Friday, September 21, 2007

KAIJU! KAIJU! And more KAIJU!

While doing some research on Wikipedia I came across a list called "List of unproduced Toho kaiju". For those not in the know, Toho is most famous for creating the character Godzilla. Kaiju is a general term for any giant-sized monster.

Here today I present to you the list of unproduced Toho kaiju (the pictures provided are a mix of concept art and fanart):


Film Kaiju

Bagan

Bagan, as originally slated to appear in Godzilla vs. Bagan.
Bagan is a monster that appeared in a Godzilla video game called, Super Godzilla. He was planned to battle against Godzilla in the original script for The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Bagan and he was also planned to fight Mothra in Mothra vs. Bagan, but he somehow did not have the chances to fight the two kaiju. There is a kaiju that has a similar appearance to Bagan named Monster X who appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Ghost Godzilla

Ghost Godzilla was the spirit of the Godzilla killed by the Oxygen Destroyer. He was planned for a film called "Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla" (also referred to as "Godzilla vs. Godzilla") that was dropped in favor of "Godzilla vs. Destroyah". In the film he would have rematerialized and fought Godzilla at several points across Japan during the film. The outcome allegedly had Ghost Godzilla kill Godzilla and then fade away but the full details are unknown. This idea came about as a result of Toho wanting Godzilla to be the one to kill himself.

Gigamoth

Gigamoth was originally meant to be a pollution spawned dark twin of Mothra, possessing similar powers to Hedorah. He was to appear in Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), but was later replaced with Battra.

Deutalios

Deutalios is a rat-like monster that was originally going to be in Godzilla vs Biollante, but was scrapped in favor of Super-X2 and Biollante's first form.

Erabus

Erabus is a kaiju that was expected to appear in the planned Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. Redmoon, but also got scrapped. She was to be the mate of Redmoon and the mother of Hafun. The Erabus suit is a modified version of Daigoro's Mother's (a Toho monster) suit.

Hafun
[NOTE FROM CHARLES: Sorry, no good pics were available at time of posting]
Hafun is a kaiju that was also expected to be in Godzilla vs. Redmoon, but he became a failed creation. He was to be the son of Redmoon and Erabus. The Hafun suit would have been a modified version of Daigoro's suit.

Hitodah

Hitodah is a kaiju that was supposed to appear in a planned sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah, but got scrapped. Hitodah's appearance is supposedly a mutated starfish.


Majin Tuol

Majin Tuol is a sword wielding god statue that became a failed creation. He was expected to appear in a lost project, Godzilla vs. the Space Monsters: Earth Defense Directive.

Mogu

Mogu is a red dragon-like kaiju that was supposed to be in the planned The Return of King Ghidorah, however she did not make it.

Nessie

A 1978 project was to be made about the Loch Ness Monster.

Redmoon
[NOTE: No picture actually exists]
Redmoon was a gargoyle/dinosaur like creature that appeared on the moon (hence his name) in the canceled movie Godzilla vs Redmoon, he was to be the mate of Erabus and father of Hafun. His suit was a modified version of Goliath's suit.

Satan
[NOTE: No picture exists]
Godzilla was supposed to fight "Satan" in Godzilla vs. The Devil, but did not make it, possibly from use of religious characters. It was given the go ahead after the completion of Terror of Mechagodzilla. Toho's rendition of "Satan" would've been in a form of a demonic dinosaur, shark, and lion.

Titans
[NOTE: No pictures exist]
The Titans are two separate prehistoric kaiju that were supposed to form Titanosaurus in Terror of Mechagodzilla, but they failed to appear in the movie.

Video Game Kaiju

Firelion

Firelion was a kaiju that was expected to be a playable character in Godzilla: Unleashed, but was out-voted by Obsidius along with two other kaiju made just for Unleashed. The four monsters were contestants on an IGN poll to see who would be a new playable character in the game, which ended April 20th, 2007.

The Visitor

The Visitor was another kaiju created specifically for Godzilla: Unleashed. The Visitor was controlled by the Vortakk aliens. He was out-voted by Obsidius on the IGN poll.

Lightning Bug

Lightning Bug was the final monster in the voting roster at IGN, created for Godzilla: Unleashed. He was, however, out-voted by Obsidius.

SOURCES:
"List of unproduced Toho kaiju" article
Wikipedia
Toho Kingdom (fan-site in English)
Toho (official Japanese site)
Toho article on Wikipedia
IGN Readers: Roster Vote article on IGN


Also, a quick note: Sorry I've not really kicked off any serials yet on this blog. I am genuinely working hard on this year's Halloween issue of If - E - Zine(tm) and the site re-design. I'll start posting serials here as soon as I am able.

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