Monsters that could've been in GFW

[Darth Calypso]

What other Toho monsters do you think could've been in GFW?

[JVM]

Gorosaurus was supposed to be in originally but was replaced with Zilla.

Mechagodzilla was cut entirely.

Ganimes was replaced with Ebirah.

[Chris55]

Why the hell aren't Giant Condor or Giant Serizawa options?

[TitanoGoji16]

As much as I like the new Gotengo, I've always thought its role should have been given to Kiryu. I mean, how the heck do you have a 50th Anniversary Godzilla movie without Mechagodzilla?

Also, it'd make a lot more sense if Megalon had Hedorah's role. "HA-HA, 1 HIT KO!" would be a lot funnier if it was a useless doofus like Megalon instead of Hedorah, who's arguably among Godzilla's top three deadliest foes, which instead just makes it fanboy rage-inducing.

[Hotrod93]

Why the hell aren't Giant Condor or Giant Serizawa options?

Because life just sucks.

[Chris55]

Why the hell aren't Giant Condor or Giant Serizawa options?

Because life just sucks.

It SURE does

[Hellspawn28]

I remember Kpa saying that Toho wanted to used all of their monsters in FW but the budget would have been too high? I also remember hearing that all of the monsters that appear in the intro credits where plan to be in the movie as well.

[Tyler]

I'd swap Zilla out with Gorosaurus or Titanosaurus.

[King Caesar]

Varan needs a redemption. After his terribly butchered American Varan, the Unbelievable and DAM, someone needs to put him in a movie and give him some actual real screentime.

[JVM]

Varan needs a redemption. After his terribly butchered American Varan, the Unbelievable and DAM, someone needs to put him in a movie and give him some actual real screentime.

GFW screentime does not count

[King Caesar]

Well something even as long as KC's showtime would work for me. He is so overlooked I feel like.

[Legion1979]

Keith (kpa) posted this yesterday...

How the creative team chose the monsters for FINAL WARS was well explained years ago. Screenwriter Wataru Mimura wrote the original story, which had eight monsters in it. Ryuhei Kitamura wanted to break the DESTROY ALL MONSTERS record so he and Shogo Tomiyama met with Mimura and FX director Eiichi Asada to decide which monsters to use. Toho's top monster stars (Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Ghidorah) were a given for a 50th anniversary film. My understanding is that Minya and Angilas were both in the initial treatment so they were kept. Kitamura's favorites were Gigan and King Seesar so they made the cut. Kitamura also suggested using the American Godzilla, and Tomiyama liked the idea.

After that, monsters were selected or discarded based on 1) the filmmakers' personal preferences, 2) how well the character fit the story, and 3) if their powers and abilities were similar to those of the monsters already chosen. Zilla's presence would have quickly eliminated a kaiju like Gorosaurus. Titanosurus general concept (bipedal aquatic dinosaur) and powers (creates high winds) were already covered by Godzilla and Rodan... and the character has never been popular in Japan so he was likely an early cut. Mechagodziilla had just been in back-to-back films, and the filmmakers felt that he didn't really fit the story. Most of the Heisei monsters were just knockoffs of existing characters so they weren't used. Biollante is very unique, but the final stage version had been very expensive to build and extremely difficult to operate... I can see why the GFW crew didn't want to deal with that when the monsters have so little screen time.

The monsters that did get selected are all pretty different in appearance and abilities, and I can see why they were chosen over some of the other kaiju.

[King Caesar]

Now I can finally rest in peace knowing someone in Toho likes King Caesar.

[Gorosaurus Rex]

Gorosaurus should have been in this. Seriously, I wouldnt even mind if it was a tiny little cameo. I really wanna see the big guy back. This was the only chance I was gonna get too.

[JVM]

Gorosaurus should have been in this. Seriously, I wouldnt even mind if it was a tiny little cameo. I really wanna see the big guy back. This was the only chance I was gonna get too.

Goro is awesome, but there was technically no reason to put him in GFW. His only appearance within Godzilla was DAM and a few stock footage cameos. In DAM he was really placeholding for Baragon.

[cloverfan98]

Probably cause I actually liked g98 but I'm very happy Zilla was in GFW. I thought that was awesome. as for other monsters, I'd have to go with Destroyah, SG, Biollante, Orga, and I'd swap Kasier Ghidraoh for classic King Ghidraoh in a heartbeat.

[JVM]

Probably cause I actually liked g98 but I'm very happy Zilla was in GFW. I thought that was awesome. as for other monsters, I'd have to go with Destroyah, SG, Biollante, Orga, and I'd swap Kasier Ghidraoh for classic King Ghidraoh in a heartbeat.

I'd agree with the Ghidorahs and Destoroyah. Orga would've been great but his toys sold crappy and Toho apparently cares about that stuff, and SG just wouldn't fit in. Bio I got no clue.

[kpa]

I've always liked Gorosaurus but I'm really glad Zilla is in GFW... it's one of the few things that I think worked really well in the movie. From talking to the Toho crew, they felt that-- love the American Godzilla or hate him-- the monster left a big stamp on the history of Godzilla and deserved to be in the anniversary. They also wanted to leave no doubt that the Japanese Godzilla was stronger. And seeing Godzilla fight Godzilla was fun, and something I never expected to see beyond fan art and movies.

Plus there's little bits of trivia that I liked. Zilla was the first 100% CGI monster in a Toho Godzilla film. He was the second American monster and only the second monster introduced in a movie not made by Toho to fight Godzilla on the big screen. And Godzilla beats Zilla with speed, which was clever... and clever is not how I'd describe most of GFW.

[King Caesar]

I knew the CGI part, but that is really interesting. I think Zilla is the first of many CGI monsters to come.

[Legion1979]

Orga would've been great but his toys sold crappy and Toho apparently cares about that stuff

Orga's toys didn't sell because no one liked the character at all in Japan. That's a good enough reason to exclude him from GFW.

Bio I got no clue.

This was explained well earlier.