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In the fourth quarter of 1993, MechaGodzilla would be revived for the big screen as a hero and not a villain. As a result, Bandai produced figures for all the monsters in the movie - Godzilla, MechaGodzilla, Fire Rodan, and Baby Godzilla. The mold used for Godzilla in 1992 would be reused. New molds were created for the other three monsters. All are nicely detailed and very close to the monster they represent. Godzilla, MechaGodzilla, and Fire Rodan appear to be in scale with each other but Baby Godzilla is not. The tags feature the advance art work for "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla" and the usual information as well as the character's name on the back. An interesting observation is that the characters have a '94 after the name instead of '93. This is because the movie was released in late 1993 and labeled the characters as 1994 because of how close the release date was to the end of the year.
MechaGodzilla stands nearly 9 inches tall and is chock full of neat little details. The figure was molded in grey vinyl with various black highlights on the neck, toros, tail, and spines. The figure has striking golden eyes. Bandai included many of the details that one would miss at first glance, such as the intricate mechanical circuitry around the head and in other places. There is articulation at the arms, neck, ankles, and tail. Like Fire Rodan, the mold would be used two other times. First, in 1995's Godzilla Memorial Box and then in the "Toho Kaiju" series. The figure in the memorial box is about an inch taller than the 1993 release and is more silver in color. For the "Toho Kaiju" version, Bandai scaled the figure down to 6 inches (like all other figures in the series). Other than the size, the figure practically mirrors the original release.
Along with Battra and Godzilla, Bandai released the 1992 version of Mothra larva. It is my humble opinion that at the time, this figure was Bandai's most realistic kaiju production. Every part of the figure is just as accurate as the monster used in the film. The figure (and design) is very similar to the Great Monster Series 1961 released in 1984 and then reissued in 1991. However, the feelers are much smaller and so is the figure. The tail is also molded vertically while the Great Monster Series' is not. Though the figure is anything but small, it is around 10 inches long. Mothra comes in two paint variations, biege and russet. It is difficult to tell which one is more rare because the figure itself is hard to find. In fact, it's possibly the hardest Heisei Bandai figure to find, leading some dealers to charge over $200 for it. The figure originally sold for 1,200 yen in Japan.
He's cute and he's mad as hell and aint going to take it anymore... He killed Godzilla Jr.!
We have a red toy on a red background, to camera right we had a octobox, to camera left a reflector and a strobe for seperation then finally a strobe aimed behind the toy at the background.
Showing him from a different angle. And before anyone asks, yes, every single bit of mata red is intentionally placed. I stuck to my reference pics as close as possible. So happy with him my god. <3<3<3
Jumbo Kingdom consists of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and the adjacent Tai Pak Floating Restaurant, are renowned tourist attractions in Aberdeen South Typhoon Shelter, within Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbour. Over 30 million visitors have visited Jumbo Kingdom, including Queen Elizabeth II, John Wayne, Chad Garvin, David Bowie, Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Vogelbruck, Chow Yun Fat, Stephen Chow and Gong Li. The Jumbo Floating Restaurant appears in Jackie Chan's The Protector (1985), The God of Cookery (1996) Godzilla vs Destroyah and Infernal Affairs II.
The Tai Pak Floating Restaurant was featured in the 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and the 1973 Enter the Dragon.
The Sea Palace, another floating restaurant located in the same area, was featured in the 1960 The World of Suzie Wong, Enter the Dragon, James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), and Contagion (2011).
.... SADLY SINCE JUNE 2022, A SUNKEN WRECK!
"Destroyah originated as a colony of microscopic crustaceans from the Precambrian Era that had thrived living in anaerobic environments. When the Oxygen Destroyer was detonated in Tokyo Bay to kill the first Godzilla in 1954, the crustaceans were mutated from exposure to the chemical weapon and began to evolve abnormally over the next 40 years, incorporating Micro-Oxygen into their biological processes. After being disturbed by an underwater mining operation, the crustaceans moved to the surface and began feeding on organic life, gradually combining with each other into larger and more deadly forms." -from the Godzilla Wiki.
My favorite kaiju, made for Biocup 2019. Round theme was manmade natural/pollution disasters, and what's a more disastrous result of pollution/fallout than creating an actual monster? Especially Godzilla's cruelest foe, capable of destroying oxygen itself.
P.S. Labor of pure love right here. Honestly I'm so happy with him that I could be ok with not winning the redemption round. Smaug's wings were destined for this exact moc the second they entered my possession I swear lol.
PANEL ONE, Star Destroyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darth Vader is currently entering a phase of attack on Tatooine, as he has heard rumors that Luke Skywalker is back on the planet... Said rumors our false, but Vader can not confirm that until he has visited the area...
Stormtrooper 1: Sir! Messages have been sent in that there is an enemy ship, posing as the Empire!
Vader: Yes?
Stormtrooper 1: It says they've captured Skywalker!
Vader: Hmm... Well, we can't no for certain this ship isn't on Tatooine, unless we go forth with the attack.
Stormtrooper 1 and 2: Aye aye, sir!
PANEL TWO, Next room in Star Destroyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Ey, buckaroos. Since last time you've seen 'us, We got to this Star Destroyer 'ere... apparently, 'duh Emperial ship we've got told about on Boba-Fett's communication thingy (he fixed it, by the way) was commin' to Tatooine, and had both our guys on it, + Luke Skywalker. And so we found a Star Destroyah here, so maybe this is the one? Hopefully.
Jaquin: How we looking, Boba?
Boba-Fett: Not great... I see Vader and his guys coming close...
C-3PO: Vader?! As in Darth Vader??? Didn't Master Skywalker witness his death?!
Jaquin: First of all, man you're behind. And secondly, "Master" Skywalker?
C-3PO: I'll explain later!
R2-D2: *beep*!
Boba-Fett: ...Agreed.
Vader: What the?! Who's there?!!
Jaquin: Sh#t!!!!
Vader peered 'round the corner, and found us!
Vader: ...Troopers. Turn on the alarm... I want all the men we have on this ship in this room.
Stormtrooper 2: On it, sir!
Boba-Fett: Oh gosh...
I turned on my saber...
Vader: All of you shall be banished from this ship, and from your own existence.
Several Storm Troopers walked 'in...
Jaquin: ...F#ck.
PANEL THREE, Still Star Destroyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room started flashing with red lights, it was blindin'... I fell onto the ground, as I was shot in the stomach multiple times..!
Jaquin: Aghh!!!!!!
I fell onto the ground, tears comin' outta my eye... I looked to the other side of the room, R2 shot several Troopers, and 3PO stabbed one in the chest...!
3PO: Take that, Emperial scum..!
...Sorry for calling you scum.
He said, walkin' to the next one.
I looked to another direction, and saw Boba wasn't doing so well... He was being choked by Vader!!!
Boba-Fett: aghh... *cough*... *wheeze*... *choke*... uh...
Vader: You are not welcome here.
Boba's helmet fell off...
Boba-Fett: I-...I'm s- *cough* ...sorry...
Vader: ...Now die.
Vader clenched his fist...
Boba-Fett: -Guh!
Jaquin: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!
I put my hand out, and felt something coursing through me... I launched Vader across the room! I... I used the force!!!!
Vader: What in the-...?
I went over to Boba... He...
Jaquin: Boba?! Boba?!?!!!
Boba-Fett:
...he's dead. I couldn't save him in time...
Jaquin: ...*sniff*...
I fell on top of 'em, crying... I got shot in the leg and back a couple times, but the other two fought the Troopers off... None of that pain could hurt me as much as this... I couldn't help him...
But suddenly, the door slammed open..!
PANEL FOUR, STILL Star Destroyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was... Two guys... Don't know them.
Jaquin: H-..Huh?
Vader: Who are you?!
Vader stood up...
Kylo Ren: We are the First Order.
Vader: So you must be the imposters...
Kylo Ren: ...Excuse me?
Vader: Are you not the men who have been impersonating the Galactic Empire?
Kylo Ren: No...
The guy in the hood stabbed Vader in the stomach with a black saber!!!
Kylo Ren: We're the ones who ended it.
Vader: ...*cough*...I see.
Vader fell on the ground...
Kylo Ren: Soon young child... We will finish what he started.
Ben: Hm... Finish what he started.
PANEL FIVE, STILL. STAR. DESTROYER.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I tried to get up, but was suddenly knocked down by the kid, who force pushed me down to the 'ground.
Jaquin: *uff*!
C-3PO: Hang on, I've got this!!!
3PO lunged at him, but was thrown down by the hooded guy..!
3PO: Wow... ach...
R2 blasted at him, but all gunfire was shot straight back with the force, causing him to fall over.
R2-D2: *beep*!
Jaquin: *cough*... W-...Who are you!?
Kylo Ren: I am your commander...
He pulled down his hood, and took of his mask, looking down...
Kylo Ren: I am your master...
He turned off his lightsaber...
Kylo Ren: I am...
He looked up...
PANEL SIX, STAR DESTROYER!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kylo Ren: ...Supreme Leader Snoke.
~Scarecrow
A rare sight of Jumbo Floating Restaurant on tow in open sea. The vessel is on the way back to Aberdeen Harbour after a scheduled overhaul. Two tug boats are towing the vessel through Lamma Straight.
From Wikipedia:
"The Jumbo Floating Restaurant appears in Jackie Chan's The Protector (1985),The God of Cookery (1996), Godzilla vs Destroyah and Infernal Affairs II. The Tai Pak Floating Restaurant was featured in the 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and the 1973 Enter the Dragon. The Sea Palace, another floating restaurant located in the same area, was featured in the 1960 The World of Suzie Wong and in Enter the Dragon. "Bons baisers de Hong Kong (From Hong Kong with Love)(1975)", James Bond The Man With The Golden Gun(1974), Contagion (2011)
It's shown in The Amazing Race 17, Leg 10. It has also featured on the first season of Australian version of The Amazing Race and some openings of The Amazing Race Asia."
One thing I wanted to do in 2018 was finally get around to watching every single Godzilla film released. I paced myself by watching one a week, and after a couple of months I am now up to date on every single Godzilla film! I celebrate, I thought I'd share how I'd rank every single one in one big list. So here we go!
1. Godzilla (1954)
2. Godzilla (2014)
3. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
4. Mothra vs. Godzilla
5. Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster
6. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
7. Shin Godzilla
8. Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
9. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
10. King Kong vs. Godzilla
11. Godzilla vs. Destroyah
12. Monster Zero
13. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
14. Godzilla 2000: Millennium
15. Terror of Mechagodzilla
16. Godzilla: Final Wars
17. Godzilla vs. Biollante
18. Destroy All Monsters
19. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
20. Godzilla vs. Mothra
21. Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla
22. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
23. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
24. The Return of Godzilla
25. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
26. Godzilla vs. Gigan
27. Godzilla Raids Again
28. Son of Godzilla
29. Godzilla vs. Megalon
30. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
31. All Monsters Attack
32. Godzilla (1998)
I've always wanted to get into the Godzilla franchise, but it always seemed like too much. If you feel the same way as I did, I suggest you check out maybe my top 10 Godzilla films in chronological order, and if you're hooked, check out the rest in their chronological order as well!
Let me know what some of your favorite Godzilla films are in the comments below!
Also, if you want to check out more film-related lists I've made, make sure to follow me on Letterboxd for more film-related content!
A rare sight of Jumbo Floating Restaurant on tow in open sea. The vessel is on the way back to Aberdeen Harbour after a scheduled overhaul. Two tug boats are towing the vessel through Lamma Straight.
From Wikipedia:
"The Jumbo Floating Restaurant appears in Jackie Chan's The Protector (1985),The God of Cookery (1996), Godzilla vs Destroyah and Infernal Affairs II. The Tai Pak Floating Restaurant was featured in the 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and the 1973 Enter the Dragon. The Sea Palace, another floating restaurant located in the same area, was featured in the 1960 The World of Suzie Wong and in Enter the Dragon. "Bons baisers de Hong Kong (From Hong Kong with Love)(1975)", James Bond The Man With The Golden Gun(1974), Contagion (2011)
It's shown in The Amazing Race 17, Leg 10. It has also featured on the first season of Australian version of The Amazing Race and some openings of The Amazing Race Asia."
Because I think they bare both cool.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2013/09/20/life-in-plastic-toy-review-destor...
Height: 492 feet (150 meters)
Wing Span: 574 feet (175 meters)
Weight: 77,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, hurricane winds
First Appearance: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1992)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
Height: 328 feet (100 meters)
Wing Span: 492 feet (150 meters)
Weight: 33,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, hurricane winds
First Appearance: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Filmography:
Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Monster Zero (1965)
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Godzilla On Monster Island (1972)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
Height: 492 feet (150 meters)
Wing Span: 574 feet (175 meters)
Weight: 77,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, hurricane winds
First Appearance: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1992)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
Height: 492 feet (150 meters)
Wing Span: 574 feet (175 meters)
Weight: 80,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, anti-gravity flight, body armor, capture cables and hooks.
First Appearance: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1992)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
This is an overview of the monsterverse as I would like to see it. I tried to make it as realistic as I could. Please leave your opinion on this in the comments, I would love to see what you think.
here is an overview of the monsters that I would like to appear in these movies.
Phase 1
Godzilla: Godzilla, male Muto, female Muto
kong skull island: Kong, skull crawlers
Godzilla King of the monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah
Godzilla vs Kong: Godzilla, Kong
Phase 2
Rodan: male Rodan, female Rodan
Kong returns: Kong, Gorosaurus
Mothra: Mothra, Battra
Godzilla III: Godzilla, Destroyah
monster island: Godzilla, Anguirus, Varan, male Rodan, Baragon
Phase 3
King Kong: Kong, Ebirah, Mothra
Varan: Varan
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla: Godzilla, Anguirus, Mechagodzilla
destroy all monsters part 1 & 2: Godzilla, Anguirus, Varan, Baragon, Mothra, Rodan, Kong, Mechagodzilla, Mecha King Ghidorah
Height: 492 feet (150 meters)
Wing Span: 574 feet (175 meters)
Weight: 77,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, hurricane winds
First Appearance: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1992)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
godzilla vs. destoroyah, destoroyah, SH monsterarts, destoroyah evolution, godzilla vs. destoroyah, destoroyah, destroyah, destroyer, godzilla, gojira, godzilla monster, godzilla kaiju, toho, kaiju, giant monster, jfigure, toy, toys, action figure, toy photography, Sony Cybershot Sony Cybershot DSC-W690
When people first heard that Godzilla was going to die, they freaked out (despite Godzilla dying in more than one movie already). But for what it's worth, Destoroyah was a good monster to go out on.
Despite his saurian appearance, Destoroyah is actually a mutated crustacean - and several forms he takes are just like that. He was born when the Oxygen Destroyer weapon (that killed the original 1952 Godzilla) mutated some microscopic crustaceans, thus forming a giant monster quite literally made of Godzilla's kryptonite. Despite that, the Big G survived him (though earth's military got the last shot). Godzilla still melted down, though - he was going to, anyway.
Conveniently had just the right number of Vakama Hordika heads for his tail plating. Also you can see the smaller wings better from the back.
Here we see the 1993 group of classic kaiju and Godzillasaurus. However, one figure is missing and that is Kamakiras. I don't have one yet, but I hope to soon.
With the coming of Chinese New Year next week, I forced to clean up all my Godzilla figures once again... this is very tried to clean up the figures one by one...
btw, this is the first time to take a photo with all the 9" Godzilla figure together....
oh~~ I forgot to finish the customization of Destoroyah... (almost 2 years...) I'm so sorry, Destoroyah. XD
This is probably more like its "true form" than the dinosaur it turned into!
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2013/09/20/life-in-plastic-toy-review-destor...
Featured on Poe Ghostal's Pic of the Day: www.poeghostal.com/2013/10/pic-of-the-day-destoroyah-crab...
Height: 492 feet (150 meters)
Wing Span: 574 feet (175 meters)
Weight: 77,000 tons
Powers: Electric beams from mouths, hurricane winds
First Appearance: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1992)
The Five Lives of King Ghidorah
Conceived by Hate. Born in Space. How Godzilla’s Greatest Nemesis Went From Villain to Hero.
by
John Rocco Roberto with Robert Biondi
It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that King Ghidorah is the greatest foe Godzilla has ever faced. After Godzilla and Mothra, King Ghidorah is the most popular monster in Toho’s stable of monsters. But who or what exactly is this three-headed menace from space? What makes him so popular? And how, if at all possible, can we straighten out the mess that has become King Ghidorah’s timeline? For the last question the answer is easy; King Ghidorah has appeared in eight Toho fantasy films. Five times throughout the original or Showa Godzilla series, twice in the recent or Heisei Godzilla series and twice in the Mothra series of the 90s, thus giving Ghidorah five separate timelines or life cycles. Ghidorah was the brainchild of Eiji Tsuburaya, Toho’s special effects maters and creator of Ultraman. Having pitted Godzilla against an American monster (King Kong) and Japan’s second most favorite monster, Mothra, Tsuburaya felt that it was time to give the King of the Monsters a more interesting foe to fight. As the Toho’s invasion-from-space formula worked very well at the box office, as seen by the release of The Mysterians in 1959 and Battle in Outer Space a year later, the decision was made to introduce this premise into the Godzilla series, which was Toho’s most profitable venture at the time. As a guide Tsuburaya chose the exotic form of a Chinese dragon, a concept he was familiar with since Atrogon (1963), Manda being based on ancient Chinese/Japanese drawings.
Ghidorah’s first life cycle began in the original series of Godzilla films with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Spawned from a fiery meteor which had crashed in Kurobe Gorge, the three-headed terror lays waste to Japan’s countryside until finally being defeated and driven back into outer space by the combined forces of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. It is not until King Ghidorah’s second outing, however, that we learn of the true nature behind the three-headed beast. Controlled by the inhabitants of Planet X, it is in Monster Zero (1965) that we learn of Ghidorah’s true connection to his “invasion” of Earth from the previous film. The three-headed terror is a tool of his alien masters to control Earth (for Planet X is in desperate need of water), but once again is defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Rodan who drive him from the Earth.
Editor's Note: It is suggested that the aliens on Planet X were responsible for Earth being bombarded by cosmic rays at the opening of “Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster,” as well as Princess Salno‘s belief that she was a Martian (Fifth Columnists aliens trying to help?), and King Ghidorah’s arrival in the meteor shower.
While King Ghidorah’s inclusion in the Godzilla world would prove immensely popular, it should be pointed out that Ghidorah’s actual on-screen appearance is very limited in the first two movies, occupying less than half the screen time of Godzilla and the other monsters. The reason for this is very simple and rests in the inventive personality that was Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya discovered that the Ghidorah costume was immobile. Though believing that the concept of a three-headed creature would be a more interesting foe for Godzilla to face, the fact was that the costume was very hard to operate, both from within for the man in the costume, and for the special effects crew from the outside. The solution was to limit the screen time given to Ghidorah. This problem would later be solved by the use of small static props, but at this point limiting the use of the costume was the only choice open to Tsuburaya and his crew.
Ghidorah is not seen again, at least chronologically, until years later when intelligent cockroach-like aliens from Nebula Spacehunter M use Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy Earth’s defenses and secure the planet for themselves. In Godzilla On Monster Island, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), this time it is Godzilla and Angilas that team up to confront the two space creatures.
Editor's Note: We are listing Ghidorah’s adventures chronically in regards to Ghidorah’s life cycle. The actual release orders for the films in America are: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1969), Monster Zero (1970), and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). The Meteor-Man Zone series were produced in 1973 but never released to American television.
Eventually, Godzilla and Angilas send Ghidorah and Gigan fleeing from the Earth, while a diverse group of human heroes (comprised of a nerdy cartoonist, his karate-kickin’ girlfriend, a hippie, a computer technician and his wimpy sister) blow up the interstellar cockroaches’ control tower (which resembles Godzilla and is located in an amusement park). Ghidorah would next be used by Baron Garoga in his attempts to invade the Earth in Toho’s 1973 television series Ryusei Nigen Zon (Meteor-Man Zone, better known as “Zone Fighter”). Though helped in many episodes of the series by Godzilla (including a fight with Gigan), Meteor-Man Zone would succeed solo against Ghidorah in the two-part adventure “Arrival of King Ghidorah.” [See “The Lost Godzilla Episodes” for a run down on the Meteor-Man Zone series.]
Of course Ghidorah’s last great standoff with Godzilla would come in the Toho classic kaiju film, Destroy All Monsters (1968). In that film, set in 1999, the Kilaaks, metal-based creatures that can exist only in extreme heat, hope to manage the Earth’s resources for themselves. Having first gained but then lost control of Earth’s monsters, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah as the ultimate weapon in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately for them, Ghidorah is no match for the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan, Angilas, Mothra, Spiga, Gorosaurus, and Minya. After a fierce battle, the three-headed monster is finally killed. So ends the destructive path of Ghidorah’s first life cycle.
Ghidorah’s second life cycle would be a single outing in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Having revised the franchise with Godzilla 1985 (1984), Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to return to the formula of having Godzilla battle another monster in each film. Since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante preformed poorly at the box office, Tanaka felt that reintroducing an older, and popular, kaiju would help boost public interest in the Godzilla series. So it was that the King of the Monsters would be pitted against his old nemeses; King Ghidorah. However, unlike his original incarnation, Ghidorah would no longer be a creature from space, but a bio-engendered weapon created by futurians from the 23rd century as a means of destroying Japan in the 20th century. Using the atomic explosion that first created Godzilla back in 1954, the futurians expose three small creatures called Dorats to the radiation, thus creating King Ghidorah. The futurians control Ghidorah but fail in their attempts to crush the Japanese sprit. Godzilla soon appears and defeats King Ghidorah, decapitating the three-headed beast’s center head and shredding his wings for good measure. Godzilla then turns his rage on the futurians, and continues his reign of terror across Japan. Emmy, a former compatriot of the futurians who wanted no part in her comrades’ nefarious plan, returns to 2204 to mechanize Ghidorah’s mutilated body. Returning in 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s rampage is finally ended. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah is so damaged from his fight with Godzilla that it is left to rust at the bottom of the Japanese Sea. Later, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC) would use the technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah to construct Mecha-Godzilla.
Ghidorah’s third and fourth life cycles would appear in the colorful but not overly popular Mothra film series produced by Toho after Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995). In Rebirth of Mothra (1996), the Twin Fairies of Infant Island, Lora and Moll, must stop their evil sister Belvera from controlling the world. To help in her plans Belvera manipulates a lumber company into unearthing the secret chamber of Death Ghidorah (called Desghidorah in the Japanese version). This Ghidorah, who walks around on four legs (earning the nickname in some fan circles as “Dog Ghidorah”), is capable of turning Earth’s green forests into barren desert. Death Ghidorah does scant damage in the film, except to set the Hokkaido countryside on fire, and is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her newly hatched larva, which transforms into a new male Mothra after Ghidorah kills his mother. The new Mothra once again traps Death Ghidorah in its secret chamber, buried for all time.
In Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah (1998), Ghidorah returns as the three-headed terror not seen since his first series of films. Once again a space monster, Ghidorah arrives on Earth in a meteor shower. Flying around Japan, Ghidorah begins “beaming up” all of the Japanese children and trapping them inside a large bubble-like-dome (where acid eventually dissolves their bodies allowing Ghidorah to absorb their life-force). Lora and Moll discover that Ghidorah was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Able to transform itself into various types of creatures, Mothra travels back to the Jurassic Age and defeats the younger form of Ghidorah. Part of the creature survives however, regenerating and reappearing in the present, where it continues to attack children. Mothra, trapped in the past, is cocooned by prehistoric Mothra larva, only to reemerge in the present, powered up with armor! Now stronger in “powered up” form, Mothra finally defeats King Ghidorah, blasting it into millions of bits.
Ghidorah’s fifth and final life cycle, at least to date, sees the three-headed monster once again pitted against his long time foe; Godzilla. This time, however, it is Ghidorah who is the savior of mankind. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (or “Super Duper All-Out Really Super Keen Monster Fight” as some fans call it) is Toho’s 25th entry in their Godzilla series, not counting the American Godzilla film, popularly known as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) in many fan circles. Produced in 2001, the story is about a rampaging Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of Japan’s war dead, destroying Japan. Three “protector” monsters confront him. These monsters are portrayed as forces of nature and include, in order of appearance, Baragon, Mothra (first larva and then adult) and finally King Ghidorah. Not surprisingly, Godzilla quickly destroys each monster in turn, but each time they are defeated, the monsters’ life-force enters the next creature. Therefore, when Baragon is destroyed its life force enters Mothra, and when Mothra is killed Ghidorah awakes from his underground sleep (actually Ghidorah is awakened before Mothra is killed breaking the continuity, but hey, why bother with continuity, this is a Toho film!). Confronting Godzilla but unable to stop him (Godzilla eventually incinerates Ghidorah), Ghidorah channels the combined life forces of itself, Baragon, Mothra and into Godzilla, weakening him to the point where an attack by the Self Defense Forces (from within Godzilla itself, via a swallowed mini-sub) destroys the King of the Monsters. Ghidorah however is once again dead, and all that is left of Godzilla is his beating heart sitting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Will King Ghidorah return? Time will tell. Toho is currently working on yet another match between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, and plans are presently in existence to continue the franchise until the 50th anniversary in 2004. What is interesting is the full circle King Ghidorah has made since his first screen appearance in 1964. Conceived as the ultimate nemesis for Godzilla, his original reign of terror made him the force that would eventually turn Godzilla from a radioactive nightmare to the “savior of the world.” It is fitting that now, almost 40 years after Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, that Godzilla is once again the terror of the atomic age, and it is King Ghidorah who has become the “savior of the world.”
www.bmbx.org/2010/07/shibuya-in-space/
01.) Capsule-Park-Tei+ – Hello Happy Badgers! (mix)
A.) [000:00 mark] ~ Capsule – Hello
B.) [000:34 mark] ~ G. Grant-S. Park – Good Company
B.) [002:32 mark] ~ Towa Tei – I Want to Relax
— + Mint – Keijis Dream
— — + Speed Racer Cartoon Segment 1
C.) [005:16 mark] ~ Hideki Kaji (Hidden Track 1)
— + Speed Racer Cartoon Segment 2
B.) [007:14 mark] ~ Paul Mark – Badgers Of The Shojoji Temple
D.) [009:52 mark] ~ Hideki Kaji (Hidden Track 2)
— + Flux – Expanding Universe
— — + Japanese TV commercial in 1967 (Yay-e YaY)
— — — + Starman
— — — — + Hideki Kaji – Hello Heartly
— — — — — + CM – Renown 80 (Japanese TV – 1967)
— — — — — — + Spectreman The Last Battle 3
02.) Herbaliser-Tei-Minekawa – Latte and Macaron’s On the Moons! (mix)
A.) [012:19 mark] ~ The Herbaliser Band – Moon Sequence
— + Spectreman the last battle 3 (The Battle Continues)
— — + Yoshinori Sunahara – Count Down
— — — + Cubismo Grafico – Buonissimo Introduction
— — — — + 2000 Plus – The_Men_From_Mars
— — — — — + Beyond Tomorrow – Outer_Limit
— — — — — — + Towa Tei – Chatr (Level 3)
— — — — — — — + Unknown – Turn Up Your Reciever
B.) [018:32 mark] ~ Towa Tei – Latte and Macaron
— + Spectreman the last battle 4
— — + Towa Tei – I Want to Relax
C.) [021:03 mark] ~ Takako Minekawa – 1.666666 (DJ Me DJ You of Sukia Remix)
— + Hour Musik – Drum Echo
— — + Starman Vs. the Evil Brain From Outer Space (Mutation Detected!)
— — — + Nomiya Maki – Intro (Kuukou Nite – Airport.2)
— — — — + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
03.) Cubismo-Ccapsule – Flash Back to GarageLand(mix)
A.) [022:45 mark] ~ mystery ooh oooh auuuhh ….. ?
Cubismo Grafico – Buonissimo Introduction (Get Ready Boys and Girls)
— + Cubismo Grafico – Buonissimo Introduction
— — + Nomiya Maki – Intro (Kuukou Nite – Airport… Waiting…)
— — — + Starman
B.) [023:44 mark] ~ Cubismo Grafico – Garagel And feat. Caede
C.) [026:51 mark] ~ Capsule – welcome To My World
D.) [027:01 mark] ~ Capsule – Flash Back (extended-live mix)
04.) FPM-Nigoletta-Sunahara-Yukari – Please Stop The Monsters! (mix)
A.) [032:58 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – Please Stop
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
B.) [035:11 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – Different Colors
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — + Nomiya Maki – Intro (Kuukou Nite – Airport.1)
— — — + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
C.) [037:39 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – S’il Vous Plait
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — + Hiroshima atomic bomb Cartoon
D.) [039:29 mark] ~ Nigoletta – Best Day
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — + Godzilla Final Wars (2004) – (More Energy)
E.) [041:19 mark] ~ Yoshinori Sunahara – The Long Vowel
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — + Hiroshima atomic bomb Cartoon
E.) [042:42 mark] ~ Yukari Fresh – Yukarimpique
05.) YMCK-Capsule-Tei – 8 Bit Magical Butterfly Control (mix)
A.) [042:38 mark] ~ YMCK – 8bit magical land
B.) [044:08 mark] ~ Capsule – I Wish You
— + Centipede – 1980 – Arcade Box
— — + Q-bert – Atari 2600
— — — + Arcade BERZERK 1980 Stern
— — — — + Defender for Playstation PS1
— — — — — + Space_Invaders_cheeat-with-double-shot
— — — — — — + Missile Command Atari
— — — — — + Buchanan & Goodman – The Flying Saucer
C.) [047:34 mark] ~ Towa Tei – Butterfly (EP Version)
D.) [049:29 mark] ~ Towa Tei – CHATR Lost Control Mix 1999 (bonus track)
06.) Tatsuhiko-FPM-YMCK-Faries – Barnacle Goose Monsters Enter The Sea! (mix)
A.) [051:19 mark] ~ Tatsuhiko Asano – Baranacle Goose
— + Speed Racer – The Man Behind The Mask
— — + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — — + Godzilla vs Destroyah and Godzilla vs Space Godzilla
— — — — + Godzilla_vs_mothra_1964_06 – MOTH-BABIES
B.) [054:17 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – One Minute Of Love
C.) [055:07 mark] ~ YMCK – Socopogogo (YMCK version)
— + Godzilla vs Mothra 1964 (Godzilla Drifts Back Into The Sea!)
D.) [058:39 mark] ~ Godzilla vs Mothra 1964 (The Twin Fairies Sing)
07.) Yamashirogumi-Faries-Pizzicato+ – Lose Your Way Requiem (mix)
A.) [059:55 mark] ~ Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Requiem (by Yamashiro Shoji)
— + die fantastischen vier – der krieger
B.) [067:30 mark] ~ Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) (The Twin Fairies Return!)
— + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954)
— — + Godzilla vs Mothra (1964)
— — — + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954)
C.) [070:15 mark] ~ Pizzicato Five – Satellite Hour
— + Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira Tokyo S.O.S. (Giant Warms Surfacing)
— — + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
D.) [070:45 mark] ~ Nicolay – Lose Your Way
— + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954) (Godzilla is
approaching AGAIN!!)
08.) Nicolay-Sgafull-Capsule-FPM – Bachelor Pad Near Shibuya Station (mix)
A.) [071:16 mark] ~ Nicolay – Shibuya Station
— + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954) (Godzilla is
approaching AGAIN!!)
— — + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956)
— — — + Arcade BERZERK 1980 Stern
B.) [073:54 mark] ~ Sgafull King – Save You Love (Cubimix)
C.) [075:17 mark] ~ Capsule – Runway
D.) [076:20 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – Bachelor Pad (f.p.m edit)
09.) FPM-Cubismo Grafico – Whistling To The Fairytale Of Escape (mix)
A.) [079:41 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – The Whistle Song
— + Towa Tei – I Want to Relax…OK…
— — + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954)
— — — + Seven Samurai (1954)
— — — — + Centipede – 1980 – Arcade Box
— — — — — + Shinjuku (Subway) Station Human Traffic
B.) [087:52 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – Pura Saudade (Optiganally Mix)
— + Metro Tokyo (Squeezing into the train)
— — + Speed Racer – The Man Behind The Mask
C.) [092:07 mark] ~ Cubismo Grafico – Fairytale Of Escape (Only Paradise Remix)
— + Shinjuku (Subway) Station Human Traffic
— — + Metro Tokyo (Squeezing into the train)
10.) Erast-Usagai-Eletel-FPM-Pizzicato – Desktop Adventure Voyages
through Argentina (mix)
A.) [098:07 mark] ~ Erast – Argentina
B.) [099:39 mark] ~ Usagi Chang – Opening
C.) [100:11 mark] ~ Elektel – Desktop Music Adventure
D.) [104:09 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – Bon Voyage
E.) [104:17 mark] ~ Pizzicato Five – Trailer (Trailer Mambo Music
Novophonic Remix)
11.) Takemura-Sunahara-Pizzicato+ – The Lovebeat Signs Of Children’s Songs (mix)
A.) [106:16 mark] ~ Nobukazu Takemura – sign (Part 1)
— + Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira Tokyo S.O.S. (Repairing Mega Godzilla)
— — + Holger Hiller – Pulver
B.) [108:19 mark] ~ Yoshinori Sunahara – Count Down
— + Nomiya Maki – Interlude 2
— — + Holger Hiller-EU – children’s Puerto songs Mix
C.) [109:15 mark] ~ Pizzicato Five – Lesson 3003
— + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954) (What shall we do?)
D.) [109:40 mark] ~ Nobukazu Takemura – Sign (Part 2)
— + Godzilla – King of the Monsters! (1956) (Tokyo Harbor)
E.) [110:50 mark] ~ Yoshinori Sunahara – Love Beat
12.) Sunahara-Tei-Hammond-FPM-Nomiya+ – I’m Bruce At The Discoteque
And That’s All! (mix)
A.) [111:20 mark] ~ Yoshinori Sunahara – Clipper’s Discoteque Break
B.) [111:59 mark] ~ Towa Tei – Mars
A.) [112:41 mark] ~ Le Hammond – Try To Overcome Your Speach Defects
— + Godzilla Final Wars (2004) – (Godzilla – You Must Forgive!)
C.) [112:59 mark] ~ Fantastic Plastic Machine – I’m Bruce (Dimension 5 Mega Mix)
A.) [114:01 mark] ~ Maki Nomiya – Nicole
— + Gojira (Godzilla) (1954) (Godzilla Trying To Communicate!)
D.) [114:36 mark] ~ Chappie – The International Chappie’s Cheer-Leading Team
E.) [115:52 mark] ~ Yasuharu and Pizzicato Five – It’s A Small World
[disneyland mix]
— + Yshinori Sunahara – Enjoy a Great New Taste 21-MiX
— — + Cubismo Grafico – Avec Gill (outro)
— — — + Pizzicato Five – Rock’n'Roll (Thats All DJ)
— — — — + Godzilla Final Wars (2004) – (Systems are shutt down)
— — — + Gojira (Godzilla – Japanese Version) (1954) (Godzilla Saying Goodbye)
— — — + Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1995) (Godzillas Final Cry)
+ Godzilla – Tokyo S.O.S. 2003 – Godzilla Return To The Sea (The
Fairies Speak One Last Time)
In conjunction with “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.”in November 2003, Bandai released its first Megaro-Goji figure, which represented Godzilla from 1973-1975. One of Bandai’s most anticipated releases, this particular figure was from 1974’s “Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla” and is part of the company’s 6-inch “Movie Monster Series”. Following suit with the high demand of the figure, it quickly sold out in Japan, making it difficult for American dealers to obtain large quantities. As usual the detail and accuracy is on par or exceeds the usual Bandai quality. Standing around 6-inches, it perfectly mimics the personality of the Megaro-Goji suit through the intense look preserved on the sculpted facial features. Bandai sprayed highlights from the chest to the belly, followed by the knees, toenails, and dorsal plates. Its tag features Godzilla during his battle with MechaGodzilla. The inside of the tag featured something much different: Bandai's toy line-up for "Godzilla X MechaGodzilla".
The figure went on to be released three more times. It was first released as two different figures in the 2004’s Godzilla 50th Memorial Box Set. The first figure represented 1974’s MechaGodzilla as the disguised Godzilla from a scene in the film. Using the previous year’s mold, Bandai sculpted a new right arm revealing MechaGodzilla’s titanium armor, exposing the robot to the real Godzilla. Bandai used light blue highlights on the armor section. Following Bandai’s first creative attempt at re-using the 1974 mold, they produced Godzilla 1975, while sculpting a new head and making the figure in green vinyl. The third and final Megaro-Goji release was paired with a repaint of 2002’s Titanosaurus release in a Toy’s Dream Project set. In addition to being done in black vinyl with green highlights, the figure’s vinyl is much softer than the Godzilla 50th Anniversary Box Set version.
Godzilla 1974 remains a collector favorite and one of Bandai’s finest releases.
Freakin`awesome TRENDMASTERS 1997 TOY FAIR Displays!! Godzilla Doom Island & Gamera. Two scarce lines indeed. Nice to see the Doom Island Anguirus, KUMONGA, the 9-Pack Figure Set, and of course the 4`Destroyah (in the top right corner of the left side image, which is the very same one in my collection, and posted on here). And we mustn`t forget to mention, the only image I have seen before of the Kamacarus prototype.
1995 would mark the end of the Heisei chapter in Godzilla's lifespan with the big guy's death through meltdown in "Godzilla vs. Destroyah". Bandai took full advantage of this unique event and produced four wonderful figures, and for the first time, a theater exclusive figure. These four figures were Burning Godzilla, Adult Destroyah, Aggregate Destroyah, and Godzilla Junior. In theaters, Bandai's mold for Burning Godzilla would be made in traunslucent orange vinyl with red highlights to represent the big G's last moments before dying in the film. The tags folded and each featured a picture of the monster the toy represents and then the advance art work for the film on the back. Inside, the tag advertised Godzilla's death in the film with bold capitalization of "GODZILLA DIES" and art work of Godzilla fighting Destroyah.
This figure was important for two reasons. It was the first Godzilla figure to feature soft vinyl, which is a technique Bandai continues to this day. This was done to promote child safety. Secondly, it was the first new mold for Godzilla since 1992's Bato-Goji figure. Bandai's Burning Godzilla was striking at the time of its release and still is to this day. The figure was molded in a dark, charcol-colored vinyl with orange highlights to represent Godzilla burning. The figure is over 9 inches tall, standing much taller than his opponent Adult Destroyah. Bandai would continue on to reissue the mold several more times; first as a theater exclusive and then two times in the "Godzilla Forever" series. It was then shrunk down to 6 inches and used in their "Movie Monsters" line. They then fashioned three 6 inch designs after the theater exclusive and "Godzilla Forever" figures for an exclusive Bandai Museum line. Next, the figure would be used in the Godzilla 50th Memorial Box and then for a Toys Dream Project set.
Bandai released three tagged figures as well as two boxed figures for the movie "Godzilla vs. Mothra". The tagged figures were the larval version of Battra and Mothra and a new mold of Godzilla. The boxed figures were the adult forms of Battra and Mothra. The tags on the Battra larva, Mothra larva, and Godzilla feature the poster for the movie on the front and various information in Japanese on the back as well as the character's name. Bandai followed suit in creating single tags for its 1992 figures. It should be noted that the poster featured on the tags is not the advance version, while the poster used on the tags of all other Heisei figures was the advance.
Battra larva is very detailed and an excellent addition to anyone's kaiju collection. Bandai highlighted the figure with gold on the horns and dark pink on the belly and back. The eyes are painted orange and various other parts of the figures in an almost crimson red. Unfortunately, Battra is out of scale with the other two tagged figures. It is much smaller than the Mothra larva figure and is much too short to be in scale with the Godzilla figure. In the movie, the monster was much larger than Mothra and was nearly equal in height to Godzilla. Ironically enough, it is almost in scale with the 6 inch Heisei Godzilla figure released in 1998, which is a scaled down version of the Godzilla figure produced for this movie! In Japan, the figure originally sold for 1,200 yen, which is around $12 dollars. Now, Battra larva is one of the more difficult figures to find with its original tag attached and in good condition. Prices for this figure have sky-rocketed to over $100 and new collectors are lucky to find it for less than that.
Ultraman Mebius is one of my all time favorite Ultras, and this is why:
The Heisei era of Japan came with a major impact on Kaiju culture. Gamera was rebooted into a dark and gritty trilogy of films. Godzilla produced my favorite line of movies starting with Godzilla 1984 and ending with Godzilla vs Destroyah, a set of movies that had a solid continuity, reoccuring characters, well defined powers and the worst set of time travel rules to exsist in fiction.
For Ultraman, the original loose continuity that started with Ultraman was brought to a close with Ultraman 80. The Heisei era brought us a new continuity with Ultraman Tiga and Dyna. And another new continuity with Ultraman Cosmos. And again with Max which brought back two of the main stars from Ultraman in different roles. Almost every Ultraman of that time frame had its own continuity.
Then they brought us Ultraman Mebius, and a return to the original continuity in a very deliberate way. The defense team would research the monsters they had to fight and reference the past defense teams that had encountered them. They even had flashbacks to people flying the old Science Patrol space ships... and told us exactly what Zoffy has been doing out there in the solar system. From this point on, every Ultra series is again part of a continuous continuity. MCU, eat your heart out. Okay... Neos was supposed to be his own separate continuity, but thanks to the Great Ultra Galaxy Battles even he has been pulled into the main continuity. It took some dimensional hopping, but Tigga, Dyna and Cosmos are also in the group scenes on the Land of Light in Nebula M78.
Mebius took the name because he liked the sound of the word Mobius Loop. Like Ultraseven, he did not merge with a human, but adapted the human appearance of a human man he admired but was unable to save. Mebius also started the series as a total rookie, hiding behind the buildings he should have been protecting, but over the course of the series he, and his team grew and became proper defenders of the earth. Halfway through his series he did a movie that was a crossover with all the classic Ultras, and then near the end of his series each of the classic ultras had episodes that they featured in, providing experiences that would bind the team for the final battle.
I really did have a great b-day today and I woke up to many b-day wishes from our friends here on DA, so thank you guy & gals so much!!
My wife and I woke up early this morning and after we got our computers fired up, she brought in my presents! However, I had already gotten two presents from her yesterday. She bought me the PS4 remastered edition of Skyrim! Also. she knew I was having problems with my feet and she bought me new work shoes! She is so sweet.
The first gift I opened was a totally unexpected video game called "Holy Diver" for the NES. I never heard of it but upon reading the game description, I quickly caught all the heavy metal references! I popped it in my Retro-Trio game machine and Holy Diver worked! Such a unique gift! Next, I opened the one Godzilla figure I wanted most on my wish list! "S.H. Monster Arts Godzilla 2001"! He's beautiful and very pose able. My fav Godzilla design post Destroyah. She also got me replacement car seat covers for my truck, Bruce. Our friend Allison sent me a cute card with some art on it! Thanks!
We went out for breakfast at Cracker barrel and I played Skyrim (as Thagirion) for a while, then we went to Lowes to get some supplies. She drove me to a nice restaurant where we met my parents and they treated us to a YUMMY steak and prime rib dinner! They both got me nice cards with two $50 Visa gift cards! My wife then drove us home and we had fun rocking out in her jeep and talking! All in all it was a great b-day. Thank you everyone!
And it's flying!
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2013/09/20/life-in-plastic-toy-review-destor...
1995 would mark the end of the Heisei chapter in Godzilla's lifespan with the big guy's death through meltdown in "Godzilla vs. Destroyah". Bandai took full advantage of this unique event and produced four wonderful figures, and for the first time, a theater exclusive figure. These four figures were Burning Godzilla, Adult Destroyah, Aggregate Destroyah, and Godzilla Junior. In theaters, Bandai's mold for Burning Godzilla would be made in traunslucent orange vinyl with red highlights to represent the big G's last moments before dying in the film. The tags folded and each featured a picture of the monster the toy represents and then the advance art work for the film on the back. Inside, the tag advertised Godzilla's death in the film with bold capitalization of "GODZILLA DIES" and art work of Godzilla fighting Destroyah.
This figure was important for two reasons. It was the first Godzilla figure to feature soft vinyl, which is a technique Bandai continues to this day. This was done to promote child safety. Secondly, it was the first new mold for Godzilla since 1992's Bato-Goji figure. Bandai's Burning Godzilla was striking at the time of its release and still is to this day. The figure was molded in a dark, charcol-colored vinyl with orange highlights to represent Godzilla burning. The figure is over 9 inches tall, standing much taller than his opponent Adult Destroyah. Bandai would continue on to reissue the mold several more times; first as a theater exclusive and then two times in the "Godzilla Forever" series. It was then shrunk down to 6 inches and used in their "Movie Monsters" line. They then fashioned three 6 inch designs after the theater exclusive and "Godzilla Forever" figures for an exclusive Bandai Museum line. Next, the figure would be used in the Godzilla 50th Memorial Box and then for a Toys Dream Project set.
I know Destoroyah is tough, but this might be too much.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2013/09/20/life-in-plastic-toy-review-destor...