Hey I figure we'd make a topic celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Toho's iconic glass cannons, the Masers. Their...birthday(?) is on July 31st. And I say glass cannon for a reason. Introduced in 1966's War of the Gargantuas, they were one of the first and few weapons in the kaiju genera to actually harm monsters. But while they can dish out damage, they were frail so they couldn't take it. Hence Glass Cannon.
Like Rodan, Mothra and Manda before them, their first appearance was not even in a Godzilla film but once introduced to the series they became permanent residences of it, appearing in Godzilla films from the Showa, Heise and Millennium era, and staring in 11 films, not counting the cut scenes in Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla, an amusement park attraction (Monster Planet of Godzilla) and the TV show The Gransazers, they have appeared in enough media to rival Mothra, Toho's most well known creation after Godzilla.
Often dismissed and overlooked as just canon folder by fans, the Masers are not given enough credit. They almost killed Giara and later helped the injured Sanda drive his brother out to the ocean where a volcanic eruption ended the man eating green ape-man's rampage. They slowed down Gigan and Megalon's attacks on cites, the two hiding behind trees for cover. They even managed to make King Ghiddorah flinch but sadly the creatures immediate response to such assault is to retaliate with his Gravity Rays.
In the Heise era the MBT-92, along with the M6000 T.C. System and Biollante's acid spray helped raise Godzilla's temperature so A.N.E.B. could stop him. The MBT-92 even making Godzilla back-peddle at times though this was before the power up he got in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. Battra's Larval form ignored jets firing at him but once the Masers started firing at him he retaliated and dug underground. Later flying variation called ASTOL-MB93 would fight Godzilla and while ultimately failing, they did harm the Monster King and would serve as inspiration for the Garuda. The Masers would be upgraded into Freezer Masers called DAG-MB96. Also armed with Freezer missiles, they lost their first fight against Destoroyah but later acted as support fire for the Super-X 3 in killing the weakened monster and preventing Godzilla's meltdown from destroying the planet.
Though Maser tanks and planes were cut from Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla due to time constraint, they did show up in one form or another, as the Plasma Maser Cannon would be built in the much more durable Moguera. Because of the larger size of the machine as opposed to the tanks or trucks with platforms, the larger generator meant more power, knocking Godzilla down when it grazed him and making the more powerful Spacegodzilla scream in pain and anger when it took the full brunt of the blast. However, like past masers it was still a frail glass cannon. When not in use it was protected by the insanely durable armor of the mech but once in use, it was exposed and vulnerable to be destroyed as was the case when Spacegodzilla's tail impaled it.
The Star Falcon was also given Dual Maser Vulcan Cannons which distracted Spacegodzilla from protecting his tower against both Land Moguera and Godzilla's assault.
This tactics of making bigger and stronger versions the powerful but frail weapons and putting them on heavily armored mechs for protection would be repeated with the Kiryu films. At first it seemed Godzilla was immune to maser damage in his first encounter he didn't react till he got hit in the eye, but later on in the Kiryu films, when he encountered more Masers, it became clear that, without the interference of rain, long sustained fire from Masers did in fact hurt the monster, with Godzilla even trying to block the attack with his hand. But as before, the Masers would be destroyed long before they would be allowed to keep barraging the monster king into retreat or death.
Once again Masers were put into a durable mech to give them some protection, Kiryu had two Type 90 Masers in it mouth, only vulnerable when firing or when it roared, they were safe most of the time by the armored mouth being closed. When fired for a sustained amount of time Godzilla at first seemed unaffected but once he started bending towards the side, it became clear the creature had a hard time moving, resorting to using his Atomic Breath to make Kiryu stop firing. Later when Kiryu's Absolute Zero Cannon was destroyed, what did they replace it with? A triple Hyper Maser Cannon, the second most powerful weapon they had for it. After being gravely injured by Kiryu's drill hand, the combined might of 5 masers, the two in the mouth and the 3 in the chest, made Godzilla fall before Kiryu, at his mercy.
For Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, they showed up in Godzilla: Final Wars at the beginning. Sadly they were already destroyed by the time we saw them and no more showed up afterwards. At least they remembered they are a part of Toho's film history.
Overall the Masers are actually a pretty dangerous threat to monsters. If given enough numbers they could force a monster like Godzilla into retreat or even killing him. Their biggest flaw is that they are pretty much destroyed in one hit. The idea of putting them on Mechs is a cool one, as I like the idea of them having powerful weapons they hesitate to use that can be destroyed easily unless they are sure they have an opening. I wouldn't mind getting another Godzilla game where we play the military again and the Masers are some of the better weapons you can unlock.
Like Mothra, they have been in a LOT of films. I hope to see them show up again in some shape or form in the Legendary Series and Toho's reboot series. And maybe now you see them as the glass canons they really are and not just punny canon folder they seem to be at first glance.
Thanks for reading.
