Kaiju Week in Review (November 27-December 3, 2022)
Netflix released the Norwegian blockbuster Troll on Thursday. It's decent. I'm glad that original creature features can still exist, but unfortunately there's not much to set this one apart from the pack besides the novel setting and monster. Readers of this column will have no trouble predicting nearly every story beat. Props for including a cute hacker (and the wacky operation shown above... trolls hate church bells, you see).
IDW finally published Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan, which was originally supposed to come out on May 25 with a different artist. I'd say it's my second-favorite of the series, after the King Ghidorah issue. The premise—the Nebulans upload fighting techniques from gamers around the world into Gigan and sic him on Seattle—was always going to be a winner, and it actually does something with its period setting. Great action, and I'm delighted the Nebulans finally came back in a big way.
The Colorado-based toy company Titanic Creations has licensed Gorgo, and they've got big plans for the Irish Godzilla. The DopePope sculpt above will be the basis for a super-articulated figure; announced alongside it were a graphic novel that follows the 1961 film and (more tentatively) an animated film! The comic is due in 2024 and will be set in the same universe's that the company's original kaiju inhabit. Now they just need a bawdy novelization of the new film to complete the Gorgo hat trick.
Student-run Studio Mujaku has a short in the works, titled Midnight the Era, which will combine tokusatsu and hand-drawn animation. Fascinating premise—in a world where nuclear weapons are replacing human-controlled kaiju as deterrents, one of Japan's kaiju decides to resist its decommissioning. The storyboards and teaser trailer look lovely too. One scary caveat, from the SciFi Japan article: "Unlike many student works, MIDNIGHT THE ERA will not be released on YouTube. Instead, it is scheduled to premiere at the Summer 2023 Comiket comic convention in Tokyo. DVDs of the film will also be sold at Studio Mujaku's booth during the convention." So this might end up being one of those kaiju shorts that'll be nigh-impossible to see in the West unless you go to G-Fest (if that).
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Godziban dropped another mostly-filler episode which recaps season 1, though it does start with a short scene of Rodan teaching Radon to fly. They're really testing Wikizilla's color-coding abilities with all these segments!
Radon is also getting a Bandai Movie Monster Series figure later this month, alongside the Godziban Anguirus. Images not to scale; I'd expect Radon to be about the size of the Minilla and Little figures.
In other Godzilla toy news, Playmates VPs of Marketing John Stelzner and Pat Linden went on the Adventures in Collecting Podcast and revealed some of the company's plans for the line. Offerings next year will include Baragon (not sure which one) and a new Titan Tech figure. They'll also be making more figures of MonsterVerse kaiju from before Godzilla vs. Kong, are working on a line for the fifth MonsterVerse film, and have their sights set on Hedorah and Biollante for the classic line.
I'll close with a reminder that Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time will be playing in U.S. theaters on the 6th, 8th, and 11th. My semester also ends on the 11th, so I'm in crunch mode now, but I'm still hoping to carve out the time to see it.
No because people don’t seem to understand. The scrambled letters, the Easter eggs, the hidden letters and messages, these are all tradition for us. No it’s not just promo, she’s doing this for us, we’ve been doing this from the beginning of her career.
We started by figuring out hidden messages in songs from her booklets to connecting barcodes all across the globe. I’m so excited, I’m so happy.