incredibly limiting.

Buried

Nutty Putty Caving Incident - A real life news story. The only time I can say I've felt properly horrified and deeply unsettled. If 'Lost John's Cave' was the statement that gave you nightmares, avoid this. It's true and it's tragic.

Corruption

Fate/Zero - by Gen Urobuchi: Another anime by the Urobutcher. If you thought Jane Prentiss was excellent this is the show for you. It's excellent for all sorts of reasons, and engages with other avenues of horror but when I heard the Prentiss statement, I was brought back here. Living hives, magical evil wasp larvae writhing beneath someone's skin, it happens. Your warning is that anything bad that can happen to a child, will happen to children here. I mean it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - by Oscar Wilde: Moral decay, and it's just a damn good read. It's not conventional Corruption material, but the corruption of one's soul in the pursuit of beauty and pleasure is somewhat fitting I should think. I like it, so it's here. Also Jonah Magnus vibes.

Dark

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - by a bunch of people: it's a movie. Not an orthodox choice but I feel the dark deals better in ignorance then the literal. Err, no spoilers, but nothing particularly bad happens, it just sort of tugs.

The Flowers - Alice Walker: A short story about innocence and ignorance. Not particularly spooky, but it hits you at the end.

Allegory of the Cave - Plato: Just a good preliminary reading that provides an alternate lens. It's not spooky, I just like it.

Desolation

All is Quiet on the Western Front - by Erich Maria Remarque: The effects of war on the youth, child soldiers, and the death of innocence. It's bleak, and miserable, but it's honest and Remarque and his family were persecuted by Nazi-Germany because the book carried 'anti-german' (anti-war) sentiments. There's a movie as well.

Pan's Labyrinth - by Guillermo del Toro: Also anti-war, with bad things happening to good people and children. A bit heavy handed with it's symbolism, but hey it's a two hour movie. Also be prepared to read subtitles. It's very good, and if you haven't seen it, I don't want to say too much.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - by Ken Kesey: There's a more popular movie version as well. Corrupt systems, cutting people down until they fit into a socially appropriate mold. It's fairly dark, and has lobotomies since that was what, the 60s? I watched this in my catholic high schools film studies class, so I don't think there's anything overly egregious. But an interesting lens for the Desolation.

The Count of Monte Cristo - by Alexandre Dumas: For a fun revenge romp. The titular count gets his revenge after everything he's ever loved has been stolen from him and looks to do the same to his betrayers. Err sexual violence happens here as well. A bit of background that might inform the reader: Dumas' father was half black and affected by the 1802 discrimination laws, causing him- a high ranking military officer to be dismissed. The precursor to Monte Cristo, 'Georges' deals more heavily in themes of colonialism and racial discrimination.

End

Masque of the Red Death - by Edgar Allen Poe: You know why this is here. Warning for plague allegories and people not properly social distancing.

Nothing in the Dark - (Twilight Zone): No words needed, it's the Twilight Zone.

Death Parade - by Yuzuru Tachikawa: This is your fun suggestion. It's light for the most part, but there are scenes and moments that will absolutely hit you.

Extinction

Godzilla - A whole bunch of people: Atomic bomb fear during a time of censorship. Everything is an allegory.

Flesh

Tokyo Ghoul - by Sui Ishida: It's the most Magnus-y out of all my suggestions and I desperately want to see a crossover between them. The manga is better as the anime tends to brutalise plot points and water down the horror. Deals with becoming a cannibal, the nature of humanity, and other things. Warning for mentions of child abuse. Kaneki has a sort of - if Martin was the Archivist vibes. Not 1-1 of course, but if I had to make a comparison, that's the one.

Lamb to the Slaughter - by Roald Dahl: Arguably more slaughter, but hey I'm not giving you any warnings. I read this short story for ninth grade english, so I'm sure you can survive this one.

Hunt

Se7en - by Andrew Kevin Walker: A movie about a detective hunting serial killer. It's excellent, there's gruesome murder scenes. It's from the 90s go watch it.

Frankenstein - by Mary Shelley: From the perspective of Mr. Frankenstein it's the terror of being hunted, from the monster's perspective it's the horror of being alone. It's good, a pillar of sci-fi written by a teenager, don't snub this because it's classical lit.

The Bone Collector - by Jeremy Iacone: Another detective hunting a murderer. Also from the 90s and also excellent. Look, the 90s don't pull their punches, it's got blood and lots of it. A favourite film of mine.

Lonely

The Metamorphosis - by Franz Kafka: Turning into a big bug does not a corruption/flesh story make.

Passengers (2016)- by Jon Spaihts: I hate this movie, it's clearly a horror, but they try to pass it as a romance. Anyway, for psychological lonely horror and manipulation, this is a movie for you.

Slaughter

Go watch a classic slasher film. I don't care for senseless violence, so I don't like most of this sort of media.

Read up on a war or a riot. Learn how your nation's government discriminates and persecutes minorities historically and today.

Sweeney Todd - by Hugh Wheeler: The musical is the better known version. Some flesh horror here as well. It's not really senseless, as I think the Slaughter should be, but hey, we need substance here.

Spiral

The Giver - by Lois Lowry: A utopia that is not quite right. Read for school when I was nine, I'm sure you can all live without a warning list.

The Matrix - by the Wachowskis: Reality is an illusion, and the Universe is a hologram.

Truman Show - by Andrew Niccol: You know why this is here.

Stranger

Coraline - by Neil Gaiman: The scariest children's book. Other!Mother and all that jazz are so very Strange.

The Landlady - by Roald Dahl: Taxidermy.

Vast

Lovecraft: I'm sorry, I can only think of him. No one else is so ignorant as to be able to capture the horror of things beyond their ken.

Web

Medea - by Euripides: The God's suck, it's a Greek tragedy, bad things happen to everyone without discrimination. Children are harmed, Medea is dosed by Aphrodite, Jason is literally the worst.

Animal Farm - by George Orwell: It's anti-authoritarian and deals with the mutability of laws and how uneducated masses are sheep. . . literally. You will feel horrified, it's a short read.

There's also some children's story about a spider/snake(?) and gluttony that I've been looking for, for the past year. It's pretty similar to Mr. Spider, but the villain consumes so many victims that he becomes too large to leave his den and is blockaded in by those he terrorized, and it's heavily implied that he starves to death. For the life of me I can't remember a title, but then, it's been 15 or so years.

[thearkhound]

Kojima Cinema Vol. 4: Lost World

Greetings from Kojima Cinema in the U.S.

At the end of the previous month we went to the United States to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), as well to research data for Metal Gear Solid. For this installment of Kojima Cinema, I'll discuss Lost World, the sequel to Jurassic Park, which I snuck out to see after attending E3, as well as its creator Michael Crichton (who happens to be one of my favorite authors).

By the way, Lost Warld (as in a combination of World and War) was the title of a canceled project that was planned to be my first game.

Lost World from Atlanta

I saw Lost World in a movie theater inside the CNN building in Atlanta. Since it hasn't been released in Japan yet, I was able to see it without any preconceived notions, but it ended up being very disappointing. Certainly there's a lot more CGI than the first movie and the dinosaurs are even better animated, but the story was way too much like a Godzilla movie. (Or maybe it was more like King Kong? Perhaps it's closer to Gappa: The Triphibian Monster?) At any rate, what happened to Michael Crichton's original story? I felt like going to Steven Spielberg and tell him "please, don't ruin Crichton's work anymore!"

Better CGI, But Half The Impact

I'm already used to seeing CGI dinosaurs, so there wasn't as much of an impact as there was for the first movie. I remember being moved to tears during the first movie when the Brachiosaurus, the first dinosaur, showed up as if I was glad to see one alive. There's a similar scene in this movie where they encounter a group of Stegosauruses and then Dr. Ian Malcolm says something along the lines of "everyone is impressed at first, but then they all run away" (there were no subtitles, so I'm not certain), which is nothing but ironic.

Jurassic Park: The Ride: The Movie

Ultimately the movie's priority is to charm the audience by showing off dinosaurs. It felt as if the plot and the characters were only added there as an excuse to showcase all the popular dinosaurs like the Compsognathus, the raptors and the T-Rex. It felt less like a movie written to tell a story and more like a film version of the "Jurassic Park: The Ride" attraction at Universal Studios. If you look at it with that perspective, it's a well-made and calculated film.

Despite A Noticeable Rut in the Production, Spielberg's Style is Still in Good Health

Spielberg's heart-pounding style is still in good health despite all of this. The scene where the trailer is falling off the edge of a cliff could be said to be one of the highlights in Spielberg's career. I don't like it very much, but the succession of one crisis after the other makes my hands sweat. Especially the gimmick of the glass gradually breaking is a novelty that no one else has done before. But I was left with one unanswered question. Why does the rear hatch of the trailer only has one sheet glass?

Unfortunately there were many scenes that ended up being not very interesting due to the usual hackneyed direction. There are many indirect effects that we're already familiar with, such as the camera tracking used since Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the use of lost limbs as seen in Jaws, rivers and waterfall turning red due to bloodshed, also seen in the original movie, and the swaying of trees and vibrations of water surfaces that gives the dinosaurs a sense of speed and weight... Perhaps the film would've been very different if the direction had been more creative. Was this the result of relying too much on CGI?

The Movie is Not The Novel

It's been two years since I've read the original novel by Michael Crichton, so I might not remember the details clearly, but it contained a certain message. He portrayed the habits of dinosaurs more extensively than in his first novel and even unraveled the dinosaur extinction theory with his novel ideas. In that sense, the book was less of a story and more of an academic study on dinosaurs. It also carried poignant criticisms and messages, such as warnings about technology and human society. As a fan of Crichton who was aware of the original novel, this film adaptation with its strong giant monster movie flavor left me dissastisfed.

About Michael Crichton

My introduction Michael Crichton was naturally The Andromeda Strain. Since then I've read all of his novels and essays that were translated to Japanese, including his work under the John Lange penname, all the way up to Airframe, with the exception of Eaters of the Dead. Crichton is one of the few authors whom I buy the first edition hardcovers from without hesitation. I've also seen many of the films he has directed such as Westworld, Coma, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway and even Looker. I like him as a filmmaker, even if he hasn't been holding the megaphone lately.

The Appeal of Crichton

Perhaps Crichton's appeal is that he has a visionary focus, creates a chaotic reality that is difficult to distinguish what is fact from fiction and skillfully embeds valuable information that few people know into his entertainment. The amount of data based on ideas and meticulous research is skillfully blended into products of entertainment. I aspire for the same thing Michael Crichton does in the games that I want to make. That's how I developed Snatcher and Policenauts, and it's the same thing with the upcoming Metal Gear Solid. The reason why I'm so fixated over creating a backstory or universe that doesn't really affect how a game works is because I want to get those aspects right.

Is A Fiction That Exceeds Reality Possible?

Lately there have been novels written by doctors, former mercenaries and even active policemen that ended up becoming hits. The realism and persuasiveness of such works is not something an average novelist can compete with just their imagination alone. Even I realized that when watching ER, a TV series that Michael Crichton created. What you create with knowledge will end up being completely different from what you create without. That's why asked for military advisor Motosada Mori to supervise the action and backstory in Metal Gear Solid. Recently, alongside Mr. Mori, we were able to gather research at a SWAT drill and a military base, where even saw an M1 tank. I think I was able to understand some things with such experience that I wouldn't able to from working at a desk alone. With Metal Gear Solid I hope I will able to create a video game with a Crichton-like aspect to it and not be lost in direction.

Source: Game Hihyо̄ Vol. 16 (September 1997), page 58-59

[favescandis]

NEW interview with Alexander Skarsgård about Godzilla vs. Kong and The Northman with Uproxx

Alexander Skarsgard Knows You Don’t Care About Him In ‘Godzilla Vs Kong’

MIKE RYAN,��SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER MARCH 30, 2021

Yes, Alexander Skarsgard is under no false impressions that you are looking forward to Godzilla vs. Kong to see the adventures of his character, a geologist named Dr. Nathan Lind. You see, Godzilla has been causing some problems for humans for unknown reasons and, just maybe, Kong can take care of business and let Godzilla know that his antics aren’t appreciated by means of a knuckle sandwich. And Dr. Nathan Lind has been studying Kong for years and has a good idea of what Kong’s motivations might be and what Kong actually wants.

So, yes … there are times where there is not a lot to talk about when even one of the lead actors in a movie admits people aren’t coming to see him or his character. Though from past interviews, I know Skarsgard has a pretty good sense of humor, so the real questions soon devolved into kind of outlandish fake questions and, luckily, Skarsgard ran with them.

Also, Skarsgard’s next film is The Northman, which is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, he teams with Robert Eggers, which will be the director’s followup to the acclaimed The Lighthouse. Second, it will completely screw up Google searches for True Blood fans searching for Skarsgard’s character, Eric Northman. And, yes, he’s thought about that and wonders how many people will show up expecting to see vampires. (There will be no vampires.)

It’s funny, because just the title of this movie, that isn’t false advertising.

Oh yeah.

Multiple fights.

It’s almost a two-hour-long movie, and it’s like an hour and 55 minutes of fighting.

So what’s this like for you? When you sign onto something like this? Because it’s Godzilla and Kong and they’re going to wind up getting a lot of the attention.

It’s humbling for a narcissistic actor like myself, to be put in my place, to show up on set and know that no one will go to see this movie because I’m in it.

Well, that’s not true. I have noticed over the years you do have a fan base that goes nuts for you.

That’s flattering to hear. But I’m under no illusion that I’m the star of the show and that anyone will go see the movie because they want to see Nathan Lind, the geologist.

The geologist.

Yeah, well, in a way, to be a vessel and a way for the audience to get to know, in my character’s case, Kong, more so than Godzilla, because I’m with Kong throughout the movie. But in a way to not necessarily humanize Kong, but to show a different side of Kong, to show that he has empathy. He’s lived a very solitary, lonely life on Skull Island without social connections, without family. And the thought of him to be reconnected, or to find his family in Hollow Earth is, is kind of the driving force, to reconnect. So I felt like my job was kind of set that up in a way and to kind of show the audience that side of Kong.

Well, you said people aren’t coming to see Dr. Nathan Lind, the geologist. But once here, where you tell me, how you’ve spent the last five years, studying with geologists and following them around and becoming a trained geologist yourself, people will look at this in a different way.

Right? Well, that’s how seriously I take my job.

You threw yourself into it. The last, maybe, ten years, you’ve been studying with geologists, just to know exactly what you were doing in this movie.

It’s just the kind of actor I am, Mike. Even though I play a very peripheral character and no one cares, I still take my craft seriously. And that means a decade of studying geology and living, breathing the character. Just to give the audience that sublime performance that I give in the movie.

When you’re giving the technical jargon during the movie, viewers can rest assured that you know exactly what you’re talking about, because you studied for so long with trained geologists.

Exactly. And they can see that in my eyes, that I’m not lying. I’m not pretending. I’m not acting. I’m not playing a geologist. I am a geologist.

You are a geologist.

Yes.

So when you filmed at Hollow Earth, in the center of Earth, was that on location?

Obviously, it was.

Yeah, I could tell.

And being there was trippy. I felt like you can’t … the audience can tell whether you’re there or when you’re actually there, or if it’s the soundstage with green screen. So the only way to do it, when you make a character driven drama, like Godzilla vs. Kong, is to actually go there and actually spend time down there and be there with Kong. So it was six very intense months, deep down in the center of the earth with a gigantic ape.

That’s why we haven’t seen you in a while — because you’ve been down there.

I’ve been down there, with a gigantic ape.

Being serious, doing the “there they are” reaction seems especially difficult in this movie, with these being such central characters. And I know that’s part of the deal with a lot of movies, but this seems even more that.

Absolutely. Watching the movie, I could tell that I’m reacting to the wrong thing, like I’m reacting to something else. And they play my reaction to something that I think I’m reacting to, but many things have changed. Or they use that reaction to something else. So they kind of make it work. So it’s like, I look at something, and I think I’m reacting to something completely different, but I’m not. They completely changed that. So it’s quite a ride and exciting to watch the movie, because I’m as surprised as the audience. When I watch it, like, “Oh really? That happened.” And, “Oh, look at my reaction here.”

The scene that we all saw in the trailer, which surprisingly happens pretty early in the movie, where Kong just punches Godzilla in the face. So do you watch the movie and go, “If that really would have happened in front of me, I might’ve reacted quite differently than I did even in the movie”?

Well, that specific sequence, they actually had in the pre-visualization, so that actually looks quite very, very, very close to what the previs two years ago looked. So Adam [Wingard] played us that. So pretty much the whole fight scene was choreographed before we shot our reactions to it. So I knew that that punch was going to land, and that’s what I’m reacting to.

We’ve given Dr. Nathan Lind a lot of time, and we’ve given King Kong a lot of time. We haven’t really talked about Godzilla. He gets annoyed when people bother him. I relate to that.

Me too. Going into the movie, I was very much team Godzilla. I love the old Godzilla movies, like the ’60s and ’70s, that era, when it’s zero special effects.

Just a guy in a suit and it’s awesome.

It’s a middle-aged dude in a suit, kicking a miniature version of Tokyo on a set.

In your next movie, you’re working with Robert Eggers, The Northman. You’re done filming that, right?

We’re done. Yeah, we shot for six months during the pandemic. We started last summer and finished just before Christmas.

Did you look at his prior movies and just go, “I have to be part of this.”

Well, I courted him. I loved both The Witch and The Lighthouse. And was developing The Northman and was trying to find a director for it. It was a very different iteration of the script, and the story was very different from what we ended up shooting. But I had a version of a viking movie that I wanted to make and basically went after Rob. He was my dream director and I thought that he would be perfect for this. And that, when I mentioned it to him, it turned out that he was a huge viking fan and knew everything about the mythology.

That doesn’t surprise me for some reason.

Yeah, he knew so much about that world and that era and got really excited about the idea of potentially making this movie. And then he found Sjón, this Icelandic author and poet and screenwriter. And Sjón and Rob together wrote the screenplay to what ultimately became The Northman, the movie that we shot. So it’s something on that was slowly percolating and growing over the course of eight years. So, to finally be on set last year, with the greatest filmmaker of our time and some of the greatest actors of our time, was the highlight of my career, for sure.

Have you thought about how this will screw up Google searches for your True Blood fans?

[Laughs] Yes, I am very much aware of how problematic the title is.

Well, not problematic. True Blood fans are going to have to put in a few other keywords now.

Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. I do apologize for that. And I’m sure some people will be pretty disappointed if they go to see a stand-alone movie about Eric Northman, and then they sit down and it’s a goddamn Viking movie and not a vampire in sight.

I think they’re in for a treat, to tell you the truth.

Well, I hope so. I hope so. I’m very excited about the movie, but I have to admit that, unfortunately, there are no vampires in the movie.

‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ hits theaters and HBO Max on March 31st.

Photo credited to Getty. [Paris Men’s Fashion Week Armani show, July 2, 2019]

https://uproxx.com/movies/alexander-skarsgard-interview-godzilla-vs-kong-the-northman/

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Live special #3, August 9th 2016.

✯📆Kaoru starts by trying to remember when the last live special was, getting it wrong by saying it was at the start of year (It was actually in Dec).  Kaoru comments on how the amount of staff in the studio is different from usual when they go live. They also have half-price off food from the supermarket to keep them going for 2 hours.

✵🐎They then welcome Hiranabe and Tasai to join them for the show. Hiranabe worries whether he'll still have a job in the morning after doing this show. He doesnt want to lose his job, as he just also lost a ton of money on the horse racing.

Kaoru then suggest they might get a visit from Kami at some point, and they will try to have a phone call with Dobashi, who is currenly in Brazil 🇧🇷.

He then gets started with the top 5 stories of the first half of 2016. Counting down from...

●5. North Korean satellite lauch/ America and Japan suspect an intercontinental ballistic missile launch - Hiranabe thinks American satellites are so advanced that America will know exactly what N.Korea is doing. Joe thinks the wording/phrasing in such news articles makes a big difference as to how the story is percieved.

Kami tells them he is ok to appear on the show tonight, as he managed to catch the last train home after work. He's now enjoying taking part with a beer.

●4. A boom in adultery - Celebrity Becky's affair (plus apology to her sponsers at a press conference) at the start of the year has set off a string of public revelations about the adulterous affairs of other celebrities, all of whom have also immediately held press conferences to apologize. Before this year, celebrities tended to use their personal blogs etc to address the accusations. Joe brings up something he heard from Nuclear Safety Chief Madarame Haruki when interviewing him about the 3.11 disaster. Madarame said that it has long been Japan's culture to never badmouth a samurai who has commited seppuku. Badmouthing such a person makes you worse than whatever they did. In this way, if celebs appear at a press conference with tears in their eyes and full of apology, they can avoid any future dragging about their past mistakes.

✵🏘️At this point Kaoru takes a break from the countdown to read out an email from a listener. The email is from someone who currently lives in their hometown, but is thinking of moving to Tokyo, so they want to know Kaoru's advice for moving to Tokyo for the first time as a single person. Kaoru says he moved to Tokyo 19 years ago, and lived in Nerima ward at first, specifically the neighborhood Fujimidai. This was to be near to where Dir's manager lived. The rent was ¥120,000 a month for a 2LDK apartment, which he shared with Kyo. Kami gives out advice to not be picky about specific locations when searching for a cheap place. Hiranabe brings up the website 'Oshima teru', where you can check to see which apartments have previously been the sites of murders/deaths. The rent for such apartments is often abnormally cheap.  

✵🤭🤭🤭 Next Kaoru moves onto some news which interested Hiranabe a lot, the story being very typical of him....'Admission of squirting'. (Lots of laughs from the others, and Joe wants to know more 😆). The story relates to the model Darenogare Akemi. She appeared on a radio show and was denying the rumour that she was the type to lie still during sex, she claimed that she moves around and vocalises a lot during sex. The host of the show asked her, 'Yeh, but I bet you don't squirt?'. She replied on air, 'I do, I did for the first time a year and a half ago'. Hiranabe decided to dedicate a whole page in Tokyo Sports to this story.

Hiranabe was also fond of the Beat Takeshi 'Comǎneci pose' story, invovling actresses Ayase Haruka, Nagasawa Masami, and Hirose Suzu. This story was talked about previously on Ep 25.

✵☎️Next, they try having a direct phone convo with a listener. The caller brings up the news of the 2016 World Happiness Report, in which Japan ranked at #53. Joe explains these results are obtained by surveying local populations, but each nation has different standards of what happiness is. Kaoru thinks happiness is not something that should be ranked in this way. The caller then asks Hiranabe why he never learns to not spend so much money on women. He answers 'Because Im an idiot'. Joe asks the caller what she thinks Hiranabe looks like. She says 'a face which can't be broadcast'. (Laughs all round).

✵🎶Next they listen to a few of the new jingle entries. They like the second entry, which apparently contains phrases influened by a couple of Dir songs. They also like the fifth entry and ask Kami to do the voice-over on it, which they all find hilarious. Kaoru says he might use some of these entries on the show in future.

📞✵🇧🇷Next they connect via the phone to Dobashi, who is in Brazil covering the 2016 Olympics for Tokyo Sports. He is calling from the table tennis venue, as he is covering a match there. He says he has seen a few Japanese athletes win gold medals in other events, and encourages listeners to buy Tokyo Sports to read his reports.

They ask Dobashi various questions about security, and the local food etc, then Hiranabe asks him if he has any of the commemorative Olympic condoms, and whether or not he has used them. Dobashi says he has some, but hasn't used them. He opened one to check it out, and it was so thick, obviously not made in Japan (his words). Hiranabe asks him to bring some back as souvenirs 🤭😆

✵Before moving onto # 3 in the countdown, Kaoru reads out an email. This is from a listener who is a fan of Dobashi and wants to know what kind of woman he likes. Hiranabe knows his type..he likes kinda crazy women. Another email from 'radio name: 0.3mm' asks for some Olympic condoms. The last email asks them whether they like watching movies on regular screens, or on 3D/4D screenings. Kaoru prefers regular screens, otherwise he finds it difficult to concentrate. He recently watched the movie 'Shin Godzilla' (in 2D), and was anxious seeing familiar Tokyo landmarks getting trashed.

Continuing the countdown...

●3. Muhammed Ali's death. This was discussed in ep 39, about how Ali was very outspoken in regards to segregation. Despite Obama becoming the first black president, Joe questions how much discrimination against black people by white people in the US has actually improved. Hiranabe agrees with Joe, in that based on the news, race relations are not improving at all. Joe says we must be careful not to focus too much on the big headline of Obama as President. That doesn't suddenly mean everything is ok now.

Hiranabe then talks for a bit about his memories of prowrestler Antonio Inoki, who fought with Ali once.

●2. The eventual resignation of (former) Tokyo Governor Masuzoe Yōichi. Masuzoe had held onto his position as long as possible, claiming he was innocent. He's used specific techniques during press conferences to avoid getting cornered. Hiranabe was impressed with the words of new candidate Torigoe Shuntaro, who used the phrase, 'Everyone please get distracted', instead of the usual 'Don't get distracted', which candidates usually finish their speeches with. Joe draws comparisons with the 3.11 response. A third party investigation committee was set up in both the 3.11 case and Masuzoe's case, but if the guilty parties are choosing which lawyers make up the committee, its not very impartial in the end. Use of the word 'third-party' is another trick politicians use to try to look innocent.

✵☎️Next they take another phone call from a listener. This caller's first fave news of the year is the announcement of new Dir en grey tours. His second is about Pokemon Go. He asks if Kaoru plays. Kaoru says he's already given up, after getting to level 12. Joe interrupts to say Kami looks as if he's about to fall asleep.

Reaching the end of the countdown..

●1. Mystery Phoenix appears in sun. This is a story from Tokyo Sports back in May. Shapes resembling a phoenix have been spotted in various photos of the sun which were released by NASA. Tokyo Sports offered the suggestion of whether this might actually be real. Tasai hands a copy of Tokyo Sports out to everyone to show them the image, but Kaoru is more interested in another story on the same page: 'Discovery in Arizona of trunk from 20cm tall elephant with fish gills'. Joe then reads out some similarly crazy headlines from the newspaper in his hands. The question arises of whether this story merits being at #1.

✵To finish a quick suggestion of another live special at the end of the year, as long as everyone still has their job, and are not in Atami...., and Kaoru plugs his upcoming tours. In the last min, they all agree that Kami voicing the jingle was the funniest bit of the show. Kaoru wishes the listeners good luck at work tomorrow after staying up late to listen to the show.

Songs - Dir en grey/Amon (Symphonic ver.), Ill niño/God Save Us, Dir en grey/Un deux, Meshuggah/New Millennium Cyanide Christ, Dir en grey/Ruten no tou, Jakalope/Go Away, Dir en grey/Utafumi, System of a Down/Chop Suey.

To radio top page

[worldtourrampage]

⚠️ BEHIND THE MASK 🎭

This is a non-writing post. I may do these from time to time, but the bulk of my Tumblr content will be fanfiction. I've got some things on my chest I'd like to get off, and I think being open about my real self on Tumblr will help me feel even more comfortable posting things here. That's why I've decided to do a bit of an ice breaker by listing some facts about myself that make me who I am. More poetry is on the way next week, but for now, enjoy!

1) I'm a Scalie.

Being a Scalie is something I've been embarrassed about and borderline ashamed of for years, but I've recently started embracing it as a part of who I am. I don't have an original character, but my fursona (or scalesona? I dunno what term Scalies use for that to be honest) is Lizzie from Rampage. Obviously I didn't create her like most furries do with their fursonas, but I like roleplaying as her a lot. I feel that life is too short to be hard on yourself over things like being a part of the Furry/Scalie community. It feels really good to get this off my chest and be open about it for a change. If it bothers you, I sincerely apologize for making you uncomfortable. This is just something I've been working up the courage to be open about for many years, and I just wanted to make it known.

2) I'm relatively new to the Rampage franchise.

I've had a bit of experience over the years with Rampage, mainly through the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game that I used to emulate through NEStopia as a kid. I never got around to playing the arcade version or other games in the series back then, but I’ve recently started playing Rampage World Tour on Nintendo 64 and I absolutely love it. I’m planning on playing World Tour’s sequels on Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 soon, as well as watching the 2018 live action Rampage movie. I’ll leave my thoughts on all those in future posts after I’ve spent a fair amount of time with them.

3) When not writing poetry, I play video games.

I play a handful of different games on my PlayStation 4. I'm hoping to upgrade to a PlayStation 5 later this year. I'm currently saving up the cash to buy one off of eBay. The whole stock and chip shortage debacle has been an absolute headache, and I was planning to upgrade sooner, but eBay scalper prices are insane, and their listings are the only reliable way to get one now. They have control over the entire PlayStation 5 market. Some games I play regularly on my PlayStation 4 include Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, Call of Duty: Warzone, LittleBigPlanet 3, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Carmageddon: Max Damage, Twisted Metal: Black, and Among Us.

4) I'm 26 years old and I live in America.

My birthday is November 5th, 1995 and I’m an American. I have my birthday set to September 21, 2001 on most other platforms that have asked me for it because I prefer having my birthday be anonymous elsewhere. I feel comfortable being open about it here on Tumblr though. A fun fact about my birthday is that it was also the day the original Twisted Metal game came out for PlayStation 1, a game that would later make up most of my childhood gaming years. It also happens to be a British holiday known as Guy Fawkes' Day. It's sort of the British equivalent of the 4th of July here in America, and you might be familiar with his mask from hacker groups and movies like V for Vendetta.

5) I work a production job in a factory.

It might sound like a bad job to have, but truth be told it's not. The facility I work in is quite nice and values their employees a lot. Sometimes the production environment can be stressful with how much work needs done, and while the pressure to perform and meet quotas can be nerve-wracking, the thing that keeps me going is the peace of mind in knowing that what I'm doing allows me to be independent and to fuel my desire of being a female Godzilla in my spare time. We've all got things that motivate us to work hard, and for me getting to be a girly kaiju when I get home from work and to be able to pay for things like art commissions, Godzilla merch and video games to fuel my fantasy is what I get out of bed in the morning for.

6) I have a pet turtle.

I've always had a fascination with reptiles despite only getting deep into the Godzilla fandom recently. Dragons, dinosaurs, lizards, you name it, I love them. When I was younger, I thought a turtle would be an awesome pet to have, and my parents thought it would be a nice lesson in responsibility to take care of one, which is why they bought me one for my birthday. Her name is Pickles, and she's a Red-eared slider. I take very good care of her, and she's been with me for 14 years living a happy, healthy life. Turtles are known for living long lives, and that's exactly what I plan on giving Pickles. Hopefully she'll be with me for many years to come. Sylvester Stallone's turtles from the first Rocky movie are still alive if you can believe it, and with the proper care, turtles can be with you for most of your life!

Anyways, that's just a few things about yours truly in real life when I'm not playing pretend as a big girly lizard monster. It feels good to be a little more open about myself here and I think the comfortability I feel will bleed into my future posts and lead to stronger writing and better content. Stay tuned for more poems and posts! For now, I’ve got some cities to destroy...

~Lizzie

[cant-blink]

Favorite and Least Favorite Ghidorah Incarnations

Probably gonna regret making this post, but it’s been a long time coming, so let’s do it. I guess I should warn, not suitable for people sensitive to opinions that might be different from their own. Can’t believe I have to say that about a list of fav Ghidorahs, but alas...

Anyway, enjoy!

-

Let’s start with my Top 5 favorite Ghidorahs! Going from my most favorite down! All five of these are amazing and any one can easily become my #1 at any given time! :D But at the moment, my number 1 is...

Showa Ghidorah

Showa Ghidorah should come to nobody’s surprise, given how much I’ve been writing about him lately! I admit though, it wasn’t always like this. It took some time for him to grow on me, and he actually used to be one of my least favorite through design alone. But he has grown exponentially on me, and now I love everything about him! The manes are unique and I love the crescent moons on his heads too. His eyes are so big, and I feel they have more expression compared to other Ghidorahs. And the inspiration of the more traditional Eastern-style dragon is there in his face too. 

His backstory and personality, though, is what really got me to change my mind about the character. His personality is perfect as far as I’m concerned! Coming from space to destroy planets just for the lolz, cackling maniacally all the way! Even the fact he was mind-controlled was something for me to delve into in my stories, on how such a thing impacts the character. It really opened my eyes to the more subtle parts to his personality, like I realize that Ghiddy wants NOTHING to do with Earth. He tried to destroy it once and that failure is all he needed to know to stay away. The plot device of mind-control is used to keep him coming back in future movies! Even when he defeated Godzilla and Rodan, he chose to fly away back into space! There’s layers to his character if you look deep enough!

There’s just so much story-potential to this guy, I love it! Even in real life, he has an arc, going from one of my least favorites to being the top of this list! That’s definitely special!

Overall, a lot of love for this character, often wrestling with Legendary for the number 1 spot! Speaking of which...

Legendary Ghidorah

The one that started it all for me and they’re second on the list?! Blasphemy!! Nah, seriously though, Showa and Legendary really do often switch places for me all the time! Just right now, Showa has squeezed into the top spot. For now........

Anyway, Legendary Ghidorah needs no explanation for being a favorite incarnation of the character. Whilst Godzilla has always been a very vague presence in my life, KotM’s is what had me diving headfirst into the fandom, all because of Ghidorah. Their design is amazing, sleek and intimidating! The detail that they whip up storms just by flying creates an awesome menacing atmosphere everytime they’re on screen!

The personalities between the heads is unique, providing all sorts of material for my writer side to explore! Their backstory is left open for me to explore as well, like where they came from and how their species functions! It’s been a lot of fun! I may be slightly burnt out from how much I’ve written and posted about them, but make no mistake, I still ADORE this Ghidorah and I have them to thank for starting this whole page in the first place! 

Shin Ghidorah

That’s right, Shin Ghidorah exists in official TOHO canon and he needs more love!!

Shin Ghidorah was one I was introduced to not long after I learned Kamata-kun (oh, and Shin Godzilla) was a thing. With my obsession with Ghidorah, I wanted to know if there was a Ghidorah in the Shin universe and after some digging, I found that there was! Featured in a ride in Universal Studios Japan! And better yet, videos of it exists on youtube! I loved it the second I saw it! 

The design is amazing and surprisingly unique! This is because Shin Ghidorah was originally a scrapped concept for the original Showa Ghidorah! Like, Shin Ghidorah is basically an oversized three-headed Skullcrawler with wings! Because you see those “legs” he has? Those are actually ARMS!! Ghidorah could’ve been a giant Skullcrawler all this time!!

I also love his movements, oddly enough. He doesn’t just fly, he SWIMS though the air, something I don’t recall seeing in any other Ghidorah!

The only thing I don’t like about him... is the fact that he wasn’t around longer! A shame the ride is so short, I would’ve LOVED to see more of him in a movie. Oh well...

Grand/Cretaceous Ghidorah

Both are the same individual, so they’re both in this entry! I remember learning about him through a video talking about Ghidorah’s most sadistic moment and this was it. Grand Ghidorah kidnaps children with the sole intent to devour them, but he doesnt eat them right away, no. He holds them hostage to stew in their terror, returning to them every so often just to listen to their screams and cries. You know he’s enjoying every minute, knowing he’s torn families apart. Without a doubt, all this is just a game before he destroys the world as Ghiddys do. The way he toyed with Mothra Leo, leaving him to suffer after beating him to near-death. Or the way he possessed one of the Mothra twins to try to kill her own sister! It was great! He has such a regal design too! I can see why the fanbase have come to call him Grand King Ghidorah, he’s absolutely majestic. Shame he’s overshadowed, likely due to not being in a Godzilla movie.

Cretaceous Ghidorah has a more Western-dragon look to him and it works. He is basically a baby Ghidorah and he is so cute! His big eyes and squeaky roars, I love it! He also SOMEHOW made me feel sorry for my least favorite dinosaur! That's some true power right there!

The regeneration ability too, is amazing! This is likely where Legendary got the idea, but Grand does it better by regenning from just a small piece of tail left behind. Just badass, all around!

Void Ghidorah

A controversial pick, I know. I made a whole post about my detailed thoughts on Void Ghidorah, see here. Long story short: I think he has great potential, just suffered from piss poor execution. I love the idea of turning this alien dragon into an interdimensional GOD, with followers and everything. His full-body model looks amazing! He’s the biggest and most powerful Ghidorah yet, the biggest kaiju in the entire franchise in fact, and I don’t see him ever being topped. Granted, I dun really judge how much I like a kaiju based on how strong they are, but it’s a bonus here. He needs all the help he can get!

Adding more, his roars are insane, not just a combination of Showa and Heisei Ghidorah! But sounds that are truly otherworldly.

Void Ghidorah deserves love, and a better movie. Guess I’ll just settle on Godzilla: Star-eating Wings as the go-to Void Ghidorah video!

-

I have no real opinion on the new ride Ghidorah, as I have yet to watch the full "movie” and thus, can’t judge how well I’ll like it compared to the others. So for now, tis neutral.

-

Now I’m totally going to get hate for this list of “least favorite Ghidorahs”, but this is my opinion. I don’t like any of them, and they’re all outshined by my favorite non-Ghidorah kaijus, and some even being beaten by my “meh” kaijus! Anyway, this is gonna go from “best” least favorite to my “worst” least favorite. Here goes:

Heisei/Mecha-Ghidorah

Tis no secret that I don’t particularly like Heisei’s version of the character. I’ve mentioned it more than enough. Oddly though, I liked the design when I first looked through Ghidorahs from past movies, and I DISLIKED Showa Ghidorah’s design. How things have changed when I learned more about both of them... 

Now I’ve grown to not like Heisei very much. They took Ghidorah as an alien dragon that destroys planets for fun, and turned him into pets that I’m sure are meant to be cute, but just remind me of Furby’s in how creepy they are (tis not the good kind of creepy either!). I like the scrapped idea of him being an attempt to clone Showa Ghidorah from DNA left behind when he destroyed Venus, so I keep that canon in my head just for some attempt to like him more. Tis why I call him “Kitty Ghiddy” whenever I write him, I legit cannot take him seriously. Such a shame that he’s basically replaced Showa Ghiddy on merchandise, so it’s harder for me to find said Showa Ghiddy because of this thing. Oh, well.

Oh, and he replaced the BIDIBIDI of Showa with generic Rodan calls. And he also turns into a good guy at the end of the movie with Mecha-Ghidorah, and.... well, go down to the next entry for my thoughts on stuff like that.

GMK Ghidorah

He’s a good guy here. They nerfed the fuck out of him by having him be a juvenile (not even done well like Cretaceous Ghidorah), and turned him into a good guy. Granted, he was never meant to be in this movie in the first place and it shows. I’m a villain kind of person, and Ghidorah’s evilness is one of the biggest draws to his character for me. So taking that away... It just doesn’t work for me. It says something when I like GODZILLA more than Ghidorah in a movie. His design is okay, so at least he has that going. But...

Desghidorah

I really don’t like the design of the character. That’s literally it. I think four-legged Ghidorahs are very awkward looking; Ghidorah has a lot going on as is, three heads, two wings, two legs, two tails. Adding more legs... it’s just too much going on that tips the scales from ‘awesome’ to ‘messy’ in my mind. I can’t explain too well why I really don’t like the four-legged look to Ghidorahs, I just really don’t. But credit, he does pull off the look slightly better than the last one on my list.

AND MY LEAST FAVORITE GHIDORAH AND LIKELY TO GET A MOB ON ME IS.....

Keizer Ghidorah/Monster X

“An awkward horse” is what someone described him to me as, and I can’t help but agree. Again, that four-legged look breaks it for me but somehow, he looks EVEN MORE awkward than Des. I just can’t look passed it. Maybe it’s the front legs, or the wings looking too small for his body. Des just LOOKS a bit more natural in his four-legged-ness. 

Making it worse for me, Keizer has a second form that I REALLY don’t like: Monster X. They don’t even resemble each other. I can’t help but feel MX was supposed to be his own Kaiju, but they felt pressured to make Ghidorah the final boss so they combined them. Dunno if that’s the case, but it feels like that to me. Not even getting into the “how the hell does a dragon come out of THAT, where does it all GO when he changes back?”. And the biggest thing: I don’t like human-looking characters. I don’t care for human characters at all in any sort of media, or anything that resembles humans too closely. I skip human scenes entirely just to get to the monsters. Tis why I don’t really care for gijinkas either. As far as I’m concerned, I like the kaiju for being kaiju, and making them human just takes away all things interesting.

If Ghidorah kept everything intact about his personality, but you made him human... I wouldn’t even give his character a second glance, much less devote my Tumblr page to him! But yeah, tangent over. Monster X just looks too human for my tastes. 

Plus, tis hard to compete for my attention when you’re in the same movie as FW Gigan! It says something when Showa Gigan and Showa Ghidorah can share the screen and I love them both, but FW Gigan completely outshines FW Ghidorah...

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So there we go, a complete list of my thoughts for every Ghidorah incarnation that I can think of. Hopefully I didn’t miss any. Again, these are my opinions and you’re free to like whatever Ghidorah. I’mma sleep now.