Manda
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Length: 150 meters
Description: Manda is a huge serpent who is probably descended from a species of sea creature who were created via advanced genetic engineering techniques by the extremely advanced Muan civilization that lived on the lost continent of the Pacific Ocean many millennia ago, for the purpose of being used as bio-weapons. In fact, Manda was once in the servitude of the hidden underwater civilization that resided beneath the sunken continent of Mu (a different hidden society than the Seatopians, who were also survivors of the lost continent of Mu, better known in the West as Lemuria) well into the 20th century.
Manda resembled a giant snake, and moves by undulating his body either through water or on land just like a real snake, though he tended to move his body upwards to downwards, rather than side to side, as ordinary serpents do. He had an elongated, flattened head with powerful looking jaws, and four tiny vestigial legs. He originally possessed small horns and cat-like eyes, which he lost by his second appearance.
When Mu invaded the surface world in the year 1963, Japan retaliated by sending the super submarine called Atragon (Atoragon, in Japanese) against the underwater city. The Muans, in turn, sent Manda after the submarine, and after a relatively brief underwater battle, Atragon defeated the serpentine kaiju by freezing him into a state of suspended animation with its cold-inducing zero cannon.
By 1969, Manda was seen to have been placed on Monster Island with Godzilla I, and all other known kaiju on the planet at the time.
In 1999, Manda and all the other kaiju of Monster Island came under the sinister control of the alien race known as the Kilaaks, and were sent to attack several major Earth cities. At the behest of the Kilaaks, Manda attacked New York City along with Godzilla, then later attacked and helped demolish Tokyo alongside Godzilla, Rodan I and Mothra I. After being freed from Kilaak control, Manda joined the rest of the monsters against King Ghidorah I.
He was then peacefully returned to Monster Island.
Special powers and abilities: Other than being completely amphibious, Manda has no special powers outside of the great strength afforded him due to his enormous size and weight. In battle, he uses his snake-like body to entwine and constrict his opponents.
He also appears to be semi-sentient, like most other dai kaiju of Earth in continuity 1.
Significant appearances: Atragon (1963); (revealed to be on Monster Island in the present) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Magma
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled "Mahgma," or referred to as 'Maguma.' p>Continuity: 1
Length: 30 meters
Description: Magma resembled a gigantic walrus with luminescent eyes.
The giant walrus was most likely a leftover from ancient Muan/Lemurian or Atlantean genetic engineering experiments on mammals to create gigantic, aggressive, and territorial animals for the purpose of acting as bio-weapons. It's possible that Magma's particularly huge size was the result of the already extra-large marine mammal's enhanced DNA being subjected to nuclear radiations by secret atomic bomb tests over the course of the early 20th century, whose augmented chromosomes would enable it to attain a still larger size rather than becoming sick, as would be the case with a normal animal exposed to such penetrative radiations. Such genetically engineered ultra-marine mammals would have been ideal to protect frozen regions where Muan or Atlantean bases may once have existed.
Magma's glowing eyes may account for the radiation the animal absorbed manifesting itself outwardly, since its eyes appeared to produce light of its own rather than simply reflecting external light sources, as is the case with cats and other animals.
Magma may have been one of the few such specimens still alive on the planet by the 20th century, and he seems to have survived for so many centuries by sequestering himself in the Antarctic regions, possibly in a state of suspended animation under the ice that his enhanced metabolism would enable him to periodically attain and survive.
In the year 1977, when a United Nations team was working near an established science base in the Antarctic continent towards an elaborate scheme to move the planet Earth out of the way of an approaching neutron star fragment known as Gorath, the experiments caused seismic disruptions in the area that awakened and enraged Magma. The giant walrus subsequently attacked the science base, but was soon killed when powerful laser beams were fired upon him.
Special powers and abilities: Magma had the same physical abilities as a normal-sized walrus, but to an incredibly superlative degree. His enormous size and weight gave him tremendous strength, and he was agile enough to briefly stand on his back flippers and swat at flying objects with his hind flippers (something normal members of the sirenian famiy are not known to do. His enhanced metabolism enabled him to spend extended periods of time in suspended animation under the ice, and he could likely swim for long distances in the water.
Significant appearances: Gorath (1963)
Markalite
Category: Technology
Continuity: 1, 2, A (??)
see Maser Tanks and Cannons.
Martians
Category: Alien Race
Continuity: 1
Description: The Martians were an ancient group of humans from the Muan/Lemurian civilization who fled to the red planet to establish a colony there shortly prior to the onset of the Great Cataclysm that destroyed Mu and Atlantis, in order to escape from the increasingly despotic Muan political system.
The Muan colony on Mars survived by building sophisticated geodesic domes and hydroponic gardens to sheild themselves from the red planet's thin atmosphere, heavy surface radiation, lack of oxygen, and chilling temperatures, and to feed themselves in the alien environment, respectively. The Martians developed their psychic abilities to a great extent, something that many Muans had already been practicing prior to the Martian exodus. Other than the latter details, not much else is known about how the Martians lived or how their society differed from that of the parent Muan civilization on Earth, other than the fact that they made an effort to build a small civilization based on principles of peace.
All that is known is that the relatively peaceful Martian colony was eventually targeted by another, imperialistic intrasolar Muan colony, the Xians, who established their own colony on the large asteroid later designated 'Planet X.' Taking control of the incredibly gigantic tri-headed dragon-like monster called King Ghidorah, the Xians sent the deadly kaiju to ravage the Martian colony. A handful of the Martians managed to escape back to their native Earth, where they founded a small island nation in the Eastern hemisphere that eventually became known (by the 20th century) as Saladia.
Because the Martians were forced to abandon most of their advanced technology in order to escape King Ghidorah's wrath and the imperialist inclinations of the Xians in the course of their very hasty return exodus to Earth, over the course of centuries, what eventually became the small but prosperous nation of Saladia forgot their distant Muan and Martian origins, and assimilated back into the human race. They also lost most of their once highly developed psychic abilities, save at a highly latent degree.
In the year 1964, when the then reigning princess of Saladia's royal system, a direct ancestor of an ancient Martian priestess, was en route to Japan on a diplomatic mission, she was targeted by Saladian terrorists who wanted to stage a political coup. Further, she temporarily became possessed by the alleged spirit of the ancient Martian priestess who both saved her from a terrorist attempt to bomb the royal Saladian plane she was traveling on, and who wanted to warn the people of Earth that King Ghidorah was on his way there (it later turned out that the Xians had finally set their sights on conquering Earth proper). When the tri-headed monster finally arrived on terra firma, he was defeated by the combined might of the Earth monsters Godzilla I, Rodan I, and Mothra I. The Shobijan priestesses, also descended from ancient Muans who had formed a small, peaceful, and primitive society on Infant Island, not only rallied Mothra to defend the Earth, but also made psychic contact with the Martian priestess who had possessed the body of the Saladian princess, and the tiny priestesses helped Japanese authorities thwart her assasination attempt by the Saladian terrorists.
Upon the defeat of King Ghidorah, the consciousness of the ancient Martian priestess left the psyche of the Saladian princess, having succeeded, with the help of the Shobijan, in warning Earth of King Ghidorah's imminent arrival, thus enabling the terran civilization to avoid the ancient Martian colony's fate.
Significant appearances: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Martin, Steve
Category: Supporting Character
Continuity: 1, 2 and (presumably) "3"
Description: Steve Martin was an American journalist who covered the news of Godzilla’s initial 1954 rampage in Tokyo for the U.S. press, nearly losing his own life in the process. He was a college friend of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer that defeated Godzilla after the beast first attacked Japan (the American version of Godzilla, King of the Monsters is told completely from Martin’s point of view; he was not seen in the Japanese version at all).
Thirty years later, Martin acted as a consultant to the U.S. military during Godzilla’s return in 1985 (once again, he was seen in the American version of Godzilla 1985, but not in the Japanese version of the same film).
Significant appearances: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954; American version only); Godzilla 1985 (1984; American version only)
Maser Tanks and Cannons
Category: Technology
Continuity: 1, 2, & "3D" (see below concerning continuity A)
Description: The maser tanks and cannons, also referred to as Markalite weaponry, are futuristic weapons in the Japanese military repertoire in all Japanese Godzilla continuities. The weapons function in identical fashions in all realities, and look exactly the same. However, they appeared in different decades in the separate continuities, and the Japanese government of the differing realities probably developed this advanced technology as a result of different crises.
As for the functioning of the weapons, the maser beam, which can resemble either bolts of concentrated lightening or, at higher intensities, a yellowish beam of light, is created by accelerating photon particles within a reflective barrel, thereby creating neutrinos, mesons, photons and a host of other charged particles, and then amplifying and irradiating them via concentration of the energy by way of powerful electrical generators.
These energy beams are extremely powerful weapons, and were designed for exclusive use against attacking dai kaiju. The weapons have proved moderately effective against the kaiju, but except for Gaila (albeit temporarily), who was physically inferior to Godzilla in power, the maser weaponry have never actually been responsible for directly defeating a kaiju (though they did come close to taking Megalon down, as well).
In the continuity of Godzilla I, the maser weapons first appeared in their current form by 1966, when they were used against the giant semi-humanoid kaiju called Gaila. The first Markelite cannon ever utilized, however, was developed by the Earth Defense Force in 1957 in order to help counter the threat of the hostile alien race known as the Mysterians. The Markelites, along with other weapons, were the result of a joint venture of all the nations on Earth, and were probably created in part due to analyzing various Mysterian technology which was inadvertently left behind in the early stages of the invasion, such as the giant robot Mogera I.
Also developed by the Earth Defense Force as a result of being forced to confront the Mysterians was the large experimental airships called the Alpha and Beta, which could travel to the moon and back. Many other offspring of the maser weapons were seen before 1966 that were probably also the result of analyzed Mysterian technology, such as the atomic heat ray used against Mothra I in 1961, the super submarine Atragon built and used against the invading underwater nation of Mu and their pet sea serpent Manda in 1963, the experimental spaceship used to fly past the orbit of Jupiter to explore Planet X and the A-Cycle Light Ray weapon used against the Xian invasion forces in 1965, and possibly some of the advanced technology used to confine the monsters to Monster Island in 1969, as well as the spaceship Moonlight SY-3 in the year 1999.
In the second Godzilla continuity, the early precursors to Markelite technology first appeared in 1990, when Japan, probably working in concert with other countries in the United Nations in formulating the Thunder Control System apparatus to use against Godzilla II during his attack on Japan in that year. However, later advances in Markelite technology in continuity 2 were likely the result of scientists from the United Nations analyzing early 23rd century technology left over from the Futurian time travelers, who appeared in the 20th century in 1992.
The bionic head of the cybernetic kaiju Mecha-King Ghidorah was left behind by one of the Futurians, and it was salvaged and studied by present day technicians and engineers for creating new weapons for use against Godzilla. The giant robots Mechagodzilla II and Mogera II were both created using this technology, and they both incorporated maser weaponry in their arsenals, as did the flying war machine Garuda.
By 1996, new types of Markelite weaponry called "freezing masers" were developed, which appear to create particle deceleration in a target, thereby freezing rather than heating it (though they may also utilize, partly or entirely, freezing mist from spraying concentrated liquid nitrogen), appeared in the G-Force arsenal, and were incorporated into the Super X-3. These freezing masers, both in and outside of the Super X-3, were the most successful maser-based technology of them all, having successfully defeated the deadly kaiju called Destroyah, and prevented the China Syndrome event when Godzilla suffered a critical meltdown.
In continuity "3D," the maser tanks were developed by the Japanese government for the Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) by 1966 to counter dai kaiju attacks, where these advanced weapons were successfully used to repel the monster Gaila. The AMF was a special unit of the JSDF, and precursor to this technology was the Atomic Heat Cannon used against Mothra in 1961 (albeit less than successfully). The maser tanks proved less effective against more powerful dai kaiju like Godzilla when he attacked Japan for the second time in 1999 (in this timeline), though hyped-up masers were incorporated as part of Mechagodzilla 3's arsenal, and these were somewhat more effective than the standard masers.
In the A continuity , flying jets were utilized against Godzilla IV that were armed with laser beams. Whether these were an alternate reality version of Markelite weapons is unknown, as their origin was never revealed (they were in use as of the year 1998 in that reality).
Since all the films in continuity 3 occur in different alternate realities, many of which have largely unknown histories, it is near impossible to pinpoint the origins of Markelite technology in all of them.
Significant appearances: (continuity 1) [first Markelite cannons and the Alpha] The Mysterians (1957); [atomic heat beam] Mothra (1961); [Atragon super war machine] Atragon (1963); [unnamed spaceship and A-Cycle Light Ray] Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965); [conventional maser tanks] War of the Gargantuas (1966); [Monster Island technology and Moonlight SY-3] Destroy All Monsters (1968); (continuity 2) [Thunder Control System and early maser weapons] Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989); [conventional maser tanks] Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993); [freezing maser weaponry] Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995); (continuity "3D") Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002); (continuity A?) [laser beams mounted on jets] Godzilla(1998)
Matango
Category: Kaiju (of a sort)
Continuity: 1 & possibly "3D"
[Coming Soon]
Mecha-King Ghidorah
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: Sometimes called simply “Mecha-Ghidora” or spelled “Mecha-Ghidora.”
Height: 150 meters
Description: See the King Ghidorah II entry for the full origins of the nuclear powered, three-headed kaiju of continuity 2.
King Ghidorah II was mortally wounded in battle with Godzilla II in 1992 (the beast’s middle head and neck was severed, and one of his wings were destroyed), and the creature was left in a state of suspended animation beneath the Sea of Ohkutsk.
One of the Futurians responsible for the tri-headed monster’s creation, Emi Kano, had turned on her fellow time-travelers after discovering the true nature of their plans. To protect her native Japan from destruction by Godzilla, Emi returned to her indigenous time period, the early 23rd century, and recovered the still insensate body of King Ghidorah. Using the advanced bio-technology of her time, Emi had King Ghidorah’s “corpse” reconstructed as the cybernetic kaiju Mecha-King Ghidorah, which was controlled by the computerized "consciousness" of Android M-11.
Mecha-King Ghidorah resembled King Ghidorah II (see description in his entry), except his severed middle head and neck was replaced by a bionic one, his wings were replaced by solar panels and numerous bionic attachments were evident all over the creature’s body, particularly the stomach area, which was completely mechanical.
Returning to 1992 with Mecha-King Ghidorah under her control, Emi utilized the semi-mechanized monster to battle Godzilla. Although the three-headed cyborg managed to remove Godzilla from Japan and drop him in the Sea of Ohkutsk, the bionic kaiju received heavy damages in the process and was unsalvageable. Emi nevertheless managed to escape in her time machine K.I.D.S. and return to her own time period, assured that her native land would still exist in the future of her timeline.
The 23rd century technology left behind enabled G-Force to create numerous advanced weapons for use against Godzilla, such as more advanced Markelite technology, Mechagodzilla II and Mogera II.
Special powers and abilities: Mecha-King Ghidorah possessed the same physical might as the fully organic King Ghidorah (see his entry), but with additional technologically enhanced powers.
The creature was fully under the control of Emi Kano, who directed the cyborg’s every move through the computerized “consciousness” of Android M-11, whose hard drive was extracted from the android’s artificial skull and placed within the cyborg’s internal computers. Emi herself sat within the mechanized belly of the cyborg, along with her flying time machine, K.I.D.S. The cyborg’s two organic heads projected King Ghidorah’s characteristic electro-beams, while the bionic head projected a laser-like beam of energy. The kaiju’s solar panels enabled him to fly through the air by absorbing and storing ambient sunlight.
The cyborg’s highly mechanized torso had several weapons built within. This included four grappling cables with clamps that would grab onto each of an opponent’s four limbs and administer electrical shocks along the length of the cables. The most potent weapon of the cyborg was his “Godzilla Grabber.” This was a huge mechanized, telescoping arm with an enormous clamp at the end that extended from the cyborg's completely robotic torso, and which was designed to entrap Godzilla and carry the atomic leviathan away from Japan. The "Godzilla Grabber" could also electrocute any opponent ensnared with it.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. King Ghidora (1991)
Mechagodzilla I (Showa Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled “MechaGodzilla” or “Mecha-Godzilla.” Also referred to as the 'Bionic Monster' and the 'Cosmic Monster' in America.
Height: 50 meters
Description: This vastly powerful robotic doppelganger of Godzilla I was created by the hostile, imperialistic alien race known as the Simeons in 1974 after careful study of the original Godzilla.
Mechagodzilla I was designed to resemble a mechanized Godzilla in his basic design, equal to the Big G in height, and even possessing the trademark dorsal fins, and a tail used strictly for balance (he cannot use it as a weapon, as the real Godzilla often uses his). Mechagodzilla had a sleek and angular look which made him resemble an evil battle machine, which he was, and his body armor was chrome-colored. The malevolent automaton had a curved antenna spike atop its head through which it received its orders via carrier waves.
The purpose of the robot was to assist the aforementioned aliens in conquering the Earth, and to defeat the real Godzilla in battle.
Mechagodzilla first emerged from the top of Mount Fuji encased in a boulder, and the robot was initially disguised as the real Godzilla (his fiery yellow heat beam and unfamiliar roar gave him away as a fake). The robot was soon attacked by Godzilla’s kaiju ally Anguirus, and the mechanical menace easily thrashed the heroic monster, giving him a cruel injury in the process. He was definitively exposed as a robot when he encountered the real Godzilla, and Mechagodzilla won the initial round between the two.
When the robot was later set loose to ravage Okinawa, the island’s mystical kaiju protector, King Seesar, was awakened to challenge Mechagodzilla. However, the leonine hero was no match for the powerful alien automation, and only when Godzilla reappeared did Mechagodzilla suffer a defeat through the combined might of both monster heroes. Mechagodzilla’s head was wrenched from his body, and Godzilla tossed the mechanical “carcass” into the ocean.
A year later, Simeons, along with the demented human scientist Dr. Shinzo Mafune, recovered the head of Mechagodzilla and rebuilt the robot, allegedly more powerful than before. The automaton was sent to attack Tokyo alongside Dr. Mafune’s pet monster Titanosaurus, and the two were countered by Godzilla. This time Mechagodzilla was controlled by a device implanted inside of Katsura Mafune’s stomach, the latter being Dr. Mafune’s daughter, who was previously saved from serious injury by being rebuilt into a cyborg by the alien surgeons.
When Katsura later committed honorable suicide, Mechagodzilla short-circuited, enabling him to be destroyed by Godzilla once more.
Special powers and abilities: Mechagodzilla’s metallic hide was composed of a metal dubbed “space titanium,” which was highly impregnable, and the robot’s bionic strength was even greater than that of the real Godzilla. The robot, when disguised as Godzilla, projected a yellowish heat beam from his maw. After losing the disguise, Mechagodzilla utilized a vast array of other weaponry.
The robot fired a powerful rainbow colored beam of destructive energy from its optical sensors, it projected a stream of electricity from a turret on its abdomen that was hidden by a trap door, and its talons were solid metal projectiles which could be fired with enough force to penetrate Godzilla’s near-impenetrable skin. After the robot was rebuilt, the talon missiles were redesigned to actually explode on impact.
Mechagodzilla could also create an impervious force field around himself by spinning his head and releasing a torrent of spiral electro-magnetic energy from his nasal passages.
The robot could also fly at high speeds by way of jets built into the soles of his feet.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974); Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Mechagodzilla II (Heisei Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled “MechaGodzilla” or “Mecha-Godzilla.” He became 'Super Mechagodzilla' after merging with Garuda.
Height: 120 meters
Description: Mechagodzilla II was created by G-Force in 1994 as a special weapon against Godzilla II after analyzing robotic technology left behind by time-travelers from the 23rd century (taken from the fallen body of the cybernetic kaiju Mecha-King Ghidorah).
The robot was somewhat larger than Godzilla, and resembled a chrome-colored, armor coated version of the Kaiju King. Released from its base in Tsukuba, Japan, and controlled by four G-Force soldiers within its body, the robot came close to actually killing Godzilla during their initial conflict, but was crippled after exceeding its energy output limit during the battle.
After being repaired, the robot battled and mortally wounded Fire Rodan in combat. It then merged with the flying war machine Garuda to become Super Mechagodzilla, in which it once again nearly destroyed Godzilla by shredding his lower nerve ganglia with its Shock Anchors. However, after Godzilla absorbed excessive radiation from the dying body of Fire Rodan, he was revived and charged up into his 'Super Godzilla' incarnation, in which form he destroyed Super Mechagodzilla in battle.
A year later, G-Force replaced Mechagodzilla as their special anti-Godzilla weapon with another giant robot, Mogera II.
Special weapons and abilities: Mechagodzilla had a huge array of built in weaponry.
It fired a rainbow-hued beam of great destructive energy called the Mega Buster, and could also project yellow-hued Maser Beams from its optical sensors and exploding Paralyzer Missiles from its shoulder areas.
The robot also fired metallic cables from its wrist gauntlets with a razor sharp projection at the ends which were powerful enough to penetrate Godzilla’s near-impregnable hide. These were referred to as its Shock Anchors, and the cables could emit debilitating electrical shocks into its quarry.
Mechagodzilla’s outer shell was composed of a substance called Nt-1 armor, which was completely resistant to Godzilla and Fire Rodan’s atomic breath, and could absorb several such blasts. After doing so, the robot could project the accumulated energy from its abdomen as a yellow, tremendously powerful sphere of energy called a Plasma Grenade. This was by far the robot’s most powerful weapon, as it mortally wounded Rodan with a single point blank blast of this energy.
The robot could merge itself with Garuda, thereby becoming the entity called Super Mechagodzilla. In this form, the robot’s power output was increased at least tenfold, and it could make use of Garuda’s Maser Cannons in combat.
Even without being merged with Garuda, Mechagodzilla could fly by means of powerful jets built into its backpack and waist.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993)
Mechagodzilla III (Millennium X Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3D"
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled “MechaGodzilla” or “Mecha-Godzilla.” He was also called Kiryu (pronounced "kee-you", which is a rough version of the word "dragon" in Japanese) and Mecha G.
Height: 55 meters
Description: Mechagodzilla 3, a.k.a., Kiryu, was a highly advanced cybernetive dai kaiju created by the Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) in the year 2003 to counter the threat of Godzilla and other errant dai kaiju to Japan. He was created as a result of combining the skeleton of the "original" Godzilla left at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean following his 1954 defeat by the Oxygen Destroyer with a titanium steel alloy exterior, and incorporating a formidable array of built-in weaponry. His actions were usually controlled and transported by two human pilots in a warplane known as the AC-3. The technique for combining organic and inorganic material in this manner was invented by Dr. Tokumitsu Yuhara.
The cyborg looked more or less like a cross between his Showa and Heisei counterparts, but with a much longer tail, a more 'dragon-like' facial structure, yellow optical sensors, and a large shoulder unit attached to his being. Like his two predecessors, his exterior armor was chrome-colored.
Soon after his creation, the cyborg Kiryu was launched to counter an attack by Godzilla, but the first meeting between the two didn't go well for the AMF crew...Godzilla's roar somehow triggered a reaction in Kiryu's DNA, causing him to break free from AMF control, and to go on a rampage in Tokyo, which only ceased after his power ran out.
Mecha G quickly had this flaw removed, and when next he confronted Godzilla in Tokyo, less than a week later, Mechagodzilla managed to drive the Big G from Japan, the battle ending in a draw. However, Kiryu took heavy damage, including the loss of his most powerful weapon, his Absolute Zero Cannon, and he was returned to the AMF base for a lengthy repair cycle.
A year later, when Godzilla again threatened Japan, Mecha G was sent against the Kaiju King anew, this time assisted by Mothra 5, both in her adult stage and in her stage as twin larvae. This time, Mechagodzilla managed to deliver a near-fatal wound to Godzilla, thanks to the assistance of Mothra...but the cyborg once again wrested himself free from AMF control before delivering the fatal blow. Acting on his own volition, and wishing to be laid to rest for good, Kiryu flew the entrapped Godzilla out to sea, and crashed the both of them deep into the Japan Trench, where the skeleton inside Mecha G could now rest in eternal peace.
Special powers and abilities: Kiryu's titanium steel exterior was highly impregnable to damage, and the cyborg's strength clearly rivaled that of his fully organic counterpart. His metallic claws were capable of cutting even Godzilla's hide, and his right hand could be formed into a rapidly spinning drill-like weapon. The robotic kaiju was extremely fast and agile, much more akin to a living creature than a robot, and could leap for great distances. His tail was long and strong enough to be used as a powerful striking weapon in combat.
He was also equipped with an impressive array of weaponry. He had a powerful maser cannon in his maw, rapid fire laser cannons in his wrist gauntlets, and his shoulder harness was equipped with an array of computer guided missiles which always struck any target they were locked on. The harness contained powerful rockets that enabled Mechagodzilla to fly, though the cyborg was usually hauled to his battle locations by the accompanying AC-3 warplane. Further, the harness could be detached from Mecha G's body, and travel independently of the cyborg by means of its rockets, thus enabling it to act as a flying battering ram.
In 2003, after first being constructed, Kiryu was equipped with a powerful, chest mounted weapon known as the Absolute Zero Cannon (sometimes simply called the 'Zero Cannon'), which, as its name suggested, could lower the temperature of any object that the beam struck to near absolute zero. This weapon was very energy consuming, however, and could only be used at periodic intervals. It was damaged beyond repair after his first battle with Godzilla. In 2004, during his second battle with Godzilla, Kiryu's Zero Cannon was replaced with a new weapon, the Hyper-Maser Cannon, which was more or less a souped-up additional maser cannon.
The cyborg could run continuously for two hours before his power cells were depleted, after which he could be either remotely recharged or recharge by tapping into any significant electrical power source. His moves were usually programmed from a nearby distance via pilots in the AC-3, who would act to assist Mecha-G with the craft's own laser cannons when necessary. However, the cyborg could also be operated manually by a single human pilot from within, but under some circumstances, his organic aspect would enable him to break free of human control and act on his own volition.
Significant appearances: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002); Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Mechani-Kong
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: 'Robot Kong' (the name given to this robotic kaiju in the American press).
Height: 45 meters (mistakenly depicted as being only 20 meters in his sole film appearance)
Description: Mechani-Kong was a life-size, powerful robotic duplicate of King Kong. The robot never appeared in a G-film or ever encountered Godzilla, but as it was clearly part of the Showa Series Universe, I believe it deserves honorable mention in this glossary.
Mechani-Kong basically resembled a chrome-colored, armored bipedal simian with a large revolving light within a protruding structure atop its head and a utility belt around its midriff with a supply of huge grenades connected to it.
Mechani-Kong (referred to as simply 'Robot Kong' in the American press) was initially designed by Carl Nelson, but the designs were stolen and eventually constructed by the notorious criminal mastermind Dr. Huu by 1967. It was Huu's intention to not only use the giant robot as part of his personal arsenal of weaponry, but also to use it to mine a very rare and powerful radioactive substance known only as 'Element X', which could be used to make powerful weapons of mass destruction when his services were hired by an unknown Asian government. When the robot's mechanical systems proved vulnerable to the close vicinity of the Element X, Huu captured the actual King Kong from Mondo Island and hypnotized the gigantic simian into digging for the Element X in the robot's stead.
Kong eventually broke free from Huu's control, and the nefarious criminal genius sent Mechani-Kong into battle with its organic counterpart. Though the giant robot was evidently too tough for Kong to defeat mano-a-mano, Huu's former ally, an agent of the aforementioned Asian government known as Ms. Pirana, sacrificed her life to rip the wires from the mechanism that Dr. Huu used to control the robot's actions.
This occurred while Kong and Mechani-Kong were climbing Tokyo Tower in the midst of their battle, and the deactivated robot fell from the enormous height and was reduced to scrap metal upon hitting the ground. It was evidently never rebuilt.
Special powers and abilities: Due to its entirely bionic nature, the Mechani-Kong robot was incredibly strong, apparently too strong for the organic King Kong to overcome on his own. The robot was also very well articulated, and capable of moving as a bipedal simian would, with great speed, agility, and climbing ability. It was basically designed to duplicate all of King Kong's physical prowess, albeit to an enhanced degree. The robot's metallic hide was made of an unknown alloy (possibly solid steel or titanium) that was highly impregnable to damage.
The simian robot had extremely bright lights built into its optical sensors, that when activated suddenly and directly within the vision of an organic adversary, they could briefly induce a painful blindness. The robot also had a revolving light in a structure atop its head unit that could emit hypnotic lights to mesmerize any being looking at the emissions.
The robot had several large explosive grenades attached to its utility belt, which it could remove and use as destructive weapons or for causing serious damage to infrastructure or for digging.
The robot was operated via distant remote control by Dr. Huu, and had a loud speaker system in its mouth unit through which Huu could project his amplified voice.
Significant appearances: King Kong Escapes (1967)
Megalon
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Megaro (his Japanese name).
Height: 50 meters
Description: Megalon is a giant insectoid kaiju who lives beneath the surface of the Earth, and who serves as a living weapon of the advanced subterranean civilization called Seatopia. It's believed that Megalon is a particularly powerful bio-weapon created by the advanced genetic engineering techniques of the ancient Muan civilization, from whom the Seatopians are descended from, which would explain why this creature was under their control and still used by them as per his original purpose (see Special powers and abilities).
Despite being insectiod, Megalon is bipedal in stance, with lizard-like legs and a short tail. His head is fully insect-like, including multi-faceted eyes and fly-like feelers around his jaw mandibles. He has beetle-like wings colored somewhat like those of a ladybug, and his arms end in what resembles rotatable organic diamond-hard excavation drills. He has a long nose horn that ends in a star-shaped projection. The creature tends to actually hop rather than walk while on the ground.
Megalon first appeared on the surface world in 1973, when the Seatopians released him in Japan to retaliate on the above ground humans for ignorantly unleashing atomic bomb tests, which caused mass destruction to their underground haven (actually, the Japanese people were innocent of any atom bomb testing; it was primarily the American and Soviet governments which should have been targeted, and even in those cases, it was the respective political states of those nations, and not the human race at large, whom was responsible...evidently, the Seatopians incorrectly believed that the human race was united in a world government).
To control the giant insectoid, the Seatopians needed to make use of a robot called Jet Jaguar, which was invented by Dr. Goro Ibuki. Megalon attacked Tokyo, only to be held at bay by maser tanks and other, more conventional J.S.D.F. weaponry. Soon afterwards, Jet Jaguar freed himself from Seatopian control and increased his height to match that of Megalon, and confronted the evil kaiju.
After fighting Megalon to a standstill, the Seatopians called upon the alien cyborg monster Gigan to assist their monster. Soon, however, Godzilla I, who was then officially a champion of humankind, arrived to assist Jet Jaguar, and the two evil monsters were soundly defeated. Megalon fled underground, to be seen nevermore by the surfaceworld.
Presumably, his underground status was the reason he wasn’t moved to Monster Island by the time of the Kilaak invasion in 1999.
Special powers and abilities:
Despite the fact that Megalon had several external insect-like features, including beetle-like wings, multi-faceted eyes, jaw mandibles, feelers around his mouth, and a chitinous covering over his body, it appears that he actually possessed an endodermic skeleton and mostly reptilian internal characteristics (a creature with an exoskeleton and other internal insect features would be unable to achieve anywhere near Megalon's size for many physiological reasons), and that he was obviously a left-over bio-weapon created via advanced genetic engineering by Muan scientists many millennia earlier. Megalon appears to be the result of an ultra-large bipedal dinosaur who was gene spliced with genetic material from various insect species so as to give him various features with the corresponding abilities of those aformentioned species, and he seemed to have the same degree of high intelligence that many of the artificially created ultra-dinosaurs possessed. His nasal protrusion appears to have been developed to be able to harness and project his body's own store of bio-electric energy as destructive beams of energy. His oral 'napalm bombs' appear to be the result of various bits of inorganic matter that he regularly consumes, which he can store in a large sac at the base of his esophagus, and these materials combine and collect together to form highly combustable materials that explode with great force upon impact when spewed or hurled at a solid object. The powerful, genetically modified musculature of Megalon's reptilian esophagus enables him to project fully formed napalm bombs from his esophagus's storage sack with enough force to enable them to hit most ojects hard enough to explode. His foreclaws were modified to instead resemble functional power drills, and their outer chitinous covering made them nearly diamond hard, allowing the kaiju to very quickly and easily burrow underground.
Megalon appears to have been genetically designed for being easily controlled by his human captors via an inability to move or act on his own easily without being directed by specific wave-like frequencies, which ancient Muan technology were able to create. Since the Seatopians lacked the advanced radio wave generating technology of their distant ancestors that enabled them to project the required frequency, they were forced to rely on Prof. Ibuki's robot Jet Jaguar to generate the specific wave frequency that Megalon required in order to move about effectively, and under their direction so that the creature would be unable to turn against them or otherwise operate against their own interests.
His presence in the servitude of the Seatopians was further evidence that Megalon was likely a form of particularly powerful bio-weapon created by Muan science during the heyday of their reign over the Earth over 10,000 years ago.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Megaguirus
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3B"
Alternate names: Her name will likely be spelled somewhat differently in various texts.
Length: 60 meters (including tail, when fully extended)
Description: Megaguirus was a gigantic, extradimensional insect who was spawned by a swarm of far smaller insect "drones" whose eggs accidentally appeared in the Earth residing within the reality of "continuity 3B" as the result of a portal to her home reality being opened by a weapon known as the Dimension Tide; this weapon was designed to create a miniature point singularity in the space/time continuum in the hopes of dimensionally displacing the Godzilla V indigenous to that timeline. For a detailed description on what occurred when the Meganulon II and Meganula stages of Megaguirus's species intially appeared prior to spawning her, see the respective entries of Meganulon II and Meganula entries elsewhere in this glossary.
Megaguirus greatly resembled a gigantic Earth dragonfly, but with significant differences. Her chitinous skin was ruddy gray, and she possessed large red multi-faceted eyes. Unlike Earth insects, however, who have six limbs, Megaguirus had eight limbs, including six legs and two much larger front pincers. Also, instead of possessing mandibles around her jaws, she actually seemed to have a mouth similar in structure to that of a reptile or mammal, with several rows of sharp teeth within (Earth insects will have mandibles, but not rows of teeth). Also unlike Earth insects were her wings: rather than being translucent and membranous, like that of Earth insects, they were actually somewhat bat-like in appearance, though they did tend to beat almost blindingly fast, in a manner similar to that of an Earthly dragonfly.
Further, Megaguirus had a long, thick, and powerful tail with a strong stinger on the end (contrary to sometimes popular belief, Earthly dragonflies do not actually have stingers at the tip of their tails).
Upon emerging from the gestating egg-like structure created by the now deceased swarm of Meganulas, Megaguirus headed for Tokyo, where she sensed the huge living nuclear energy source that Godzilla embodied, energy that she presumably needed in order to lay a multitude of eggs that would spawn the next generation of Meganulon/Meganula once her life cycle reached its natural end.
Upon arriving in Japan's capital city, Megaguirus viciously attacked Godzilla, and she managed to avoid his attempts to defend himself as she absorbed large amounts of nuclear energy from her prey. However, after a fierce battle, Godzilla managed to regroup and deliver various injurious attacks upon the giant insect queen. Finally, Godzilla destroyed Megaguirus with one final beam of his atomic breath, thus ending her foray into the Earth dimension once and for all.
Special powers and abilities: Megaguirus's exoskeleton was extremely tough, and she was strong enough to engage Godzilla in close quarters combat for an extended period of time. Her two front pincers were particularly strong, and she could use them as vise-like grasping weapons, or as powerful striking weapons.
Her wings, which she could beat over a hundred times per second at maximum speed, would move almost faster than the human eye could see, and at such a velocity, she was able to create vastly powerful reverberations of sonic energy that were destructive enough to completely obliterate any physical object in her near-vicinity. Though her flight speed wasn't as fast as that of her far smaller Meganula drones, she was nevertheless able to fly at great speed, though her max was never measured (she didn't seem to be able to reach the speed of sound, as could Rodan, though she did seem able to surpass the top speed of Mothra in the latter's imago stage). She was incredibly maneuverable in flight, considerably more so than any other flying kaiju yet depicted, and she was able to repeatedly dodge Godzilla's blasts of atomic breath from a relatively close distance with ease.
Megaguirus fed by absorbing powerful sources of energy, which she could do by way of the stinger at the end of her powerful tail. She was able to rapidly absorb huge amounts of Godzilla's nuclear energy, for example, by puncturing his skin with her stinger, and she was able to absorb so much of his nuclear energy that she temporarily prevented the Kaiju King from projecting his atomic breath. After absorbing sufficient amounts of energy, including Godzilla's nuclear energy, she was able to project hugely destructive bolts of nuclear energy from a large orifice on her right shoulder (in a manner similar to that of Orga).
Presumably, Megaguirus needed those energy stores to enable her to lay the eggs she would in order to breed a new generation of Meganulon/Meganula spawn, once she reached the end of her natural life cycle.
Despite Megaguirus's outer resemblance to Earthly insects, it's very likely that their inner physiology was quite different, as they fed on raw energy, and nothing of physical substance [consequently, it's unknown why she had rows of sharp teeth in her jaws, which Earthly animals use for chewing physical food, but also as an offensive weapon; Megaguirus, however, was never seen using her jaws as a weapon]. It's also unknown how these creatures, with their chitinous exoskeleton, were able to move their body parts, or to breathe, at such a huge size; scientists have opined that insects are unable to do so beyond a certain relatively small size. Though there were insects and arachnids in Earth's distant past that were larger than any type of insect or arachnid which exists today (mostly in the Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic Era, over 200 million years ago), including a species of dragonfly and scorpion which both exceeded a foot in length, it's believed by scientists that lifeforms possessing chitinous exoskeletons, such as insects and arachnids, cannot attain a size much larger than that, and still be able to move their body parts, or to utilize the characteristic breathing tube used by such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the Meganulons were from a non-Earth reality, and since they fed upon energy, rather than any form of matter, their physiology may have been bereft of the physical limitations which Earth insects face.
Special limitations: Megaguirus required the frequent consumption of powerful sources of energy, such as that which nuclear energy could provide, in order for her to survive, and to eventually enable her to spawn her progeny.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Meganulon I (Showa Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: The creatures' name is spelled "Meganuron" by the Japanese.
Length: Approx. 2.5 meters
Description: It should be noted that the original version of Meganulon never appeared in a G-film, but since it did appear in another Toho film that took place within Godzilla I's continuity, and since a newer version of the creature did appear in a G-film taking place within continuity "3B" (Godzilla vs. Megaguirus [2000]), I decided to include an entry on Meganulon I in this glossary.
A Meganulon is a dangerous animal species who are likely to be descended from insects who were genetically spliced with large reptilian animals over 10,000 years ago by Muan/Lemurian scientists, whose now lost continent once stood in the Pacific Ocean. They may have been further mutated by exposure to atomic radiation. The average Meganulon is somewhat larger than a human being in size, and considerablay more massive. They are extremely dangerous, attacking and killing human beings relentlessly and without provocation, seemingly because of highly developed territorial instincts, which were bred into them by Muan scientists who likely dispersed them in various areas where they wished to keep Atlantean trespassers away from (it should be noted that the Meganulons didn't actually feed on the many humans whom they killed, providing further evidence that their brutally aggressive behavior towards human beings is likely to be part of their artificial genetic engineering as ancient bio-weapons).
Each of these huge quasi-insects appears as a cross between a scorpion (hind portion of their body) and a caterpillar (rear portion of their body). They undulate across the ground much like a caterpillar does, and their heads have enormous multi-faceted eyes, just as all normal insects do, and they possess two large pincers on the front portion of their bodies.
The insects first appeared in the year 1956, where they were inhabiting the mines of a small village in Japan that relied upon these mines for the economic welfare of the community, and which was also been in the near-vicinity of various Pacific atomic bomb tests in the previous decade. The Meganulons, which appeared to be nocturnal, began killing several of the miners, and eventually began making deadly forays into the village itself, thus coming into conflict with the authorities there.
Ultimately, however, the Meganulon infestation ended as a result of another, far larger creature that was also awakened and mutated as a result of atomic radiation: the flying dai kaiju known as Rodan I. Rodan was originally a pteranodon egg that had been lying in a subterranean cavern deep within the mines in a state of suspended animation, only to be revived and mutated into an enormous kaiju by exposure to atomic radiation.
When Rodan first hatched, the entire Meganulon colony appeared to be drawn to his immediate vicinity by the radiation he was apparently emitting. Thus, as a result, the hungry Rodan hatchling ravenously devoured the entire Meganulon colony in his midst, and the giant insect-creatures were evidently never seen again.
Special powers and abilities: Though each of the Meganulons of this reality were relatively slow-moving creatures, they were immensely strong physically, and could easily crush a human being to death with their powerful pincers in seconds. The Meganulon colony were very likely not truly insects at all, but were the results of certain insects and/or arachnid DNA spliced with that of large, aggressive reptilian animals (likely also to have been artificially created), and though the exterior of their bodies possessed a strong chitinous covering and many insect-like attributes, they were likely to have had an endodermic skeletal structure combined with highly stretchable cartilage, as well as reptilian-like lungs and other internal organs (creatures with exoskeletons and the characteristic insect breathing tube would be unable to move and breathe, respectively, at such a huge size).
Their extremely strong chitinous skin could resist small arms fire, but not the projectiles of larger fire arms, and they could be killed after taking several hits from a high powered assault rifle.
Unlike their counterparts in continuity "3B," the Meganulons of continuity 1 never evolved into a flying stage known as Meganula.
Significant appearances: Rodan (1956)
Meganulon II (Millennium Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3B"
Alternate names: The creatures' name is spelled "Meganuron" by the Japanese.
Length: Approx. 2.5 meters
Description: Meganulon II of "continuty 3B" was extradimensional in origin, and not indigenous to Earth at all (a major scripting error in the film had a scientist incorrectly describe the creatures as being prehistoric survivors from Earth's ancient past; in actuality, no insects of such enormous size ever lived on prehistoric Earth, and many events in the film made it abundantly clear as to the extradimensional nature of the insects).
The Meganulon insects obviously hailed from a reality in which the laws of physics and biology were different enough that insects could attain such an enormous size, something which scientists claim is impossible in the reality we live in, for various biological and other physical reasons (though the laws of physics may actually be different in the various G-universes than those which operate in the "real" world in which we live). These insects were larger than a human being, and unlike their continuity 1 counterparts, they somewhat resembled giant cicadas, rather than a cross between a caterpillar and a scorpion (though possessing eight limbs, instead of six, as Earth insects do). The Meganulon form was merely the initial stage for the insects, who would soon shed their outer skin to reveal the winged form of Meganula, much as an Earthly cicada does.
Also, another strong reminder of Meganulon II's otherdimensional nature is the fact that though these insects breed via eggs in water, as many Earthly insects do (including mosquitos), they "fed" on pure energy, not physical or liquid foodstuffs, and would take the energy from a living being who possessed it for sustenance, if need be (it's totally unknown as to who or what these insects routinely fed upon for their energy supply in their native reality, as it was never seen). In the Meganulon form, however, these insects were very territorial, and could thus be extremely dangerous to any human being who inadvertantly wandered near one of them, or near a nesting area.
Meganulon first appeared on the Earth residing in timeline "3B" as the result of the Anti-Godzilla Defense Bureau's usage of a weapon known as the Dimension Tide, which was designed to remove the threat of Godzilla from their reality by utilizing some type of gravitational particle beam to open up a miniature point singularity in Godzilla's immediate vicinity. The initial attempt failed, but it did release a few Meganula (the later life stage of Meganulon) into the Earth dimension in the sparsely populated Shibuya region of Japan (a rural sub-section of Tokyo), who then proceeded to breed numerous Meganulons, which then quickly "moulted" their outer shells to form a huge swarm of winged Meganula.
For a description of the Meganula, and what occurred after the mass transformation of Meganulon into Meganula, see the entry for Meganula elsewhere in this glossary.
Special powers and abilities: The Meganulons, despite their bulky size, could move with amazing speed, and were strong enough to easily rip a human being to shreds, utilizing their mighty pincers and jaws for this purpose, as they obviously had the proportionate strength and speed of an Earthly insect commensurate to their size and mass. They each had eight limbs (six legs and two pincers), unlike Earthly insects, who only have six limbs. They were able to cling to the surface of granite and other smooth substances, just as Earth insects can. They would hatch from eggs, which were usually laid within water by the ultimate queen Megaguirus phase, which was created at the end of the insects' life cycles, and these eggs had a hard outer shell that was grayish in color. Once the eggs hatched, the creatures would swiftly reach adult size, and would viciously guard the near-vicinity of the nesting place, though since they were in a sparsely populated area, only two unfortunate human beings ended up getting too close to them, and thus meeting a gruesome death.
The Meganulon very quickly made the transformation into the Meganula phase of their life cycle, and did so simply by splitting their outer skin, and emerging from it in their new, winged form. In this form, the insects would then go forth to seek sustenance in the form of powerful sources of energy, such as nuclear, and luckily, this "food" source did not include human beings, whose bodies function on simple chemical energy.
The Meganulon phase of the insects' life cycle appeared to be very brief, and despite their outer resemblance to Earthly insects, it's very likely that their inner physiology was quite different, as they fed on raw energy, and not physical matter of any kind. It's also unknown how these creatures, with their chitinous exoskeleton, were able to move their body parts, or to breathe, at such a huge size; scientists have opined that insects are unable to do so beyond a certain relatively small size. Though there were insects and arachnids in Earth's distant past that were larger than any type of insect or arachnid which exists today (mostly in the Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic Era, over 200 million years ago), including a species of dragonfly and scorpion which both exceeded a foot in length, it's believed by scientists that life forms possessing chitinous exoskeletons, such as insects and arachnids, cannot attain a size much larger than that and still be able to move their body parts, or to utilize the characteristic breathing tube used by such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere, which is known to be become useless once the creatures exceed a certain size.
Nevertheless, due to the fact that the Meganulon were from a non-Earth reality, and since they fed upon energy, rather than any form of matter, their physiology may have been bereft of the physical limitations which Earth insects are subject to.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Meganula
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3B"
Length: (initially) about 2.5 meters; (soon afterwards) roughly 5 meters
Alternate names: The creatures' name is spelled "Meganura" by the Japanese.
Description: The Meganula were the winged phase of the life cycle that characterized the extradimensional giant insects known as Meganulon. These giant predatory insects arrived on the Earth existing within "continuity 3B" as a result of a dimensional portal to their reality being opened via an advanced weapon known as the Dimension Tide, which was utilized by the Anti-Godzilla Defense Bureau to attempt to warp Godzilla V out of his native reality by opening up a miniature point singularity in his near-vicinity. Though the initial usage of the Dimension Tide failed to successfully displace Godzilla, it allowed a few Meganula and several Meganulon eggs to enter the Earth dimension in the vicinity of rural Shibuya in Japan. After the first several eggs hatched in a sewer area, the resulting Meganulons promptly ripped open underground water pipes in order to allow further eggs to hatch, since their eggs were layed in the water, thus flooding Shibuya in the process.
The emerging Meganulons then promptly moulted their outer chitinous shell to reveal their Meganula forms, the next stage in their life cycle (for a detailed description of the Meganulon phase, see the entry for Meganulon II elsewhere in this glossary).
The statement made by a scientist in the film claiming that Meganula were insects that once lived on prehistoric Earth was a serious error in the script, as the extradimensional nature of these creatures was clearly established elsewhere in the film, including the sight of their eggs' arrival in the Earth dimension via a miniature point singulariy (or "black hole," if you will, a description used in the film that is a bit misleading), the fact that it's well known to science that no insects of such size ever existed at any time in Earth's prehistoric past [the largest insect that ever lived was a prehistoric dragonfly that lived in the Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic Era over 200 million years ago, and was about 1.4 feet in length], and the major fact that these insects fed upon raw forms of powerful energy, such as nuclear or plasma, which is quite unlike any natural life form on Earth (Godzilla is a nuclear mutation, and not the result of natural evolution), and nuclear energy and its like would have been quite unavailable on Earth in the Paleozoic Era.
The Meganulas resemble Earthly dragonflies, including having large wings that beat almost faster than the human eye can see when moving at maximum speed, and these wings are what largely distinguish the Meganula phase from the previous Meganulon stage of these alien insects' life cycle. They also possessed large, red multi-faceted eyes, and a long tail with a large stinger on the end, used for absorbing energy from a host organism (contrary to sometimes popular belief, real Earthly dragonflies, including the fairly common darning needle, do not have stingers on their tails). The gender differential of these insects was never able to be determined, as their spawning activity and behavior is, for the most part, quite unlike that of any Earth insects.
Ultimately, hundreds of Meganulons were found pupating upon a large skyscraper in the middle of Shibuya, where they were emerging from their chitinous shells en masse into the Meganula phase, as they prepared to seek out a powerful energy source so they would be able to complete their life cycle: to sacrifice their lives in the collective creation of a vastly larger queen insect, known as Megaguirus.
The Meganulas were shot down in large numbers by members of a Japanese SDF patrol, but there were far too many of them for the army unit to completely wipe out. Finally, the newly emerged swarm of Meganulas sensed a powerful energy source in Godzilla V, who was then in the midst of a battle with the AGD on the Japanese island of Kiganjima. The Meganula swarm then promptly took flight towards the latter locale for Godzilla's copious supply of internal nuclear energy.
Upon arriving at Kiganjima, the Meganula swarm mercilessly attacked the Kaiju King, who fought back viciously in his attempt to fend off the debilitating attack. However, despite the fact that he destroyed numerous members of the swarm by crushing them in his hands, incinerating them with his atomic breath, or smashing his body up against a mountainside, they still managed to take a huge amount of his energy stores. Finally, however, the Kaiju King managed to drive the swarm away before they completely depleted him by using his internal nuclear energy to heat his outer body to such an extent that any Meganula attached to his body was quickly burned to death or driven off.
Nevertheless, the Meganula swarm managed to take enough nuclear energy that they were able to successfully head for the Pacific Ocean, and utilize that energy, at the collective loss of their lives, to create the ultimate result of the extradimensional insects' life cycle: the mega-gigantic queen insect form known as Megaguirus (see the entry on Megaguirus elsewhere in this glossary for a detailed description of what ensued after the emergence of Megaguirus in the Earth dimension).
Special powers and abilities: The Meganulas, upon emerging from their initial chitinous Meganulon phase, are roughly the same size as the latter, but quickly grow larger. Due to their great size, they possess the proportionate strength and speed that an Earthly dragonfly would have with that level of size and mass. Their full flight speed was never measured, but it may have been over 200 m.p.h. at maximum speed. They would attack an opponent in one huge swarm, and were equipped with the same large jaws and powerful pincers that their Meganulon stage possessed. In addition, however, they had a tail with a stinger at the end that was strong enough to penetrate Godzilla's skin. By attacking collectively as a swarm, the Meganulas were able to present a major threat even to Godzilla.
Despite the physical damage their stingers wrought on their prey, the actual purpose of that weapon was not to inject a type of venom, as do Earthly insects with stingers, but to actually physically absorb raw energy from that aforementioned prey. They were able to substantially weaken Godzilla on a temporary basis by doing so. After accomplishing this, they were somehow able to utlize that stolen nuclear energy to create a massively gigantic egg-like gestation organ from which the ultra-gigantic queen insect Megaguirus would emerge, though doing so cost them their lives and completed the life cycle, presumably leaving Megaguirus the task of eventually breeding a new generation of Meganulon/Meganula, thus starting the life cycle anew.
Despite the Meganulas' outer resemblance to Earthly insects, it's very likely that their inner physiology was quite different, as they fed on raw energy, and no type of physical sustenance. It's also unknown how these creatures, with their chitinous exoskeleton, were able to move their body parts, or to breathe, at such a huge size; scientists have opined that insects are unable to do either of these things beyond a certain relatively small size. Though there were insects and arachnids in Earth's distant past that were larger than any type of insect or arachnid which exists today (mostly in the Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic Era, over 200 million years ago), including a species of dragonfly and scorpion that both exceeded a foot in length, it's believed by scientists that life forms possessing chitinous exoskeletons, such as insects and arachnids, cannot attain a size much larger than that, and still be able to move their body parts, or to utilize the characteristic breathing tube used by such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the Meganulons were from a non-Earth reality, and since they fed upon energy, rather than any form of physical matter, their physiology may have been bereft of the physical limitations which Earth insects are subject to.
Special limitations: As noted above, despite their power, the life span of the Meganulas appeared to be quite brief, and individual members of the species appeared to die relatively quickly if they couldn't find sufficient energy sources on which to feed. Once the entire swarm absorbed enough nuclear energy from Godzilla to create the enormous organic egg-like construct that would spawn their queen Megaguirus, every single one of the individual Meganulas died as a result of depleting all of their energy stores upon accomplishing the aforementioned task.
They were also dependant upon a huge amount of water in order to spawn, as this was where the eggs that spawned the initial Meganulon phase had to be laid, and also where the enormous egg-like gestational organ that spawned the ultimate queen Megaguirus stage had to be created.
Unlike Earth insects, such as ants and bees, whose swarms exist simultaneously with their queen, and continuously surround and care for her, in the case of this extradimensional insect species, the swarm apparently appears only after the life of the queen has ended, who presumably lays a large amount of eggs before expiring, and the resulting progeny must then eventually sacrifice their collective lives in order to spawn a new queen, who they never actually see or interact with in any manner, and the queen then leads a solo existence, and must hunt for the energy she needs to exist on her own in order to spawn the next generation of her species.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Minilla
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1 & "3E"
see Minya
Minya
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Son of Godzilla, Baby Godzilla, Tadzilla; often spelled “Minira” or “Minilla," which are Japanese spellings of his name. He is also very often and mistakenly referred to as “Godzooky” by less than informed Americans...he has never been called this name in any of his film appearances, or in any of the published material about the little kaiju! Godzooky was an entirely different character who was loosely based upon Minya that was featured in the Hanna-Barbera animated Godzilla TV series that premiered in the late 1970's, but is not the same character as Minya (who Hanna-Barbera actually didn't have the legal copyright required to use him in the series).
Height: (as a newborn) 12 meters (as a toddler) 20 meters
Description: Minya is an infant member of Godzilla I’s ‘species’ who was a genetically modified dinosaur egg (descended from genetically modified dinosaurs artifically created many millennia ago by Muan/Lemurian scientists) buried in a rocky hillside on Solgell Island in the South Pacific, and seemingly in a form of suspended animation. The genetically altered dinosaur gestating inside of the egg was obviously irradiated by nearby atomic bomb tests, causing it to not only awaken from its state of hibernation, but also to cause the embryonic ultra-dinosaur within to mutate into something akin to a baby version of Godzilla.
However, since ultra-dinosaurs who mutated into considerably larger and more powerful creatures by exposure to atomic radiation tended to reach full adult size within weeks of their hatching, and since Minya's size did indeed increase somewhat days after his hatching, yet he was still the same size in 1999 as he was in 1967, it may be hypothesized that he was either genetically "locked" to that level of his development due to unknown factors (possibly related to the odd energy emissions of the weather-controlling experiments he was exposed to shortly before his hatching), or possibly he wasn't truly a mutant 'species' analagous to Godzilla after all.
Minya is much smaller than the adult Godzilla, and has a stout, pudgy body with a slate gray hide. His face is "cutesy" and pug-like, and he has only the barest hint of dorsal plates on his back. His tail is likewise short and stubby. When in danger, he will call Godzilla to his aid with a distinctive cry which appears to be the young monster saying “wagwa!”
When about ready to hatch, the unborn Minya sent magnetic waves of distress out from Solgell Island, which was psychically picked up by the nearby Godzilla, who, recognizing the waves as coming from another member of his ‘species,’ rushed to the little creature’s side. However, three giant praying mantises known as Kamakiras also heard the wave lengthy distress call, and dug up and hatched the egg with the intent of eating the newborn kaiju. Godzilla promptly showed up and defeated the Kamakiras. The atomic titan then took the infant Minya under his wing, adopting the little kaiju as a sort of surrogate son.
Godzilla subsequently trained Minya in utilizing his atomic breath (with limited success). Minya later assisted Godzilla in defeating the giant spider called Spiega before the two were temporarily frozen when the temperature was artificially lowered to freezing by scientists than on the island who sought to escape from the dangerous dai kaiju inhabiting that atoll.
Two years later (by 1969), Minya had been moved to the newly established Monster Island, along with his surrogate father and all the other kaiju who could be located.
That year, a young boy from Kawasaki, Japan named Ichiro dreamed about going to Monster Island and befriending Minya, who could shrink to child size at will and verbally communicate with the boy, and learned valuable lessons about life when the dream Minya used his natural wits to defeat a nasty adult monster named Gabora who was bullying the little monster. This may possibly have been a telepathic event broadcasted to Ichiro’s mind directly by an unknown source that was picked up by a device invented by the young child’s grandfather, or it could have been a simple confabulation by Ichiro.
By the year 1999, Minya and all the other kaiju on Monster Island fell under the influence of a hostile alien race known as the Kilaaks as part of the aliens’ plans to take over the Earth. Due to Minya’s small size and minimal powers, however, the young monster (who was inexplicably still a juvenile three decades after his birth) wasn’t sent to attack any cities alongside the adult monsters. After being freed from Kilaak control, however, he did participate in the final battle with his fellow monsters against King Ghidorah I, and he even delivered the “final” blow, sending a ring of fluorescent energy around the pulverized King Ghidorah’s last standing head, which caused the space demon to completely fall out of the fight.
Special powers and abilities: Due to Minya’s small size and non-aggressive, cheerful manner, he was by far the least powerful and dangerous of all the dai kaiju on his world. He usually wasn’t very effective in any battle, and due to his underdeveloped internal atomic furnace, he had extreme difficulty in achieving atomic fission and projecting a beam of concentrated radiation from his maw as his surrogate father could. Usually, his attempts at utilizing his atomic breath only resulted in a luminescent ring of mildly radioactive energy that caused nothing more than minor irritation to his foes who they came in contact with. When under severe duress, or when physically stimulated in an extreme manner, such as Godzilla stepping hard on his tail, Minya could project a beam of true, destructive concentrated radiation similar to, but weaker than, that produced on a regular basis by Godzilla himself, but still far more destructive than his typical energy rings.
Significant appearances: Son of Godzilla (1967); (in a dream sequence, and established on Monster Island in the present) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Mogera I (Showa Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Often spelled “Mogeura.” 'Mogera' is Japanese for “mole.”
Height: Approx. 30 meters
Description: Although the original giant robot called Mogera never actually appeared in a Godzilla film, it did appear in a Toho film which occurred in the same continuity as the Showa series of G-films. Further, since some of the Mysterian technology responsible for creating Mogera I was left over and used to build various futuristic devices seen in the Showa series, a revamped version of Mogera was included in a film in the Heisei series of G-films (Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla [1994]), and because the original version of the robot battled Godzilla and Mothra in the 8-bit Nintendo video game Godzilla, Monster of Monsters!, I decided to include an entry for Mogera ! in this glossary.
Mogera I was a giant robotic kaiju built by the alien race known as the Mysterians, and utilized as the springboard for their 1957 invasion of the Earth, starting in (where else?) Japan.
The robot was upright in stance, had two arms which ended in cannon-like projections instead of hands, an odd-looking nosecone, a fin-like structure on its back, two large optical sensors, twin antennas and a short tail whose only function could have been for balance.
The robot emerged from a volcano and attacked several small Japanese villages until it was defeated when a bridge it was walking across was blown up.
Only one other Mogera robot was used by the Mysterians (this time on their homebase residing on Earth's moon), but it was very quickly crushed by falling debris just after burrowing to the surface.
Special powers and abilities: Other than its amazing strength due to its huge size and highly impervious metallic hide composed of an unknown metal alloy of Mysterian design, Mogera was able to fire destructive beams of heat-producing energy from its optical sensors (refered to in some texts as its "death beams"). The robot could utilize its drill-like nosecone and back fin to dig underneath the ground, hence its name (as noted above, the name “Mogera ” is the Japanese term for mole).
It is believed that the robot operated under pre-programmed instructions rather than via remote control.
It should be noted that a second Mogera robot was briefly seen digging towards the surface from underground during the climactic battle between the Earth Defense Force and the Mysterians on the moon, though it was crushed by a huge falling structure just after reaching the surface; this brief scene was deleted out of the American version of the film.
Significant appearances: The Mysterians (1957)
Mogera II (Heisei Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled “Mogeura.” M.O.G.E.R.A. is an acronym for Mobile G-Force Expert Robot Aerial-type. Mogera splits into two separate war vehicles called the Star Falcon and the Land Mole (or Land Mogera); 'Mogera' is Japanese for “mole.”
Height: 120 meters
Description: Mogera II was constructed by G-Force in the year 1995, utilizing the 23rd century technology left over by the time-traveling Futurians in 1992, in order to replace the destroyed Mechagodzilla II as the U.N. organization’s special weapon against Godzilla II.
Mogera was equal in height to Mechagodzilla, had chrome-colored metal, no true “face,” but simply two large orange optical sensors and a large nose drill on its head assemblage, a huge maser cannon located at the stomach area (usually concealed by a trap door), arms ending in conical shaped guns, a thin waistline, and two very large, squarish legs.
Mogera was first officially launched to counter Space Godzilla’s approach towards Earth while the kaiju was still in outer space. The space battle ended in a glaring defeat for Mogera.
After returning to Earth and being repaired, Mogera was again sent into combat with Space Godzilla after the latter kaiju had landed on Earth, and ended up teaming with Godzilla to defeat the extraterrestrial beast. Mogera managed to severely cripple the creature during the battle, enabling Godzilla to more easily defeat it, though the robot itself was destroyed in the process.
Special powers and abilities: Mogera had an arsenal of powerful weaponry built into it, making it perhaps the superior of Mechagodzilla in terms of total firepower.
Mogera could fire highly concentrated laser beams from its optical sensors, a vastly powerful and ultra-charged maser cannon was hidden in its abdomen (much more powerful than those utilized by Garuda), and powerful Spiral Grenade missiles could be launched from its hand cones. The automaton’s Crusher Drill on its head module could also be used as a weapon, burrowing into an enemy’s flesh or armament.
The robot had powerful thruster jets built into its back, and could travel on extended trips into outer space as well as above the Earth. It’s unknown what the robot’s top speed was, though it could fly out past the orbit of Mars and back in just a few hours without a serious depletion of its fuel. While in flight, the robot would make use of its optical laser beams. It was controlled by several G-Force operatives sequestered inside the gigantic droid’s interior.
Mogera could also split into two separate vehicles with disparate capabilities to attack a foe from different sides.
The Star Falcon was a flying machine that was greatly maneuverable, could easily break the sound barrier and possibly achieve escape velocity, and could fire the robot’s laser beams.
The Land Mole moved across the ground at moderate speeds on huge tank threads, had use of the Crusher Drill for digging underground in the manner of a giant excavation vehicle, and the drill could also be utilized for attacking an opponent. The vehicle could also fire the Plasma Cannon.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)
Monster Island
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1
Description: Monster Island, formerly known as Ogasawara Island, is a large atoll located southeast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean, in the general vicinity of where atomic bomb tests were once conducted by the United States, and was established on Godzilla I’s reality between 1968 and 1969.
It was an attempt by the United Nations to confine all the existing dai kaiju on Earth to one location where they can be easily monitored, and to attempt to keep them from threatening human civilization. How the monsters were located and moved there has never been depicted or mentioned in any G-film. However, G-fan writer Tom Miller has suggested that this particular island was picked since Rodan I had already went there to roost; hence, since he would be the most difficult kaiju to capture and confine, it was decided to pick an island where he would willingly stay most of the time, and this is very likely the case (see G-FAN SPECIAL COLLECTION #1).
Godzilla I, Minya, Spiega and Kamakaras were all probably still frozen on Solgell Island after the events depicted in Son of Godzilla (1967), thus rendering them easy to capture and relocate.
Gorosaurus was most likely still recovering from being injured in battle with King Kong on Farou Island, thus making him easy to move (though why they moved this one mega-large dinosaur from the island, and no other, is quite inexplicable, as they could have simply left him on Farou Island; there were likely some unrecorded events that would explain this).
Mothra I was probably gestating within her egg on Infant Island I waiting to be reborn in her larva form, since she was in a weakened adult stage when last seen in 1966, and she was seen only in her larva stage on Monster Island (though why the Shobijan and other natives of Infant Island would permit her removal from their sacred island and her traditional home is unknown, though there is also likely to be an unrecorded story behind this which would explain it).
Manda was likely still in suspended animation after being frozen solid during his battle with the super-sub Atragon, making him an easy move, though it’s certainly unknown how Anguirus was located and moved there. The latter kaiju was in pretty rough shape after his defeat by Godzilla in 1956, and since he was slightly different in appearance and in a semi-sentient state by 1969, it can be surmised that he was found in suspended animation where he further mutated as he slowly healed; it’s also possible that he was actually held in human captivity during those 12 plus years, since he was left for dead in Osaka Bay after his previous defeat, suffering from very massive injuries.
Why other kaiju weren’t relocated there remains a mystery. Frankenstein and his genetic progeny, Sanda and Gaila, were presumably dead. Megalon and Titanosaurus remained undiscovered at that point, and other monsters, such as King Ghidorah I, were alien creatures that retreated back into outer space after being defeated. The single daikondura that appeared on Letchi Island in 1966 was likewise dead, though it’s quite likely that Ebirah was moved to Monster Island initially (and had somehow died by 1999).
King Seesar was obviously in a peaceful slumber in his mountain home in Okinawa, so he probably wasn’t considered a threat, and simply left alone.
Why King Kong wasn’t removed from Mondo Island is a big mystery, especially considering that Gorosaurus was moved from there. What happened to the big ape within one year is unknown (though I will speculate to this effect in the section on the Godzilla Event Timeline). There is a possiblility, however, that Dr. Huu and his minions removed Gorosaurus from Mondo Island to the former's Arctic base, tended to his jaw wounds, and sent the enormous dinosaur after Kong again in an untold incident (an hypothesis that is backed up by a publicity still on the back of the Japanese video box for the film King Kong Escapes, that depicts Kong battling Gorosaurus at Dr. Huu's Arctic base, rather than on Mondo Island). If this was the case, then Gorosaurus would have been removed from the environs of Mondo Island, and thus considered an official threat to human populations by the U.N., and this would result in the extra-large carnosaur being taken to Monster Island.
Baragon and Varan were moved to the island much later, possibly because they proved difficult to locate, with the former underground and the latter underwater.
The dream visit to Monster Island in 1969 by the young boy Ichiro, where he saw visions of several of Godzilla’s past island battles and encountered the reptilian ogre-like beast called Gabara, was either a daydream or a telepathic insert from unknown sources (see my speculations in the Godzilla Event Timeline). This event did establish that Monster Island was in the popular consciousness of the general public by the time, however.
Godzilla and other swimming kaiju, such as Anguirus, Manda, and Mothra (in her larva stage), and flying kaiju like Rodan and Mothra in her adult stage, could obviously leave the island throughout the 1970’s, though it would immediately be noticed if they did so. Further, only Godzilla and Anguirus are known to have left the confines of the island in the 70’s, since the latter two dai kaiju, Rodan, and Mothra were no longer antagonistic to the human race by that time (actually, Mothra was only a threat when her priestesses, the Shobijan, were kidnapped, or the one time afterwards when she fell under the control of the alien Kilaaks). As such, the aforementioned group of kaiju were probably not considered a major threat to humanity by the U.N., though they still eventually developed advanced technology to confine all known monsters on Earth to Monster Island by the late 1990's.
Minya, Gorosaurus, Spiega, Kamakiras, and Manda would probably never have any reason to leave the island, and Ebirah, if he was originally moved there, was generally confined to the sea, and seemed to have the natural instinctual tendency to remain near a particular island anyway, just as normal lobsters do.
This was the beginning of a peaceful co-existence between the Earth monsters and the human race.
By the year 1999, Baragon and Varan had each been located and moved to the island. Kamakiras was no longer there (he was probably pulverized by Godzilla for bothering Minya once too often; I will feature an alternate speculation in the Godzilla Showa Event Timeline). Ebirah, if he was ever moved there, wasn’t seen, possibly because he was trapped in the sea corral (see below). By this time, advanced technological devices were inserted on the island to insure that none of the monsters ever left the atoll (unless needed to protect the Earth). Scientific installations were placed underneath the island, which operated the restraining devices and studied the monsters and their on-island activities. Motion detectors and monitoring devices were hidden all over the atoll's surface. A thriving ecosystem sustained the monsters' existence. Poison gas emitters and 20 million volt electricity generating pylons were set up on the beach and underwater to prevent the swimming kaiju, like Godzilla and Manda, from escaping. Force field generating devices set up on the mountains prevented flying monsters like Rodan and Varan from escaping. An elaborate sea corral created by hypersonic fences kept fully aquatic beasts like Ebirah entrapped. Much of this technology was probably invented after studying the alien technology left behind by the Mysterians and various other alien races which threatened the Earth through the years, such as the Nebulans and the Simeons.
In addition to the many scientific bases and recreation center present for use by the human beings who were employed to monitor the island, a large underground heliport was there, which acted as the base of operations for the Moonlight SY-3, a spaceship which could dock in the port in between its frequent trips to the moon.
By the 1990’s, the island was often referred to as “Monsterland” by the more whimsical elements of the international press, and this name eventually fell into common everyday vernacular. It was the location of the Kilaak alien invasion of 1999, which began by taking control of both the monsters and the island's human personnel. This precipitated the first time in many years that the Earth monsters attacked human civilization. After the Kilaaks were defeated, the monsters were peacefully returned to the confines of the island, and to their harmonious existence with the human race.
Note: I am indebted to Ed Godziszewski for the information in this entry, as much of it first appeared in his book THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GODZILLA.
Significant appearances: (in dream sequence, existence in the present established) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972); Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973); Zone Fighter, the Meteor Man TV series, Episode #11 (1973); Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Monster Zero
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Description: Alternative name for King Ghidorah I, given to him by the number-fixated alien race known as the Xians.
see King Ghidorah I
Moonlight SY-3
Category: Mecha
Continuity: 1
Description: The Moonlight SY-3 is a sophisticated spaceship that is the creation of the United Nations Space Federation in the year 1999 on Godzilla I’s Earth (never established in our own world).
The ship is headquartered on Monster Island in the South Pacific, and frequently makes flights to the U.N. base on the moon. Curiously, the SY-3 resembles a rocket from the late 1960’s in design much more than the space shuttles of the early 1980’s onward. The ship is armed only with a small number of missiles, and is utilized primarily for scientific rather than military oriented missions. Nevertheless, the ship possessed an outer coating that was highly refractive of heat, enabling it to resist even a blast of Godzilla’s atomic breath.
In the aforementioned year of 1999, the Moonlight SY-3 played a major role in defeating the alien Kilaak invasion. The ship had the task of invading the Kilaak base on the moon, and the crew successfully discovered the aliens’ weakness to cold, which enabled them to commandeer the facility. The SY-3 also defeated a Kilaak spaceship disguised as a fiery monster which had previously injured Rodan I in battle.
Significant appearances: Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Mothra I (Showa Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Mosura (her Japanese name); the "Thing."
Length: (of larva) 40 meters; (adult wingspan) 100 meters
Description: Mothra I is a giant moth, and she is believed to be a physical manifestation of the life force of the Earth itself. Thus, she is female, and is an eternal creature, hatching from her egg as a giant caterpillar, and later metamorphosing into her moth stage; afterwards, the adult eventually physically dies, after which her life force is transferred into an embryo in another egg, and the life cycle starts all over again, much like the legendary bird known as the phoenix.
The egg is very large and has a collage colored shell.
Mothra’s larva form resembles a giant version of a normal caterpillar with a hairless, bright red body.
Her moth form likewise resembles a giant version of the normal insect, and her huge, multi-colored wings are extremely beautiful to behold.
The egg, which is as large as the adult form of Mothra herself, is believed to be created by the life force of the Earth itself, rather than being actually laid by the adult moth (as it would be too large to pass through her body). It is not known under what circumstances Mothra is created by the Earth, but she acts as the protector of the planet’s welfare, and her egg is generally created in the same location as the adult dwells, so that the latter can guard it from harm.
It is also unknown how long the Earth has been creating Mothra, but she appeared in the 20th century for the first time in 1961 when the egg was on Infant Island I, an atoll recently devastated by nearby atomic bomb tests; the native population was spared death from the radiation by a mystical force shield that was created either by the gestating Mothra larva, or by the consciousness of the Earth to protect the egg.
The population there worshipped and nurtured the egg, and Mothra struck a telepathic rapport with the 30 cm twin priestesses called the Shobijan, who acted as her guide and voice to the islanders (and later, to the rest of humanity). Possibly, Mothra appeared on Earth at that specific time due to the threat to the environment and the biosphere that the class-divided human societies across the world were creating through the way they ran their industries.
When the Shobijan were kidnapped by a ruthless American entrepreneur from New York City (referred to in the film as “New Kirk City”) during his visit to Infant Island, Mothra hatched from her egg and made her way to Japan, where he was then residing, to rescue them. The larva devastated much of Tokyo but was severely wounded by repeated attacks by the J.S.D.F.’s military weaponry.
Retreating into her pupa stage, Mothra resisted an attempt by the Japanese military to kill her with an atomic heat ray created by scavenged Mysterian technology, and emerged in her much more powerful adult stage.
Flying to New York City where the Shobijan were taken, she then proved undefeatable by the military, and after the criminal businessman who kidnapped the tiny priestesses was shot in a scuffle with the police, Mothra retrieved the twins and peacefully returned to Infant Island.
Three years later, the kaiju protector of the Earth was nearing the end of her adult life cycle, so a new egg was created. When a violent storm washed the egg to Japan near a small fishing village, it was appropriated by a greedy Japanese capitalist named Kumayama for publicity purposes for his company, Happy Enterprises, and placed in a giant solar incubator. When Godzilla I appeared, who was then still a deadly threat to humankind, the atomic kaiju threatened the egg. Mothra flew to its defense, and after a fierce battle, the weakened insect was slain by Godzilla, though she succeeded in driving him away from the egg. Her life force then entered the egg, and it hatched as twin larvae, who were jointly controlled by Mothra’s consciousness.
Encountering Godzilla on the tiny Iwo Island, where he endangered the lives of hiking schoolchildren, the two larvae defeated the atomic titan in battle, and subsequently swam peacefully back to Infant Island (where it is believed that one of the two larvae died, possibly devoured by the other, since it became redundant after helping defeat Godzilla, and it wasn’t seen subsequently; Mothra was actually one life force controlling two bodies, so the second, possibly male, caterpillar was only an extension of the female that was probably created solely for the purpose of aiding her against Godzilla, and served no purpose afterwards, making its destruction necessary).
Several months later, the Mothra larva telepathically convinced Godzilla and Rodan I to aid her against the invading space kaiju King Ghidorah I, and the three monsters drove the space demon away from Earth by combining forces. Mothra is believed to have been in her pupa stage during 1965, since she wasn’t seen during the Xian invasion of Earth which took place that year, despite the fact that Godzilla and Rodan were involved.
In 1966, the adult Mothra, who was sleeping on Infant Island to conserve her strength and extend her adult life, was awakened after a long period of chanting by the Shobijan and the other natives in order to get her to fly to the nearby Letchi Island were several Infant Islanders were held captive and forced into slave labor by the Red Bamboo paramilitary organization. Mothra eventually awakened and rescued them, though she got into a brief scuffle with Godzilla, who was on the island at the time.
By 1969, the new Mothra larva was moved to the newly established Monster Island, which became her new home, under circumstances that were never revealed (but I will speculate heavily on this in the forthcoming Godzilla Event Timeline).
In the year 1999, the then current Mothra larva on Monster Island, along with all the other monsters living there, were taken control of by the alien Kilaaks and forced to attack major cities across the world. Thus, Mothra was forced to act in direct contradiction to her purpose on Earth, and the larva attacked and destroyed a train in Peking, China.
After being freed from Kilaak control, Mothra played a major role in defeating King Ghidorah alongside her fellow monsters. She was then peacefully returned to Monster Island.
Special powers and abilities: In larva form, Mothra can use her jaws for biting, and she also possesses a silk shooter via special glands located inside her gullet. This silk can cover an opponent with great speed, and the material is extremely strong. She will spin a cocoon about herself when it comes time for her to transform into her adult form, as a normal caterpillar would; however, she is able to do so within a single day, rather than over the course of several months, as is the case with conventional caterpillars. She is an excellent swimmer in larva form, though she is not amphibious.
In her adult form, Mothra is considerably stronger than she is in her larva stage, and she can fly and use her wings as powerful striking weapons (though her maximum flight speed is nowhere near the top speed of Rodan, who can exceed the speed of sound). She can create hurricane-force winds simply by flapping her wings rapidly. She is a highly formidable fighter in this form, and she can also release a yellow powder which will slowly poison her opponents upon contact with their skin.
Biologists have stated that gigantic insects and arachnids are a physiological impossibility, due to the fact that an insect's heavy chitinous exoskeleton would make them unable to move if they were so large, and that the breathing tube common to all such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere would be useless at such a giant size. I've provided possible explanations for the existence of giant insects, arachnids, and crustaceans such as Kamakiras, Spiega, and Ebirah (respectively), who are creatures descended from genetically altered animals artifically created many millennia ago via the advanced genetic engineering techniques of Muan/Lemurian scientists, and then further mutated into considerably larger and more powerful creatures by exposure to nuclear radiation or waste material in their respective entries, but since Mothra is mystical in origin, the explanation for her ability to move (let alone fly) and breathe may be different. It's possible that Mothra is exempt from ordinary physiological limitations that ordinary insects would be subject to since she is mystical in nature. Though she appears to be fully organic in nature despite her bio-mystical origin, it's not known precisely how much her physiology actually resembles that of a real moth, though I would opine that the resemblance may very well be limited to her exterior phenotype only.
In both her forms, Mothra is highly telepathic, semi-sentient, and has a special psychic rapport with her tiny priestesses, the Shobijan (though she can also communicate to at least some degree with human espers).
Significant appearances: (larva and adult) Mothra (1961); (adult and twin larvae) Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964); (larva only) Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964); (adult only) Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966); (established as being on Monster Island in the present as a larva) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); (larva only) Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Mothra II (Heisei Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: "Mosura" (her Japanese name); Queen Mothra.
Length: (of larva) 100 meters; (adult wingspan) 175 meters; (Fairy Mothra) 30 cm
Description: Mothra II is a giant moth created by the lifeforce of the planet Earth itself. She appears specifically during times of turmoil for the planet, and she is the mystical protector of the world and its many life forms. Hence, she is female (despite being incorrectly referred to as “he” and “him” in the sub-titles of many of the Japanese versions of her films in America), as befits the nurturing Mother Goddess aspect of the Earth, and she is also an eternal being, who is reborn after “dying” each time, as the planet will simply create a new egg each time Mothra is needed.
The egg has a collage colored shell.
Her larva form resembles a giant version of a normal caterpillar save for her hairless, bright red body.
Her adult form resembles a gigantic version of a normal moth, and is stunningly beautiful to behold, with huge, multi-colored wings.
Mothra first appeared on Earth 12,000 years ago, and she acted as protector of the advanced race of beings known as the Cosmos, whose priesthood was elected by Mother Earth to guide her activities. When the Earth became imperiled due to a weather controlling device created by a few renegade members of the Cosmos which drained the life force of the planet, the Earth defended itself by creating a “dark,” male counterpart of Mothra called Battra. Mothra defended the human race and battled and defeated Battra, but most of the Cosmos race was wiped out in the process.
The Mothra egg was subsequently recreated in 1993 on Infant Island II as a result of the environmental destruction wreaked on the planet by the present capitalist societies, since Battra would be created anew, requiring the champion for the human race to be reborn (apparently, the more aggressive, male aspect of the Earth, which created Battra, runs counter to the “wishes” of the more gentle, feminine aspect, which creates Mothra). The last two surviving Cosmos, who are twin 30 cm tall telepathic priestesses, appeared to guide Mothra’s progress in the world of today.
The egg hatched while it was en route to Japan on a ship owned by the Muramoto Corp. after being attacked by Godzilla II, who was attracted to the psychic emanations coming from within the egg. Mothra hatched and battled Godzilla, but was no match for the atomic titan in her larva stage. She gained a reprieve when the Battra larva appeared to attack her as well, causing him and Godzilla to end up battling each other. Mothra then stealthily swam back to Infant Island.
When the Cosmos were kidnapped and held captive by Muramoto himself in Tokyo, Mothra swam to that city and began tearing it apart in search of her priestesses. She found them, but was severely injured after being brutally attacked by the Japanese military. She climbed up the Diet Building where she slowly healed her wounds, then spun a cocoon about herself. Shortly afterwards, she emerged from her pupa stage in her adult form. She immediately seeked out and battled the now adult Battra, who viciously mowed her down.
When Battra was attacked by Godzilla, Mothra assisted him and telepathically convinced her counterpart to team with her to defeat the Kaiju King, since the latter was the greatest threat to the life forms of the Earth. After a tremendous battle, Mothra and Battra succeeded in removing Godzilla from Japan, though Battra was killed in the act. Mothra then dealt the winning blow by temporarily trapping Godzilla in an underwater force field.
The Cosmos then mystically merged with Mothra to guide her into a lengthy mission in outer space which she was required to perform in place of the late Battra: the locating and deflection of an Apollo asteroid that would collide with the Earth at the turn of the century.
Two years later, while still in deep space, Mothra released numerous psychic ‘Fairy Mothras,’ so that one would be assured to reach Earth and deliver a message from the Cosmos to the telepath Miki Saegusa to warn her about the imminent arrival of Space Godzilla.
Special powers and abilities: In larva form, Mothra can use her jaws to bite an opponent, and she can also fire a silk shooter via special glands located within her gullet. The silk can be sprayed extremely fast and is quite strong, though unlike Mothra I, Mothra II’s silk burns like acid when it comes in contact with a foe's hide. Like a normal caterpillar, Mothra will surround herself in a cocoon prior to entering her pupa stage and emerging as an adult; however, this transformation takes no more than a day, unlike a normal caterpillar, whose transformation into a moth or butterfly can take months.
In her adult form, Mothra is far more powerful. She can fly and utilize her mighty wings for striking an opponent, and is considerably stronger in her adult stage. She can create hurricane-force winds by rapidly flapping her wings. Mothra can project powerful beams of bio-electric energy from her antennae. She can also release poison powder, reputed to be her most powerful weapon, that can conduct electrical discharges directed at her opponents which are generated at her wingtips. The powder can also act as an energy mirror, deflecting powerful discharges of energy, such as Godzilla’s atomic breath.
By combining her poison powder with Battra’s prism beam, Mothra created a vastly powerful weapon mighty enough to take Godzilla down.
She was also able to temporarily create a mystically generated force field around a limited area by flying in a circle and creating streaks of energy which coalesced to form the field, and was powerful enough to hold Godzilla.
Biologists have stated that gigantic insects and arachnids are a physiological impossibility, due to the fact that an insectoid's heavy chitinous exoskeleton would make them unable to move if they were so large, and that the breathing tube common to all such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere would be useless at such a giant size.
In her adult form, Mothra is considerably stronger than she is in her larva stage, and she can fly and use her wings as powerful striking weapons (though her maximum flight speed is nowhere near the top speed of Rodan, who can exceed the speed of sound). She can create hurricane-force winds simply by flapping her wings rapidly. She is a highly formidable fighter in this form, and she can also release a yellow powder which will slowly poison her opponents upon contact with their skin.
Biologists have stated that gigantic insects and arachnids are a physiological impossibility, due to the fact that an insect's heavy chitinous exoskeleton would make them unable to move if they were so large, and that the breathing tube common to all such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere would be useless at such a giant size. I've provided possible explanations for the existence of giant insects, arachnids, and crustaceans, who are creatures descended from genetically altered animals artifically created many millennia ago via the advanced genetic engineering techniques of Muan/Lemurian scientists (who the Cosmos branched off from), and then further mutated into considerably larger and more powerful creatures by exposure to nuclear radiation or waste material in various entries elsewhere in this glossary, but since Mothra is mystical in origin, the explanation for her ability to move (let alone fly) and breathe may be different. It's possible that Mothra is exempt from ordinary physiological limitations that ordinary insects would be subject to since she is mystical in nature. Though she appears to be fully organic in nature despite her bio-mystical origin, it's not known precisely how much her physiology actually resembles that of a real moth, though I would opine that the resemblance may very well be limited to her exterior phenotype only.
Mothra was semi-sentient and telepathic in both her forms, was highly sensitive to psychic phenomena and possessed a special rapport with the Cosmos, who acted as her guide on Earth. She could also communicate with human espers to some degree (though she usually used the Cosmos as her 'go-between' in these cases).
Mothra apparently utilizes bio-mystical energy as her sole power source, and can absorb this energy directly from any point in the universe, since she has been able to remain in outer space for years without food, water or oxygen, and she can presumably create a force field about herself to protect her from the hard vacuum of space.
Mothra, with the assistance of the Cosmos, can create numerous tiny psychic projections of herself known as ‘Fairy Mothras,’ through which she can communicate telepathic messages from the Cosmos over vast distances to other sentient beings with psychic abilities. The Fairy Mothras are entirely ethereal in nature, and can “fly” for limitless distances since they are not bound by conventional laws of time and space, though it is not known how long they will remain integral. Mothra had to release thousands of these psychic projections to insure that one made it to Earth successfully.
Significant appearances: Godzilla And Mothra: Battle For The Earth (1992); (briefly, first Fairy Mothra) Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)
Mothra III
Category: Kaiju
[Note: Mothra III appeared in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy of films (1996-8), which took place in an alternate continuity where no version of Godzilla was ever seen; hence, an official entry for her will not be included here at this time, but stay tuned.]
Mothra IV (Millennium Version 1)
Alternate names: "Mosura" (her Japanese name)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3C"
Length: (larva) 40 meters; (adult wingspan) 90 meters
Description: In larval form, Mothra resembles a gigantic hairless, reddish hued caterpillar. In her adult (imago) stage, she resembles a sleek, multi-colored gigantic version of a normal member of the moth family.
In this timeline, Mothra is one of the three Yamato Monsters, the ancient kaiju guardians of Japan who were created by the mystical etheric energies of the ancestral spirits who guard the land. She was placed in suspended animation two thousand years ago by the mystic overseers of one of the early Japanese dynasties in anticipation of one day defending the island nation from any major threat. There she remained until the year 2005, when the dark, vengeful ancestral spirits of the Japanese dead who were killed since World War II coalesced to form the malevolent Godzilla. Mothra then emerged in larval form from Lake Ikeda, quickly metamorphosed into her adult stage, and joined Ghidora, the leader of the Yamato Monsters, in defending the modern city of Yokohama from Godzilla's attack. During the course of the battle, Mothra sacrificed her existence so that her etheric energies could merge with the defeated body of Ghidora, thus reviving him and accelerating his maturity into King Ghidorah, his full adult stage.
Special powers and Abilities: In larva form, Mothra possesses great strength commensurate with her enormous size and weight, and she is able to fire strong strangs of quasi-solid ectoplasmic silk from within her gullet that can surround her intended target very quickly. She is also a good swimmer in this form (though not amphibious). Upon forming a cocoon over herself, within several hours Mothra will emerge in her full adult stage, which is much more powerful than her larval stage. In this form, Mothra is considerably stronger, and she can fly with great speed and agility, and she can create hurricane-force winds by rapidly beating her wings. She can also release numerous etheric poison "bombs" against an opponent, which burst upon impact and burn like acid.
Due to her bio-etheric nature, Mothra is not affected by the normal physiological limitations that would prevent an insect from growing more than about two feet in length.
Significant appearances: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Mothra V (Millennium X Version)
Category: Kaiju
Alternate names: "Mosura" (her Japanese name)
Continuity: "3D"
Length: (larva) 42 meters; (adult wingspan) 110 meters
Description: Mothra I is a giant moth, and she is believed to be a physical manifestation of the life force of the Earth itself. Thus, she is female, and is an eternal creature, hatching from her egg as a giant caterpillar, and later metamorphosing into her moth stage; afterwards, the adult eventually physically dies, after which her life force is transferred into an embryo in another egg, and the life cycle starts all over again, much like the legendary bird known as the phoenix.
The egg is very large and has a collage colored shell.
Mothra’s larva form resembles a giant version of a normal caterpillar with a hairless, bright red body.
Her moth form likewise resembles a giant version of the normal insect, and her huge, multi-colored wings are extremely beautiful to behold.
The egg, which is as large as the adult form of Mothra herself, is believed to be created by the life force of the Earth itself, rather than being actually laid by the adult moth (as it would be too large to pass through her body). It is not known under what circumstances Mothra is created by the Earth, but she acts as the protector of the planet’s welfare, and her egg is generally created in the same location as the adult dwells, so that the latter can guard it from harm.
It is also unknown how long the Earth has been creating Mothra, but she appeared in the 20th century for the first time in 1961 when the egg was on Infant Island I, an atoll recently devastated by nearby atomic bomb tests; the native population was spared death from the radiation by a mystical force shield that was created either by the gestating Mothra larva, or by the consciousness of the Earth to protect the egg.
The population there worshipped and nurtured the egg, and Mothra struck a telepathic rapport with the 30 cm twin priestesses called the Shobijan, who acted as her guide and voice to the islanders (and later, to the rest of humanity). Possibly, Mothra appeared on Earth at that specific time due to the threat to the environment and the biosphere that the class-divided human societies across the world were creating through the way they ran their industries.
When the Shobijan were kidnapped by a ruthless American entrepreneur from New York City (referred to in the film as “New Kirk City”) during his visit to Infant Island, Mothra hatched from her egg and made her way to Japan, where he was then residing, to rescue them. The larva devastated much of Tokyo but was severely wounded by repeated attacks by the J.S.D.F.’s military weaponry.
Retreating into her pupa stage, Mothra resisted an attempt by the Japanese military to kill her with an atomic heat ray created by scavenged Mysterian technology, and emerged in her much more powerful adult stage.
Flying to New York City where the Shobijan were taken, she then proved undefeatable by the military, and after the criminal businessman who kidnapped the tiny priestesses was shot in a scuffle with the police, Mothra retrieved the twins and peacefully returned to Infant Island.
Mothra was not seen in Japan again until the year 2004, where the "new" generation of Shobijin directed her to travel there as part of a warning to end the Mecha G Project, as they claimed the consciousness of the Earth considered it a blasphemy of sorts to use the skeleton of the "first" Godzilla to create the cyborg Mechagodzilla 3. The Shobijin renewed their acquaintance with Chujo, and promised him Mothra would defend Japan if Godzilla returned.
True to her word, Mothra countered Godzilla when the kaiju reappeared in Tokyo soon afterwards, but she was seriously wounded in battle despite the intervention of Mechagodzilla. However, before leaving for Japan she created an egg on nearby Hachioji Island, and when the adult Mothra was near death, the egg hatched into twin larvae, the next generation. They quickly swam to Japan to join the battle, where their "mother" sacrificed her life entirely to prevent Godzilla from hitting the larvae with his atomic breath. After a long battle, the twin Mothra larvae aided Mechagodzilla in defeating Godzilla, entwining the Kaiju King in their strong cocoon after the cyborg monster seriously injured him.
After the battle ended, the twin larvae returned to Infant Island.
Special powers and abilities: In larva form, Mothra can use her jaws for biting, and she also possesses a silk shooter via special glands located inside her gullet. This silk can cover an opponent with great speed, and the material is extremely strong. She will spin a cocoon about herself when it comes time for her to transform into her adult form, as a normal caterpillar would; however, she is able to do so within a single day, rather than over the course of several months, as is the case with conventional caterpillars. She is an excellent swimmer in larva form, though she is not amphibious.
In her adult form, Mothra is considerably stronger than she is in her larva stage, and she can fly and use her wings as powerful striking weapons (though her maximum flight speed is nowhere near the top speed of Rodan, who can exceed the speed of sound). She can create hurricane-force winds simply by flapping her wings rapidly. She is a highly formidable fighter in this form, and she can also release a yellow powder which will slowly poison her opponents upon contact with their skin. This poison powder, or "scales," was also demonstrated to be able to deflect energy weapons directed at her back at their source, including Godzilla's atomic breath (a statement by Chujo that this is her weapon of "last resort," and that she will be unable to stay aloft for long after depleting her "scales," is quite possibly untrue).
Biologists have stated that gigantic insects and arachnids are a physiological impossibility, due to the fact that an insect's heavy chitinous exoskeleton would make them unable to move if they were so large, and that the breathing tube common to all such creatures to extract oxygen from the atmosphere would be useless at such a giant size. I've provided possible explanations for the existence of giant insects, arachnids, and crustaceans such as Kamakiras, Spiega, and Ebirah (respectively), who are creatures descended from genetically altered animals artifically created many millennia ago via the advanced genetic engineering techniques of Muan/Lemurian scientists, and then further mutated into considerably larger and more powerful creatures by exposure to nuclear radiation or waste material in their respective entries, but since Mothra is mystical in origin, the explanation for her ability to move (let alone fly) and breathe may be different. It's possible that Mothra is exempt from ordinary physiological limitations that ordinary insects would be subject to since she is mystical in nature. Though she appears to be fully organic in nature despite her bio-mystical origin, it's not known precisely how much her physiology actually resembles that of a real moth, though I would opine that the resemblance may very well be limited to her exterior phenotype only.
In both her forms, Mothra is highly telepathic, semi-sentient, and has a special psychic rapport with her tiny priestesses, the Shobijan (though she can also communicate to at least some degree with human espers).
Significant appearances: Mothra (1961); [stock footage cameo] Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002); Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Mount Aso
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1
Description: Volcano in Japan where Rodan I and his 'mate' went to roost after their initial attack on Japan in 1956.
Rodan was trapped there after the volcano erupted when bombarded by the Japanese military, causing him to go into suspended animation in order to avoid being killed, and he remained so entrapped until 1964 when King Ghidorah I arrived on Earth. The magnetic waves emitted by the latter caused Rodan to awaken and rise from the volcano anew.
Significant appearances: Rodan (1956); Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Mount Fuji
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1, 2, "3"
Description: Famous mountain range in Japan, common to most of the island nation's dimensional counterparts. It was the site of Godzilla I's conflicts with both King Kong and Hedorah.
Significant appearances: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962); Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965); Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971)
Mount Mihara
Category: Locale
Continuity: 2
Description: Volcano located on Oshima Island, a small atoll off the southern coast of Japan, where Godzilla II was entrapped after the end of his rampage in 1985.
He remained there in a state of hibernation until 1990, when a terrorist bomb blew up the side of the volcano and released the atomic titan.
Significant appearances: Godzilla 1985 (1984); Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Mu
Category: Locale/Civilization
Continuity: [Apparently] All
Description: Mu, most often referred to as Lemuria in the West, was a small continent (slightly smaller than modern day Australia) that once existed in the Pacific Ocean. One of the first two great human civilizations to rise from the Earth appeared on this continent about 15,000 years ago, long before recorded history started [the other great civilization appeared on another small continental land mass, possibly just a particularly large island, known as Atlantis, which existed in the Atlantic Ocean during the same time period as Mu). Over the course of its nearly 5,000 years of existence, Muan society formed what has often been referred to as a "super civilization," as it was inhabited by extremely brilliant philosophers, mystics, scientists of every field, metallurgists, and artists of many stripes who made advances in all of the aforementioned fields that are still unequaled by modern civilizations at the beginning of the 21st century. The implications of the existence of the Muan civilizations on ancient Earth appears to play a major factor in the history of Godzilla, other dai kaiju, and various other events in every single Toho continuity to date.
Though much of the intricacies of the ancient Muan nation-state (which encompassed the entirety of its continental land mass) remain unknown today, it's quite clear that it achieved an immense degree of wealth, and its only rival for supremacy of the world was Atlantis, to which the two nation-states often warred [this implied that neither nation, for all their wealth and scientific wonders, had worked together to establish a worldwide economic democracy, and that both Mu and Atlantis were controlled by strong ruling classes, though it's likely that the two civilizations destroyed each other by way of warfare and incessant economic rivalry before the common populace managed to develop the requisite psychological mindset needed to overcome their tolerance of class rule, and thus most of them likely remained loyal to their respective ruling classes to the bitter end; however, it is known that there were Muan colonies who left the main island continent and established themselves elsewhere in the world, remants of which still exist today, so political dissent was likely to have been commonplace there]. Some of the greatest advances of the Muan society were in the realm of energy-generating technology, as they had apparently found a means of utilizing the 'manna' or biospheric energies of the Earth itself to power its various facilities and air vehicles. The type of religious systems and theological ideology ancient Muan society possessed was unknown, but much of the population's religious and spiritual beliefs appear to have been highly pantheistic and nature-oriented, and its various systems of spirituality produced numerous mystics who learned to store and generate energy by utilizing large crystals, an energy source that has barely begun to be explored by even the most advanced early 21st century civilizations.
Further, Muan mystics studied the inherent psychic abilities that all humans possess in a latent capacity, and they managed to develop their psionic abilities to a great extent, mastering the frontiers of this field of knowledge as well.
It's also believed that the Muan and Atlantean civilizations developed laser-projecting weaponry, and possibly even plasma-generating technology, for warfare.
A perennially notable advance of the Muan/Lemurian civilization was in the realm of biology and genetic engineering. Though modern civilization didn't discover that dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals once existed and in fact dominated the Earth many eons ago until the mid-19th century, Muan scientists discovered the past existence of the ancient reptiles many millennia ago, and several Muan geneticists were determined to recreate dinosaur populations, but to make them genetically hardier so that they wouldn't die out easily, despite being thrust into a world environment they weren't specifically suited for. Not only was it considered to be a wondrous scientific exercise in and of itself in terms of learning to manipulate evolution and to recreate antideluvian ecosystems, but Muan scientists also realized that genetically enhanced dinosaurs and various other animals would make formidable bio-weapons against their Atlantean foes.
Acquiring the DNA template of many dinosaur species by closely examining their fossilized remains, within a few decades Muan scientists did indeed manage to recreate several dinosaur species, albeit versions who were considerably genetically enhanced. With further genetic manipulation of these artificially created dinosaurs over the ensuing decades, Muan scientists created numerous dinosaurs who were twice the size, and possessing twice the physical might and durability, of their equivalent species who evolved naturally during the Mesozoic Era. In addition, Muan scientists genetically experimented with other types of animals, and created gigantic, particularly aggressive species of ape, octopi, snakes, fish, certain mammals (such as walruses), and other more unusual animals. There is also much evidence that Muans genetically experimented with insects, arachnids, and certain crustaceans in attempts to create extremely large and powerful creatures possessing the proportionate attributes of such animals. However, since insects and arachnids proved far more difficult to gigantize in and of themselves than animals with endoskeletal structures, Muan scientists eventually got around this physiological problem by splicing various genes until they developed gigantic animals with four limbs and endothermic skeletons but possessing various insect, arachnid, or crustacean characteristics, such as mandibles, functional beetle-like wings, or pincers, along with a strong chitinous integument on their outer bodies (it is from these particular experiments in creating giant insect-like creatures that the dai kaiju known as Megalon is descended; see below).
Eventually, however, Mu and Atlantis began tearing the world asunder with their constant warring on each other, and worse still, the various power sources that these civilizations utilized, particularly those that drained the life force of the Earth itself, began having extremely detrimental effects on the environment. Eventually, under circumstances that are still not completely known, but very likely as a result of the aformentioned factors, both the great Atlantean and Muan/Lemurian civilizations were destroyed, and both of the island continents upon which their nation-states existed sunk to the bottom of their respective oceans. Virtually all of their advanced technology and remnants of their rich cultures were lost to the world by the time recorded history started.
What became of the various Muan colonies who managed to survive this Great Cataclysm evidently took different paths in different timelines.
In the Showa continuity, it's known that certain Muan colonies survived up to the present era, and eventually built their advanced cultures anew, though it took them several millenia to do so, and in fact their civilizations remained largely hidden to the world during the historical eras until the late 20th century, and at that time their technology was more advanced than that of the "First World" nations of today, but still only a shadow of what they once possessed.
Two known major remnants of the Muan civilization existed in the latter timeline. One of them was comprised of the actual descendants of the original, central Muan population who survived the submerging of their continent by building themselves protective enclaves underneath the surface of the land mass, and stored certain amounts of their technology there, also. Thus, when it sunk, enough members of the original Muan civilization survived that they were able to sustain a viable population, and build themselves their own nation-state during the following millenia. However, they had little contact with the surface world up until the late 20th century, and by that time they seemed to have developed a highly matriarchal society based upon strong class divisions and a totalitarian political structure, which implies that the Empress of Mu and her close hangers-on strongly controlled and privately owned the technology and other means of producing the products and necessities, such as food and water, that the entire populace needed to survive.
Having built up an impressive level of technology by the 20th century, the new Muan state officially revealed itself to the surface world in the year 1963, where they declared that they would resume control of the entire globe, which they considered to be the ancient birthright of their nation. They followed this up with attacks on the cities of New York and Tokyo. Though the conventional weapons of the various nations on Earth proved inferior to that of the new Muan state, they were ultimately defeated by a brilliant Japanese former military commander and war hero named Captain Shinguji, who had constructed a powerful war machine known as Atragon. During the course of their war with the surface world, it was revealed that the Muan state controlled the sole descendant of one of the exotic aquatic creatures their ancestors had created by means of genetic engineering, an enormous sea serpent who was evidently genetically tailored to resemble the Muans' dragon-like deity, who was called Manda. The sea serpent Manda was unleashed against Atragon as it approached the Muan Empire underwater, but the kaiju was defeated in battle. The Empire was now utilizing intense heat from the Earth's molten core to service its energy needs, and Captain Shinguji's crew exploited this fact during their invasion of the kindgom of Mu by detonating the underwater nation's main power generators, thus defeating the new Muan Empire once and for all.
The other known Muan colony to survive the destruction of the ancient civilization and to survive into the late 20th century was the subterranean nation-state of Seatopia. This advanced underground nation-state, who also seemed to be controlled by an absolute monarchy, albeit a patriarchal one in this case, was inadvertantly being devestated by continued atomic bomb tests conducted by various surface nations in the early 1970's. Determined to seek vengeance, they controlled another of the descendants of one of the original Muan civilization's bio-weapon creations, in this case a gigantic, extremely powerful insect-like creature known as Megalon (who appeared to be created by genetically splicing a dinosaur with a beetle). Megalon was sent to ravage Japan in retaliation for the surface world's negligent testing of its atomic weaponry, and their kaiju was later joined, at the Seatopian king's request, by the alien cyborg monster known as Gigan, who threatened the Earth a year earlier under the control of his masters, the alien race known as the Nebulans. This made it clear that the Seatopians had actually developed a form of sub-space communications, and had established peaceful contact with at least one alien race who existed in nearby space (the Nebulans hail from a planet in the Hunter M Nebula), despite the fact that the Seatopians appear to be complete and even xenophobic isolationists; the nature of the long distance relationship the Seatopians had with the Nebulans remains a mystery. However, their plan of revenge was thwarted when Megalon and Gigan were driven away by the combined might of Godzilla I and the giant robotic super-hero Jet Jaguar (who was originally manipulated into assisting the Seatopians). After the conclusion of this battle, Megalon returned to his subterranean home, and the Seatopian emperor sealed all remaining entrances to their kindgom.
In the Heisei timeline, a small contingent of extremely powerful spiritualists and psychics who called themselves the Cosmos left the Muan continent about 12,000 years ago, shortly before it was destroyed, and established their own small and initially peaceful colony on the atoll that is today known as Infant Island II. Perhaps one of the greatest advances made by the Cosmos was the development of their strong connection to the Earth's etheric life force to extend their natural life spans to an extraordinary extent. Their strong psychic rapport to the life force of the Earth themselves enabled them to be placed under the protection of Mothra II, the dai kaiju who was created by the feminine, nurturing aspect of the Earth Spirit to protect them and the rest of the human race. However, several powerful segments of the Cosmos populace insisted that the old Muan technology used to generate energy by absorbing the Earth's manna itself was a powerful source of energy generation that was too valuable and efficient to abandon. This once again caused extreme damage to the environment across the entire globe, and as a result of this, the masculine, cleansing aspect of the Earth created a "dark" version of Mothra known as Battra, who was dedicated to protecting the Earth's biosphere itself, rather than just the individual life forms living on it. Having thus determined that the human race was responsible for the Earth's destruction, Battra attacked the Cosmos, whom Mothra defended. Though Mothra defeated Battra in battle, the use of the Cosmos technology designed to utilize the planet's manna in assisting Mothra in defending them ultimately ended up wiping out almost all of the Cosmos population. Only female psychic identical twins, whose minds were always completely telepathically linked, were spared the destruction by the life force of the Earth itself, and, having been reduced in physical stature to a mere six inches in height by the Earth Spirit to enable them to hide from the rest of the human civilization more easily, they would remain on Infant Island as priestesses of the Earth Spirit and Her prime protector, Mothra, in order to act as Her agent for many millenia towards the goal of preventing further disasters in the future as the rest of humanity eventually developed industrial societies, in recompense for the devestation that their society had caused.
The two remaining Cosmos didn't meet the rest of human civilization on this timeline until the year 1993, when the Earth Spirit decreed that Mothra would rise again to protect the planet from the environmental depredations caused by modern post-industrial capitalist society's greedy economic practices, particularly since the "dark" aspect of the Earth Spirit likewise caused Battra to rise again in order to counter an incoming Apollo asteroid that would reach Earth by the beginning of the new millennium unless he intervened, and in the meantime, Battra proceeded to make a go at destroying humanity again. Though Mothra engaged in battle with her dark counterpart once more, the two giant moths eventually joined forces against Godzilla II, who they both realized was a greater threat than humanity, since he was essentially a living vessel of nuclear power. Since Battra was killed during the course of their battle with Godzilla, the Cosmos converted themselves to pure psychic energy and merged with Mothra, who then left for outer space, as she now had to take up the late Battra's mission in stopping the Apollo asteroid from ever reaching Earth, lest humanity be rendered extinct just as the dinosaurs were 65 million years before.
Perhaps the most significant legacy that the ancient civilization of Mu/Lemuria has left the various Toho Universe timelines is the fact that several of the ultra-dinosaurs they created through advanced genetic engineering many millenia earlier had managed to survive in various isolated regions of the world into the present time, but in the greatest numbers on islands located in the South Pacific. These extra large dinosaurs were encountered by various human explorers in recent centuries, as have examples of other giant animals that they created, including a few surviving examples of giant apes, snakes, and octopi. Some of these dinosaurs, possibly due to the consumption of a specific type of food source, managed to achieve a far larger size and strength than even the average ultra-dinosaur, many of them maxing at 50 meters in height; Gorosaurus is an example of one of these superlatively large non-mutated dinosaurs, and King Kong is an example of a superlatively large giant ape, both descended from species created by Muan genetic engineering. As noted above, Manda is an example of the many unique creatures created by Muan genetic engineering, and Megalon is a further enhanced example of Muan genetic engineering that was geared towards creating a gigantic life form with insect attributes by splicing insect DNA with the DNA of an organism with an endoskeleton. The many aggressive daidako that have been encountered by humanity over the years are perhaps the most successful creation of Muan genetic engineering, as these giant genetically enhanced cephalopods actually managed to sustain a viable and fairly large breeding population in the Pacific Ocean over the millenia.
Most importantly, many of the average sized ultra-dinosaurs (which were still quite large!) who were secretly living on these many South Seas islands were irradiated by the many atomic bomb tests conducted in the Pacific Ocean by the United States during the 1940's. Due to the specific types of genetic enhancements these dinosaurs possessed, inherited from their artifically created ancestors, many of them didn't die from the intense absorbtion of radiation, but rather their already enhanced genetic and cellular structure enabled them to further evolve into even larger, vastly powerful life forms who thrived on nuclear energy, and would go on to become major threats to the human civilization living in the late 20th century. Examples of these nuclear spawned dinosaur mutations include Godzilla, Rodan, Anguirus, Varan, Baragon, Titanosaurus, and Minya.
Also, there is some evidence that the Muans' genetic experiments on insects, arachnids, and crustaceans may have at least served to enhance the genetic structure of the descendants of these insects so as to enable some of them to absorb atomic radiation and evolve into mega gigantic creatures that were able to exist despite their overly heavy chitinous exoskeletons and other limitations that ordinarly prevent such creatures from attaining a very large size. Examples of these creatures include Kamakiras (insect), Spiega (arachnid), and Ebirah (crustacean), all of which were also found in or near islands in the Pacific Ocean. Additionally, the daikondura (giant condor) that appeared on Letchi Island and attacked Godzilla I may be evidence that Muan genetic experimention also extended itself to avian organisms in the past.
Significant appearances: [Showa continuity] (20th century Muan civilization) Atragon (1963); (Seatopians) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973); [Heisei continuity] (the sole surviving Cosmos) Godzilla and Mothra: Battle for the Earth (1992); Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)
Mutant Rats
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Sometimes referred to as "giant rats."
[Coming Soon]
Mysterians
Category: Alien Race
Continuity: 1
Description: The Mysterians were an all-male humanoid alien race with very advanced technology, which unsuccessfully attempted to invade and conquer Godzilla I’s Earth in 1957. Although these aliens never appeared in a G-film, some of their technology was appropriated by the United Nations of that world both before and after their defeat, and used to create various advanced technologies, such as the maser/Markalite tanks and cannons, that were often seen in Toho dai kaiju movies, including G-films of the original series (see the entry on Maser Tanks/Cannons).
Thus, these aliens deserved honorable mention in this glossary.
Significant appearances: The Mysterians (1957)
Nebulans
Category: Alien Race
Continuity: 1
Description: These aliens, who originated on a planet in the Hunter M Nebula (thus their designation as the "Nebulans" by G-fans), were actually intelligent cockroach-like insects who evolved into nearly human-sized insectoid creatures of great intelligence after their planet's indigenous humanoid race had destroyed themselves through intense environmental destruction. Appropriating the humanoid race’s leftover advanced technology (the Nebulan insectoids apparently gained their sentience as an adaptation resulting from exposure to mutagenic toxic wastes), they searched the galaxy for a new, less polluted planet in which to dwell. Locating Earth, which was rich in all the resources they needed in order to thrive, but seeing that it was slowly being polluted to death by its own indigenous humanoid race in a manner similar to that of their own world, the aliens decided to take it over in order to save it from itself, and so it would be suitable for them to populate themselves.
To this end, they inhabited bogus human shells to disguise their true appearances, and became the brains behind Children’s Land amusement park in Japan, where they secretly planned their invasion and built Godzilla Tower, a 50 meter tall replica of Godzilla I, which contained a beam-like weapon designed to kill the Kaiju King himself should he attempt to fight on behalf of the human race. Apparently lacking any large-scale offensive weaponry of their own (outside of the single beam weapon designed for use against Godzilla), the aliens utilized an unknown energy wave frequency to take control of the space monsters King Ghidorah I and Gigan, and use them to attack Tokyo in preparation for their invasion.
Godzilla I, along with Anguirus, did indeed intervene on behalf of the human race, and as he resisted being killed by the Godzilla Tower beam and defeated the space monsters, the aliens themselves were thwarted when a human cartoonist named Gengo Kodaka and a small entourage managed to blow up the headquarters, killing all the aliens within, and ending their plans of conquest.
A year later, the Nebulans remaining on their home world in the Hunter M Nebula were contacted by the advanced subterranean race on Earth known as the Seatopians (who presumably had a version of sub-space communication available to them), who requested that they send Gigan to Earth to assist their own kaiju, Megalon, against the super-heroic giant robot Jet Jaguar. Perhaps desiring revenge on Earth's surface world, the Nebulans sent Gigan without hesitation, though their cyborg monster was was driven from Earth again when Godzilla entered the fray. The Nebulans were not seen subsequently.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972); (briefly communicated with behind the scenes) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Newzilla
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: Unknown (if any)
Height: Approx. 45 meters
Description: Newzilla was a female love interest of the Kaiju King who appeared in the second of Dr. Pepper’s 1985 “Out of the Ordinary” campaign of commercials featuring Godzilla.
Trying to win her heart by every means he could think of, Godzilla failed until he offered his lady love an oversized can of Dr. Pepper soft drink. After doing so, she was putty in his hands.
Special powers and abilities: As a female version of the Big G, Newzilla could fire atomic breath just as well as Godzilla himself; she presumably possessed the rest of his attributes, as well.
Significant appearances: Dr. Pepper’s 2nd Godzilla commercial (1985)
Odo Island
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1, 2, & "3"
Description: Odo is an island that is situated to the southeastern position of Japan, near the Bikini Atoll, the location of the infamous atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States in the late 1940’s-early 1950’s.
The peaceful natives of the island were soon besieged by Godzilla in 1954, who was created by the huge amounts of radiation released by the bomb tests. In fact, it was the Odo Islanders who first christened the atomic monster ‘Godzilla,’ taking the name from a legendary sea monster that was indigenous to the island’s cultural history.
The well-respected paleontologist known as Dr. Yamane traveled here to investigate, and he and his entourage were the first Japanese people to encounter Godzilla. Thus, this island played a very significant role as the first place the King of the Kaiju made his presence known to the world of humankind.
Significant appearances: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954); (referenced) Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Ogasawara Island
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1
see Monster Island.
Orga
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3A"
Alternate names: Sometimes spelled "Orgah." Orga's name was derived as a result of his genesis being the result of the "Orgaizer G-1" cellular components of Godzilla's genetic structure.
Height: (starship) About 95 meters; (kaiju) Approx. 60 meters
Description: Orga is the product of the bio-engineering capabilities of an unknown 'Millennial' alien race indigenous to the universe containing the Earth of "continuity 3A."
Orga first began his existence as an extremely large and highly advanced starship of unknown metallic composition, which was a bluish-gray reflective chrome in color, and relatively pancake (or "saucer") shaped. It had no visible portholes of any kind, and its outer hull appeared relatively smooth and largely featureless, save for a few areas which made it obvious that the object was artificially constructed, including an asymmetrical portal through which it fired its destructive energy beams.
As for the kaiju known as Orga which the starship eventually created, was an organic extension of the ship's biological aspect produced from Godzilla's DNA. Though he was described as a close genetic duplicate of Godzilla, the creature actually bore only a fairly vague resemblance to the Big G in terms of his outer appearance. Orga's initial biological incarnation, which was based on the phenotype pre-programmed into the UFO's genetic matrix, appeared as a greenish floating octopus-like being possessing multiple tentacles, though the creature almost immediately began transforming out of control into a closer duplicate of Godzilla due to having absorbed the Organizer G-1 from from the latter's cellular structure into its own genetic matrix. In this form, Orga was bipedal but slouched in stature, had a slightly reptilian face with sharp teeth, grayish in skin color, a large shell-like humped back, and disproportionately huge hands with four largely distended fingers (including an opposable thumb). The beast briefly grew dorsal plates similar to those of Godzilla when he absorbed more of the latter's DNA, though these plates were considerably smaller than the one's which Godzilla himself sports on his back.
The starship came from an unknown world somewhere in deep space, and had apparently took refuge underwater in the South Pacific over 6,000 years ago, where it went into total dormancy under the Pacific Ocean for reasons unknown (references to the ship having laid dormant for "60 million" years is quite unlikely, and probably a story error). It's alleged purpose was to locate worlds in which to colonize and terra-form for its own needs by locating the primordial "organizer" cells in that world's respective life forms, thus allowing the craft to create fully organic beings out of its genetic matrix that are capable of surviving within that world's environment. Whatever race of individuals who created that starship remain unrevealed.
The starship was awakened from its millenia long dormancy when it was scanned by the lights of Japanese underwater technology in the year 2000. The ship had become totally covered by rock, sediment, and coral over the ensuing millenia, and was thus mistaken for a huge meteorite when it was first discovered. Since light was apparently its primary power source, the exposure of the ship to a certain amount of candella reactivated it, and its technology and artificial intelligence remained intact and fully functional.
Rising from the depths of the water, the ship soon encountered that Earth's version of Godzilla V, and engaged the Kaiju King in battle. Godzilla exposed the "floating meteorite" as a starship when he blasted off its rocky coating with his atomic breath, though the ship managed to repel the kaiju with its advanced weaponry. The ship then made its way to Tokyo in nearby Japan, repelling all attempts by Japanese aircraft to observe or stop it.
Upon arriving in Tokyo, the starship docked itself atop the massive City Tower, and tapped into the computer systems within the building, particularly those that connected to the Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI), thereby giving it a large degree of control over the technology within the city limits, as well as absorbing the accumlated knowledge stored in the CCI computers, including all of the biological data collected about Godzilla, such as his DNA and its incredible regenerative powers (described as "Organizer G-1").
Godzilla soon arrived in Tokyo, apparently determined to reclaim his territory from the intruder. After the starship battled Godzilla inconclusively, it finally utilized the information about his DNA composition that it downloaded into its own systems from the corporation's computers to utlize its own organic inner components to manufacture a rough genetic "duplicate" of Godzilla known as Orga.
Linked to the starship's artificial consciousness, Orga engaged Godzilla in battle. However, Godzilla not only destroyed the starship, which was seemingly weakened as a result of displacing so much of its inner organic mass in creating a biological duplicate of its adversary, but the Kaiju King also managed to destroy Orga by allowing the beast to swallow him with its expandable maw, and then heating his body with his internal nuclear energies until the alien-created kaiju's body combusted explosively, thus dispersing the beast too much for its duplicated Organizer G-1 cellular components to reintegrate itself.
Special powers and abilities: In regards to the starship/UFO, the outer hull of the craft was made of an unknown metallic alloy, likely of artifical alien composition, which was incredibly resistant to damage, and was able to withstand repeated attacks by Godzilla's atomic breath (at least when it contained its full amount of organic "bulk material"). The ship's outer hull also remained undamaged by spending several millenia underneath many fathoms of salt water (though it may have been partly protected by the sediment deposits which had completely covered it by the time it was re-activated). The ship's internal components were unknown, but it's very possible that the craft was a "techno-organic" life form, as at least part of its internal structure was composed of organic matter, or the craft at the very least possessed technology capable of replicating specific forms of organic matter into certain biological (or pseudo-biological) entities after downloading the cellular make-up of the ancient "organizer" cell structure of any given life form into its internal computer database (on Earth in the present, the ancient organizer cells that allowed the simple one-celled organisms of billions of years ago to evolve into their present complex forms are now no longer visible in the genetic structure of most modern organisms, though they were still visibly present and enhanced in Godzilla as a result of his various mutations). Though it wasn't seen to replicate humanoid beings, it was capable of replicating an entire creature of gigantic stature, which appeared capable of existing independently of the craft, though also seemed to be in some sense an extension of it.
The craft appeared to be powered by solar energy and any type of light source, including starlight for its travels through outer space, and it could power itself even by absorbing the energy of normal search lights, and the craft could obviously store vast amounts of light energy, since it could easily function at night. It seemed to operate bereft of outside control, and it appeared to have an extremely advanced AI system which may have been entirely sentient, though its not known if the craft was capable of true self-awareness and independent thought (though it appeared to be), or simply operated on highly sophisticated pre-programmed instructions that created the illusion of autonomous thought and action (Orga appeared to be fully conscious and sentient, it should be noted).
The power source utilized by the craft to enable it to fly, including through the vacuum of space, obviously didn't use any type of depletable and combustable liquid fuel source as modern Earth aircraft and spacecraft are forced to do. Though its power source was not revealed, it seemed to enable the craft to defy gravity in some manner, and fly at speeds well in excess of the speed of sound in an atmosphere; in the vacuum of space, it may have been capable of approaching light speed in the physical universe, and probably to enter warp space, where it could travel extraordinary distances in a relatively short period of time without its velocity being limited by the speed of light (it's unknown how long the craft traveled in space before originally reaching Earth).
The craft could also use an extension of this gravity-defying power to project a gravitational field about itself that would destroy aircraft in its close proximity that came into physical contact with that field.
The starship was also able to convert the vast stores of light and solar power which it absorbed into highly destructive forms of offensive beam weaponry. The craft was capable of projecting a huge beam of reddish-tinted white energy from a particularly large porthole on the front of the ship, which appeared to be pure concussive force strong enough to knock Godzilla off of his feet, and repel him backwards for over a hundred meters. The ship was also capable of using its extremely hard outer hull to ram an opponent.
By docking on an ediface containing computer components, the ship was able to connect and tap into those components, thus taking total control of those computer systems, and was able to download all of its information into its own database and internal hard drive equivalent, which could then be accessed instantly by its AI system. This enabled the craft's internal systems to turn the computers into multiple extensions of itself, and to control any device which the computers were designed to control, even to the point of physically animating large electrical wires underneath the streets and using them to ensnare an opponent.
By downloading information such as the exact composition of biological DNA, as long as the ancient organizer cell components of said organisms could be identified, the craft could use its own organic components to replicate a semi-duplicate of the creature represented by the DNA information that it absorbed or downloaded. By downloading computer schematics of Godzilla's DNA and Organizer G-1 composition, the craft was able to replicate an entirely organic semi-duplicate of Godzilla known as Orga within a matter of minutes.
Orga possessed tremendous strength as an obvious by-product of his incredible size, making him strong enough to grapple with Godzilla, and his enormous hands were powerful weapons for pummelling an opponent, and his finger talons were quite dangerous. His jaws, filled with sharp teeth, could also be used as vicious biting weapons in a similar manner to those of Godzilla. In addition, Orga seemed able to duplicate (with limits) Godzilla's fast regenerative power, due to the nuclear nature of the latter's body containing Organizer G-1 in its cellular nuclei, thus enabling the alien creature to heal virtually any wound he sustained with extraordinary speed and efficiency. During periods of extensive physical contact with Godzilla, Orga could apparently absorb more of the latter's DNA, thus gaining an additional amount of his power and physical attributes (such as his dorsal plates).
Further, Orga was able to open an organic "cannon port" on his right shoulder to project powerful bolts of energy in the form of highly destructive "ball lightening" as a powerful offensive weapon.
Orga also possessed various physical attributes that Godzilla didn't himself possess, obviously as a result of being pre-programmed into his organic form by the starship's genetic matrix. For example, he was able to leap hundreds of meters into the air in a single bound from a standing position. Also, he was capable of unhinging his jaw in the manner of a snake, who are able to swallow prey of much larger size than themselves by this method. Orga appeared to have membranous skin resembling the webbed feet of waterfoul between his jaws, which only became visible when his maw was fully extended. As a result of this ability, Orga was able to swallow an opponent his own size nearly whole.
Significant appearances: Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Organizer G-1
Category: Science
Continuity: 1, 2, and "3," but only mentioned in "continuity 3A"
Description: 'Organizer G-1' (referred to as "Regenerator G-1" in the American version of the below listed film) is the name given to the organic components of Godzilla V's cellular nuclei mutated by his initial exposure to nuclear radiation, and which enables him to recover from virtually any type of wound or injury with incredible speed.
"Organizer" units were the components of the earliest and most simple single-celled organisms that first appeared on Earth a few billion years ago that enabled them to evolve into the many complex life forms that inhabit the Earth today, but all normal Earth organisms have since evolved to the point where the organizer components are no longer visible in their cellular structure. Godzilla is an exception to this rule since his own organizer components have been "re-activated" due to his mutation, and also tremendously enhanced.
Significant mentioning: Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Orochi I-III (Showa, Heisei, and Millennium Versions)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: (I) 1; (II) 2; (III) "3C"
Length: (Showa Version) Approx. 300 meters; (Heisei Version) 66 meters (about 20 meters in height); (Millennium Version) Undetermined
Description: Orochi is an enormous, eight-headed serpentine dragon from ancient Japanese mythology that somewhat resembles the multi-headed Hydra from Greek mythology, but far larger in size and sheer physical might. Orochi "actually" existed as a physical, tangible being in the various universes possessing a dimensional counterpart of Godzilla, however, and three different versions of this kaiju have been seen in different Toho continuities (though the third's existence was actually only hinted at, and not actually seen, at least not in his traditional form). Though no version of Godzilla was depicted as directly encountering any version of Orochi, the version of Godzilla V seen on timeline "3C" has battled that Earth's version of King Ghidorah V, with whom it was implied may have a direct connection, or at least a loose association of some sort, with Orochi, whom he somewhat resembles, though King Ghidorah only has three heads (and Orochi was never depicted as having wings). As a result of this, I have decided to include an entry for Orochi in this glossary, but since the first two versions of the great dragon never actually encountered Godzilla, and because the backstory of all three are very similar (though the versions had significant differences), I decided that all three versions did not warrent a seperate entry.
Orochi resembled a gigantic serpent with eight heads situated on long necks, each of which possess extremely sharp teeth, numerous small frill-like projections extending from the back of each head, a row of fin-like projections extending down the length of each of the dragon's eight heads, a small horn protruding from each head, four small legs (the dragon is quadrapedal), and a long tail with many fin-like projections on its tip.
The Showa version of Orochi was considerably larger than the Heisei version, and in fact was significantly greater in length than any modern kaiju, whereas the Heisei version was more or less on par with most modern dai kaiju in regards to length and height. The Heisei version, however, possessed a wide array of offensive weaponry at his disposal, unlike the Showa version, who utilized only his mega-enormous size along with the ability to use his eight long necks for constricting an opponent, in addition to his deadly jaws. Since I have not yet seen The Three Treasures at this writing, I am uncertain whether or not the Showa version possessed the ability to breathe fire from each of his eight maws, though it's quite possible that he did.
All versions of Orochi existed thousands of years ago, a short time after the gods of the Shinto religion, who once held much power over the island nation now known as Japan, turned the reins entirely over to their mortal worshippers. Orochi was mystical in nature, and extradimensional in origin, born in the cosmic cesspool of ancient times, his genesis probably very similar to that of dragons in various other mythologies. In each such reality, the dragon was eventually defeated in battle by the mystically powered heroic warrior known as Yamato Takeru, though the precise details varied in different timelines.
In the Heisei timeline, Orochi was said to have been initially birthed in the cosmos as long ago as 10 million years in the past (it's uncertain how accurate this time frame designation may be). He first manifested out of the primordial mists of the universe around that time, and attempted to utilize his great power to lay waste to the Earth, but the gigantic hydra was defeated by the ancient Japanese warrior-deity Susano. The dragon was then confined to an otherdimensional frozen realm, where he remained for millennia as the deities settled in a dimensional realm adjacent to the land now known as Japan, where they would eventually be worshipped by the mortals who dwelled on that island nation.
Many thousands of years ago, as the rulership of ancient Japan was in the process of being turned from control by the deities to full control by humanity, Orochi manifested once more, this time on the surface of the moon, and at the behest of the evil god Tsukuyomi, who took the form of the hydra to enact vengeance upon the human hero who had defeated him, Yamato Takeru. Takeru, alongside his sorceress ally Oto, attempted to defeat the reincarnation of the deadly hydra dragon, first atop the armored avian kaiju known as the Amano Phoenix, a great battle which ended in defeat for Takeru and Oto. Later, when the defeated Takeru discovered the secret of the three Lights of Yamato while hovering in the void of space, he was transformed into the gigantic armored warrior-deity called Utsuno Ikusagmi. With this new, incredibly mighty form, Ikusagmi (controlled by the sentience of Takeru) battled and defeated Orochi, ending the hydra dragon's second reign of terror, and thwarting the machinations of the evil god Tsukuyomi for good.
In "continuity 3C," it was implied by the mythology indigenous to the Japan on that Earth that Orochi was connected in some manner to King Ghidorah V, as the version of the latter kaiju native to that reality is mystical in nature, and is the prime guardian monster of Japan who aided in the defeat of the malevolent Godzilla V in ancient times, and who rose again to battle Godzilla in the year 2002. Though the resemblance between King Ghidorah and Orochi is unmistakable, what this connection may actually be was never elaborated upon.
There is no recorded instance of Orochi manifesting on modern day Earth in any timeline, though various dragon-like entities related to him, such as King Ghidorah V and Desi-Ghidorah (from the 'Rebirth of Mothra' timeline), have indeed done so.
Special powers and abilities: All versions of Orochi possessed incredible physical strength by virtue of his great size, his eight long necks were able to entwine and constrict his opponents, and the jaws extant on each of those heads possessed many rows of extremely sharp teeth set within very strong jaws.
The Showa version of Orochi was incredibly large, and his size alone made him an extremely formidable beast even without any offensive beam weaponry.
The much smaller, but no less deadly Heisei version of Orochi had an impressive array of beam weaponry at his disposal, and his cosmic nature enabled him to survive indefinately in the vacuum of outer space (thus implying yet another possible connection with King Ghidorah). The dragon was able to project crimson beams of destructive energy from both his eyes and maws that resembled lightening-like discharges. Additionally, like many mythical dragons, he was also able to spew torrents of flame from each of his eight maws. Not only could he travel through the vacuum of space unaided, but if any of his body parts were severed, the central consciousness of the dragon remained connected to them, and could still animate them so as to continue their attack upon an opponent (and possibly reintegrate them at a later time).
Though a near-mindless engine of destruction birthed in the primal cauldron of the cosmos when the dragon first appeared (much like Tiamat, Pythos, and other such creatures from different mythologies), during his clash with Yamato Takeru, the dragon was controlled by the essence of the evil deity Tsukuyomi, and thus possessed the strategic capabilities of a fully sentient being.
Little is known of the Millennium version of Orochi from continuity "3C," other than the fact that the creature was in some way related to King Ghidorah of that timeline, who had a similar origin, though the latter three-headed dragon was controlled by the ancestral spirits of Japan, and thus fought to defend the island nation rather than destroy it. It's a well known aspect of Japanese mythology and folklore that not all dragons were dangerous or a threat to humankind, unlike the near-univerally dangerous dragons of Western and Northern lore.
Significant appearances: (I) The Three Treasures (1960); (II) Orochi, The Eight-Headed Dragon (1994); (III, mentioned only, though a possible connection to King Ghidorah V being implied) Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Oshima Island
Category: Locale
Continuity: 2
see Mount Mihara.
Oto
Category: Character
Continuity: 2
[Coming Soon]
Oxygen Destroyer
Category: Technology
Continuity: 1, 2 & "3" (though evidently not in all of the disparate timelines seen within "continuity 3")
Description: The Oxygen Destroyer (OD) was a weapon created by Dr. Daisuke Serizawa by the year 1954 which, upon being dropped into water, will destroy all oxygen within the liquid by releasing a substance called ‘micro-oxygen’ that will effectively dissolve all living matter which it comes in contact with.
This weapon is small enough to be held in two human hands, and activates immediately upon being dropped into water. The micro-oxygen it releases succeeded in defeating Godzilla just after his first attack on civilization in 1954 when it was dropped into the water in his near-vicinity. Determined to insure that this terrible weapon was never used again, Dr. Serizawa, who placed the weapon near Godzilla himself, then committed suicide to prevent anyone from ever coercing him into rebuilding the OD (he had already destroyed all existing notes on the device).
In Godzilla I’s continuity, the monster was evidently only injured by the weapon, escaping before being disintegrated (Dr. Serizawa’s vision of the kaiju being destroyed in this continuity was probably only a post-mortem hallucination as the scientist was himself succumbing to the effects of the weapon). The OD was apparently never rebuilt in this reality, and Godzilla appeared again, fully recovered, a year later. It can be surmised that the micro-oxygen that he did absorb furthered his mutation, allowing him to slowly develop the limited sentience which he fully displayed by the 1970’s.
In Godzilla II’s continuity, the monster was indeed disintegrated by the OD, and Dr. Serizawa’s vision was indeed accurate. The kaiju still managed to regenerate himself, however, possibly as the result of his remaining radioactive cell structure coming in contact with atomic waste in the ocean, though the process took 30 years. Because the ‘new’ Godzilla was essentially a duplicate of the first, he didn’t undergo further mutation to acquire the semi-sentience of Godzilla I, but remained a hostile creature throughtout his existence.
Nevertheless, the released micro-oxygen, over the course of 40 years, eventually revived and mutated dormant prehistoric microorganisms into the dai kaiju known as Destroyah, who possessed micro-oxygen based powers. During this time, Godzilla was beginning to undergo an internal nuclear meltdown, and scientist Dr. Kensaku Ijuin and college whiz kid Ken Yamane began attempts to rebuild the OD in order to defeat Godzilla once again. However, Godzilla was ultimately killed in a manner not involving the OD, though he was victimized by the micro-oxygen powers of Destroyah in battle.
Significant appearances: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954); Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)
Planet X I (Showa Version)
Category: Alien Locale
Continuity: 1
Description: Small barren planet from which the alien race known as the Xians had a subterranean base, and where they first enountered people from Earth after the mysterious planet was artificially maneuvered between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in 1965 by Xian technology.
see Xians.
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