Godzilla?

[Kevin Scrivner]

A tail and the terrible tusked turtle

 

Also, shouldn't Godzilla have additional Stretching and a HA attack to represent that long, lashing tail? It's not as if he needs another devastating attack but he makes good use of his tail in several movies.

 

This thread has focused on Godzilla, but what about the other monsters? Has anyone attempted to write up Mothra or Rodan? What about the other studio's prime competitor: Gamera? How would the Guardian of the Galaxy stack up against the King of Monsters? Or should that be the subject of another poll?

[Just A Guy Name]

Dunno about the latest series, but in the first, G's height was pretty well established at 50m. In the first few movies in the 2nd series, his height was 85m, but after the meddling of the Futurians, the later version in that series was 100m. Even at that height, he was still smaller than most of his opponents in that series.

[megaplayboy]

Rodan can perform an outside loop at supersonic speeds--I loved that:)

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by megaplayboy

Rodan can perform an outside loop at supersonic speeds--I loved that:)

 

I always got a kick out of his "sonic boom" attack: swoop in low over a city at supersonic speeds, and watch the trailing sound wake shatter buildings to flinders. Hoo-hah!

 

The hurricane wind he can whip up with his wings is also neat, but IIRC that was Mothra's bag first.

 

Next to Godzilla himself Rodan is my favorite of the Kaiju. Has he been redone for the most recent films?

[Just A Guy Name]

Been a long while since I've seen Rodan, LL, so I can't say I recall the hurricane winds bit from it. But he definitely appeared before Mothra. Radon was released in Japan in 1956, about 5 years before Mosura.

[Lord Liaden]

"Radon was released in Japan in 1956"? Well if you had radioactive gas floating around Japan, that would certainly help explain all those Kaiju.

[Just A Guy Name]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

"Radon was released in Japan in 1956"? Well if you had radioactive gas floating around Japan, that would certainly help explain all those Kaiju.

How droll.

Actually, it was pretty funny. I'm just jealous 'cause I didn't think of it.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Actually, it IS pronounced Ra-don in the Japanese version. Shortened version of Pteradon if I remember correctly. American distributors changed the name precisely to avoid the confusion between the monster and the element on the periodic table. LOL Rodan definitely can produce hurricane intensity winds. It's his primary method of destruction in the 1956 film(which incidently is the first japanese giant monster film in color). Plus, the speed at which he flies produces the "sonic boom" effect if he flies low enough. This power is displyed in most of his appearences actually. To really throw a wrench into things, watch the 1956 movie carefully. Rodan displays a Godzilla-like breath weapon during the big attack on Fukuoka(Sasebo in the US version). It looks like a blast of air...or perhaps mist. This was dropped in his future showings in the older series. When he was revised for the 90's films, the breath weapon returned....as a Uranium blast....which closely resembled Godzilla's atomic ray.

 

Rob

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Dr. MID-Nite

It's his primary method of destruction in the 1956 film(which incidently is the first japanese giant monster film in color).

Are you sure? When I saw Rodan, it was in black and white...unless I'm mixing it up with an earlier film?

[Just A Guy Name]

Pretty sure that all the versions were in color, although I suppose a b&w copy could exist. I know the dubbed version I saw as a kid was in color.

[Redmenace]

Maybe you were young and saw it on a black and white tv?

[Dr. Anomaly]

While our first TV was indeed in black and white, I didn't see Rodan until my mid-teens, and I assure you the televsion I was watching at the time was color.

 

Perhaps this will help pin down if it's the same movie or not: in the black-and-white one I'm remembering, there were *TWO* of the giant flying reptiles, and for a while they were going around, plucking people off the ground, and eating them. In particular I recall one scene where a couple of characters come to the area where the reptiles are lairing (a volcanic crater-like area?) and we see a pile of cleaned human skeletons on the ground. That scene stuck with me because I recall thinking at the time "Now that's just stupid. As small as humans are compared to these things, they'd be swallowed whole, not have their meat delicately picked off their bones. If the creatures tried that, they'd have to use their version of toothpicks and a microscope."

 

All also add that I saw Mothra the same afternoon, and it was ALSO in black and white.

[Just A Guy Name]

That's Rodan, alright. Well, I'm not an expert on film history, but I do know that the originals (Radon and Mosura) were both in color.

[Lord Liaden]

Interesting. When I saw what I assumed was the first Mosura (Mothra) film on TV, it was in black-and-white (on a color set). That was the one with the giant egg stolen from the tropical island that hatched into the Mosura larva, and the two tiny singing girls - right?

 

(Man, it sounds weird when you just say it like that.)

 

The first Rodan film I saw was the one alluded to above, and it was definitely in color. Perhaps some of the older prints have since been colorized?

[Dr. Anomaly]

That's the Mothra I'm remembering, at any rate. Sounds like the same experience I had (bw on a color set, I mean). Lord Liaden, do you happen to remember where & when you first saw it? I'm wondering if by chance we saw it from the same TV station or broadcast, and that for some reason the copy that one particular station had was in black-and-white instead of color...

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Both the original Rodan and Mothra were color productions. That I can assure you as a fact. Black and white versions of most Toho films were avaliable as Super 8mm short reels, which you to sell in places like K-mart. They were super condensed and/or portions of the films in question. I still have my 8mm version of Destroy All Monsters(which ironicially enough...sums up the film nicely in 15 minutes...including the majority of the climatic battle).

The interesting thing about converting these beasts to Hero is that Godzilla is probably the easy one. King Ghidorah, Destroyer, or even Mothra are a bit more involved.

 

Rob

[Just A Guy Name]

Originally posted by Dr. MID-Nite

The interesting thing about converting these beasts to Hero is that Godzilla is probably the easy one. King Ghidorah, Destroyer, or even Mothra are a bit more involved.

Sometimes the simple characters are the best, no?

 

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Godzilla?

 

Actually, it IS pronounced Ra-don in the Japanese version. Shortened version of Pteradon if I remember correctly.

 

Rob

 

I've read elsewhere that it was supposed to be short for RAdioactive PteranoDON.

 

Hmm, here's another idea (born from reading the Essential Godzilla collection by Marvel: what if some of the kaiju were somehow shrunk (say by the Shrinking Ray invented by whatsisname, the guy from Dearborn in the Millenium City book)? Maybe they were being transported for some reason, and they all escape, and the heroes have to help hunt them down before the effect wears off and the City of the Future finds a horde of rampaging giant mosnters tearing up downtown?

[TaxiMan]

Re: Godzilla?

 

Godzilla destroys 10-story buildings with casual strength. I don't think 150 STR is anywhere near enough for that. He'd have to do some hideous amount of BODY damage, just walking.

 

And he doesn't just break a hole in a wall. He routinely levels 2-story homes just walking.

 

I'd say he was a plot device.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Godzilla?

 

Or maybe a power akin to 'Super-Strength Smash Through', bought as Persistent and Always On? I.e. Tunneling with enough inches to match his normal Running and enough BODY to go through almost any normal urban building, Only Usable Against Buildings (-1).

 

Hmm, that sounds like it'd be a good power for any brick of the 'Freight Train' variety.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Godzilla?

 

Godzilla destroys 10-story buildings with casual strength. I don't think 150 STR is anywhere near enough for that. He'd have to do some hideous amount of BODY damage, just walking.

 

And he doesn't just break a hole in a wall. He routinely levels 2-story homes just walking.

 

I'd say he was a plot device.

 

The optional rules for breaking buildings in the Champions genre book would probably handle that well enough. For epic mass destruction, try the suggestions from Galactic Champions for making the environment more fragile.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: Godzilla?

 

I've read elsewhere that it was supposed to be short for RAdioactive PteranoDON.

 

Hmm, here's another idea (born from reading the Essential Godzilla collection by Marvel: what if some of the kaiju were somehow shrunk (say by the Shrinking Ray invented by whatsisname, the guy from Dearborn in the Millenium City book)? Maybe they were being transported for some reason, and they all escape, and the heroes have to help hunt them down before the effect wears off and the City of the Future finds a horde of rampaging giant mosnters tearing up downtown?

 

The problem with your name theory is that Radon(Rodan) wasn't a radioactive beast like Godzilla...so I doubt the name had anything to do with radiation. I stand by my original statement that the name is simply a shortened version of Pteranadon.

 

Rob

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Godzilla?

 

Hmm' date=' here's another idea (born from reading the [i']Essential Godzilla[/i] collection by Marvel: what if some of the kaiju were somehow shrunk (say by the Shrinking Ray invented by whatsisname, the guy from Dearborn in the Millenium City book)? Maybe they were being transported for some reason, and they all escape, and the heroes have to help hunt them down before the effect wears off and the City of the Future finds a horde of rampaging giant mosnters tearing up downtown?

 

Very much like what happened to one of those Qularr monsters, Cazulon, who was indeed shrunk by Daniel "Microman" Collins (the only other living creature besides Microman that his ray is known to affect) and kept at the Millennium City Zoo. As mentioned in Champions Universe: News Of The World, the ray eventually wore off and Cazulon went on a rampage before the retired Microman re-shrunk him.