Toho Kingdom

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:07 am**

To me, Godzilla has always been male. There was a period of time where I heard the whole "Gigantis is a female Godzilla" thing, which meant I thought post-Gojira Showa Godzilla was female, but ultimately it doesn't really matter. People can have whatever opinions and ideas they want. Certain iterations of Godzilla lend themselves to certain interpretations (for instance, head-canon that the two Showa Godzilla's were mates), but it ultimately doesn't matter.
It would be interesting to have a movie with two Godzilla's that are special friends, but honestly that scenario might only be used like Komodithrax in The Animated Series.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:14 am**

Didn't Toho officially state somewhere that every version of Godzilla on screen was a male?

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 7:42 am**

Shoopwoop17 wrote:To me, Godzilla has always been male. There was a period of time where I heard the whole "Gigantis is a female Godzilla" thing, which meant I thought post-Gojira Showa Godzilla was female,

Yeah, I thought that for years. Nowadays, I can't even remember where it came from.

EDIT: Ah, the claim originates from the 1977 book 'Godzilla,' part of a series about famous movie monsters, by Ian Thorne (famously riddled with innacuracies, apparently)... which, when I saw the cover, instantly triggered a flashback to my childhood. My local library definitely had this book, and as one of the few Godzilla-related items outside of the movies that the library system had, I know I checked it out a number of times as a young reader. So no wonder I had this impression from an impressionable young age.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:16 am**

I’m guessing Thorne likely didn’t have access to any copies of GRA in 1976/77 and just made an estimated guess based on the 55 suit’s body structure.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:24 am**

Also it might be a logical step. Assuming the first is male, a second one appears the first though would be a female for me only because it would make sense to have a female in the canon for reproduction purposes. That, as Ultra points out, the difference in body structure in the '55 suit compared to the '54 suit. I wouldn't begrudge anyone thinking "Gigantis" is female.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:24 am**

I like to view Godzilla as more of a modern mythological embodiment of a omen, similar to GMK's version. A representation of nature's violent cry toward humanity's arrogance, uncontrollable ambitions, their notions of "playing God" with superweapons, and the suffering of innocence, but vengeful souls who either are forgotten or in vain. Both Godzilla and humanity share the same traits: being children of the mighty atom.

Ishiro Honda once said,

"Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them."

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:00 pm**

UltramanGoji wrote:I’m guessing Thorne likely didn’t have access to any copies of GRA in 1976/77 and just made an estimated guess based on the 55 suit’s body structure.

He might not have originated that claim anyway. “Anzilla” and the King Kong vs. Godzilla ending myth came from other sources.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:04 pm**

Terasawa wrote:
UltramanGoji wrote:I’m guessing Thorne likely didn’t have access to any copies of GRA in 1976/77 and just made an estimated guess based on the 55 suit’s body structure.
He might not have originated that claim anyway. “Anzilla” and the King Kong vs. Godzilla ending myth came from other sources.

True, didn't the ending myth come from Famous Monsters of Filmland or a similar publication?

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:50 pm**

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Godzilla_misconceptions

Scroll down a little and you'll see the part about Godzilla being male.

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:09 pm**

kpa wrote:This really is a "no brainer/no debate" topic. Officially, all the incarnations of Godzilla in the Toho movies and the two American versions are male.

For nearly 60 years, Toho has promoted Godzilla around the world as the "King of the Monsters." And their official Godzilla biography reads: "He began life as a Godzillasaurus millions years ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Exposed to radiation in the mid 1950's, Godzilla, as he came to be called, transformed into a towering monster capable of delivering a devastating atomic blast with his breath. Since then, Godzilla has menaced the cities of Japan and fought off many seemingly unbeatable adversaries, earning him the title, King of the Monsters."

Beyond that, Toho's has repeatedly referred to Godzilla in male terms (he, his, him, dad, king, etc) when promoting the character and his films...

1955: Toho's English publicity material for the original GODZILLA reads "Awakened by H-bomb tests from the 2 million of his dormant life"

1957: Toho releases the Americanized GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS in Japan as KAIJU O GOJIRA (Monster King Godzilla).

1962: For KING KONG VS GODZILLA Toho issued a billingual press release with statements from both monsters. Kong is quoted as saying "I will fight to the last ditch in the forthcoming encounter with Mr Godzilla."

1967: In both the Japanese and English versions of SON OF GODZILLA the characters call Godzilla a "dad".

1967: In the original Japanese trailer for SON OF GODZILLA Minya calls Godzilla “Daddy”.

1972: Toho dubbed Godzilla with a male voice in GODZILLA VS GIGAN.

1974: Toho's English tag line for GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA reads: "Godzilla fights his robot double..."

1989: Toho's English tag line for GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE reads: "The most terrifying monster of all time is back in his greatest movie ever."

1999: GODZILLA 2000 screenwriter Hiroshi Kashiwabara: “Because this is the first of a new series of Godzilla films, we decided to go back to the roots and study what made him so unique in the first place.”

2002: Toho licensed Godzilla as a spokesman for the National Fatherhood Initiative.

2002-2003: GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA/TOKYO SOS director Masaaki Tezuka: "In this movie, Godzilla does not hate Mechagodzilla. This is because Mechagodzilla is created from the DNA in his father's bones. What pisses Godzilla off is that this was done in the first place. He is unhappy about Mechagodzilla being manipulated by human beings."

2004: The press release for Godzilla's 50th Anniversary festivities: "the world premiere of his latest film GODZILLA FINAL WARS at Grauman's Chinese Theatre."

2004: Toho Pictures President/Godzilla series producer Shogo Tomiyama's speech at the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony: "Godzilla should thank you for this historical and monumental star but, unfortunately, he cannot speak English as I can so I'm going to speak on his behalf. We are really excited that the Japanese-born Godzilla is honored in America. He should be feeling like a Japanese kid allowed to play Major League Baseball."

And on the US side, there's the following examples from publicity materials...

SON OF GODZILLA: Godzilla engages in exciting combat to protect his infant son

GODZILLA VS THE BIONIC MONSTER: See the mighty Godzilla in a fight to the death with his bionic double!

TERROR OF GODZILLA: The mighty titan of terror in his most incredible adventure!

Hanna Barbera's GODZILLA: Spine-tingling adventure and fun with an all-time monster favorite and his comical, cowardly cousin...

GODZILLA 1985: Like you've never seen him before!

GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE: The most terrifying monster of all time is back in his greatest movie ever.

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH: Godzilla will soon awaken and wreak havoc upon Japan unless he is destroyed.

GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH: With two powerful foes to reckon with, has Godzilla finally met his match?

GODZILLA VS DESTOROYAH: With a super-charged blast from his nuclear past, a new Godzilla emerges from his own ashes, radioactive and ready to take on Tokyo!

GODZILLA (1998): Producer/co-writer Dean Devlin : "He will be more ferocious and spectacular and surprising than his predecessors. Lethal, fast and agile-a definite monster."

Sony's bible for GODZILLA: THE SERIES: Godzilla is the offspring of the first Godzilla who trashed New York City in the 1998 feature film. He differs from his father in several major respects — he cannot reproduce asexually but he can breathe powerful blasts of radioactive fire. Whereas the first Godzilla would run from danger and slip between buildings, this Godzilla faces it head on and battles his foes to the death, week after week.

GODZILLA 2000: With a brand-new look and a powered-up atomic ray, the king of the monsters is back. This time he faces a formidable new foe in Orga...

GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS: The Meganula queen, the 50-meter Megaguirus, is also on a hunt for Godzilla, needing to steal his energy to survive.

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS: He saves the Earth for the last time... Several years after he is buried... Godzilla celebrates his 50th birthday

GODZILLA (2014): Director Gareth Edwards: “At the start of the process, I felt that in some way we could decide and control who Godzilla was, but, as we went along, we started to realize that Godzilla was going to tell us who he was, just like actors who have their own take on their characters. We couldn’t totally dictate what it was going to be; it was more about just trying different ideas and permutations. And, slowly, he revealed himself to us.”

Toho (and their international distributors and production partners) have been so consistent on this subject for decades that I am always amazed when Godzilla fans think otherwise.

This^

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 12:25 am**

I'm not sure the concept of gender applies to a creature like Shin. I'm mean Zilla is technically genderless too but concept is completely different.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 2:24 pm**

Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:I'm not sure the concept of gender applies to a creature like Shin. I'm mean Zilla is technically genderless too but concept is completely different.

Why wouldn't it? Shin was born just like any other animal before he was mutated by nuclear waste.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 3:49 pm**

This link should settle it once and for all.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/inverse/ ... 01710.html

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:12 pm**

The Toho website says he's a male, so he's a male.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:39 pm**

I'm going to answer with...

It doesn't matter.

Too many people put too much emphasis on gender these days.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:20 pm**

HillyHulk wrote:The Toho website says he's a male, so he's a male.

Lol - I think I can lock the thread with that answer then

(kidding)

Grievous wrote:I'm going to answer with...

It doesn't matter.

Too many people put too much emphasis on gender these days.

Can of worms, but in regards to the latter, its basically because Tumblr and overly progressive people make a huge deal of it. Tis the era I guess.

========
OT: Ehhhh - all depends on execution and writing. Godzilla is default Male or "no gender" IMO, but i'm semi-open to Godzilla being female.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:09 pm**

Every Godzilla on screen so far has been male. Even, strangely, the 1998 creature. But there's always room for a female one. He didn't just pop up out of nowhere. At some point two Godzillas (or their precursors like dinosaurs in Heisei's case or fish in Shin's) got together and made the ones we've seen so far. Eventually, I would like to see a female Godzilla. Or a mating pair. That's territory that hasn't been covered yet.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:37 pm**

SpaceG92 wrote:Can of worms, but in regards to the latter, its basically because Tumblr and overly progressive people make a huge deal of it. Tis the era I guess.

Well it isn't a huge deal to me.

I don't care about a fictional monster's gender...
as long as the fiction created around that monster
is entertaining.

*Thinks*

Granted I've always thought of Godzila as male...but
Godzilla being male doesn't really matter for the character.

It does more for King Kong & his part stories are influenced
by that.

Oh...and for the record the Ghostbusters 2016 film was
awful...not because of the ladies in it...but because the
script was TERRIBLE.

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:10 pm**

Pretty much every Godzilla up to this point is male, I think the idea of Showa G being female/ a mate to the 54 G makes little sense, Showa G has plenty of evidence of people in & out of universe calling him a male and there isn't any substantial evidence that says otherwise. We don't know if G54 and Showa G ever actually crossed paths, even if they did, Showa would've probably driven off G54 as a rival male.
As for Minya, some animals adopt others of their species, and since the Showa species of Godzilla is more humanlike in intelligence, Showa Goji probably isn't like a male lion that kills young that aren't his own.

I personally do think Godzilla's gender matters, and unless Toho states otherwise, Godzilla is male.

A female Godzilla has the potential to be interesting, and I'd be ok with it as long as it's not one of the older incarnations being retconned to be a female for no reason.
*Also the whole "Godzilla's species is asexual" thing seems like a trait of Zilla/Shin/Godzilla Earth that some people misinterpreted as applying to all other Godzilla versions, I've been seeing this misunderstanding a lot recently.*

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:13 pm**

Like I said previously movie monsters are only female when the plot calls for it. Otherwise he or it is the default. I got nothing against female monsters (some of the best monsters ever made are female) but if it's not integral to the plot of the film a female Godzilla will likely never happen. A female of Godzilla's species is much more likely than Godzilla himself being portrayed as female.

Toho Kingdom

Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

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Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

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Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)

Re: Godzilla's Gender: Voice your opinion (and don't be a jerk)