#godzilla voxel wars

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (August 27-September 2, 2023)

Godzilla Battle Line has cemented its reputation as the Super Smash Bros. of kaiju games by bringing in the GAMERA -Rebirth- incarnations of Gamera and Gyaos later this month. Gamera showing up in a Godzilla game is a huge deal—this is the first time the two have properly met outside of poorly-documented live performances. Even in City Shrouded in Shadow, they only appeared in separate levels. Given all the fantasy-match debates over the years, maybe it's for the best that they're coming to blows in a medium where either could emerge the victor.

Godzilla Rivals: Vs. SpaceGodzilla marks Matt Frank's triumphant return to the IDW Godzilla line (covers aside). It reminded me a lot of The Last Hope: the fall of an advanced civilization at the hands of kaiju, narrated but dialogue-free. As in Rulers of Earth, Frank draws a mean SpaceGodzilla - more personable than the one from the actual movie but just as much of a dick. Singura, his all-new rival, is a neat creation too, with more abilities than this concept art lets on.

Sometimes these Weeks in Review are outdated before I can post them. Behold the teaser for the trailer for Godzilla Minus One, both of which you have surely watched five times by now. I'm hoping to have an analysis post up shortly.

Godzilla Voxel Wars is a game headed for Steam in November 2023. A turned-based strategy game, it pits a host of Toho monsters against an alien race called the Fungoids (interesting, and perhaps accidental, synergy with IDW's Zoospora). Toho Games is developing it with Nukenin. I'm intrigued, mostly because this style of Godzilla game usually forces you to control the military, but the art style isn't the most appealing. They look like nanoblocks. It's also catching some flak for its similarities to Into the Breach.

Titanosaurus has long been one of the most coveted Movie Monster Series figures since his release in 2002, and he's finally getting another edition, alongside a Godzilla '75 (last seen as part of the Memorial Box in 2005).

JSDF plans for new anti-aircraft electronic warfare equipment had Japanese Twitter abuzz, on account of the vehicle looking for all the world like a Maser Cannon. I'm sure kaiju filmmakers will start looking for excuses to have them show up.

[shin-hero-buster]

if you had asked me what i wanted out of the first officially made toho godzilla game released internationally to be i would not have said "puzzle board game" but damn if Voxel Wars isn't a lot of fun. also it has an insane amount of content for how cheap it is. highly recommend to people who like puzzle games

[anjelusx]

Let's Play - Godzilla Voxel Wars

[gonagaiworld]

TOHO Games ha annunciato il gioco strategico a turni Godzilla Voxel Wars Il gioco uscirà per PC (Steam) a novembre. Info:--> https://www.gonagaiworld.com/toho-games-ha-annunciato-il-gioco-strategico-a-turni-godzilla-voxel-wars/?feed_id=397244&_unique_id=64f4940487c95 #GodzillaVoxelWars #Steam

[mckennacayden]

Godzilla Voxel Wars - Gameplay Reveal Trailer https://www.gamespot.com/videos/godzilla-voxel-wars-gameplay-reveal-trailer/2300-6462299/

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (November 12-18, 2023)

The first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters were officially released on November 17, but Apple gave me a stellar birthday present by dropping them in the last few hours of the 16th in my timezone. So far it's living up to the hype. Now, as one of the five people who remember Surface, I wasn't expecting much kaiju action on a TV budget. Fortunately, the characters are compelling (and many of the actors unfairly attractive), while the kaiju make the most of their handful of scenes. With more room to breathe than most Godzilla stories, it's able to show what it means to live in a world of nigh-indestructible nightmares like few before it. Subsequent episodes will continue to drop on Fridays (with an asterisk?), except for this week, which will see a premiere on Wednesday instead, I guess because of Thanksgiving.

Between Godziban, his stint as a Godzilla Battle Line juggernaut, Godzilla: War for Humanity, Godzilla Voxel Wars, and the upcoming Brave Like Godzilla picture book I think I forgot to talk about before, it's clear we've entered the Second Age of Minilla. Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, IDW's first original Godzilla graphic novel, will give him another prime role. The plot:

This fresh Godzilla OGN proves that kaiju are for kids. Especially the ones who’d rather befriend beasts than fight them. As an aspiring cartoonist, Zelda has always dreamed of attending an art summer camp, and this year she finally gets to go! But when she arrives to Make It Summer Camp, she’s horrified to see the easels and sketchboards have been replaced with dodgeball and calisthenics. The camp is under new, suspicious management that’s turned it into an extreme sports nightmare.  Determined to salvage her summer, Zelda escapes to a secluded corner of the island. Here she can finally draw in peace. At least until she stumbles into a portal to a fantastic world! Welcome to Monster Island, Zelda! There she makes a connection with baby kaiju Minilla and discovers the beauty of these legendary creatures. However, all is not well on Monster Island. Great evils are stirring and if Zelda can’t protect their home, the kaiju will unleash their wrath on the world.

Rosie Knight (writer) and Oliver Ono (artist) previously worked together on Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra, an intriguing tale with terrific monster art that I thought needed more pages than the Rivals format affords. Looks like IDW agreed. They've really got us nerds by the throat with this premise too. Releasing August 13, 2024.

Read Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Mechagodzilla. Not very good.

Mechagodzilla also looks to feature heavily in the first Rivals issue of 2024, although it's titled Mothra Vs. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. Johnny Parker II is writing, Winston Chan is illustrating. The logline:

Mothra is a great protector and friend to humanity, but not everyone believes the monster is always going to be on our side. When an anti-kaiju group controlling the powerful robotic Mechagodzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. attacks Mothra’s home, it’s up to a few brave souls, an injured Mothra, and a little extra robotic help to save the day!

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 29-November 4, 2023)

Like me, you probably haven't seen Godzilla Minus One yet, making Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar last week's most spectacular new watch. Kazuhiro Nakagawa's ambitions grow with each entry in this series; this time, he was helped by veteran Rider/Sentai suit actor Kenya Saito inside the great new Jet Jaguar suit. The ending wasn't quite what I predicted, but still set up what should be a spectacular showdown last year.

I wish these shorts weren't effectively the last vestiges of tokusatsu in the Godzilla series; I wish even more that Toho would allow them to stay on YouTube. This one, along with its associated behind-the-scenes videos, will stay around until the end of the year, as an apology for the Godzilla Day VOD having such awful audio as to be unsalvageable. But that still means its discoverability will take a serious hit, and it's unclear what Toho actually gets out of this artificial scarcity. Maybe they're plotting to release all the shorts on Blu-ray in a few years. In any case, download this one post-haste.

While he didn't get a new suit, Megalon still made a triumphant return in the other short film released on Godzilla Day, Godzilla vs. Megalon. A sequel to Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex, it's also directed by Takuya Uenishi. The live-action footage in this one helps ground the over-the-top monster mayhem, and a weakened Godzilla displays some cool new tricks, although I found his finisher unsatisfying. As for Megalon, well, he finally shows the world just how terrifying he can be when he takes himself more seriously.

After a mercifully brief marketing campaign, the 37th Godzilla movie, Godzilla Minus One, is in Japanese theaters (and it's making bank). I'm trying to go in relatively unspoiled (always difficult as a Wikizilla admin), but what little I have read has been promising. The basic premise, which the early promos have largely masked, sounds like a kaiju story I wrote in college, which I couldn't be more thrilled by. If you're feeling daring, there's a second trailer out.

We'll get the first episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters even sooner than Godzilla Minus One. Accordingly, Apple has ramped up promotion, releasing a behind-the-scenes video (above), the opening title sequence, and the first scene of the series. We also have names for a couple of the new monsters (the new Skull Island beastie is a Mantleclaw and the critters hatching from eggs are Endoswarmers) and better looks at a couple others.

I joked after the Godzilla Day livestream that it was such a technical fiasco because Toho had put all its skill points into releasing Godzilla Minus One. Similar could be said for the Fathom Events release of Godzilla 2000: Millennium. The showing I caught was fine technically (one brief frame rate hiccup aside), just... uninspired. The preshow was the same brief behind-the-scenes footage of G2K included on the American DVD and Blu-ray; the film used the same translation as the Blu-ray. And now that the novelty of actually being able to watch it has worn off, I've soured considerably on the Japanese version of this movie. The languid score and sound design are especially glaring in a theater.

Godzilla Voxel Wars, available on Steam and Epic Games, probably should have been released in a week less packed with more attention-grabbing Godzilla news. Still zero reviews on Metacritic! Haven't played it myself, but fellow Wikizilla admin Les is enjoying it.

Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #5 also added to the Godzilla onslaught. Still impressed at how big a role the Giant Octopus had in this (and what a brutal ending for it and Ebirah), but the miniseries wrapped up a little too neatly.

Despite backing it on Kickstarter, I had nearly forgotten about Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett. Turns out the reason the book has taken so long to be published (the campaign ended last May) is the page count jumping from "around 200" to 424! It's off to the printer now, so the wait is nearly over.

Worth posting again: the third BOSS Coffee ad featuring the new ShodaiGoji suit. Very little original footage in this one, but some first-class editing.

And a few other happenings I'll keep to bullet points so you can finally stop scrolling:

I forgot to post about Viz publishing volume 7 of Asadora! Huge props for introducing a kyodai hero without derailing the story (I won't say how, but it's quite clever).

After its brief Japanese theatrical run, the black-and-white version of Shin Godzilla is "under consideration for further development." Home video next?

The newest Godzilla Battle Line units are Super Mechagodzilla and a second version of Godzilla '54 who strafes his atomic breath and ignores most status effects. I've had virtually no time to play since the new season started (this post was typed entirely in a Georgia hotel room, put it that way), but I hear they're both stellar.

Godzilla trading card update: disappointment and confusion! The Godzilla Minus One promo cards were only available for a very limited time as add-ons to a $75+ TCGPlayer order. Meanwhile, nobody can find the packs of Surreal Entertainment cards that were supposed to arrive at Five Below on Godzilla Day.

Naturally, lots of toys revealed on and around Godzilla Day. Highlights include a Super7 Godzilla figure with an Imperial-inspired paint job, a Super7 SpaceGodzilla repaint blatantly based on Super Godzilla which sold out instantly, an S.H. MonsterArts Jet Jaguar '73, and Movie Monster Series figures for *inhales* Godzilla '55, Anguirus '55, Flying Stage Hedorah, Godzilla '64, and Minilla '67. The Godzilla Raids Again figures are both getting variants inspired by a Toy Dreams set from 2006. Bandai also started up another Movie Monster Series fans-pick-the-figure poll, but what's the point? They'll have every single Godzilla kaiju represented before the decade's half over. (And maybe by the end of the decade I'll be able to afford all the ones I want!)