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Mothra and Battra have me in my feelings again and I don't know what to do with it so woe; little doodles be upon us all

this was supposed to be a comic but I almost died just coloring this, I'm not finishing that thing >:(

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The Monsterverse Alpha System

Ever since its introduction in KOTM, the Alpha System has caused an untold amount of debate and confusion amongst fans. And one of the main reasons for it is just how little we actually know about it. We know that it exists, and that it is the reason why the other Titans follow Godzilla's orders and don't rampage at random, but that's about it. We don't know the specifics of it, or why it is set in place to being with, and that can be quite problematic if one wishes to discuss it in detail, or use it to explain why a Titan acts a certain way.

And after a lot of research on Monsterverse lore, and IRL literature and philosophy, I believe I may have cracked the code on what the Alpha System actually entails. Bear with me for a second, this is gonna be a long one.

So, in KOTM, we get it explained to us by Mark that the other Titans follow an Alpha. With him specifically citing wolves and killer whales as examples. The problem is that, in the real world, the whole Alpha Wolf stuff has been debunked for decades now (by the same guy who came up with it in first place, may I add), and we now know that reason why wolves and killers whales work in such a way, is because they're all big family units. And I don't need to tell you this, but likelihood of any of those Titans being actually related in any way, shape, or form is very unlikely that would allow for a similar dynamic. However, in spite of that, the rather crude explanation given by Mark does seem to hold some form of weight to it. But, in order to truly understand it, we need to dig deeper.

Godzilla: Dominion gives us by far the best showcase of the Alpha System at work, and it's not nearly as cut and dry as KOTM made it seem. For one, the other Titans are now very much operating on their own accord, not as unified force. And second, they can all still challenge Godzilla directly, even those who we saw bow down to him at the end of KOTM.

You may ask yourself "How come they can just do that? We didn't see them do that when Ghidorah was in charge." And the probable answer for that comes from Godzilla himself, when he describes Ghidorah's control over the other Titans as a "spell". Implying that whatever means they used to control the Titans to do their bidding was, in some way, unnatural, and not something that every Alpha can do.

The actual alpha system, one that exits devoid of Ghidorah's influence tampering it, seems to be a lot more transacional than it may initially seem.

In Dominion, we see Godzilla going around the world, fighting other Titans and protecting the "Balance of Nature", but one of those interactions is particularly interesting, because it offers some insight into how Godzilla rationalizes the conflicts before engaging.

The conflict between Behemoth and Amhuluk is very much a territorial dispute. With Amhuluk being the agressor and vying to claim Behemoth's territory and resources for himself. Godzilla comes in just as Amhuluk lands a critical blow to Behemoth and breaks one of his tusks. But, rather than immediately engaging and stopping the fight, he instead just watches it go down for a little while. With him rationalizing not only why the battle is happening, but more importantly, who should actually claim the spoils from said battle. And he only intervenes after coming to the conclusion that Behemoth should still be the one to rule over that territory, in spite of having clearly lost the battle. The reason? Because Behemoth would still be more beneficial for the land than Amhuluk, and would actually nurture it rather than destroy it for fun. So he pushes Amhuluk off, tells him to leave, and he does it.

This interaction offers us the best showcase of what the Alpha System actually entails, and it's actually not too dissimilar from some systems humanity had back in the old days. Namely, a very particular brand of feudalism.

As we know, Godzilla considers the whole world to be his territory, but he also probably knows that he cannot be everywhere all at once. And thus, I believe he and the other Titans entered what we might as well call a social pact. On one end, each Titan would be allowed a cut of the pie from Godzilla's territory, aka. the whole surface, and would be tasked with keeping their assigned territory in good shape and managing it in Godzilla's stead. You can think of them as vassals. And on the other hand, Godzilla would come to their aid in case anyone were to threaten them, be they Titan or Human.

And though some Titans still wish to claim more for themselves, even if at the expense of others, Godzilla is still the final judge on whether or not they will get to keep their rewards, as we saw with Behemoth vs Amhuluk. And regardless of their nature, be they Destroyer or Protector (according to Monarch) Godzilla is still keen on coming to their aid should they request it, so long they play by the rules and respect his authority.

This leads me to what I believe might be the main inspiration for it, from a philosophical standpoint, and that would be the ideas presented by Thomas Hobbes in his book titled "The Leviathan". In it, he claims that, in the times prior to governments and institutions, humanity lived in a natural state of all-out war and anarchy, where suffering was generalized, lives were short and violent, and everyone was miserable. He claimed that in order to escape that natural state, mankind had to make a social pact, giving up some of their freedoms in exchange for protection. This social pact would generate an absolute state, with all the power being held by a sovereign ruler (usually A King, Queen, or both.) who would then use their power to keep everyone else in line, and presumably prevent them from spiraling back into the natural state of anarchy.

And the reason why Thomas Hobbes picked the Leviathan specifically to represent his idea of an absolute state is because of what it represents in the bible itself.

In the Bible, the Leviathan is described as a sea monster, with impenetrable scales and the ability shoot beams of light/fire from it's mouth. It's power dwarfs that of mankind, and only the divine power of God can quell it. Thomas Hobbes specifically chose the Leviathan to represent the absolute state precisely because it represents something beyond the power of mankind, something that is bordering on the divine.

Godzilla does fit the physical description for the Leviathan somewhat, and the text above went into detail on how he also fits the description for Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan with how acts.

This leads me to the conclusion that Godzilla is not just meant to represent Nature in the Monsterverse, but he is also meant to represent Absolute Power and Sovereign Authority. He is the Leviathan, for Men and Gods alike. And without him, some of the Titans would take the opportunity to try and claim as much territory as they can, and the ones who don't would be forced to defend themselves. And eventually, the world would spiral into an all-out war between Titans, with humanity caught in the middle.

TL;DR: Godzilla gives the Titans protection, and in return, they do as he says and abide by his rules.

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something shifted and I drew humanoid characters without needing to sacrifice a goat

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A latte with lots of love!

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Snowy part 2 (but snow is melting wowww???)

Part 1 here

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so glad to see your goji art!! do u like ghidorah? i don't think I've seen u draw them before. are there any older toho kaiju you like?

I LOVE Ghidorah! He's one of my favorite Kaiju of all time and I can't even explain why tbh kjhkj I just like him a lot, and I loved the different personalities they made each of their heads show in KOTM (+ their theme is AWESOME, Bear McCreary is allergic to not making works of art). I wish there was some possible way to have him come back after everything just because :p

There's this sketch from a few weeks back I never posted because I wasn't really feeling the anatomy, but I'll clean it up and post it one day :D

For other older kaiju I like, I really like Anguirus (he's such a cutie and him and Godzilla had such an old married couple thing going on), Megalon has a really cool design and I like him, even if I didn't really connect with him that much, and I really like Gigan too!! I wish I knew how to draw him a little better but I'm still trying out a better way to fit his claws to my style. I love his silly design because it's so over the top and he has those stupid little glasses and he's perfect. His first design is cute, but the one from Final Wars is my favorite.

My favorite favorite older Kaiju tho has to be Destoroyah, but if they ever brought him to the MV I wouldn't want anyone else to direct it but the same director from KOTM. He needs the same presence Ghidorah had, he NEEDS a Bear McCreary theme, and the movie needs a serious tone. But with the recent vibes we've had with the Godzilla x Kong movies I don't have much hope :(. So I kinda don't even want them to bring him to the MV at all.

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If you could rewrite Mothra and Shimo's meeting in GxK, how would you do it?

OOOO I would definitely rewrite it through my romanticized bright pink Shimothra lens kjhkjh, I was actually working on a fic like that a few weeks back but never went anywhere with it, this really just hit me with a truck of inspiration :D That battle would've been cut REAL short

It would go like this:

Mothra and Shimo would immediately recognize each other, but Shimo would still be under Skar's control, and because she would try to fight against him to run to Mothra, he would use his little crystal and Shimo would cry out in pain, and then Mothra would lock in and help her get Skar off her back.

After that, while they're hugging, they let the boys handle Skar and walk off into the metaphorical sunset together! (how is there a sun in the Hollow Earth I still don't understand it) So I'd focus a lot more on Shimo and Mothra's feelings being reunited and Shimo finally being free from the crystal that Skar used to control her.

But for actually re-writing it, it'd be like this:

Shimo had gotten used to feeling the air getting knocked out of her.

Each time the crystal sang its distorted song that pierced through her thoughts, her lungs felt like they too could shatter just like her mind came close to. But there, blinking her eyes clear of a daze she had been in for as long as she could remember, and standing over a familiar realm she had never thought she would be able to see again—she got that feeling without the accompanying ringing of torment.

Because beyond the mildly worrying sight of the approaching King and the Ape Skar had forced her to hurt, rushing through a vortex in a burst of golden light and soaring closer with that incoming charge, was Mothra.

She had forgotten what it felt like to feel something good bloom in her chest. She had forgotten what it felt like to long for the feeling of warmth that wasn't searing, to see light that wasn't blinding, to rush forward into that brightness with no fear of being burnt and no chains holding her back from escaping that scorching cage.

And seeing Mothra flying closer with her wings still gleaming with light brought such a deep feeling of hope, and glee, and relief and a sudden will—that it was bursting out of her as a roar, a call, a plea. Skar startled on top of her, his hand tightening warningly around a crest on her head, but she paid it no mind. Only shook her head and shrugged the touch away. Her heart was singing inside of her, just waiting for a duet to join in. Pain didn’t matter anymore, Mothra was right there.

But she heard the clacking of bones clinking against each other, saw the flash of aged white from the corner of her eyes, and when the pain came it wasn’t a surprise. She just wished she could have held her pain back so Mothra wouldn’t hear it.

When the daze let her go from its sharp talons, the sudden answering boom of Mothra’s trill ripping through the grove wasn’t what she had expected and dreamed of for millenia. It was angry, anguished, rageful—so unlike Mothra. But it was still Mothra’s voice. Her beautiful trills and croons and chirps that echoed and echoed in the winds like the air itself was always hesitant to let her go too.

Mothra answered her and her heart bloomed with glee. A soft brush of something gentle and kind nudged at her mind and she welcomed it even after so long, even after coming to hate and fear anything that came close to her thoughts, after knowing only the pain and agony that came with it. There was the ghost of anger in that faint nudge, a whisper of seething fury. But that rage was not directed at her.

Skar pulled at her crest again, reeled her head back and brandished the crystal forward. And she blinked and tried to focus through the numbing pain, teeth clenching together as he urged her forward towards—what? Towards the King? The Ape? Towards... Mothra?

No.

No.

She refused.

Order her to turn against her King. Order her to hurt an Ape who had done nothing to deserve it and stared at her with the kindest eyes she had seen in so long. Chain her, beat her, ride her to battle—do as he had and more, but he would not make her hurt her Queen. Let the crystal shatter her mind into a million pieces, she would not care. At least Mothra would be the last sight she would see.

Thrashing and shaking her back, she snatched her crests away from Skar’s hold and bucked. Her defiance got her another burst of piercing pain, ringing so deep and sharp the crystals on her back screamed and screeched as that one stolen piece of her hurt her own body. But she still refused. When Skar whipped at the ground next to her feet, she refused to move. When he tugged at her head and kicked at her sides, she still refused to step forward. And when he brandished the crystal again, she pushed herself up and stood with a roar ripping through her chest.

Skar's warriors crowded around and reached for her, their fingers dug into her scales as they pushed her down, but then they quickly ripped their hands away when the cold she projected bit their skin. And yet Skar still would not fall, would not let go, even as she kicked and turned her head to snap at what she could reach of him, he still clung to her crests and held on.

But focused as she was on getting him off, she hadn’t noticed the sound of strong wings whipping against the wind. Not until they were much closer, not until she stood in just the right way to block the sight that filled her eyes. And as those wings came to life with a bright glow, she slammed her paws back down and leaned forward.

Mothra’s roar echoed as the following pulse of wind slammed Skar back. And while she was still pulling herself up and turning around to look at the fallen Ape, grunts and choked roars reached her ears as she caught the moment those warriors fell back on the ground. Mothra’s silk held them tight as they kicked and struggled.

Skar growled as he pulled and pushed himself up, quickly looking from side to side, his eyes narrowed at the sight of his fallen warriors. She braced herself when his eyes slid to her.

With a snarl, he shook his head and wrung his whip around his hand. Her eyes lingered on the crystal clutched between his fingers. But Skar was too focused glancing behind her—at the approaching King and the Ape that challenged him no doubt—and she used the opportunity to allow herself the chance to be distracted too and look at the skies behind his back. Where Mothra gracefully flew in an arc to turn back to them. Antennae glued to her head. Claws brandished.

When she turned her eyes back towards Skar, his eyes were just focusing on her again too, and she saw the moment he caught where she had been looking at in the small pinch around his eyes. She didn’t let herself think much before taking in a deep breath and letting her ice leave her as a roar. Memories of pain rushed through her mind, of the agony that followed every time she had ever fought back against the crystal’s influence. A quick, horrible flash of a scene, of Skar turning his whip around and towards Mothra, flashed behind her eyelids. But she did not think. She only felt, and let that feeling strengthen her breath as it grew colder and stronger. The crystal shone in Skar’s hand. Between one blink and another, he dashed to the side and brandished the damned thing while her ice missed just shy of hitting his shoulder. Her ears rang, pain pushed and pulsed behind her eyes—but it was enough.

The distraction had been enough.

Silk hugged Skar from behind in a blink, and Mothra brushed past him with enough force to knock him forward. He struggled and kicked, snarled and growled, but the silk didn’t let up. And try as he might to reach for the crystal with his feet, it still laid too far away.

But she noted that with just a fleeting glance. She had more important things to pay attention to.

Mothra came to a stop in front of her with a single elegant beat of her wings. She closed her eyes as the winds whipped at her face, lifting up blades of grass and tiny rocks that flew around her, but the strength behind each flap of her wings soon disappeared. When she opened her eyes again, Mothra fluttered in front of her. And Shimo fought back the wail trying to escape her as she leaned forward. So many years. So many dreams. So many wishes. There was so much she needed to say, so much she wanted to hear and do and feel again.

Mothra’s claws clicked softly against her scales as she settled on her snout. Her fur so soft to the touch, her wings opened wide and glowing with bright bursts of color, and her eyes—her beautiful eyes—shone so brightly and squeezed together when she leaned forward to nuzzle at her snout.

Heavy steps came from behind her in a pair, but she did not worry. Mothra hadn’t reacted in any way, so she was safe. She knew everything was alright when Godzilla appeared at her side. He looked different. Leaner, his crests sharper and their color a warmer tone. But the eyes that met hers were just the same. If not much older. Kinder. Understanding.

Godzilla held Mothra’s eyes for a quiet moment, a silent conversation happening between them with that one glance, and Mothra chirped a lilting tone. Soft, in a way that sounded almost encouraging. Godzilla grumbled deep in his throat in response, his eyes sliding away from Mothra to rest on her instead. And then he stepped closer to her, his nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, until he closed the distance between them to press his snout against the top of her head. Mothra crooned and reached a claw out to Godzilla too, her wings opening to rest against his back. And Shimo closed her eyes and accepted the touch, leaned further into it, and grumbled a quiet airy sound of her own.

Safe, that touch told her, she was safe now. And she believed it.

When she opened her eyes, the Ape she had hurt stood in front of Skar. A little Ape stood next to him, a tiny hand clinging to his leg while he silently watched as Skar snarled and spat at them both. The little one was familiar. Sometimes, in those quiet and rare times they met and held each other’s eyes, she felt they understood each other. The other’s pain. The other’s prison. The other’s captor. She was there when he got the scar.

The Ape she hurt stepped back with a last blank look at Skar, and seemed to only then notice the whip lying on the ground next to his feet. He kneeled down, took it, and delicately held the crystal between his fingers, turning it as it caught the light. It whispered cruelly to her as it glinted and winked, and she must have flinched or tensed, because Mothra crooned a soothing tune and caressed her scales with a gentle claw. And Godzilla, rumbling a quiet sound deep in his chest, pulled himself away to stand taller, eyes fixed on the Ape.

The soft sounds drew the Ape’s attention. Their eyes met for a quiet and heavy moment—she thought of him cowering away from her, hand clutching at his other ruined one—and with the crystal held between them, the Ape closed his armored fist around it and crushed it, letting the shards rain to the grass below as he opened his palm again.

All at once, the tension in her body left as a sigh. Godzilla grumbled beside her, something surprised but approving in his eyes. And Mothra tilted her head to chirp at the Ape, before something caught her eye and she slipped down her snout to flutter away, a last apologetic coo following her as she went. But when she followed Mothra with her eyes, the Ape was stepping closer, palms open and reaching for her.

She only worried for a second, one irrational second that had her freezing and tensing, but she blinked, felt Godzilla’s presence still hovering close. And after a quick deep breath, leaned forward to press her snout to the Ape’s armored palm. His touch was gentle but firm, and guilt crawled at her chest to know what she had done to the skin under the strange thing clinging to his hand. But he didn’t seem to be in pain, and when she looked at his face, he didn’t seem to hold a grudge either.

A sharp chattering of mandibles had them all looking at Mothra again, where she stood on top of Skar, reinforcing the silk webbing him down that had just begun to fail against his constant struggling. And with a last hiss and a sharp flick of her claw at his face, Mothra batted her wings and glided to her again. Her brows relaxing back into a soft look, her antennae fluttering as they eased back into a relaxed position, those sharp claws tucked in so Mothra could hug her snout again and press closer.

Godzilla and Kong stepped closer to Skar, side by side, while the little one did his best to imitate the way Kong stood. And she turned her head up, stood on her hind legs and held Mothra like a star she had plucked from the skies. Mothra cooed sweetly, that familiar melody she used to sing when sleep refused to come to her. And Shimo pushed aside all thoughts of Skar from her mind. The crystal laid in pieces in the grass, Skar was doing his best to avoid Godzilla’s heavy glare, and she was busy staring into Mothra’s eyes like they were the skies she hadn’t seen in millions and millions of years. The song Mothra cooed nestled itself deep in her heart, deep in her mind, as it changed and shaped itself into words, and feelings, and lovely memories and a deep sense of belonging.

My love, Mothra cooed; soft as the clouds, warm like the sun. And her heart sung back.

My hope.

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Imagine seeing this clip without context

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happy fingers in his mouth friday

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Old woman yuri propaganda

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me and geminanvaju were talking about how these two would court each other like birds and this idea came up. It's kind of a really late valentines thingy kjhdgjkh

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just gonna leave this here i guess

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Do you have any headcanons about Shimo? :D

AAA I do!! :DD

Ok, so, I'd love to see any official media talking about how Shimo was captured and how her absence changed the world around her, but my HC for how Shimo ended up with the Skar King is that she felt guilty!

So. The ice age definitely had something to do with her, right? Maybe it happened while she was growing up and didn't know how to control her ice, and then ended up creating too many ice sheets around the planet that reflected the sun's light too much. Shimo doesn't seem to be capable of "bending" her power to her will to be able to un-make any ice she produces, so if she created a big cap of ice in the middle of the ocean to make a path just because she's bored and wants to see what's on the other side of the horizon, then that thing would stay there until Godzilla showed up to destroy it (or sent Rodan to deal with it).

Over time it would still help to cool the earth and kickstart the first ice age, and I imagine Godzilla would've been livid and Mothra would've been very sad to see the sudden change kill so many creatures that didn't evolve to deal with the cold in time.

And maybe that led to her choosing to stay in the Hollow Earth instead of the surface (where I think it makes more sense for her to be, since the Hollow Earth seems to be a mostly warm place being closer to the Earth's core and all), and since she's not a violent or reactive Titan by nature, it was easy for Skar to capture her :( So the last time Shimo ever talked to Mothra was when they parted ways with her feeling guilt and thinking that Mothra wanted nothing to do with her anymore :((

Sad HCs aside, I think Shimo is a playful and calm Titan, and other than liking pats on her head and belly rubs especially after being chained for so long, I like to imagine Shimo likes playing fetch just because the mental image is adorable :D

Imagine Suko throwing a tree for her to catch and Shimo just booking after it and causing a level-two tremor in a city nearby. (And then Mothra and Godzilla would need to pull her aside to have a talk about how they know she's been out of the loop for the last millennia, but now there are these tiny surface humans living in these things called cities everywhere and they're too delicate for her to walk around like she does in the Hollow Earth where the Iwi are safe behind Mothra's barrier.)

Intelect-wise—when I think of Shimo, the first thing that comes to mind is a Great Dane. They're gigantic and scary from a distance, but when you approach them they're just sweet, intelligent, very playful and think they're way smaller than they actually are. She'd probably be perfect for guarding the kids in the Kong kingdom, imagine the scary dog privilege lkjhkjh

I don't really see Shimo as being less aware or smart than other Titans to the point of being reduced to just being Kong's dog, the only Titan I see that way would be Doug, but I do see her as having that sort of laid-back personality since she's content to just step back and let Godzilla take the mantle of Alpha when she could probably easily win against him in a challenge for that authority. She helped fight against Ghidorah and imprisoned him in ice for what would have been forever if they hadn't gotten him out of there!

And I also prefer thinking of Shimo as a very old lady that has been through a lot already. I know Wingard mentioned in an interview that she was a relatively young and naive Titan to her species' standards that lead to them aging at a slower pace, but I can't think of her like that. To me that's a whole grandma that likes getting pats on her little head with a receding hairline and she is in a sapphic situationship with Mothra <3

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HELLO!! I want to say that I absolutely love your Mothra characterization and I would like to know what your favorite Mothra designs are <3

Hii hI!! Thank you so much omg!! <333 That makes me really happy kjgkdjhf And thank you so much for giving me a chance to yap about this because I swear, every time they made a new design for Mothra they were COOKING and I have so much love for almost all of them!

Going first, Mothra's GMK design is definitely my favorite color palette-wise just because of the purple kjhkj. I think it fits her tones of orange, yellow and red so well and I'm so sad no other designs ever used this specific combination of purple patterns and eyes again :((

Second place - and I know it's not really Mothra herself but still kinda is? - There's Leo's Immortal form that I live for and I'm seriously hoping will make an appearance again (especially in the MV) because LOOK AT THAT. I think it could work as a final form for Mothra to evolve into now that Godzilla has an evolved form too! (And hopefully they could make her a little bigger too)

I ADORE her 2003 model. She looks so soo fluffy, and her colors are so soft and warm, and there's something about her face that makes her look extra adorable. I think other than her GMK model, this one has my favorite color palette <3

And I know half of the fandom hates Mothra's current MV model, but I love it. I've always loved characters with body shapes like these, kinda bowed down but elegant and regal, (it scratches a little itch in the back of my head like Al-An's design from Subnautica 2), and I love her little Y feet so much. I love how aerodynamic her body looks when she locks in to fly too <333

And of course, her larva form is a million times cuter in the MV and I love how much she looks like a tardigrade