MONSTER SIGHTING #13: Atragon

Admittedly I never had much interest in this one outside of Manda, so I never made much an effort to hunt it down. But I figured since I was already watching the kaiju films from the Showa era that I might as well finally watch it as well. If for nothing else other than to see the origins of Manda and the Atragon. 

MONSTER SIGHTING #12: All Monsters Attack

I get the disdain for this movie, I really do. It's entirely aimed at children with an insufferable theme song and a kid at the focal point of the plot, dealing with bullies both in his world and on Monster Island. 

I don't hate this movie. I don't hate any Godzilla movie outside of that abysmal Netflix trilogy. The kids are annoying sure, but you gotta hand it Toho to giving us the Kevin McAllister progenitor in the form of Ichiro.

Outside of the scenes where Minya and Ichiro are on screen together, the movie is primarily a cobbled together clip show from the last few movies. Showing Godzilla fight against the various inhabitants of Monster Island. 

Now. Foe the reason I love this movie so: Gabara! 

It has yet to be confirmed whether or not Gabara actually exists on Monster Island or if his presence in Ichiro's dreams was a result of his bullying in the real world and this was how he personified it. 

My personal head canon is he does exist and Toho is just too afraid to admit it. 

But I LOVE Gabara to death, man. 

He's an oddity in the Godzilla universe. Being evidently based on an ogre, with a wholly unique roar and power that only Kong before him seemed to possess. 

And what a fight between him and Godzilla at the end! The equivalent of a parent going to their kid's school and beating up the bully themselves is what that was. 

MONSTER SIGHTING #11: Destroy All Monsters!

 Hoo boy, I remember the rush to get this movie when it appeared in 1998. There were several full-page magazine ads hyping its release, along with all those cool little Toho trademark symbols showing who would be appearing in the film. I remember what excited me most were Baragon, Varan, Manda, and Gorosaurus simply because my only interaction with those particular monsters at that point was in video game and book format.

And man, was I disappointed on every front except for Gorosaurus, for while all of those monsters were present at the base of Mt. Fuji for the final battle against King Ghidorah, only Gorosaurs participated in the fight. Vatran never amounted to much more than a close-up shot of him flying away which admittedly just added more to the mysticism I had built up for him by that point. 

MONSTER SIGHTING - #10: Son of Godzilla

While having one the weirdest looking designs for Godzilla and probably the single most hated monster in the entire series, I very much enjoy the movie. Not so much for the evil kaiju which don't amount to much more than giant bugs, but more for showing Godzilla's parenting skills; something we don't see nearly enough of. 

And now I am gonna say it: I like Minya. 

Anywho, moving on to the best period of the Showa era! 

MONSTER SIGHTING #9: Frankenstein Conquers the World

Another film that I was simply unable to find as a kid but really wanted to see as it marked the first appearance of one of my favorite monsters. 

The puppy dog-like Baragon! My only exposure to Baragon in any capacity prior to 1998 was in the NES game 'Godzilla Monster of Monsters' where he appeared as an orange quadruped boss. In 1998, Destroy All Monsters got a VHS release as part of the hype train for GODZILLA 1998 release. Something I hounded the shelves of Hollywood Video for every time I went until they got it in stock. 

My expectations? To get to see to see not only Baragon in action, but also Varan. Boy was I disappointed. 

MONSTER SIGHTING #8: Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster

God I love the vintage the vintage VHS covers, particularly this one where Godzilla looks like he's hairy. 

I don't have a whole lot to say about this film in particular. Ebirah wasn't the most interesting antagonist and seemed more suited for someone like Kong to fight, which incidentally was originally supposed to be the case as this movie was originally intended to be a follow up to King Kong Escapes, but the rights fell through so it became a Godzilla movie. 

This movie did however give us an incredible stunt by the suit actor for Godzilla as he jumped into the water from a makeshift exploding island, which I can't imagine felt good at all, but definitely gave me a new way to jump into the pool as a kid. 

MONSTER SIGHTING #7: Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero

This was where things really began to get kooky, with Godzilla himself leaning more heavily into child-like antics. It also marked the first and only time that Godzilla would leave earth. At least canonically, if you don't count the Monster of Monsters game on the NES.

For me, this was where my favorite flavor of Godzilla began to grow; The character became a hero, joining the humans in the fight against aliens and later mutants and dream ogres.

This is my Godzilla. 

Yet another bold change for me in 2023

 First came the Steam Deck and my transition from primarily Nintendo Switch gamer to strictly digital content. Then I left my job of nearly a decade. Now comes the next big shift in my life:

Leaving printed media behind!

I received a Kindle Fire 10 for Christmas last year. While it wasn't something I necessarily wanted or needed at the time, it has definitely come in handy for me this past week as I came to the conclusion that I simply do not have the space nor storage to continue pursuing a book library and I either A) Give up on reading or B) Simply switch to a digital EPUB format.

That's when I remembered the Kindle I received for Christmas and a promo code for a free customizable case. I had the Secret of Mana art placed on it which turned out surprisingly nice. If I were to be redeeming it now, I'd probably get something different, but that's neither here nor there.

I sat down with it and really dug into the settings, how to customize and change things to make it more to my liking; My only complaint ended up being that Google can't be connected to it like all of my other devices, meaning I'll have to use Amazon for my ebook purchases. 

My next task was to set a snazzy wallpaper that really popped out on the screen. That's when I stumbled across this killer art of Loona with a bloody chainsaw. Having watched Evil Dead Rise recently, I knew I had to have it. I later discovered that Silicasart was responsible for the piece.

Next, I populated my library with both new and old books. Some I haven't yet read, others I want to. Some I've already read and want to read again. This will definitely grow over time as I add more old books from my current physical library as well as new books that I've been wanting to read.

In addition to having my books in digital form, I can finally delve into comic books in earnest now thanks to the CBZ/CBR reader apps. I could never justify buying comic books. At least in their individual form as I own multiple omnibus compilations. Now I'll finally be able to indulge in stories I otherwise would have read/listened to abridged overviews on.

Overall, this is going to be a positive change for me. Sure it won't be the same as reading and holding a nice physical copy of a book in my hands. I do still plan on reading each Stormlight Archive book as they come out in their physical form. But beyond that? It's digital for me here on out, freeing up that bookshelf for Godzilla figures.

Now to just figure out how to get rid of all the books I currently have.

MONSTER SIGHTING #6: Ghidorah the Three-headed Monster

Toho continued to build their Kaijuverse by introducing Rodan, another monster that had his solo film just the hear prior. He, like Mothra and another certain character, would go on to become a part of the "Big Five" of the Godzilla universe. Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Mecha-Godzilla and...

King Ghidorah! One of if not the most well known of Godzilla's foes. His Showa incarnation and his Monsterverse one are easily my two favorites, with Grand Ghidorah in third place.

This was one of the few movies I didn't actually own as a kid, instead having to catch it in Sci-Fi Channel or TNT's MonsterVision on Saturday nights. 

MONSTER SIGHTING - #5: Godzilla Vs. Mothra

I am posting these as I watch the films so that they are fresh in my memory. Just as a note. 

Godzilla vs. Mothra is the first film in the franchise that had two Toho films Crossing over. Mothra's solo film released two years prior and was a big hit, so bringing the two together seemed like pretty easy cash grab. 

We got a really cool Godzilla suit design out of it with an even cooler intro that I know I had re-inacted several times as a kid by burying myself a bunch of blankets in an air conditioned room. Good times.

The Mothra prop is easily my favorite design for Mothra hands down, with the 2003 GXMXMG design coming in second.