Oof, I didn’t think I was gonna get these drawn in time for G-Fest, but here we are! (Now to get them colored. Blargh.)

Continuing with my theme of “20 Years a Monster Fan”, I decided to pay tribute to not only specific monsters, but a particular medium I saw them on. For those who don’t know, there was a VHS box set that included five movies. In the sleeve, their sides form an image of Godzilla 1985; lay them out sideways, they formed a big battle scene (like my art here). However, I took it a step forward and made it so that they can be rotated; Megalon’s left side connects with Mothra’s right!

Now, the reason for these monsters (right to left):

-MOTHRA (1961) While GODZILLA VS COSMIC MONSTER was my first Godzilla movie, I actually saw MOTHRA before it (it’s my first “Godzilla” film, by extension). Because of a “Godzilla vs Mothra” 2-pack, I knew Godzilla and Mothra had connections, but seeing the 1961 film - which obviously makes zero mention of the Monster King - made me realize there was a bit of a “cinematic universe” (using that term loosely, but you know what I mean).

-GHIDRAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964) Between my dinosaur phase and Godzilla phase, dragons bridged that gap. Naturally, I immediately took a liking to King Ghidorah. And seeing his 1964 debut (which was part of that aforementioned box set) immediately made me fall in love all over again with giant monster brawls. Even to this day, if I ever say “Ghidrah”, I am specifically talking about the 1964 version.

-GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER (1971) While I didn’t see the movie until I got it on DVD, I remember seeing its (American) theatrical trailer on a video I rented from our local library called HOLLYWOOD DINOSAURS, which was actually what first introduced me to Godzilla, at least in the movies. It certainly left an impact, because it actually gave me nightmares (I distinctly remember being on a bus, and a small Hedorah was on it, devouring people). Of course, the movie isn’t as scary as I originally thought, but not to say it isn’t bad. And Hedorah, in concept, is a very terrifying (and creative) creature.

-GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972) From that same video were also clips of GODZILLA VS MEGALON, which is where I first saw the bizarre monster that is Gigan (and for Christmas ‘97, I got a Trendmasters figure). I thought he was a real cool guy, and you could imagine the look on my face when I noticed that he had his own movie (also part of the box set). And to boot, he was teamed up with King Ghidorah! Not to mention Godzilla’s team-up with Anguirus. It honestly kinda upset me that I couldn’t find an Anguirus figure back in the day, because I really wanted to reenact the movie. Though to make up for it, I display my Trendmasters Godzilla, Anguirus, Gigan, and Ghidorah with each other.

-GODZILLA VS MEGALON (1973) Like I just said, I had first seen clips of this on HOLLYWOOD DINOSAURS, and I got my first copy of the movie itself as part of the box set. One thing I always liked was Godzilla doing the infamous tail-slide, which I constantly reenacted with my Trendmasters Godzilla; of course, that was the first thing I did when I first got my TM Megalon. ;) While it certainly is a silly movie, it’s a load of fun. So much so, I kinda wish we had gotten a Jet Jaguar series.