Who're your favorite giant monsters?

[Q99]

Just like the question says- kaiju, daikaiju, giant monsters, whatever you call them. Who's your personal favorites?

[Sea Skimmer]

Godzilla, duh. The original more then any other even though the original cut of the movie isn't that great even by the standards of 1950s monster movies. Even as small and slow as he was he just had this monstrous I don't actually care that you exist but I'm doing what I want presence none of the later ones match. Godzilla rapidly turned into a more humanized anti hero kind of force, which is fun but not in the same way.

I also really love the old sea tales of giant squid, and drawings of whales with ears from say 1,200AD, and the super flamethrower dragon from the end of How To Train Your Dragon.

Someone once summed that battle up in a great way. It's like Charles Lindbergh versus a fire breathing Zeppelin. Seeing that thing unfold wings and fly in 3D was amazing, Dreamworks really knowns how to not make that stuff look real and not in your face for dramatic effect.

[Q99]

Heh, I really should say "In addition to Godzilla." And/or give bonus points for whomever doesn't answer Godzilla!


Design-wise, I loved Otachi from Pacific Rim. What a tricked-out Kaiju! A lot of abilities without feeling haphazard, and some fantastic fights.

Also I'm an avowed Mothraist. I sincerely believe that if I'm ever attacked by giant monsters, if I can find twins to sing a song a giant moth will save me.

[Solauren]

Megalon (Godzilla) is so lame, it's kind of entertaining.

[LadyTevar]

Mothra is a favorite. King Kong in the newest movie was great, really felt real. Gamora needs more airtime in the US, imho.

[madd0ct0r]

Ive always had a thing for giant electric eels in space. Never seen it in fiction though

[Q99]

Megalon (Godzilla) is so lame, it's kind of entertaining.

There is something to be said for the ones so c-list it kinda loops around.


I'm also fan of some of the more bizarre monsters- Jiger from Gamera is pretty much a jet-powered triceratops that shoots deadly spines, has a heat-ray (heat caused by intense sound vibration), and reproduces like a wasp (i.e. injects a larva).

And Reptilicus! A serpentine monster that attacked Denmark, which spits acid and has over-the-top regeneration.

[Tribble]

Does Unicron count?

[Solauren]

Does Unicron count?

Since Unicron is a multiversal singularity (well, up until the decent of the Shroud), and has wiped out entire universes, he's somewhere beyond 'monster' and closer to deity.

He also see's himself as a deity.

[Sea Skimmer]

Megalon (Godzilla) is so lame, it's kind of entertaining.

That is true. See this quick review for anyone who doesn't remember him, and the tailslide, and the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xpAqP31mw

The drill hands promised more then we got, all the more so coming 1 year after Godzilla vs Gigan, one of my secondary favorites, with the buzzsaw chest.

[Anacronian]

Cthulhu in all his incarnations will always be my favorite.

[Q99]

Does Unicron count?

Hm, I was mainly thinking of kaiju-general stuff but it's hard to deny Unicron is both giant and a monster....

[Batman]

Sandworms from Dune because they are the only ones that come with something resembling a coherent storyline. Plus the Lynch movie was awesome

[Tribble]

Does Unicron count?

Hm, I was mainly thinking of kaiju-general stuff but it's hard to deny Unicron is both giant and a monster....

...and hungry! He gets my vote then.

[The Romulan Republic]

Dinosaurs, of course.

And dragons, which are basically souped-up dinosaurs.

[Sea Skimmer]

They both pretty much win for diversity. Dinosaurs were a whole ecosystem that was entirely monsterous, all the more so if you shoehorn in all the ancient sea monsters that might not strictly be dinosaurs. Dragons can be anything from travel sized to Alaska sized and anything from pure life to pure death. Pretty convenient. Godzilla is pretty much one thing with aspects of several kinds of monster, Sandworms fall into narrow trends, Rodan is Rodan ect... but you could make up your own dinosaur with a crayon and then probably look hard enough and find out we already found half a femur of something that really existed and was about similar. Gotta love it for sure.

[Solauren]

Does Unicron count?

Hm, I was mainly thinking of kaiju-general stuff but it's hard to deny Unicron is both giant and a monster....

Actually, he's a universe devouring multiversal singularity, and either the first offspring/counter-point to a creator deity. He outranks Kaiju by a considerable margin (but oddly, according to Vector Prime, the Death Star can destroy his physical form)

[Tribble]

Does Unicron count?

Hm, I was mainly thinking of kaiju-general stuff but it's hard to deny Unicron is both giant and a monster....

Actually, he's a universe devouring multiversal singularity, and either the first offspring/counter-point to a creator deity. He outranks Kaiju by a considerable margin (but oddly, according to Vector Prime, the Death Star can destroy his physical form)

Really? I just remember the movie, where he came across as just a giant talking transformer planet that ate things. Basically he's a kaiju for transformers.

As for the death star... well he did have his eyes taken out by regular space ships, so I guess it's not really a stretch that the death star could wreck his physical form.

Would this rule out the Beast Planet from Shadow Raiders? IIRC it wasn't a God, just indestructible (which made for a pretty dark ending for a kids show as IIRC they were only successful in teleporting it to another galaxy).

[Q99]

The Marvel comics made him the counterpart to Primes, yea, and then other stuff made him a universe threat or similar. There's a lot of versions, in the Prime continuity, he's Earth. Original cartoon version was just a wandering planet eater to be fair.

And, up to you where you draw the line for giant monster

[Alferd Packer]

Gamera is really neat! Gamera is filled with meat! We've been eating Gamera!

Seriously though, thanks to MST3K I love campy monster movies, of which Gamera is a longstanding favorite.

That said, 2014's Godzilla is the most badass monster I've ever seen on film, so I guess he gets second place.

[wautd]

I always like the concept of the Hydra.

[Shroom Man 777]

Destroyah was great. Fighting BROKEN GODZILLA and killing Godzilla Jr. Only Broken Godzilla's meltdown and final sacrifice could defeat Destroyah and resurrect Godzilla Jr. who would then save humanity in Final Wars.

[Solauren]

Hm, I was mainly thinking of kaiju-general stuff but it's hard to deny Unicron is both giant and a monster....

Actually, he's a universe devouring multiversal singularity, and either the first offspring/counter-point to a creator deity. He outranks Kaiju by a considerable margin (but oddly, according to Vector Prime, the Death Star can destroy his physical form)

Really? I just remember the movie, where he came across as just a giant talking transformer planet that ate things. Basically he's a kaiju for transformers.

As for the death star... well he did have his eyes taken out by regular space ships, so I guess it's not really a stretch that the death star could wreck his physical form.

Would this rule out the Beast Planet from Shadow Raiders? IIRC it wasn't a God, just indestructible (which made for a pretty dark ending for a kids show as IIRC they were only successful in teleporting it to another galaxy).

You need to go read tfwiki

[Q99]

I will note they've walked back the 'multiversal singularity' thing somewhat. Background: Someone at Hasbro decided it'd be cool if 'all iterations of certain beings, like Unicron, Primus, and the Original Primes, are facets of the same beings,' and had that go in some Fun Productions comics. However, it wasn't really picked up by all the stories (the Aligned Continuity/Prime, Movie, and the IDW continuity obviously didn't), and eventually they came up with a story about Nexus Prime strengthening the walls of reality and splintering them all back into separate beings.

Some versions of Unicron do still travel between universes and eat 'em, though.