I almost forget I am still here half of the time… anyways! Let us take a look at…

Godzilla’s Fashion Statement: Showa Era

Funnily enough, even in the context of the mid-50s to late 70s, nobody bats an eye when Godzilla looks weirdly different than the last year anyone saw him. Do people within the continuity of this era see him visually as the 1955 gigantis monster by Terror of Mechagodzilla or does Showa Godzilla not look any different from the original Gojira? There are answers we will never know. Yes, the suit designs do change in-between movies and I’m only doing this for the Showa era as other designs either bear just enough significant changes to have their own post or are different iterations of the character outright (I’m looking at the G2K and Vs. Megagurius)

Face Lift: Kaiju Edition

MosuGoji from 1964’s Mothra Vs. Godzilla was reused for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster of that same year under the sub-name of SanDaikaijuGoji; the name being derived from Japanese title of the film which is san daikaiju (三大怪獣) or three giant monsters

The one notable change between the two is the replacement head on SanDaikaiju which allowed for movable eyes but also reduced the upper lip and teeth which was a result of the Mosu suit being damaged during filming, scenes that were kept and very telling when you watch the movie.

DaisensoGoji from 1965’s Invasion of Astro-Monster would be reused for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep the following year. Tsuburaya Productions would ask to use the head of the suit for the Ultraman series and lead to the creation of Jirahs, bear in mind that Tsuburaya Productions had already done this with their SanDaikaijuGoji suit to create Gomess for Ultra Q.

Toho created a rather imperfect replica of the suit where the only notable difference was that it looked less angry and more cheap. This NankaiGoji suit was named after the Japanese title of its debut film; nankai (南海) which is simply south seas

After MusukoGoji, Toho would use the SoshingekiGoji suit four consecutive times from 1968’s Destroy All Monster to Godzilla Vs. Gigan of 1972.

There was virtually no change for the suit aside from visible deterioration as it was used to death. It was given the additional names of AllKaijuGoji, HedoGoji, and GiganGoji for All Monsters Attack, Godzilla Vs. Hedorah, and Godzilla Vs. Gigan respectively. AllKaiju comes from Godzilla’s Revenge Japanese title which should not even be explained while the next two names are from his titular antagonists

Finally, Toho rushed a new suit for 1973’s Godzilla Vs. Megalon with the aptly named MegaroGoji and is the final suit for the Showa Era overall. I would also like to take the time in editing to correct an error in the SoshingekiGoji post; that suit was not utilized in 1973’s Zone Fighter series. MegaroGoji was and what I was trying to say when I meant that this suit in particular could technically tie with Soshingeki as the most prolific showa era suit.

After his debut film, he would get a more angrier expression while his eyes became black. He also got added detail to his muzzle while his eyes were reduced further in the final Showa era film. He would be given the names of ZoneGoji, MekaGoji, and MekaGyakushuGoji for his appearances in Zone Fighter, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla respectively. I don’t even think I need to explain what the names mean anymore.

This is probably a long wall of text and you’ll probably not be reading it which isn’t even that surprising but for now and at least on Toho’s part, Godzilla would enter a near-decade retirement given the box office bomb of Terror of Mechagodzilla as well as the Japanese film industry as a whole being in a major decline while a bunch of American studios and american men did whatever the fuck they wanted with the acquired rights in between 76′ and 83’… what exactly did they do anyways-