MUTO Appreciation Thread

[Desghidorah]

Creating a new era for Godzilla films for more than just the Big G himself has often entailed starting out with a new foe. In 1984 it was planned to start it out with Bakan/Proto-Bagan before plans changed and got our first proper fight with newcomer Biollante, in 1995 we were supposed to be gifted the Gryphon before plans changed, then in 1999 we got introduced to Orga right at the turn of the millennium. And then in 2014 we were given the MUTOs.

Honestly, I really like them and see them as a worthy addition to the kaiju roster. They have a pretty distinct design that puts them apart from the rest of the kaiju, but no so much they look out of place or like a rip-off. Yes it is a very post 2000s American design with long skinny legs, but they don't come off to me as nearly as spindly as some other post-Cloverfield looks. They also had just enough characterization to not be blank-entities for Godzilla to punch, but not so much it felt dramatized. The female recognizing Ford as a threat, her rage at the soldiers, the Male coming to his mate's aid, and the infamous nuzzle give them some nice moments.

And it was a pleasant surprise to me that Legendary didn't just treat them as a one-and-done now that they got the rights to established kaiju like Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah, and Kong. Aftershocks felt like a nice follow-up to 2014 and the plated MUTO a.k.a. "Barb" appearing in KOTM seems to show they are here to stay.

For the first truly American kaiju to be added to the Godzilla franchise (as Zilla started as an incarnation), I think we got a pretty solid entry.

[Major sssspielberg!]

My guy!
While I'm mixed on the Monsterverse as a whole at this point, I friggin love the Mutos. Neat designs for Godzilla monsters.
Best part is that had some personality and cared about eachother.

[Italian G-Fan]

I really liked the MUTO’s roars: actually pretty good and unique roars
For the rest, however... let’s forget it...

[Voyager]

Roars are excellent.
Personality is great.
Designs are great.

[Jetty_Jags]

For as much hate they got for their design (I actually don’t have a problem with it) I’d actually say behaviour wise they are kind of original for the series and similarly have a personality that really hasn’t been explored by other kaiju in the series. I’d imagine they gain more respect the further we get away from 2014. Probably won’t be as popular as some of the other original Kaiju a la behemoth, but better than they were received initially.

[Gomi: Ninja Monster]

Once I finally saw them in the movie and not just in stills, one of the things that impressed me most about the MUTO's designs were that they already felt like modernized versions of older kaiju. The flat heads, long glowing eyes, multiple smaller legs and the way they walk on just four(except the females but shush) are all things you'd see on a Showa suit, just a lot more goofy looking. Someone recently did what I lacked the skills to execute and redrew them as old-fashioned suitmation kaiju, and they look great: https://twitter.com/kingyotencho/status ... 1348730881

[Cryptid_Liker]

Once I finally saw them in the movie and not just in stills, one of the things that impressed me most about the MUTO's designs were that they already felt like modernized versions of older kaiju. The flat heads, long glowing eyes, multiple smaller legs and the way they walk on just four(except the females but shush) are all things you'd see on a Showa suit, just a lot more goofy looking. Someone recently did what I lacked the skills to execute and redrew them as old-fashioned suitmation kaiju, and they look great: https://twitter.com/kingyotencho/status ... 1348730881

I want to see the Monsterverse recreated with suitmation, now...

[gottatalktothefake]

I like their designs and they are filled with personality, so they nail the most important aspects of kaiju for me

[BlankAccount]

Fit right in the Toho verse.

[JAGzilla]

This thread deserves a

The MUTOs will never be my favorite kaiju, but they're solid mid-tier types. They filled their role in G14 well, and I was very happy to see NUTO/Abaddon/Barb/Whatever appear in KOTM. They have cool, memorable designs, unique personalities among the Toho pantheon, and standout grappling fighting styles. The scenes in which their EMPs caused fighter jets to short out and plummet helplessly out of the sky were amazing, some of the best things the Monsterverse has done so far. It's fantastically godlike; they don't have to destroy our military equipment with aggressive displays of flashy weaponry, they literally just speak, and the power of their voices decimates our mightiest machines as a side effect.

...you know, it's been over four years since I've seen G14. I think I let some of the fandom's gloomy negativity cloud my memories of this movie during that time. It had problems, but there were some serious high points, too, and now I really want to see it again.

[DirektorSplennic]

I genuinely hate how people said their design is "unorignal and looks too much like Cloverfield"

Really?

No they don't. At all. They have similar forms of locomotion. So what? The MUTOs are some of the most unique kaiju in the entire series.

Stop making comparisons to two completely different things that have one thing in common you damn Neanderthals.

[Desghidorah]

I genuinely hate how people said their design is "unorignal and looks too much like Cloverfield"

Really?

No they don't. At all. They have similar forms of locomotion. So what? The MUTOs are some of the most unique kaiju in the entire series.

Stop making comparisons to two completely different things that have one thing in common you damn Neanderthals.

This ^

Seriously comparing them to Cloverfield because they got long skinny limbs is like saying Showa Gigan looks just like Showa Godzilla because they both are stout and upright standing with dragging tails. The MUTOs limb arrangement, head shape, almost total lack of tail, and presence of wings on the male are all completely different.

[ShinGojira14]

The MUTOs are awesome.

Unlike most American giant monsters, they look like they came straight out of a Japanese Kaiju film. The thing is, I remember when the first concept art pieces were leaked of the MUTOs and they looked COMPLETELY different. They were basically just a bunch of elephant-sized spider crabs that would've essentially stood in for the Gyaos in the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. And I was sorely disappointed at the time; I saw nothing short of an essential repeat of every generic "giant bugs eating people threatening to overrun the planet" plotline. But then the year passed by, and as more trailers and clips were leaked, I began to see changes, but surprisingly (and thankfully) not enough to know what the MUTOs really looked like and what role they were going to play.

Then the film came out, and the moment we first see the male MUTO laying waste to the Janjira power plant, I was left with a shocked "Holy motherskreeonking SH*T" whispering out of my mouth.

The final design of the creatures subverted all of my negative expectations of what I thought was just going to be an "Americanized" monster design and narrative. For one, they weren't portrayed as human or elephant-sized predatory spider-crabs like I initially thought they were; no, they were, in true Toho fashion, gigantic hundred foot-tall MONSTERS that lumber and roar and stomp about and destroy cities, trample the military, everything I would've wanted from such newcomers to a franchise that had been dormant for far too long.

For another, their physical and auditory designs are downright amazing. I see zero reason for James skreeonking Rolfe- a.k.a. The Angry Video Game Nerd- to say they looked unoriginal and too much like the Cloverfield monster or the Gyaos from the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. The MUTOs look entirely different from BOTH aforementioned Kaiju in countless ways; the only similarity they have is that the female MUTO is quadrupedal and the male has wings. That's it. Other than that, they looks so otherworldly and alien in comparison that they make even the Gyaos look like something you'd see very day. They look like a hybrid mix of different animal families put together; they have the tough skin and endoskeletons of mammals, the multi-legged silhouette of arthropods, and the environmental adaptability, croaking vocalizations and jelly-like tadpole eggs of amphibians such as frogs and toads.

And speaking of sound- they SOUND different from the aforementioned monsters, too. From their deep, chattering clicks and banshee-like wails to loud, blaring roars that sounded like a more otherworldly version of the Red Death from How To Train Your Dragon, their range of vocalizations was so large and so well crafted that they not only could range from feeling scary to feeling just downright cool, but it along with their behavior lended a hand in crafting another unique aspect of the creatures.

They show emotion. They're sympathetic characters. We feel for them even though they never once show facial expression.

And upon seeing that for the first time in the theater, I thought "What a brilliant idea!" They're not mindless man-eaters or malicious exaggerated cretins out for blood like most predatory animal monsters in films such as Dinocroc or Eight Legged Freaks or all the god(zilla)-knows-how-many shark movies. They're just giant animals waking up to- and trying to raise a family in- a world that's very different from the one they came from, a world where they're now too big to fit in. They're tragic characters who convey sympathy from the viewer because even though they don't have any true malicious intentions towards humanity, they're simply so big and their reactions to humanity are so destructive that they have to be put down in the end. And they were awakened by humans in the first place.

A primary example of a highlight of the MUTOs' personality is the moment where the two are beating the ever loving crap outta Godzilla, and then Ford suddenly blows up their nest. The moment the female begins to turn around, the lets out a noise that almost sounds like a "huh?" And then upon seeing the flames, she screams and instantly heads over to the nest, constantly howling and wailing before she actually gets there. And when she finally gets there... ... ...

That moment was perfect. And again, not a single change in facial expression. All that emotion conveyed through sound and body language only.

And they're skreeonking tough. They weren't pushovers by any means; they gave Godzilla a hard and brutal beatdown before finally going out in equally brutal and badass ways. They were worthy adversaries for the King of the Monsters to face off against in his first movie in ten years and thus kick off a new era in the franchise.

In my opinion, the MUTOs are still the most intimidating, badass and powerful antagonists of the MonsterVerse; King Ghidorah unfortunately looked like a joke in comparison.

[GojiDog]

I liked the MUTOs quite a bit.

They'll never rank up there among my favorite Godzilla foes, but I loved that they went for original monsters rather than try to reintroduce old ones.

The Millennium Series did that a little too much, so to see a return to "Lets make something new for Godzilla to fight" felt like a breath of fresh air.

And The MUTOs filled their roles very well, providing a different kind of threat with their EMP abilities, and a male/female mating duo battling Godzilla. It felt fresh for the series. And it created some effective scenes where everything goes dark when one of them is nearby. And scenes like the Male MUTO's hatching were very effective.

And I liked the red-visor Gigan-esque look to their design.

I think the Skullcrawlers, overall, were better designed and more vicious, but The MUTOs were a nice first step in the MonsterVerse, and I enjoyed them.

[Italian G-Fan]

The MUTOs are awesome.

Unlike most American giant monsters, they look like they came straight out of a Japanese Kaiju film. The thing is, I remember when the first concept art pieces were leaked of the MUTOs and they looked COMPLETELY different. They were basically just a bunch of elephant-sized spider crabs that would've essentially stood in for the Gyaos in the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. And I was sorely disappointed at the time; I saw nothing short of an essential repeat of every generic "giant bugs eating people threatening to overrun the planet" plotline. But then the year passed by, and as more trailers and clips were leaked, I began to see changes, but surprisingly (and thankfully) not enough to know what the MUTOs really looked like and what role they were going to play.

Then the film came out, and the moment we first see the male MUTO laying waste to the Janjira power plant, I was left with a shocked "Holy motherskreeonking SH*T" whispering out of my mouth.

The final design of the creatures subverted all of my negative expectations of what I thought was just going to be an "Americanized" monster design and narrative. For one, they weren't portrayed as human or elephant-sized predatory spider-crabs like I initially thought they were; no, they were, in true Toho fashion, gigantic hundred foot-tall MONSTERS that lumber and roar and stomp about and destroy cities, trample the military, everything I would've wanted from such newcomers to a franchise that had been dormant for far too long.

For another, their physical and auditory designs are downright amazing. I see zero reason for James skreeonking Rolfe- a.k.a. The Angry Video Game Nerd- to say they looked unoriginal and too much like the Cloverfield monster or the Gyaos from the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. The MUTOs look entirely different from BOTH aforementioned Kaiju in countless ways; the only similarity they have is that the female MUTO is quadrupedal and the male has wings. That's it. Other than that, they looks so otherworldly and alien in comparison that they make even the Gyaos look like something you'd see very day. They look like a hybrid mix of different animal families put together; they have the tough skin and endoskeletons of mammals, the multi-legged silhouette of arthropods, and the environmental adaptability, croaking vocalizations and jelly-like tadpole eggs of amphibians such as frogs and toads.

And speaking of sound- they SOUND different from the aforementioned monsters, too. From their deep, chattering clicks and banshee-like wails to loud, blaring roars that sounded like a more otherworldly version of the Red Death from How To Train Your Dragon, their range of vocalizations was so large and so well crafted that they not only could range from feeling scary to feeling just downright cool, but it along with their behavior lended a hand in crafting another unique aspect of the creatures.

They show emotion. They're sympathetic characters. We feel for them even though they never once show facial expression.

And upon seeing that for the first time in the theater, I thought "What a brilliant idea!" They're not mindless man-eaters or malicious exaggerated cretins out for blood like most predatory animal monsters in films such as Dinocroc or Eight Legged Freaks or all the god(zilla)-knows-how-many shark movies. They're just giant animals waking up to- and trying to raise a family in- a world that's very different from the one they came from, a world where they're now too big to fit in. They're tragic characters who convey sympathy from the viewer because even though they don't have any true malicious intentions towards humanity, they're simply so big and their reactions to humanity are so destructive that they have to be put down in the end. And they were awakened by humans in the first place.

A primary example of a highlight of the MUTOs' personality is the moment where the two are beating the ever loving crap outta Godzilla, and then Ford suddenly blows up their nest. The moment the female begins to turn around, the lets out a noise that almost sounds like a "huh?" And then upon seeing the flames, she screams and instantly heads over to the nest, constantly howling and wailing before she actually gets there. And when she finally gets there... ... ...

That moment was perfect. And again, not a single change in facial expression. All that emotion conveyed through sound and body language only.

And they're skreeonking tough. They weren't pushovers by any means; they gave Godzilla a hard and brutal beatdown before finally going out in equally brutal and badass ways. They were worthy adversaries for the King of the Monsters to face off against in his first movie in ten years and thus kick off a new era in the franchise.

In my opinion, the MUTOs are still the most intimidating, badass and powerful antagonists of the MonsterVerse; King Ghidorah unfortunately looked like a joke in comparison.

‘The MUTOS were badass and powerful antagonists that made Ghidorah look like a joke’
Are we talking about the same monsters? No, because the MUTOS alone were pretty damn weak and pathetic, and Godzilla was easily kicking their asses when they were alone. Hell, they are even scared shitless of Godzilla when they are alone, and to even put him in disadvantage they needed to fight together because alone Godzilla would have obliterated them with no problems
Ghidorah instead, was ALONE and was kicking Godzilla’s ass with no problems

[ShinGojira14]

One thing that gets me thinking (and I think this is another brilliant aspect of the 2014 film): what exactly are the MUTOs?

Many people have their own theories, but from everything I've heard, even the production crew of the film don't know what they are. Some of them have their own personal thoughts on how they'd classify them, but all of them were merely speculations.

I personally would classify them as giant amphibians, but that's just me.

[GojiDog]

I thought of the MUTOs as being massive parasitic insect like creatures, like massive botfly-esque creatures, though they seem to share qualities with other types of animals as well.

This is not uncommon for kaiju. Godzilla himself is reptilian in appearance, but breathes underwater, so that would take him out of being classified as strictly a reptile.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I genuinely hate how people said their design is "unorignal and looks too much like Cloverfield"

Really?

No they don't. At all. They have similar forms of locomotion. So what? The MUTOs are some of the most unique kaiju in the entire series.

Stop making comparisons to two completely different things that have one thing in common you damn Neanderthals.

I also agree with your sentiment. It also completely ignores the facts that make them original, like the brief moments of personality, their abilities and the way they fight Godzilla.

[DirektorSplennic]

I genuinely hate how people said their design is "unorignal and looks too much like Cloverfield"

Really?

No they don't. At all. They have similar forms of locomotion. So what? The MUTOs are some of the most unique kaiju in the entire series.

Stop making comparisons to two completely different things that have one thing in common you damn Neanderthals.

I also agree with your sentiment. It also completely ignores the facts that make them original, like the brief moments of personality, their abilities and the way they fight Godzilla.

Exactly. They have so much personality.

Going back to their designs, only one of them even remotely looks like cloverfield. The male looks like a living stealth bomber! That's so cool! They're also unique because you can't actually pinpoint what kind of animal they are. They're more genetic anomalies than the other kaiju in the MV since all the others you can sort of tell what animal group they'd be in.

[ROMG4]

Honestly I think a major reason why people don't think the MUTO have much personality is because of the bloody awful transfer Godzilla 2014 got and still has on digital and physical media. Godzilla 2014 was an incredible visual treat in the theaters and you can still get a glimpse of it in the documentaries. But in the transfer very scene they appear is now pitch-black all their subtle movements, their bioluminescence, the color contrast, on the transfer they just look like black blocky generic bug monsters which confounds the unfair stereotype and its an absolute shame