KAIJU REBOOT STORY

After much thought, I have decided to give my kaiju novella, Karmathaur, a reboot as a full novel. While the novella was designed to be a short term adrenaline boost, this new novel will be more complex with a deeper story and more developed characters. Since kaiju such as Godzilla and King Kong have been rebooted more than once for a new audience, I thought it would be fitting if I did the same with Karmathaur. Also, I will be introducing several new kaiju in this reboot novel. Some will fight Karmathaur while others will become his allies. I look forward to engaging with this project when my schedule opens up. Overall, the novella was a good introduction to Karmathaur, but I believe this new novel will reinvigorate the character. The novella will be my equivalent to the original 1954 Godzilla film while the novel will be the beginning of my equivalent to the Showa and Heisei Godzilla eras.

RETURN OF MECHAGODZILLA

I saw the new trailer for Godzilla VS Kong and I have some suspicions regarding Godzilla. It was revealed that Godzilla was going on a violent rampage and eventually battles Kong. However, if you look closely, you can find clues that hint that this is not Godzilla at all but an imposter. I think Godzilla is being framed and set up. Due to this, I think the Godzilla we saw in the trailer was actually Mechagodzilla in disguise. The synopsis for Godzilla VS Kong speaks of a human conspiracy to exterminate the Kaiju. The possibility of Mechagodzilla disguising itself to look like Godzilla is similar to its 1974 debut in Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla. I bet it’s the same concept where Mechagodzilla looks like Godzilla unless you peel off its disguise. Also, I wonder if this new Mechagodzilla is a cyborg like the Kiryu version, which could mean that the new Mechagodzilla’s creators might lose control of it. I also hope that this new Mechagodzilla looks like the version from Ready Player One. Ready Player One takes place in the year 2045 and includes characters from pop culture from the mid-20th century to the mid-21st century. With this in mind, this could be when the Ready Player One Mechagodzilla makes its actual debut in the year 2021. I look forward to finding out if my theories are right.

GOODREADS REVIEW: KARMATHAUR

My Kaiju short story, Karmathaur, got a four star review on Goodreads.com:

“A group of fanatics calling themselves the Anakim create a demi-god to free the Earth from the burden of humanity – or that is how they see it. To the rest of the world, Karmathaur is a monster that seems unstoppable.

I liked this story. The clever way the author linked the four main characters into it as friends of the first victim of the monster, pulled apart then drawn together by his death and its consequences. Marcus and Terry were his friends, and Kanae was part of their social group and girlfriend of Terry. In addition Kanae, as the daughter of the leader of the Anakim, feels the need to redeem herself, working with her uncle Atari to do so.

The description of the creation of Karmathaur is brilliantly creative technobabble and the action scenes – some from the monsters POV are powerfully presented. For me the most poignant scene is where Karmathaur admires the sunrise, raising the question where is the monster here? It only kills to live – and that’s what we humans do, isn’t it?

The main issue with this book is that the quality of writing is very patchy and that gets in the way at some key points with the flow of the story.

I’d recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Godzilla and other books/anime/movies of that kind.”

GODZILLA 2019

I got a closer look at Godzilla’s appearance for the new film and I am pleased with what I see. For the most part, Godzilla looks almost identical to his appearance in the 2014 film with the exception a several minor changes. The 2014 version of Godzilla was more faithful to the original design than the 1998 version. Now, Legendary has made their Godzilla even more faithful to the original design. Instead of the tree trunk legs from the 2014 film, Godzilla’s legs have proper feet with claws. The tip of his tail is now more rounded like the original design instead of pointed. His arms and claws are more developed and seem capable to properly grapple opponents such as King Ghidorah or King Kong. Godzilla also seems to have lost some weight since 2014 even though he is still somewhat pot-bellied. Most crucially of all, Godzilla’s dorsal spines now look like the ones he had in the original 1954 film, which is a nice homage. In the trailers, Godzilla’s atomic breath is larger and more powerful than it was in 2014, which promises an even more satisfying fight. Overall, I like this new and improved design of the almighty King of the Monsters!

RODAN 2019

I never thought much about Rodan as a Kaiju, but I am loving his new look in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I have seen him emerge from a volcano before in King Ghidorah’s first movie. With this in mind, it is not entirely outrageous to see him crawl out of a volcano. Also, I am pleased to see that the filmmakers included Rodan’s ability to destroy everything he flies over. It is basic physics. Something that big moving that fast will blow away everything in its path. In addition to his classic abilities, I am pleased that Legendary has remained mostly faithful to Rodan’s appearance. Just as Godzilla’s roar was updated in the 2014 film, I hope Rodan’s roar gets updated in the upcoming film.

KING GHIDORAH 2019

I am looking forward to seeing King Ghidorah’s new look for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Out of all of Godzilla’s numerous enemies, King Ghidorah is arguably his single greatest rival to his crown as King of the Monsters. Apart from a new minor changes, I am pleased that Legendary has been faithful in the appearance and design of the Planet Eater. Based on what I have seen in the trailers, King Ghidorah will retain his iconic gravitational beams that he shoots from his mouths. Also, to make him similar to Godzilla, the filmmakers have made his throats glow yellow when he is about to launch his energy breath. Godzilla does something similar when his dorsal spines glow blue before firing his atomic breath. Also, it looks like King Ghidorah’s twin tails can actually be used as weapons since their spikes act like switch blades. What makes this version of King Ghidorah even more frightening is the fact that his colossal wings create super storms strong enough to swallow up entire cities whenever he takes flight. I also like how the filmmakers are giving each of King Ghidorah’s heads their own unique personality with the center head being the alpha. Easily the most terrifying aspect of this King Ghidorah is the fact that Monarch described him as a living mass extinction event. In other words, if the meteor that killed the dinosaurs had a will of its own then that would best represent King Ghidorah. Apart from the anime King Ghidorah, I never got the feeling that the earlier versions of King Ghidorah truly had the power to destroy the planet. However, I am getting the vibe from this King Ghidorah that he truly does have the power to destroy us all, human and Kaiju alike. Overall, I think we are about to see the very best battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah yet and I look forward to see these two rival kings clash for the Monster Throne.

MOTHRA 2019

One of the Kaiju I look forward to seeing in Godzilla: King of the Monsters is Mothra. The reason I look forward is because if Godzilla is King of the Monsters then Mothra is the Queen of the Monsters. I noticed that she has undergone a major makeover for the new movie. Her wings are larger and have a more prominent eye pattern that resemble Godzilla’s eyes, which forms a certain connection between Godzilla and Mothra. If Godzilla’s dorsal spines represents his crown then the eye pattern on Mothra’s wings represent her crown. Mothra’s body is smaller and resembles a mixture between a real-life moth and a wasp. Her legs are longer and armed with claws like a praying mantis. Overall, Mothra is still as beautiful and deadly as ever. I can see why ancient man worshipped her as a goddess made flesh. I hope we get to see references to the Mothra fairies in the new film. Since the guy who wrote the music for Black Sails will be revamping the classic Godzilla theme, I hope he also gives us a revamped version of the classic Mothra song.

WHAT IF KAIJU WERE REAL?

While writing my revised and expanded Kaiju story, I brainstormed and researched on how the world would react if Kaiju were real. How would the human race cope with the fact that god-sized monsters roamed the Earth? I can imagine that we would feel like ants under their feet. The film Shin Godzilla probably depicted the most realistic reaction of how a nation would react to a Kaiju attack. Like any natural disaster, there would be a lot of bureaucracy that would slow down the government’s response. However, since a Kaiju would be something no government ever faced before, I can imagine their reaction to be even slower than usual because they would have no idea how to respond. The economy and trade would be thrown into disarray and insurance companies would go bankrupt as the threat of Kaiju grows. With few resources available due to lack of stable trade, people would resort to tribalism and survival of the fittest mindsets to survive as they turn on one another. Some may develop cults that worship Kaiju as gods while others would perceive Kaiju as a sign of the Apocalypse. Overall, the coming of the Kaiju would bring all-out chaos to the world and I plan to explore it in my revised story.

FILM REVIEW: SHIN GODZILLA

At first, I did not know what to expect when I watched Shin Godzilla, but I was in for a collection of surprises. To begin with, the film was a reboot of the traditional Japanese Godzilla films, which brought forth a new way to reimagine the almighty King of the Monsters. The film depicted Japan’s first encounter with Godzilla and how their government would react. As for Godzilla himself, I like this version of the King of the Monsters because we got to see the various stages of its life cycle and how it evolves to overcome limitations. When Godzilla evolved into its fourth form, it looked like the Godzilla we all know and love. When the Japanese military fought Godzilla, I loved watching his famous indestructibility being depicted through 21st century CGI technology. It made the whole experience more believable than the original 1954 film. Also, not only was Godzilla’s infamous atomic breath more overpowered than ever, but we got to see a certain weakness Godzilla had that we did not know was there before. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Shin Godzilla and watched it dozens of times already. I would recommend it to the new generation of Godzilla and Kaiju fans.

GODZILLA ANIME TRILOGY

After watching the second Godzilla anime film and the trailer for the upcoming third one, I started having doubts about the credibility of the series. I expected to see Mecha-Godzilla to appear and fight Godzilla like the good old days, but I ended up seeing Mecha-Godzilla’s remains and it somehow transformed into a city made of nanotechnology. Now, King Ghidorah has been portrayed as a serpentine beast made from cosmic energy and looked nothing like his original three-headed dragon we all know and love.

However, after much thought, I finally understand what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish by reinventing the classical Kaiju we have known for decades. With Godzilla, they not only made him King of the Monsters, but also the undisputed ruler of planet Earth. To be the ruler of Earth, Godzilla was made into a colossal plant in order to become one with the planet he rules with an iron fist. With Mecha-Godzilla, it is not a Kaiju but a machine. No machine is more advanced than nanotechnology. Essentially, Mecha-Godzilla evolved into a nanite city equivalent of the Death Star. With King Ghidorah, its original version has been known as a cosmic destroyer of worlds. To become a true destroyer of worlds, King Ghidorah should not be limited to a physical body and have a form made from the most destructive energy in the known universe.

Overall, the point that the Godzilla anime trilogy highlighted was that Kaiju are far more than just giant monsters and living natural disasters. They are gods made flesh! When a Kaiju undergoes enough evolution, then they transcend their previous limitations. Each of the classical Kaiju we all grew up with had reached the zenith of their respective evolutions in this anime trilogy. With this knowledge, I have come to accept the changes Toho have made to the classical Kaiju and look forward to which direction they will go in the future.