Anyone Like Any Showa Kaiju When First Exposed To Them?

[Blackout286]

Toho's most iconic and familiar monsters of the past, the Showa era bares incarnations and monsters that continue to have a firm fanbase supporting them, and still to this day get supportive love. But I have to ask, did anyone like Anguirus when first exposed to him? How about Rodan? Did any of them stand out to you as something unique and interesting like Titanosaurus and Varan? Or as something that was as plain and simple like Gorosaurus and Kumonga?

Did anyone like Jet Jaguar when first exposed to him? How about Gigan or Megalon? Did Mothra take your breath away? Or Did King Ghidorah steal the thunder from any future monster born from the franchise? Or was Baragon too boring and dull when watching Frankenstein Conquers the world? Was King Caesar truly interesting at all? Was Manda or MechaGodzilla anything special during their own debuts? Was Ebirah anything wrote writing home about after first watching Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. How about Gabara in Godzilla's Revenge?

I know all showa monsters have a fanbase, and some have warmed up to others over time. But were they anything special when first exposed to them?

[ScootaVaran]

I remember falling in love with Edirah. So much so that as a small child, when I ate at a red Lobster I would order lobster and keep the claws.
I even remember I was lying down on a hammock out side with my mom when we saw a shooting star. She told me to make a wish, so i wished for a awesome Ebirah toy. Cheezy, I know.

So years later as an adult I found a Ebirah plushy on amazon and quickly bought it for sedimental reasons.



On another note I also remember hating humanoid like creatures like King Kong, Jet Jaguar and the Frankenstain monster.

[Rody]

I saw most of the Showa films at such an early age that I don't really remember what my initial responses were. However, Rodan has always been my #1 favorite monster, and I was also rather partial to Ebirah and King Caesar.

I DO remember being pleasantly surprised the first time I saw Terror of Mechagodzilla and witnessed Titanosaurus rearing his tall head for the first time.

[SuperMonsterZero]

Same as Rody, I don't remember a lot of my first impressions. However, one time when I was little I saw a picture of Anguirus in The Official Godzilla Compendium (I had never seen any of the movies with him yet) and I thought he looked cool and wanted to know what his deal was.

[SpaceG92]

Well, I liked most of the Godzilla suits minus most of the 60's suits. Hedorah I was so so about it. Megalon not so much, I fell in love with Gigan and Ghidorah. Later on I was revealed to Gorosaurs and Manda who became an all time favorite. The rest not so much. They are overall not my favorite kaiju anyways ie Mothra, Anguirus, Baragon, ect

[edgaguirus]

Anguirus and King Ghidorah stood out to me. There's just something about Anguirus' design that appeals to me; I'm not sure exactly what it is. KG, of course, had an impressive entrance, and his design was interesting. Unlike the other kaiju, he had 3 heads.

[Kubo]

Probably can't guess the one I fell in love with when I first saw him.

Other ones include Ebirah, Gabara, Kumonga, and Gigan.

[o.supreme]

Seeing creatures from stock footage in Godzilla's Revenge long before I had the opportunity to see DAM made me want to see all the "unique" monsters in that film.

[eabaker]

I was so young when I first saw a lot of the Showa movies on TV that it's hard for me to remember first impressions. A couple of thoughts:

First off, when I was growing up, if you were even remotely aware of monster movies, you were aware of Rodan, Mothra, and Mechagodzilla. I knew their names and what they looked like from probably infancy. So, I was almost certainly aware of them as something cool before I knew what "cool" was.

I had a Yamakatsu Anguirus toy as a kid, with no idea that he was a Japanese monster. I just thought it was a toy ankylosaurus. So, when I first saw a picture of Anguirus (even though I know I'd seen him in movies years earlier as a small child), my immediate response was, "Hey, I used to have that guy!" That was one of the things that moments that lead me from casual appreciation of kaiju into full-on fandom. He instantly took a special place in my heart.

[Godzilla6014]

There were several for me hell I'd just be thinkful to see Godzilla when I could. Gigan would probably one that comes to mind he was my favorite bad guy at the time to this day he's still a fav of mine to this day but he ties with a lot of other monsters in the genre to this day for me. When I found out he was going to be in Final Wars much later I got real excited on him getting an upgarde. But, overall now a days it's really super hard for me to pick and chose I fav. For back then though it would be Gigan I always liked him and I believe Kumonga to a certain exctent as well as King Ghidorah, Megalon and Mechagodzilla. I would continue except my stories of getting involved with these guys is really really long and almost needs a thread of it's own just to get told so, here you go.

[Terasawa]

I hadn't seen GODZILLA VS. MEGALON before Godzilla won MTV's Lifetime Achievement Award, so watching Godzilla shake hands with a giant robot blew me away. It wasn't long after that that I bought and saw MEGALON for this first time, and Jet Jaguar didn't disappoint.

[Arbok]

My first exposure to Rodan was in his debut film, and that sold me on him. He was cool and a little horrifying, with a fantastic suit. He made quite an impression and has remained one of my favorites after all these years.

[Blackout286]

Interesting, so I take it that its a fair assumption than mostly everyone either liked the Showa monsters right off the bat, or at least found them tolerable and acceptable enough before warming up to them more? First impressions are difficult to recall in this case I'm sure, but am I in the ball park?

Even more so, there hasn't been any showa monster that no one found all that appealing at all? Either Toho made some great gems back then, or in later sagas/series they lost some of their mojo.

[Arbok]

Interesting, so I take it that its a fair assumption than mostly everyone either liked the Showa monsters right off the bat, or at least found them tolerable and acceptable enough before warming up to them more? First impressions are difficult to recall in this case I'm sure, but am I in the ball park?

Even more so, there hasn't been any showa monster that no one found all that appealing at all? Either Toho made some great gems back then, or in later sagas/series they lost some of their mojo.

I was a kid when I watched most of them, as I wager a fair number of people here were, so not really fair... people tend to get more critical when they get older. The only one I recall disliking at the time was the Showa Moguera, as I was expecting a bit more from him and didn't realize his execution was going to be so clunky (he looks much better in stills than in motion).

[eabaker]

I find this topic kind of strange, since it seems to be based on the assumption that one's default response would be not to like them.

[Terasawa]

I find this topic kind of strange, since it seems to be based on the assumption that one's default response would be not to like them.

Same. For one thing, the Showa movies were all I had as a kid, so if I didn't like the monsters, I wouldn't be here talking about them now.

[wrongnote85]

i never saw a hiesei film until i was about 16 or 17, and i had already been a godzilla fan from the time i was a little tyke.

so, yes...i did like the showa monsters very much when i was first exposed to them.

[ゴジラ]

I find this topic kind of strange, since it seems to be based on the assumption that one's default response would be not to like them.

Not really strange at all, the topic is asking if anyone found any of the Showa monsters lackluster when first exposed to them from any Godzilla movie one either saw or had. Or from any Showa Toho kaiju movie. Which is a pretty fair question since not all of Toho's monsters leave a acceptable impression.

I didn't very much like Sanda or Gaira, they were awfully boring to me compared to the likes of Godzilla and King Ghidorah. I remember watching WOTG on TNT once when I was young (when I was still allowed to have and watch Godzilla movies, or giant monster movies), and I remember yawning and eventually falling asleep. The two monsters did nothing for me. It was like watching two horribly mutated Kongs fighting it out, overall I just found them boring.

[eabaker]

I find this topic kind of strange, since it seems to be based on the assumption that one's default response would be not to like them.

Not really strange at all, the topic is asking if anyone found any of the Showa monsters lackluster when first exposed to them from any Godzilla movie one either saw or had. Or from any Showa Toho kaiju movie. Which is a pretty fair question since not all of Toho's monsters leave a acceptable impression.

You've reversed the meaning of question.

[ゴジラ]

I find this topic kind of strange, since it seems to be based on the assumption that one's default response would be not to like them.

Not really strange at all, the topic is asking if anyone found any of the Showa monsters lackluster when first exposed to them from any Godzilla movie one either saw or had. Or from any Showa Toho kaiju movie. Which is a pretty fair question since not all of Toho's monsters leave a acceptable impression.

You've reversed the meaning of question.

I didn't reverse anything, just clarified what Blackout was asking.