Editor’s note: Magnificence of Mechagodzilla will be a series of opinion pieces by Falcon News writer Tobias Thompson. All opinions expressed herein are solely of the writer and not that of Falcon News.
Mechagodzilla is originally an alien-made, semi-autonomous killing machine armed to the teeth, literally. Mechagodzilla‘s first appearance was, for the better, at the very end of the Showa era of Godzilla movies. He is one of the most popular of Godzilla’s enemies to date, only behind King Ghidorah and Godzilla himself. I’ve talked about the most recent Mechagodzilla; time for the original:
The Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens’ Greatest Weapon
Due to being both the penultimate and ultimate antagonist of the Showa era, Mechagodzilla is easily the strongest in the verse. He even exceeds that of the in-verse King Ghidorah and Heisei Mecha King Ghidorah, confirming him to be stronger than the former and almost as strong as the latter. King Ghidorah was able to compare to Zone Fighter and survive his encounter with him, something other Terror Beasts and Gigan are unable to do — even when ZF could kill Dorola, a 4th-dimensional Terror Beast, as well as other Terror Beasts that are stronger than that, including King Ghidorah himself.
There are events during the final battle of “Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla” that show him and cement Mechagodzilla’s legacy of being the strongest in the Showa movies. He is able to survive and shrug off King Caesar, redirecting MG’s own eye beams; these beams are made 10 times stronger than the original attack. Mechagodzilla easily nearly killed both King Caesar and a powered up, post-Zone Fighter training Godzilla, so much so that Godzilla needed to become a living magnet in order to defeat him. Mechagodzilla 2, though seemingly weaker after the fight with an uncharged post-Zone Fighter Godzilla and having the aid of Titanosaurus, is actually confirmed STRONGER than the original, which nearly rivals that of later Heisei Kaiju.
Diet Heisei On The Cutting Board Floor/Name Of Mechagodzilla’s Game(s)
Diet Heisei On The Cutting Board Floor
In the world of Godzilla movie drafts, Mechagodzilla wasn’t the first idea of a mechanical Godzilla. That award would go to the 1972 early draft, Mechani-Godzilla, told to look like a Godzilla suit painted silver with switches on its chest as part of a weird show called “Chibikko Special”. This was similar to Shark Tank but instead of pitches from business owners it’s pitches for original kaiju. As Mechani-Godzilla quickly died, the idea for Mechagodzilla soon was born, as a way to commemorate Godzilla’s 20 year anniversary. Toho took inspiration mostly from Mechani-Kong from the 1967 movie King Kong Escapes and the rising trend of robot-themed anime during the 70s, such as Voltes V and Mazinger Z. Starting out with a smoother, more dull design, Showa MG slowly turned into Nobuyuki Yasumaru’s favor (the main man of modeling Mechagodzilla) as more of a version with ridges and more blocky than the original concept.
During production, Mechagodzilla (MG) was made with two separate halves, with most scenes being filmed with either the top or bottom half individually. The suit’s head and hands are made of fiber reinforced plastic, while the body was made of polyethylene instead, a kind you find in bath mats. There was also a smaller flying model made separately. MG2 was now made with a frp that allowed the hands to rotate, as well as the new body being made from latex from a plastic mold, making the chest a lot softer than the original’s chest. The most interesting of all is that Mechagodzilla’s suit is the oldest kaiju suit to ever exist, as all other suits have rotted beyond repair. A preserved suit mix of the MG1 and 2 suits are found on display in japan, where they have been for less than 10 years.
Name Of Mechagodzilla’s Game(s)
The thing with being a popular character in the 1970s is that by the time video games become popular, you will be in many, many video games because of your popularity. Mechagodzilla is no exception. He has been in almost every Godzilla game since “Godzilla: Monster of Monsters” in 1988. Mechagodzilla usually plays the role of a villain, being an enemy of Godzilla in games such as “Godzilla Vs …” and the Godzilla arcade game, and being under alien’s control in most other games, such as “Godzilla: Monster Of Monsters” and “Godzilla: Unleashed”. There are exceptions, such as Monster Strike and Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. However, in relatively more recent video games, the Showa Mechagodzilla wasn’t given as big a role as other monsters, or didn’t appear in the game at all.
MiscG
Showa Mechagodzilla is by far the Mechagodzilla in the most TV shows, being in:
- Get Going! Godzilland
- Ugly Americans
- Godzilla Island
- Zone Fighter (not directly, exists in the same verse)
- The Simpsons (because of this, he is indirectly connected to Family Guy and other shows)
His involvement and role in the Godzilla TV shows being more defined than the others usually ended up being cameos rather than him being an important part of the episode.
In the German version of GVMG, Mechagodzilla is called King Kong; making him, along with Jet Jaguar, the few non-King Kong monsters to be called such.
And last but not least, Showa Mechagodzilla’s most interesting aspect: his anatomy. As of right now, there are many anatomical drawings of MG, but something that nearly all of them show is something that was foreign to any other Mechagodzilla for 44 years; an infinite amount of weapons. In the drawings, there is essentially a factory inside Mechagodzilla, producing missiles perpetually, with each set of missiles replacing the set that had just fired. This goes for all of Mechagodzilla’s missiles, which allows his fingers, mouth, neck shuttle, knees, and toes to fire at least 18 missiles in single set. We don’t actually know the exact number of missiles that are housed in the neck shuttle.
Epilogue
It may seem that Mechagodzilla has become a prolific, powerful character over the years, but now you know that it turns out, he was a [Mecha]god from the very begging. Still The Best, 1974.
