Who Hates the Polygon Trilogy?

[LegendZilla]

Hi there, just thought I'd try doing something different and set up a poll-based thread. I have modeled this thread off of one in the Heisei section and applied the same idea for the Godzilla Anime trilogy by Polygon Pictures. They're undoubtedly the most reviled pieces of Godzilla media in recent years and those who do hate them have their own reasons. If so, what gripes do you have with this trilogy of films? If you don't think they deserve the hate they get, feel free to counter what common criticisms they receive.

If you ask me, these films' greatest crime is that they put too much thought into certain things, yet simultaneously not enough. The writers were more interested in stroking their egos by making a complex story rather than a good one and even that they failed upon. Some people feel this trilogy's ideas failed as a result of bad execution, while others believe they're broken on a fundamental level. I personally lie within the latter. As for our protagonist, discount Eren Jaeger, AKA Hauro Sakaki, literally everything you can say about such a character has been said.

From what I've heard the movies themselves were meant to be a TV series at first. If they had been able to go through with such a plan, this iteration of the franchise would've been a lot more warmly received, since the writers would've been able to flesh out the characters, world and themes more. Not that I would've liked it myself.

[JAGzilla]

I can find some small redeeming qualities, and they have their cool ideas and moments. They just completely fail to deliver on the kaiju front, and don't do much better with the human characters, so... yeah. They're the unquestionable bottom of the Godzilla barrel. Entertainment wise, they make GINO and even Space Godzilla look like masterpieces.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Absolutely wretched. It has some neat ideas, mainly Lovecraftian Ghidorah, but none of them are executed well at all. There's so many stupid ideas floating around as well. Ideas that really didn't need to even happen because they don't really matter in the end. The entire thing is written and presented like one of the absolute worst Deviant Art fan fics given a budget. The biggest crimes are easily traceable to the man behind it. I remember reading an interview where he said he didn't want the anime trilogy to be like the films, and even axed the proposed idea of MechaGodzilla actually appearing in some sort of capacity.

Of course, you still got 40+ year old neck beards and edgy teens that like to pop up about any criticisms against it not "understanding" it. Or that Haruo and Metphies are well written characters. I stopped reading Polygon defenders shortly after City.

... But Godzilla Earth did have a cool beard. I do like that design aspect. So with that, and the *idea* (not execution) of Lovecrafian Ghidorah, are the only two good things to come out of three feature length anime movies.

[Legion1979]

Not following the "40 year old neckbeards" comments.

I don't know anyone approximately my age or older who actually like these films. Teens, sure. I've seen plenty of that. But older fans? Where have you seen that?

[DynomikeGojira]

They're ok I honestly have more of a problem with the animation quality and style rather than the story and Godzilla's a statue.

[Spuro]

I’d honestly rather watch the Godzilla’s Revenge / vs Spacegodzilla / Final Wars trilogy twice in a row than watch the anime trilogy again. My least favorite Godzilla visual media by a fair margin.

[Breakdown]

"Great ideas but about as poor of execution you can imagine" is how I'd describe the Polygon trilogy. Godzilla Earth, Ghidorah being an eldritch horror, and the Bilusaludo MG are the only things I like about it.

[Legion1979]

These movies blow.

[Gigantis]

I honestly can't pick between "mediocre" or "disappointing". Whatever the case.. they're not good.

Honestly there's no way I can really elaborate why without repeating what basically EVERYONE has said before, but the fact that there's almost no Godzilla fan I know who likes these movies should say a lot; especially since both Shin Godzilla before it AND Singular Point after did the same "slowl, emotionless Godzilla" concept, yet they still simultaneously made him more interesting to watch than Polygon's trilogy did. Earth is seriously that much of a snorefest to watch. That's not even getting into the wasted potential they gave to both Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla.

[ShinGojira14]

The Polygon Trilogy was disappointing as fuck. The first one was the best of the three—and even then, it's just okay. The other two are one of the most incredible letdowns the franchise has ever seen. And Godzilla Earth is, to this day, my least favorite depiction of Godzilla. I don't give a shit how many times people have said it, but it bears repeating because its true:

He's just Legendary Godzilla, but all of his personality has been taken away. He's just a blank, lardass couch potato.

And I'm not even gonna go into discussion about how pointless Haruo's arc was—or the mind-blowing cockteases that Anime Ghidorah and MechaG turned out to be... ... ...

Added in 2 minutes 16 seconds:

I honestly can't pick between "mediocre" or "disappointing". Whatever the case.. they're not good.

Honestly there's no way I can really elaborate why without repeating what basically EVERYONE has said before, but the fact that there's almost no Godzilla fan I know who likes these movies should say a lot; especially since both Shin Godzilla before it AND Singular Point after did the same "slowl, emotionless Godzilla" concept, yet they still simultaneously made him more interesting to watch than Polygon's trilogy did. Earth is seriously that much of a snorefest to watch. That's not even getting into the wasted potential they gave to both Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla.

At least Shin behaved like an actual reptile, while Ultima genuinely felt otherworldly and unreadable—and both of them had a few moments where they actually moved quickly when they needed to. They at least get the luxury of having reasons to not show as much visible emotion as other Godzillas; Earth doesn't get that luxury at all. The creators deliberately made him to just be as lethargic and plank-of-wood as possible.

[LegendZilla]

I will admit that this trilogy had SOME good ideas, but the bad ones meant that they were ultimately for nought. For example, Godzilla being a plant-based organism and the design of Mechagodzilla.

[cloverfan98]

I can agree with ALOT of the criticism of the trilogy here, however I'm still a fan of it. I think the fact that I also have Shin Godzilla and the MonsterVerse allows me to enjoy it for the post apocalyptic scifi take on Godzilla. I will agree the characters are weak however I feel like the true characters of the trilogy are the conflicting philosophies each character represents. I've said it before, but I feel like Shin is Godzilla viewed through the eyes of a political science major, Singular Point is how a STEM major views Godzilla, and the trilogy is Godzilla viewed through the eyes of a religious and/or philosophy major.

[Voyager]

These films are absolutely NOTHING to me, but… I still prefer them over Singular Point.

[LegendZilla]

I can agree with ALOT of the criticism of the trilogy here, however I'm still a fan of it. I think the fact that I also have Shin Godzilla and the MonsterVerse allows me to enjoy it for the post apocalyptic scifi take on Godzilla. I will agree the characters are weak however I feel like the true characters of the trilogy are the conflicting philosophies each character represents. I've said it before, but I feel like Shin is Godzilla viewed through the eyes of a political science major, Singular Point is how a STEM major views Godzilla, and the trilogy is Godzilla viewed through the eyes of a religious and/or philosophy major.

What's STEM?

[ShinGojira14]

I will admit that this trilogy had SOME good ideas, but the bad ones meant that they were ultimately for nought. For example, Godzilla being a plant-based organism and the design of Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla being a plant-based organism was actually really creative, and normally I'd be totally down for such a unique take.

The real problem was how they executed it all.

Added in 30 seconds:
To quote my favorite character in the Walking Dead franchise:

"The plan was good...the execution was the messy part."

[TyrantGojira]

For me, I don’t mind Planet of Monsters or City on the edge. They’re… meh. But I find Planet Eater downright insufferable. It made me feel that I wasted my time trying to get invested in these films.

[GojiSquid]

Planet of Montsers was a dencet film with a great first act and finale, but should've done more to flesh out the supporting cast.

City on the Edge of Battle is a complete slog for the majority of it's runtime, with most of it being spent of boring exposition and inefficient worldbuilding, when they really should've devoted time to character development. The final act is actually the visual and thematic peak of the series, and I fucking loved it. I had no problem with Mechagodzilla City, and it was surprisingly one of the few things that worked well for the film.

Planet Eater is kinda meh. Not bad, not particularly good. The pacing's kinda wack, the fights are kinda bad, and I do strongly dislike the ending (after deciding not to sacrifice humanity in the name of revenge and to create a perfect society, Hauro then does the exact same fucking thing.) Ghidorah was cool, I liked the cult muders and so was Metphies' and Hauro's climactic interactions. Also lmao Hauro got a big tiddy moth gf

[CyberZilla]

The human element in the story is weak in the sense that it’s, well, boring. I find it most interesting in Planet Eater due to the cultists and what they do with the protagonist’s final date, but aside from that, I’m rarely invested in the alien or human beings that the stories focus on. Even the main character, whose plot of vengeance COULD be compelling, ends up barely resonating.

I think Planet Eater is my favorite of the three because I care about the protagonist a bit more there, and I do enjoy the villains and the minimal kaiju fights. The music, atmosphere, and plot are also pretty decent, especially surrounding Void Ghidorah. I got goosebumps when he began to break through realities to fight Godzilla.
Planet of the Monsters takes second place because we got to explore the planet a bit and got to see some cool stuff as they fought against Godzilla, as well as the plot twist with Godzilla Earth at the very end. Godzilla’s redone theme and motif is also pretty great in this.
City on the Edge of Battle is the most boring, most missed opportunity part of the trilogy. They take Mechagodzilla, turn him into an armed nanotechnology city, and still don’t do a lot to make it fun. I didn’t feel like my time was totally wasted, but it’s on the bottom end of Godzilla movies for me.

The biggest problem, as other people mentioned, is how they take interesting concepts and then barely use them/flesh them out. Void Ghidorah’s fight could’ve been longer/more interesting, Mechagodzilla as a whole could’ve been used more, Mothra was a footnote, even the history of Godzilla wiping out humans and kaiju alike was only mentioned on the side/seen through brief flashbacks. I heard novels cover that more in detail, but imagine if we got to see that in the films to build up the absolute terror that Godzilla Earth is. The story would’ve benefited from that.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

I haven't even watched them and I'm not sure I want to. Not that I'm judging them without seeing them but they just don't sound like my cup of tea.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I haven't even watched them and I'm not sure I want to. Not that I'm judging them without seeing them but they just don't sound like my cup of tea.

That's because they're not a cup of tea at all. They're a cup of diarrhea juice that's been sitting in the Nevada sun.