#Pilot's Mechagodzilla

[boatsthatfly-art]

Kira

[renuplink]

⚡️Started Tumblr Blog⚡️

Hi there, my name is Ren, cosplayer of Ren Serizawa who pilots Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs Kong⚡️

Come see what happens when cosplay gets real—expect shadows, stories, and a little bit of madness through Ren Serizawa’s eyes⚡️

[siennadraws-13]

This is just concept art atm, but i hope I'll make it real one day!

I feel like the Megaladon and Megatron verse in The Outside really fit these two goobers, which gave me the idea to make an animatic! Nothings been started yet, but i thought this concept art i made was neat

[askstrangeweird]

King of The Mech - (a dumb joke i put too much time and effort in lol, but I hope you all like/reblog it! Singles/process below the cut.)

(in case the reference wasn't clear lol. also yeah, i don't think MechaGodzilla's hand can hold a can so i just ripped his arm off to save time. life hack.)

(yes, i was gonna draw megasXLR but i felt like the megazord fit in better here... onto more working on the Glitch Hunters pilot in the background and sketching a certain demigod poll winner...)

[acelestialcraze]

‘ghidorah’s voice’ headcanon dump because its been awhile 🥀

(a lot of these are just my monsterverse and beyond headcanons since ghidorahs voice doesnt diverge that far from the monsterverse as a whole)

- As much as I joke about it, Nathan doesn’t have romantic feelings for Ren (not in this story, anyway) it’s more of an envy that he feels for Ren. Something I noticed about Nathan in GVK is someone was always on his neck making a snarky comment (Maia, Ilene, even Jia 💀) and he was dismissed as a crackpot for believing in the Hollow Earth, so while Nathan was wallowing in his sorrows after losing his brother, here comes the Monsterverse’s equivalent to Justin Hammer saying that he was right all along, and to his side is Ren, nodding along to everything he says. Ren has had no problem achieving what Nathan has spent his entire career chasing: respect, unlimited resources and funding for his projects, and from Nathan’s perspective, he handled the loss of a family member like a champ, compared to Nathan who (originally) fell into alcohol similarly to Mark. Lastly, in the deleted bar scene, Ren was the only character who didn’t make a snide remark toward Nathan throughout the film.

- It comes as no surprise that Stanton likes Rick and Morty considering his character is canonically based off Rick Sanchez, but yeah— Stanton enjoys all kinds of adult shows and I like to think he hosted the SNL sketch that featured a parody of Ren.

- Originally, I was going to have the lawyer character of Shindo be an Xilien in disguise who was tasked to keep an eye on Ren (think of Black Widow’s role in Iron Man 2) and there was going to be a scene of the two of them in the same woods Logan Paul recorded a body in to dig up a Ghidorah skull, but I didn’t want to turn the heroic Shindo from the early films into a villain, looking back, I should have just given him a different name, so maybe i’ll write a scene of this hypothetical and leave it on my blog for anyone who wishes to read.

- Controller X!Ren isn’t anywhere near as crazy as his Final Wars counterpart, his fits of maniac laughter are either him getting carried away with the moment (similarly to when he piloted Mechagodzilla and started calling himself god in the novelization) or just playing a character to scare the shit out of Monarch.

- Considering Mechagodzilla consisted of San’s remains, Ren’s brain, and an AI, that would mean Ren unfortunately doesn’t only support AI, but he modeled one.. 💀 However, I like to imagine this is what opened a lot of governments eyes about the dangers of AI and finally forced them to put restrictions on artificial intelligence.

- It’s implied in the novelization that the rampaging Mechagodzilla specifically targeted Godzilla due to Ren’s remains being nothing but his hatred for Godzilla, with that being said, Ren did briefly die in ‘Ghidorah’s Voice’ so when Ghidorah says he saved Ren’s life, he’s actually telling the truth, because while Ichi and Ni casually waltzed out of Apex in Ren’s body, Ren’s consciousness was in the mecha alongside San, so when San was defeated, he took Ren’s consciousness back to his body with him, esstientally reviving him.

- As stated in the fic itself, San saw EVERYTHING on the internet while he was bored in Mechagodzilla, he surfed the web and was probably like: “why is there so much porn of me..”

- With or without Ghidorah’s blessings, Ren would have eventually developed psychic abilities since I imagine it takes more than 5% of the human brain to pilot a literal death machine, he unintentionally learned what it was like when a human uses more than 5% of their brain. (think of the movie lucy with scarjo!) and would have gone on to master it, Ghidorah’s influence just amplified them and sped up the process.

- The real reason Bernie wanted to hear Simmons finish his speech is because he had hopes Simmons would spill the identity of GhidoraStan64, however, Simmons took it to his grave after years of holding it over Ren’s head.

- Due to someone surviving her HEAV getting crushed, Maia probably walks with noticeable injuries and has difficulties running.. It’s a wonder how she successfully kidnapped Jia and Ilene. I think this is a neat addition because that means the trio consisting of herself, Raymond Martin, and Ren are all deformed in some way.

- San and Gigan actually get along really well, it’s not uncommon for Ghidorah’s allies to fawn over San because of his personality, but San and Gigan are on another level— San often wishes he had his own body just so he could destroy planets alongside Gigan. Monster X is like their one mutual friend who introduced them and they ended up getting closer.

- On the topic of Gigan, the reason Jonah had his head was because I imagine there is Titan bidding auctions similar to JW and Jonah used the money Simmons gave him for San’s severed head in order to purchase Gigan’s severed head.. What goes around, comes around!

- San loves to ragebait Ni, he will cut Ni off mid-sentence by loudly going: “What?” Just so Ni will repeat himself only for San to cut him off again.

- If anyone has seen Squid Game, Ni is actually a lot like Nam-gyu, from resenting their superior, to being violet individuals, to picking on those weaker than him, to having an inferiority-superiority complex, Ni is one nasty individual with barely-concealed rage just beneath the surface. According to Michael Dougherty, Ni secretly wishes he was in charge, and that def applies to my take on Ni.

- Ichi is well aware of Ni’s resentment towards himself and San as well as Ni’s desire to usurp him and he often purposefully sides with San when San intentionally pushes Ni’s buttons solely to antagonize Ni and see if he’ll actually act on his desire to usurp Ichi. (spoiler: he never does, not in the main GV universe, anyway.)

- According to an interview with Demian Bichir, Maia’s mother fell in love with Walter due to his oddly impressive pianist skills, so I imagine Walter wasn’t always wealthy and somehow got stupidly rich by dumb luck. I don’t think we’ll ever meet Mrs. Simmons, so it’s safe to assume Walter pulled a Trump and has her body in some unmarked grave. Does Maia give a shit? Probably not.

- Lastly, any actors who have played a role in the Monsterverse I imagine simply don’t exist as themselves.. This is mostly because of Thomas Middleditch (Sam Coleman’s) real life sexual misconduct allegations and forcing ex his wife into an open relationship, but it’s also for the sake of neatness.

[agent-42]

Yooooooo ghost rider piloting mechagodzilla is so coool

[edgar-allan-possum]

A Mechagodzilla spaceship piloted by interstellar Kaiju hunters. This is either gonna be really good or really bad

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (March 17-23, 2024)

Mere days to go before a new Godzilla movie... didn't we just do this?

Before we welcome that latest entry, let's look back on one that just commemorated its golden anniversary. With Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla turning 50 on March 21, every member of Toho's Big Five has now hit the half-century mark. The company didn't mark the day itself with much; as has become typical, the celebration of Mechagodzilla (and presumably King Caesar) will be spread throughout the year. I wrote a bit about the magnificent machine, who I consider the best Godzilla antagonist, here. The film itself is one of Teruyoshi Nakano's masterpieces, an onslaught of animated rays and gorgeous explosions. The humans are forgettable, but they keep the pace brisk—and the alien commander Mugal is almost as devilish a villain as Mechagodzilla itself, especially in the English dub. Speaking of that dub, you can watch a video breaking down the entire voice cast here, thanks to the tireless work of the Save All Dubs! group.

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #6 finally gets to the good stuff, with Lex Luthor piloting Mechagodzilla and commanding an army of Titans to raze Metropolis while the heroes counter with not one but two giant robots. It doesn't quite measure up to the Godzilla: Rulers of Earth finale, but like that double-sized issue, it required two artists (Christian Duce joined by Tom Derenick) to draw all those characters, and the results are impressive. The story hasn't grown any more complex, but I'm at least interested to see how it all wraps up.

In other Godzilla comic news, a Godziban manga by Sakuju Koizumi has started up, hosted by Telemaga, a tokusatsu-focused Kodansha site. The first installment was pretty short, so I'm guessing these'll be updated weekly. It isn't the first comic version of Godziban, as one called Godziman ran during the 1st Season, but this one's actually illustrated.

Tokyo's Ikebukuro district made Godzilla the honorary chief of police on March 16 to take part in a parade promoting traffic safety. The stunt made international headlines and generated no small amount of angst over Cop Godzilla. I think Gamera would've been better-suited to this campaign myself.

Here's the trailer for Season 2 of Chibi Godzilla Raids Again, revealing Gabara, Gigan, and Titanosaurus's designs. Looks as funny as the first one. Maaya Uchida, who sang the ending songs in SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon, will voice Chibi Minilla. It's gone weirdly neglected by English Godzilla social media accounts, but X user @MakoMattari translated it.

The Music Box Theatre in Chicago has a Godzilla program for the ages scheduled for June 7-13, in honor of his 70th birthday. There's not a weak day on the schedule, but the clear highlight is a 24-hour marathon of the entire Showa series on the 8th, which I don't think has ever been attempted before.

G-Fest has also started announcing guests: Ayako Fujitani (Asagi in the Heisei Gamera trilogy) and Rie Ota (Baragon in GMK), both first-timers. Frankly, they could carry the con themselves if they have to; not sure who I'm more excited to meet!

[monarch-afterdark]

Titan History: Kong

Welcome once again to Monarch: After Dark, the digital gateway between you and the organisation dedicated to understanding and navigating this troubled new world we live in.

Apologies for the lack of communication in recent weeks, Monarch has been hard at work collecting data and collaborating with global governments through the most recent Titan crisis, including the disposal of deceased Titan remains and the best course of action to take with Godzilla in his new resting place.

That said, today's communication will be going over a Titan who has been surging in popularity across the globe over the past few years; the undisputed king of the Hollow Earth, Kong.

(Pictured above: Kong approaching an Apex Cybernetics research facility on Skull Island, circa. 2017)

Monarch Database File: Kong

Monarch Designation: Titanus Kong

Height: 337 feet

Weight: Unknown

Nature: Unknown

Behavioural Classification: Protector

-----

Until recently, Kong was believed to be the last of his kind. Born during a climactic final battle between his parents and a horde of Skullcrawlers (ravenous amphibian predators on Skull Island), Kong grew up in an isolated world filled with danger at every angle. Growing up to become the guardian deity of Skull Island, Kong was held in great reverence by the native Iwi tribe that lived on the island. His species, designated Apus giganticus, were also known protectors of the Iwi, fighting off the Skullcrawlers and other threats until their last breath.

During his centuries on the island, Kong fought a variety of creatures, from the Mire Squad and Sirenjaws to other Titans such as the mysterious Kraken or night-bringer Camazotz. However, in 2021, a storm generated by Monster Zero fused with the perpetual storm surrounding Skull Island and plunged it into chaos. Three years later, in 2024, Kong was removed from the island as the key to a daring plan to uncover a Hollow Earth energy source to stop Godzilla. The two alpha Titans clashed twice before setting aside their differences to take down Apex Cybernetics' rogue superweapon, Mechagodzilla.

Currently, Kong now resides in the Hollow Earth alongside a newly-freed tribe of his speices, an orange ape-like Titan which he seems to have adopted as a son, and the ancient ice Titan Shimo.

(Pictured above: Monarch officials reviewing recovered footage of Kong from the doomed 1973 expedition to Skull Island, circa. 2019)

While Kong's exact origins are unknown, research conducted within the Iwi settlement appears to place his birth somewhere in the 17th Century, making him perhaps the youngest Titan on record. However, his entangled history with Monarch began much later, in 1973.

In a time where Monarch was on its last legs and facing the possibility of being shut down, founding figure William Randa and geological advisor Houston Brooks lobbied to piggyback on a Landsat expedition to Skull Island. With a military escort courtesy of the Sky Devils squadron, the team dropped seismic charges on the island to map the bedrock beneath the surface. Unknown to them at the time, their charges awakened the Skullcrawlers living in thermal vents beneath the island and incurred Kong's wrath.

Kong swiftly destroyed the Sky Devils' helicopters, leaving the survivors split into two groups. One, including Brooks, encountered the Iwi and stranded WW2 pilot Hank Marlow, where they learned about Kong and his history with the Skullcrawlers. A second, including Randa, embarked on a mission of revenge driven by Colonel Preston Packard.

(Pictured above: Kong battling the remnants of the Sky Devil squadron after being lured into a napalm trap, circa. 1973)

After being lured into a napalm trap by Packard, Kong was initially helpless to battle the recently awakened Skull Devil, the last of the adult Skullcrawlers that had a hand in wiping out his family centuries prior. Recovering quickly, the two beasts engaged in a brutal encounter. Following some assistance from the expedition survivors, Kong triumphed by tearing out the Skull Devil's innards, avenging his parents in the process.

His next major sighting occured in 1993, but without a Monarch presence on Skull Island at the time, this is pending investigation. According to witnesses, Kong did battle with a large underwater Titan (designated 'Kraken'), after being coaxed to the island's coast by Annie, a young girl stranded on the island for years with a strange dog-like beast as a companion. After exchanging many blows, Kong ultimately killed the Titan by tearing its body in half.

In 1995, Aaron Brooks (Houston's son) led an unauthorized expedition to Skull Island, as he felt unsatisfied with leaving protection against the Skullcrawlers to Kong alone. During their stay, mythographer Walter Riccio experienced vivid visions of Kong's origins, under the influence of an Iwi medicinal drink. When Riccio destroyed the wall to the Iwi village, Kong stepped in to vanquish the Mother Longlegs swarm that seized their chance and killed Riccio before communing with Aaron and the Iwi.

(Pictured above: Artistic rendition of Kong tearing the "Kraken" Titan in two, based off eyewitness testimony, circa. 1993)

In the following decades, Kong was largely left to his own devices as the island's guardian. Though Monarch teams briefly assisted him in 2015 with a crisis involving the unknown organisation Janos Biotech and the island's Snarehunter population, and Kong himself kept a horde of Skullcrawlers that attempted to leave the island in response to Monster Zero's 'alpha call' in 2019, no major events really transpired between 1995 and 2021.

In 2021, as mentioned previously, Skull Island was plunged into chaos when one of Monster Zero's residual storms merged with the storm system surrounding Skull Island. When darkness fell, the bat Titan Camazotz emerged and battled Kong for dominion over the island. Thanks to a daring pilot triggering a sonic boom to disorient Camazotz, Kong was able to prevail, though he was ultimately unable to save his home.

Three years later, and the artificial habitat Monarch built for Kong was unable to hold him much longer. He was reluctantly taken to the sea and transported to Antarctica's Outpost 32 (now rebuilt as a Hollow Earth station), though not without attracting Godzilla, who destroyed the naval fleet transporting him and almost drowned the ape. Following the acquisition of an axe left in the Hollow Earth by his ancestors, Kong and Godzilla clashed again in Hong Kong. While Godzilla prevailed through sheer power, Kong refused to submit to his rule.

(Pictured above: Kong leaping onto Godzilla's back from a building after staging an ambush, circa. 2024)

After being revived by an exploding H.E.A.V, Kong jumped in to stop Mechagodzilla from executing his organic counterpart. Setting aside their differences, the two Titans teamed up to take down the mecha. A blast from Godzilla's atomic breath charged up Kong's axe, and he was able to deal the finishing blow by hacking Mechagodzilla to pieces and holding its severed head in triumph. The two Titans regarded each other one more time before parting ways.

Which brings us to the present. While much of what transpired is still being compiled to our databanks, it is known that Kong returned to the surface on three different occassions. The first was to have an infected tooth removed at a Monarch facility, the second was in Egypt to coerce Godzilla into assisting him, and the third was a two-on-two battle in Brazil between Kong and Godzilla, and Shimo and the "Skar King", evil ruler of the Kong tribe in Hollow Earth.

-----

And there you go! An up-to-date account of Kong's history in the modern world, intertwined with Monarch from the 1970's. Currently, Kong is enjoying life down in the Hollow Earth, and as the world should do, this is where we leave Kong's story be, until the world needs him again.

Until next time,

Monarch: After Dark

[tyrantisterror]

Criticizing the police in a superhero story is kind of straightforward, examples exist, but what about the military in a kaiju story? Like, it's one thing to have the monster be immune to weapons but how do you avoid the usual cliches?

I would say most kaiju movies are pretty critical of the military - and so are a lot of Western giant monsters movies, to a lesser extent. The military is almost always impotent at best in a kaiju movie, rarely accomplishing anything more than stalling for time, and often end up making the situation worse. All the military's actions in the original Godzilla, for example, do nothing but make the monster more pissed off, until his final and most horrible rampage is directly provoked by the military's incredibly thorough and diverse attempt to kill him with every weapon they can think of. That is not a flattering portrayal of the military.

In fact, this trope is so common in the kaiju genre that it wasn't until decades after its inception that people tried to go against it - one of the directors of the 90's Godzilla movies talked about how G-Force in those movies was made because he always felt annoyed as a child that the military never accomplished much, and wanted to have them put up a better fight. Yet even then, MechaGodzilla, Moguera, and the various super xs never win - they come close, but Godzilla proves indomitable in the end.

Victories in kaiju movies overwhelmingly hinge on noncombatants and diplomacy - the happy ending comes from a scientist creating an ingenious invention, or fairies convincing their moth goddess to save our ass, or simply allowing Godzilla to swim off into the sunset when he's done defending his territory from the invasive monster of the week.

Some modern American kaiju pastiches find interesting ways to make the military useful while trying to stick to the themes baked into the genre's bones - Godzilla 2014 has a protagonist who, while in the military, specifically works as a bomb disposal expert, i.e. someone who keeps violence from escalating rather than perpetuate. Said character is drawn as a direct reflection of Godzilla himself in the same movie - heroes defined by their desire to stop a violent situation from exploding rather to destroy for the sake of destroying.

Pacific Rim explicitly focuses on a military organization of pilots in giant robots trying to fend off alien invaders using kaiju as weapons - but in the movie's greatest break from reality, said force is woefully underfunded, stripped to just a handful of robots and pilots. While the Jaegers of Pacific Rim have the trappings of some real world miltiary stuff, I think ultimately they don't resemble the military that much in execution, being more akin to, like, a remnant of an army turned into a guerilla resistance force, and really they make more sense when you take them as a metaphor for the few people actively fighting against climate change in our world (which the movie makes pretty clear is basically the theme, more or less - the aliens are specifically seeking our world out because we've fucked up the environment enough to make it favorable to them). And, ultimately, the Jaegers only manage to get their job done thanks to the help of two very brave scientists.

But, in all honestly, I feel no need to do away with the "cliche" of the impotent military in kaiju flicks. Fuck the military. Show them as incompetent, war-mongering, overfunded and undereffective assholes. Fuck 'em. They get their cocks sucked by every other genre with a budget, they can take a few beatings in the kaiju flicks.

[rwac96]

U.N.G.C.C. Incident Report: Gojirin

U.N.G.C.C. Kaiju Subject #20: Gojirin/Godzillan/Godzillin/Female Gojiran

(image done by Matt Frank)

HEIGHT: 80 Meters, (Pre-Supercharge) 100 Meters

LENGTH: 200 Meters, 108 Meters (tail, Pre-Supercharge), 140 Meters (tail)

MASS: 50,000 Metric Tons (Pre-Superchagre), 60,000

THREAT LEVEL: 5

FOR AUTHORIZED EYES ONLY

Subject #20, classified by Kaijuologists as "Gojirin", translations varying from "Godzillin" and "Godzillan", is a female Gojiran, a surprise to scientists since sightings are a rarity. In the aftermath of Godzilla's (II) battle against Mothra and Battra, submarine attacks alerted international attention. Many thought it was Godzilla, but the psychic Miki Segusa reminded those at the meeting of the saurian's imprisonment via Mothra's seal. Not wanting to let this mystery Kaiju run rampant, naval ships from the JSDF, UK, and the United States were deployed to the Pacific. But, the ships were attacked by what survivors described as a pink-scaled Godzilla with hear-shaped dorsal fins. Gojirin, possesses the abilities and durability of the usual Gojiran, laid waste to the recon team, forcing a retreat.

The news shocked the U.N.G.C.C. G-Countermeasures council, while scientists were using the remains of the Simean war machine known as 'Mechagodzilla', creating one to defend humanity against Kaiju. Within months after Gojirin's existence was discovered, Mechagodzilla II was completed. Professor Leo Asimov, the roboticist and lead designer of the mech took notes from the Simean robot and suggested testing the mech against the recently discovered Gojirin. Many were unsure due to Mechagodzilla II being recently completed, Commander Takaaki Aso ordered the mech to be deployed. Especially since Godzilla's reemergence in Adona Island, unknown to G-Force at the time, contained what many thought to be a pteranodon egg.

Mechagodzilla flew to a countryside outside of Kyoto, where the female Gojiran was spotted. The two titans engaged in battle, where the mechanical saurian proved to be a match to Gojirin. Despite her ferocious tenacity, she was brought low by Mechagodzilla, who was about to deliver a killing blow. Until Godzilla blasted it with his Atomic Breath, thought impervious, distracted the pilots of the mech. As Mechagodzilla engaged in combat with its primary target, Gojirin continued her march to Kyoto. The reason for her and Godzilla coming ashore: the pteranodon egg was actually the egg of a Godzillasaurus. Kaijuologists hypothesized that Godzilla and Gojirin had entered companionship and the egg was laid by the latter. Judging by its persistence in honing in on the hatchling, the Monster King took on the role of a surrogate father.

Mechagodzilla was heavily damaged, barely making it back to G-Force to undergo repairs, forcing the organization to deploy Maser Tanks and planes against the Saurian pair. Miki Segusa and Azusa Gojo, objected to the monsters' destruction and the use of the hatchling, Godzilla Jr, as bait when Kaijuologists discovered that the Gojirans have a second brain located within the hips. Azusa accompanied the kaiju infant to calm it down, having imprinted her as a mother figure when it hatched. But, during transport to a designated area far from any populated areas, Gojirin intercepted the planes. Instead of blasting them with her Atomic Breath, not wanting to harm her offspring, she knocks the plane carrying Junior and Azusa, catching the carrier they were in. Commander Aso ordered Mechagodzilla to be deployed, thankfully with the mech having reached full repairs and modifications.

Gojirin was marching through a baseball stadium when Mechagodzilla reached her, engaging in a rematch. Its weapons and lasers proved too much for the concerned mother, being brought down once more. Until the arrival of her mate, Godzilla, where the scales tipped in the Saurians' favor. As Gojirin took out one of the mech's eyes, aiming to kill the pilots inside, the Garuda, originally designed to fight Kaiju before Mechagodzilla II's construction, arrived as it was piloted by formerly demoted G-Force pilot Kazuma Aoki. Getting the pair away from the mech, Aoki managed to get close to it to combine the two anti-Godzilla weapons into one powerful machine: Super Mechagodzilla!

The mech, more powerful than ever, blasted the female Gojiran with extreme prejudice; greatly wounding her. Godzilla, roaring in rage, unleashed a ferocious assault upon his mechanical doppelganger, due to the mech not having combat capabilities its design template had. However, Godzilla turned his attention to his injured mate, then to his surrogate son; leaving him open to be injured by the mech, which shot paralyzing missiles at its second brain. The King of Monsters went down, as ground troops, assisted by Aoki, freed Azusa and Junior; who cried out in response to the gruesome violence. Gojirin, seemingly knowing that her mate was in danger and her wound was grave, charged towards Mechagodzilla, but was shot down by the mech. But, it was a move of tactical thinking, which Godzilla would later demonstrate in his battle against Spacegodzilla, having the female Gojiran land upon the injured Monster King. Giving her energies to her mate, her radiation was used to repair Godzilla's second brain.

Revitalized and motivated to avenge his mate, Godzilla unleashed his upgraded Spiral Heat Ray, a move used to destroy the Simean Mechagodzilla years ago. The heat from the healed saurian and its attacks proved too much for Mechagodzilla II, forcing the pilots to abandon the mech. With the battle concluded, but Gojirin sacrificed herself for it to end, Godzilla approached Junior, who cowered in fear and was mourning the death of his biological mother. With convincing from Azusa and telepathic assistance from Miki, the baby kaiju marched to the sea with his surrogate father, traveling to Birth Island and taking up residence. Despite Gojirin's demise, her entire essence was used to heal Godzilla, preventing G-Force from acquiring her corpse for study.

EVENT ANALYSIS: MAKUHARI, JAPAN

EVACUATION SUCCESS: 80%

CITY DESTRUCTION: 20.5% (area irradiated)

CASUALTIES: 200+ (ESTIMATED)

SUBJECT(S) CAPTURED: 1 (temporary captivity)

SUBJECT DISCOVERED: 2 (Gojirin, Godzilla Junior/Godzilla III)

STATUS OF SUBJECT: Deceased, killed by Mechagodzilla II, her remains turned into essence/energy to heal Subject #1 (Godzilla II/Godzilla Senior).

[redsamuraiii]

My six favorite Godzilla films that I love and have watched more than I can count!

I like Godzilla Minus One as it feels like a horror show, showing Godzilla as it's most raw and brutal, set during a depressing time of post-war Japan that you can feel the helplessness and powerless.

I like Shin Godzilla as it feels like a realistic take on what if Godzilla were to appear in the very world we're living in right now and how the government struggles to respond and allocate their resources.

I like Godzilla 2014 as it feels more mysterious in the beginning, making you wonder what Kaiju is that exactly, whether is Godzilla or not, as the characters go to investigate to uncover the truth.

I like Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla as it's like Pacific Rim, a military mecha pilot going head to toe with a Kaiju! What's not to like! Probably the most realistic Mechagodzilla I've ever watched.

I like Godzilla King of the Monsters as it's like a tribute to the original Godzilla franchise, with the iconic monsters coming back on the big screen with its epic soundtrack and battles!

I like Godzilla 1998 because of nostalgia, watching similar Hollywood films like Jurassic Park and Independence Day as a kid. This was the first Godzilla I ever watched that got me into watching the original.

[renuplink]

Presence

Ren Serizawa/Godzilla vs Kong

Although Ren Serizawa had a quiet presence in the film, I felt that he had a remarkable impact. The scene where he silently watches Godzilla destroying the Pensacola facility from the heliport especially stood out to me—his gaze really captured the complex, swirling emotions he felt toward Godzilla.

Honestly, it feels like such a waste for his story to end in just that one film. I really hope he returns in a sequel, and next time, I’d love to see him piloting Mechagodzilla in a real showdown against Godzilla!

[deductivisms]

every day mad at how legendary fumbled mechagodzilla 😐 you litr have a character who’s serizawa’s son, who would absolutely pilot a kaiju infused mecha to fight godzilla, who could have bitterness and resentment towards godzilla bc his dad sacrificed himself to revive him but you wave him off and make the mecha evil and aggro towards godzilla bc of rogue ai let me into the writer’s room Right Now!!!!

[acelestialcraze]

my passion project turns 1 month old tomorrow

sooo heres some more not nessacairly organized notes for the ghidorahs voice universe!!

- (pre gvk) mira used to leave sticky notes with sweet msgs in rens lab since their hours were different, he pretended to find it annoying but kept them everytime 😭

- its not a fic of mine if there arent lgbtq characters soo.. ghidorah as a whole is aroace, he’s too evil to feel love and would only be with someone if he had something to gain from it, ren/x is demiromantic (meaning he rarely feels romantic attraction, and when he does, its because the relationship started as a friendship), maia is omnisexual with a female lean, rodan and gigan are gay, ill go on to edit this laterr

- ghidorah recognizes they hit a jackpot with ren, its not everyday someone with bordering genius intellect hellbent on revenge on your ancient rival who you also despite willingly dawns a helmet establishing a connection with your brains. ghidorah felt a lot of glee when their unwilling puppet turned out to be probably the most capable person of building them a new body in addition to hating the same lizard they do, meaning they could capitalize on his hatred and bring him closer to them out of desperation.

- in all actuality, ren/x didn’t escape the courtroom in chapter 8, he was hauled off to a jail under monarchs supervision without any problems, fleeing the courtroom, going to bernie for help, and being cornered by a demonic manifestation of himself in 2024 was all a hallucination induced by ghidorah. the demonic manifestation saying ‘we’ve been waiting for you for such a long time’ represents how ghidorah was trapped with ren in the three year coma, waiting for him to claw his way out. 2024 ren as a whole represents the last time ren serizawa was alone in his own head, the neurolink helmet showcasing how he welcomed ghidorah with open arms, intentionally or not, ghidorah is inside him now.

- since i took inspiration from princess burn from wings of fire when expanding upon ni’s personality, he has an odd fasinication with all things dead and instincts on keeping sans several severed heads, which creeps the hell out of san, but ni considers it the only leverage against san since san makes it his mission to piss ni off and get him off task.

- when creating sans personality, one of the points i made was to NOT downplay the fact he willingly attempted to destroy the world. i feel when writers baby san, it takes away from the fact ghidorah represents satan in a lot of ways and this is godzillas greatest rival we’re talking about, im not gonna tell others how to write san since its fiction and at the end of the day its not a huge deal, but sans main inspiration is agatha harkness— he thrives on deception, putting on a charismatic front that ichi and ni lack to make himself seem almost likeable, but it pisses him off royally when others dub him the nice head as it makes him feel inferior to ichi and ni.

- ichi is well aware ni wants to usurp him and often eggs ni on just to see if he’d ever grow the balls to try, on the topic of ichi, he is the mastermind behind ghidorahs schemes and personally gave san the task to run mechagodzilla as a means to ‘redeem himself’ since ichi wanted someone to blame for their loss (his ego cant COMPREHEND the idea it was his own fault, however he also learned from his mistakes and knows to take out humanity before facing godzilla) but at the end of the day, ichi knew mechagodzilla would fail and it was more of an intimidation display than anything else, sort of to let godzilla know ‘hey, you didnt kill us and you wont, the devil doesnt die’

- i’ve seen a lot of people headcanon ren had a rebellious phase in his youth and i wanna say that does NOT apply to my take on ren, yall, piloting mechagodzilla and becoming anti-titan IS his rebellion against ishiro 😭 schools in japan are strict and dont even allow students to get piercings to put that into perspective, my take on ren spent his school years coloring in the lines and being rather reserved, isolating himself and channeling his time into expanding his engineering skills to impress ishiro, the most rebellious thing he ever did was take out his frustrations from being bullied FOR BEING ishiros son at school into becoming an internet troll, which in the late 2000s was just for chronically online teenagers. while on the topic of rens high school years, i imagine he ran his schools robotics team like the navy 💀

- in the gvk artbook, we see ren wearing a lot of black was intentional and meant to convey the mystery of his character

with that being said, i carried gvks fashion storytelling into ghidorahs voice, i imagine as ghidorah continued to corrupt ren and strip him of any options or ways out, his attire progressively gains more gold accents such as gold jewerly, black w/ gold, and by the time he declared himself X, i imagine his attire looked a lot like the original controller X in final wars, but instead of the blue and black we see, its gold and black.

- the idea of the public turning its back on ren before court trials even began sort of parallels the fandoms opinion on him without even reading the novel 💀 they literally HATE him because they cant stand the idea that ishiro was a shit dad and js shitty to ren overall, imagine in addition to ur dad dying for a random monster, he adopted some random british girl long before that and you hear people going ‘theres no serizawa without graham haha!’ yeah there’s rlly no wonder he became a villain LMAO

- in some ways, ishiro is the overaching antagonist of ghidorahs voice since this is ren/X’s story i’m telling, its mostly told through his perspective so his worldviews determine who the protagonists and antagonists are.

- anywayyy with that being said here are the playlists i made for some of the characters and their dynamics

[thezanyarthropleura]

YET ANOTHER KAIJU FILM REC LIST

(Selected and arranged to account for modern tastes, as well as to highlight specific wants for fans of Godzilla: Minus One and/or Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire)

Notes:

Titles can be confusing, when in doubt differentiate films by year of release

"Showa" generally refers to films made from 1954-1980, while "Heisei" generally refers to films made from 1984-2006, with "Millennium" being a specific series of Godzilla films made from 1999-2004, within the Heisei era (the actual notation refers to the Japanese Emperor, but this is slightly offset with how it's used for kaiju films)

I've tried to list where the films can be watched, for free if possible, but this can change at a moment's notice (for instance, the TokuSHOUTsu Youtube channel currently has a livestream of almost all the Showa Godzilla films and one for the MST3K episodes featuring 6 Showa Gamera films and Gorgo, but I have no idea how long those will stay up)

More context and history about the kaiju film genre can be found at the end of the post

GROUP 1: EVERYONE

These films are the peers and equals of Minus One and GxK, in only the best respects.

The Gamera Heisei Trilogy - Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), Gamera 2: Attack/Advent of Legion (1996), and Gamera 3: Revenge/Awakening of Iris (1999)

I would recommend this trilogy to ANYONE - even those hesitant to watch anything that isn't CGI, or that still don't think kaiju films can be good cinema. No matter what you're looking for in a kaiju film - engaging monster action, compelling human drama, deep metaphorical significance, fun action-adventure, hard sci-fi, spiritual eastern fantasy - these three movies are bound to be among the best at it. They're nearly unanimously praised as some of the best kaiju films of all time, and are the ONLY classic films with that honor that can visually compete with modern tastes in special effects.

Among the three: Guardian of the Universe is probably the closest analog to GxK, a fun action-adventure film about a girl who communicates with a giant monster. Revenge of Iris is closer to Minus One, introducing a darker mirror of the first film's story that invokes trauma and loss to great emotional impact. Which all leaves Advent of Legion in the middle, as a fairly formulaic but well-executed sci-fi alien invasion story.

These films are available free and subtitled on Tubi, or free and dubbed on Pluto. In a rarity, the dubs are done with love and care by fans of the genre and while they may not be the best way to watch the films, they're fairly decent.

GROUP 2: MODERN/NICHE

These films either excellently or acceptably compete with modern visual effects, but in other areas, are ultimately more dependent upon viewer tolerances and niche interests.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

If you want to cry about Godzilla, this is it, this is the movie. Possibly the classic film that delves the deepest into the idea of kaiju as sympathetic, tragic beings, this film leans heavily into hard sci-fi and features a kaiju opponent inspired by the titular creature from the Alien franchise. It's the seventh film in the Godzilla Heisei series, but as most of the previous films are currently stuck behind rights issues and difficult to find, I'd recommend jumping into this one as a standalone (or, if anything, watch the original 1954 Godzilla film first, but if that doesn't interest you it's not necessary). This movie is readily available for free, subtitled on Pluto or dubbed on Youtube.

The Kiryu Duology - Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)

These two films face a number of pacing and production issues, and due to scheduling conflicts, the main heroine, mech pilot Akane from the first film (arguably one of the most compelling human characters in the entire Godzilla series), was unable to return for the sequel beyond a brief cameo. But despite feeling unfinished, not all the emotional weight of this duology is lost. The ethics-focused, techno-spiritual story being told still packs a punch, and visually, out of the entire suitmation era this is the best Godzilla, Mothra, and Mechagodzilla have ever looked on-screen. If first checking out the original 1954 Godzilla and the 1961 Mothra interests you at all, it may enhance the viewing experience, but if not, dive right in! Both these films are free on Pluto TV, but do keep in mind Against Mechagodzilla is the dubbed version.

Gamera the Brave (2006)

I've said it before, but this is the movie that most closely reminds me of Minus One, with its modern filmmaking style, deep emotional themes, and in particular, having a bright and hopeful appeal to humanity in a genre where many of the more serious films are tragedies. Personally I rank this one right up there with the 90s Gamera trilogy, if not even higher, but to appreciate it, you really do have to be here for a children's fantasy film with more charm and heart than fast-paced kaiju action. This film is free on Tubi, subtitled.

GROUP 3: CLASSIC

These films require a tolerance for the special effects of the 1950s through 1970s, which I realize some modern audiences may find difficult to appreciate, but are otherwise highly recommended.

All four of these films are available free and subtitled on Pluto through Criterion, and are additionally part of SHOUT! Factory's catalogue and playing on the livestream.

Godzilla (1954)

If you've seem Minus One or Shin Godzilla, the obvious route is, of course, to go back to 1954 and experience the original cinematic masterpiece of Godzilla as a nuclear horror. The one caveat I'll mention is that a lot of Minus One's effectiveness is in subverting one theme present in the original, so this will, in a way, feel like a step backward thematically.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

The outright most comparable classic film to GxK - a fun island adventure film wherein various entertaining personalities are shipwrecked and must work together to thwart human baddies and even recruit the help of Godzilla! This is one of my personal favorites, and while Mothra only appears briefly in the film, it expands on her lore quite a bit.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

This film is wacky, resembling an abstract art house film at times, but in many ways is a revisitation upon the dark, deep metaphors of the original, this time warning of the dangers of pollution through a truly terrifying monstrosity that gives Godzilla one of the most brutal fights of his career.

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Along with the original and Hedorah, this completes a trio of more dark and serious Showa era Godzilla films. It's the only Godzilla movie of its era to be written entirely (not co-written) by a woman, tells a dark and tragic tale, and yet is the height of 1970s superhero Godzilla as he takes on two powerful opponents at once.

GROUP 4: GRAB BAG

I'll throw in four more: these are just some of my personal recommendations and favorites that don't fit neatly into the other categories.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

The original and archetypical "multiple monsters team up to fight a greater threat" movie. This one is consistently on the edge of being called an objectively good film, but can be considered too cheesy and campy to make the cut. Nonetheless, it's a fun time, and it's also pretty much the only classic film where Godzilla and Mothra interact positively, if that's appealing to you. Like the other Showa Godzilla films, it's free through Pluto and SHOUT! Factory.

Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)

I really just wanted to put a Showa Gamera here, and this is one of my favorites. Just the campy, wacky, good time that is Showa Gamera, with a side of ocean theming - this extremely cheap film was partly funded through Kamogawa Sea World, which is the primary location featured in the film. It's free on Tubi along with the other Gamera films, and also makes a great MST3K episode, even if the version of the film used there is very low-resolution and the underwater scenes in particular suffer a little.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)

Somewhat unique among its contemporaries for being a 2000s era film that features Godzilla as more-or-less the protagonist, with human characters that advocate for understanding and respecting him. It's an incredibly cinematic film - I would describe its special effects as ambitious, not always effective, but regardless it would be a great intro for new fans if it were more accessible. Currently, it's tough to track down, but another rare case where the heavily-edited US dubbed version is perfectly acceptable, and even sometimes considered superior to the original.

Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) and to an extent, the whole trilogy.

I unashamedly love these oft-maligned films that are actually very comparable to the Heisei Gamera trilogy... in all respects but objective quality. Fun fantasy kaiju films featuring tiny women who fight each other with swords and flying mounts, while a superpowered giant moth beats up two space dragons and takes a break in the middle to beat up a genetically-engineered dragon. Lots of rainbows and lasers, and a vague, underlying exploration of the conflict between those with peaceful methods and those with violent methods without completely villainizing either side. If any of that sounds interesting, check these films out, they're currently readily available free on Pluto after a long history of the third and most serious/mature film being extremely rare and seldom-seen.

FURTHER NOTES AND CONTEXT:

Inspired by western giant monster films like King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and the summation of Japan's nuclear fear and trauma, the original Godzilla film in 1954 was a runaway success, beginning the kaiju genre as production company Toho ordered not only a direct sequel, but a broad scope of special effects films that ultimately gave us other classic kaiju like Mothra and Rodan.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the concept of a "Godzilla series" did not yet exist - Toho just made science fiction films, wherein some of them featured kaiju, and some of those, but not all, featured Godzilla. Many of these films were very loosely, and sometimes only retroactively, considered to be in the same universe or cinematic canon, creating situations where kaiju like Manda and Baragon would wander into Godzilla films after getting their start in non-Godzilla adventures like Atragon (1963) and Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965). (An example of a non-kaiju Toho film I would highly recommend is 1958's H-Man)

The 1960s also saw a "Kaiju Boom," where the genre was expanded beyond Toho to other studios in Japan and even to other countries. This brought about a number of new kaiju projects like Gorgo (1961), Reptilicus (1961), and Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967). The only of these films to be successful enough to spawn a series was Gamera (1965), from Daiei studios in Japan, and there were 7 Gamera films made from the mid-60s to early 70s. (Daiei has their own catalogue of Toku effects films, and also produced the kaiju-adjacent Daimajin trilogy (1966), period pieces set in ancient Japan about a giant warrior statue that comes to life)

Interest in kaiju films began to wane in the 1970s, and Toho largely narrowed its focus to a yearly Godzilla series with lower and lower budgeting. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) was the most cheeply-made of these, but several factors made it the most widely-known film in the US and solidified the genre's "rubber suits and cardboard buildings" reputation among the general public for the next 50 years. Also in 1973, Toho produced the giant hero television series Zone Fighter, where Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Gigan appear in several episodes. The series was made to compete with Ultraman and other television-based Tokusatsu, which was swaying audiences away from films at the time. (I personally know very little about Ultraman and other costumed hero Toku, but I know there are many experts on here who could answer questions about those)

Toho continued to make science fiction and effects films throughout the late 70s and 1980s, such as The War in Space (1977), but kaiju films were out of fashion. Gamera had a brief pseudo-revival in 1980, but otherwise it was a long drought from 1975 to 1984, when Toho began the Godzilla Heisei series: a series of seven films that continued in 1989 and picked up to a film per yer from 1991 to 1995. These films featured more strict continuity and the recurring character of Miki Saegusa, marking one of the first steps away from the previous practice of switching out the human cast entirely from film to film.

In the late 90s, Godzilla was absent yet again, as Toho made the rights handoff to Sony for the 1998 American film. In his place were the competing late 90s Gamera and Mothra trilogies, both relatively unique in featuring multiple recurring cast members and worlds that blended sci-fi and fantasy elements. In America, the poorly-received GODZILLA (1998) spawned a more warmly-recieved animated continuation in Godzilla: the Series (1998-2000).

In response to the critical failure of the 1998 film, Toho craved redemption and launched the Millennium Series: six Godzilla films that, with the exception of the Kiryu Duology, were all standalone in hopes of attaining theatrical releases in the US (only Godzilla 2000 succeeded at this). With a general failure of the 50th anniversary film Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Toho put Godzilla to rest, seemingly for good. Gamera the Brave in 2006 was the last true suitmation kaiju film, critically acclaimed but also a financial failure.

In the intervening decade, CGI took over, and was the name of the game by the time Pacific Rim (2013), Godzilla (2014), and Shin Godzilla (2016) kicked off the new "Kaiju Renaissance," the present era that includes Reiwa Godzilla and the Monsterverse.