#and her name is MOTHra come on...

[kia-ko]

Mosu desing

(Colors were a pain to choose but it was worth it)

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

That last science experiment part was so nice 🥰 Bruce really does see her as his kid doesn’t he?

I mean, yeah. Batman even in canon really does love kids. Much like mothra, he's a friend to all the children. The man is incapable of seeing a parentless, traumatized baby child and NOT trying to parent. He may not know what to do with some aspects of her being a girl, but like... he does know that if a kid is hugging you you hug them back.

Bruce didn't know what the man was saying to you but it didn't matter. From across the room, he saw you pull away, doing your best not to look uncomfortable. And he crossed the floor. He didn't know WHAT was being said but he knew men.

And men were disgusting. Even if he was saying polite words, his intentions probably weren't and you knew that. "There's my lucky charm," Bruce said cheerfully, holding out his hand to you. "Come on darling, I need someone to pick my numbers. Tim won't play with me anymore."

It's his public persona. Because this is a charity. But the concern is real. And he's grateful when you manage a smile and take his hand.

"I didn't realize she was your date," the man said with a cough. Like he'd almost done something embarassing. Early 20's Bruce assessed. Reeking of tech start-up money and effective altruism.

"My daughter," Bruce corrected, eyes narrowing as he pulled you closer.

"Oh I-I-"

"She's 15," he said coldly. "As you know this is a charity event there are teenage children attending."

"I- I didn't know."

"Y/N," Bruce said looking down at you, handing you his wallet, "Will you go and have Dick take my place at the table? Tell him to remember it's for charity? Then maybe scamper off and find Timothy for me?"

You give him a questioning look and he chucks you under the chin, "Quick like a bunny. This is my party after all. I hate being on the side lines." He gives you a look the man in question can't see. One that says please go. Please Alert security and then start Tim digging.

And when you go off the start things going Bruce fixes the man with a level look. He can only imagine how scary it is. Being backed into a corner and feeling defenseless. Knowing that someone has those kinds of designs on you. Still being so young- "Mr. Wayne," the man started interrupting the flow of his thoughts. And Bruce blinked, realizing that his teeth were grinding.

"Yes?"

"I really didn't know-"

"Y/N is a lot of things but old for her age is not one of them," Bruce said, eyes narrowing. "The only reason you're not going to be shitting teeth tomorrow is because we're in public and it's bad for my stock prices. Capisce?"

Bruce didn't care what his name was. That was for Batman. Bruce wanted this man out of his event and away from his daughter. And it was satisfying when the man visibly paled. Nodding slowly. The best part was, now one would ever believe him.

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

💐Happy Mother's Day to all loving mothers!💐

Ma. Celestina's Family

(Below)

New art! Read here below!

So, remember about "Princess of the Monsters" fic?

Ma. Celestina was born by her human parents, Joseph and Ma. Luna. She had an older brother named Nathaniel.

Second illustration reveals a pic of Ma. Celestina (wearing a pink dress; she was 6 years old), who has magic powers from unknown (to be discussed in her POTM fic). Nathaniel, her brother, was 9 years older than her (left; he is holding a bouquet of lilac). In the middle was their mother, Ma. Luna, and on the left was their father, Joseph.

Also, a hint of something why I added Godzilla, Mothra, and their daughter Astra...

The flower crowns.

Astra was skilled in making flower crowns from her larval days until imago form and on her death before being reincarnated as a human girl, Ma. Celestina. The reincarnated Princess does not have memories of her past self, except some vague gifted skills, so Ma. Celestina knew how to make flower crowns when she was 3.

It was then that Joseph and Ma. Luna disappeared when Ma. Celestina was 11, leaving Nathaniel to take care of her until he too set off a job to support her and himself.

Once again, Ma. Celestina haven't heard of her older brother, wondering if he had forgotten him just like their parents do.

~*~

"Tell me, what does your mother looks like?" Asked Mothra.

"Well, she kinda looks like you, a little bit," Ma. Celestina answered while weaving a flower crown.

"A little bit?" Godzilla said.

"Yeah, Papa says she was kind and a loving and caring mother. If not for her funny personality, and her side of beauty..." the human girl smiles. "Papa was the first person who approach her."

"You're a lucky girl, you know that?" The King joked.

Mothra giggled at her husband's humor.

The three of them were sitting on a plain grassy field of their own island, watching the sunset together. Mothra Leo was away for patrol by himself, but promised them that he will be back before midnight. Battra, in his human form, was also away to do some errands he had by himself, he wanted to learn more about human culture (and even investigating what some sinister intentions has come against from unknown that may threaten the Balance).

"Do you miss them?"

Ma. Celestina looked at them both. Their eyes are at hers. She didn't know what to say. Memories of her mother flooded on her mind, her lullaby, her nurture, her love...

She tried herself not to cry...

She buried her hands into her face as she sobbed, causing Godzilla and Mothrs to feel sympathy over their adopted human daughter. They knew why...

The Queen gently soothe her back for comfort.

"It's alright, my child. We're here for you."

Once she was done crying, Ma. Celestina looked at them with a small smile, not caring that her face was smothered by her own tears. She wiped them away.

"S-Sorry that I cried in front of you..."

"Eh, it's okay. We're your adoptive parents, and every child deserves to seek comfort to their family." Godzilla told her.

"We're here for you. Whenever you feel down, we'll help you." Mothra says to her.

"Thank you, Mom, Dad."

Ma. Celestina approached them both and gave a hug, feeling her emotions getting calm after a small comfort. Godzilla and Mothra smiled as they hug her back.

Play this song:

~*~

"Love your mothers dearly, they are the light of the household. They sacrificed themselves for us to have a better life and future. They support us. They care for our wellbeing.

In the end, we will love them back as they grew old."

~ @adm-starblitzsteel-4305

Tags:

@gorillageek27 @amethyst-raptor06 @sassyassblog @lionpatriot13 @mossizi @gojigojigojira @geminanvaju @miss-couch-potato @godzillajuniorreborn @jadewolf-writes @subukunojess @kia-ko @astraerystarr @legendary-battra-tf @rainyloveangel @tbfpurflame123

[zzthekaiju]

Godzilla: Monster Watch - Godzilla and Kiko

And here's an introduction to what might be my favorite part of my Big G AU! The part where Goji encounters that one force he's always had some issues with...parenthood. And in the most unexpected of places.

The idea is that, at at late point in the narrative, Godzilla ends up in this AU's equivalent of the Hollow Earth, where most Kaiju came from. It doubles as his own place of heritage, but all it has is painful memories of the days in which he lost everything as a little pup. But during his travels, he encounters a little orphaned thing that vaguely resembles the tiny creatures that have been heckling him since the series started (i.e. humans). Unable to leave the poor baby girl behind (especially since he finds her in the giant spider Kumonga's lair), he takes her with him if only to find her parents...only to find that they got killed a long time ago along with the rest of her kind.

Knowing the pain that comes with losing so much when you're so young, Godzilla keeps little Kiko (the name the humans give her), intent on never letting another child suffer like he has. And Mothra is more than willing to help him out with the whole parenting thing.

So yeah, Godzilla here is the kind of parent who would fuss over almost everything his daughter gets into, which is a problem when your baby is constantly curious. Mothra would go for a more open and playful approach. Of course, the fact that Kiko sees them as her mommy and daddy would be the final stone throw that demolishes the dam holding back their feelings for each other.

[lizardsfromspace]

MONSTER MONDAYS #6: ATRAGON and MOTHRA VS GODZILLA

I’m watching every Godzilla and Godzilla-adjacent film, from the original to 2004’s Final Wars. This week, and yes I know it's Tuesday: we meet Manda, and Mothra fights Godzilla

Atragon

1963 - directed by Ishirō Honda - subbed

Stories of lost continents started to take off in popularity in the latter half of the 1800s - not coincidentally, when all of the Earth had its first full pictures of itself, and when all the gaps where dragons lurked had disappeared. Some of these claims originated in sincere but ultimately disproven scientific theories, such as Lemuria, invented by esteemed zoologist Philip Sclater to explain the existence of lemurs in both Madagascar and India. Others were purely occult in nature, such as the revival of Plato's Atlantis as not a thought experiment, but as coded history to a real place.

In retrospect, the various anomalies "lost continents" sought to explain are all explained by continental drift. But they've lived on in occult circles, and that includes the continent of Mu. Mu originated in the 1800s when a mistranslated reading of a Maya text caused someone to theorize it was an alternate name for Atlantis, but in the 1920s James Churchward would popularize Mu as a lost continent in the Pacific. Mu eventually became a regularly appearing lost civilization in Japanese media: in video games, in anime, and one time it invaded the surface.

Atragon has a rapidfire start - men walking out of the water! A mysterious yet stylish agent of Mu! A taxi careening into the water past some photographers! Mu announcing plans to colonize the surface! - and then slows down. We cut to the lost continent of Mu, which is a city carved into stone with an artificial stone which is part ancient Egypt and part Walt Disney's EPCOT (the city), but after that our main glimpse of Mu is people dancing for Manda.

Manda is this movie's kaiju, and get excited: because you won't get to see Manda for at least an hour.

Also a sub called the Red Satan just goes too deep chasing the Mu and implodes.

During that hour, our protagonists found an lost admiral on a secret island, building the super-sub Gotengo, or Atragon, depending on the version. He refuses to help them. The film draws a clear parallel between the Mu, who seek to restore their ancient empire from before their city sank, and the soldier who never stopped fighting, who plans to use the submarine to restore the pre-war Japanese Empire. He relents and agrees to help mankind; the Mu's Empress refuses, and eventually chooses to die with them instead of live without her Empire.

In the final act, we learn the Gotengo can FLY

and the movie becomes about how it's a very cool and strong submarine that can destroy everything.

But we meet MANDA.

Hell yeah Manda let's go

DUEL OF THE CENTURY

So during the first fight Manda sits there as it gets shot, and in the second fight, it strikes, then gets frozen. Manda is in the movie for less than five minutes and goes down like a chump

🐲🐲🐲

Mothra vs. Godzilla

1964 - directed by Ishirō Honda - subbed

Godzilla is about to become a hero. Then a much sillier hero. But for the last time in a while, Godzilla is an antagonist: not just the antagonist, but presented as an almost purely destructive force, a Geiger-clicking radioactive beast buried within the Earth.

Featuring some of Eiji Tsuburaya's best effects yet, Mothra vs Godzilla is the best Godzilla movie since the original: beginning with a storm destroying a reclamation project (cut to: a local politician standing amid the wreckage insisting reporters not say it was destroyed, because it's one of the top five projects in the prefecture and it'll still be finished on schedule). Swept up after the storm: a blue-gray object. Also swept up after the storm: a giant egg.

No sooner does a mysterious giant egg show up than it's bought by Kumayama, a businessman who plans to build a theme park around it, and who advertises that everyone come to Happy Enterprises' new Shizunoura Happy Center to see the giant egg hatch. Mothra vs. Godzilla takes place in a world of unrestricted greed; truly, there is no better summation of capitalism than the scene where a man shoots someone so he take his cabinet full of cash, while Godzilla looms, about to imminently crush them all.

The Shobijin appear, and while they don't get caught this time (though the businessman still tries to buy them), they're not able to convince anyone to bring back the egg, which holds the next Mothra. The current Mothra, in her last days, makes her pitch - her pitch is "being fucking Mothra" - and yet no one will return the egg.

The reporters lament their lack of power - their stories don't hurt the rich, and every story just helps promote them - and then it turns out the object from earlier is radioactive. Also, it's Godzilla

Humanity, which has failed to return the egg it decided to monetize, goes to Infant Island to plead the case for Mothra coming to help them. Infant Island is no longer a verdant lost world, but a barren rock ruined by nuclear testing; they tell Mothra that good people are dying, but that bad people deserve to live too, and that they won't stop trying to make the world a better place. Mothra is coaxed to help, but is going to die no matter what.

The rest of the movie is two amazing kaiju battles, and some striking Godzilla-blows-up-tanks moments in between.

The egg hatches, and the larva-that-will-be-Mothra have to take down Godzilla once and for all.

This is the last full movie of dark!Godzilla before we start the switch to Godzilla fighting worse monsters, and Mothra vs. Godzilla rocks. Great effects, great action, great pacing, the right tone. Give thanks to Mothra (the only way to thank Mothra is to create a better world)

🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖

The List:

Next Week: We meet Dogora and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. I should really start watching these in advance instead of literally watching them all on Monday nights huh

[grunklebongrip]

Kaiju x Gravity Falls AU

(Godzilla Falls AU?)

Okay so my fiancé made a joke about a crossover between these two universes the other day and then last night we both popped off so let me try to be as cohesive as I can about this.

In a world where monsters of old roam the world once more, two camps reside:

Protect the creatures, and treat them as part of nature. Their only crime is that they’re too big, but we could learn from them, and perhaps live in harmony

These creatures are dangerous and a threat to humanity. They are unpredictable, and their sheer mass alone leaves us vulnerable, not to mention the additional fallout, strengths, and efforts to rebuild after each attack

Stanford Pines definitely belongs to the former, and in fact is enmeshed far beyond his own curiosities and professional inclinations. Rather, he is one of a pair destined to protect, nurture, and call upon the Queen of the Monsters herself: Mothra. (Yes, Stan and Ford are the Shobijin, the twin “fairies”, I’ll have to flesh this part more out later but Ford having to convince Stan to join him is a major part of this story)

Fiddleford McGucket, his lover, lab partner and confidant, had come to join Stanford in his quest to study and understand the Kaiju, especially when it came to finding and monitoring Mothra. However, throughout their time together, he witnesses firsthand the terrors these beasts are capable of, and he fears for the safety of humanity with them running rampant.

“Destroy it before it destroys us all!”

He tries to tell Stanford how he fears Mothra even in her larval state, and he insists they join together in the fight to kill all monsters. But Stanford can’t. And he especially cannot harm Mothra, informing him she especially is no threat to humanity, but rather a keeper. A protector, as well, in fact one of the few creatures capable of aiding, taming, and persuading Godzilla to fight on their behalf. He understands her, he hears her, he knows what she can do, and he believes firmly in the capability to coexist. He is set to continue his studies.

Fiddleford, however, cannot. They breakup. He submits designs for a MechaGodzilla, which he believes will have the capability to destroy these monsters, and he quickly becomes one of the most prominent names in the fight against Kaiju.

Over the years, both teams are called upon for various reasons. Sometimes a Kaiju leaves seriously injured, sometimes another mech is destroyed—and sometimes the only hope available in the face of these creatures is the alliance of Godzilla and Mothra. Fiddleford and Stanford see each other in passing, see each other’s name and accomplishments in the paper, still angry the other won’t see their side.

But then, decades after their fight, decades after breakup, decades after they insisted their mentalities could never co-exist—a new threat presents itself. And this time, it’s far beyond the world they know.

A team of intergalactic space terrorists lead by the insidious Bill Cipher have garnered the power of a beast long prophesied: King Ghidorah

The two factions must unite, and Fiddleford and Stanford must work together again, mech and monster, to save the world, ALL its inhabitants, from a threat unprecedented.

[balanceoflightanddark]

What if in your fic Azula name goes to Divine moth Azula?

Eh. I'm going to have to course correct on that. Yes. Azula's connection with Mothra is going to be important in the coming chapters. But her primary "guardian" kaiju (if you want to call it that) is Godzilla. By guardian, I mean he's the kaiju that's going to be pretty damn critical to her development. Particularly in the first part of the trilogy, where she's going to gravitate towards a monster she sees herself the most in.

That being said, she IS going to gradually be influenced by Mothra more and more as her character arc goes on. At this moment, they're opposites. Mothra's important, but will act as a sort of moral compass to keep her from going too far. As we go on from that (as was hinted by Maina's dialogue), Azula is gradually going to be receptive of Mothra more and more to balance out Godzilla's influence. You can't gravitate towards a gigantic rage dinosaur and expect to be emotionally healthy after all.

It's the whole theme of Avatar. Balance between two extremes. For Azula, this could be a balance between one extreme (Godzilla) and the opposite extreme (Mothra). The two are foils to each other throughout the franchise after all. Godzilla's massive, powerful, charcoal grey, and extremely aggressive. Mothra's delicate, elegant, colorful, and passive unless you piss her off. Each contrasts the other, which is most apparent when they fight against each other throughout the series (before the stick that's up Godzilla's ass is removed at least). I'd almost describe it in a similar vein as Ursa and Ozai being opposite influences on Azula. Just...you know, not as toxic.

I don't think Azula's going to become a magical moth girl or anything. But I do think she's going to be more like Mothra if she decides to turn away from chasing after the throne. Either that or she gets dragged kicking and screaming down that path. She does share her stubbornness with Godzilla after all.

See?

[ognimdo2002]

Mothsol (Solapapilio mosura) - Light Empress

“ This gargantuan moth evokes the eclipse when under the eliminate of romance tragedy. Obliterates these sins for gone and enraged for her matriarchy as revenge of this home. ”

– Eostre

Mothsol (Solapapillo mosura; IPA: mɔθˈsoːl) is one of the mythical creatures and a guardian introduced in Worldcraft: My Last Blessings.

Came from this portmanteau word or combination two words are for Mothra and sol is translated by Spanish and Latin means Sun, based on the Solar Eclipse. However this name was Mosura by Japanese people because of Inspired by the movie of the same name is Mothra. Both the names are registered trademarks of Re-Logic and Toho Inc., used by Ognimdo2002 with permission.

Story

In the distant past, when the Saurfolks, also known as Antediluvian species, and the Fomorians were on the verge of extinction, a fragment of sunlight dropped from the heavens in a scattered manner, and from this one drop of sunlight, the golden flower sprouted all over the earth.

The golden bloom appeared in the Paleocene epoch following the Late Cretaceous, and it had the capacity to heal any ailment or injury, including grave wounds, as proved by Rapunzel, and to delay aging, as demonstrated by Gothel; however, that ability needed regular use of the life-sustaining ability. This flower had the unintended consequence of presenting Mothsol, the mythical monster from the China-Vietnam forest during the last stages of the Cretaceous, as a powerless, awful, and insensitive moth.

The Ancestral Mothsol caterpillar has a drastic metamorphosis while ingesting a Sundrop Flower, resulting in its fainting and enlargement into a bigger size. The Ancestral Mothsol caterpillars hide themselves and search for the elusive, luxurious caves created by the Sundrop Flower, Moonstone Opal, and adamantine radiations as they become a more desirable meal for predators.

This cave in Vietnam, known as Rừng Sáng Cave or Cave of Light Forest, is still standing, and this species was worshiped as benevolent deities in the ancient past. According to the Order of Assassins and the Templar Knights, Mothsol is considered Mothra; it appears in ancient folklore and fairy tales from across the world. Mothsol possessed a symbiotic relationship with the colossal species in Japan known as Honengyo, referred to as Godzilla, and together, surrounded by human and elven warriors, they fought to kill Dragon Gods, the Eldritch Terrors, in the ancient past when the malevolent entities invaded Earth.

Mothsol also becomes the companion of metatherian Luison of Paraguay; however, they are widely regarded as polar opposites, with rivals and foes. Because Mothsol comes from Southeast Asia, which is part of Eurasia, and Luison is from South America, they were not present.

For example, at the Isu Temple in Palestine, an older Luison and an older Mothsol were competitors who fled as wild animals. In Israel, people believe that Mothsol promotes awakenings and pleasant dreams, whereas Luison causes nightmares and trauma. According to the Abrahamic religion and pre-Islamic cultures, both Luison and Mothsol are God's creations and servants.

[sp3rmfern]

DESIGNS IN THE MAKING AND FINISHED DESIGNS!!

Shimo and Mothra are finished!!! Scylla might also be finished not sure yet but probably!! And the two I’m making right now are Barb and Tiamat!!

More abt up coming designs and now finished designs

Tiamat: I wanted to give Tia look based of Adriana Lima and a mixture of ancient Asian hairstyles and Ancient Greek attire!

Scylla: Scylla is mainly based of an outfit I had found on Pinterest that I thought would suit her and as for her hair I made it based of images of Ancient Greek hairstyles, I wanted to make sure her shell could be resembled more as a bun rather than a hat!

Barb: My favorite design(so far). I wanted to make her appearance more based of Mcbling/TrashyY2K due to her name being ‘Barb’. I just taught it would suit well and she looks quite nice so far!

Mothra: Mothra is mainly based of ancient Chinese attire! I wanted to do that due to a picture that came from Twitter, I taught it would be super nice and so I designed her off of 618-907 AD mid-Late Tang Dynasty and early(?) Tang Dynasty and also 220-589 AD Wei,Jin, Southern and northern Dynasties.

[theizzifromosaka]

I'm Back

Remember when I made those monster categories and said I'd test them out? I went out and looked for some monsters from various sources to try and categorize, and my system mostly holds up.

Here's that post btw, TL:DR the categories were Natural, Extraterrestrial, Paranormal, Artificial and Deific

Reporting my findings, source by source:

Pokemon are mostly what you'd expect. Mostly Natural, a few Paranormal, extraterrestrial and Artificial and a handful of Deific.

There were a few interesting cases I found all in the same vein, where the Pokemon appears artificial or supernatural but is organic

Digimon isn't all that complicated past the initial concept, they're interdimensional beings who can only exist in digital form outside of their home dimension, so they're all Extraterrestrial.

Classic Movie Monsters are once again pretty simple for the most part, but things unexpectedly started to get a bit complicated here.

Dracula, The Wolf Man and The Mummy are all paranormal, Frankenstein adds Artificial to that and the Gill-Man is completely Natural. Surprisingly it was the Invisible Man that threw a wrench into the works, his story is he developed a chemical that rendered him permanently invisible, which I initially made a judgement call on and placed into Supernatural.

Toho is where my earlier judgement call would have to be made again, and where I initially considered making a new category. A lot of weird monsters come from here.

First, a few of the easy ones. Mothra has some vague details in her backstory but it's pretty clear she's either Paranormal or Deific. Jet Jaguar is a human made robot so he's Artificial and Mechagodzilla is a robot of extraterrestrial origin so he's Extraterrestrial/Artificial and many others such as Gigan are simply aliens.

The guy Goji himself, as well as several other monsters such as Biollante and Orga, however, brought up the same issue as The Invisible Man. My phrasing of Paranormal in my previous post was simply "things that should not exist", which ends up encompassing these monsters in a way I didn't really expect.

Godzilla and Orga are monsters who started off much more ordinairy before being mutated in differnt ways, and Biollante and The Invisible Man were intentionally mutated. As a result, I'm considering adding a new category for creatures like this:

Mutant

An otherwise normal creature that has been altered in a significant way, usually ending up as something completely unique

I'm still not sure about this as a category, and I may also change the description to exclude Cyborgs, or the name to better include them, which the description I wrote is vague enough to encompass.

Yu-Gi-Oh also introduces a new complication, though this one's pretty easy to sort out. Specifically, many of its monsters exist in many states which vary the monster's categorization.

The first stage that includes just about every Yu-Gi-Oh monster is the in universe and IRL card games, in which the monster's categorization heavily relies on the card's flavor text if it's present, and must be intuited if not.

The second stage which includes very few monsters is the in universe origins of the monsters depicted on the cards, which don't vary as much as they work very similarly to Jojo stands or Personas from the Persona series. They're mostly supernatural, with exceptions including the Egyptian Gods, who would be Deific.

The same separation concept exists in Scooby-Doo funnily enough (maybe it's a hyphen thing), where there's the perceived nature of the monster, for instance Space Kook being an alien or The Phantom being a ghost, and the creature's true nature as a regular human, which I guess would put them under the Natural category.

Scooby-Doo will occasionally subvert this trope by having the monster being real, such as Charlie the Robot being an actual robot or the Zombies in Zombie Island being real. There are many examples, though the series has been going on for so long it's still relatively underutilized. Other than that it's usually straightforward.

I still need to see if "Mutant" is even necessary, and if it is it needs to be reworked, but my system held up surprisingly well.

[zzthekaiju]

Best of the Reptiles in Media - 6 - Tyrantis

And here I am again at this! And this time, we're going to the wonderful world of independent literature!

Let me set the scene: Imagine a T-rex, except he's the size of a large building, fights like Heart from a few entries ago, has the personality and love for fighting of Son Goku, and the mannerisms of Showa Godzilla and Gamera?

You get the star of The Atomic Time Of Monsters (A.T.O.M) by William Cope (better known as @tyrantisterror), Tyrantis!

(all art here is by Cope)

For context, the world A.T.O.M takes place in is an alternate history in which most dinosaurs are the ancestors of not birds, but crocodiles. Thus, they all look like the large, lumbering scaly beasts that went out of date around the 70s. And as if that wasn't enough, they're referred to as Retrosaurs. Already, we have an exceptionally tongue-in-cheek bit of worldbuilding to get us excited. Even as someone who loathes seeing outdated depictions of dinosaurs in modern media, I'm always a-okay to see it as an actual intentional choice instead of a lazy one (*cough* *cough* Jurassic World *cough*).

Anyhow, Tyrantis is one of those Retrosaurs. Specifically, a Manospondylus Gigas (based on the outdated look of T-Rex). However, like Godzilla, he's a mutated version. You see, A.T.O.M is a throwback/affectionate parody of monster movies from the 50s, albeit one that turns several of the tropes on their heads. One that it plays a bit straighter is how nuclear testing unleashes monstrous creatures from their slumber. Here, that happens, and it unleashes a huge earthquake that opens up caves leading to an unforeseen hollow earth, where Tyrantis lives.

And this is where the story officially begins, with an underdog female paleontologist named Mina Lerna finding Tyrantis within Hollow Mountain, Montana (there are a LOT of shout-outs in this duology).

Tyrantis had me sold as a character right from the start. You see, several scenes are written from his point of view, and instead of some mindless killer of man like so many giant movie monsters were back in the day, he is instead an inquisitive, naive, and downright kindhearted fellow who's first instinct upon seeing a screaming human in his presence is to try and cheer her up by taking her back to her "herd" (with limited success).

This kaiju is, overall, adorably awesome. Despite his size and power, he approaches almost every creature with one or both of two questions on his mind: "Can I fight it?" and "Can we be friends?" Both books are 90% Tyrantis running into one kaiju after another, and either befriending them, getting into fights, or even both. And it's a joy to see most of the other kaiju (such as Gorgolisk and Tricerak) come around and see him as their friend too. My favorite interactions are between him and the massive spider Bobo, who's this world's stand-in for Mothra.

But Cope doesn't just stop at making Tyrantis a big friendly kaiju, though that would already be enough for him to warrant an entry in my top ten favorite characters ever. Sprinkled into Big Green's mannerisms are tics that you would expect from a reptile. The most prominent of these are him moving his limbs in a circular motion as a sign of hospitality. It's so cute to imagine such a big and intimidating creature doing that. It also helps Tyrantis avert the "all animals are dogs" trope that seems to follow every non-conventional friendly animal in fiction. I mean, I don't mind that too much, but it's a nice change of pace.

Of course, Tyrantis wouldn't be a perfect kaiju if he couldn't fight as well. Every battle he gets into paints him as more than just a bite-happy bruiser (though that's certainly a go-to strategy for him). He's surprisingly capable of strategy at times, albeit while in the middle of a fight instead of before. And yes, he has a breath weapon (fire, specifically). Also, as one might guess from his personality, he's a great team player.

But ultimately, it's his relationship with main character Lerna that brings it all together. For our constantly underestimated heroine, Tyrantis represents everything the people of yesterday couldn't ever seem to see: that making brash judgements based on a first glance is wrong. He gives her the ability to prove her mettle as an amazing scientist and the bridge between our understanding of the amazing kaiju. And on top of that, he's just a really good friend to those tiny little things that seem to like him more and more with each year. Even the military commander character warms up to him almost instantly (I'm talking about General Sherman, one of my favorite humans in the duology).

A.T.O.M takes the overblown machismo and chauvinistic attitude of the 50s apart piece by piece. Aside from having human protagonists who rebel against the status quo, Tyrantis demonstrates how being tough is sometimes necessary, but being empathetic and kind as well is what really makes a strong creature. By being his charmingly and adorably good-natured self, he makes more friends than enemies, and they all have his back throughout all the increasingly crazy adventures they have.

Plus, he's got his own theme song in the second story. Someone outta make a cover of that already!

(And maybe an animated adaptation? Please? Maybe we could make it the next big indie animation thing? Just putting that out there.)

(art by me)

[lizardsfromspace]

MONSTER MONDAYS #4: BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE and MOTHRA

I’m watching every Godzilla and Godzilla-adjacent film, from the original to 2004’s Final Wars. This week: the last week of our Godzilla drought, but who cares there's Mothra

Battle In Outer Space

1959 - directed by Ishirō Honda - dubbed

Battle in Outer Space is a quasi-sequel to The Mysterians, in that it's a similar type of science fiction, has a similar "the Earth comes together" theme, and a few characters have the same names as ones in The Mysterians, though they're not played by the same actors.

But while The Mysterians had a breakneck first act - disappearing village! GIANT ROBOT! ALIENS STEALING OUR BABES! - Battle in Outer Space is slow to start, with about thirty minutes of UN hearings and one chase of a man possessed by aliens before anything really happens.

While the Mysterians were mutants in colorful helmets who wanted to mate with our human women, the aliens in this one stay mostly off-screen, appearing only once outside their ships (and they're weird little guys - no giant monsters in this one). Besides a gimmick for mind control, they don't really have an identity beyond wanting to conquer Earth, and flying in flying saucers.

(I did watch the dub, but I'm assured that it has only minimal changes, unlike most Toho dubs of the time)

But the special effects in this one are amazing. The great Eiji Tsuburaya makes some of film's first space battles; dogfights with flying saucers on the moon in moon-cars floating with air & space fighters versus flying saucers in space, in very proto-Star Wars scenes, plus some of our first international landmark destruction (New York City and the Golden Gate Bridge get got by some space torpedoes). It's honestly some of the best effects yet. Also, this happens

Battle in Outer Space is pretty thin & I prefer The Mysterians but Tsuburaya's work is great. 🛸🛸🛸

Mothra

1961 - directed by Ishirō Honda - subbed

Yeah it's Tuesday what are you gonna do?

The best Toho kaiju movie since Godzilla '54 goes in a wildly different direction - namely, by being completely fantastical, a trip to a classic lost world of an island complete with blood-sucking plants and enigmatic natives.

And, of course, the tiny fairies. Within minutes of their discovery, Clark Nelson - a wealthy man from Rolisica, a country whose name is a portmanteau of America and Russia, but is mostly America - is picking them up and saying he might sell them to a film producer. What can you say but yikes. The journalists & scientists agree to hide the existence of the fairies to protect them from nuclear testing & exploitation; Nelson returns to the island with a gun, shoots everyone, and takes them by force. I'm starting to think greed is bad

The human plot makes up the bulk of Mothra, and it's a good one, with a likable journalist protagonist (Frankie Sakai), but it's driven by the wild ass greed of Nelson (Jerry Ito), who immediately puts on a show with the Shobijin; in one nice shot, we see their show, dances against fake backdrops of the sea & nature, superimposed over the larval Mothra storming across the ocean. They sing a song to Mothra, and few comprehend the degree to which this means everyone present is fucked; a sense deepened when they talk to the fairies, and they keep saying it doesn't matter if they're released, because Mothra will deal with everyone, and they should really just run.

Mothra is single-minded about rescuing the Shobijin in this one, crushing anything in her way without any heed, making a cocoon and emerging from her larval form as Mothra proper for the last 20 minutes of the film. And Mothra just gets to leave. She isn't defeated by a new weapon, or by another monster; humans engage in her rituals to get her to return home in peace. Mothra wins.

Queen shit. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

List update:

Next Week: I heard that in America we're watching King Kong vs Godzilla, but in Japan we're watching Gorath

[zponds]

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire - My Edition - Titanus Tiamat‘s Tragic Backstory

Besides Tiamat’s new abilities after healing her wounds via powering up a bit more, i also thought about exploring Tiamat’s backstory and further reasoning as to why she joined Godzilla, Kong and Mothra n fighting Skar King, Shimo and Skar King’s army.

And Skar King has a major role in Tiamat’s backstory, being the reason for her destroyer nature.

In the Hollow Earth, many thousands of years ago, several years before the Great Titan War, Skar King and his army went on a murder spree, eliminating any titans that might ally themselves with the Gojiras. One of those potential threats was Tiamat and her original child. When Skar King appeared, he opted to kill the younger one first. Tiamat wasted no time attacking the Red Ape in defense of her little one. Tiamat fought against Skar as best as she can, but with Skar having plenty of experience in fighting aquatic titans, he quickly takes the fight to the land, where he has the upper hand. After violently beating Tiamat, Skar used just one arm to fling Tiamat far way. Skar then immediately attacked Tiamat’s child, who desperately tried to defend itself. Tiamat tried her absolute best to reach her child, but due to her snake-like build, she didn’t get far and watched in horror as Skar tore apart Tiamat’s child right in front of her eyes, its screams of fear and agony filling her ears. Skar then looked at Tiamat with a sadistic grin as he ate the insides of Tiamat’s child. With Tiamat frozen in horror and dread, Skar attacked her one final time with his whipslash, hitting her in the face and cutting her side with the crystal. As the Red Ape left, Tiamat slowly approached the ripped corpse of her child, resting her head on the severed head. Tears formed in Tiamat’s eyes as she mourned the death of her child. Eventually, Tiamat left the Hollow Earth and traveled to the surface world, wanting to stay away from Skar King or any other Great Ape as much as possible. Over time, however, her sorrow boiled into rage as she took her anger out on anything she came across, ranging from ice age fauna to Vikings. The sounds of her child’s screams haunted her every day since that day. Eventually, Tiamat went dormant near Stone Mountain in the future continent of North America.

In 2019, when Ghidorah unleashed his alpha call, Tiamat woke up and once again took her stress, grief and anger out on anything humans she came across. Later that same year, after Ghidorah’s death, Tiamat went to Godzilla’s old lair and upon seeing The (elder) Rival, Tiamat’s rage reached new heights upon seeing that Great Ape and she killed him. Later when Godzilla came to the lair, Tiamat of course attacked him to take her anger out. After Godzilla defeated her, Tiamat then went to the North Pole. In 2024, Tiamat was drawn to the eastern United States upon sensing that her new child; a daughter named Lahamu, had been captured and imprisoned in a research facility beneath an unidentified city. In her search for her Lahamu, Tiamat ravaged the waters surrounding the city, in which she siphoned the electrical energy from a power plant and attacks David Martin. She subsequently & aggressively battled Kong upon spotting him, only for the battle to end in a stalemate. Tiamat eventually swam back out into the open ocean with Lahamu after reuniting with her.

In 2027, while in the North Pole, Tiamat apparently picked the Hollow Earth Iwi’s distress call. Before Tiamat could figure out the details of the call, Titanus Amhuluk showed up and attacked. Despite her best efforts, Tiamat was beaten and forced out by Amhuluk who took the territory as his own. Later on, after watching Godzilla destroy Amhuluk, Tiamat picked up on more details about the distress call, learning that Skar King was coming. This terrified Tiamat as what he did that day was forever engrained in her memory. However, not wanting to lose her child again and wanting to get revenge on Skar, Tiamat healed her wounds and gained some more power after Evolved Godzilla left. After the Skull Crawlers’ attack on Egypt, Kong and especially Godzilla were surprised to see Tiamat. As Mothra explains to Godzilla about how Tiamat saved her life, Tiamat explains to both alpha titans the reason why she was so aggressive and destructive. After this explaination, Godzilla and Kong allow Tiamat to join the fight against Skar King and his army.

Now i already discussed Tiamat’s roles in Egypt, Hollow Earth and Rio in a past post. But i wanna add that a new addition to the “Tiamat settling in new cave system” is that Tiamat is joined by her daughter Lahamu, who looks bigger and older than she did in 2024. With Skar King now forever dead, Tiamat is finally able to be have peace for the first time in thousands of years. Which is part of why Tiamat was reclassified from destroyer to protector. And the reason why Tiamat was a destroyer in the first place was because she was traumatized by Skar King’s murder of her original child and she took her anger out on anything she wanted. And lastly; to clarify how Tiamat picked up the Hollow Earth Iwi’s distress call, it’s because the Hollow Earth Iwi know about what happened regarding Tiamat and Skar King and the Iwi knew Tiamat would have been thirsty for revenge against Skar King.

[ratsoh-writes]

How did Kevin come to exist? Who is his mother?

Well since the cat is out of the bag:

Kevin is a mothra monster, with a fae father and a human mother. He would be what one would call a “pure monster”.

For those who don’t know, all first gen monsters were the children of fae and humans.

Kevin’s father is the fae currently going by the name temmie, and his mother around 650 years ago was named chepi, a Native American woman. Temmie had fallen for the woman for her rather impressive frog catching skills and the way the light seemed to catch on her eyelashes. They only had one child together, Kevin, then known as Kanati was mainly raised by his father as he was a monster child. After his mothers death, his father made a safe place for him above the surface to live, and secretly moved Kevin to ebott after the crash.

Kevin changed his name for a new start, and also cause Kevin from home alone is an absolute icon.

[ondeemand]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review

This movie is several months old and isn't really talked about anymore, but I had this review in my notes and wanted to share :)

(It’s also just my general thoughts, not separated by positives and negatives because I didn’t follow guidelines when I wrote this)

I’m a sucker for big CGI monster fights, I think they’re rad as hell, and this one didn’t disappoint. I’m also a big fan of apes, and Kong really felt like the main character of this movie. I’m glad he got to be center stage, because even though I love him, he super lost to Godzilla in the last movie. My boy would have been dead if they kept fighting ;-;

Some of the fights were so funny, like Kong beat up some other apes with a baby ape, wielding him like a flail, I was dying. Also, during a skirmish with Kong and Godzilla, he basically throws pocket sand at him and then Godzilla crashes straight into a pyramid. Three stooges behavior, I loved it.

Skar King was also really cool. In contrast to Kong’s muscular build, blocky silhouette, and strength based attacks, Skar was tall and lanky, leaned at odd angles, and used agility a lot more. Very cool as a foil both visually and physically.

The human characters were pretty good, though I definitely wish I had rewatched the last two movies for a recap because I only remembered like two people.

○ Note from Future Dee: I have since rewatched the other movies in this franchise, and I only remembered two or three people because those were the only repeat human characters lmao. Trapper was a fully new character, so it’s no wonder I was struggling to remember him.

Trapper was fantastic, he was like a gay Ace Ventura who loved 80s music. I’m so glad he didn’t die. He and Bernie are gay to me (the hug, holding his arm, the “I’m gonna kiss you on the mouth,” etc).

I felt kind of weird about the “tribal people are actually magic” thing. When we were introduced to the Iwi in Kong: Skull Island they were just, like, people living on an island. I get that living in the middle of Hollow Earth means they have access to more magical materials, but now suddenly they’re all psychic and can communicate telepathically when in the old movie they were just normal people who didn’t speak.

Plot wise, it did have a lot more buildup than payoff. Godzilla was the B-plot for most of it, and was on his own mission to power up for unknown reasons for like 80% of the film. He and Kong did get to team up for the final fight, but it still felt like it didn’t last very long, and I wish we got to see more of them working together or have the fight more drawn out. Again, I love that Kong was the focus, but a little more Godzilla wouldn’t have hurt. The fights were still incredibly badass, especially the final showdown despite how quick it felt.

Sadly, despite the name being Godzilla x Kong, there was no CGI gay sex scene between the two :(

However, Godzilla and Mothra are married, and now Kong has a new wife and son, so I wouldn’t want to break up these happy couples. Then again, Godzilla and Kong have two hands each. Just saying.

Congrats to Godzilla on her transition, we love that for her.

TLDR

Overall, this movie is a fun, action filled, CGI monster fest. You don’t come here for the plot or the human characters (Bernie and Trapper are the exceptions), and I’m glad the story has shifted away from human drama more and more as time goes on. It’s pure, unadulterated fun, but the overall pacing and structure left a few things to be desired.

7.76/10 practically, but 1000/10 for my childlike excitement over monsters punching each other.

[denimbex1986]

'In one corner, veteran heavyweight Christopher Nolan. In the other, nimble visionary Greta Gerwig. Their big films come out on the same day – but whose will triumph at the box office?

We live in divisive times. Opinion is more tribal and entrenched than ever, the value of reasoned argument and willing compromise plummeting by the day. This volatility could spread to the multiplex next month, where a battle of the blockbusters is destined to make previous cinematic standoffs – Mothra v Godzilla, Alien v Predator, Kramer vs Kramer – look like games of playground pat-a-cake. Get ready, then, for Barbie v Oppenheimer.

Directed by celebrated auteurs (Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively), and hyped by multiple trailers over the past year, both movies are scheduled to open on the same crowded day. Forget your QR codes: this is one time to buy a physical ticket and save the stub to show your grandchildren. Future generations will want to know where you stood on 21 July 2023 when Barbie met the bomb.

In the pink corner is Gerwig’s DayGlo toy story starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, who while away their days happily but vacuously in Barbie-land. In a plot apparently borrowed from Enchanted and The Purple Rose of Cairo, with a dash of Don’t Worry Darling, they swap their cosseted fairytale existence for our harsh modern world. (The trailer shows Barbie having her police mugshot taken after walloping a Venice Beach groper in the face.) The cast incorporates hot young things Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Jamie Demetriou and, most excitingly, the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, as well as old hands Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon and Will Ferrell; Helen Mirren is on narrating duties.

The 39-year-old Gerwig is arguably as big a selling point as Robbie or Gosling, as well as a guarantor of quality control. The three-time Oscar nominee directed Lady Bird and Little Women, as well as co-directing with Joe Swanberg the long-distance love story Nights and Weekends, back in the days when she was the doyenne of the lo-fi indie “mumblecore” movement. Her co-writer on Barbie is her partner, the director Noah Baumbach, with whom she wrote gems such as Frances Ha and Mistress America. Back in 2010 when she was promoting Greenberg, the bittersweet Baumbach comedy which became her Hollywood springboard, she spoke of her childhood habit of jumbling up the letters in her name: “In second grade, I’d be writing ‘Great Gerwig, Great Gerwig’ on everything,” she said. These days, it’s more than just an anagram.

Her opponent is the 52-year-old Nolan, a five-time Oscar nominee who has heft on his side. His is the weightier directing CV (12 films), with Oppenheimer his longest yet: he recently confirmed that it is “kissing three hours”, which makes it more than an hour longer than Barbie. This is serious, spectacular event cinema, shot with Imax cameras and booked long ago into all that format’s venues – to the apparent chagrin of Tom Cruise, whose latest Mission: Impossible adventure opens a week earlier but will be relegated to smaller screens the instant Oppenheimer drops.

Nolan’s cast is every bit as impressive as Gerwig’s; as well as the perpetually haunted Cillian Murphy as the physicist Robert J Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, Nolan has assembled Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Robert Downey Jr, Gary Oldman and Kenneth Branagh. The chances of any of them rollerblading à la Gosling in Barbie are negligible, which may help explain why Gerwig’s film is on track to have the more impressive opening weekend. Not that Oppenheimer will exactly bomb.

Barbie also has the edge when it comes to marketing opportunities, as might be expected of any movie adapted from merchandise. This goes way beyond the valley of the dolls: among the many tie-in products is an inflatable Barbie pool-float golf-cart, a Barbie dog’s basket, and an electric toothbrush capable of 36,000 sonic vibrations a minute – the same effect you get from watching Oppenheimer in Imax.

Unlike Barbie, Nolan’s film probably doesn’t have its own Exclusive Oral Beauty Partner, though given his protagonist’s chain-smoking tendencies there may be a teeth-whitening deal in the offing. And we shouldn’t rule out Oppenheimer throwing its hat in the ring when it comes to headgear. As far back as 2010, one plaintive user on thefedoralounge.com was searching “for a lid like the one the famous nuclear physicist wore,” citing a “2½-inch snap brim and a very thin ribbon” and concluding that “such a hat would be positively atomic”. Factor in the Cillian Murphy effect – this is the man who helped popularise the Peaky Blinders newsboy cap/undercut combo – and the Oppenheimer fedora and brown wool coat could be the look to replace Barbie’s summery pink once the nippier months roll around.

Some mild shade has already been thrown between the film’s respective camps on social media. “Greta Gerwig could do Oppenheimer but Christopher Nolan couldn’t do Barbie,” observed one tweet. Another overreached by proposing that “Margot Robbie could do Oppenheimer but Cillian Murphy couldn’t do Barbie” – clearly the work of someone who has never seen him in Breakfast on Pluto or Peacock. But the encouraging thing about the Barbie v Oppenheimer discourse is that, by and large, it has not followed the contours that often prevail in our online interactions. For anyone who loves cinema, the vibe feels closer to a cuddle than a cage fight.

There is real genius in this tactic of opening films catering for different audiences on the same day (known as counter-programming). The canny part is not what separates Nolan and Gerwig but what unites them: despite a clear contrast of style and sensibility, both directors possess a comparable skill, intelligence and passion, and tend to inspire loyalty in their fans. This same situation could never have arisen had Oppenheimer been pitted against, say, The Super Mario Bros Movie. Though that film is a smash, having grossed more than $1bn worldwide to date, it has nothing in it to propel cultural conversation along with profits.

Opening two films together that share similar DNA would also produce less of a spark. The experience of going to an afternoon screening of Ghostbusters on opening day in December 1984, then coming out and going straight back in to see Gremlins at teatime, was thrilling for my friends and me as 13-year-olds (especially as Gremlins was rated 15), but it was a routine sort of double bill on reflection: both were comedies that trafficked in the scary or supernatural.

What makes the combination of Barbie and Oppenheimer sing is that it is unlikely but not nonsensical. And though the films’ subjects are markedly different, there will be some overlap between their audiences. The major Rorschach test of our era, one Twitter user has suggested, will be whether you follow Oppenheimer with Barbie or vice versa. It’s no longer the case of “either/or” that it first appeared to be but rather “which one first?”. The Picturehouse chain is even extending the double bill idea by screening a selection of both directors’ past work in the coming weeks; audiences can see Lady Bird take flight alongside Interstellar, or pair Little Women and Dunkirk in a double bill of wartime stories, albeit from different wars.

Contrary to the way the rivalry was initially framed, this is no replay of the hostile Blur v Oasis Britpop war of the mid-1990s. Even the formulation of Barbie v Oppenheimer misrepresents the tenor of this unusual pairing: shouldn’t it be the more harmonious Barbie x Oppenheimer, in the style of today’s brand collaborations? Whichever film prevails financially, the result will be less meaningful to audiences than what these movies represent in a post-pandemic landscape that has seen famished exhibitors begging for new product.

Next month’s clash only came about in the first place because of Nolan’s commitment to cinemas over streaming. He would likely have set up Oppenheimer at his usual home, Warner Bros, had that studio not instigated a policy in 2021 (no longer in force today) of releasing its films simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max, in response to uncertainty during the pandemic. (Nolan, remember, had ruled out a streaming release for his previous film, Tenet, back in 2020 when cinema exhibition was at its most precarious.) Warner Bros still hopes to woo him back. Barbie is a Warners film, and if the studio had been distributing both pictures, they would never have let them go out on the same day. But Nolan took Oppenheimer to Universal – hence the scheduling pile-up.

No matter. The impact of Covid and the streaming revolution have been bruising, even in some cases annihilating, to parts of the industry. But contrary to the tagline from Alien Vs Predator – “Whoever wins … we lose” – the outcome of Barbie opening in lockstep with Oppenheimer can only be positive. Whichever one triumphs, cinema rules.'