Monster Discussion #32: Gigan (Showa)

[LegendZilla]

Happy belated 50th anniversary Gigan!

[Gojira 41mk11]

Gigan is my favorite monster, and furthermore my favorite fictional character. His design just so strange and ridiculous, but also one of the coolest out there. And his personality makes that design just so much fun to watch. Gigan is brutal, tearing his foes apart with his abundance of sharp weapons, and he’s having a great time doing it. The sheer contrast of a buzzsaw going through Anguirus’ face, blood flying everywhere, and Gigan hopping around and clapping his hooks is a sight to behold, and it works so well. He’s the best part of Godzilla vs Gigan monster-wise, admittedly mostly because his suit looks much nicer than the others and they couldn’t use stock footage for him, and watching him pal around with Megalon brings me so much joy. Even when I feel like garbage watching him makes me that much happier. Hell, even just thinking about his violent shenanigans makes me happier. I still need to watch the rest of Zone Fighter (waiting for my friends to feel up to it), but I hope he’s every bit as great in that as he is in his two movies.

TL;DR: Praise Gigan

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Gigan is my favorite monster, and furthermore my favorite fictional character. His design just so strange and ridiculous, but also one of the coolest out there. And his personality makes that design just so much fun to watch. Gigan is brutal, tearing his foes apart with his abundance of sharp weapons, and he’s having a great time doing it. The sheer contrast of a buzzsaw going through Anguirus’ face, blood flying everywhere, and Gigan hopping around and clapping his hooks is a sight to behold, and it works so well. He’s the best part of Godzilla vs Gigan monster-wise, admittedly mostly because his suit looks much nicer than the others and they couldn’t use stock footage for him, and watching him pal around with Megalon brings me so much joy. Even when I feel like garbage watching him makes me that much happier. Hell, even just thinking about his violent shenanigans makes me happier. I still need to watch the rest of Zone Fighter (waiting for my friends to feel up to it), but I hope he’s every bit as great in that as he is in his two movies.

TL;DR: Praise Gigan

I'll drink to that, praise Gigan What'd ya think of the two Gigan short films?

[Gojira 41mk11]

I wasn't a fan of Godzilla vs Gigan Rex but I loved Gigan Attacks. I was smiling the whole time I watched it.

[godjacob]

Gigan is a classic monster, fun personality and an icon of the Godzilla series at this point.

[edgaguirus]

The Godzilla roster has some unique designs, but Gigan hammers (claw) the competition with his strange design. Gigan's rampage as he gleefully wrecks the city is one of the best parts of the film.

[MVHutch]

This might be a hot take, but while I like Gigan, I don't think he's especially powerful. he loses twice to Godzilla while he has a partner, the first time someone who used to be able to take Godzilla and other monsters alone

Other problems aside, Godzilla vs Gigan would've benefited from Godzilla and Anguirus fighting Gigan alone.

[JAGzilla]

No, Gigan isn't all that powerful. His saw is lethal, but he's too much of a bumbling chump to fight really effectively. He wastes time and toys with his enemies instead of going for the kill. That's a good thing in my book. I appreciate some kaiju that are incompetent or don't live up to their potential. It adds variety and realism to their characters. I was very happy with Skar King for that reason.

[edgaguirus]

When as enemy is down or at a disadvantage, Gigan seems to take a sadistic pleasure in attacking them. He just dares Anguirus to charge into his saw. It gives him some personality.

[godjacob]

Gigan was never portrayed as a super powerful Kaiju, he was basically an advanced cyborg bully. He was sadistic and gleeful when he had backup or an advantage on his opponents, but the moments the tides turned he was always the first to bail leaving his allies to fend for themselves.

He's basically a more capable Gabara, and it works.

[MVHutch]

Is being a less capable Gabara even possible?