Annoying Opinions Other Fans Have About Godzilla Films

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Okay, we already have a thread to share our own unpopular opinions, so how about a thread to share opinions other fans have that annoy us, whether those opinions be common in the fandom or only held by a select few.

Example: I hate when people say "Mothra vs. Godzilla has a stupid ending because Godzilla gets killed by Mothra's babies," obviously missing the point of the ending... and the fact that Godzilla didn't die...

Added in 30 minutes 11 seconds:
Here's all of mine, off the top of my head:

In general: "I can only watch the English dubs because I hate reading subtitles." If you complain about the film because you've only watched the English dub and refuse to watch the Japanese dub for this shitty reason, you might need a new fandom.

Godzilla '54: "People only like it because it's the original." Some people, maybe, but I'm pretty sure most of us actually love the film.

King Kong vs. Godzilla: "King Kong is the toughest Showa opponent because he beat Godzilla." Yeah, not really, he was an underdog who won the fight because of a deus ex machina. If you actually think Kong is tougher than Hedorah, Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, etc, then I don't know what to say...

Mothra vs. Godzilla: "I don't like the ending because Godzilla shouldn't lose to Mothra's babies." As mentioned above. I mostly hear this from Mothra haters, and Mothra haters can fuck off.

Ghidorah: "This has the best final battle of the Showa series." I strongly disagree. It's actually rather underwhelming. Ghidorah gets hit with a few rocks and decides to get the hell out of Dodge, despite suffering no real injuries. DAM's climactic showdown was a much better spectacle.

Son of Godzilla: "This movie bad because Minilla." I don't like Minilla, either, but hating an entire movie, especially one as fun as this one, because he's in it is a childish opinion.

Godzilla's Revenge: "You can't hate this movie because Honda liked it." I can and I will. At this point, defending this movie has almost become more of a cliche than shitting on it.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah: "It sucks because Godzilla flies." With how strange this movie is, that doesn't even stand out. I love this movie and I love its eccentricity. If you don't, fine, but ignoring everything it has to offer because Godzilla flies is silly.

Godzilla vs. Gigan: "It's bad because there's stock footage/music." So what? There's also a cool new Godzilla villain, a fun kaiju tag team battle and a likable case. And I'll take a stock Ifukube score over an original Manabe score any day.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla: "This movie is better than Terror of Mechagodzilla." Ah, the old Showa MG debate. ToMG takes GvMG out back and beats it bloody. Better script, better pacing, better cast, better themes, better fights, better music. Okay, it's pretty much a tie on that last one, but otherwise, all-around better.

Godzilla vs. Biollante: "This is indisputably the best Heisei movie." Most original, definitely. Best? I dunno. I've always preferred MG2 I guess. Never liked Biollante's ending, which I previously made a whole thread about.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: "This movie is great because it reveals Godzilla's origins." Um, no it doesn't? Who cares if Godzilla was originally some dinosaur who fought in WWII? We already knew he was an ancient life form mutated and awakened by nuclear tests. Honestly, the time travel scene of this movie is my least favorite part.

Battle For Earth: "I don't like this movie because it's plot is derivative." Practically every Godzilla movie after 1989 is derivative to some degree, but this one seems to take more heat than any other. Why does this get more hate than, say, Tokyo SOS, which is the most derivative movie in the series? To be honest, I mainly just like this movie because of Battra, but I still think it gets too much hate.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2: "I hate Aoki, he's the worst Godzilla protagonist." The relentless hatred for Aoki has got to be one of the strangest things I've found on this website. I like him better than most Heisei protagonists. Even if you don't, do you really think he's worse than Ichiro, Inventor Goro, boring guy from Biollante, equally boring guy(s) from Destoroyah, Chujo Jr.? I think they're way worse.

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: *literally any opinion most of the fandom has about this movie* I love how some of you say you care about originality more than anything, then shit all over this very original movie. No, it's ideas aren't all fully fleshed-out, but neither are Biollante's and you all love that movie to death. I actually think there are lots of parallels to be drawn between the two.

GMK: "I hate it because Ghidorah's the good guy." To be fair, I don't really like Ghidorah in a heroic role either, but that's a pretty piss poor reason not to like the best Godzilla movie since 1975 or hell, maybe since 1954. You can not like one aspect of a movie and still enjoy the whole package, y'know.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla: "This is the best Millennium film." No, it isn't. It's not even the second best. I'll never understand why this movie gets so much praise. It's basically a worse Megaguirus remake by the same director. The final battle and Kiryu's design are the only redeeming factors.

Tokyo SOS: "This movie has the best final battle in the Millennium series." Longest doesn't mean best. GMK did way better with both of its kaiju fights.

Final Wars: "This is the best/worst movie of the series." It's neither. It's a silly homage to the Showa Era that misses the mark, but still provides some good, goofy entertainment. I rank it toward the middle of the pack.

Shin Gojira: "I don't like it because Godzilla looks weird." Yes, because God forbid we have some innovation in a series that's run for thirty plus films. We can't change Godzilla's design in any major way, NOOOO!

The Legendary Films: "They're bad because America can't make Godzilla films." Oh, fuck off. Anyone can make a good Godzilla film, and pretending that Japan's never turned out a bad one is foolish. And say what you will about these movies, they're a big improvement over TriStar's abomination.

The Anime Trilogy: "If you don't like them, you didn't understand the tHeMeS." No, I just don't like boring ass movies with dry characters, tired sci-fi tropes, unrealized ideas and really ugly kaiju animation. Seriously, can we talk about how hideous Anime Godzilla and Ghidorah are. And good lord, don't get me started on the Servum. They look like someone microwaved a Gen 5 Pokemon (Druddigon, specifically).

[LSD Jellyfish]

A lot of these seem and come off as de-railing people that disagree with your own personal opinions and are often strawmen.

In general: "I can only watch the English dubs because I hate reading subtitles." If you complain about the film because you've only watched the English dub and refuse to watch the Japanese dub for this shitty reason, you might need a new fandom.

-As someone who watches the films in Japanese, without subtitles, the whole dubs vs subs debate is laughably idiotic. People don't realize how much you lose visually by subtitles, and how much gets lost. Not wanting to watch a subtitled film is totally justified, especially in cases where a lot of subtitling is inaccurate or leaves a lot of nuance out to begin with. Instead of watching the film, you're reading it, and as a result a lot of finer details like sound quality and other things go completely missed. To be clear, not saying subtitles are a bad thing, but it's always laughable to me when subtitle elites talk big game and don't realize a lot of the things they think about subtitling are completely wrong. I might make a separate thread about this, especially in regards to Gamera 3.

Godzilla '54: "People only like it because it's the original." Some people, maybe, but I'm pretty sure most of us actually love the film.

I don't think this argument has ever been used on this site. Most people, for all the disagreements here, hold G54 in a high regard. Even beyond the Godzilla franchise, most film scholars would agree it is an important film.

King Kong vs. Godzilla: "King Kong is the toughest Showa opponent because he beat Godzilla." Yeah, not really, he was an underdog who won the fight because of a deus ex machina. If you actually think Kong is tougher than Hedorah, Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, etc, then I don't know what to say...
Mothra vs. Godzilla: "I don't like the ending because Godzilla shouldn't lose to Mothra's babies." As mentioned above. I mostly hear this from Mothra haters, and Mothra haters can skreeonk off.

I agree that it's dumb when people hate on the films for really arbitrary reasons all based on their own internal perceptions of what Godzilla is, specifically his power. Anyone who thinks a Godzilla film is bad because he loses is possibly the worst type of fanboy.

The Legendary Films: "They're bad because America can't make Godzilla films." Oh, skreeonk off. Anyone can make a good Godzilla film, and pretending that Japan's never turned out a bad one is foolish. And say what you will about these movies, they're a big improvement over TriStar's abomination.

G14 is a well made film. I like it a lot. But usually when people say that "America can't make Godzilla" films, they mean that Godzilla is intrinsically a Japanese character, and more importantly a Japanese cultural icon. As a result, it should not be a surprise that some of the American made Godzilla films completely miss the mark when it comes to some things that are culturally important to the franchise.

The Anime Trilogy: "If you don't like them, you didn't understand the tHeMeS." No, I just don't like boring ass movies with dry characters, tired sci-fi tropes, unrealized ideas and really ugly kaiju animation. Seriously, can we talk about how hideous Anime Godzilla and Ghidorah are. And good lord, don't get me started on the Servum. They look like someone microwaved a Gen 5 Pokemon (Druddigon, specifically).

What ideas went un-realized?

The issue I have with a lot of complaints about the anime trilogy is that many of them involve fanboys who wanted to see Godzilla punch or kick something, and didn't let the films be their own things. Let's be real here, if the fights were decent everyone would feel completely fine about the anime trilogy and probably love it. It's also amusing that you go on about how people don't like X movie for X design but proceed to call Ghidorah and Godzilla are hideous. My defense of the anime trilogy is not that it's a great movie, they have flaws, but most of it comes down to the worst aspects of the fandom being upset because Godzilla didn't choke out Ghidorah.

The only two annoying opinions that other members have that bother me, and they're more of "attitudes" are:
-People who are "Self-Defeating" Godzilla fans: ie People who talk down the good aspects of the films in order to defend other films in the franchise when it's not the case. "Godzilla films have never had well written characters or narratives!". Or people who have to keep stating how Godzilla is a guilty pleasure because they're embarrassed to genuinely like something.

-People who get upset that Godzilla isn't as big as Marvel or Whatever/People who want Godzilla to become that popular
Many of Godzilla's strengths derive from the fact that it's a smaller more niche franchise (relatively speaking). Many of the films like Shin-Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and many many more, are unique and special because they aren't trying to be massively appealing global films. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Toho and creators want to see their films as massively popular as possible, but I think it's a good thing that for the most part the Godzilla series hasn't become as popular as some people want it to be.

People can hate Shin, or love KOTM, I really don't care because my feelings on most of these films are pretty solidified. However, I don't like it when I see the above two things as it generally irks me as it pains me to see the self-defeating thoughts.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

A lot of these seem and come off as de-railing people that disagree with your own personal opinions and are often strawmen.

In general: "I can only watch the English dubs because I hate reading subtitles." If you complain about the film because you've only watched the English dub and refuse to watch the Japanese dub for this shitty reason, you might need a new fandom.

-As someone who watches the films in Japanese, without subtitles, the whole dubs vs subs debate is laughably idiotic. People don't realize how much you lose visually by subtitles, and how much gets lost. Not wanting to watch a subtitled film is totally justified, especially in cases where a lot of subtitling is inaccurate or leaves a lot of nuance out to begin with. Instead of watching the film, you're reading it, and as a result a lot of finer details like sound quality and other things go completely missed. To be clear, not saying subtitles are a bad thing, but it's always laughable to me when subtitle elites talk big game and don't realize a lot of the things they think about subtitling are completely wrong. I might make a separate thread about this, especially in regards to Gamera 3.

For those of us who don't speak Japanese, we have to pick between shitty dubs and shitty subs. I personally prefer shitty subs. To be clear, I don't have anything against people who prefer dubs. I have a problem with people who watch dubs only because they hate reading subtitles and refuse to watch the Japanese version even after being told it's much better. Recently had an argument with someone about this regarding Godzilla Raids Again, which is actually what spurred me to make this whole post. Everyone who's seen Japanese GRA agrees it's infinitely better than Gigantis. I tried to tell a fan who hated the movie this and he pretty much said "I don't like reading my movies so I'm gonna keep hating it based on the bad dub". I think that's some bullshit.

Godzilla '54: "People only like it because it's the original." Some people, maybe, but I'm pretty sure most of us actually love the film.
I don't think this argument has ever been used on this site. Most people, for all the disagreements here, hold G54 in a high regard. Even beyond the Godzilla franchise, most film scholars would agree it is an important film.

People have absolutely made this argument on this site. Saw one a few days ago, can't remember the thread at the moment but I think it was in unpopular opinions... TBH I'm relatively new here, I used to browse shittier Godzilla forums where people had opinions like this more often. I got tired of them and that's why I came here.

King Kong vs. Godzilla: "King Kong is the toughest Showa opponent because he beat Godzilla." Yeah, not really, he was an underdog who won the fight because of a deus ex machina. If you actually think Kong is tougher than Hedorah, Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, etc, then I don't know what to say...
Mothra vs. Godzilla: "I don't like the ending because Godzilla shouldn't lose to Mothra's babies." As mentioned above. I mostly hear this from Mothra haters, and Mothra haters can skreeonk off.
I agree that it's dumb when people hate on the films for really arbitrary reasons all based on their own internal perceptions of what Godzilla is, specifically his power. Anyone who thinks a Godzilla film is bad because he loses is possibly the worst type of fanboy.

Agree on this.

The Legendary Films: "They're bad because America can't make Godzilla films." Oh, skreeonk off. Anyone can make a good Godzilla film, and pretending that Japan's never turned out a bad one is foolish. And say what you will about these movies, they're a big improvement over TriStar's abomination.
G14 is a well made film. I like it a lot. But usually when people say that "America can't make Godzilla" films, they mean that Godzilla is intrinsically a Japanese character, and more importantly a Japanese cultural icon. As a result, it should not be a surprise that some of the American made Godzilla films completely miss the mark when it comes to some things that are culturally important to the franchise.

I don't have a problem with any of this. I have a problem with those annoying fans who think that no one but Toho should be allowed to make a Godzilla movie. I agree that every American Godzilla film thus far has missed the mark (to varying degrees) on capturing the spirit of the Toho films, but to be fair there's only been three. I think a fantastic non-Japanese Godzilla film may yet be made and shouldn't be ruled out. Lots of fans have ruled it out.

The Anime Trilogy: "If you don't like them, you didn't understand the tHeMeS." No, I just don't like boring ass movies with dry characters, tired sci-fi tropes, unrealized ideas and really ugly kaiju animation. Seriously, can we talk about how hideous Anime Godzilla and Ghidorah are. And good lord, don't get me started on the Servum. They look like someone microwaved a Gen 5 Pokemon (Druddigon, specifically).
What ideas went un-realized?

The issue I have with a lot of complaints about the anime trilogy is that many of them involve fanboys who wanted to see Godzilla punch or kick something, and didn't let the films be their own things. Let's be real here, if the fights were decent everyone would feel completely fine about the anime trilogy and probably love it. It's also amusing that you go on about how people don't like X movie for X design but proceed to call Ghidorah and Godzilla are hideous. My defense of the anime trilogy is not that it's a great movie, they have flaws, but most of it comes down to the worst aspects of the fandom being upset because Godzilla didn't choke out Ghidorah.

Where did I "go on about how people don't like X movie for X design"? Obviously everything I say here is opinion-based, but I never complained about fans not liking a specific design. I guess I DID complain about them hating on movies because they didn't like a specific monster (Minilla/Mothra). The Anime designs for Godzilla and Ghidorah are the least of my problems with the films. And yeah, I guess I did want a little more kaiju action. Come on, how cool would a proper anime fight between Godzilla and Ghidorah have been? Anything would've been better than some infinitely-long golden squiggles wrapping up Godzilla because the animators were too lazy to give Ghidorah a full body. The sad thing is that I liked the idea of Ghidorah being some dimension-hopping destruction god, I just think the realization of this 'Calamity Ghidorah' onscreen was a huge letdown. Just like Mechagodzilla was built up, only to appear as the basis for some stupid weaponized city. And how Mothra was teased only to appear as a silhouette in a trippy vision scene. Or how we were promised with a Planet of Monsters and all we got were some ugly dragon-worms mutated by Godzilla. I just think these movies were wasted potential. They could have been so much better.

[LSD Jellyfish]

At risk of pissing off a few people, I do agree with your sentiments that people should watch the Japanese cuts. While a lot of time and effort went into making the dubs, and they have their historical significance, I maintain that a lot of the Japanese versions are inherently superior to any butchered western cut. There’s tons of Americanized versions of these films that I used to find dull or uninteresting until I saw the original unaltered Japanese version.

Whether people want to admit it or not, a lot of the dubbing can inherently be immersion breaking, and while some of the comedy is glorious in its own right (like in Godzilla vs Gigan) it adds to the perceived camp and ruins some of the magic that the original actors capture.

[Space Hunter M]

I personally think the '70s Godzilla movies are boring as sin in Japanese, and the people who think there's some intrinsic artistic value to be gained from watching what are essentially foreign general audience films originally targeted at schoolchildren in their original language are annoying. Half the fun of these movies comes from the outrageous dubbing, and the a lot of the new talent in these films are average anyway, so no special new age "kino" points to be gained here.

Same with the '90s VS films. All commercial slop in Japanese or not. Watching something like Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II in its original language doesn't make it a half decent movie.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I personally think the '70s Godzilla movies are boring as sin in Japanese, and the people who think there's some intrinsic artistic value to be gained from watching what are essentially foreign general audience films originally targeted at schoolchildren in their original language are annoying. Half the fun of these movies comes from the outrageous dubbing, and the a lot of the new talent in these films are average anyway, so no special new age "kino" points to be gained here.

Same with the '90s VS films. All commercial slop in Japanese or not. Watching something like Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II in its original language doesn't make it a half decent movie.

As a counter-point I would point to Terror of MechaGodzilla, although I completely agree with you on Godzilla vs Gigan, Megalon and the first Mechagodzilla film.

I might also agree with you on something like Godzilla Vs MG2, but various other heisei entries work better in Japanese. Mainly 84-91 and Destroyah.

But, I will say that subtitling/dubbing has completely missed the marks of some genius and great performances by writers and actors in Japanese. This is not the viewers fault, not anyone invoked with production, but rather just an inherent flaw with language barriers.

[Space Hunter M]

As a counter-point I would point to Terror of MechaGodzilla

Just because Terror of Mechagodzilla has some people from the Golden Age involved and perhaps a handful of compelling performances doesn't lift it above being a cheap thrills/violence-filled genre film not far off from the sleazier work studios like Toei were churning out. I don't see what makes this one all so different other than a more somber tone and a slightly maturer plot.

Destoroyah is inert garbage in any tongue. By far the most interesting version I've seen is the HK theatrical release for the amusing subtitles.

[kamilleblu]

The Anime Trilogy: "If you don't like them, you didn't understand the tHeMeS." No, I just don't like boring ass movies with dry characters, tired sci-fi tropes, unrealized ideas and really ugly kaiju animation. Seriously, can we talk about how hideous Anime Godzilla and Ghidorah are. And good lord, don't get me started on the Servum. They look like someone microwaved a Gen 5 Pokemon (Druddigon, specifically).

This line perfectly describes Godzilla vs Mothra, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II, Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla, and Godzilla vs Destoroyah. Replace "ugly kaiju animation" with "increasingly cheap special effects". But here are some common praises that the Heisei movies get that I find pretty annoying: "the 'Heisei movies and monsters are an improvement on what the Showa movies did", "the Heisei movies have awesome continuity", and "Miki is a great character." No. Heisei Mothra, MechaGodzilla, and Rodan are either horribly uninteresting or an embarrassing regression of special effects, the endlessly touted continuity adds nothing to the movies, and Miki is the plague.

Omori was the best director the Heisei Era had and his movies realized their ideas better than any Heisei movie that came afterwards. Or, if nothing else, his movies had a sense of life to them.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

People who are "Self-Defeating" Godzilla fans: ie People who talk down the good aspects of the films in order to defend other films in the franchise when it's not the case. "Godzilla films have never had well written characters or narratives!". Or people who have to keep stating how Godzilla is a guilty pleasure because they're embarrassed to genuinely like something.

-People who get upset that Godzilla isn't as big as Marvel or Whatever/People who want Godzilla to become that popular
Many of Godzilla's strengths derive from the fact that it's a smaller more niche franchise (relatively speaking)

Yes to both of these but special mention to those fans who do (mostly) unintentional backhand compliments by saying shit like "it's not just a good Godzilla movie, it's a good movie one general!"


Also, as for me, people who hate Minilla because he's "ugly" bug the hell out of me.

Added in 1 minute 55 seconds:

I don't see what makes this one all so different other than a more somber tone and a slightly maturer plot.

Personally why I like it is for that reason. The tones SHOULD clash but I feel like they compliment each other?
Just my opinion though

[BlankAccount]

Seeing a movie by yourself is not the equivalent of divorcing your wife and kids for not liking the same things as you.

[JAGzilla]

Seeing a movie by yourself is not the equivalent of divorcing your wife and kids for not liking the same things as you.

This could use some context....

[Terasawa]

gOdZiLlA's ReVeNgE iS tHe WoRsT gOdZiLlA mOvIe

[Gigantis]

gOdZiLlA's ReVeNgE iS tHe WoRsT gOdZiLlA mOvIe

Nah it ain't the worse. CoteoB took that title.

I know some people are gonna say that's annoying to hear too but it's just how I feel about it.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

Seeing a movie by yourself is not the equivalent of divorcing your wife and kids for not liking the same things as you.

This could use some context....

And by some, I mean all.

Nah it ain't the worse. CoteoB took that title.

POTM and Tokyo S.O.S both exist, your argument is invalid.

[Gigantis]

Nah it ain't the worse. CoteoB took that title.

POTM and Tokyo S.O.S both exist, your argument is invalid.

Nah I think POTM and TPL where better than the second one. S.O.S ain't that bad either, although it is a bit underwhelming compared to GAMG..

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Nah it ain't the worse. CoteoB took that title.

POTM and Tokyo S.O.S both exist, your argument is invalid.

Nah I think POTM and TPL where better than the second one. S.O.S ain't that bad either, although it is a bit underwhelming compared to GAMG..

COTEOB is definitely the worst of the three anime films, and probably the worst film in the series, unless you count TriStar's abortion. I'm not someone who falls asleep during movies, and COTEOB was a struggle for me. At least POM and TPE held my interest (note that I watched the second and third films back to back, and was significantly more awake for the third).

Tokyo SOS is the worst Millennium film, but I don't think it's the worst in the series. Most derivative, definitely, but I'd still take it over all three anime films, Revenge, Megalon and Space Godzilla.

[Fish Cakes]

"KotM didn't have a pro-nuke message."
"If KotM had a pro-nuke message so did '54."
"KotM is an American film so it's stance on nukes is going to be different of course."
"Shin is nationalist and has a scary message."
"Audience scores matter more."

[SoggyNoodles2016]

POTM and Tokyo S.O.S both exist, your argument is invalid.

Nah I think POTM and TPL where better than the second one. S.O.S ain't that bad either, although it is a bit underwhelming compared to GAMG..

COTEOB is definitely the worst of the three anime films, and probably the worst film in the series, unless you count TriStar's abortion. I'm not someone who falls asleep during movies, and COTEOB was a struggle for me. At least POM and TPE held my interest (note that I watched the second and third films back to back, and was significantly more awake for the third).

I massively disagree. COTEOB is the only one that actually comes close to exploring the themes it gives. POTM has no payoff and Planet Eater is just mediocre over all, with no satisfying pay off.


You had me at Tokyo S.O.S is the worst of Millenium, Hedorah and lost me with the rest hahaha. At least all those films have something new, bad as it may be, and feel like an honest attempt at a film.

[GodzillavsZilla]

"There are no good human characters in Godzilla movies so you can't complain about the ones in KOTM"

[Thegarbagemonster]

"There are no good human characters in Godzilla movies so you can't complain about the ones in KOTM"

omg true, this guy is the best part of the movie

I also like the random drunk in G84