Monster Discussion #61: Destoroyah

[GojiDog]

With the Heisei films, they generally sacrificed mobility for bulk and size, which has its positives and its negatives.

The monsters in the Heisei series look a lot more imposing and convey their size a lot easier than the monsters of the Showa era. I mean Destroyah, Mecha Ghidorah, Biollante, and Spacegodzilla look awesome to me and rank among some of my favorite designed kaiju in the entire franchise. But, you also lose a lot of the more intricate action you'd get from hand to hand combat and rely more on beams. But at the same time, it is slightly more realistic to have these slow moving bulky creatures and this avoided cheesier moves like Godzilla leaping all the way across the screen or doing a gravity defying dropkick. So again, six in one, half a dozen in the other.

Its a personal taste thing, as well as relating to the time they were made. Things like Godzilla's dropkick kind of fit in the 70s, but would get laughed off the screen in the 90s. The beam wars kind of fit in the 90s, but nowadays, people want something a bit more physical.

[kamilleblu]

Kawakita ran into a slightly less severe case of the Ultraman Powered effect. Impressive designs or suits with extremely limited practicality. He course-corrected too far from the Showa films and his excessive light shows were probably an attempt to distract from how dull his fights would have been otherwise.

[godjacob]

Easily the best Kaiju introduced in the Heisei canon and one of the best Kaiju in the entire franchise.

His design is fantastic, and even if his bulky appearance hinders its fighting somewhat they did try to work around it as best they could. With flight and a long tail on top of an energy horn to not make him totally useless in hand to hand combat. Especially compared to previous Kaiju in the canon a la SpaceGodzilla & Mechagodzilla. The multi-form evolution is a cool concept and each one is unique with the final form a truly imposing figure.

His backstory was genius, tying into the OG Godzilla in an organic way and being a fitting closure to the Heisei story tying the last film in that canon with the first film in the franchise.

His abilities are cool, basically a weaponized Oxygen Destroyer and he was a worthy foe even with Godzilla having a meltdown boost. A cruel personality and sadistic style made him all the more memorable and added that emotional punch to the fight after he killed Junior and later attacked Godzilla while in morning.

Just...a fantastic Kaiju. One of my favs of all time.

[Follinollante]

Just thought I'd comment on each form in particular, from least favorite to favorite.

5 (Micro Form): Not much to say here. We do get some really cool, suspenseful moments, though, involving these little dudes, not least of which is when they chew out of the beaker.

4 (Flying Form): Not too exciting. It just doesn't really do a whole lot. Props to Destoroyah, though, for being able to almost instantaneously swap between a grounded battle form and an airborne, agile form.

3 (Final): Sadly, it's too bulky to do itself justice (as others have pointed out, the poor man can barely move), but it's cool nonetheless. While I would have hoped for more of the Laser Horn, I'm glad it wasn't overused. That being said, he totally screwed himself over in not using it to finish Godzilla. It also would have been nice to have the Stomach Beam, as its absence makes the suit design feel like it left a lot out; it might have been too many abilities, though.

2 (Juvenile Form): Very cool. It was quite refreshing to have a more human-scale kaiju for once. I haven't seen Aliens (that's what everyone seems to compare it to) but the scene where they have overrun the building is absolutely fantastic. These guys are just plain cool.

1 (Aggregate): I actually like this form the best, mainly because it's not just a suit, and it's not just a prop; it's a combination of both ala Biollante. Its mobility and power are also quite frightening if you think about it. It looks like it shouldn't be able to jump the way it does, and as for power, this isn't his final form, after all. The effects for Aggregate are probably the best that Destoroyah gets throughout the film, and it's just a cool design, with a really fun fight to boot.

'Twas a fun kaiju overall, and my first taste of Godzilla's Heisei opponents (yeah, I watched the last film first).

[MVHutch]

I enjoy Destroya, but I feel like he didn't need to be that big, since he was going to lose anyways. Much like Gigan, he doesn't seem quite so powerful

He is creepy looking though, and both his roar and his musical motif are great

[edgaguirus]

Destroyah's theme does have that menace factor needed for a character that looks demonic.

[MVHutch]

Destroyah's theme does have that menace factor needed for a character that looks demonic.

exactly. probably the most menace of any Heisei daikaiju theme. very apocalyptic

[Legion1979]

I'll never understand the love for the Destroyer theme. It's literally just one of Ifukube's familiar 60s motifs (used for Baragon and Mechanikongs theme and the monster assembly theme in DAM) and a takeoff of the Ghidorah theme smashed together and punctuated with some bombastic horn blasts.

[JAGzilla]

Eh, the '60s motifs still sound good in the '90s, and bombastic horn blasts are cool. Even if it isn't the most original theme ever, it gets the job done.

It would have been nice if Destoroyah could have gotten an epic new theme on the level of the MG93 theme, though. But being as ultimately pointless as he was in the movie, a full new theme might not have felt worth the trouble...

[MVHutch]

I'll never understand the love for the Destroyer theme. It's literally just one of Ifukube's familiar 60s motifs (used for Baragon and Mechanikongs theme and the monster assembly theme in DAM) and a takeoff of the Ghidorah theme smashed together and punctuated with some bombastic horn blasts.

For me it's different enough and recorded with enough bombast for me to overlook that. it's more different from Mechani-Kong's motif than that is from Baragon's (although I like all 3 a lot)

Eh, the '60s motifs still sound good in the '90s, and bombastic horn blasts are cool. Even if it isn't the most original theme ever, it gets the job done.

It would have been nice if Destoroyah could have gotten an epic new theme on the level of the MG93 theme, though. But being as ultimately pointless as he was in the movie, a full new theme might not have felt worth the trouble...

Lol, pointless? I do agree Heisei MechaG has the best new theme in the Heisei era, but I wonder why Ifukube didn't revive the Showa theme

and I definitely prefer most of the Heisei re-dos of the Showa themes

[Legion1979]

...but I wonder why Ifukube didn't revive the Showa theme

The one from Terror of Mechagodzilla? Why would he have done that, considering the Heisei MG is a completely different take on the character than the 70s version.

[MVHutch]

The one from Terror of Mechagodzilla? Why would he have done that, considering the Heisei MG is a completely different take on the character than the 70s version.

True but so was King Ghidorah

even Godzilla's theme was used both while he was a hero and while he was a villain

[Legion1979]

King Ghidora was still the movies bad guy, despite the new origin.

The Heisei MG is so fundamentally different than the Showa version that using the same music wouldn't have made sense.

[MVHutch]

KG was a bad guy until he turned into MechaKG. And his origin is still quite different than his Showa version

I can see now why Ifukube changed it, but I don't think keeping the same theme would've been a bad idea

[Legion1979]

The Heisei MG was a weapon of the self defense force and was depicted as the hero of the movie. Using the slow, ominous, villian theme from Terror of Mechagodzilla wouldn't have fit.