Wanted To Wish A Happy 50th To Mechagodzilla. I Was Meaning To Get A Bit Of Art Complete For The Big

Wanted to wish a happy 50th to Mechagodzilla. I was meaning to get a bit of art complete for the big day, but I've had a lot of work over the last month or so, and I'm currently mourning a beloved family pet. Instead here's a sneak peek at my current progress

I did find it pretty funny that Showa Gigan's chubby hooks were able to slice cleanly through buildings like an anime sword. While I felt one of Gigan's roar effects was a bit overused, I really dug the overall style of the movie and especially the Rob Roy style ending.

Not to be an insufferable nerd, but the live action Godzilla vs Gigan short is just better than the Gigan Rex short. Thats not to say Gigan Rex is bad. Not at all, Its a terrific film and there's a lot to love about it, but it just does not hit as hard for me.

The sets, the performances and suits, the lighting, the city destruction, the long shot- the live short all feels so crafted, it fills that empty spot in my vfx loving soul that reliance on cgi has carved out. It had me trembling with excitement.

I knew something was up when I saw 16 new posts on my Dashboard

Congratulations to Takashi Yamazaki and the entire effects time that worked on Godzilla: Minus One. It's amazing what they managed to accomplish with that low a budget, they definitely deserve that Oscar.

I only wish it wasn't confined to the technical awards gulag, but at least it cleared house once more at the Japanese Academy Awards.

The Frost Vark is the best of the original Monsterverse kaiju in my opinion, but the generic descriptive name does it little justice and it really needs a unique name with more pizzaz. An alternative I was workshopping was Moleran (モッラン, romanized Morran), a portmanteau of mole and Mårran, the Swedish name for The Groke from the Moomins, since both share an insatiable desire for warmth while spreading coldness everywhere they go.

Ok this might make people who've read ATOM laugh, but... I really think Shimo's name would work better as a kaiju name if it has a third syllable.

While I haven't read the novel myself, I remember reading that the original Mr. Hyde was actually closer to the Garwolf, in that Jekyll deliberately transforms into Hyde in order to act out his immoral impulses without fear of consequences, rather than it being purely involuntary like it is in many later tellings.

Who's your favorite of the classic universal monsters and why? (based solely on their portrayals in the universal movies, sequels and crossovers included, not their original book counterparts.)

The Wolf Man, because the character was both written and performed so well that he basically redefined what werewolves are in Western culture. None of the other Universal monsters can claim that impact, and since they never recast him, he also remains the most consistently well characterized and acted monster from film to film. Dracula and Frankenstein got their characters shaved down in sequel after sequel, but Lon Chaney Jr. made sure Larry Talbot was never less than his best.

I haven't been paying close attention to Minus One due to grad school, but after the size escalation in the post Legendary/Reiwa eras I can appreciate the silliness of making the new Godzilla 4 inches taller than the original.