Hey kaiju fans, it's Titanollante and the focus of today's video is
trying to clear up several misconceptions or illogical theories that seem to plague
the Godzilla fandom.
So we're here to bust some of the more basic Godzilla myths.
So, with that said...
In a 1963 issue of the American fanzine Spaceman, an article on "King Kong vs. Godzilla" concluded
with an erroneous claim that would endure for decades: "2 endings have been filmed
and if you see KING KONG VS. GODZILLA in Japan, Hong Kong, or some Oriental sector of the world,
Godzilla wins!
On the other hand, in the USA & England, for instance, Kong wins!"
Spaceman's source for this information is unknown, as even Toho's 1963 international sales brochure makes it
clear that Kong is the victor in the original version of the film. The actual differences
in the endings of the Japanese and American versions are minimal.
While in the Japanese version the characters propose it is possible that Godzilla survived
the battle, in the U.S. version they merely state they hope they've seen the last of him.
"Kong is swimming safely out to sea... No Godzilla."
"That's wonderful! I hope we've seen the last of them for a long time."
Godzilla's roar is also not heard over the end title card, while it is present in the
Japanese version before Kong's.
So while originally it was always the case that Kong won the battle, interestingly,
Tomoyuki Tanaka retroactively changed the outcome of the fight to being a draw in the fight record
present in the book "Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction."
So there are different sources that say that Kong was the winner or that the fight was
a draw, but there is nothing that says that Godzilla won.
Okay, so, some people think that Godzilla Junior (from the Heisei series) turns into
the Godzilla from "Godzilla 2000: Millennium" because of the ending of "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah"
which shows Junior alive, turned into an adult Godzilla after he absorbs his father's radiation
after the meltdown.
Seems to make sense superficially, right?
After Godzilla Junior becomes the new Godzilla, he returns in the next Godzilla movie.
Simply put however, this isn't true.
Never mind the fact that there isn't any confirmation about these 2 Godzillas being the same,
the opposite is true: Godzilla.jp (the official Godzilla website) confirms that the Godzilla
in Godzilla 2000 is the >second< Godzilla in that film's continuity after the original
Godzilla that attacked in 1954, meanwhile Godzilla Junior was the third Godzilla in
the Heisei continuity.
Also, yes, the Heisei series had 3 Godzillas--that's another misconception entirely, where some
people think that the 1954 Godzilla and the Heisei Godzillas are the same.
To put it simply: the 1954 Godzilla and the Heisei Godzilla are separate,
and the most basic proof of this are these lines in "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah."
"It was the exact site where... the first Godzilla was killed about 40 years ago right?"
"We must kill him the way we killed the first Godzilla."
"YOU CAN'T!!!"
"The Oxygen Destroyer."
Of course, the entire "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" time travel debacle confuses everyone, and
we have a breakdown of what happens as a result of the time travelling in a separate video
which you can watch right here.
On to the next one!
The next most popular theory about who Godzilla Junior becomes posits that the Monster Prince
becomes the Godzilla from "Godzilla: Final Wars."
This theory stems from stock footage of Godzilla Junior's rebirth being shown on top of Godzilla
being frozen in ice at the beginning of "Godzilla: Final Wars."
However, the Heisei series and "Godzilla: Final Wars" share no continuity and are NOT connected.
The reason why this shot was chosen is most likely just because it was
a great triumphant shot of Godzilla to end the montage.
Moreover, it is impossible for this Godzilla to be Junior, as the film establishes that
this Godzilla first appeared in 1954...
"The King of Monsters that appeared in 1954
"and has since regularly threatened man's very existence on this planet. It's name is..."
"SKREEEEEEEONGK!"
While Junior wasn’t born until 1994.
(All the Heisei movies take place 1 year after the movie is actually released.)
So there really isn't anything even supporting this theory at all since nothing adds up,
and the reason this theory exists in the first place is ridiculous.
“God Godzilla,” or alternatively "Almighty Deity Godzilla," is a supposed omnipotent
version of Godzilla and is arguably the biggest manga-related misconception in the Godzilla fandom.
In an Ultraseven doujinshi titled "Worst Case Invasion of Earth," a monster fans refer to
as "God Godzilla," or "Almighty Deity Godzilla," appears.
This monster is a special version of Godzilla who has King Ghidorah-like wings that form a cape.
God Godzilla only appears in a single scene, and is shown standing among several Ultra
series kaiju who are looking up at him, while Ultraseven stands at God Godzilla’s feet,
dwarfed by the kaiju’s giant size.
So, seems legit right?
It's actually not.
God Godzilla is NOT official because, as I said earlier, it comes from a doujinshi -- which
is a term used for FANMADE manga.
Another example of this would be IDW artist Matt Frank's "The Last Hope,"
an American doujinshi about Gamera.
"Worst Case Invasion of Earth" is not an officially licensed comic,
and was created by 2 experienced artists in Japan.
God Godzilla is not to be confused with 'King Godzilla,' who is an official Godzilla monster
(an evil clone of Godzilla possessing the DNA of King Ghidorah, Biollante and Battra)
appearing in a licensed manga series by Kodansha.
Given the existence of something as bizarre as King Godzilla, it wouldn't be much of a
stretch to assume that there was indeed an omnipotent Godzilla in a manga.
However, it's not the case.
A rather common misconception suggests that Godzilla’s name was taken from the nickname
of a burly member of staff at Toho’s Tokyo Studio.
However, it's just a widespread fact that Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira, is derived
from the Japanese words for gorilla, gorira (ゴリラ) and whale, kujira (クジラ).
There is no evidence for the existence of a person with the nickname 'Gojira' working
for Toho, nor that Godzilla was named after him.
Yes.
The Legendary Godzilla does have gills: they are laid out like those of large fish
such as sharks at the sides of his neck.
No, they are not "overlapping plates."
Godzilla designer Christian Pearce admitted in an interview with fxguide that they gave Goji gills.
Here's the excerpt where he says this.
But before getting angry at the fact that Legendary somehow destroyed Godzilla's legacy
by giving him something he would need to be able to breathe underwater for the millions
of years he spent there, did you know that Godzilla 2014 isn't the only Godzilla to have gills?
Shin Godzilla, and more shockingly, the Showa Godzilla, also have gills.
Sounds like I just made that up, right?
Makes sense that Shin Godzilla would have gills...
But the Showa Godzilla?
If you look at any Showa Godzilla suits, you can't see any gills.
Well….
In "Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction," a book written by Godzilla creator
Tomoyuki Tanaka himself and re-released over a dozen times throughout the years, states this as a fact.
Spiracle-like structures at the base of the Showa Godzilla’s neck serve as his gills.
While from a biological standpoint, these organs don’t resemble what typical gills are,
that’s the purpose they have nonetheless.
Also, while, yes, in the real world, these are just airholes for Haruo Nakajima to breathe through,
these holes have been explained in-universe as being Godzilla's gills;
a clever way to integrate a feature of the suit into the actual monster’s biology!
If you think about it logically, it only makes sense for Godzilla to have gills anyway since
he literally lives underwater.
Still, most Godzillas do not have confirmed gills.
Also, since we were just speaking about the 2016 Godzilla...
This misconception arises from early mistranslations of the description of what the 2016 Godzilla is.
The Godzilla featured in "Shin Godzilla" is an unspecified type of prehistoric marine
animal that became heavily mutated after feeding on nuclear waste dumped into its habitat in the 1950's.
The creature mutated rapidly over a period of 60 years, eventually coming ashore and
continuing to mutate until it took the recognizable form of Godzilla.
While the exact type of animal this Godzilla originated from is never discussed in the film,
an essay written from an in-universe perspective by the character Goro Maki included
with the film's Blu-ray release suggests that the creature's base form likely possessed
large teeth and fangs and was "in all likelihood, closely related to prehistoric marine reptiles,
which first emerged in the Paleozoic Era."
This misconception likely arose due to Godzilla being referred to as a mixotroph, an organism
that is able use a mix of different forms of energy and carbon, in the film.
Because many mixotrophs are microorganisms, some fans apparently assumed that this Godzilla
is the result of several mixotrophic microorganisms being mutated by nuclear waste on the seafloor
and combining into a superorganism.
It should be noted, however, that there exist many multicellular mixotrophs as well, such as
the venus flytrap or oriental hornet.
The film does not ever suggest that Godzilla originated as a microorganism, and as previously
mentioned states that he was a type of marine animal, likely a reptile.
Following with this information, it would not be likely that Shin Godzilla was a frilled shark.
Godzilla's 2nd form's design was inspired by a frilled shark, but Godzilla himself was
not a mutated one of these creatures.
It is commonly believed by those unfamiliar with the Godzilla franchise that the M.U.T.O.s,
Godzilla's opponents in the 2014 film, are meant to be an adaptation of an existing
Toho kaiju, usually either Mothra, Gigan or Rodan.
The M.U.T.O.s are actually original monsters created by Legendary Pictures specifically
for the film, and not directly based on an existing monster from the Godzilla series,
due to Legendary Pictures not holding the rights to any monsters aside from Godzilla himself.
Bear in mind that by "MUTOs" we mean the species of creature that Godzilla 2014 fights.
In the MonsterVerse, all giant monsters are called "MUTOs" until they're given a definite name.
These MUTOs just never got a real name.
Anyways, much of the confusion regarding Mothra being a M.U.T.O. comes from the male M.U.T.O.'s
winged appearance and emergence from a chrysalis-like structure, as well as a rumored post credits-scene
from the film reported by the website KDramaStars,
which supposedly featured Mothra leading an army of M.U.T.O.s.
The scene in question was a hoax fabricated by the website, while the male M.U.T.O.'s
similarities to Mothra are most likely just coincidental.
While Mothra has always been depicted as a giant colorful moth that acts as a benevolent
guardian, the M.U.T.O.s are hostile parasitic creatures which are NOT INSECTS and feature
bodies almost entirely black in color.
The belief that Gigan and Rodan are M.U.T.O.s also stems from some physical similarities
between them and the M.U.T.O.s, such as the wings in Rodan's case and hook-like hands
and slit-shaped eyes in Gigan's case, as well as two pieces of fan art by the user DopePope
on deviantART, which depict Gigan and Rodan as M.U.T.O.s.
Both Mothra and Rodan will be appearing in the sequel to Legendary's "Godzilla."
Funnily though, because of people wrongly calling the male MUTO "Rodan" when they saw
this specific shot of the main Godzilla trailer prior to the film's release, a meme hashtag,
"#RodanConfirmed," was spawned.
The #RodanConfirmed meme made it so that Godzilla fans who found it silly that others thought
the MUTOs were Rodan would ironically say Rodan was "confirmed" to be in 'Godzilla' (2014).
Alright, so we hope you all enjoyed this video.
We went through some of the more prevalent Godzilla misconceptions, though there are
still many more out there that need to be tackled.
Those will be saved for a later time.
We at wikizilla.org thank you all so much for watching, and we'll see you next time!