Regenerator G-1
Category: Science
Continuity: "3A"
Description: The name for Godzilla's Organizer G-1 cellular components in the American version of Godzilla 2000. See: Organizer G-1.
Robot Kong
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
see Mechani-Kong
Rodan I (Showa Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Radon (his Japanese name); 'Rodie' (a nickname my grandmother gave to this kaiju).
Height: 50 meters
Description: Rodan I is a Pteranodon descended from genetically enhanced versions of prehistoric animals who were created by the advanced genetic engineering techniques of the ancient Muan civilization many milennia ago, and who was mutated by atomic radiation into a vastly powerful flying kaiju. Although still resembling a Pteranodon, albeit far larger, Rodan has powerfully built wings in place of the leathery, fragile appendages normally possessed by a member of the pterodactyl family. He has a sturdy beak, two crests on his head, numerous small spiky protrusions on his chest and stomach, and a very tiny tail.
Rodan’s egg somehow survived into the early 20th century in suspended animation in a huge cavern within Japan’s Mt. Aso. After being exposed to atomic radiation, the embryo inside the egg was both awakened and mutated. Eventually hatching in 1956, the young Rodan instantly devoured the entire population of man-sized mutant insects known as Meganula, thus sparing the nearby mining town further attacks by the deadly creatures.
However, soon growing to adulthood, Rodan began menacing the entire nation of Japan himself, destroying jets and attacking cities. The Japanese military proved unable to defeat the powerful kaiju, and Rodan was soon joined by another, female member of his ‘species,’ whose origin was presumably the same as his own. After this initial attack, both Rodans returned to Mt. Aso to enter a state of self-induced hibernation, which they did after each of their tirades.
Taking advantage of this situation, the military dropped numerous concussion bombs on the volcano, causing it to erupt. While the two Rodans attempted to escape, the female was overcome by volcanic fumes and plummeted into the lava. Refusing to abandon his paramour, the male Rodan likewise plunged into the lava to be at her side.
However, the male Rodan wasn’t killed as the people of Japan believed. Instead, he managed to survive by inducing a years-long state of suspended animation within himself (why the female Rodan was apparently killed, while the male was not, is unknown).
Rodan was seen again in late 1964 when he was awakened from his slumber within Mt. Aso by magnetic waves released by a meteorite, which was actually the gestating King Ghidorah I. Soon after his revival, Rodan encountered and battled Godzilla I, the two fighting each other to a standstill. Perhaps due to further mutation from exposure to the volcanic gases (he looked quite differently here than in 1956), Rodan had by now developed a rudimentary sentience, just as Godzilla had. Thus, the two monsters were telepathically convinced by the Mothra I larva to join her in battling and driving King Ghidorah from the Earth. The two eventually complied, and as a result, Rodan (like Godzilla) came to avoid attacking the human race under his own volition.
One year later, Rodan and Godzilla were captured by the alien race known as the Xians and forced to attack the Earth alongside King Ghidorah. After the three monsters were freed from alien control, Rodan and Godzilla turned on King Ghidorah and again drove him from the Earth.
By 1969, Rodan was dwelling amongst his fellow monsters on the newly established Monster Island, and G-fan Tom Miller has posited that the island was chosen for moving the other monsters to it since Rodan was already roosting there in a state of suspended animation. No further major activities of Rodan was recorded after the 60’s.
In the year 1999, Rodan and all his fellow monsters again fell under alien control, this time under the auspices of the invading race of Kilaaks. Rodan himself was ordered to attack the city of Moscow.
However, after being freed from Kilaak control, Rodan joined his fellow monsters in battle against King Ghidorah, and also battled a fiery monster that later turned out to be a Kilaak spaceship in disguise.
At the conclusion of this battle, Rodan was peacefully returned to Monster Island.
Special powers and abilities: In addition to his tremendous strength and near-invulnerable hide common to most dai kaiju, Rodan can fly faster than any other organic monster, easily breaking the sound barrier and creating destructive sonic booms in the process. He could also create tornado force winds by standing on the ground and flapping his wings rapidly.
Unlike a normal pterodactyl, Rodan’s wings are not mere leathery webs of skin that are easily damaged; his wings are as strong as his hide. He will attack in diving swoops at an opponent with great speed and force, and will bite and thrash an enemy with his strong beak. He’s proven strong enough to carry Godzilla in the air for an extended distance.
On one occasion, Rodan was seen to fire a blast of concentrated air from his beak.
Although Rodan possesses no beam weapons of any kind, he was the only kaiju known to be able to withstand point blank blasts of Godzilla’s atomic breath while suffering nothing more than minor irritation, and how he managed to have this resistance to such a powerful force remains unknown.
Significant appearances: Rodan (1956); Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964); Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965); (mentioned as being on Monster Island in the present, though not actually seen) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); (very briefly) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973); Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Rodan II (Heisei Version)
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: Radon (his Japanese name); Fire Rodan (after he acquired his uranium heat beam); 'Rodie' (a nickname my grandmother gave to this kaiju).
Height: 70 meters
Description: Rodan II is a Pteranodon descended from genetically enhanced versions of prehistoric animals who were created by the advanced genetic engineering techniques of the ancient Muan civilization many milennia ago, and who was mutated by atomic radiation into a vastly powerful flying kaiju. He still resembles a Pteranodon somewhat, though he’s far larger, he has enormous leathery but powerful wings, a strong beak, three crests atop his head and a fairly long tail shaped like a kite. His skin was light brown in his original incarnation, though it turned to bright red after he became Fire Rodan.
Rodan’s egg remained alive in suspended animation along with a Godzillasaurus egg on Adonoa Island in the South Pacific, an atoll devastated by nearby atomic bomb tests many years earlier. The embryos within the eggs were both slowly reawakened and mutated by exposure to the nearby radiation. Hatching first, the pterodactyl mutation grew to adulthood, watching over his fellow egg which he regarded as a sibling. This atypical attachment was at least partially due to the psychic bond formed between the two developing embryos.
Rodan was first encountered by human beings when a scientific expedition to Adonoa Island in 1994 absconded with the Godzillasaurus egg, which was nearing its hatching time. No sooner did Rodan bedevil the human party then Godzilla II arrived, also attracted to the psychic emanations of the egg, and the two kaiju battled each other ferociously. Despite giving Godzilla a very tough fight, and battling with a fierce determination to win, Rodan was ultimately defeated and left for dead.
Hours later, after fully metabolizing the excess radiation absorbed due to several hits taken from Godzilla’s atomic breath, Rodan mutated into Fire Rodan, now able to project his own radioactive energy beam. Searching for his lost ‘sibling,’ now hatched into Baby Godzilla, Rodan invaded Japan and began a destructive flight there. He found the baby dinosaur being flown to Adonoa Island in a large metal crate and captured it, attempting to pry the crate open with his beak. Before he could do so, however, the flying monster was attacked by his bionic counterpart, the flying war machine called Garuda. Thanks to his new power of atomic breath, Rodan promptly defeated Garuda.
However, the giant robot Mechagodzilla II then arrived, and it mortally wounded Rodan after a fierce battle.
Godzilla then arrived again with the same goal of rescuing Baby Godzilla from human civilization, and was also felled by Mechagodzilla, who was now merged with Garuda into the entity called SuperMechagodzilla, which made the giant robot much more powerful. Just then, Rodan made a last leaf of effort to reach the baby dinosaur, only to be blown out of the sky by SuperMechagodzilla. However, the flying monster landed atop the mortally injured Godzilla, and the dying mutant pterodactyl’s punctured Uran Pockets caused him to dissolve into a cloud of radioactive mist which was absorbed by Godzilla, fully healing his wounds and temporarily powering him up as Super Godzilla. Super Godzilla then destroyed SuperMechagodzilla with his hyped up powers, and then peacefully took Baby Godzilla away from human civilization.
Although it is unknown whether Rodan deliberately landed atop Godzilla when he realized he was dying, the flying monster nevertheless ultimately succeeded in his goal to rescue his sibling by combining his power with that of Godzilla.
Special powers and abilities: Rodan had enormous strength and resilience, and despite his wings’ leathery appearance, they didn’t appear to be fragile as a normal pterodactyl’s would be, but as resistant to injury as his hide was. He could fly at speeds in excess of Mach 1, enabling him to create destructive sonic booms. Rodan could also create hurricane force winds by standing on the ground and flapping his wings rapidly.
He was a very vicious and cunning fighter, attacking his opponents in swift, powerful diving swoops and mercilessly attacking an adversary’s face and eyes with his sturdy beak.
Before becoming Fire Rodan, the flying kaiju had no beam weapons of any kind. After the transformation, he could fire a beam of concentrated radiation similar to Godzilla’s (despite the heat effect of the energy, Rodan didn’t actually project fire). This power is commonly referred to among G-fans as Rodan's Uranium Heat Beam. This was powered by twin Uran Pockets in the creature’s throat, which transformed excess radiation into fissionable material, and forced it out of the monster’s mouth as pure radiation whenever he exhaled forcefully. Unlike Godzilla, however, Fire Rodan possessed no internal atomic furnace in his stomach, so his energy beam wasn’t quite as powerful as the former’s atomic breath.
The energy beam had a purplish glow, and was accompanied by visible bio-electric sparks along Rodan’s head crests.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993)
Saegusa, Miki
Category: Supporting Character
Continuity: 2
Description: Miki Saegusa is a youthful esper (human possessing psychic powers) who serves G-Force’s psychic division to psionically keep tabs on Godzilla II’s location at all times.
Miki first met Godzilla in 1990 when she was only seventeen years old, and she only possessed the psionic powers of telepathy, clairvoyance and psychic sensitivity at the time. She first utilized her power to detect Godzilla’s awakening during his entrapment and later escape from Mt. Mihara. Soon afterwards, she displayed her brave heart by unsuccessfully attempting to prevent Godzilla from entering Japan through sheer telepathic force. Despite her realization that Godzilla was a dangerous menace to Japan, she nevertheless sympathized with the atomic beast’s primal innocence.
Since her initial adventure with the Kaiju King, Miki has been involved with every other known instance of Godzilla entering Japan since then.
Two years later, Miki accompanied the Futurians on their trip to the past, and observed Godzilla in his pre-mutated form.
In 1993, she acted as Japan’s telepathic liaison to the Cosmos when the two tiny twins guided Mothra II in her battle with Godzilla. A year after this, she became the unofficial head of G-Force’s esper division, and very reluctantly participated in Operation: G-Crusher with the newly formed G-Force in an attempt to use her psychic abilities to locate Godzilla’s secondary brain in an ultimately unsuccessful scheme to kill the great beast by using the giant robot known as Mechagodzilla II.
A year after this incident, she traveled to Birth Island to once again reluctantly participate in a G-Force countermeasure against Godzilla known as the T-Project. This plot involved Miki using her ever-increasing psychic powers to attempt to control Godzilla telepathically in concert with U.N. technology. This scheme was interrupted when she was kidnapped by the Industrial Mafia and forced to use her power to control Godzilla on their behalf. Miki was soon rescued, however, and during this incident she developed her psionic abilities further, gaining the power of telekinesis.
She also received a telepathic distress message from the Cosmos through a mystical Fairy Mothra construct, enabling her to warn G-Force of Space Godzilla’s imminent approach, and formed a psychic rapport with Little Godzilla. At the end of this mission, she severed her control over Godzilla, considering this to be immoral.
Finally, in 1996, Miki tracked Godzilla during the time when his internal nuclear energy went fatally critical. She located Godzilla Junior (the former Little Godzilla), and under G-Force’s orders, she hesitantly utilized her psionic powers to bring the adolescent monster into battle with the kaiju called Destroyah in order to lure the adult Godzilla there. She did so, though she was extremely distraught when the young monster was later seemingly killed by Destroyah. After Destroyah’s final defeat, Godzilla died from a nuclear meltdown, and Miki shed a tear and respectfully removed her hat to the expiring King of the Monsters.
Miki was quite pleased when Godzilla Junior was resurrected as the new Godzilla, and presumably she currently has the task of monitoring the now adult beast’s activities.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989); Godzilla vs. King Ghidora (1991); Godzilla and Mothra: Battle For The Earth (1992); Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993); Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994); Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)
Seatopia and Seatopians
Category: Hidden Race and Locale
Continuity: 1
Description: Seatopia is an underground realm existing on Godzilla I’s Earth that is home to an advanced civilization who are the descendants of the ancient, sunken continent of Mu (this is evidently a different society than the Muans who threatened the surface world in Atragon; in the West, this lost continent is most often refered to as Lemuria). The Seatopian society has technology comparable to that of the “First World” surface societies, and sometimes even more advanced, since they proved capable of quickly sending a message to the alien race living in the Hunter M Nebula, a far distant solar system, implying that the former possesses sub-space communication capability. They also possess the technological capability to create localized earthquakes and to penetrate the surface of the earth with a beam of energy, which they utilized to create a hole under a lake, which drained all of the water.
They appeared to have a high priest who acted as leader, and all of their surface agents were male, implying a strong patriarchal culture and a class-divided society. The high priest was Caucasian, though the agents sent to the surface were obviously Japanese, suggesting that the Seatopians were a multi-racial society, though little of their overall culture is actually known.
The Seatopians first made their presence known to the surface world in 1973, when they finally attempted to retaliate against the surface world for ignorantly causing severe damage to their civilization with repeated atomic bomb tests. They appeared to incorrectly believe that the surface world civilizations were united in a world government since they centered their attack on Japan, a country which has never possessed nuclear weapons.
After initially draining a lake of its water (though what purpose this served is beyond me), they dispatched the giant insectoid monster called Megalon to the surface to attack Japanese cities. However, they required the assistance of a robot called Jet Jaguar, which was created by the Japanese robotocist Prof. Goro Ibuki, to control the kaiju, and they acquired the automaton by force. The robot soon broke free of the Seatopians’ control, however, and contacted Godzilla, who by now acted as protector of the human race.
Meanwhile, Prof. Ibuki, his good friend and race car driver Hiroshi Jinkawa and his kid brother Rokkuchan soon managed to defeat the Seatopian agents on the surface who were responsible for the abduction. Jet Jaguar somehow programmed himself to grow to gigantic size, and he and Godzilla battled both Megalon and Gigan, the alien cyborg monster who was summoned from space by the Seatopians to assist their monster. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar proved triumphant, and the Seatopian leader responded by sealing all surface entrances to his kingdom.
Since that incident, the Seatopians haven’t been heard from again.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Selga Island I & II
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1 & "3D"
Alternate names: This atoll has been spelled and pronounced different ways in different sources.
Description: Selga Island is a South Pacific atoll with friendly, primitive human inhabitants. In 1970, a commercial expedition from Japan traveled there to assess the island's viability as a future resort area. This plan was ended when a disembodied alien entity known as the Yog arrived there when a space capsule it commandered in space landed in the water near the atoll. This entity took possession of a Gezora (giant squid), a Ganime (giant lobster; actually, two of them at two different intervals), and a Kamoebas (giant aquatic turtle), and had all of these kaiju menace the humans on the island until it was discovered that the high-pitched sounds emitted by bats could disrupt the alien's control, as well as Gezora's vulnerability to fire.
This island was the first place that citizens from Japan encountered Gezora, Ganime, and Kamoebas (only the name of the first was mentioned in American press accounts of this incident, however).
Significant appearances: Yog, Monster From Space (1970); [mentioned only] Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Saligna and Salignans
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1
Description: Saligna is a small but fairly prosperous South Pacific island nation of the 20th century. Contrary to the Salignans' knowledge (at least prior to 1964), they are the descendants of an ancient Muan/Lemurian colony of the planet Mars from many thousands of years ago, who were forced to flee back to Earth when the Xians sent King Ghidorah I to ravage their fragile civilization.
The Salignans evidently possessed an archaic political system, in that they were ruled by what appeared to be a semi-absolute monarchy, since their rulers, possibly hereditary, bore titles such as 'princess' (it wasn't established whether or not the Saladians were a matriarchy or a gender equal society).
The Martians, like many of their Muan forbears, had developed great psychic abilities that fell into almost complete abeyance in their 20th century descendants. The Salignan princess, on a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1964, was possessed by her direct ancestor, a Martian priestess who took control over her body to warn the Earth of the imminent arrival of King Ghidorah I. With the help of the Shobijin (the tiny twin psychic priestesses whose home of Infant Island also harbored Muan descendants) the Martian priestess, possessing the body of her late 20th century descendant, the Salignan princess, thwarted a murderous political coup upon her person and helped rally Godzilla I, Rodan I, and Mothra I to repel King Ghidorah from the Earth.
Significant appearances: [of Salignans, with Saladia mentioned prominently] Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Saradia
Category: Locale
Continuity: 2
Alternate names: Spelled in various ways in different sources.
Description: Saradia is an apparently Middle Eastern nation with a high interest in alternative energy sources. They sent a special agent to Japan to forcibly acquire g-cells in 1985 and 1990.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Sanda
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1 & possibly "3D"
Alternate names: Sanda, along with Gaila, were sometimes referred to in the Japanese press as the "Frankenstein Brothers." In the American press, Sanda was simply referred to as the 'Brown Gargantua.'
Height: 35 meters
Description: Sanda was a gigantic humanoid kaiju who had evidently grown from the severed hand of Frankenstein. He resembled a shaggy brown grotesque humanoid with somewhat neanderthalic features.
When the creature first formed from the regenerated matter of Frankenstein's surgically severed and dessicated hand in 1965, he was the size of a human child, and he was shown much love and affection by the staff of scientists who raised him, and he returned that affection. The creature, named Sanda, eventually escaped into the mountainous regions of Japan. Within a year, the creature's fast regenerative properties caused him to grow to an immense height, much like that of his "parent."
The now gigantic Sanda appeared a year later to rescue his "brother" gargantua, Gaila, who was injured by a maser tank assault. However, Sanda was then unaware that his "brother" was very brutal and was devouring human beings for food; upon discovering human blood on his sibling, Sanda turned on him. Sanda battled Gaila in Tokyo to stop his sibling's deadly rampage, and despite Sanda's somewhat greater size and strength, he was a bit handicapped by a broken leg that had not yet fully healed, and Gaila's greater aggressiveness made him a formidable foe. The battle ended up in the ocean, where both gargantuas were apparently consumed by an erupting volcano that was jutting from the surface of the water. They were both evidently never seen again.
Special powers and abilities: Sanda possessed an incredible degree of strength comparable to that of Frankenstein, his "parent," though on a somewhat greater level due to his larger size. He could also run quite fast, and was highly tolerant of cold temperatures due to living in the mountains at high elevation. Sanda was most certainly sentient, but he left the company of humans before he could be taught to speak or read, or to understand more than the bare rudiments of the Japanese language, but his human-like cunning and reactions (including his great compassion for other living beings) was quite evident.
He also seemed to possess the regenerative capabilities of Frankenstein, his genetic "parent."
Significant appearances: War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Serizawa, Dr. Daisuke
Category: Supporting Character
Continuity: 1, 2, & (presumably) "3"
Description: Dr. Serizawa was the brilliant but morose scientist who invented the dreaded Oxygen Destroyer weapon, which was used to destroy Godzilla in 1954, after the kaiju’s initial attack on Japan. He only used the weapon after great persuasion from Emiko Yamane, the woman he loved, and he destroyed all of his notes on the device.
While personally using the OD to (temporarily) destroy Godzilla, Dr. Serizawa committed honorable suicide to insure that no one could ever force him to recreate the dreaded weapon.
Significant appearances: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954); (in flashbacks and photograph) Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)
Shobijin
Category: Supporting Characters
Continuity: 1 & "3D"
Description: The Shobijin (a Japanese word which loosely translates into English as “small beauties”) are identical twin girls from Infant Island I, each standing only 30 cm tall, and who are telepathically linked to each other and the dai kaiju protector of the Earth, Mothra I. Due to their telepathic link, they always speak and act in unison, and they may actually be two bodies animated by one lifeforce, rather than two separate and distinct beings. They serve as the high priestesses of both Mothra and the regular, peaceful natives of Infant Island.
The origin of the Shobijin are unknown, but they may be mutants, the offspring of a human being and a member of the faerie folk, or even a direct creation of Mother Earth herself, as Mothra is. They seem to possess certain undefined occult abilities, are fully telepathic and psychically sensitive, and they are very benevolent.
The Shobijin have been called by a variety of names, including the Aelinas, the Peanuts, the Faerie Twins, the Small Beauties of Infant Island, and others (they have never been called ‘Shobijin’ or any of these other names in the movies themselves; these are simply the names given to them by press material, or by their fans).
The Shobijin were first encountered by the outside world in 1961 when a contingent of explorers traveled to Infant Island. An expedition member was saved by the Shobijin when he was attacked by one of the carnivorous, radioactively mutated plants indigenous to the atoll. The Shobijin were then kidnapped by an unscrupulous American capitalist who was intent on displaying them to the public for profit. They called upon the unhatched Mothra to rescue them, and she did so; afterwards, both Mothra and the Shobijin ceased their hostilities with the outside world and peacefully returned to Infant Island.
The Shobijin were seen three times after the latter incident.
They next appeared two years later when Mothra’s egg was washed ashore in Japan after a violent storm, and they guided Mothra in protecting both the egg and the hapless populace from the then evil Godzilla I.
Afterwards, the tiny twins traveled to Japan to appear in a television show later that year, and while there they guided the larval Mothra in defending the Earth against King Ghidorah I, and she defeated the space beast with help from Godzilla and Rodan I.
In 1966, the twins awakened the now adult Mothra from a suspended slumber for the purpose of flying to nearby Letchi Island and rescuing many Infant Islanders who were held captive by a paramilitary organization known as the Red Bamboo.
After Mothra was moved to Monster Island by 1969 under unknown circumstances, the Shobijin haven’t been seen or heard from, and the story behind this seperation from Mothra was never told.
In Continuity "3D", a "new" generation of Shobijin visited Japan once more in 2003 to warn the populace to return the bones of the "first" Godzilla, which were used to create the organic aspect of the cybernetive kaiju Mechagodzilla 3, to their resting place in the Pacific Ocean. They then guided both the adult and twin larvae Mothra to defend Japan against Godzilla alongside Mechagodzilla.
The actual origin of these "new" generation Shobijin was never revealed, though there was some sort of connection to the original twins, and they did seem to share all of their memories, though they looked different from the first two. They possessed the same telepathic abilities and were likewise psychically linked to the point that they always spoke in unison, but these "new" generation Shobijin were more powerful than the first, and possessed additional psionic powers, including low-level telekinesis.
Significant appearances: (original Shobijin) Mothra (1961); Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964); Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964); Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966); [stock footage cameo] Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003); ("new" generation Shobijin) Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Shokilas
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Length: 1.2 meters
Description: Normal sea louses are tiny parasitic crustaceans which cling to the bodies of various marine animals and live by taking small amounts of the host organism’s blood.
The Shokilas resemble their a normal sized sea louse, but are nearly man-sized as a result of mutation induced by feeding off of Godzilla II’s radioactive blood. The sea louses cling to his skin in moderate numbers, and are occasionally met by the hapless crew of various ships which are unfortunate enough to encounter Godzilla.
The first recorded encounter with mutant sea louses by human beings was during Godzilla’s second appearance, when he appeared in front of the Yahatu Maru in 1985. Several of the mutant sea louses invaded the ship and brutally killed all of the crew except for one, leaving their bodies completely drained of all bodily fluids. Only one of the sea louses remained when a young journalist named Goro Maki boarded the ship to investigate, and he discovered the ghastly corpses left behind. The sole remaining sea louse then attacked Maki, and would have killed him as well, had the sole survivor of the ship not come out of hiding and stabbed the mutant creature to death.
Special powers and abilities: The mutant sea louses are extremely agile, and can leap from wall to wall with ease. They attack human beings by leaping upon them, goring them with their sharp, spindly legs and crushing their throats with their powerful mandibles. They will then divest the victim of all of their bodily fluids, leaving a horribly withered husk behind.
Their exoskeleton gives them much greater proportionate strength than a normal human being.
Significant appearances: Godzilla 1985 (1984)
Simeons
Category: Alien Race
Continuity: 1
Description: The Simeons are an extremely hostile simian alien race who were originally subordinate to a highly advanced humanoid race indigenous to their world, who used the simian life forms on their planet as a slave race, incorrectly believing their intelligence to be inferior to that of themselves. Eventually, however, the simians on their world proved the humanoids wrong by somehow staging a successful world wide revolution, and taking control of their world, including all of the advanced technology which they had secretly mastered.
They have been labeled "Simeons" by G-fans as a result of their simian nature. After their violent coup, they ruled over the once superior humanoid race with extreme brutality, and would likely have been content to remain the masters of their world indefinately if not for the emergence of an extreme astronomical crisis that threatened their entire world.
Sometime after the Simeons rose to brutal dominance of their world, a black hole somehow opened up close to their solar system, and presented a major threat to the survival of the entire race (since large black holes are believed to be stars of a certain size and density which eventually use up all of their hydrogen energy stores and implode in upon themselves, thus creating a spatial "hole," or point singularity in the "substance" of outer space, with such an immense gravitational pull that not even light can escape its surface, it's not known exactly how this black hole could have formed near the solar system; if their own sun had imploded, it would have first destroyed the entire solar system with its initial death throes, i.e., the violent shedding of its super-heated plasmic 'atmosphere').
As a result of this catastrophe, the Simeons rapdily developed their fledging warp drive technology, and seeked out other planets to conquor so that they could find a place to re-colonize after their world, the third from its sun, was eventually consumed by the black hole.
The simian members of their native world (which was never named in the films) resembled completely bipedal Earth apes in appearance, the same average height as human beings, and they wore a human disguise composed of an unknown substance that melted off when the aliens were killed or injured.
Members of the humanoid race that originally ruled that world were likely used as military fodder by the ascendant simians. During their second of two takeover attempts of Earth, one of the aliens removed a latex-like mask after being injured, to reveal a human-like, but hideously scarred countenance. It's possible that the alien's extremely scarred appearance was the result of the constant sadistic torture that the simians were known to be fond of inflicting on any being who was subordinate to them, including each other (though this was never elaborated upon in the film).
Possessing extremely advanced technology, including being capable of traversing outer space via warp drive, they were especially advanced in robotics and cybernetics (though, curiously, they never seemed to use that technology to enhance themselves cybernetically, and their technology, though advanced, appeared to be frequently rushed, and they often seeked the aid of Earth scientists to assist them, as if this technology was only recently developed by them, and they had yet to work out all of its "bugs." Their government, which was never seen in detail on their homeworld, was obviously a fascist military dictatorship who regarded all other races as inferior to their own, including the humanoid race indigenous to their world who once ruled over the simians.
Discovered on Earth by Interpol at least by 1974, the Simeons believed their only real obstacle to conquering the planet was Godzilla I, who had become a champion of the world by that time. They created the giant robot Mechagodzilla I after careful study of the real Godzilla to defeat the kaiju hero, only to see their creation defeated by the combined might of King Seesar and Godzilla himself, and the alien base was destroyed by Interpol agents.
During their second attempt at subjugating the Earth a year later, they recruited the assistance of the disgruntled human scientist Dr. Shinzo Mafune, who had control over the amphibious monster Titanosaurus, and they even saved his daughter Katsura from death by surgically transforming her into a cyborg.
After rebuilding Mechagodzilla I , the aliens pitted the giant robot and Titanosaurus against Godzilla, who defeated them both with some assistance from Interpol, and the latter organization once again destroyed the alien base, evidently ending their attempts at conquest once and for all.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974); Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Solgell Island
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: This atoll has been spelled and pronounced a variety of ways in various sources.
Description: This remote island in the South Pacific was chosen in 1967 for the testing of weather control technology. While there, the scientific team was besieged by radiation spawned kaiju which inhabited the island, including Godzilla I, the giant praying mantises called Kamakiras, and the giant spider called Spiega.
This atoll was also the birthplace of Godzilla’s surrogate son Minya.
During Godzilla and Minya’s battle with Spiega, the scientists escaped from the island by artificially creating a snowstorm on the once tropical atoll with their weather control equipment, sending the monsters into suspended animation.
The creatures were thus all easily moved to Monster Island within the next two years, leaving Solgell Island kaiju-less.
Significant appearances: Son of Godzilla (1967)
Space Beastman
Category: Kaiju/Alien Race
Continuity: 1
[Coming Soon]
Space Godzilla
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 2
Height: 120 meters
Description: Space Godzilla was an extraterrestrial beast who is a genetic cross between Godzilla II and an unidentified alien, crystalline lifeform. The kaiju basically resembles Godzilla, but is larger, bulkier and has a purple hide. The beast’s mouth is much wider than Godzilla’s, with larger teeth, the furthest of which protrude from his mouth like small tusks. Space Godzilla has Godzilla’s trademark dorsal plates (three rows, with the middle row being much larger than the other two), though the plates are crystal-like. He has a crystalline crest atop his head, a very long tail with spikes on the end and two huge crystals protruding from his shoulder blades through which he absorbs ambient cosmic energy.
When transformed into his purely crystalline form for interstellar travel, Space Godzilla looks like an enormous crystal mass with numerous spiky projections, with only his head visible from within (possibly this is merely a shell which he grows around himself during lengthy space travel).
Space Godzilla’s origin is linked to that of the plant-like dai kaiju called Biollante, who was created via genetic engineering by combining Godzilla’s DNA from one of his G-cells with that of a rose plant. After her final battle with Godzilla, Biollante discorporated into a mass of pollen and retreated into outer space. One of the G-cells passed into a black hole, emerging in a distant region of the galaxy via a white hole, and somehow genetically combining with an alien crystalline lifeform. The resulting creature nurtured itself on cosmic radiation and mutated into a Godzilla/crystalline entity hybrid later dubbed Space Godzilla.
Needing to land on planets in order to refuel his stores of cosmic energy, Space Godzilla ravaged many worlds across the galaxy, finally heading towards Earth by genetic instinct.
After emerging from a white hole relatively close to Earth’s solar system, Space Godzilla entered the system at high speed, destroying an experimental Earth spaceship in the process. Just over halfway to Earth, Space Godzilla was intercepted by G-Force’s powerful giant flying robot known as Mogera II. However, Space Godzilla easily defeated Mogera in his pure crystalline form (sometimes called his ‘flying crystal hedgehog’ form by G-fans), and succeeded in landing on Earth on Birth Island, also seemingly by sheer instinct.
Changing to his ‘Godzilla’ form, Space Godzilla cruelly bullied Little Godzilla, only to be attacked by the adult Godzilla. Space Godzilla quickly overpowered Godzilla and flew to Fukuoka in Japan to build his crystal energy absorption matrices, ultimately transforming Fukuoka Tower into his main cosmic energy absorber by building crystals over its antenna.
Space Godzilla was attacked by both Godzilla and Mogera in Fukuoka. Although the space monster proved one of Godzilla’s toughest foes, and gave a hard fight to both kaiju, the combined might of both Godzilla and Mogera finally began taking its toll on Space Godzilla. In the course of the battle, Fukuoka Tower was demolished and Space Godzilla’s shoulder crystals were shattered, depriving him of further nourishing cosmic energy.
Although Mogera was ultimately destroyed in battle, Godzilla managed to absorb excess cosmic energy wisping about him after the crystals were smashed, transforming him into his mega-charged Super Godzilla incarnation. In this ultra-powerful mode, Super Godzilla promptly obliterated the weakened Space Godzilla.
Special powers and abilities: In his ‘Godzilla’ form, Space Godzilla’s incredible cosmic energy enhanced strength and resistance to injury was greater than that of Godzilla. He would often battle by using his jaws and talons, or by utilizing his formidable spiked tail to impale a foe.
His deadliest weapon was his corona beam, a highly destructive blast of concentrated cosmic energy that was projected from the kaiju’s maw, which was his answer to Godzilla’s nuclear charged atomic breath. He could create a crystalline force field in front of him at will, capable of deflecting any known energy beam. The self-replicating capacity of Space Godzilla’s partially crystalline anatomy was extraordinary, enabling him to easily cause several crystals to destructively rise from the ground, presumably by directly projecting a combination of G-cells and self-replicating crystal molecules into the earth. These crystals would help contain and focus the cosmic energy absorbed from the universe through the main crystal construct (which was built around Fukuoka Tower on Earth to take advantage of the structure’s powerful antenna). The contained energy would then be absorbed directly into the kaiju himself through his shoulder crystals. The smaller crystals can also be used to entrap a foe (as he did with Little Godzilla) or to be utilized as makeshift missiles by being caused to levitate into the air and rain down on an adversary.
When near fully charged, Space Godzilla can utilize his excess cosmic energy to levitate himself, and can also use the extra energy to create swirling electromagnetic “gravity tornadoes” that can levitate other objects, including other dai kaiju.
In his pure crystalline form, Space Godzilla could fly at a velocity in excess of the speed of light (he could only reach this full speed in the vacuum of outer space). Thus, he can navigate warp space in this form for effective interstellar travel, and he utilizes an instinctual homing radar to locate black holes for travel to even the remotest parts of the galaxy. Space Godzilla can also battle in this form, as his diamond hard spiky crystal protuberances, coupled with his phenomenal flying speed, can easily slice through even the hardest known metals. He can also utilize his jaws and corona beam in this form.
Space Godzilla’s stamina was nearly unlimited due to his utilization of cosmic energy as a power source, which was considerably more efficient than Godzilla’s nuclear power source. The former’s only limitation was that he would progressively weaken if his power absorption sources were severed.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)
Spiega
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Kumonga (pronounced GU-monga, his Japanese name)
Length: 60 meters
Description: Spiega is a gigantic spider who originated on Solgell Island. He looks and moves like a normal (albeit gigantic) tarantula, as he is covered with a fine coat of black hair with yellow bands, and he also has eight legs. Unlike a normal spider, however, he has only two functional blue non-multifaceted eyes, rather than the multiple eyes that a normal spider possesses, though his eyes appear to be surrounded by a few undeveloped ocular sensors.
Spiega’s presence was recorded in a journal by a scientist who was on Solgell Island as early as 1947.
The super arachnid was next encountered on the island twenty years later by a scientific expedition testing weather control technology. Spiega apparently remains underground until he becomes hungry, after which he rises and seeks prey. He menaced the expedition members, and later captured both Kamakiras and the infant kaiju Minya in his lethal web. After poisoning the giant mantis with his jaw spike, he attempted to do so to Minya but was intercepted by the latter’s surrogate father, Godzilla I.
Godzilla and Minya then defeated Spiega in battle just before they all went into suspended animation as a result of an artificially generated snowstorm created by the scientists’ weather control technology.
By 1969, Spiega and all the other monsters on Earth had been moved to Monster Island under unknown circumstances.
In the year 1999, Spiega was taken control of along with his fellow Monster Island kaiju by the alien Kilaaks. After being freed from this control, Spiega joined Godzilla and the other nine monsters in battling and defeating King Ghidorah I. Spiega played a major role in the battle, using his silk in concert with that of Mothra I to entrap the space monster, while his fellow kaiju mercilessly pummeled the three-headed beast into oblivion.
Special powers and abilities: Spiega has the proportionate strength of a 60 meter spider. It is believed, however, that Spiega is not a real gigantic spider at all, but rather is descended from a species of creature genetically modified over 10,000 years ago by Muan/Lemurian scientists to resemble a giant arachnid from the outside of their bodies, and further mutated and enlarged into his current form by massive exposure to atomic radiation. Since Muan genetic engineers discovered that giant insects, arachnids, and crustaceans had great difficulty achieving giant size due to the limits of a creature with an exoskeleton and their characteristic internal breathing apparatus, they were forced to develop means of getting around such limitations. Hence, it's been suggested that Muan scientists spliced insect, arachnid, and crustacean DNA with that of artificially created, genetically modified dinosaurs so as to give the latter creatures many of the physical attributes and abilities of insects, arachnids, or crustaceans, as well as resembling them in their outer physical appearance. However, despite the coating of chitin they had on their outer skin, these creatures possessed an endothermic skeleton and reptilian breathing apparatus that allowed them to survive and carry out their functions as giant bio-weapons.
As a result of having an endothermic skeleton and a largely reptilian interior organ structure, Spiega is able to move about and breathe with relative ease, two things a creature with an exoskeleton and insect-like breathing tube would be unable to do at such a huge size. However, since he still possesses a fairly heavy chitinous shell over his skin that is similar to what a real spider would possess, he lacks the incredible speed, agility, reaction time, and jumping ability of small, everyday spiders.
His most potent weapon is his silk shooter, which is very similar to that possessed by the larval Mothra. This web can be sprayed to trap an opponent or prey very fast, and is extremely strong, capable of being broken only by sources of great heat, such as fire or Godzilla’s atomic breath. Unlike normal spiders, who spray their silk from their posterior region, Spiega has his silk glands in his jaws (also like larval Mothra), as ancient Muan scientists likely surmised that this would make the silk shooter anatomically easier for the creature to use in battle, and thus modified the physiology of such kaiju accordingly.
Due to his immense size, he cannot use a strand of silk for climbing or descending from a certain surface as a normal, small spider can, nor can he adhere to surfaces with his limbs.
Spiega has a retractable poison spike from within his jaws which he can utilize to render an opponent or prey unconscious (and possibly induce death) by puncturing them with it. On one occasion, he was seen to spit poison into Godzilla’s face, painfully blinding the Kaiju King temporarily in one eye.
Significant appearances: Son of Godzilla (1967); (stock footage only) Godzilla’s Revenge (1969); Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Sukinowa
Category: Character
Continuity: 2
[Coming Soon]
Super Godzilla
Category: Kaiju Variation
Continuity: 2
see Godzilla II.
Super Mechagodzilla
Category: Kaiju Variation
Continuity: 2
see Garuda and Mechagodzilla II.
Super X I-III
Category: Mecha
Continuity: 2
Description: The Super X is the code name given to three separate flying war machines utilized by the Japanese government against Godzilla II.
The first Super X was initially constructed in the early 1980’s by the Japanese government to be used in the event of a worldwide nuclear war. When Godzilla reappeared in Japan after a 30 year absence in 1985, the Super X was hastily converted into an anti-Godzilla weapon. The original Super X was fully manned by a team of military personnel, and could fly at speeds up to Mach 1, and could also hover indefinitely or move in any direction. The hull of the ship was composed of a durable titanium alloy strong enough to resist Godzilla’s atomic breath. It was armed with formidable weaponry, such as super-charged laser beams and 40mm Vulcan cannons. When loosed against Godzilla, the ship was equipped with Cadmium bombs designed to render the atomic titan insensate after being fired into the beast’s mouth.
The Super X won its initial battle with Godzilla, until the latter was revived by a radiation storm created when a rogue Soviet nuclear weapon was blown up in the upper stratosphere. Godzilla then attacked and demolished the Super X by toppling a building on top of it.
The Super X-2 was constructed exclusively as a Godzilla countermeasure weapon, and was unleashed upon the atomic titan during his attack on Japan in 1990. It was designed with a hull composed of a super-titanium alloy designated NM-32, which was twice as strong as the metal of the original Super X. This version was unmanned and remote controlled, commanded by Major Sho Kuroki. The Super X-2 was submersible in water, capable of functioning in depths as low as 10,000 meters. It was armed with an impressive array of weaponry, such as super missiles launched from a retractable platform at the top of the craft, two 40mm Vulcan cannons mounted on the mecha’s sides, napalm rockets and high concussion torpedoes utilized for underwater attacks. The ship was much faster than its predecessor, and more maneuverable.
Its prime weapon, however, was the Fire Mirror, a screen of synthetic diamond revealed by retracting the front panels of the ship. The Fire Mirror was designed to absorb Godzilla’s most potent weapon, his atomic breath, amplify it and project it back at the kaiju. The Super X-2 was very effective in battle with Godzilla, severely injuring the atomic titan with its Fire Mirror. However, the craft was ultimately defeated when the Fire Mirror was eventually melted by Godzilla’s atomic breath, short circuiting the entire machine in the process.
The Super X-3 was unveiled by G-Force in 1996, and was boosted utilizing futuristic Markalite technology. This ship was manned, and was also commanded by Major Kuroki. It was primarily armed with 'freezing masers' and cold inducing Cadmium bombs. Thus, it was highly effective when pitted against Godzilla when the latter was then undergoing a nuclear meltdown. The Super X-3 defeated Godzilla in their initial encounter, temporarily freezing the atomic leviathan solid, thereby delaying the meltdown.
The craft was later sent to intervene in the battle between Godzilla and Destroyah. The Super X-3 actually destroyed the injured Destroyah by blasting the fleeing kaiju with its freezing masers. The craft then turned its freezing masers against Godzilla when the beast began his fatal meltdown, thereby preventing a super China Syndrome effect which would have doomed all of Japan.
Thus, the Super X-3 proved by far the most successful of all the Super X mecha.
Significant appearances: (Super X) Godzilla 1985 (1984); (Super X-2) Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989); (Super X-3) Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)
Takeru, Yamato I-II
Category: Character
Continuity: 1, 2, "3C", & possibly "All"
[Coming Soon]
Tatopoulos, Dr. Nick
Category: Supporting Character
Continuity: A
Description: Nick Tatopoulos is a young biologist who specialized in studying the effects that exposure to excessive amounts of radiation had on living organisms.
By 1998, he was investigating the effects of the Chernobyl meltdown on earthworms in the Ukraine when he was contacted by the U.S. government and asked to assess information on the new mutated reptilian creature known as Godzilla IV. Tatopoulos ended up in an adventure in which he not only helped locate the creature, but he also assisted in destroying the beast’s dangerous offspring, and ultimately aided the military in the destruction of Godzilla himself.
Significant appearances: Godzilla (1998)
Terro-Beasts
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Description: 'Terro-Beast' is a generic name given to various alien dai kaiju utilized by the extraterrestrial would-be conquerors known as the Garogain against the giant super-hero Zone Fighter during their attempts to subjugate Godzilla I's Earth in 1973.
Godzilla assisted Zone Fighter in battling several of these creatures, specifically: Wargilgar and Spilar, Zandolla, Jellar and Kastam-Jellar, Gigan, and Spiderous and Galobug (Godzilla had battled Gigan twice before with the involvment of either Zone Fighter or the Garogain).
Zone Fighter also once battled King Ghidorah I without Godzilla’s assistance.
Significant appearances: Zone Fighter, the Meteor Man TV series, Episodes 1-26 (1973)
Titanosaurus
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Height: 65 meters
Description: Titanosaurus is a dinosaur mutated by atomic radiation into a powerful amphibious beast; his origin is probably very similar to that of Godzilla I. The creature is bipedal and even taller than Godzilla I due to the former’s long neck. The kaiju has reddish, mottled skin, a long tail with an expandable fin at the tip, a finny sail along his back, neck, head and tail, finny ears and a bill-like mouth.
Titanosaurus was discovered during the 1960’s by a marine biologist named Dr. Mafune. Due to the creature’s shy and gentle nature, he never menaced humankind as most other dai kaiju did, and hence wasn’t noticed by greater humanity and moved to Monster Island by 1969.
Surprisingly, Mafune was ridiculed by his fellow scientists for claiming to discover and befriended a “living dinosaur,” causing the man to grow increasingly embittered and hateful of the human race. By intensively studying Titanosaurus, Mafune learned that he could control the kaiju through supersonic waves, enabling him to coerce the monster to do anything he wished, including goading the normally inoffensive creature into acts of violence.
In 1975, Dr. Mafune had teamed with the invading Black Hole aliens against the human race, and aided them in rebuilding their robotic engine of destruction, Mechagodzilla I. The aliens and Mafune sent Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla to attack Tokyo together. Godzilla intervened, and with assistance from Interpol agents, who destroyed the alien base and killed Dr. Mafune, the Kaiju King managed to destroy Mechagodzilla and rout Titanosaurus, who he also defeated in an earlier battle.
Injured and confused, Titanosaurus fell into the water after being singed by Godzilla’s atomic breath, and he quickly fled the area.
It is unknown why Titanosaurus wasn’t on Monster Island during the Kilaak invasion of 1999; possibly, he somehow died during the 24 year interim.
Special powers and abilities: Titanosaurus is completely amphibious, able to survive indefinitely in water or on land, though he appears to prefer the former. He presumably has oxygen-diffusing membranes in his lungs, like Godzilla.
The aquatic dinosaur mutation uses his jaws and talons in battle, though he is not nearly as tough as Godzilla in combat. When expanding the fin on the base of his tail, Titanosaurus can create hurricane-force winds by rapidly swiping the appendage back and forth.
Titanosaurus is highly vulnerable to intense waves of hypersonic energy, which can do anything from controlling the creature’s actions to causing him intense pain, depending on the frequency.
Significant appearances: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Tokyo
Category: Locale
Continuity: 1, 2, & "3"
Description: Tokyo is the largest city in the island nation of Japan, as well as one of the largest cities in the world, and it's regarded as the economic and cultural hub of Japan. It's also the capital of modern Japan in most timelines, though in continuity "3B" the capital of Japan was moved to Osaka in the year 1966 after Godzilla attacked and destroyed Japan's first nuclear power plant during that year.
In all known G-universes to date, Tokyo has the distinction of being the first city in Japan to be attacked and destroyed by Godzilla during the kaiju's initial 20th century appearance in Japan in 1954, and Tokyo is possibly the center of the dimensional nexus point that theoretically exists in every counterpart of Japan across the expanse of the multiverse that may somehow cause the island nation to be "prone" to being subjected to constant attacks by dai kaiju.
Tokyo also has the dubious distinction of being the Japanese city that has suffered the most devestating attacks by dai kaiju starting in the mid-20th century, and has become world famous for that reason.
Significant appearances: Many G-films to date
Tsukuyomi
Category: Character/Deity
Continuity: 2
[Coming Soon]
Utsuno Ikusagami
Category: Kaiju/Sentai
Continuity: 2
[Coming Soon]
Varan
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Baran (his Japanese name)
Height: 35 meters
Description: Varan is believed to be a dinosaur mutated into an enormous amphibious monster by exposure to atomic radiation (similar to that of Godzilla I).
Although basically bipedal, Varan can just as comfortably walk in a quadrapedal stance. The kaiju has a tough reptilian hide, a relatively long neck with a proportionately small head, a single row of spikes from his head down his back and a tail. He has membranous wings under his arms and fearsome looking fangs.
Varan was first encountered in 1958 when he emerged from the saline rich Kitakami River basin in a remote region of Japan, and terrorized both nearby natives who worshipped the great beast as a demon god, and the more civilized portions of Japan. He was finally defeated when a lighted bomb was parachuted into the monster’s throat. The powerful explosion caused the beast severe internal injuries, and he fled back to the water to slowly heal, not being seen again for decades.
Varan was next seen briefly on Monster Island in 1999 when he and his fellow monsters, including Godzilla, were freed from the atoll by the invading alien Kilaaks, who took control of the monsters via advanced technology, and used them to menace humanity anew. After the aliens lost control over the monsters, Varan joined his fellow monsters in the attack on the Kilaak base at Mt. Fuji, but for unknown reasons didn’t directly participate in the monsters’ battle against King Ghidorah I.
Special powers and abilities: Varan is completely amphibious, able to survive indefinitely in or out of water, and he presumably accomplishes this via oxygen-diffusing membranes in his lungs. His powerful jaws, sharp talons, and spiked back would doubtless make him a force to be reckoned with in battle; unlike Godzilla, however, he possesses no beam weapons of any kind.
The membranous wings under Varan’s arms, when fully outstretched, enable him to fly at high speeds, in a manner akin to speed gliding (he can take off from a standing position on the ground, however), though he isn’t nearly as fast as Rodan.
Note: Varan battled Godzilla (and Mothra) in the Nintendo video game Godzilla, Monster of Monsters! and the Nintendo Game Boy video game Godzilla's Adventure.
Significant appearances: Varan the Unbelievable (1958); (briefly) Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Xians
Category: Alien Race
Continuity: 1
Description: The Xians are a highly advanced, imperialistic humanoid alien race who openly attempted to conquer Godzilla I’s Earth in 1965 (they attempted to do so covertly a year earlier). Thus, they were the second alien race to attack this Earth after the Mysterians in 1957. Despite the Xians’ great scientific and technological knowledge, they had long ago conditioned themselves to be bereft of virtually all emotion, basing their actions and reactions on a form of pure logic instead, who “rationally” considered all other alien races in the galaxy who were scientifically behind them to be inferior beings. They possess a mathematically based language making them number fixated in their linguistic nomenclature.
Due to their extremely self-repressed emotional nature, the concept of romantic love and even sexual attraction seems to be almost unheard of among their race, and races that do experience such emotional and corresponding physical connections are considered to be weak-willed. Further, the Xian society appears to be quite patriarchal and authoritarian based, and the females of the species are all bred via cloning, so that every single one of them looks identical to every other, and all have the same genetically pre-determined mental attributes, which are kept "average" by Xian standards. Since we currently know effectively nothing about Xian history, it remains unknown precisely how or why their society developed this way.
It is known that no form of emotional display (outside of evincing pride in conquest) or act of compassion is tolerated among their race, as their logic-based way of thinking is rigidly demanded by edict of their written laws as well as their cultural code of ethics. Any such display of emotion in public is quickly punished, and Xian foot soldiers will not hesitate to murder the offending party on the spot.
The Xians otherwise appear to be identical to humans in terms of physical strength, speed, and other such attributes, though Xians appear to have almost entirely neglected their physical prowess in favor of developing their intellectual faculties (the latter of which they seem to excell in), to the point of having little interest in what humans would consider recreational activities.
In every mobile asteroid bearing an Xian crew across deep space, they are commanded by the individual determined to be the most intellectually adroit male among them, who carries the official rank of Controller.
Due to the Xians' human appearance, it may be surmised that their genetic origin is possibly closely linked with that of Terrans (i.e., Earthlings) in some fashion, and that the "seeding" of various sentient species across disparate suitable planets throughout the galaxy by an ancient and incredibly advanced alien race may have occurred throughout the ages in the Showa Toho Universe [in a manner very similar to the 'Preservers' in the Star Trek Universe]. If the latter is indeed the case, then it's quite unknown how the Xians managed to acquire technology so far in advance of Earth (though it may have been somehow acquired by another alien race).
In addition to starfaring “flying saucers," some of the Xians’ great scientific advances are in the field of magnetic wave production and in the manipulation of gravity. In fact, the technological ability of the Xians to control and manipulate gravity has even enabled them to turn various large asteroids into mobile bases of operations, and their "Planet X" was simply an exceptionally large planetoid that was moved into Earth's solar system in the extensive asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter by way of their extremely advanced gravimetric force generating machinery. Their saucers, as well as their asteroid bases, appear to be capable of navigating warp space, though how far and how fast they can actually travel is unrevealed [particularly in comparison to the 23rd and 24th century starships utilized by the United Federation of Planets in the Star Trek Universe]. The Xians possess advanced weaponry, both in the form of hand held pistol-like weapons and far more powerful versions mounted on their space craft, that appears to fire either highly concentrated beams of ionized plasma, or intense particle beams of some sort.
They are also able to project extremely large bubble-like spheres of magnetic energy to entrap living beings of various sizes, including dai kaiju over 50 meters in height, and these magneto-force bubbles appear strong enough to protect any living creature entrapped within them from the vacuum of space (implying that a localized atmospheric "life support" field is generated within the bubbles themselves).
The mobile asteroid they first appeared on, referred to by the United Nations on Earth simply as "Planet X," is a completely barren, rocky world, and the entire civilization exists underground in large cities where water is a rare resource that is produced in hydration plants. In fact, the Xians’ despotic imperialism is in part due to the fact that their various mobile planetoids are so devoid of resources, prompting them to exploit those of other planets. It's quite possible, in fact, that the Xians no longer possess a true homeworld, but only various conquered planets as colonies, along with their various mobile asteroids.
The Xians engineered 'Planet X' itself into Earth’s solar system by the year 1964, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in order to begin their invasion plan. To this end, they utilized their magnetic wave technology to enable them to control the actions of the vastly powerful space kaiju known as King Ghidorah I (the number fixated aliens often referred to the tri-headed beast as “Monster Zero”). They sent Ghidora to Earth to devastate human civilization in order to make the planet more ripe for conquest, and the heavy use of the controlling magnetic waves, along with the natural energy-emanating from King Ghidorah's gestating energy form wrapped within his ferrous outer shell, caused a freak winter heat wave across the world. Much to the aliens’ surprise, upon his destructive emergence, King Ghidorah was defeated by three Earth dai kaiju, Godzilla I, Rodan I, and the larval Mothra I.
In 1965, the Xians decided to take a more direct approach to conquering the Earth, and to use the Earth’s own kaiju against it. They allowed Planet X to be discovered by Earth, and an experimental spaceship was sent by the United Nations to explore the strange new world. Upon their arrival, the Xians revealed themselves to the two astronauts on board, Glen and Fuji, and pretended to befriend them. They concocted the lie that the reason they were trapped beneath the surface of the planet was because King Ghidorah (i.e., "Monster Zero") continually attacked them. They asked “permission” to acquire the services of Godzilla and Rodan to defeat Ghidora on their world in exchange for a tape that would detail a cure for every disease afflicting humanity on Earth (it is believed that they didn’t consider Mothra a threat because she was then gestating in her pupa stage on Infant Island). Glen and Fuji told them that they would have to consult with their respective governments before granting that permission, and the two Earthmen were returned to their ship, which was augmented by Xian technology to enable it to return to Earth with the message of the Xian Controller's offer in far less time than it took for the ship to travel there initially.
However, Godzilla and Rodan were abducted and taken to Planet X without the Earth governments' consent, and they were quickly placed into mock battle with King Ghidorah. In reality, the Xians used their magnetic wave technology to enslave Godzilla and Rodan as well as Ghidora. After reviewing the tape given to them by the Xians in "return" for the services of Godzilla and Rodan, the U.N. realized that it actually contained a warning for every nation-state on Earth to surrender to Planet X as one of their colonies, or the three monsters under their control, as well as a contingent of Xian saucers, would attack the planet.
The U.N. refused, and the attack commenced as promised, and it soon appeared that the Earth’s defeat was imminent.
However, Glen and Fuji had discovered that the Xians’ brains were highly vulnerable to high frequency sound waves. Thus, the U.N. utilized leftover Mysterian technology to help them construct a device called the A-Cycle Light Ray that projected high frequency sounds into the atmosphere. Driven insane by the sounds, the entire Xian invasion force committed suicide by destroying their own saucers. The three monsters were thus freed from Xian domination, and Godzilla and Rodan again drove King Ghidorah from the Earth.
The Xians made no more recorded attacks against the Earth in the 20th century after this. However, they were featured as a threat to Earth bases throughout every planet in the solar system during sometime in the 21st century utilizing not only King Ghidorah, but also Mogera, Gigan, Baragon, Varan, Gezora, Mechagodzilla, and Hedorah in the 1989 Nintendo video game Godzilla, Monster of Monsters!, and the Earth forces used Godzilla and the adult Mothra against the Xians and their kaiju forces during this adventure. It's thus rather possible that 'Planet X' remained in Earth's solar system, that a new Controller was selected, and that eventually wary diplomatic relations were established between Earth and the Xians that went sour at some point in the 21st century.
Significant appearances: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965)
Yamato Monsters
Category: Kaiju
Continuity: "3C"
Alternate names: The "guardian monsters." In Japanese mythology, Yamato Takeru was one of the greatest warrior-heroes who ever existed, and his actions did much to establish the early history of Japan, with one of his greatest achievements being the defeat of the mighty eight-headed fire-breathing dragon Orochi. Since then, the proper noun "Yamato" has become associated in the Japanese language with "guardian" or "warrior." Hence, this term was applied as an adjective to describe the trio of dai kaiju who were the native guardians of the Japanese land in the history of this timeline.
Description: The Yamato Monsters are the three legendary dai kaiju who were created 2,000 years ago by the benevolent ancestral spirits and the deities of the Shinto religion to protect the land of Japan from all major threats. These three bio-etheric mystical creatures draw their power and motivation from an aggregate of the ancestral spirits' will (even though the beasts act animalistically if intelligently), and their bodies are composed of permanently "solidified" etheric matter, much as most of the ancient dragons of world legend were.
The three guardian monsters of this timeline are Baragon, a subterranean reptilian creature who is a tough fighter but nevertheless the smallest and weakest of the trio; Mothra, a gigantic moth who begins her existence in larval form and then quickly metamorphoses via cocoon into her considerably more powerful adult form; and King Ghidorah, the three-headed golden dragon who is the leader and most powerful of the three, and is believed to have been connected in some manner to the eight-headed serpent Orochi (though the latter was malevolent, not benevolent, and what connection may actually exist between the two other than the obvious superficial resemblance remains unknown). These monsters were immediately buried in different locations in Japan to slowly mature into their fully adult stages by the mystical overseers of the ancient Japanese dynasties, when they would be their most powerful, and the process of maturation would normally take about 10,000 years to complete, at least in regards to Ghidora. Though the three kaiju exist in permanent quasi-physical form that can fully interact with the material plane, and though they are exceedingly difficult to seriously injure, their bio-etheric bodies can nevertheless be dispersed if a significant force is directed against them.
While these three monsters are not hostile to humans, as they were created to deal exclusively with threats to Japan, they will nevertheless trample any humans who get in their way, as their goal is to protect the actual island nation and its general ecosystem, and not the human residents per se; further, it appears that the Yamato Monsters will indeed deliberately kill human beings in certain rare but unclear instances (for example, upon emerging from Lake Ikeda in larva form, Mothra inexplicably used her silk-spinning power to cocoon a group of partying, trouble-making adolescents).
The Yamato Monsters were awakened by a human ghost working on the material plane as an agent of the deities and ancestral spirits in the year 2005 for the purpose of fending off the legendary monster Godzilla, who was a bio-etheric aggregate of the embittered spirits of the people who died since World War II, and who were thus angry with the people of Japan and desired vengeance on the land. Godzilla was defeated without the intervention of the Yamato Monsters during his first appearance in 1954, but the weapon that brought about his demise was lost to the present day JSDF. Hence, the guardian kaiju were revived in the first decade of the 21st century to challenge the King of the Monsters. Ghidora intitially awoke in an immature stage to battle Godzilla, but thanks to a sacrifice from Mothra, he was able to transform into his much more powerful adult form, where he is known as King Ghidorah, allegedly the most powerful monster on the face of the planet (though the vastly powerful Godzilla was still able to defeat him in his fully adult stage). Though all three Yamato Monsters failed to defeat Godzilla and were destroyed in battle by the Atomic Titan, despite the fact that Mothra and Ghidora battled him in tandem (Baragon was destroyed earlier in a solo confrontation with Godzilla), the monsters' intervention nevertheless bought time for the war hero Lt. Gen. Teizo Tachibana to destroy the Kaiju King with a new weapon, thus ultimately succeeding in their goal of protecting the Land of the Rising Sun from destruction.
For a more detailed description of each guardian monster, see their individual entries under Baragon II, Mothra IV, and King Ghidorah IV elsewhere in this Glossary.
Significant appearances: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Yog
Category: Alien Race/Entity
Continuity: 1 and possibly "3D"
Description: The Yog was a race of sentient, disembodied beings who evidently inhabited the void of space itself, and had strong egoistic notions of grandeur, as well as great psionic power. The entire race appeared to be linked into one collective sentience, though it could "split" into distinct but connected units so as to possess more than one living being at once (though there certainly was an upper limit to how many entities the Yog could control simultaneously, since it couldn't infinitely sub-divide itself, of course). There is evidence that the Yog could confer additional abilities on the life forms it possessed, which included granting a degree of superhuman strength to any human it controlled. This being could communicate with human beings via telepathy, but its energy form wasn't visible to the normal spectrum in which humans can see, and it apparently had no fixed form to speak of.
In 1970, the Yog wandered into Earth's solar system for unknown reasons, where it encountered an unmanned space probe called the Helios 7 near Jupiter. Using its energy to re-direct the probe towards Earth with the Yog connected to it, the object crashing in the South Pacific near an atoll called Selga Island. Once there, it was revealed that the egoistic alien race/entity decided that all material beings, such as humans, were inferior life forms to those who existed as pure energy, and it believed that it should conquer such races when discovered living on a planet. Selga Island was to be the staging ground for the alien to do this.
The Yog set out to accomplish this task by possessing the body of Gezora, a very rare species of giant squid, and directed the kaiju to attack both the inhabitants of the island and members of a commercial expedition from Japan. The humans finally managed to slay Gezora when they discovered that it was vulnerable to fire. Undaunted, the Yog then possessed the bodies of a Ganime and a Kamoebas, representatives of very rare species of giant lobster and aquatic turtle respectively, as well as one of the human members of the expedition. However, this plan also failed when it was discovered by the humans that the high-pitched sounds made by bats somehow disrupted the Yog's ability to control the entities it possessed. When the humans cajoled a large flock of the bats into leaving the island caves, the Ganime and Kamoebas turned on each other, ultimately falling into the maw of an erupting volcano, and the possessed human took advantage of Yog's weakened control to commit suicide, thus destroying every last vestige of this hostile alien life form's consciousness.
Significant appearances: Yog, Monster From Space (1970)
Zone Angel and Zone Jr.
Category: Supporting Characters/Heroes
See Zone Fighter.
Zone Fighter
Category: Kaiju/Sentai (can be categorized as either, depending upon individual perspective)
Continuity: 1
Alternate names: Hikaru Sakimori (his Japanese alter ego), The Meteor Man, sometimes called simply “Zone.”
Height: (human form) 1.4 meters (as Zone Fighter) 40 meters
Description: The Zone Family are the sole survivors of the utopian world called Peaceland that was destroyed by the despotic alien race known as the Garogain. Fleeing to Japan on Earth circa 1973, the Zone Family is taken in by a kindly human family, and they adopt the identities of the Sakimoris. The Zone Family is thus composed of Hikaru Sakimori, his sister Kei and his kid brother Akira (all assumed Japanese names, obviously). They are endowed with the special power, native to their departed world, to take on the super-heroic identities of Zone Fighter, Zone Angel and Zone Junior, utilizing the solar waves of the Sun as a power source, which their bodies convert into an energy source they call “proton energy.”
In his super-hero incarnation, Zone Fighter (as well as his siblings) wore blue and red costumes with a belt, large wrist gauntlets and expressionless Oriental-style face masks.
When the Garogain located the Zone Family, they decided to make the Earth their next target. Thus, Zone Fighter and his siblings opposed the Garogain, battling both them and the many giant monsters that they attacked the planet with (which were generically referred to as 'Terro-Beasts'). During the course of the year-long battle, Zone Fighter teamed up with Godzilla I, who was by now a protector of the Earth, several times. In the course of this conflict, Zone Fighter also battled two of Godzilla’s arch foes, King Ghidorah I and Gigan.
The Garogain were ultimately definitively defeated, mostly thanks to the Zone Family's efforts, and what became of the Zone Family after 1973 is unknown, since they were not seen subsequently.
Special powers and abilities: When Hikaru Sakimori transformed into Zone Fighter, he would grow to gigantic size, gaining an incredible level of superhuman strength in the process (he presumably accomplished the size transformation by somehow accruing mass from an unknown, possibly extradimensional source, but the precise mechanics of the metamorphosis was never expounded upon in the series). He possessed great martial arts and acrobatic skills, making him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant at either size. He utilized the proton energy of the Sun (which was probably simply a fancy name for converted solar energy) to power himself and his special weapons, and his power rapidly diminished whenever he would be deprived of exposure to sunlight for extended periods of time.
Among those aforementioned special weapons were his mightiest, the Proton Beam, which was a vastly powerful beam of solar energy that he could project at his foes directly. His other weapons were his Comet Kick, which was proton energy channeled into his lower body to give his legs far greater kicking power (perhaps similar to the manner in which human martial artists harness internal chi energy for the same purpose), and his Missile Might, which were high-powered exploding projectiles that he fired from his wrist gauntlets.
The Zone Family possessed a spaceship called Smokey, which could hide itself in artificially generated smog, could fly at great speeds, and was armed with various weaponry. They also had a flying car called the Mighty Liner.
Zone Angel possessed the ability of enhanced keen “feminine” intuition, and like Zone Fighter, she and Zone Jr. had excellent martial arts skills.
Significant appearances: Zone Fighter, the Meteor Man TV series, Episodes 1-26 (1973)