Unpopular Godzilla Opinions

[Legion1979]

I'm assuming they just lifted the suit up on wires, but the timing of doing that and getting the actor to kick his legs at the same time must have taken a lot of coordination. And unlike KKE where the jump kicks are done in extreme close up or a rather clumsy medium shot, this one let's you take everything in. It's the very definition of a money shot. The perfectly chosen sound effect of Goro's feet slamming on Ghidorah's back really bringing the whole thing home.

[Logan268]

I don't think King Caesar and Megalon get enough love as they currently have. They deserve more respect and are some of the most iconic kaiju Toho has ever conceived outside of the Big 5.

[EarthNeronga]

Ultra Monsters> Godzilla Monsters In terms of how they are used properly

[Carrerasaurus]

A few months ago I saw Gorosaurus comfortably lead a popularity poll that Megalon and Heisei Moguera were also in. The loyalty of Goro's fans is unbreakable.

I try to avoid undervaluing kaiju that are essentially real life animals scaled up in size, I don't believe that just because a kaiju lacks flashy superpowers it automatically means they're bland or boring, but I personally have never cared about Gorosaurus. I might be exaggerating and the overuse of dinosaurs might not be nearly as severe as I think it is, but I view dinosaurs as very present in media in general. This plays a huge factor in my opinion on Gorosaurus - I don't see enough uniqueness in him. His kangaroo kick is neat and helps him stand out more, but it's still not enough for me.
Admittedly, I haven't watched King Kong Escapes yet, so my opinion on Gorosaurus is based on his screen time in Destroy All Monsters.

Ebirah, a kaiju that could be simply described as a giant lobster with no superpowers, has become one of my favorites in the series even long before I watched his debut film, solely because he's one of a kind. Besides Ebirah, have you ever seen any other giant lobster anywhere? Even if you did (what kind of obscure lost media are you consuming), I guarantee you have not seen it nearly as much as giant dinosaurs.

[Logan268]

Godzilla vs Gigan Rex is better than half of the Godzilla movies

[CyberZilla]

Godzilla vs Gigan Rex is better than half of the Godzilla movies

Ooo, that’s a spicy one. I’m curious about your reasons.

[Dv-218]

Godzilla vs Gigan Rex is better than half of the Godzilla movies

[LSD Jellyfish]

Godzilla vs Gigan Rex is better than half of the Godzilla movies

No pesky plots, humans, or duende in the way!


Sarcasm aside, I can at least understand if they are reffering to it being better in terms of action. I'll still disagree, but I do think that short had some fantastic fight chereography and despite it's length felt very satisfying as the fight had zero interuptions. It's worth remembering that the entire sequence (Gigan Miles vs. Godzilla and Gigan Rex vs. Godzilla) are longer than a few of the fights in the series.

[JAGzilla]

Rampage: Universal Tour had a giant humanoid lobster named Ruby, but that's the only other example I can think of. Of course, strictly speaking, I think Ebirah is supposed to be a shrimp, so...

Ultra Monsters> Godzilla Monsters In terms of how they are used properly

This is a bold one. Care to explain?

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

The Godzilla vs Gigan Rex short is cool, it's a treat I'm glad exists. We have still barely had any interesting animated Godzilla fights(involving Big G himself), which is crazy to say after two anime projects. But man, I definitely find myself rewatching the tokusatsu short way more. It's just more up my alley. Just a normal Godziller vs Gaigan brawl with a nice rhythm to it that ends with a "Oh shit!" moment.

Ohhhhh Tohooooo, you know TsuPro has a recent Jirass suit...just borrow that and tweak it into Showa Godzilla It'll save you a few bucks for Megalon's 50th...

[JVM]

A few months ago I saw Gorosaurus comfortably lead a popularity poll that Megalon and Heisei Moguera were also in. The loyalty of Goro's fans is unbreakable.

I try to avoid undervaluing kaiju that are essentially real life animals scaled up in size, I don't believe that just because a kaiju lacks flashy superpowers it automatically means they're bland or boring, but I personally have never cared about Gorosaurus. I might be exaggerating and the overuse of dinosaurs might not be nearly as severe as I think it is, but I view dinosaurs as very present in media in general. This plays a huge factor in my opinion on Gorosaurus - I don't see enough uniqueness in him. His kangaroo kick is neat and helps him stand out more, but it's still not enough for me.
Admittedly, I haven't watched King Kong Escapes yet, so my opinion on Gorosaurus is based on his screen time in Destroy All Monsters.

Ebirah, a kaiju that could be simply described as a giant lobster with no superpowers, has become one of my favorites in the series even long before I watched his debut film, solely because he's one of a kind. Besides Ebirah, have you ever seen any other giant lobster anywhere? Even if you did (what kind of obscure lost media are you consuming), I guarantee you have not seen it nearly as much as giant dinosaurs.

If the kangaroo kick isn't doing it for you, then nothing will. King Kong Escapes isn't likely to help a great deal; his fandom popularity is more based on DAM. For me, the fact he is a normal dinosaur in a world full of special creatures gives him a bit of an 'everyman' appeal. I don't know how much sense that makes, but seeing a normal dinosaur alongside the powerful and irradiated superstar kaiju like Godzilla and Anguirus, feels like the kaiju equivalent of seeing a human fighting alongside superheroes, and the fact he manges to overshadow some famous kaiju like Baragon in fighting alongside Godzilla adds to that feeling. I don't think that's going to change your mind into suddenly liking the guy but I hope that adds a little more depth to what some might see in him.

I've never seen a giant lobster in a live-action work at all (Mysterious Island has a giant crab though) but crustacean monsters, giant, small or otherwise are one of the more common non-dinosaur 'stock monsters' in animated shows alongside gorillas and blobs. The individual examples would all seem obscure and more blink-and-you-miss-it (ie Jumbo Shrimp from SpongeBob) and it's arguable some or many examples may be based on Ebirah, of course (there are some here) so I don't exactly disagree with your point that Ebirah is unique and definitely dinosaurs outrank crustaceans in these things.

[godjacob]

I just find Gorosaurus charming. It's a giant dinosaur who can do kangaroo kicks and was a standout in a fight with King Ghidorah and some of Toho's biggest names.

[EarthNeronga]

Rampage: Universal Tour had a giant humanoid lobster named Ruby, but that's the only other example I can think of. Of course, strictly speaking, I think Ebirah is supposed to be a shrimp, so...

Ultra Monsters> Godzilla Monsters In terms of how they are used properly

This is a bold one. Care to explain?

Nearly every Kaiju in the Godzilla series besides the big 5 and Gigan havent returned for a long time and dont have that much appearences


Titanosaurus? 1

Megalon 1

Jet Jaguar 1

Biollante 1

Fricken destoroyah 1


nearly every monster gets 1 2 or at the most 3 appearences including cameos


then the ultra series has alot of monsters that should definitely make a comeback (Kingsaurus,Giras brothers,Black End,Silverbloome,Geronimon,Lunaticks,Astromons,Mukadender and a few more come to mind)

but they use the other kaiju pretty well actually


all these kaiju have multiple appearance's

Gomora,Red King,Eleking,King Joe,Zetton,Neronga,Antlar,pigmon,Golza,Zeppandon,Galcatron,Gomess,Verokron,Vakishim,Doragory,Lunaticks,Telesdon,Sadora,Bemular,Baltan,zarab,Guts,metron.Gubila and Saramandora

they even brought back several other kaiju like pestar,aboras and banila,Geomos, Mons-ahgar,Takkong,Gymaira and even fricken Chandlar

and theres alot more

so tsubuyra treats their kaiju way better then what Toho does

[LSD Jellyfish]

That nonsensicality ignores the elephant in the room: Ultraman is a serialized tv production that produces around 20-40 episodes a year. Of course monsters are going to be reused often.

Continuing, even ignoring the reason why a comparison is ludicrous is that I wouldn’t consider being used once equating to being used poorly. Perhaps sans cutting the animated finale of the fight, Biollante is one of the best executed monsters in the franchise, both narratively and technically. Biollante is tied directly into the plot with Shinigami and the ANEB, as well as directly to Godzilla as she shares his DNA. The shots of Rose Form in the lake, crying out to Godzilla/the unknown, is one of the moodiest moments in the entire genre I think.

The fact that Toho hasn’t brought back many of the monsters, sans minor weird roles like in GFW, shows restraint and understanding for them. They understand that many of the monsters are unique representations of the mindset and creative period they were made in. It would be nonsensical to throw King Shisa back in a movie that didn’t have any explicit connection to Okinawa. Why forcefully bring back Megalon or Titanosaurus, without a specific plot reason? I love Hedorah, and would love to see it again, but unless the film is explicitly tied into environmental theming I don’t want it to show up like some random mook (like GFW).

And also, lol, JJ played a pretty substantial role in Godzilla Singular Point, basically being the “protagonist monster”. Worth mentioning that it was a pretty well-executed update.

Ultimately Toho’s expanded media has filled in the gaps nicely too. Pretty much all the major Godzilla games have satisfying rosters, and the IDW comics have really expanded Godzilla’s lore and monster roster. If you think that some monsters are misused, read Rulers of Earth, some entires of Rivals, and Rage Across Time, and come back to me.

[Dyrakro]

Nearly every Kaiju in the Godzilla series besides the big 5 and Gigan havent returned for a long time and dont have that much appearences

nearly every monster gets 1 2 or at the most 3 appearences including cameos

then the ultra series has alot of monsters that should definitely make a comeback (Kingsaurus,Giras brothers,Black End,Silverbloome,Geronimon,Lunaticks,Astromons,Mukadender and a few more come to mind)

but they use the other kaiju pretty well actually

so tsubuyra treats their kaiju way better then what Toho does

Idk mate, I mean the main reason so many kaiju return in Ultra Series is more of a budget thing. Unlike Godzilla who usually got one movie per year and usually needs 2-4 suits max to be created, Ultraman has a whole season with at least 25+ kaijus each year. Considering they have such a huge amount of slots to fill, they also have to actually come up with new kaiju ideas. And after a history of over 55+ years with up to 1000+ kaijus, seijins and variations it surely ain't easy to always come up with something new.

Also of course they reuse kaijus because they know that some are part of their pop-culture and very recognizable.

With that being said, I am glad Toho quite often preferred to reward us with fully new kaijus if they didn't just fill a slot by using Mothra, KG or MG. Most kaijus are very much connected to a special kind of background history and rehashing a certain storyline just to bring back Megalon or Biollante would be pretty boring. Better prefer to get a new kaiju with a new story imo.

[Legion1979]

I feel like there's a significant chunk of fans who'd love to see Biollante, Space Godzilla or Destroyer show up in movies constantly, even if made no sense or devalued their original appearances.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I feel like there's a significant chunk of fans who'd love to see Biollante, Space Godzilla or Destroyer show up in movies constantly, even if made no sense or devalued their original appearances.

Definitely, but my point wasn’t that fans wouldn’t want to see them back; rather the majority of the monsters are not poorly utilized in any capacity.

Titanosaurus is another good example. Very easily could be demoted to mook-monster that appears every so often, but it’s role in TOMG as using it an organic parallel to MG and even Katsura, and connecting its story to Mafune is pretty excellent. Great build up with mystery, gradual full reveal with that Tokyo sequence, and then having a pretty substantial amount of time in the final brawl. His weakness allows the humans have something to do and it all makes sense.

[Dyrakro]

I feel like there's a significant chunk of fans who'd love to see Biollante, Space Godzilla or Destroyer show up in movies constantly, even if made no sense or devalued their original appearances.

When I was a child it was same for me. Over the past years I did start to value the connection the kaijus have to a certain topic & message. Wouldn't want for them to lose this. Taking away their origin or what they stand for pretty much takes them their identity.

I love the Ultra Kaijus, but most of the time I wish Tsuburaya wouldn't reuse them simply to have a fight in each episode. Though it is a pleasure to see them again, especially if it is after so many years, the appearances of Red King, Gomora and Co. just haven't been the same.
You know I realized that the more basic you make a appearance, the more forgetable they become. When I looked up which kaijus appeared in Decker I was baffled to see that Gomess, Aribunta and Telesdon had an appearance. Totally forgot about those. They could all easily be swaped with some other and there would be literally no difference.

Definitely, but my point wasn’t that fans wouldn’t want to see them back; rather the majority of the monsters are not poorly utilized in any capacity.

Pretty much, totally support you and your whole argument, LSD.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Agreed about the Ultra and Godzilla kaiju points. There's usually an economic reason behind bringing back Ultra kaiju, and agree with Dyrakro that even in Decker there were a few kaiju I forgot. I completely forgot about the Gudon episode, but the ones bringing back Dyna characters definitely stuck, which makes sense.

Although regarding Spacegodzilla, bringing him back would probably amp him up. His original film was already well, you know Spacegodzilla was the product of pure 90s clone obsession, and since he isn't as emotionally tied to his original narrative as Biollante and Destoroyah, I think he's the easiest to bring back and do something cool with. I mean, plus he can be chalked up to "bad monster from space....with Godzilla DNA!".

Or we'll get Spacegodzilla played by Tom Hardy.

[Legion1979]

The one-shot Heisei monsters constantly showing up in comics and video games doesn't really help matters. One, it convinces people that Toho isn't treating them fialrly because, hey, here they are being used all the time in other media so clearly Toho isn't doing something right. And two, it leads people to believe that these monsters could easily be used again, with comic and video games proving their point.

But just like it's silly to compare the Toho films to the Ultra series, it's even sillier to compare the movies to video games and comics, which (don't hate me) really don't matter.