Other Any Kaiju fans here?

[Selee-01]

Just wondering if anyone else here is a big Kaiju fan. Things like Godzilla, Pacific Rim, Gamera, et. cetera.

And if you are a fan, who’s your favorite Kaiju? Personally, Varan from the Godzilla series is my fave.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

Yeah!

 

[GojiBean]

If my avatar doesn't give it away, I've been a die hard Godzilla fan since I was a wee lad.

Became an overall kaiju fan not long after getting obsessed with Big G.

He's definitely my favorite. And I'm obsessed with the music of Akira Ifukube's Godzilla March, and the Bear McCreary reimagining of the piece in the 2019 film KOTM. Wasn't the biggest fan of the film as a whole, but I loved the score from start to finish.

So yeah. Big G obsessed fanboi here!

Cheers!

 

[GojiBean]

Wanna rp gojibean?

Mmmmmmm... I'm on the fence.

(Minor rant incoming)

Despite being a massive Kaiju fan I've yet to either be a participant, or an outside observer (reader), of a Kaiju RP that really grabbed my attention and made me want to stick around. Either the players were the Kaiju themselves and were always behaving far too much like bickering human beings which destroyed any sense of actual "Kaiju" about the experience, or they were humans in a story running parallel to the monster action... But there wasn't actually a story. It was just "Move here, watch Kaiju fight. Move there, watch Kaiju fight. Move over yonder, watch Kaiju fight." And that's exceedingly boring to me. I mean I love me some Kaiju fights, don't get me wrong. But if there's no reason or weight behind the fights then count me out. I want to feel the consequences of failure for one side or the other rather than it just being about watching them fight just because. Ya know? Also I'm a guy who likes him some realism even in the Kaiju realm. Or, at least as much realism as I can get away with whenever Kaiju are involved since they break almost every law of physics. Lol.

To me, a good Kaiju RP should be a combination of a good story for both the human and Kaiju perspective, and a healthy dose of monster action that actually means something relative to both of those stories at once rather than just one side.

Take the King of the Monsters film in 2019. Not my favorite film on the human side (I think they royally screwed that up, especially with Serizawa which I can explain if you'd like me to). But the monster side was great. Godzilla's arch rivalry with Ghidorah going back to ancient times and Ghidorah being an alien invader and upsetting the natural order was a nice touch so they had a reason to go at each other rather than them fighting just cause like some of the older Showa period Toho films (still love those films, by the way; I'm not knocking them so much as just stating a fact, lol). And I wish they had explored that rivalry a little bit more like discovering some of their ancient battlegrounds outside of Antarctica because Antarctica changes its landscape far too easily over time due to weather and the ice melting and refreezing with the seasons. Imagine if they'd found one or two sites around the world that still bore the scars of Godzilla's claws, Ghidorah's talons, or even areas that were still to this day charred from Godzilla's atomic breath with tiny trace levels of radiation. Not enough to cause any harm to humans. But still enough for their instruments to read that it was still there. And imagine as well if they'd found the ruins of ancient civilizations which had been long since destroyed because of these battles. Signs of their scuffling close to the settlements and indications of footprints or areas where they fell and destroyed most of the structures, and signs of the crushed people beneath left behind as partial or shattered skeletons. The signs of the consequences of the Kaiju battling, and an ominous hint at what could befall modern humanity if Ghidorah is left unchecked.

Mothra's symbiotic relationship with Godzilla is also something I wish they'd explored more as I think it held a lot of potential that went untapped. They hinted at it in the beginning with her being calmed down by the Alpha Call, but that was it. They didn't even label the Alpha Call as Godzilla's. And we know there are other "Alpha" level Titans. So which one calmed her down? We know it's Godzilla because Doughterty told us before the film came out. But if you disregard his words and observe that moment solely for the film perspective, the alpha call is just a ping from the Orca. Who's it mimicking? We have no idea. It's never shown or explained in the film at all who's call is on the device. So it could be anyone. And that makes that intro scene fall flat for me because of the ambiguity. If the Orca just said, "Alpha Call: Godzilla," then THAT would have meant something and really cemented the beginnings of their symbiosis for me in a meaningful way. But sadly, it didn't. Ambiguity is the enemy of good storytelling, and there was far too much of that on the human side in KOTM.

Imagine, for example, if Madison Russell had not only seen Mothra's carving in the temple wall, but turned directly around to the opposing wall and saw something behind the vines covering it. She pulls the vines away and discovers a carving of Godzilla facing straight on. She looks to Mothra's carving and we as an audience hear her shriek echoing faintly. Is it just us, or can Madison hear it too? Her face makes it seem like it could be either one. She looked to Godzilla and we hear his roar faintly echoing. The two carvings are facing one another. They're the same size on the wall, and set at the exact same level. Parallel, and opposite, but equal. And as Madison and Emma calm Mothra with the Orca we see that Godzilla's name is displayed, and Emma takes Madison and backs off to give Mothra space. The caterpillar looks at the Orca. It pulses with Godzilla's frequency. She tilts her head curiously and inches closer. It pings again, and Mothra's body flashes with light after a few seconds in response. It pings again, and she flashes her bioluminescence a little sooner this time. Ping...... Flash. Ping.... Flash. Ping... Flash. And finally... Same time. The ping of the Orca and Godzilla's frequency sync with Mothra's flashing and now appear in unison as both a metaphorical and literal demonstration of this newborn Kaiju, who by all rights of nature shouldn't know this call and should instinctively be afraid of it as an insect to a reptile, is instead calmed by it and synchronizes with it instead.

THAT'S the kind of thing I'm into with regards to Kaiju RP's and storytelling. The deep dive into the lore in a way that allows the worlds of both human and Kaiju blend and actually matter on both sides of the coin rather than just being all in for the Kaiju simply for the sake of the Kaiju fighting.

So, if I haven't either scared or pissed you off to the point of abandoning the idea, do you think you'd enjoy an RP about Kaiju that's as much of a lore and story deep dive as much as it is a monster experience?

 

[Sir loin of beef]

Yeah! Although I've only watched Godzilla raids again and terror of Mecha Godzilla. I'm up for lore