Mechagodzilla

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Mechagodzilla was conceived in 1974 as a more serious villain than its two immediate predecessors, Gigan and Megalon, whose films were considered creative disasters. Sources stated that Tomoyuki Tanaka, Jitsuzo Horiuchi and Yasuhiro Seto first came up with the idea for the character, with director Jun Fukuda and special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano agreeing on it. According to Tanaka, Mechagodzilla was inspired by both Mechani-Kong from the previous Toho film King Kong Escapes and the robot anime genre, which was popular at the time. Effects director Teruyoshi Nakano also felt that a mechanical monster was cheaper to construct than the mutated animals Godzilla had previously faced. As the resulting Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla proved to be a greater critical success than previous 1970s Godzilla films, the character was revived in 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The film's screenplay was based on the winning entry of a story-writing competition won by Yukiko Takayama, who continued the darker tone of the previous film by adding the subplot of Mechagodzilla being cybernetically connected to a young woman. Mechagodzilla's design remained largely unchanged from its previous appearance, though it was made to look thinner and more angular, with a darker sheen and an MG2 insignia emblazoned on its upper arms.

In Their Own Story

Mechagodzilla was brought back in 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, as the success of Godzilla vs. Mothra and the popularity of its main antagonist Mothra spurred Toho into reintroducing familiar characters rather than inventing new ones. As Mechagodzilla was intended to be a military defense weapon rather than an alien construct, the character was redesigned as looking sleeker and smoother. It was portrayed by suit actor Wataru Fukuda, and consisted of multiple separate elements which were worn like plate armor. Special effects artist Koichi Kawakita originally envisioned Mechagodzilla being able to split into aerial and terrestrial units, though this idea was scrapped in favor of the character merging with the flying battleship Garuda. The decision to incorporate Mechagodzilla into the Millennium series was taken by producer Shōgo Tomiyama, who gave the general outline of what would become the story of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus director Masaaki Tezuka. Tezuka instructed his staff to research both cybernetics and DNA engineering in order to make the character scientifically plausible. For Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla's design was inspired by the Generation 1 Transformers due to their 'simplicity.' Director Adam Wingard attempted to avoid the 'complex' designs from the Michael Bay Transformers films.

Reader's Guide

The Showa Mechagodzilla stands 50 metres (160 ft) in height and weighs 40,000 metric tons. It is built from 'space titanium', and is capable of launching missiles from its fingers, toes and knees, as well as firing Space Beams from its eyes and a Cross Attack Beam from its chest unit. It also possesses jets in its feet, allowing it to fly. Its head can spin 360°, and can form a force field capable of repelling and shocking opponents. The Heisei Mechagodzilla stands at 120 metres (390 ft) in height, weighs 150,000 metric tons, and is powered by a nuclear reactor which derives its energy from heavy hydrogen and helium-3 in pellet form. Its frame is coated in an armor made of synthetic diamond codenamed T-1, allowing the robot to resist Godzilla's atomic breath as well as absorb its power to energize its Plasma Grenades, an energy weapon housed in its abdomen. Kiryu, the Millennium Mechagodzilla, stands at 60 metres (200 ft) in height, weighs 40,000 metric tons, and is piloted remotely from a control craft. Its most powerful and most energetically costly weapon is the Absolute Zero Cannon housed in its chest, which fires a beam capable of flash freezing enemies. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla stands at 122 metres (400 ft) in height, towering over Godzilla, weighs 100,000 metric tons, and is telepathically piloted through a cybernetic neural network developed from King Ghidorah's only surviving brain (from a head severed by Godzilla in Godzilla: King of the Monsters).

Did You Know?

• Mechagodzilla first appeared in the 1974 film, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
• In the Showa era, Mechagodzilla was constructed by extraterrestrial invaders called Simeon.
• The Heisei Mechagodzilla stands at 120 metres (390 ft) in height and weighs 150,000 metric tons.
• For Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla's design was inspired by the Generation 1 Transformers due to their 'simplicity.'
• In Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla is telepathically piloted through a cybernetic neural network developed from King Ghidorah's only surviving brain.