#godzilla 2 kotm reference | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sonicasura · 7 months ago

Text

Here's more stuff I'm come up with for this! Figured why not write down it anyway.

Kafka prevents a good chunk of deaths in the series due to his presence. Largest involving the main cast occurs during Kong Skull Island as his kaiju form's heightened senses led to intercepting other monsters before they could make a meal out of the group. Civilian casualties were reduced through two different methods.

The first is tips of schematics to Monarch and nation governments on building structures from his world. Kaiju attacks are normally in KN8 so Kafka knows what architecture can assist should a kaiju get into populated areas. The other method is he assists in rescue if he happens to be in the city or country of the current emergence.

His kaiju form has powerful shapeshifting capabilities(again look at episode 2/the manga) so Kafka can shift his form to handle the current problem. Although he definitely made himself very popular to civilians because of this. They call him, Skullcatcher, since his head looks like a fossilized kaiju skull and a feature that no one can forget. He has no comments on the name.

Kafka is listed in Monarch's data base next to Kong's entry. At first it's only old photos and artist's renders since he went separate ways upon reaching the mainland. It takes between Godzilla and KotM for any updated imagery were added to his files alongside the title Skullcatcher. This includes in depth scans of his organs so they saw his core amongst the other bodily changes.

Yes, Kafka got harassed the moment he willingly goes to Monarch. He gone to help with Kong with Ishiro Serizawa(one death he prevents in KotM) letting him in. Poor man had the worst physical ever and was miserable when they ask for samples.

Kafka essentially raided Goodwill Donation bins for clothes before officially forming a connection with Monarch. He's friends with Bernie Hayes(Titan Podcast) although it took a lot of convincing to get the man to not tell on him. Bernie helped Kafka make a fake passport alongside other important documents for his usage which includes medical reasons to hide his visage without trouble.

Monster Sweepers was established in 1989 and will get financed further by Monarch after KotM. Apex is listed third on the payroll much to their annoyance. Even moreso considering Kafka refuses to have any kaiju corpses go to the company.

Godzilla has two mediators now and one is a human turned kaiju. Kafka's presence kept the lizard from fully throttling Kong when searching a way to Hollow Earth. It didn't paint the ape in a good light when the man wasn't there with him during the next confrontation.

Kong: It's not what it looks like! *Holds his new axe defensively whilst wishing Kafka followed him out of Hollow Earth*

Godzilla: Where's the jester, you monkey bitch?!

The King of Monsters thinks Kafka is his new jester. He keeps him entertained whether by his stories or hijinks. Kafka may act annoyed but can admit Godzilla keeps the boredom away.

Meanwhile Kong refers to the man as Teacher. Yes, he nearly punched Kafka on their first meeting cause the himbo has a Skullcrawler face(kaiju type that killed his parents). Kong copies a few of the man's mannerisms than just techniques during his stay on Skull Island(at least three years before the main group arrives.)

The misplaced man continuously reminiscing about his world. Kafka believes he missed the chance to fulfill his promise to Mina from how long he been stuck in the Monsterverse. That is until he learns about Hollow Earth and discovers a portal that can get him back to the point where his disappearance is simply 10 minutes there. (Kafka had vanish during the three month period.)

Kaiju No 8's Kafka Hibino gets dropped into the Godzilla/Kong Monsterverse, how much trouble will he cause?

His kaiju form is no doubt an Alpha if you look at episode 2 of the anime or the manga. Would Godzilla get extremely pissy like he did in Godzilla vs Kong? Maybe although the big guy will have trouble finding Kafka if he stays in human form.

Well, imagine our dear himbo being stuck as Kaiju No 8 throughout the entire stay! The mini kaiju that gave Kafka his powers would definitely hold the transformation as the monsters in the Monsterverse are walking radioactive massive disasters. Not small fry like the unnumbered Kaiju and Honju.

Kafka would absolutely have a meltdown for a few hours before coming up with a game plan. (He has another meltdown as I don't think he can age if stuck in Kaiju form.) His plan is affected by where or when he ends up in the timeline. Movie wise, Kong Skull Island is the earliest as the main events begin in 1973.

A good start considering the Iwi Tribe's connection to Kaiju specifically Kong could prove helpful to Kafka if stranded there. He can get a better handle at his abilities and begins to fully understand the monsters in this universe. Or how a displaced himbo somehow dads fucking King Kong.

If he makes it to civilization, then I bet our himbo would start up his very own Monster Sweepers. There are plenty of messes that kaiju had stirred while Monarch was being secretive. Kafka can still wear clothing so he can cover himself up to his hide appearance.

He's bound to encounter Godzilla a bit early as Skull Island kept Kong hidden by its massive storm wall. Kafka getting roared in the face and the man just gives Big G his version of 'Why are you yelling?!'. The himbo wants to get this latest mess climbed up so he can eat some soba.

Kafka being such a non hostile weirdo probably keeps Godzilla from pursuing a fight. Doesn't mean he leaves the man alone. Godzilla instead becomes that one kid who likes to watch frogs and occasionally be a nuisance to the frequent stray cat by booping their nose.

Poor Kafka tried to chill on the beach only for his new gigantic stalker to show up by splashing him with a small tidal wave. Monarch just in panic mode as they don't understand why Godzilla keeps emerging so randomly. Fully unaware he's there to bully the teeny tiny strange kaiju who likes to mingle around humans.

Even when Kafka shows his true power to help stop the latest kaiju causing trouble, Godzilla still be the asshole cat(affectionate) in this scenario. Sitting right on his front porch and in the way of the door so he has to go out the window to leave. (I had to balance Good yet Mischievous boy Kong so Respectful Asshole Godzilla.)

Kafka may absolutely scare the shit out of every human character but they'll learn he's just a giant dork. Lol

47 notes · View notes

aeneasmuses · 2 years ago

Text

So for the sake of reference, I want to make a list of all the Ghidorahs out there (as far as my blog is concerned).

1. King Ghidorah from KOTM - The main Ghidorah I’m writing. Fled from the Battle of Boston before Burning Godzilla could wake up and took Emma Russell with them. Corrupted the doctor and turned her into his self-proclaimed prophet after she finished upgrading the ORCA to allow for two-way communication. Has a penchant for traveling the stars, searching for a way to get a permanent leg up on Godzilla.

2. Mechagodzilla from GVK - Made from the decapitated head of San from KOTM. Events went exactly as depicted in the film. Deceased.

3. Ren Serizawa from GVK - Once Ghidorah hijacked the link Ren was using to pilot Mechagodzilla, Ghidorah’s consciousness absorbed Ren into the fold and took control of his body. Inspired by the GVK novelization. Alive, but whereabouts currently unknown.

4. Otaru Ghidorah from The Planet Eater - An other-dimensional being that both exists and does not exist in our universe. Less an active force and more just represents Ghidorah’s full potential. Just because you can’t see him doesn’t mean he’s not there, lurking in the background. Not necessarily friendly to KOTM!Ghidorah. Very paradox-y by nature.

#;ghidorah #;headcanon #ghidorah isn't a hive mind or anything #but the nature of his regeneration and telepathy makes it VERY EASY for multiple to exist at once

6 notes · View notes

malewifehenrycooldown · 4 years ago

Text

I really liked GvK but something was thoroughly missing from the film and I’m kinda obsessing over it a bit and I want to talk about it. I warn you I have incoherent ramblings and unresolved conclusions because I’m not a writer and concluding character arcs? what’s that?

(Major Spoilers below! Please Proceed with caution)

Ren Serizawa. Just... his character wasn’t written or even explored.

Firstly his name. Presumably he’s related to Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe’s Character, who died in KOTM). It could be a reference to the 1954 movie/be an Easter egg, but at the same time I could not shake off the feeling that this is Dr. Serizawa’s son.

What bothered me the most is that he literally got no screen time. Meaning, we have NO CLUE about his motives, goals, ideals and personality. (I get that there’s so much you can put into a movie but... come on guys... you can do better than this. Plus... representation fucking matters.)

The only real motive we get from him is during the testing of Mechagodzilla, he says to Simmons that ‘it’s not ready yet’ or ‘it’s too early yet to use’. And that he worries what could happen if too much power is applied to it.

In the film the reason why Simmons has this Mechagodzilla is made in order to re-establish mankind’s place at the top of the food chain, above the Titians. Very capitalist when you think about it.

I didn’t really get a sense for what kind of relationship Simmons and Ren had, it was certainly mutually beneficial but they didn’t explore where they differ from their ideas.

To address the big giant Titan sized elephant in the room, Dr. Serizawa in the movies has expressed his fascination and concern for Godzilla as a force of Nature and as a creature of Mother Nature. He reveres Gojira, he’s in awe of this giant monster that goes against everything he knows about the natural world. When Godzilla was weak and in desperate need of help, he took the opportunity to be the one to take a nuclear bomb to re-energize the Titan. At the cost of HIS LIFE. He died trying to save a creature he’s been fascinated with since he joined monarch.

Now take this context into consideration and apply it to Ren. Which is something the movie never really did but I’m gonna implement my ‘fix-it fic brain’ to work here.

This could go one of two ways.

Direction 1:

Ren, upon hearing the death of his father gets upset, angry and holds a grudge against Godzilla. He’s mad because in his mind, Godzilla is responsible for taking the life of his father. Even though his dad made the decision to save the Titan, in Ren’s eyes Godzilla killed him.

In retaliation he (and Simmons) made Mechagodzilla in order to be a replacement of Godzilla. That could go toe-to-toe with him and take him down. It’s a win/win situation for them both because Simmons can use Mechagodzilla to re-establish mankind’s place on the food chain and Ren can avenge the death of his father/be the one to take down Godzilla once and for all.

Mechagodzilla in this context can work as a mockery and an honouring of his dad’s life work and obsession. A sick twisted version of the king of the monsters. It would be a monster that wouldn’t need to have a nuclear bomb to re-energize it, it would just need various renewable energy and repairs. And he’s at a safe distance controlling the monster.

Idk what would go from there but maybe there’s a point where Simmons causally mentions to use Mechagodzilla to frame Godzilla. That Mechagodzilla can wreck a city overnight and then pin the blame on Godzilla..

But maybe something about that conversation rubs him the wrong way. Using Mechagodzilla to kill innocent people all to frame the real Titan? Sounds very extreme. Maybe they argue about it too, which allows you to do a redemption arc for Ren.

How said redemption arc goes I’m not entirely sure but I’m sure people can come up with something.

Direction 2: and this is kind of my favourite one.

Ren doesn’t resent Godzilla. Ren doesn’t resent the fact that his dad DEDICATED his life's work to understanding Godzilla. What Ren resents is the possibility of a Monster Zero situation repeating AGAIN. This version of Ren, in his eyes, believes that the whole Monster Zero situation is what killed his dad. His dad saved Godzilla’s life but because Godzilla was not only defeated by King Ghidorah, but also the Oxygen Destroyer made the situation even worse.

This version of Ren, doesn’t want a repeat of that situation. Reminder that in the first Godzilla Movie, the military TOOK A NUKE to SAN FRANCISCO AND WANTED TO BLOW IT UP TO KILL MONSTERS THAT FEED OFF ON NUCLEAR ENERGY.

Weapons of mass destruction against giant monsters, DO JACK SHIT.

So... what do you do? YOU BUILD A GIANT MECHA INSTEAD BABY.

Mechagodzilla in this context is to be an aid, an assistance just in case a Monster Zero 2.0 Situation where to happen on earth. His dad technically saved the world by saving Godzilla, so in a way it’s kind of giving back to the very thing that saved the world or something idk.

Here, Simmons and Ren can have some common ground here. This could be handy for both of their careers.

But they both clash regarding on HOW to use it. Ren believes that Humans are on the same plane as Titans, and that both sides need to respect each other’s perspective of order. a Yin/Yang balance. Simmons? He’s using Mechagodzilla as a means of making profits, making Silicon Valley happy and also to ensure humans stay above at the top of the food chain, above titans.

This is something Ren doesn’t like. In his eyes, Mechagodzilla’s creation is a force of good, and while using the skull of Monster Zero to do the Neurological link isn’t a good idea, his intentions to use it for good are indeed there. The Monster that tried to destroy the world, is being used to keep the world safe once again. (it’s naive yes but what matters is the intention here)

Also the start of the movie when Godzilla attacks the Apex Facility, that moment is Ren looking at Godzilla and going ‘how can a majestic creature my dad revere go so wild?’

I guess in that moment it gives Ren more motivation to see Mechagodzilla through. What If Godzilla went into a Primal Rage and attacked humans? What then? Having Mechagodzilla in your back-pocket could potentially be useful.

uhhhh something something, Ren believes that the while the Hollow Earth trip can be beneficial, he’s also really worried that things can go wrong extremely quickly, plus like ‘we don’t know what this hollow earth energy is capable of’

Maybe Ren can do a thing to Simmons as a sort of ‘fuck you’ or something or rather idk.

uhhh that’s all my thoughts and stuff for now because i’m not the best writer and I’m not that great at developing characters that have VERY LITTLE material to work with, let alone VERY MINIMAL screen time.

I just... really wanted more to Ren, he seems really interesting and I wish the movie took the time to establish his motives and character more cause at this point why have him in the movie at all if you’re not going to properly flesh him out?

I’m just... a little underwhelmed by the lack of Ren’s Character.

#shallow rambles #idk but all thoughts and ideas are welcomed #GvK Spoilers #ren serizawa #he can live in my head rent free for a little while #shallow writes a thing #shallow has thoughts about a thing #Interest: Kaiju Flicks #i just wished there was more to his character thats all i ask

6 notes · View notes

star-going-supernova · 4 years ago

Text

Here’s a collection of asks about specific story updates!

No worries, friend, you’re actually the first! I unfortunately haven’t worked on Heavy as a Hurricane since I last updated it, so I’d guess it’ll probably be a little while before it gets a new chapter.

I think Godzilla will decide to have a bit of a close encounter with these nice new pilots pretty soon. ;)

And yes, that’s absolutely correct! Alpha Echo’s name refers to Maddie’s scream in KotM!

At present, I don’t actually have any future fics planned for that AU. To be honest, I kinda forgot about it, lol. I’ll see about cooking something up soon!

I hope you’re doing well, too! I just checked the post date for the first chapter of This Little Light of Mine, and oh my gosh? Literally February 4th? How has it almost been a year since that story was started?

I’m afraid I don’t currently have any plans to continue that AU. However, I never say never. ;)

You’re not bothering me, friend! The next story I plan to add to that AU is Mark’s first meeting with Godzilla! I have started it, but it’s been a while since I’ve actually worked on it.

I do! I'm writing a Christmas special where all the currently known human Titans (and Rodan, because I said so) are involved. That would be hilarious! I’ll see if I can include something like that!

Have I answered this before, or have I only thought about answering it before? Either way, the answer is yes, I am working on a story about Ghidorah getting amnesia and turning over a new leaf as a result! Well, in that case, I hope to be able to finish it up sooner rather than later!

I’m... doing. And don’t worry, friend, you’re not pressuring me or anything! And the answer to that question vaguely terrifies me, because it’s either 1 or 2 chapters, depending on how long a certain scene goes, plus an epilogue. We’re nearly at the end, and I almost can’t believe it.

As far as a sequel goes, I certainly wouldn’t mind doing one, but whether or not it actually happens will probably depend heavily on GvK.

• • •

I do want to add that I don’t take offense when you guys ask questions like these! If it was just “update!! update!!” spam, I’d be a little :/ but this kinda stuff actually encourages me to work on these stories. Seeing that people are looking forward to them is a huge source of motivation.

#i answered a thing #many things as a matter of fact #anonymous #star's story updates #life and times of star

4 notes · View notes

btanselanoican · 5 years ago

Note

First off, I LOVE your KOTM D&D designs!! I was wondering if you might go in depth a bit with their class choices? I agree with them, I’d just love to see the thought process behind them, what abilities and weapons you were drawn to!! If it’s too much though, no big deal. ^^ Excited to see any other kaiju you do in the future!

AAAAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH DEAR!!

AND OH BOY OH BOY I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS QUESTION.

Buckle up nerds coz this will be a bit long to explain coz other people over the past week also asked about my choices and inspirations of designing the kaijus.

So the FAQ (and bunch of reference collages) is under the cut!!

FIRST OF ALL. I’m just new to Godzilla fandom, and the reason why I’ve been itching to design is one: other artists’ godzilla gijinka designs are HELLA beautiful and it motivates me to design one as well, and two: I just FKING LOVE D&D. So BOOM. CROSS-OVER. And FYI, all of these kaijus are Lv. 20 coz they’re Gods lol.

AND NOW FOR FAQ AND DESIGN REFERENCES:

I. GODZILLA

1. “Why isn’t Godzilla a dragonborn or lizardfolk?”

This is a gijinka fanart. Sure, lizardfolks and dragonborns are perfect for Goji, but I just want him to be a half-dragon for the fun of it.

2. “But isn’t Half-dragon a homebrew race?”

Yes, i’m aware of it. Like I said, I do this just for fun.

3. “Why is he a samurai? Should his fighting style be hand-to-hand combat or whatever?”

I chose him to be a Samurai because, duh, he originated from japan, and represented as Japan’s most iconic monster.

4. “Why is he using a greatsword when he’s a monk?”

Kensei monks can use any weapons: one melee and one ranged.

5. “Why is he Chaotic Good? Shouldn’t he be Lawful Neutral/True Neutral? Shouldn’t he also be Lawful when he’s a monk?”

One: you don’t have to be lawful when you’re a monk. You can be as diverse as you want in 5e. Two: I don’t mind with any alignments for Goji, actually. But i chose him to be chaotic good coz although he’s a force of nature, and doesn’t care much about humans, he needs to defeat other kaijus to bring balance of the world. He’s like an anti-hero for me. That’s just me. You can interpret whatever alignment you want him to be.

6. “I thought Godzilla was a female?????”

If you’re talking about the 1998 Zilla, yes, but “she’s” not the OG Godzilla we know. I’m aware that a lot of people are arguing about this, but it’s already cleared that he’s called “King of the Monsters”.

II. MOTHRA

1. “Why is she a Half-Kreen? Couldn’t she be a feywild or any fairy-type race? What the hell is even Half-Kreen?”

I would, but it’s more appropriate when she’s a half-insect. Half-Kreen is basically a humanoid insect race. Although it’s only a homebrew race, Half-Kreen is the most accurate coz unlike Thri-Kreens (mantis-type race), it doesn’t specify any insects.

2. “Isn’t Twilight Druid an Unearthed Arcana/playtested class?”

Yes. I know UA classes are a big no no for AL, but I’m choosing it for the fun of it. You can change any druid subclasses that suits her if ya’ll want to play as her.

3. “What weapons does she used?”

A druidic staff of course! I was thinking the design would be wooden attached with fake butterflies/small moths accessories, and flowers that moths are attracted to like jasmine, honeysuckle, evening primrose, sweet rocket and night-scented Stock. And oh she also uses a dagger coz she a bad kween bih you don’t wanna messed with.

III. RODAN

(Apparently there weren’t much questions about Rodan, so I guess everyone’s ok with him LMAO, but I’ll explain more stuff about his design:)

1. Why do I choose Aztec/Mayan designs?

All I can say is because he was born from Mexico lol. I was also inspired by artworks of Aztec fire god Xiuhtecuhtli.

2. Since I referenced his outfit from Aztec/Mayan culture, doesn’t he have feathered head dress like most of the gods have?

Yes, he has a head dress. I’ll work on his design sheet soon. :D

3. What are his weapon of choices?

Although he mostly casts magic, he would use a falchion, daggers and his armored claws :D

IV. GHIDORAH

1. “Why the f*ck is he fallen aasimar when you can choose him to be a half-elf or half-dragon??”

Ghidorah is mostly described as “a dragon who fell from the stars”. Since he came from space, I tried to convert his origin into armageddon/religious/biblical aesthetics to fit in fantasy world. So yeah, he’s basically a monster version of Lucifer. And besides, he can be half-dragon with his draconic bloodline sorcerer class.

2. “Shouldn’t he be lawful when he’s a paladin?”

Not all paladins have to be lawful. I mean, Joe Manganiello’s Arkhan is a neutral evil draconic paladin, so everything’s possible in 5e right now.

3. “Doesn’t he have two other siblings since he’s a three-headed dragon?”

I’ll be working on them soon heehee~

4. “Shouldn’t he be a gold draconic bloodline sorcerer, instead of bronze?”

Golden dragons cast fire sadly. Blue and bronze dragons are the only ones with lightning.

5. “What are his weapon of choices?”

A big ass greatsword and a big ass shield, of course :D All of them are gold and designs of his monster counterpart, obviously.

HOPE I ANSWERED I EVERYTHING!! And as for my upcoming Gijinka Kaijus, I already gathered some design references for King Kong, Anguirus, Battra, Biollante and King Ceasar, so I can’t wait to design them!!

197 notes · View notes

necropsittacus · 5 years ago

Text

I got a request for an Infodump Post on the Revelation imagery in King of the Monsters and tbqh one of my love languages is being asked about my Ghidorah opinions so Here We Go

note: I’m using the New International Version of the Bible, and also I have not rewatched KOTM for this (although I may end up deciding to do that) and am going on memories of my approximately three and a half past viewings. Other note: most of this is going to be me presenting specific Bible quotes and then talking about them a bit. Be prepared for that. also this feels super unfinished to me and shorter than it should be to treat the topic properly, and like i need to rewatch the movie and write an essay

The whole movie, and Ghidorah in particular, is very focused around apocalypse imagery--the end of the world, the rebuilding of a cleaner, better new world, the breakdown of that attempt to rebuild a better world. This has to do with the Book of Revelation’s focus on the destruction of the world as we know it and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.

except that here the attempt to destroy and remake the world (which, in Revelation, is an act of God, with the Devil as a major part of the narrative but not the prime mover) A. fails, and B. isn’t treated as a good idea to start with by the narrative. While the ending, and specifically information we get in the credits, does show us progress towards a better, brighter future for the world, it’s more “gradual healing” than “apocalypse and rebirth.” The burn-it-all-down apocalypse-and-rebirth style of fixing the world is rather associated with Ghidorah, and the people who release/awaken him. The human villains want to purge the world of humanity’s sins.

This is one of those places where the religious commentary mixes with commentary on environmental/climate change issues...Alan Jonah’s plan is standing in for, well, y’all know what kind of environmental rhetoric, the “humans are the plague, burn it all down so the earth can heal” type. They’re making a point about the inviability of that kind of goal, that you can’t just kill everyone and start over and hope the earth will fix itself, because it won’t (and, here, trying to make it work like that actively makes things worse--Ghidorah has no interest in *fixing* anything), and that gets mixed with the religious imagery in fun ways.

It could also have to do with the “false king of the monsters”/“Antichrist stands in the place of Christ” idea--Ghidorah is taking the role, as the one breaking and remaking the world, that in Revelation is assigned to God, but he’s more the Devil.

And that plays into the image of Ghidorah as the false Christ, the false prophet, the Antichrist--releasing him is supposed to cleanse the world of “humanity’s” sins (and this movie doesn’t explicitly go into the problems with that kind of approach--that it’s not humanity it’s capitalism--but I might argue that it’s implicit--that killing off humanity as an approach is explicitly criticized, it doesn’t work, it fails spectacularly), it just...doesn’t work that way, actually

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

I’m inclined to link this (and the idea is repeated a few times in Revelation, and elsewhere in the New Testament, this is just the clearest example) with the “they were here before us and they’ll be here after us” theme in KOTM.

One of the major things that happens in Revelation is the opening, one by one, of seven seals on a scroll, each opening followed by a new disaster. I’m inclined to link this to the unsealing and release from stasis of the Titans (supposed to be one by one, although of course Ghidorah disrupts this).

The Storm Theme

Luke 10:18 I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Rev. 11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Rev. 8:5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

It’s not clear from that quote, but what’s happening here is the opening of the seventh and final seal (mentioned above).

While Ghidorah’s primary weapons were originally gravity beams, here they more resemble lightning or electricity (or that has consistently been my impression, anyway). This image is reinforced by his/their identification with a tropical storm. I may be reaching with this, but in context of what I’m talking about below I don’t think it’s unfair to bring up the Luke 10:18 quote in this context, as well as the storms and lightning tied to apocalypse more generally.

This is, or leads into, one of the places where I really like how the climate change apocalypse symbolism I’ve been assured by other people is in there is folded in with the religious apocalypse symbolism.

Ghidorah represents both something that is unnatural, not part of the established order, a destructive force the planet is not prepared to handle (specifically in the form of destructive weather patterns--which has been pointed out to me as climate change imagery, although I didn’t initially pick up on it myself) and as both Satan and Antichrist from the Book of Revelation.

First, Ghidorah-as-Satan:

The motif of a fight against a multi-headed dragon is in itself arguable as Revelation imagery; Satan primarily appears as a dragon.

Rev. 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.

...

Rev. 12:7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Here specifically we get the notion of a malevolent, multi-headed (and crowned--this one’s more metaphorical but checks out with the “false king” thing) dragon being thrown down from the sky, and also the forces more sympathetic to humanity triumphing over the dragon. Also, there’s more “star(s) falling from Heaven” imagery elsewhere that feels at least as relevant, but that gives me feelings.

Ghidorah as Antichrist

It’s not explicit in the Bible verses I’m working with (or particularly anywhere in the Bible), but I should have a little bit here before I start talking about it too much about what exactly the Antichrist is. The Christian concept of the Antichrist is someone who opposes Jesus and sets himself in the place of Jesus/God, and thus leads the world astray.

Wikipedia: “Antichrist is translated from the combination of two ancient Greek words αντί + Χριστός (anti + Christos). In Greek, Χριστός means "anointed one" and the word Christ derives from it.[6] Therefore, an antichrist opposes Christ by substituting himself for Christ.”

I want to point out the “substituting himself for Christ” piece here especially, in relation to Ghidorah’s status as the “false king of the monsters.”

Also, it should maybe be noted that a lot of interpretations don’t have one singular Antichrist figure (or even two), but rather an institution, a group, or many people can be meant by the Antichrist (e.g. in a lot of heretical and Protestant traditions the Catholic Church may be Antichrist). Here I’m treating the term Antichrist as referring to one singular figure, who is interchangeable with the Beast, because in the movie we get a specific character in the role. ALSO, the term “Antichrist” is never actually used in Revelation, and may or may not refer to the same thing as “the Beast;” my interpretation, a fairly standard one, is that the Beast is the Antichrist, but YMMV on that.

For convenience’s sake, I am going to be using “Antichrist” or “The Beast” interchangeably

and “the False Prophet” for the other beast; the terms are a little wigglier in actual usage. Additionally, the figure I’m calling the False Prophet is often conceptualized as a second, lesser or “mystical” Antichrist whose coming presages the “great” Antichrist (the Beast).

One of the slightly off things about these parallels is that while in Revelation there are three separate figures, Satan/the dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, in KOTM there are only two, Ghidorah and Rodan. Thus, Ghidorah derives his authority from himself alone, and not from an additional external figure (which also jives with the Satan connection, IMO; Satan’s whole thing in some interpretations is claiming authority for himself).

I’m going to repeat the introduction we get to the Beast here in full. There’s not a ton of physical similarity between the description we get of the Beast and Ghidorah besides the multiple heads, and, as mentioned, Ghidorah grants himself authority, not any external power, but there are other significant parallels:

Rev. 13:1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

13:3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

We get this explicitly, which is the first piece of Revelation imagery that was pointed out to me--Godzilla bites off Ghidorah’s third head, which regrows (right before he claims the throne fully).

4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” 5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

This is, again, Ghidorah fully claiming the title of king, and being obeyed/followed by (most of) the other Titans.

Rodan as False Prophet

Rev. 13:11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.

Here we do get something for the physical description; I think it’s interesting that KOTM Rodan doesn’t quite resemble older material!Rodan (who as far as I can tell, and certainly in Jurassic City which is the other thing I’ve seen with him in it, tends to be basically just a weird red giant Pteranodon, “giant bird” comments from characters in-universe notwithstanding) as much as the other non-original characters. For the most part they just made him a lot birdier, and I don’t think “match the Bible description of the second beast” was like, a driving force in that, but he does sort of have horns. That’s mostly beside the point, anyway; if we’re taking Ghidorah-as-the-Beast as a given, Rodan is clearly the other Beast acting as essentially a second-in-command and herald to the first one. The fire coming down from heaven thing is significant; you could also take “coming out of the earth” to apply to his emergence from a volcano.

14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Most of this doesn’t really say anything new for the parallels I’m reading into it, and there’s no equivalence to the idolatry or the Mark of the Beast, I just really like the false prophet as a figure, and it reinforces the “given authority under the first, higher-ranking Beast” thing.

Miscellaneous other things

Thessalonians 2:7 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.

“The lawless one” is another common descriptor for Antichrist. I want to point out “destroy with the breath of his mouth” in context of the ending and Godzilla’s atomic breath.

Additionally, Godzilla’s own rise from the brink of death (after having been nearly killed while acting in a capacity helpful to humanity (fighting Ghidorah), at that) parallels a very central motif in Christianity (the rise of Jesus from the dead).

Rev. 5:15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

This gives me feelings re everyone who can going to hide in bunkers.

I’m not going through the whole movie again looking for illustrations for this, it’s probably long enough as is, but I have this one saved anyway and I think it makes the Christianity theme REALLY blatant:

Just the framing of the shot here, the cross in the foreground, and Ghidorah’s pose kind of mimicking it, is telling.

I also want to point out this verse in terms of the visuals here:

Rev. 8:12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

We very much do tend to get dark sky.

Rev. 8:7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

this feels like More Rodan Imagery Things

Rev. 8:8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

The first part of this, and the bitter waters, feel reminiscent of the Oxygen Destroyer idea (though that was taken from the original Godzilla, so I don’t think they stole this bit outright so much as they found a place they could mix Bible parallels with the older material they were working off). Also, there’s a volcano, probably. And “star falling from heaven” is again always a Ghidorah vibe for me, given the whole “alien descended to earth” thing; same thing with this next line:

Rev. 9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

And also, I can’t remember if the thing about his responsibility for the K-Pg extinction event I’ve seen around a few times is a fandom thing or suggested in the movie, but if it is canon--that’s another place that folds the Biblical imagery in with the scientific mass extinction imagery.

Rev. 9:19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

This isn’t necessarily actually a Ghidorah vibe but “tails like snakes used to inflict injury” does make me Feel Some Things in that regard.

There’s also some other stuff I Think might be readable in that direction, but I’m not as certain about any of it and this is really long as is.

My conclusion is basically just...they went fucking ham with the Revelation imagery in this movie, both to play into the more major theme of environmental destruction, and I honestly speculate as a response to the criticisms of some other American Godzilla stuff as “taking the God out of Godzilla”--if that’s the case, they’d be putting a sense of spiritual reference into the movie that would be more familiar to a lot of Western audiences compared to the hints of that in the original Godzilla. and i love it and i’m always a slut for the book of revelation

Thank you very much for reading.

#mine #kaiju content #ok to rb if you want #though i still feel like it's unfinished

7 notes · View notes

ckret2 · 5 years ago

Text

Her (Word A) and His (Word B)

The language barriers, cultural assumptions, and personal baggage blocking communication between humans, aliens, and titans—as demonstrated by what should have been an incredibly simple question about Godzilla and Mothra’s relationship.

This is part of an ongoing series of one-shots set in a KOTM canon-divergent AU; but if you don’t want to read the others, the only things you need to know are: Ghidorah’s still alive and shacking up on Isla de Mara; Rodan’s been teaching Ghidorah his language and the nearest Monarch base has been eagerly recording the lessons; Rodan refers to everyone—including himself—by the names of the nearest geological feature they call home; and Rodan is oblivious to 90% of the history between Ghidorah and Godzilla. Links to the other fics are in the source at the bottom of this post.

This is actually set like... a couple fics in the future from where I’m writing right now, but it doesn’t really affect the main continuity. Inspired loosely by the ask I got earlier today like “What’s Mark doing now that he knows his theories are wrong?” that I answered “lmao he doesn’t know.”

###

As Rodan and Ghidorah's conversations got more complicated and Rodan's language lessons to Ghidorah became more intricate, sometimes the hardworking crew at Monarch Outpost 56-B couldn't immediately offer a direct translation in the subtitles of their Rodan-to-Spanish/English language lesson videos.

Such was the case today, when they'd had to offer the following translation to a brief exchange that had taken place while Ghidorah was curled around the curve of the volcano and Rodan was hopping through the trees below:

Ghidorah: "What is Mothra and Godzilla's [relationship/interaction]?"

Rodan: "Godzilla is her [unknown word 1] and Mothra is his [unknown word 2]. The same way you[plural] are [unknown word 1 (plural form)]."

Usually, at that point, Ghidorah would ask for clarification, and Rodan would—through metaphor, synonym, story, or physical demonstration—offer a definition for the new words. But instead Ghidorah made what 56-B had dubbed his Confirmation Sound, and the exchange had quickly ended:

Rodan: "Do you understand?"

Ghidorah: "Yes."

And that was it.

By virtue of her work in paleobotany, Dr. Xochitl Flores Rosales had been hired by Monarch; by virtue of her ability to actually speak Spanish, she had received an emergency transfer to the three trailers on Isla de Mara that made up Outpost 56-B; and by virtue of her undergrad linguistics minor and college hobby of making YouTube videos synchronizing video game cut scenes with Linkin Park songs, most of her time was now taken up by creating Monarch-unapproved videos of Rodan language lessons.

This wasn't the first time Xochitl had posted a video with some words left blank. Some time back, Rodan and Ghidorah had left Isla de Mara for a few days, stayed mostly outside of the range of any cameras or recorders that could catch their conversation, and come back with their shared vocabulary doubled; Xochitl was still figuring out some of the words they'd started using while they were gone. Whenever she did, she updated the subtitles in the older videos and mentioned the updates in the next video. This, however, felt different. It felt like a Rodan-teaching-a-new-word situation, not like a Rodan-using-a-word-he'd-covered-where-Monarch-couldn't-hear situation. But he hadn't explained the words to Ghidorah—which meant the meanings should be obvious from the context, shouldn't they? But what were they?

Xochitl posted the video as usual, grumbled about the challenges of translating titans on her private twitter, and pushed her concerns aside to take her shift monitoring the titan activity on the volcano.

When she got back, she'd received commiserating likes from both Chen twins—they had their work cut out for them translating Mothra’s telepathic conversations—and an email from Mark Russell entitled "Latest translation vid." Ah. He was probably going to offer his opinion on how to translate the two unknown words.

Sure enough, when she clicked to read his email:

Dr. Flores-Rosales,

I had a thought about the two unknown words in the language lesson you put up today. What if they're indicators of rank in titan hierarchy? "Godzilla is her king and Mothra is his queen, the same way you are kings"; "Godzilla is her alpha and Mothra is his beta, the same way you are alphas"; "Godzilla is her leader and Mothra is his standard-bearer, the same way you are leaders," something like that. The fact that Rodan explains the word by comparing how Godzilla and Ghidorah have the trait in common makes it sound like he's talking about something unique to the two of them (four of them?), doesn't it? Let me know what you think.

Dr. Mark Russell

She'd considered the possibility—she didn't like it, because she wasn't too keen on how hard Mark was pushing the "cross-species herd with one alpha" hypothesis without anyone exploring the alternatives—but she'd considered it. It was on the list of possibilities, at least—a list that was unfortunately broad and woefully inconclusive.

She took a minute to think over her wording, then typed up a polite email acknowledging his suggestion and explaining that they hadn't heard the words in enough contexts yet for them to draw any conclusions.

###

"What is The Bug and Little King's relationship?"

The three of them were sure that the names that the red sprite called the bug and the little king did not, in fact, translate to "The Bug" and "Little King." But they didn't know what the red sprite's names for them did mean—didn't even know if names in the red sprite's language had meanings, many names in many languages didn't—so until they received a translation, in their minds, the names would continue to mean The Bug and Little King.

The question of the relationship between those two plagued them. Had plagued them for—how long had they been frozen?—for ages. Ever since they'd landed on this rock, stumbled on the bug that shone psychic lights too too deep into their minds, killed her, found she was simply reborn remembering everything about them except that they'd killed her; began hunting and crushing her eggs, been attacked by the little king, and found him ready to fight them at every one of her nests like her personal bodyguard. They'd grown to detest the little king as much as the bug. But they especially detested how the two of them fought side-by-side.

At last, they had someone they could pump for more information. They knew both the bug and the little king's names (sort of); they could ask about them without having to make a fuss about it, without having to draw it out into a long conversation that could be overheard and reported back to the bug and little king. This could be quick and simple.

Except that red sprite answered, without looking up from whatever curiosity he'd identified in the forest below his volcano, immediately and simply, "Little King is her something and The Bug is his something else." Two words they didn't know. At their puzzled silence, the red sprite glanced back at them and elaborated, "The same way you're something."

Something twisted inside them as they realized they knew exactly what he meant.

The first sickening translation they reached was one that fit exactly what they'd always feared and expected to be the dynamic between a warrior with the strength to destroy the world who nevertheless refused to use it and an overpowered psychic who appeared to direct the warrior's actions. The translation they reached was the little king is her slave and the bug is his master. But, no. Surely the red sprite wouldn't follow that up with the same way you're slaves.

"Aha," they said, uncomfortably.

The red sprite cocked his head. "Do you understand?"

The red sprite wouldn't speak to them like that. He'd never seen them as slaves. He'd never seen them in harness as a war machine rather than as they were now. He'd never seen them as anything but free agents of accelerated entropy. He had no reason to call them slaves.

Then, a similar word. The little king is her weapon and the bug is his wielder. The same way you're weapons. Or something similar—warrior and commander, monster and handler. The little king was something the same as they were, and the thing that he was belonged to her. That was what mattered. Him as her possession; him as something that could be possessed; them, too, as this same class of thing that could be possessed. Not possessed now, but possessable.

"Yes," they said. And then they turned away, watching the horizon, telling themselves that the psychic prickle they felt in the back of their minds was just that—all in their minds.

###

"What is Infant and Mariana's relationship?"

It was odd for Nido to hear the golden ones refer to the two of them by their proper names, the-one-from-Infant-Island and the-one-from-Mariana-Trench, rather than the more derisive "it" or "that one" they usually used when talking about either of them. Maybe they were getting over being on the losing end of that kerfuffle with them.

Without pausing his weeding, Nido said, "Mariana is her brother and Infant is his sister." He pecked up another unwelcome tree.

When the golden ones didn't reply—even to ask for elaboration—Nido looked up from the forest toward them. (The golden ones were, again, lounging around the volcanic crater instead of in it, like they had no idea what to do with a bunch of perfectly good lava.) Had they covered those words? Maybe not. "The same way you're brothers," Nido said.

The golden ones drew back, averting two of their gazes from him, and said, "Ihi." Which they usually only said when they got a word, but they looked anything but comfortable with this new knowledge. Maybe they got the words but weren't sure how they made sense? If they didn't know how Mariana's kind left their eggs in other kinds' nests, they might not understand how members of two totally different species could be siblings.

"Do you understand?" Nido asked, which he'd started using to prompt the golden ones to ask for elaboration when they seemed reluctant to ask on their own.

But they snapped, "Yes," and turned away from him; and he was left wondering whether he'd said something wrong. Did aliens not talk about family? Did the golden ones not like being compared to Mariana? Were they anti-adoption?

He hopped closer, considered asking; but decided not to bother with it until they decided to stop giving him the cold shoulder.

He continued his weeding, feeling like something had been lost in translation.

###

(Replies/reblogs are welcome & encouraged! Check the “source” link below for my masterlist of KOTM fics set in this continuity, as well as my AO3 and Ko-fi links.)

#kotm #godzilla #mothra #rodan #king ghidorah #ghidorah #fanfic #my writing #('hey what's your favorite thing about writing kaiju fic?' 'uhhhh linguistics')#('linguistics???' 'linguistics')

77 notes · View notes

butterflyinthewell · 6 years ago

Text

Here is a giant post of the vocabulary I use when narrating from Godzilla’s perspective. (Pardon my autistic infodumping...)

[Human perspective shot of Godzilla looming next to a building. We’re looking upward, so all you see is his huge chest, his chin, his stomach, his hips and his hands. He is looking straight ahead, so he would have to look down to see the viewer.]

--- * A lot of what’s written in this is based on my personal headcanons / speculations for / about Godzilla and his godzillasaur species, gleaned from 20+ years of being a Godzilla fan and a few things I read on the Godzilla wiki. *

Godzilla 2014 and KOTM are bringing in brand new Godzilla fans who may want to write fanfiction, so I wrote this out to give other / newer fanfic authors ideas for how to make up vocabulary for narrating Godzilla’s POV. I personally apply this to Heisei era Godzilla, but you can pick and choose things to apply to other versions as well. This is not a how-to, it’s more of a guide map.

Godzilla can’t exactly narrate in words, so I use specific vocabulary for his narration to “paint” his perspective into a form readers can understand while still keeping it a little bit animalistic or alien. Terms that are capitalized are capitalized for 2 reasons: It’s something he “named” with a descriptor, or it’s knowledge about the world imparted on him by his Father when he was a baby. Things he doesn’t capitalize are casual terms, like we would say “my wife” or “that’s the sun up there in the sky.”

I treat Godzilla as sapient, self-aware and driven by thoughts and emotions as much as instinct. He has a distinct, individual personality. He harbors a deep connection to the Earth since he himself is a force of nature created in unnatural circumstances. At a glance he sees the world more primitively than we do because he has no understanding or need for modern human trappings like cell phones or cities, but dig deeper and his feelings about life are as complex as ours.

He gets a very interesting new perspective of the modern human world because of a nasty man named Goro Kurojima. Let’s just say “pieces of Mecha-King Ghidorah, SHRINK RAY, Godzilla becoming the size of an action figure” and leave it at that. The experience lets Godzilla realize humans put the same emphasis on family / connections that godzillasaurs do, but we kinda suck at showing it. ;)

A small note about the timeline goofiness thanks to Godzilla vs King Ghidorah: I spin it that trying to teleport the godzillasaur into the Bering Sea let him turn into a bigger, angrier Godzilla because of nuclear material that detonated when he ‘landed’ on it, so messing with time changed nothing in history other than his size. The 1984 attack and his battle with Biollante still happened. All Shindo’s submarine did was feed him and kill the anti-nuclear-energy-bacteria he got infected with in Godzilla vs Biollante.

Another note: I will use godzillasaur to refer to Godzilla’s species in general. In his mind and heart he is still a dinosaur who has lived for a very, very, very long time and his father lived even longer still. He is ancient.

---

--- Stuff related to himself, his family or Shezilla ---

The Old Days = the time of the dinosaurs, which he greatly misses. He knows he can’t return to those days because his appearance will make normal godzillasaurs run away in fear.

The New World = modern times, a place where he feels forever foreign.

The Flash = the bright detonation of the underwater nuclear energy that mutated him.

The Change = the painful process of mutating. It was an extremely traumatic experience, so he gets really pissed off if something flashes bright white light straight in his eyes. Any other color, he doesn’t care, but white is awful and reminds him of the painful Change that came after the Flash. ----Side note: Right after the Change, he swam around the ocean feeding off of natural uranium deposits until they no longer sustained him, which led to him going ashore in ‘84. The rest is history.

The Fireball = the asteroid that led to the extinction of most dinosaurs.

The Big Boom = the sound the asteroid made.

Long Sleep = hibernation

His Fire = the radioactivity that keeps him alive. When he is tiny and learns the ‘heat’ of his Fire can make humans sick, he tries to minimize his radioactive output when near people he likes. There is no way to make it safer when he is full size, but he will still try.

Feeding his Fire = when he’s absorbing radiation.

His Fire burning low / Fire Hunger = his body’s “low radiation warning” that signals he needs to go absorb more to maintain his internal fission. It feels like a mix of hunger and nausea and he feels his body getting weaker / stiffer when he needs to feed.

His Flame = his radioactive breath beam.

The Surge = his nuclear pulse. It’s a painful move for him, so he doesn’t like to do it very often.

The Scent = he has nerve fibers in the roof of his mouth that behave like a biological Geiger counter. To him it’s a scent that tingles, and the stronger the tingle the stronger the radioactivity. It’s directional, he will catch a whiff of Sustenance and track it by pointing his nose at the source. A studious observer will see him open his mouth slightly like cats do when he’s trying to pin down the exact location of a radioactive snack. It also helps him keep track of how Shezilla is doing. ----Side note: Godzilla has a very acute sense of smell, and when he’s tiny he uses smell along with sight and hearing to tell individual humans apart. He gets concerned when the lady humans he’s in contact with smell like blood because the concept of a period is beyond him, so he thinks they’re injured. It’s...kinda cute.

Sustenance = Radioactive anything he can absorb radiation from. Sometimes he swallows radioactive materials and sometimes he only needs to touch or be near them. He discovers he loves the taste of iodine-131 while he’s tiny and will slurp that up from a eye dropper like it’s candy.

Invisible light / Invisible colors = light from the ultraviolet spectrum, he’s a tetrachromat. He sees 'down’ into all the colors we can and ‘up’ into the ultraviolet spectrum. So he will see a rainbow the same way we do, but with more colors past violet. If you point a black light at him, the pits and grooves in his hide will fluoresce blue and purple. He sees these without the help of a black light. These colors are more concentrated on his hands, face, neck, chest, the edges of where his muscles bulge and the base of his dorsal spines to draw attention to these areas. Shezilla’s are in the same spots and glow pink and green. It’s these invisible colors that make them so attractive to each other, because it’s pretty.

Dark Light = x-rays and gamma rays, he perceives their effects on the environment (a blurry glow around the source) the way humans perceive certain colors as glowing under a black light.

Shining his Light = the act of lighting up his dorsal plates to impress Shezilla or alert her of his position in pitch darkness. If Shezilla does it, she’s showing him her Light.

His Thunder = the whoosh of his holosystolic heart murmur, which is due to a ventricular-septal defect. He can always hear this although it’s louder to him in quiet places or while he’s underwater.

His Lightning = the internal kick he feels from his biological nuclear reactor shocking his heart whenever its rhythm goes awry.

His Palsy / the Palsy = the spasms, limited range of motion and difficulty moving he experiences due to brain damage caused by his heart defect. His Palsy is being difficult when it hurts to move, when controlling a movement is hard or he uses a lot of effort to initiate movements, and it’s the reason he has a slow, lumbering gait. Its visible effects get more pronounced when he’s starving for radiation.

The Pangs = the chest pains he gets when his heart races towards fibrillation. This happens because the mutation caused his heart’s conduction system to form too many nerve branches around the hole between his ventricles. Sometimes they misfire, throwing chaos into his normally nice, rhythmic heartbeat. It tends to happen more when his heart beats fast. Fast for him is 50bpm or more. His resting heart rate is around 13 - 16bpm when he’s awake, drops to 10bpm when he’s in deep delta wave sleep and can go as low as 5bpm when he’s in deep hibernation. He gets up to 85bpm when the v-tach kicks in and that causes the Pangs. ----Side note: This is the sticking point of why the shrink ray is actually hurting Godzilla. When he’s tiny, his resting heart rate is close to 50bpm and jumps to 80 - 90bpm when he gets stressed, and can hit 120bpm when the v-tach kicks in and leads to fibrillation. It’s literally killing him because being smaller means his body isn’t at the critical mass it needs to be at to sustain his biological nuclear fission, which allows him to heal ridiculously fast and stay so unbelievably physically strong. His internal reactor isn’t a bottomless pit of energy, it can’t continue to zap him indefinitely.

Deep Sleep = the occasions when his heart fibrillates long enough that he loses consciousness. This was induced by the cadmium in 1984, which also stopped the internal shocks from happening, and he might have stayed down for good if that nuke didn’t go off in the sky and re-energize him.

Long Memory = his hyperthymestic memory, which is unusual even for his species; he is always journeying into his Long Memory and comparing today to The Old Days.

His mate / beloved mate / Gift from the Wishing Star = Shezilla, who appeared to him one day out of seemingly nowhere. She is the most beautiful godzillasaur he has ever seen.

Wasting Sickness = cancer / tumors, called such because the sick person gets very thin and weak. He can smell the disease.

Mother = his saurian mother. She was blind and died of the Wasting Sickness when he was still a hatchling. In human terms, she had a brain tumor that caused terrible pain, caused her to have seizures and was in the process of destroying her optic nerves when she succumbed. It was his first exposure to death, but he was too Young to be traumatized by it like Father was.

Father = the first Godzilla who appeared in 1954 and was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer. He was at sea when the nuke mutated him, which woke him up into a state of disorientation and panic. He wandered across Odo island and Japan because he was in pain, scared and desperately looking for his son. Sadly, the little humans didn’t understand him when he popped his head over a hill and asked them if they saw his son. Instead, they ran away. He got angry and smashed through their strange forest in attempt to make them listen, and in response they killed him. ----Side note: This Godzilla was the father of the ‘current’ Godzilla. His rampage across Japan is a direct result of the Futurians’ meddling because they caused him to search for his missing son instead of finding him where Shindo left him.

Metal One = MechaGodzilla

Little One = Baby Godzilla / Little Godzilla / Godzilla Jr. ----Side note: This godzillasaur is not Godzilla’s biological offspring, his real parents are long gone.

Pod = family

Marking = he has scent glands in the folds between his fingers that leave his scent behind when he scrapes his claws on something to mark an area as his. Part of why he destroys some of the same landmarks is they rebuild, which removes the scent, so he puts his scent back. ----Side note: A kaijuologist figured this out and notes that Godzilla is less likely to veer off his path and totally destroy a building that’s been sprayed with his scent after reconstruction, but it’s expensive to replicate the scent and most builders don’t apply it after rebuilding.

Patrolling = traveling old migration routes, which he uses the sun, stars and Earth’s magnetic fields to navigate through. Sometimes this takes him through cities, but most of the time he traverses rural areas or areas without any human population.

--- Beliefs ---

Spirit = soul / life force.

The Stars = the afterlife, eternity, Heaven, etc. He believes the stars in the sky are his ancestors’ Spirits, and the Milky Way is a giant forest everyone journeys to after they die.

The Wishing Star / Morning Star / Evening Star = Venus, whenever it’s up before dawn or after sunset. He reveres it the way people of faith revere their deity. He looked at it with longing any time he saw it in the sky, and believes doing so convinced it to give him Shezilla as a gift. Hence her being a Gift from the Wishing Star.

Evil Moon = a red, fully eclipsed moon. It is the antithesis of the Wishing Star. His Mother died during a lunar eclipse and the Fireball happened the day after one, so he associates lunar eclipses with bad things happening.

--- Nature stuff ---

Fire Mountain = volcano

Fire Mountain Smoke = ash or pyroclastic flow

Land Blood = magma and lava

Land Scab = lava that has cooled enough to stop glowing.

Land Heart = magma chambers deep under Earth’s crust

Land Song = the ultra low frequency vibrations of moving tectonic plates. He can hear ultra low and ultra high frequencies even beyond typical animals, so he hears distant earthquakes as music! (But they aren’t so nice when they happen underneath him, then it’s just shaking and noise.) He hears lava moving and knows a volcano is going to erupt long before it actually does. His hearing is magnified further underwater. He hears all the whale songs and dolphin clicks and any other noise that happens underwater, so when he dives he thinks the whole world sings to his heartbeat.

Land Scream = the ultra high and low frequency squeals that precede earthquakes under his current location. This hurts his ears, and instinct prompts him to try to leave the immediate area before the shaking starts.

Water Wind = tsunami, as experienced while underwater when it goes by. A big one can sweep him off course if he’s trying to swim through it.

Flood Surge = tsunami, as experienced while on land or in shallow water. He can wade through it without a problem if the water is shallow enough to walk in. This can also refer to storm surge in the event of a hurricane making landfall.

Ancient Caves = prehistoric caves that are miles under the Earth’s crust. They are the closest thing he has to the world he remembers. Human eyes have never and will never see these enormous caverns. Sometimes he goes there and scrapes up precious stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, quartz, etc.) to give to Shezilla as gifts because she likes the pretty colors.

Rain Smell / Thunder Smell = the scent in the air when conditions are favorable for rainy / stormy weather. In other words, petrichor.

Big Rains = monsoons

Sea Storms = hurricanes

Mating of Sea and Sky / Mating of Land and Sky = waterspouts / tornadoes, described as such because their formation looks similar to the mating process between godzillasaurs.

Crackle = the tingly feeling from his body emitting a streamer during a thunderstorm. If it finds a step leader, he gets struck by lightning. Lightning strikes are hot and noisy, but don’t cause anything more than some burns. A strike to the face can give him flashbacks of the Flash and anger him into destroying whatever is in his path at that very moment.

Falling Cold = snow

Cold Land = polar ice caps and glaciers

Slippery Cold Land = ice

Warm Season / Hot Season / Cool Season / Cold Season = Spring, summer, fall, winter.

Long Cold Season = ice age

Draw = magnetic fields, which he is sensitive to and uses to navigate in conjunction with the position of the sun or stars. As you can imagine, anything that emits magnetic pulses or unnatural magnetic fields will disorient him and he’ll go find out what’s ‘wrong’. This, along with bird call recordings, was used to lure him up Mt. Mihara in ‘84.

Draw Up = north

Draw Down = south

Horizons = east if he’s not following the sun, west if he is following the sun.

--- Human stuff ---

Bugs, zappers and stingers = the aircraft, land vehicles and watercraft that shoot at him. Solid projectiles are stingers. The maser tanks are the zappers.

Silver forests / strange forests / glowing forests = cities, they’re called glowing at night because of the lights.

Shiny trees / strange trees / glowing trees = skyscrapers, they’re called glowing at night because of the lights.

Boxes = buildings that are squarer in shape or not tall like skyscrapers.

Tiny boxes = buildings that aren’t tall, like you see in suburban areas.

Caves / Caverns = the insides of human dwellings.

Weird rocks = furniture

Shiny rocks = tiles

Scented sand = cat litter, he doesn’t mind the strange smell. He “goes” in it when he’s tiny and buries the results like cats do because he still has the instinct to not alert predators. The cat litter is the clumping sort that blocks some of the radiation and makes it safer to clean up after him. ----------Side note: Anything from inside Godzilla’s body is dangerously radioactive when he’s full size, but less so when he’s small. You’ll get radiation sickness if you try to pet full size Godzilla while wearing anything less than a HAZMAT suit, but he can be picked up and handled safely in someone’s bare when he’s tiny. Still, people wear gloves to handle him as a precaution.

Not-dirty dirt = carpets / rugs

Mud that isn’t sticky / weird mud = bedspreads

Artificial suns = lights

Colorful Light Box / Image Box = TV sets and computer monitors.

Talking box / howling box = phones

Transparent box = the aquarium he’s kept in while tiny.

Colored vines = cords, wires, cables or ropes.

Metal vines = chains, both for jewelry and holding stuff.

Artificial claws = eating utensils, like silverware and chopsticks.

Their kill = the food humans eat. Most of it looks and smells totally unappetizing, but he expects at least a bite if they’re having meat or fish. He finds it confusing that humans can walk around a corner and reappear with food without any signs of a hunt.

Weird worms = noodles

Hot mud = coffee, it smells and tastes nasty to him. He will literally gag from the smell if it’s really strong.

Outer skins / outer shells = clothes / HAZMAT suits

Molting = changing clothes, he thinks humans molt way too often.

Eye covers = goggles

Eye frames = glasses, both Kenpachiro and Goro wear them although their choice of frames are different. (Goro’s are plastic fully rimmed black rectangular frames, Kenpachiro’s are thin titanium semi-rimmed wayfarer frames.)

Marking sticks = pens or pencils

Marking shapes = written words (in Japanese), he recognizes they have significance to the humans by how they create and react to them, but doesn’t understand the connection between writing and language.

--- Communication ---

Old Tongue = in essence, godzillasaur “language”. He uses purposeful vocalizations, facial expressions and body movements to “talk” to the humans when he’s tiny because he sees the Kenpachiro’s group as his Pod. A whole ‘sentence’ may be expressed simultaneously. If I were to translate Godzilla’s ‘language’ in a movie, it would be as subtitles. Much of his behavior is communication. ----Side note: Humans unknowingly speak Old Tongue a lot via their body language, facial expressions and tones of voice, but he gets lost with speech and the fact that humans react to each others’ vocalizations more than their gestures. That said, he uses pattern recognition to grasp the meaning of a few individual words, like responding to the specific syllables humans attribute to him and looking at who says his name, and the word stop. He picks up on the hand gestures used to train him in the lab, too. ----Extra note: A quick and dirty bit of Old Tongue-- if Godzilla tilts his snout down and looks upward at you, he’s signaling that he doesn’t trust you by getting his snout out of his visual field to watch you more closely. If he throws his head back when he roars, he’s angry!

Mind Song = telepathic communication. Godzilla communicates with Miki Saegusa through memories, emotions and sensory information because he knows when she’s touching his mind. He's able to decide whether to welcome her in or kick her out and block her off, but 99% of the time he welcomes her in.

Mouth sounds / jabbering noises / chattering = human speech... he knows it is a form of elaborate vocal communication. He finds it annoying, overly complex and confusing.

--- The naughty stuff ---

Kiss = the act of touching or nuzzling noses. A nose to nose touch is like a little peck, while rubbing their noses together is more intimate.

Impressing = the mating display behavior. He circles her, shows off his sharp teeth, shows off his dorsal spines and flexes a bit to show off his big, strong muscles. Then he brings her Sustenance or food. It’s very much the godzillasaur equivalent of a pick up line followed by a romantic dinner. If she rejects his offerings, she’s rejecting him. But if she flicks her tail to the side and rubs her head against his neck after he does all that? Ooh, baby, he’s gonna get lucky!

In Season = fertility, they both emit pheromones that stink like garbage to humans, but it’s perfume to them! Shezilla goes into season 4 times a year and it lasts a week. Godzilla goes into season once a year for a day without Shezilla present, but her going into season triggers his hormones to shift too and he’ll stay in season until she goes out of it. They get really freakin’ horny and twitchy when in each others’ presence. When apart, Godzilla tends to be a bit more aggressive because sexual frustration is a thing, and Shezilla hunts and eats more traditional fare (sharks / whales) to store extra nutrients in case she conceives and lays an egg. Also, you can’t tell by looking at Shezilla when she’s in season, but Godzilla’s dorsal spines get a little bit longer and his muscles bulk up. ----Side note: The reason Godzilla changes outwardly and Shezilla doesn’t is it’s the guy’s job to impress the girl. Their chances of actually conceiving are small because of the radiation in their cells and mutated DNA. Godzilla’s sperm cells are so hyperactive and fast-moving that kaijuologists can’t get an accurate count, and the state of Shezilla’s egg cells are unknown. The only reason kaijuologists got a sperm sample at all is because gravity is a thing and the excess dripped out as soon as Shezilla stood up again after Godzilla toppled her onto a building to do the deed for the first time. (They’re animals, they will do it anywhere if the mood strikes!)

Being One / Making Life = mating. They mate via cloacal kiss, but they do it in something similar to the human missionary position because that’s the best way to line their vents up. Shezilla’s dorsal spines are smaller because she is the one who lays on her back and helps her big, klutzy boyfriend get into position on top of her using her teeth and claws. It doesn’t hurt him at all, nature made the exact spots she bites and grips into erogenous zones that encourage him to keep going. His feet go under her thighs and flank her tail, which are erogenous zones for her. He lines his vent up with hers by feel, everts the muscular inner walls of his cloaca into her vent and her muscles grab on to achieve a proper seal. Mating for them isn’t a ’touch cloacas and done’ deal, they stay in position for several minutes. There’s no humping action either, it’s all driven by internal muscle contractions. ----Side note: In my headcanon Godzilla fucks without a dick, get over it.

Touching Spirits / Union = the sensation humans know as an orgasm. Their bodies relax instead of tense up when they feel it happen because the endorphin flood puts them into an altered state of consciousness, and it keeps them from popping apart prematurely. The most movement they’ll do is a lot of tail twitching. For Godzilla, the sensation triggers the muscle contractions for release, and for Shezilla it creates suction that moves the sperm where it’s supposed to go to fertilize an egg cell. They thrash around or groom each other afterward because they feel a tiny bit high as their endorphin rush comes to an end. -----Side note: She comes when he does because his triggers hers, so they always experience it together.

One = the godzillasaur equivalent to marriage, which is consummated the first time a pair mates.

Vent = the cloaca. It closes tight and can’t be seen when not in use for mating or expelling waste. It’s located right in front of where their tails join their body. Godzillasaurs stand upright, so that is why they mate facing each other.

Life Material = the goo inside unhatched eggs, though it can also refer to semen.

--- Specific people ---

(Canon characters)

The Deserter = Yasukai Shindo, who saluted him on Lagos Island and left him while he was wounded. He sees Shindo as the one who abandoned him to the pain of the mutation process and it’s why he looked into Shindo’s eyes through the window before he killed him with the same bright light that made him hurt. He wanted Shindo to know that he remembered and hated him. ----Side note: Shindo never realized what Godzilla was thinking when they looked at each other through the high rise window. He accepted his fate as divine retribution because he felt responsible for 'creating’ a bigger, meaner Godzilla.

The Mind Singer = Miki Saegusa, the psychic woman who confuses and intrigues him greatly. He remembers seeing her as an adult before he got mutated, but later he saw her as a child inside the train car he picked up and threw aside in ‘84. He knows humans grow bigger and their hair turns white or falls out when they get old, but from his perspective Miki is aging out of order. Time travel is a concept beyond him, so he will never understand that she traveled to the past with the Futurians. -------Side note: Miki doesn’t harbor ill will towards Godzilla even though her entire family was with her and died when he dropped the train car. She sensed no malice or cruelty in him, he was an animal doing what animals do, and holding a grudge would be like being angry with an earthquake or a tornado. As time goes on and she comes in contact with Godzilla more often, she comes to realize he is intelligent in his own way and experiences a broad range of emotions just like humans. This gives her a deep compassion towards him; he is lonely in his difference, same as her.

(OCs)

The Odd One = Kenpachiro Satsuma, an (adult diagnosed!) autistic kaijuologist who is lanky, geeky and tends to look a bit disheveled most of the time. He is a widow who deeply misses Momoko, his deceased wife. This is the guy who studies Godzilla very closely (special interest) because he truly wants to understand how he lives, communicates and experiences the world. He believes Godzilla is capable of more emotion than just anger and that humans can learn to coexist peacefully with him. Kenpachiro is the man who cloned Shezilla, so he understands the grief Godzilla is suffering through after her death and he regrets causing him that pain. ----Side note: Kenpachiro has a teenage son named Akira. He tries to be a good father to the kid, but doesn’t know how to connect with him. As a result, Akira is sometimes belligerent and misbehaves in attempt to get his father’s attention. Godzilla sees the rift between them and will try to bridge it because he misses his own father.

The Cruel One = Goro Kurojima. A buff, broad-shouldered, intimidating guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a bushy mustache. This guy is Kenpachiro’s rival. He is an abusive sadist who wants to make Godzilla suffer until he dies as payback for the loss of his family in 1954. He doesn’t differentiate the ‘current’ Godzilla from the 1954 monster even though they aren’t the same creature. He attributes only malice to Godzilla’s behavior and does not believe Godzilla is capable of anything but hatred. He has untreated PTSD. Godzilla can sense the hatred this man has for him and he doesn’t like it. -----Side note: Having PTSD is not what makes Goro an abusive, sadistic villain. His choices to hurt those around him for his own personal gain are what make him a villain. He was just a kid coming home from school when the first Godzilla reduced his house and mother to ash right in front of him and stepped on the fiery rubble. He saw his mother’s skin melt. It haunts him. The PTSD actually humanizes him and explains where his pain comes from without excusing his behavior.

The Gentle One / Mama = Reiko Fukamori, a veterinarian / kaijuologist who has feelings for Kenpachiro. She is a very plain, unassuming woman who doesn’t realize the full extent of Goro’s nastiness until he gets Godzilla into his clutches, so she is the one who sets things in motion by sneaking Godzilla away from the lab and into Kenpachiro’s hands. Her gentleness reminds Godzilla of his saurian mother. She talks to him a lot, and he is able to tell by her tone that she means him no harm. ------Side note: Reiko’s veterinary experience lets her figure out Godzilla’s high muscle tone is neurological and that his heart defect is a dangerous problem for him while he’s tiny. She knocks Kenpachiro’s socks off with her suggested solution to keep him alive until the shrink ray begins to wear off. She is the one who introduces Godzilla to iodine-131, which she gives via an eye dropper while training him to follow simple voice commands / gestures so he’s easier to work with. She is the only person Godzilla chirps at. Their relationship becomes very similar to Baby and Asuza from Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II.

--- Example narration ---

--- Akira’s lava lamp causes tiny!Godzilla to have a flashback of his youth. Kenpachiro has a tooth from the original ‘54 Godzilla that he uses as a shelf. It’s mentioned, so I figured I should give context. ---

Reflections of the magical red globules flickered across Godzilla's eyes. It took him far back to The Old Days before the Fireball. A time when the sky was red and trees touched the clouds. Godzilla was very young and tiny with ribs that stood out on his flanks.

A Big Tooth with its short arms and bad breath lunged at him. He stared at its slavering teeth, unafraid. Suddenly, a nearly black shape streaked into view. Father caught him by the scruff of his neck and sprinted away from the danger. Young Godzilla relaxed against the reassuring touch. Father's hot breath tickled the back of his neck as he ran. Oblivious to the Big Tooth snapping at Father's heels, young Godzilla shrieked in delight. Father ran so fast! He watched the brown and green streaks of trees fly by.

Then Father ducked into the underbrush. It was muddy and cold, but Father swam through it like water. The Big Tooth would not walk out on this mud. Defeated, it crashed back into the jungle to find more suitable prey. Father slowly wriggled free on the other side of the mud. Young Godzilla thought the squishing sound it made was funny, but Father put him down and beckoned for him to follow. So young Godzilla stumbled behind his father, nipping at his ankles. He followed him up a grassy hill overlooking mountains. He was so tired when he got to the top that he collapsed, panting.

The smell in this area was horrible and glowing red rivers boiled in the valley below. Father told him the glowing red stuff was Land Blood that came from the Land Hearts inside Fire Mountains.

Father bent to lap the mud off his hands and arms. Young Godzilla purred and squirmed as the big sandpaper tongue scraped the mud off his hide. Then Father beckoned him away, for it was time to hunt.

Father took him back to the Fire Mountain at night. They stood together and watched the giant sprays of glowing Land Blood shoot towards the stars. It was nothing more than glowing red rain! He ran forward and tried to catch some on his tongue. Father roared at him to come back. Land Blood was dangerous and not a toy! It had the power to both create and destroy.

Many seasons later, when Godzilla met his Gift from the Wishing Star, he laid over her to Make Life, and at the moment of Union his body erupted like a Fire Mountain. Afterward, the fierceness in her eyes and the gentleness of her Kiss made him forget The New World he found so unfamiliar. They were One, now and forever.

Reality crystallized. He blinked and refocused his eyes. That was not Land Blood shooting up; that was red slime inside a human contraption. The tooth beside him was not the strong jaws of Father carrying him to safety. He took a step back and saw his own reflection staring at him instead of his mate’s beautiful face.

He was little again...but he would never be like he was before the Flash.

The humans who lived in this giant cave were the closest thing he had to a Pod. And by the look of it the Odd One did not pay close attention to his young. He was ignorant to the younger one’s needs for attention. This ignorance would soon drive them apart.

Godzilla howled past the bitterness in his throat. He turned away from his reflection. Brokenness happened everywhere he went, and it would never stop.

--- One last note ---

Godzilla makes eye contact and reads emotions through eyes much like neurotypical humans do. Eye contact won’t provoke him like it does most animals unless a hostile move follows. He can read the emotions in a human’s eyes if he gets close enough to see them, and humans who survive eye contact with him swear he stared into their soul. Because he does.

[Yasukai Shindo looks out the window of his high rise office at Godzilla, who is right outside looking in. They are looking into each others’ eyes, though Godzilla’s are in shadow. Godzilla looks into Shindo’s eyes as he kills him with his radioactive breath. Shindo opens his arms and accepts his fate.]

#Godzilla #Gojira #kaiju #headcanon #fanfiction #ideas #long post #VERY long post #food mention #tw vomit #tw menstruation #tw feces #tw unsanitary #swearing #violence #water

47 notes · View notes

diloph · 5 years ago

Note

Pardon me, but it seemed from some of your posts on KOTM that you didn't like Mark Russell that much. I know he was a cliche everyman type, but what exactly made him any worse than others in these movies?

I apologise if this isn’t my most coherent answer. I’m a little bit stressed at the moment, trying to finish the next chapter of IIID and create relevant, if poorly assembled memes before the Invader Zim movie is released.

To be honest, some of it is a bit tongue-in cheek. Making fun of the most visible character in the film, considering that he hates Godzilla with a burning passion, is just a little bit of fun. It’s like how I refer to Rick Stanton with disdain sheerly because he’s somewhat based on Rick Sanchez, who I don’t dislike either.

The film isn’t about Mark: King of the Fathers anyway, so if I completely despised him, I could just zone out during his scenes, or skip them when the DVD comes out.

But… some of it wasn’t so jokey. He’s still an okayish protagonist, I’ve got nothing against the actor himself and his acting is fine. Still, Mark was loud, abrasive and hated Godzilla; you know, things that grate on my nerves when it comes to a 2+ hour Godzilla movie and that made the character… trying.

We’ve had them before, but Godzilla was generally more villainous and obviously, we feel sympathy and camaraderie with him as the title character and we are here to see him do cool things. Having a human protagonist who hates our cool monster protagonist makes sense in universe, but ultimately, it’s not what we’re here for. We can tune that out.

As for what makes me dislike Mark… for starters, he’s kind of a prick. I once saw somebody describe him as the type of guy who thinks that if he speaks loudly enough, shouts enough, he’ll get his way. I can’t say I blame them, in that first meeting with MONARCH, he’s downright hostile.

He’s also, for whatever reason, the guy that everybody turns to in the crisis. He might have a background in bioacoustics like his ex-wife and animal behaviour besides, but apparently nobody else at MONARCH is capable of doing things without the express instructions or approval of everyman Indiana Jones. Military procedures, common sense, the desperate plan to revive Godzilla; everybody seems to defer to him really quickly.

It took me out of the movie. I understand that he’s meant to be our relatable protagonist, but it’s a little bit jarring and it happens multiple times. Mark is either issuing instructions or is along where he shouldn’t be, given control of a situation where by all rights he shouldn’t have any other than spur of the moment hero stuff.

It’s like he believes that nobody has any common sense and frustratingly, a couple of times the narrative agrees with him or at least proves his actions right. For example, when Colonel Foster tries to brief MONARCH on the actions of Jonah and the terrorists, he shoots down her theory and proceeds to go on a rant as to why we should Destroy All Monsters.

He’s right, as Jonah wants to free King Ghidorah, but he has this frustrating “protagonist only” habit of noticing threads that other characters really should (nobody seems to notice that the Titans are attacking capital cities or at least very densely populated areas until he points it out), then speaks about it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Which when MONARCH is meant to be staffed with scientists of multiple disciplines veers back into the incredulous. I can suspend disbelief when it comes to giant monsters, I don’t excuse people not seeing what’s in front of them.

And as for the moments where he really shouldn’t be issuing instructions, take a look at when Rodan is freed by Emma Russell. Serizawa instantly defers to him (I think that Mark might have been his senior before he left MONARCH and BOY do I want to talk about that plan later on) to cook up a plan instead of… himself (Director of MONARCH, or at least I assume so) or again, Foster, who controls the planes and men he wants to send at the giant pterodactyl that just shrugged off a molten lava flow.

Given his characterisation as an angry, driven father who is desperately looking out for his family after being bereaved by monsters and is butting heads with the scientists at MONARCH, I think it was an attempt by Legendary to recreate Joe Brody. Bryan Cranston’s character in the previous film was killed off too early and was featured in a lot of the trailers, giving a wonderful performance. When he died to be replaced by his son, Ford, it caused a backlash as a result.

Mark being that angry, snarky character definitely shares some similarities. But while Joe was a crusader for the truth and more than a little bit obsessive, he was trying to pierce the veil as to why his wife died, without realising that it drove his son away from him. He was trying to reveal this great coverup to the world and spent the rest of his life doing so with such conviction that he appeared crazy.

Mark… doesn’t have this driving force. He lives in a post-San Francisco universe. Monsters Exist and everybody knows it.

Now, that’s not to say he doesn’t have reasons for acting as he did. He lost his son and has driven a wedge in between his family via his drinking problem (but let’s face it, compared to unleashing the Titans by starting off with Space Dragon Satan, he’s taken it comparatively well) but he acts as if he’s the only person who has ever lost something to Godzilla and the rest of the monsters.

Even when that happens to characters in the film, Mark still acts like that and it doesn’t make him look like the grim, determined hero, it just makes him look like an obnoxious dick. It isn’t his way of coping with the trauma of loss, he just… does it.

Part of me does get why he’s annoyed and angry with MONARCH’s attitude towards the Titans. He’s correct that they’ve been keeping secrets, dangerous ones at that, but equally the kaiju are living things. They’re dangerous and unpredictable, yes, but MONARCH have been taking precautions; killswitches are present in even the supposedly benevolent Titan’s chambers like Mothra and as far as they know, all of the Titans bar Godzilla are dormant and those that aren’t are kept in check by him. Had the Ghidorah Crisis never arose, we may never have seen any other Titans for the rest of human history.

But he treats everybody around him like an idiot with little to no prompting. Mark is brought on as a consultant and he then proceeds to dominate the scene, either through his decisions in universe or the part written for him out of it. He gets the last word, the last say on a plan or a witty remark or whatever.

And some of that costs lives. Actually, no, a LOT of it costs lives.

So, to start off, when the operation in Antarctica goes tits up, Mark grabs a handgun and goes into Outpost 32 by himself (though what he and the central nervous system of MONARCH were doing on the ground and not supervising from the Argo remains to be seen, but I digress). He stops Jonah and the terrorists on the walkway… screwing up Foster’s attempt to take down Jonah, forcing her to snipe his henchman in order to save Mark’s life.

This leads to King Ghidorah waking up. Not going to extend him a great deal of blame for this one, as with a sniper present, Emma or Madison would have been forced (or “forced” in the former’s case) to retrieve the detonator and the Six-Eyed, Six-Horned, Flying-Golden-People-Eater would have gotten loose regardless. Hell, I spotted clues that he was gearing up to wake up without Emma Russell’s help.

In a narrative sense, its his character that also sets up Vivienne Graham’s death. If he hadn’t been stuck in the tangle of wires and metal aboard the Osprey, she would never have needed to stay behind to help and subsequently got singled out by King Ghidorah.

I’d definitely agree that this is more of a personal thing on my part, as I’d wanted to see more of Vivienne’s character thanks to her actress’, Sally Hawkins’ work in The Shape Of Water and that in the previous film. But in a way, he is still sort of responsible for her being written out and replaced with the vastly less interesting replacement characters of Rick and Mor- erm, Sam.

That said, I know that Ghidorah is 100% to blame in universe. He killed her because he was a bastard and I wanted to him to be a bastard, so the monkey’s paw curled a finger there, so that’s egg on my face. It certainly did wonders for establishing him as a monstrous villain who we love to hate.

I’m not wholly unsympathetic to Mark. Like I said before, the pain of loss over the 2014 attacks hurt him badly and the film doesn’t shy away from this. Mark’s descent into alcoholism is noted by both himself and his family as a rough time for all involved, part of the reason he left MONARCH in the first place. Having his daughter and ex-wife seemingly kidnapped by dangerous ecoterrorists who plan to unleash giant monsters to mass-cull humanity also wears his patience thin, as you might expect it.

But he keeps this… horrible attitude throughout the movie. The world is literally going to shit, another monster is about to be unleashed and he asks if MONARCH have had enough common sense to evacuate the town of Isla Del Mara and if Rodan has had a cutesy name all picked out from mythology for him ahead of time.

Fuck me, if I was Serizawa, having just lost my protégé and quite a few well-meaning soldiers who were trying to rescue somebody who turned out to be a massive ecoterrorist nutjob, I would have floored him. There is a time and a place for snarky comments and it is not after at least twenty people you worked with are dead and BILLIONS MORE MAY FOLLOW.

But now, one of the points that really got me disliking Mark Russell follows here. The scenes that start at Isla Del Mara and the luring of Rodan to King Ghidorah, all the way up until the detonation of the Oxygen Destroyer.

Rodan emerges from the volcano and asides from spreading his wings and roaring, doesn’t do much. He spots the incoming Argo and its entourage and narrows his eyes. Uh oh! Surely, at this point, the dastardly destruction god would leap from his perch in an attempt to chase this challenger from his territory?

Um… no. No, actually, he stays put.

Now, I get that Rodan might not have stayed that way for very long. From the ensuing chase scene, I can gather that the Monsterverse’s version of Rodan is a bit of a dick, but he still didn’t start the fight.

Instead, what happens is that Serizawa asks Mark what they should do and Mark comes up with the plan to get Rodan to fight King Ghidorah in the hopes that one will kill the other and that would at least solve one of their problems.

Sound in theory, yes, but it is not sound in execution. At all.

So, that little town that Mark kicked up quite a fuss about? As you might have noticed, it’s lying between Rodan and the Argo and is part of the reason that the big ol’ bird should be lured away, to complete the evacuation.

Mark’s brilliant plan has the jets surrounding the Argo to blast Rodan and 180 the superplane in order to get him to chase… without factoring in THE TOWN BETWEEN THEM AT ALL.

I get King Ghidorah was closing in. I get that Rodan is a wild, unpredictable animal who could go off the chain at any moment. But there was absolutely no time to get the ARGO to move a little ways around the island before beginning the attack? At worst, Rodan would make a dive for them anyway, but that’s what the jets are sent in to distract him are for. To grab his attention and then lure him to the Argo, which would then take him to Tricephalopathic Terror Town anyway.

As a result, Rodan utterly OBLITERATES Isla Del Mara simply by passing over it and so many of the people they were trying to evacuate die a horribly pointless death. It never once passes his mind (or let’s not beat him down solely) or that of anybody aboard the Argo that a creature with wings that size that can fly would generate an unbelievable amount of force simply by flapping once to create lift? He’s also dripping lava, so even if the hurricane level winds that follow him weren’t an issue, having something with that amount of residual molten rock passing overhead doesn’t seem like a healthy thing to expose Isla Del Mara to.

Further dislike ensues when one of the miraculously surviving Ospreys issues a mayday during the Rodan/Ghidorah fight and the cargo doors are jammed. Mark the Hero leaps up with gritted teeth and desire to get things done, asking the way to the hangar. After all, he’s had miraculous problem solving abilities so far, why not?

“Which way to the hangar?” he asks.

Sam, a character who I’m even less fond of, stands up and offers to show him the way. Fairly brave, considering that the Argo is rattling like a leaf in a thunderstorm as two daikaiju battle nearby. I found the character annoying and sort of… pointless, but I admire that bit of bravery.

“Anybody else?” Mark asks, making a face.

Dude. The man just offered to help you and people need that help. Get off your high horse, swallow your pride and just go without comment. God knows how many people your stupid plan just got killed.

The two run to the hangar and a crewman explains the door is jammed. Mark decides to drop a hanging Osprey onto the doors to get them off… without suggesting it to the crewman. He just fucking goes for the buttons, expecting his usual “my plan will work” attitude to succeed.

At last, one of Mark’s harebrained schemes is met with reasonable resistance for the first time and the crewman attempts to wrestle him off, before Mark Is Proven Right Again. But even suggesting it, getting a refusal and then doing it is more heroic than just going for the damn buttons like a lunatic.

He would have looked damn stupid if the weight of the Osprey wasn’t enough to open the doors and it instead just blocked them. The falling aircraft also almost hits the airborne one with its civilian payload as it also wasn’t warned, so again, he took an unnecessary risk that came off lucky because he couldn’t find the time to say “I have an idea”.

To round out the trifecta of what makes me dislike Mark in these scenes is what happens when the rest of the scene plays out:

Gravity Beams spew from Ghidorah’s mouth and blast Rodan into the ocean, defeated. Not satisfied with just this victory, the Golden Demise locks his terrible gaze on the Argo and with a sickening, gleeful cackle, closes in on the plane and its freshly arrived civilians.

All are stunned into a horrified silence. Even Mark, who has been having Unreasonable Protagonist Luck up until this point, bricks it.

“Oh, God.” he pleads.

God answers and he erupts from the ocean.

With a deafening roar, the mighty form of Godzilla slams into King Ghidorah with the force of a collapsing mountain. His dynamic, mid-air leap is enough to drag the foul hydra into the depths of the ocean and Godzilla proceeds to hold him there.

Ghidorah attempts to resurface and fly away, or at least lash out at the Argo in spite, but there Godzilla is again, yanking the head back underwater, biting and rolling like some mountainous crocodile, pinning the alien dragon under his weight.

Unbeknownst to our hero (Godzilla, obviously), the military has deployed the terrible Oxygen Destroyer in an attempt to Destroy All Monsters, giving only a cursory warning to the Argo to get out of there and fast. Mark makes his way onto the bridge and is informed of the decision.

“But he… he just saved us!” says Mark.

No, wait, he didn’t say that. Hold on…

“They… they didn’t even let us get clear?” says Mark.

Uh, no, sorry, trying again.

“Well, it’s not the worst idea.” he says.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK. YOU.

I get that you’re mad with Godzilla. I get that as the title character with a long history, we root for the kaiju more than anybody else. I get that he took your son from you, but twice… TWICE NOW, he has saved you and the people around you with PERFECTLY TIMED ENTRANCES. Even if it was just a coincidence, I’d be at least slightly more forgiving of the lion that killed my brother by accident if it jumped in front of a tiger that was slaughtering people left and right before it leapt at me.

Twice.

There’s not even a hesitant “oh, but he did help us”. Not even a shocked disbelief that the military has a weapon that they think will kill not just one, but two (because I’m willing to bet he thought Rodan was dead) Titans, much less them firing it without warning right on top of their position. Just a “well, fuck ‘em” shrug.

Godzilla nearly dies, Ghidorah seizes control of the Titans and sets about starting the apocalypse. Finally, Serizawa says what I’ve been thinking for quite a while and says “Well, it looks like you got your wish, Mark.” with a mixture of anger, sadness and disgust.

I could go on; the Titans are rampaging and Mark goes to leave Castle Bravo to strike out on his own and rescue Madison, despite the fact that he knows that Emma will probably try to keep her safe in whatever secure hidey hole she and the Kaiju Cultists have holed up in. In the novel, he’s outright going to steal one (also his first instinct when confronted by an alpha wolf in the novel, is to blow it away with a sidearm, before realising that’s absolutely callous and horrible and tries submissive behaviour tactics instead. So hey, Movie Mark is a slightly better person than Book Mark).

Mark suggests the nuke plan and goes down with Serizawa, Chen and Rick Sanch- Stanton. Everything goes sideways and he doesn’t even fucking blink when Serizawa decides that somebody’s gotta do it manually.

Back aboard the Argo? How does he break the news to Sam, the only member of the MONARCH team that wasn’t there? Shoving Serizawa’s notebook into his chest, saying that they better not screw this up and not even fucking pausing to tell him what happened.

Mark’s self-centred attitude keeps coming back and it gets people killed. My second time viewing this film, during the two confrontation scenes with Godzilla, I wasn’t getting the “There is a massive threat in my territory!” vibe from the King of the Monsters, I was getting a “Who the hell is this asshole and why does he hate me so much?” feeling from Our Glorious Boy.

It’s a recurring theme too. Mark experiences loss, but he feels as if his loss is the only one that matters. Both he and Emma do this to Madison and it makes me mad that in trying to cope with their own loss, they shunned the one remaining child they had left. By the time they realise that, the world is literally about to end and they’re still bickering at one another.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very vocally critical of Mark and Emma’s treatment of Madison. Both she and Mark decide to put their own ways of coping with their son’s death (constructing a device to allow for the orchestration of mass human death and convincing oneself that it’s the correct course of action/drinking booze) above Madison’s own well being.

When the chips are down, of course, they care for her and ultimately risk their lives to save her, but… congratulations for the bare minimum parenting, guys? Physically, they want her out of harm, but mentally she should either fall into line with Emma’s thinking or be there for Mark.

Godzilla and Mothra feel more like her bloody parents in this film (Godzilla saving her life when she was facing down the literal fucking devil and Mothra’s gentle interaction at the temple and reviving her from death when she appeared to have died in the novel) than the other Russells do. Both fill the archetypes of “Father” (tough, stern, but ultimately your protector) and “Mother” (gentle, nurturing and wonderful) better than the people do.

…yeah, alright, that one is a stretch, but I had that idea a while ago and I wanted to put it to paper.

In short, I’m mad at Sad Mad Dad because his character shoves the waaaaaaaay more interesting, compelling and sympathetic characters of Serizawa, Graham and his own daughter (and the actual goddamned non-monster hero of the movie), Madison out of the way of main character-ness, just so we can have somebody who is about as pleasant to interact with as a cactus.

King of the Monsters is a film that has a lot of sacrifice in it, good and bad. Emma wants to sacrifice most of humanity to save the planet. Serizawa sacrifices himself to save Godzilla and thus, the planet. Mothra sacrifices her own life to save Godzilla from King Ghidorah and so does Emma, to save her family and as redemption for her sins.

Even Madison was also ready to at least risk her own life to distract the Titans and King Ghidorah if it would even slightly disrupt his efforts to conquer the planet. She goes against terrorists, her own mother and a demonic, nigh-omnipotent being of malicious intent and faces him down with a defiant roar of her own when it looks like the end.

But Mark doesn’t sacrifice. He wants his daughter back, but he never takes a hit. Other people die for him, as a result of him and he doesn’t even recognise it. The world is at stake and he keeps his focus on his own desires, ignorant to the people around him because only his loss matters.

He might not be the genocidal monster in the film that Emma was, that Jonah and of course, Ghidorah certainly were. But he has a very narrow and dispassionate world-view and outside of certain cartoons with comedic circumstances, I don’t care much for that at all.

TL;DR: Madison should have been the central protagonist, because I like her more.

#Godzilla #Godzilla: King of the Monsters #Mark Russell

8 notes · View notes

biondinoya · 5 years ago

Text

Godzilla KotM - Final Review (Plot & stuff, Spoiler Alert!)

Now that I've watched the movies 5 times in different theaters, I think it's time for me to give a proper and final review for my long-awaited favorite movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. As a monster and dragon fanatic, it's difficult to find a movie that can satisfy my appetite nowadays. It is why I've waited for this movie for so long.

We had a bunch of superhero movies already, we need more monster movies! (or at least that's what I felt as a monsters-fan).

I made a review before, but it deals more with the monsters. You can check it here.

Now let's begin with the movie plot. Spoiler alert, so beware!

The Plot

Monarch managed to create a device named ORCA. It's a device that could emit frequency to communicate to the Titans (kaiju term on this movie). After successfully using it to calm down larva Mothra, the device is stolen by a group of eco-terrorist to wake Ghidorah in Antarctica. Monarch sees Godzilla threatened by something and they decide to follow him. They fly with their mothership named Argo to Antarctica. The eco-terrorist with the help of Dr. Emma Russel wakes Ghidorah up. Godzilla approach Ghidorah and they engage in a fight. After knocking Godzilla down. Godzilla wakes up but Ghidorah manages to fly away.

The Monarch then flies to Isle De Mara. On their way to Mexico, Emma explains to Monarch that this is the only way to restore the balance of planet Earth. Then she awakens Rodan who is slumbering in a volcano. Rodan's roar turns to call both Godzilla & Ghidorah. The Monarch then successfully lured Rodan to follow them. They bring Rodan to Ghidorah who flies in the middle of a thunderstorm. Ghidorah knocked Rodan out. Ghidorah turns to Monarch, but Godzilla ambushes him. They both fight underwater and Godzilla is taking advantage, he even decapitated one of Ghidorah's head. Unfortunately, the US Navy is launching a new prototype weapon named Oxygen Destroyer. The missile hit both Godzilla and Ghidorah. Ghidorah survived the blast and flew away, while Godzilla is heavily damaged and seemingly get killed. Ghidorah regrows his head and awakens other Titans. Rodan returns to Ghidorah, submitting himself to obey Ghidorah as an Alpha.

Meanwhile, in another place, Mothra has transformed herself from a cocoon into her butterfly form. She then flies to some ocean where coincidently meets with Monarch. She tries to call for Godzilla, and Godzilla is responding, proving he's not dead. The Monarch then sends a team to help regen Godzilla, who is located undersea. Dr. Serizawa sacrifices himself by manually detonating the nuke, which revives Godzilla and increases his power.

In Boston, Madison is stealing the Orca and broadcasts the device in Fenway Park. The frequency managed to calm down the Titans rampage. Ghidorah comes to Boston to destroy the Orca. Right before he wants to blast Madison, Godzilla fires his atomic breath, throwing Ghidorah and saves Madison.

Godzilla then engaged in the third battle with Ghidorah. In the middle of battle, Mothra arrives to help Godzilla, but she is intercepted by Rodan. Rodan was then stabbed critically by Mothra. The bird is seemingly dead, but the butterfly is heavily damaged, leaving her to stand weak to help Godzilla. Ghidorah overpowers Godzilla, and Mothra sacrifices herself to shield Godzilla from Ghidorah. The destroyed butterfly turns into ashes and rains down to Godzilla, transferring her energy to help Godzilla. Ghidorah then tries to kill Godzilla and absorb his life-force.

Mark, Emma & Madison then lure Ghidorah away with Orca, trying to get Godzilla to heal. Emma drives away with Orca, allowing the Monarch people to escape. Ghidorah follows Emma, and Godzilla is recovered. Godzilla turns into Fire Godzilla (I believe it's Burning Godzilla), he's glowing red and melting everything around him. He blasts some sort of nuclear energy pulse to Ghidorah twice before finally he kills Ghidorah and reverting to a normal state. After that, the Titans arrive and bow down to Godzilla, including Rodan.

Few years after, the eco-terrorist is buying a Ghidorah dead-head in Mexico.

The End

Reference to the Originals

Now based on the plot, I want to point out some that really pay homage to the originals (outside the ‘newspaper ending credit’ because it's too fast to follow).

1. Dr. Serizawa is a character from the original Godzilla 1954. He founded Oxygen Destroyer and sacrificed himself to killed Godzilla with that weapon. He killed Godzilla underseas, wearing a very similar deep-diving suit. Now In this movie, he's the one who believes in Godzilla. He also the one who sacrifices himself to resurrect Godzilla.

2. Ghidorah is a space dragon, true to the original Showa. His most powerful attack that when he eats powerplant, is referring to Grand King Ghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998). He blasts the gravity beam through his mouth and wings. In the original Showa era movies, Godzilla alone can't defeat Ghidorah. It's also presented here. Also when he tried to kill and absorb Godzilla's energy is referring to Kaizer Ghidorah from Godzilla Final Wars (2004).

3. Dr. Illen & Dr. Ling is referring to the original twin-fairies, who have faith in Mothra (1961) and other movies.

4. Godzilla's fire form (or Burning form) is directly taken from Godzilla VS Destoroyah (1995). His pulse blast attack also appears in Godzilla VS King Ghidorah (1991).

5. Mothra's death often occurs in the original movies.

6. The discovery of one of Ghidorah's head is referring to Godzilla VS King Ghidorah (1991). Instead of only one head, the originals had his full body except for the missing middle head.

7. The music theme for Godzilla & Mothra is faithful to the original.

The Cut Flaws

The perfect movie doesn't exist. No matter how good it was, it has flaws. Through 5 times of watching it, here I try to identify where the flaw occurs in the movie in terms of the cuts.

1. The first one is Oxygen Destroyer's blast impact seems not that powerful. I do think it could cause collateral damage to anything around it.

2. The scene when Godzilla is dropped from the sky by Ghidorah. Madison and friends are opening her mouth in awe, while the dust is blowing through them. They should close their mouth when it happens, or at least cough afterward.

3. Godzilla's final energy blast that killed Ghidorah. It looks immensely powerful, so the impact on everything near him should be more devastating than that.

4. I don't think any person is brave enough to face Ghidorah as Emma and Madison did. Emma is chased by a dragon that is bigger than a building, and so with Madison. I think everyone would be passed out in such situation.

5. Ghidorah's gravity beam that attacked Madison in Fenway Park radio tower is weaker than it is supposed to be. That gravity beam should immediately blow the building.

6. Mark is looking at Mothra who flies outside the Navy boat, suddenly he already inside the boat.

7. It's not a flaw but we don't have the cut of Madison's very first trailer "Hello? Is anybody there?".

8. Some people bring up the problem with the logic of how Godzilla can stand in the water when he roars after get resurrected. If only they know Godzilla's other greatly absurd skills, that wouldn't be a problem. :D

The Storytelling

The original Godzilla 1954 movie is dark and depressing. But the rest of the movies take Godzilla in many different directions, and the most well-known of them is the monster's brawl. It has become the tradition of Godzilla movies, while not always. It's known among fans that if you're watching Godzilla movies, it's the monster's brawl that you're looking for. Most of the stories are absurd and not like that blockbuster-Hollywood-style. Most of them but not all.

Godzilla 2014 marks the debut of the first Hollywood movie that stays true to the original Godzilla. The movie is directed by Garreth Edwards. His way of directing the movie is slow-build, revealing the monsters to the audience bit by a bit. It's more like watching a human perspective on Godzilla. I think this way of storytelling works very well for me, although I also agree that there's not enough Godzilla in Godzilla movie even at its climax scenes. However, Gareth's style has made it introduce Godzilla as a very big monster.

Now Godzilla King of the Monsters is directed by Michael Dougherty. Mike is a true fan of Godzilla, I can assure you. He throws more monster scenes in the movie. WITHOUT forgetting to pay respect to Garreth's style of directing since he did it first. I've watched the movie 5 times, and I think he's balancing Garreth's style into what the fans wanted. The fans wanted more monster scenes. I think he did a good job of doing a balance of respecting Garreth's style and fans' demands. For me, you get a good amount of monster scenes still with the human perspective.

I'll make a comparison to MCU Avengers for now, since it's a very popular franchise. Now in some context, Godzilla King of the Monsters felt like Avengers, they have many BIG characters in one movie. However, MCU has the chance of introducing each one of the heroes through each own movie. And it's made in Hollywood (which has a greater chance to be known worldwide). In terms of Hollywood-made, Godzilla, unfortunately, doesn't have this chance although he spanned 32 movies already from TOHO. Add that to many of his absurd movies, making it even harder to access the general audience. He managed to be made in Hollywood in 1998, but it's not the true Godzilla that the fans hoped for. You don’t get enough introduction to each monster in Hollywood. For the general audience who have less knowledge of Godzilla, this could present a problem.

As for the story writing and plot, I don't find any problem with enjoying this movie despite any cut flaws. If you compared it to other original Godzilla movies, the story of this movie is made more sense and acceptable. Even I saw kids love it and it’s nice! Sure as a fan it would be cool to see if Godzilla does his silly things like dancing or flying kick, but I'm not sure the general audience would approve.

Where to Watch

So here in Indonesia, I watched the movie in 5 different cinemas. 3 standard cinemas, 1 IMAX, and 1 Dolby Atmos Cinema. If you want a superb quality for the image, go for IMAX. But if you want to really feel the roars and explosions, then go for Dolby Atmos.

I personally found Dolby Atmos is the best experience for watching the movie.

Personal Conclusion

My very first introduction to Godzilla is from his toys and I love him ever since. Then my first experience of his movie is The Invasion of Astro Monster, also the first time I learned his absurdity and silliness. But that doesn’t stop me from being a fan, instead, I dig deeper into his lore and find it fascinating and entertaining. I was a huge monster fan after all.

So in my opinion, Godzilla King of the Monsters is the best Godzilla movie produced in Hollywood ever. It's the movie that I've wanted to watch for so long. It's indeed the ONLY movie that truly I hyped for this year. The music score is amazing, the VFX is amazing. Seriously, the music alone is outstanding. Go check them out on Watertower Music channel on Youtube.

As a true fan of Godzilla, I'll rate this movie 15/10. But if I put myself as a casual viewer and as objective as I could it would be 8/10. Great Sci-Fi Fantasy movie.

Thank you, Michael Dougherty, Legendary & Warner Bros for making such great movie. I really love it.

Long live the king.~

#godzilla #godzilla king of the monsters #godzilla movie #review #Godzilla 2019 #movie review #Monsters #ghidorah #rodan #mothra #dr serizawa #monarch #michael dougherty #legendary #warnerbrothers #warner bros #kaiju

9 notes · View notes