#I wonder what are the Kaiju's roles as gods in their position?

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Man, whenever I opened on X, I was bombarded by Zeuszilla fanart and videos and I am internally screaming

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Who and what is Kikimora?

Although she has only made a single appearance in the show with just barely three lines to her name, Kikimora is an interesting character to me in what her apparent position and possible inspirations could mean in terms of the overall plot and history of the Boiling Isles going forward. 

Starting off, it is interesting to note how, so far, Kikimora is THE most respected character we’ve actually seen in the show - as Belos has yet to make an official appearance - as well as having one of the biggest yet understated impacts on the plot. Of course, the former can be inferred by how Lilith - THE leader of the best of the best witches outside of Emperor Belos himself - defers to her in a subservient manner, but for someone with such little screentime, Kikimora’s appearance set into motion an impending deadline that Lilith now has to fulfill soon if she wants Belos’ end of their promise. 

Additionally, it’s a subtle detail, but Kikimora’s use of just Lilith’s first name implies a ton of familiarity between the two and or that Kikimora is much, MUCH higher ranking than Kikimora in the hierarchy. As for figuring out what position she fills, well:

She is most likely Belos’ right hand woman after all, and quite literally at that. 

However, besides the literal wordplay of her design, I’ve been looking into the origins of her name and found that "kikimora" refers to a kind of spirit within Slavic mythology of which there are two kinds: one from the forest married to the spirit Domovoi,and the other from the swamp married to the spirit Leshy.

There's conflicting accounts on whether kikimora are evil or simply a difficult spirit to appease between the sources I could find, but a common thread seems to be a close association with spinning and being a symbol of impending misfortune with her psychic abilities. 

However, what I find most interesting and what I’d like to focus on here is the way she is most commonly depicted in terms of appearance. Between the unclear translated details of her exact stance and attitude towards humans, all of the sources I’ve seen more or less agree that she is a kind of powerful house spirit that is small enough to pass through keyholes, and that she is either a goddess of or are highly associated with chickens - sometimes bearing chicken feet like the ones in the drawn rendition below:

As to why I find this detail interesting, for those of you who haven’t been following my discussions with my friend @sepublic​, we have been working on plotting out the various possible narrative parallels between the characters of The Owl House and the in-universe characters of the Good Witch Azura series for a while now, with Luz and Amity being Azura and each other’s Hecate, Eda and Lilith as the old lady/mentor figure, and King and Emperor Belos as the likely small animal companions/proclaimed group leader.

With these parallels established, I have come to the conclusion that there is a FOURTH set of characters - one whose correlation in the Azura books we’ve yet to see or hear about, but will play an important role in both the overall Owl House plot and the in-universe Azura series - of which Kikimora makes up one half on Amity’s side. 

Assuming that Kikimora takes a decent amount of inspiration from her namesake in a number of ways, the most likely candidate for her parallel that I can see is - as surprising as it may seem - none other than Hooty, aka this goofball:

TLDR: Why I think both Hooty and Kikimora might turn out to be/have been bird-themed deity-like entities supporting their respective rulers, or how the epic kaiju fights were in our houses all along

To explain what I mean, with the major fan theory that King used to be the Titan/an actual king of demons and some of the recent character interactions these last few episodes, I believe that Hooty and Kikimora might be even more similar than just the mythological connotations behind Kikimora’s namesake.

For a long while now, I have been theorizing that Hooty will turn out to be a powerful owl-like spirit or being with a very severe case of power and memory loss, but to be more specific here, I think that Hooty - or the Owl Deity as I’ve taken to calling the being in the owl mural - used to be King’s second in command. 

Here, I think such a revelation would fit well with the kind of misdirection present within The Owl House’s storytelling. After all, for as much as Gus picking Hooty in UW was played as a joke, one must remember that Gus had been looking for THE most interesting, accomplished, and noteworthy person he could get, and it would be just like this show for Hooty to turn out to actually fit that criteria, much like Luz’s “bad girl chosen one” description in WBW being extremely applicable to Amity the next episode. 

In a similar vein, while King immediately shutting down Hooty’s declaration to become his recruit in AitE was a quick and funny joke in the moment, Hooty calling himself King’s “faithful pal” and the bonding moment the two shared after the carnage when King found himself ultimately relying on Hooty’s strength in the end feels to me much like the Owl House writers setting up hints for what kind of dynamics the two might have had in the distant past. 

Now, I know you must be wondering how exactly this would further tie into Kikimora being parallels with Hooty. Well, the thing about that is that I suspect that both of them played a major role in helping their respective rulers come to power a long, long time ago.

Specifically, as two bird-based deities - not necessarily gods or chicken-based ones per se, but incredibly powerful beings that might have been seen as akin to such - that King and Belos turned to for help in different ways.

I admit that this sounds like a pretty major stretch - especially in regards to Kikimora and her three lines of dialogue - but given the multiple posts of evidence-adjacent details I’ve made for Hooty being the Owl Deity, I think this would make the correlations between the two all the more cleaner. 

With King and Hooty, I could see the latter potentially being the former’s first loyal follower and or main enforcer of his will, a reliable friend and powerhouse that King depended on until both of them were overthrown and reduced to the sad state we see them in now. 

And with Belos and Kikimora, I could see the former having been a fresh new recruit in King’s army back then, one who became fed up with his arbitrary demands and impulsive abuses of power - much like Private New Guy in AitE - and called upon Kikimora for her help in staging a mutiny against Hooty and King. Meanwhile, I could also see the latter being themed after a different bird within the world of The Owl House than chickens, potentially even being the basis behind Lilith’s corvid iconography and maybe the wings on Belos’ symbol.

That said, to contrast Hooty and King’s relationship, perhaps Kikimora and Belos’ is more transactional in nature befitting how in some folklore, kikimora - when pleased with the family of the house she resides in - apparently serve as their guardians and can warn her family of impending disaster with her powerful psychic talents, whereas only when she is displeased does her mischief to act up for the residents within. As such, Belos may or may not be doing something to make sure he keeps her favor as an asset to use and keep control over her/to enhance her powers, something which possibly could even be connected to the apparent search for items of eternal youth.

Though just to get this clear, I am NOT saying that Kikimora is the real mastermind behind everything while Belos is a mere figurehead. Rather, I’m suggesting that Belos and Kikimora might be more like business partners in crime compared to the possible past friendship Hooty and King might have had.

Furthermore, to develop Hooty and Kikimora even more as foils of each other, I think it would be rather fitting if the latter was revealed to have been in this picture the whole time as Belos’ castle itself:

After all, I’ve made note before of how the majority of the Owl House looks like it used to be a portion of a large “Owl Temple,” so considering how Hooty is the house itself and how Amity and Luz’s groups are positioned on opposing extremes, it would make sense if Kikimora leaned into the “house spirit” aspect of her inspiration by being Belos’ castle itself - or at least, being able to animate it, that is.

I mean, there IS always the possibility that she will stay closer to her inspirations and be a separate entity from Belos’ castle - aka where she’s still capable of traveling through keyholes and that’s how Kikimora was involved with Belos’ mutiny by sneaking through Hooty’s mouth entranceway - but personally, I think it’d be rather fitting if in a reversal of folklore kikimoras, she was the keyhole of Belos’ castle instead.

After all, if she IS the castle like Hooty is the Owl House and both of them turn out to be deity/bird-like beings, then I predict that we might get to see a clash of the titans somewhere down the line after Hooty regains his former form and memories - potentially even having gotten back the rest of the Owl Temple to more evenly match Kikimora in scale for a battle of epic proportions.

Overall, to summarize, I think Kikimora and Hooty will turn out to be parallels in terms of being powerful bird-themed deity-like entities, being capable of becoming and or already being giant “castle/temple demons,” and being/having been the respective second-in-command of Belos and King. 

As for how they would contrast with the other, it’s too early to tell with how little we know of Kikimora at the moment, but judging from how the other characters between Amity and Luz’s groups parallel each other, it will be rather interesting to see how her personality and motives might serve as a reflection to that of the Owl Deity across the extremes of individualism vs conformity.

[floatingcatacombs]

Top 10 Sexiest Mechas

12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 4

Mecha is one of the most intimidating genres for anime newcomers. The plots seem overly complex, the episode counts too long, and the giant robot war settings difficult to relate to. I think that all of these are valid concerns, but that mecha often gets a bad rap when most people don’t even want to try it. What both newcomers scared of the genre and hardcore mecha fans often fail to recognize, though, is that on top of the messages of the series, mechas always represent bodies. They are giant robotic representations of their pilots, the visions of their creators, collective psyches, and/or the work’s central themes. The degree of anthropomorphism, the level of abstraction with which the pilot controls the mecha, the colors and shape and size…all of these bodily elements directly tie back to the mecha’s role in the story. Of course, if mechas are bodies, then they are also vulnerable to sexualization. So let’s take all of that into consideration and chart the top 10 sexiest mechs! I’ll be keeping it capped at one entry per series, and will talk about all media, not just anime and manga.

 10. EQUUS from Concrete Revolutio

Starting off the list we’ve got a pretty weird pick, but I wanted to make sure that I shouted out this show. Concrete Revolutio is a kaiju and superhero-deconstructing delight, but when it comes to mechas it really plays things by ear and aims for the coolest setpieces possible. The protagonist’s mecha is essentially a Transformer that unfolds from a car into a centaur mecha. While the car body middle leaves a little to be desired, overall the design is a very good synthesis of Car and Horse. It’s certainly a better implementation of the centaur mecha design than say, Overwatch’s Orsia, who has a very visually muddled walking pattern because her legs are far too tiny and packed closely to each other. I’m especially a fan of the wheel joints on the knees and hooves on EQUUS, as well as the unicorn horn. Much as a centaur is an identity crisis between man and beast, Jiro is constantly in self-conflict over whether he can be a heroic protector of all superhumans or if he’s just a monster in disguise.

 9. Metal Gear Zeke from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid is one of the most iconic mecha series out there, so picking one specific Metal Gear over all the others proved challenging. The classic boxy REX, the smooth aquatic RAY, the upright Sahelanthropus, the arachnid EXCELSUS…there’s lots of good ones to pick from! It was a tough battle, but ultimately I had to go with ZEKE, the first named Metal Gear chronologically. Designwise, the railgun and Z-shaped legs are a nice touch, but it’s the story arc around ZEKE that interests me the most. A lesbian-sourced war crime machine, ZEKE was created by MSF, the nationless nation of soldiers run by Big Boss. It ended up being hijacked by terrorists from within and nearly caused a globally eradicating nuclear exchange, which is as good of a metaphor as they get for why deterrence is a fucked ideology. Accidents happen, stockpiles become more and more sunk costs, and sometimes anime girl triple agents infiltrate your military base and steal your cool robot.

8. Char’s Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam

Confession time: I haven’t actually seen any Gundam. I’m more of a Macross gal myself. But I felt like not having any Gundam on this list would be like ignoring Star Wars on a space opera list. Anyways, Char seems like one of the most awful bastard characters of any series ever, so I’m happy to use a spot on this listicle for his mecha. The Zaku II is infamous for being “three times as fast” as its generic counterparts despite its only difference being its red paint, but c’mon – that’s Char’s absolute moral purity buffing his ship. You deserve that stat buff if you’ve Never Betrayed Anyone In Your Entire Life, Ever.

7. Deus Ex Machina from Promare

--Promare spoilers ahead--

Promare ends, as all Trigger works should, with a whole lot of Act 3 Bullshit. Plot twist after plot twist until all of the themes dangled at in the first half no longer matter, with nonstop fighting getting more ridiculous by the second. At our protagonist’s darkest moment, their problems get handwaved away and they are handed a deus ex machina of a mecha literally known as….Deus Ex Machina. A fusion of Lio’s jet black triangle armor and Galo’s knightly firefighter mecha, the design of this mecha represents their connection and understanding of each other. Yes, of course they’re gay. Why else would it be glistening in rainbow colors?

6. Terminus typeR909 from Eureka Seven

Another mecha anime I’ve hardly seen.. but one that I definitely want to get around to! Eureka Seven just seems like a genuinely delightful time, and I’m a sucker for romance-based mecha shows as well. Anyways, the piloted mechas in Eureka Seven are named after Roland drum machines, with the typeR909 is named after the classic TR-909. They’re nicely proportioned and there’s something sweet about the cutesy magenta robot of the fleet being piloted by a 30-year old man. I guess I’m just a sucker for the gentle undoing of gendered associations and music gear.

5. Eva Unit-01 from Nylon Genesect Evangelical

All of the Eva units are quite tall and bestial and wonderful, but it’s Eva-01 in particular that really stands out due to its conspicuous tendency to disobey its pilot and go berserk, fully unhinging its jaw. NGE takes the “mechs as bodies” thing pretty damn seriously, but throws in the delightful wrench of “what if it’s not your body that’s being represented?”

4. VF-1 Valkyrie from Macross

Macross was the first popular mecha series to utilize transforming robots. What makes Valkyries so sexy is that they’re not just limited to Spaceship and Gundam forms – they have an intermediary form. In GERWALK mode, the cockpit remains exposed having not folded into the mecha headpiece yet, and the wings are still popped out. However, the Valkyire has sprouted its arms and legs already, making it capable of landing, walking on the ground, and wielding a gun pod as a rifle.  It’s kind of adorable! Stuffed to the brim with weapons and tech, Valkyries are the perfect blend of stylized and realistic robots. The Itano Circus will live on forever in our hearts as the go-to tactic when you have plenty of talent on your animation team and your mechas are armed with way too many missiles.

3. Jehuty from Zone of the Enders

While the VF-1 mecha is sexy because of its utility and folding form, the Orbital Frames of Zone of the Enders are sexy because…they’re designed with a sexual angle. They’re famous for their literal cock pits, but combined with their broad shoulders, slim hourglass waists, and pronounced thighs, they exude a strong androgynous energy. Jehuty is one of the most recognizable frames simply by virtue of being the playable mecha, but definitely one of the hornier ones too. Case in point: at the end of Zone of the Enders 2, it receives an upgrade after absorbing its sister frame to become Naked Jehuty, a stripped-down but ridiculously powerful mecha with gold sections emulating bare skin. Yoji Shinkawa’s brain is simply too big.

 2. Bohrok Pahrak

Look, I can’t just not include any Bionicle on this list. They’re some of the most formative lil’ robots to me. But which one is the sexiest? That’s not really something I’ve had to consider before. While some of the titan sets such as Roodaka and Axonn have a certain sexual angle to them, it feels contrived, carrying the same kind of creepiness as horny OC designs. The Great Spirit Robot might be the super robot of the series, but its design is rather barebones and reminds me too much of The Iron Giant. So I ultimately settled on the Bohrok, the hivemind villains from 2002’s story. While most Bionicle are a combination of biological and robotic, the Bohrok are strictly mechanical – and piloted by the masklike Krana, making them mechas! You really shouldn’t fuck the Bohrok, but there’s just something so perfect about their design. They’ve got it all – not only transformability and an orb design, but transformability into an orb design. Their hunched-over stature reminds me of GERWALK Valkyries – it’s cute and functional! As for why Pahrak in particular, well, the shields it wields are vibrators. Just ignore the fact that they’re powerful enough to seismically level mountains, and you’ll be set.

1. The Entirety of Heaven Will Be Mine

You can tell that Aevee Bee and Mia Schwartz did their homework for Heaven Will Be Mine. They understand better than anyone else that a mecha is a representation of the pilot’s psyche and body, and that damage to the mecha is indistinguishable from that to the pilot. This is reinforced by the mechas being referred to as Ship-Selves – they are literally an extension of oneself more than anything else. By looking at a ship-self, you can almost immediately infer what kind of person the pilot is, what her position in bed is, and what her fetishes are. The layer of abstraction between pilot and mecha ranges from wafer-thin to nonexistent depending on the character. The side effect of this is that since HWBM is about a bunch of gay girls in space having sloppy ideologically charged hookups, the mechas have to be designed just as sexually as everything else. And by god did they deliver on that front. Some of the ship-selves, such as Mare Crisium and String of Pearls, take clear direct inspiration from Zone of the Enders frames. The Krun Macula takes some inspiration from Char’s Zaku II in terms of color and shape, but its face chimes give it a uniquely divine and powerful feeling with no mecha parallel. This perfectly mirrors Pluto’s powerlevel advantage over all of the other pilots, and her humanoid-but-not-quite ship-self perfectly represents her faction’s goals. On the other hand, the assimilationist Memorial Foundation believes in ending the space program and grounding all ship-selves to prevent the splintering of humanity. Their mission manifests literally in that each member of the faction wears some form of bondage gear to represent their shackles to the Earth, and even their Ship-Self has a spreader bar. Heaven Will Be Mine is ridiculously horny, and it has the vision, design, storytelling, music, and everything else to back it up. Truly, the best of all worlds. And if anyone who worked on the game is reading this post.,.thanks.

[sepublic]

Just watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters last night...

My general feelings are the same as the fans- It’s pretty good, and the critics are honestly forgetting to have fun. Sure, you can go on about how the film had a basic plot or whatever, but by the end of the day it had amazing Kaiju action, screen time, and love for the source material. 

I particularly like how King Ghidorah was handled. When I first heard about Tywin Lannister- I mean, Jonah, and his role in the film, I was worried Ghidorah would take a backseat to him. I had concerns he’d just be a controlled minion and lackey of a human, and while Ghidorah admittedly has tended to be in the control of smaller species before, I was still hesitant.

The film, lo and behold, assuaged all of my concerns. Ghidorah was presented full-force as the true antagonist of the film, with the human villains’ actions basically amounting to just waking him up, which was what I’d hoped for the film. Otherwise, Ghidorah is his own master, and he is a genuine beast of a villain and a true contender towards Godzilla. He was his own master, which honestly reflects the whole theme of man not being able to control nature better than my feared alternative.

Another thing I appreciated about Ghidorah was how they embraced his alien nature. I noticed in both the source material and the film that while the other Kaiju (I prefer to call them that over Titans) are given typical Latin-y, science names, thus providing the idea that they’re natural creatures... Ghidorah is instead referred to exclusively as Monster Zero.

I mean, not only is this a wonderfully fitting homage to the source material, but it really sets up Ghidorah as thematically different and alien from the rest of the Kaiju, even before the literal revelation that he’s a space invader. Likewise, I like how the writers used this part of his backstory not only as a thematic, character-related realization, but also as a means to set up Ghidorah thematically as a rival against Godzilla.

Godzilla is naturally from Earth and defending others, and while a little hostile, ultimately means well and is the true King of Monsters. Meanwhile, Ghidorah is a space imperialist, an invasive species and a false king. He’s an usurper, and so alien that something like the Oxygen Destroyer, which relies on some fundamental rules of Earth’s life, has no effect against it. Ghidorah seems to defy the laws of nature (well, moreso than the other Kaiju if we’re being honest) and is very clearly not meant to be there. The fact that this just contributes to the challenge of the human antagonists’ assertions of Ghidorah being needed to ‘balance’ nature is just the cherry on top.

(Also, I love how Lefty is the one that gets bullied by the Middle Head... yet by the end of the day, Middle Head dies the most brutal death of the heads while Lefty outlives the others and is slated to more or less continue Ghidorah’s legacy of rampage in some fashion. The meek shall inherit the earth, after all!)

So, yeah- Film was good, and the humans I actually liked. At worst they’re just THERE, in my opinion- Even Emma Russell, whom I’ve seen others criticize as kind of a traitor (not too wrongfully), at least means well and tries to be as practical as possible with her actions. She makes a point of wanting to wait for Isla de Mara (Marra?) to be properly evacuated and only releases Rodan amidst the presence of human lives when pressured to do so, under the belief that it’s her only chance. The Kaiju are shown to have a positive impact on nature in the form of some Life Radiation or something- Ridiculous by real world standards, but it’s a freaking Kaiju film. Who cares if it’s dumb?! 

Regardless, this point of Kaijus’ contribution to nature makes Russell’s actions make more sense. This, and the fact that she, again, is very deliberate on sparing humanity as much as she can, is horrified when Ghidorah acts otherwise, and ultimately realizes the error of her ways and willingly sacrifices herself to at least TRY to fix things, kind of makes her better than the MCU’s Thanos, in one regard.

(I love Thanos and all, but my admittedly biggest disappointment in his film portrayal is the fact that we never see him get humbled and be forced to learn his lesson. He never realizes the error of his ways and criticizes himself for his foolishness like in the comics- Which sucks, because if he had then the Avengers would have not only beaten him physically in Endgame but also ideologically as well.)

That aside, I’m pretty excited to see what direction the films will take. I like that the Muto is able to return, and while I was a bit hesitant and disappointed with the Titans being new characters, I’ve definitely warmed up to one of them, Behemoth.

I’ve also noticed that there are technically nine Kaiju we never see on film, which opens up the possibility of introducing some of the more classic monsters to the Monsterverse. While we already have codenames for them based on mythology, the films can always just explain it away by saying that the mythological names were given based more on location of the Kaiju and less on actual appearance, or whatever.

I think the whole ‘not revealing the remaining nine Kaiju’ was a smart move by Legendary. This way, if they ever feel like introducing a new monster, they can just as easily explain it as one of the remaining nine- And that isn’t even taking into consideration the idea that there are other Kaiju that Monarch didn’t locate, which is no stretch considering the whole Hollow Earth reveal.

Speaking of that- I wonder if the Hollow Earth, as well as the revelation of humans who once worshipped the Kaiju and even had an underwater city, will be used to introduce the Seatopians... Or Atlanteans, as the films would probably call them for obvious reasons. The Seatopians in their debut lived underground (which fits with the Hollow Earth in KOTM) and worshipped Megalon (which fits with the whole ‘ancient civilizations worshipped Kaiju’ approach).

I could see the films potentially introducing the Atlanteans as having been living underground during all this time in the Hollow Earth. Their reasons for summoning Megalon to attack the rest of humanity could be the same as in their debut, or be related to accusations of heresy towards humans not respecting the ‘gods’, or maybe a bit of both.

Of the nine unrevealed Kaiju, I’d like to see Megalon (as discussed above), as well as Anguirus (a classic), Baragon, Ebirah, Manda, etc. Maybe Kumonga could be introduced, or they could just retcon Scylla as Kumonga (Scylla comes from its scientific name Titanus Scylla, and as we all know the Kaijus’ scientific names aren’t always accurate to their current names, so...).

Other Kaiju I’d like to see are Biollante and Hedorah, who both work as natural extensions of the world-building and themes established in the films. Biollante can easily become an extension of the humans’ black market of Kaiju DNA and desire to have their own monster they can control. Either way, I’d still like for the tragic aspect of Biollante’s origins (as a misguided attempt to preserve one’s daughter) to be kept, as I think it just works in general.

Hedorah can, again, be set up as a thematic opponent to Godzilla. Both were created as allegories for human destruction of the environment, and seeing as how KOTM discussed pointedly how humans have polluted Earth, this could easily be seen as a plot point; Perhaps humans are polluting even more now, under the assumption that the Kaiju will just clean it up. Alternatively, the remaining waste has been piled up into one spot...

Either way, Hedorah comes into being as a monument to mankind’s infection. Godzilla, who has already been framed as a paragon of Nature and one who sets the balance right, is a clear opponent for Hedorah. Likewise, a film about Hedorah can also continue the discussion of humanity’s placement on Earth, perhaps musing that like Ghidorah we too are invasive and terraforming the planet to our own desires.

So that’s already a LOT of potential Kaiju and films to keep into account (not to mention King Kong’s fated match with Godzilla next year), but there’s still more with the post-credits scene! Jonah survives, and as a faithful Ghidorah stan he buys Lefty from some fishermen with obvious plans for the future.

Now, I’ve seen people discuss as to what the head will be used for- Perhaps it’ll be nurtured back to health (or partial-health, bringing in Mecha Ghidorah). Ghidorah IS Godzilla’s true arch nemesis, so more films with him certainly sounds nice.

Alternatively, his cells, in combination with the Oxygen Destroyer’s effects, could be used to create Destoroyah. And there’s also Bagan, who was born of Ghidorah’s cells and Godzilla’s as well.

Personally, I think the best scenario is to do... all of the above. Cells CAN grow and regenerate, and Ghidorah already has plenty of regenerative prowess. While Lefty is properly nurtured back to health, I can see Jonah taking DNA samples to experiment with, thus leading to the aforementioned Kaiju. Eventually, Ghidorah returns but in a weakened Mecha state, thus allowing him to fight alongside other villains without making things too hard for Godzilla, before he finally casts aside his metal shackles and fully recovers, leading to a true rematch.

So those are all of the potential Kaiju discussed- But now I want to get into baseless territory and do some wild speculation. If there’s one Kaiju I’d really like to see, its Gigan. 

With Gigan, I’d really like to see the films full-on embrace just how WEIRD he looks, because Gigan doesn’t really look like any particular animal. I mean, he does bare a passing resemblance to a penguin, but otherwise he’s an unmistakable alien, with his red visor, metal hook-claws, and buzzsaw chest.

I think embracing this alien nature of Gigan and making it more obvious will help differentiate him from Ghidorah, alongside one other achievement- Making Godzilla bleed.

I noticed that Godzilla didn’t bleed in this film, which I was personally happy about. If Gigan does appear, I’d prefer that honor to be reserved for him, like in the source material- Because if one thing has been established about Gigan, it’s that he’s one of Godzilla’s most VIOLENT enemies.

And I’d really like for the filmmakers to emphasize that, too, as a contrast to Ghidorah. I want them to show Gigan brutally cutting up his enemies, bathing in blood, and a bunch of other edgy stuff. Perhaps he’ll be commanded by aliens like in his debut, but his bloodlust will be so strong that he’ll occasionally veer from his orders so he can kill an extra few hundred humans, just because he wants to. I think this’d characterize Gigan as violent and a little unhinged, in contrast to Ghidorah.

Ghidorah is still, of course, very violent himself- But he can still be sensible. While Ghidorah is the reserved, stoic villain, Gigan could be the cackling mad murderer who relishes in the sport and gets distracted by it.

Further discussing Gigan, I wonder if the films can embrace the whole ‘alien invader’ aspect of the films by having an alien race attack Earth. They could be commanding an unruly Gigan (further differentiating him from natural leader Ghidorah) as they do generic evil-stuff... I can see the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens (or Nebulans) being his masters, although if Legendary wants to streamline the whole Alien invader thing, they can just have one species; Probably the Xiliens, or maybe the Kilaaks.

Likewise, these aliens can be recurring antagonists (with Zaguresu from Godzilla Island being a major villain), perhaps responsible for sending creating Ghidorah and sending him to Earth in the first place. Alternatively, it’s just Gigan- Either way, I’d like for aliens to also play a role in Mechagodzilla.

Briefly going off on yet ANOTHER tangent, I like that while the humans had a role in KOTM, the film ultimately recognized that the fight against Ghidorah was the monsters’ fight, and didn’t have humans hogging the action (like in Bayformers). Like in the source material, I’d prefer for the Oxygen Destroyer’s first use to be the most effective human attack on Godzilla- From there on, the humans just kind of have to play a support role amidst the Kaiju battles, in the spirit of the franchise. 

I say this because I’d prefer the conflicts to primarily be between Kaiju (although Manda dying by the human creation Gotengo is fine). Likewise, if Mechagodzilla is made, it makes more sense (to me at least, if they introduce aliens) that it’d be made by aliens, what with its complex AI and overall effectiveness in battle. Of course, I can see the films incorporating the concept of Kiryu through the use of human tech combined with Kaiju remains. But for the most part I don’t want humans interfering or messing with Kaiju- the Kaiju are the bigger, badder kings of the planet and the franchise and the films have already made a point of humanity needing to co-exist, not fight, the Kaiju. Having them be on equal footing kind of bothers me, personally. 

All in all, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a great film. It did a lot of effective world building that helped pave the road for so many stories, and I’m excited for more!

(Also, on one final tangent- I hope King Kong makes effective usage of his intelligence and wielding of tools as an advantage against Godzilla in the next film)

[disobligingly]

full name.  Shin pronunciation. …as one would normally pronounce the word? nicknames. n/a but probably ones relating to his body type (ie small) a lot titles.  various ones relating to his position in the universe (’lord’, ‘sir’, supreme kai’, etc.). height. 4′8.

age. millions of years (likely totaling somewhere between five and seven million. he doesn’t care enough to keep track anymore).

zodiac. n/a scorpio, because what is the person behind this blog if not predictable languages. all of them in his universe, and some in those of other universes as well. he’s more confident in his skills with some languages than others, but he can at least hold a decent conversation in all of them.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour.  white. eye colour. obsidian. skin tone.  lavender. body type.  slight. lithe. he’s small, in width as well as height, but he’s not without any muscle definition at all. accent.  doesn’t really have an extremely noticeable one of any sort. his voice in general, however, tends to be on the quieter side. dominant hand.  ambidextrous. posture. proper, more often than not. very stiff. (his back probably hurts because of it. a lot.) scars. surprisingly enough, none. (he isn’t sure why, as he’s certainly gotten physically beaten down enough to leave some all across his body. his best guess is that it was a combination of youth and sheer magic/power that kept it from happening post-buu-rampage, and anything past the time kibito came to be his attendant would, of course, be credited to his healing prowess.) tattoos. none.. most noticeable features. short. pastel-coloured skin? darker boarding around his eyes.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth.  kaishin. hometown.  ??? birth weight / height.  average? height for his kind. a little underweight. manner of birth.  standard for most shinjin. first words.  the information is undocumented, but they were most likely things like ‘yes.’ and ‘why?’ siblings.  n/a. sometimes considers west his sister if he really thinks on it, but none in the biological sense. parents.  Mother: n/a Father:  n/a parental involvement.  the kaiju are literally trees. involvement of caretakers/tutors was standard for the most part.

ADULT LIFE

occupation.   does ‘god’ count as an occupation overseer/acting grand supreme kai of universe seven. entomologist? current residence.  universe seven’s sacred planet. close friends.  is it pathetic that he isn’t sure who all he could put aside from ‘kibito’-- he’s a lot more paranoid than he lets on regarding nearly everyone/their motivations/etc. and thus has maybe a grand total of one close friend. said person is also his romantic partner; kibito. relationship status.  taken. financial status.  ??? driver’s license. doesn’t have one. doesn’t ever plan to get one. criminal record. several counts of murder. premeditated murder. thievery. torture(?). vices.  rage. vindictiveness. violence. (all tend to be hidden away and pushed deep, deep into his mind to be forgotten and ignored for as long as possible though. but they are still there, and he’s very aware of it.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation.   homosexual. romantic orientation.   demiromantic(?). preferred emotional role.  submissive |  dominant  | switch  |  unsure? preferred sexual role.  submissive | dominant | switch  |  sex repulsed libido.  medium to medium-high turn on’s. gentle touches to his inner-thighs. praise. partner’s sounds of enjoyment/arousal/etc. very gentle, light scraping of teeth against his neck (rarely). some dirty talk. turn off’s. choking. excessive degradation. love language.  he tries to communicate how he feels through words, but he oftentimes finds that words fall short of what he wishes to express, and thus he employs physical behaviours more – leaning on the other person, resting against them, sitting on their lap, holding their hand. all have roots in trust, which he must have in what borders on excess when it comes to others. relationship tendencies.  much of the same as above, with some obvious differences in how he conducts himself whilst executing said motions. (may insist on being much closer sometimes.)

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. (something of a placeholder song until i think of a better one; half a joke but half not) under pressure, by queen. hobbies to pass the time.  dabbles in entomology (though he wonders if it counts when he has created several of the species of insect that exist now). reads a lot. documents life and compares it to see how it’s progressing. mental illnesses. ptsd. severe depression. displays symptoms of psychosis (on rare? occasions). physical illnesses.  none that he is aware of. left or right brained.  leans more toward right by just a sliver, but more-or-less equally both. fears.  typical ones like ‘death’ and ‘failure’. that zamasu will return and kill everyone again. that something will kill him and leave the universe to die. that his efforts are all for naught. that he is actually hated universe-wide, despite his best efforts to do what he can to fix things. self-confidence level.  despite what he may sometimes display, low. vulnerabilities.  any and all relationships of any sort he has with others, as they can be used by others to get at him. extremely paranoid tendencies.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #193 - Pacific Rim

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes, #242.

Format: Blu-ray

1)

Raleigh: “When alien life entered our world it was from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean.”

This is actually a really interesting concept and break from the usual alien invasion movies. It keeps the movie incredibly sci-fi but gives the monsters a much more earthy quality to them. And opening the movie with the idea establishes the world we live in right away. In fact, the entire prologue does an excellent job of clearly and quickly establishing the world of Pacific Rim (I consider the prologue everything before Raleigh and Yancy go and fight the monster, even though the film’s title takes 16 minutes to show up).

2) The monsters in this film are referred to as Kaiju and that fact shows the incredible respect the filmmakers are showing to the genre they’re playing in. For those of you who don’t know, giant monster movies made in Japan like Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, etc. are referred to as Kaiju films so just by embracing that genre name for this film shows they’re playing in a similar world. I just like that that’s the path they went down.

3) Ramin Djawdi’s score for Pacific Rim is absolutely kickass. The German composer is probably most known for his work on the first Iron Man and “Game of Thrones”, so audiences for those projects are familiar with the fact that Djawdi can get you pumped through music. Pacific Rim is no battle, with the main theme being an electric guitar heavy and absolutely energizing anthem of badassery that gets the audience ready for battle. I suggest everyone listens to it.

4) Charlie Hunam as Raleigh

Raleigh is rough around the edges but in a way the audience can appreciate. He’s not a jackass, he’s not a jerk, he’s just a bit macho. But he’s still a nice guy (not Nice Guy™), showing kindness to much of the cast of characters throughout the film (Mako, Pentecost). There’s an old school roguish charm to him, but Hunam is also able to play the grief that marks Raleigh for a lot of the film.

Raleigh: “I was still connected to my brother when he died.”

That is an incredibly rich and unique conflict, to know what it feels like to die and live while also knowing that’s what your family felt in their last moments. Hunam is able to work with this well in a number of scenes and while at time his American accent can be a bit distracting his performance overall is damn good.

5) This film does a very good job of establishing minor and supporting characters so that even if they only have a few minutes of screen time you remember them. This includes Yancy, Choi, and all the other Jaeger pilots. Through combined visual design and unique character writing, they stand out.

6) The first Kaiju/Jaeger fight - while not the best in the film - still strongly establishes the film’s intense action. It is important for the audience to know the rules in these fights early on. To know that the Kaiju and Jaeger are close to equally matched; neither is swifter, neither is bigger, it’s a really intense skirmish between opponent of equal size and strength. Establishing that well early on is important and exactly what this film did.

7) Idris Elba as Marshall Pentecost

I think Elba gives the best performance in the entire film. Pentecost is such an enigmatic character, he’s not an open book, but instead of feeling underdeveloped (which is a risk with such characters) he’s interesting. You can tell there’s more to Pentecost than we’re being told because Elba works so well wight he part. He just radiates leadership and authority in a multifaceted performance. You get his hard edges, his no nonsense behavior, his occasional jackassery, a caring father figure, a loyal soldier, and a driven man all in one package that is Idris Elba. I fucking love Elba in this film.

8) Rinko Kikuchi as Mako.

Mako’s awesome. I love Mako. She’s…it’s hard to put into words. She’s an incredible strong character with deep rooted conflict and motivations which Kikuchi is able to carry with her always. This conflict is good because it strongly influences Mako’s choices in the film, which in and of themselves can breed more conflict. You can just tell that while Mako is good in her current position as Pentecost’s assistant(?) that she can do SO much more. You understand that through the way she interacts with Raleigh, the ease she handles the tasks given to her, you know she’s not reached her full potential yet even though she wants to. And you just freaking root for her to go further, to get what she wants, something which I think is equal parts Kikuchi’s performance and the writing for the character. It’s also worth noting her platonic relationship with Elba is very strong and helps develop both characters.

9) Burn Gorman and Charlie Day as both crazy strong in their roles also, breathing such life and fun into their parts and the film as large. The strong bickering Newt and Herman is incredibly fun to watch and while Day does get more time to shine as Newt that doesn’t mean Herman is any less interesting. They’re both such a fun team to watch.

10) Something director Guillermo Del Toro is able to do incredibly well across all his films - largely through production design and practical sets/effects - is that he creates a world which is fully alive. Just from looking at it you get an understanding of how it works, how it’s different from our world. It is striking, full of life, and totally unique.

11) Mako’s candidate trial.

Did I mention I love Mako? Because I do. And this scene just makes me love her more. The connection and kinship she is able to immediately establish with Raleigh is crazy good. It just FEELS right watching the pair of them on screen. Their relationship is in many ways the heart of this film and this scene gets you invested in them. You just know that they’re the right for each other.

12) Newt’s decision to drift with a Kaiju is a strong example of stakes. How far he’ll go to do what he think is the best thing to do because the alternative of doing nothing isn’t good enough. I dig it.

13) One thing I like is that Mako isn’t really sexualized or objectified in any way. I don’t even think we get a shot of her half naked or anything. The film shows off how sexy Raleigh’s body is more than it does Mako’s and I really freaking love that.

14) There are a few comparisons to make between this film and Independence Day. The fact that it’s humanity fighting against alien invaders (even though these aliens are from below the sea) is one thing, but then we learn this.

Newt: “These being, these colonists, they take over worlds…”

It’s very similar to how Bill Pullman notes the aliens in Independence Day are like locusts, moving from world to world and taking over natural resources. There are more coming up, and it’s not even a comparison of quality or saying one is a ripoff of the other, it’s more just I like the similarities because I like both films.

15) Mako’s backstory.

Through showing us Mako’s backstory, not just telling us, the film makes it all the stronger. It perfectly explains her motivations and stakes throughout the film in a way which is simple, elegant, and ready to remember. Also the way the film cuts between Mako’s memory, Raleigh in Mako’s memory, and the real world of Gypsy Danger is very strong. All in all, it’s just a strong example of backstory.

16) Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chou.

Okay, Ron Perlman is always a wonderful character actor. I have never seen a Ron Perlman performance which I have not liked. He just breathes this consistent charisma, energy, and fun into every performance he has ever given so Chou is no different. While he may be more devious and deceitful than say Hellboy, Perlman has no less fun with the part and just makes Hannibal Chou one of the surprise stand out characters in the film.

17) The first Jaeger fight with the Kaiju in Tokyo is just plain fun, a nice prologue to the upcoming Gypsy Danger fight but one that steps up the Kaiju VS Jaeger fun introduced in the film’s opening.

18) Gypsy Danger VS Kaiju.

The extended fight sequence is 100% fucking awesome! A perfect collaboration of, “oh that’s so cool!” and some, “oh that’s so stupid!” moments but in a way that is totally fun. It’s giant robot vs giant monster entertainment at its purest in a way which is just totally entertaining. Some highlights from the fight include:

Raleigh: “I think this guy’s dead, but let’s check for a pulse. (They shoot him with a plasma gun.) No pulse.”

THEY USE A FREAKING CARGO BOAT TO BEAT ON THE KAIJU LIKE IT’S A BASEBALL BAT!

THE KAIJU HAS WINGS! OH MY GOD THAT’S SO COOL!

And of course…

THEY’VE GOT A FREAKING SWORD!!!!!

More than anything else the best scene in the film (which this is) shows off all the imagination which can go into one of these fights and all of Gypsy Danger’s skills as a fighter.

19) Is this really necessary?

Newt [examining the dead Kaiju]: “It’s pregnant.”

This whole moment feels a little extra. Like, couldn’t the Kaiju brain just be intact after the fight? Although it does lead to Hannibal’s “death” and a great post credits scene.

20) Okay, I’m tearing up a little bit at the goodbye Pentecost has with Mako before he gets in a Jaeger. Because they both know this will kill him and I just…okay, I’m good.

21) The best speech since Independence Day.

22) Something I haven’t really talked about yet is drifting. Drifting with another person in the context of the film is such an intimate and strong connection. It is pure relationship, pure honesty, and I freaking love it.

23) The climactic fight with the category five fight is really a dual fight between the two Kaiju in a well paced, choreographed, and smoothly edited moment. You are never taken out of the moment during the fight due to shoddy craftsmanship, it is all just really smooth.

24) I think the final dive into the breach is really well done because there is a genuine question of if Raleigh will survive or not. The first time I saw this I thought for sure he would die and they wait until the last minute possible to get him out there, just upping the tension throughout. It’s really strong.

24.1) The final thing in this movie that reminds me of Independence Day is Raleigh sending his ship right into the enemy to explode feels a lot like this:

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

25) I actually love that this movie doesn’t end with Raleigh and Mako kissing. You can head canon it as anyway you want. I see it as platonic, but you can also see it as they know each other better than anyone else so they don’t need to kiss to know how they feel about each other. I just find it very strong.

26) Remember how I mentioned a post credits scene in note #19?

Pacific Rim is just really incredibly fun. You can tell that Guillermo Del Toro is enjoying the world he helps to build, with sheer amazing giant robot vs giant monster action. The character drama and motivations are surprisingly poignant, the actors are incredibly strong, the writing is top notch, and it’s just...it’s so freaking good. It’s so freaking FUN! Go watch it. Now. Do it! Please! It’s that good.