Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

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Legion1979
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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by Legion1979 »

Yeah those Anchor Bay covers didn't try very hard, did they?

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

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G1985 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:31 am Image

WORST
COVER
EVER.

Starmaker VHS. Not only does it depict the wrong suit, the suit is from the Showa era and is superimposed over the correct suit glimpsed in the background.
I did love the idea of the spines all creating a single image. Nice attempt at coherency even though there were gaps between the films available in the set.
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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

G1985 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:31 am Image

WORST
COVER
EVER.
I'm more lenient for wrong references for monsters (as is the case with the DAM/ADV release, and the critereon collection overall, but I agree this is pretty bad. It feels like a painful type of laziness, where it actually would've been far easier to be even lazier, but someone just didn't realize.

Most of the other Anchor Bay releases I can forgive. Usually at the very least, it's the right monster (Gigan for example), and the Heisei Godzilla in the background. The main monster is right at least. But for Godzilla 1985...wow. I do have to say, I find it oddly fascinating. Like that's a forbidden/cursed Godzilla movie that shouldn't exist, sort of how Toho originally wanted to remake Godzilla 1954 following the end of the Showa Era.
the only other odd one is the release for Sea Monster, which uses a weird-crablike illustration of Ebirah that does not match the rest of the collections style whatsoever.

I want to praise and say why I really love some of the individual Critereon Art pieces, and say why I think they work well for me, and how much I would've loved a VHS of them. Starting first, Godzilla vs. Megalon:

Image

To me, this really captures the vibe of the movie, and makes it slightly epic without overdoing it. The goofiness and camp of the film is conveyed through the cartoony atomic bomb/sun esque Godzilla in the background. It perfectly matches how Godzilla is a total hero in the film, and also sort of secondary to the total plot. Then in the bottom we have a rather dynamic image of Jet Jaguar, Gigan, and Megalon fighting.

I personally like this a lot better than a lot of other Godzilla vs. Megalon art because often, both Jet Jaguar and Gigan are completely ommitted. A lot of the other VHS tapes usually just have Megalon and Godzilla fighting, which is weird because it is the epitome of a big tag-team battle and brawl. While Megalon is a focus of the film, Jet Jagaur just as much shares the spotlight, and Gigan certaintly is a vital piece of the puzzle. While it's a little too dynamic, it represents what I personally imagine in my head when I think of the film. The color palette of the piece also strikes a nice balance, and is pleasing to the eyes.

Image

When I think of the exciting and memorable moments of Godzilla Raids Again, this is what I think of. Despite the films weird structure by contemporary standards, I think this illustration captures the chaos nicely. When I think of the film, I imagine Godzilla and Angurius shoving against one another. It's not an elegant or fantastical fight, like later entries, but it a raw and animalistic one. To me, this captures the tone of fury and chaos, when Godzilla and Angurius fight in Osaka. There's a lot of dust and fury.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Sun Oct 16, 2022 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by canofhumdingers »

I had to look it up, and it’s hilarious. They straight up copy/pasted the Ebirah art from the much older video treasures release!

Image

Image

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

canofhumdingers wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 10:43 pm I had to look it up, and it’s hilarious. They straight up copy/pasted the Ebirah art from the much older video treasures release!

Image

Image
That's the type of thing that gets worse the more you stare at it. That might not just be stolen art (?), but look at the "fire"(?). Looks like they took the bottom portion of the original image, and smudged some fire/red to death, in order to give the illusion of flames, and obscure the fact that the lower half of Ebirah would be missing. You can see it the most at the top, with what was probably the blur tool. That begs the question: why not just use a dark blue, and some lighter shades to make a facade of water? Maybe because there's awkwardly transposed 1980's buildings in the background?

Some nitpicks about the packaging:
I don't like how the title is laid out. "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster", where "vs." is awkwardly positioned.

While the original art has a slightly off, lobster-looking Ebirah, I really appreciate it for trying to deliver a dynamic scene, that I think at least is eye-catching and not super-misleading. The bizarre reuse of it by Anchor Bay might be one of the worst VHS covers I've ever seen for a double combo of theft and laziness.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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G1985
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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by G1985 »

LSD Jellyfish wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 10:13 pm
G1985 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:31 am Image

WORST
COVER
EVER.
I'm more lenient for wrong references for monsters (as is the case with the DAM/ADV release, and the critereon collection overall, but I agree this is pretty bad. It feels like a painful type of laziness, where it actually would've been far easier to be even lazier, but someone just didn't realize.

Most of the other Anchor Bay releases I can forgive. Usually at the very least, it's the right monster (Gigan for example), and the Heisei Godzilla in the background. The main monster is right at least. But for Godzilla 1985...wow.
It's so lazy, all someone had to do is switch the background and foreground images with each other, and the cover would have been fine.

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by DrBreakfastMachine »

Who could forget the time that Gigan didn't even make it onto the cover of his own movie?

Image

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Image

Surprised nobody's posted this gem yet. Probably the most iconic VHS cover of my childhood.
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G1985
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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by G1985 »

Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 9:46 pm Surprised nobody's posted this gem yet. Probably the most iconic VHS cover of my childhood.
Ah yes, that beloved holiday favorite Gorgo vs the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner
Last edited by G1985 on Wed Nov 23, 2022 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by Angilasman »

Alot of fondness for the painted covers if the '90s Paramount videos and Zina's covers for Sea Monster and Cosmic Monster. My favorite is probably HBO's tape of Godzilla vs. Biollante. The Japanese poster is just phenomenal, and fits the VHS box dimensions so well. And the contents of the tape were great: widescreen and clear transfer. It took a long time for a disc release of this in the US, but the tape was so good (and was stocked in stores until the end of that format) it wasn't so bad.

As for the Criterion art? I thought half of the pieces were great, and the rest were okay and a few were bad... but that's what you get when you do things anthology style with a hodge podge of artists and styles. You have hits and misses. The cool thing about doing it that way is that you get more stylistically out-there pieces that you might not get otherwise, like the Ghidorah art that depicts the monsters in the style of an Aztec mural. Loved that. I'd like an entire set decorated like that. What does that have to do with Godzilla? Who cares! It looks cool!

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Re: Best & Worst VHS/Blu-Ray/DVD Artwork for the Godzilla franchise!

Post by G-Matt »

Angilasman wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:44 am As for the Criterion art? I thought half of the pieces were great, and the rest were okay and a few were bad... but that's what you get when you do things anthology style with a hodge podge of artists and styles. You have hits and misses. The cool thing about doing it that way is that you get more stylistically out-there pieces that you might not get otherwise, like the Ghidorah art that depicts the monsters in the style of an Aztec mural. Loved that. What does that have to do with Godzilla? Who cares! It looks cool!
This right here. :thumbsup:
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