Origin of Godzilla 1954

[Godzillian]

So this image and story is in a Toho guide book and has just been translated. It's pretty much the origin of Godzilla 1954 that goes from his "birth" to his attack on Tokyo.

Spoiler:

"Godzilla and his kind resided within an underwater cave deep within the South Pacific Ocean.
Their location residing near areas of coral reef. They would only
leave the cave to hunt and feed on fish and whales. However, Godzilla's kind are wiped out by a hydrogen bomb testing, leaving an injured and enraged Godzilla as the sole survivor. Forced from his habitat, Godzilla lurked the ocean depths.
A boat of human passengers cross Godzilla's path, to which is destroyed and sunken by the monster's rage. Following the route the destroyed ship had traveled from, Godzilla would sink more ships and boats before arriving to Odo Island and encountering mankind. Godzilla would later march North until attracted by the lights of a major city. Godzilla would then make landfall in Tokyo."
Got this from Gormaru Island

[Ivo-goji]

Basically, what Dr.Yamane said then.

Who'd athought?

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Huh always thought Godzilla even the 1954 version (Barring the 2016 one) tanked nukes like they were nothing. Guess not.....

[edgaguirus]

Godzilla has excellent motivation for attacking man.

[F4ZaTE_X]

Godzilla has excellent motivation for attacking man.

Yeah he did. Here I always thought the original Godzilla was lust plain evil.

I was wrong.

Any explanation why the Heisei Godzilla went from randomly deciding to rampage Tokyo to becoming a father and getting a Red-Spiral Ray?

[kamilleblu]

I guess that confirms Godzilla has no relation to the creature that the inhabitants of Odo Island sacrificed virgin girls to. Always figured that Godzilla was more of a natural creature and exposure to years of radiation altered him drastically (scarring his flesh, increasing his size, endowing him with plasma breath). In his agony, he rose from the depths and followed ships back to Japan and there he came ashore. Guess not.

[Ivo-goji]

It's possible the island folk had seen members of Godzilla's species near their shores and this inspired their legend.

[g2vd]

If that isn't artistic interpretation, that means Godzilla originally had smooth skin that's actually kinda cool.

[LSD Jellyfish]

How canonical is this if at all? It's been kinda what we thought for a while but it's cool that there's directly a confirmation of multiple gojis. Of course we've known this as Showa had two Godzillas (three if you count Minya) but it's always nice to get more supplemental backstory.

@g2vd: IIRC it's always been confirmed that Godzilla's skin was intended to look like it had been burned. However, think of a monster like Baragon, whose skin hasn't been burned. I suppose that's what he'd look like. Other incarnations of Godzilla, like Heisei or GFW have smoother skin comparatively as well.

[Lolitra]

""""""""sole"""""""" survivor




""""""""soul"""""""" survivor

[Godzillian]

""""""""sole"""""""" survivor




""""""""soul"""""""" survivor

It's poetry

[GodzillaRangerPrime]

I much prefer this origin over the Godzillasaurus one of the Heisei Era.

Well, maybe the Godzillasaurus species introduced in the Heisei era are amphibian creatures,
which is what the Showa Godzillas were a larger breed of before they got irradiated.

I like what Legendary did by having their Godzilla already irradiated and massive long before the modern era though.

[ProfessorBeats]

Wasn't the idea of multiple gojis always a thing?... GRA?... Then again, it says sole survivor, thus discounting GRA... Wait, when was this image published?

[eabaker]

Wasn't the idea of multiple gojis always a thing?... GRA?... Then again, it says sole survivor, thus discounting GRA... Wait, when was this image published?

Well, what's true in Gojira doesn't need to be true in GRA, and vice versa.

[Showa Gojira]

If that isn't artistic interpretation, that means Godzilla originally had smooth skin that's actually kinda cool.

That is pretty cool! It explains why Minya has such smooth skin compared to his Dad. He may have absorbed some Radiation during the weather experiment that went awry on Solgell island, but he wasn't scarred from being hit by an H-bomb like his old man was.

I always figured this was his origin, cool to get confirmed even if it is pretty sad. I always liked the idea of him already being a giant monster that was simply mutated by radiation. Him growing several times his size from a Godzillasaurus always seemed odd to me. Legendary Godzilla's origin is awesome as well and it makes me wonder, did Showa Godzilla have atomic breath before being irradiated or did he only gain the ability afterwards?

[eabaker]

If that isn't artistic interpretation, that means Godzilla originally had smooth skin that's actually kinda cool.

That is pretty cool! It explains why Minya has such smooth skin compared to his Dad. He may have absorbed some Radiation during the weather experiment that went awry on Solgell island, but he wasn't scarred from being hit by an H-bomb like his old man was.

I always figured this was his origin, cool to get confirmed even if it is pretty sad. I always liked the idea of him already being a giant monster that was simply mutated by radiation. Him growing several times his size from a Godzillasaurus always seemed odd to me. Legendary Godzilla's origin is awesome as well and it makes me wonder, did Showa Godzilla have atomic breath before being irradiated or did he only gain the ability afterwards?

Seeing as the stated intent of the atomic breath was to "make radiation visible," I think it's safe to assume that he did not have it beforehand.

[Showa Gojira]

If that isn't artistic interpretation, that means Godzilla originally had smooth skin that's actually kinda cool.

That is pretty cool! It explains why Minya has such smooth skin compared to his Dad. He may have absorbed some Radiation during the weather experiment that went awry on Solgell island, but he wasn't scarred from being hit by an H-bomb like his old man was.

I always figured this was his origin, cool to get confirmed even if it is pretty sad. I always liked the idea of him already being a giant monster that was simply mutated by radiation. Him growing several times his size from a Godzillasaurus always seemed odd to me. Legendary Godzilla's origin is awesome as well and it makes me wonder, did Showa Godzilla have atomic breath before being irradiated or did he only gain the ability afterwards?

Seeing as the stated intent of the atomic breath was to "make radiation visible," I think it's safe to assume that he did not have it beforehand.

Fair enough, Minya having a beam as strong as his father's despite not being exposed to as much radiation just made me wonder. Considering Godzilla absorbed lightning and used it as magnetism in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla it's possible the Godzilla species can absorb different sources of energy and use it in different ways. I could also see Godzilla having a heat ray like beam beforehand and it being enhance by radiation. After all Baragon isn't a radioactive mutant as far as we know and he still has a beam.

[eabaker]

That is pretty cool! It explains why Minya has such smooth skin compared to his Dad. He may have absorbed some Radiation during the weather experiment that went awry on Solgell island, but he wasn't scarred from being hit by an H-bomb like his old man was.

I always figured this was his origin, cool to get confirmed even if it is pretty sad. I always liked the idea of him already being a giant monster that was simply mutated by radiation. Him growing several times his size from a Godzillasaurus always seemed odd to me. Legendary Godzilla's origin is awesome as well and it makes me wonder, did Showa Godzilla have atomic breath before being irradiated or did he only gain the ability afterwards?

Seeing as the stated intent of the atomic breath was to "make radiation visible," I think it's safe to assume that he did not have it beforehand.

Fair enough, Minya having a beam as strong as his father's despite not being exposed to as much radiation just made me wonder. Considering Godzilla absorbed lightning and used it as magnetism in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla it's possible the Godzilla species can absorb different sources of energy and use it in different ways. I could also see Godzilla having a heat ray like beam beforehand and it being enhance by radiation. After all Baragon isn't a radioactive mutant as far as we know and he still has a beam.

Well, here is where I tend to go, "Hard continuity doesn't really apply to these movies." By the time of Son of Godzilla, the character had moved so far away from (certain aspects of) his original meaning that I think the literal details are open to different explanations. The intent in the original movie may have been to make radiation visible, but by the late 60s that blue beam was just an aspect of what Godzilla was like, largely divorced from Honda and company's specific intent in 1954.

[ProfessorBeats]

Wasn't the idea of multiple gojis always a thing?... GRA?... Then again, it says sole survivor, thus discounting GRA... Wait, when was this image published?

Well, what's true in Gojira doesn't need to be true in GRA, and vice versa.

Agreed, but that's why I asked when this image was published. If it's post-GRA, then none of this is really news, because it's clearly influenced - or at least contaminated - by the remainder of the franchise. It has no bearing on what the original intent was. It's still neat info from a Toho guidebook. Just was confused why we were all acting like this is new info, rather than retconned info meant to fit what we more or less already could surmise.

[Pkmatrix]

I much prefer this origin over the Godzillasaurus one of the Heisei Era.

Well, maybe the Godzillasaurus species introduced in the Heisei era are amphibian creatures,
which is what the Showa Godzillas were a larger breed of before they got irradiated.

I like what Legendary did by having their Godzilla already irradiated and massive long before the modern era though.

Actually, I see nothing here that directly contradicts the Heisei origin (other than the artists' interpretation of what Godzilla and his family looked like). If anything, this version of the origin clears up the big plothole/unanswered question left from the Heisei origin: where the heck did Godzillasaurus come from in the first place?

If we combine the two, it all fits quite nicely IMO.