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Godzilla influences in Pokemon

Necrum

I AM THE REAL SONIC
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Godzilla is quite an old monster, and has had 28 films made in Japan alone. It stands to reason that the various individuals who made Pokemon, probably grew up during the golden age of Dai Kaiju films, especially since it was a period where Godzilla was targeted primarily at children. This blog is simply my views on the potential influences that may have come from the Godzilla franchise.

First and foremost is Godzilla himself, who clearly was the influence for the Pokemon Tyranitar, who anyone with simple pop culture knowledge can tell. How accurate was it to its influence though? For one, Tyranitar has green skin, which is a common misconception of Godzilla, who had smoke grey skin until the movie Godzilla 2000. Unfortunately, this did not get us a dark grey shiny, instead the alternate color has taken more from Tyranitar's Rock typing, giving him a desert like complexion. Tyranitar's Dark type seems likely to be a reference to Godzilla's chaotic nature, being that in normal circumstances he is neither good nor bad, but is a dark messenger of the atomic revolution. Tyranitar's final level up move is and always has been Hyper Beam, which seems a clear reference to Godzilla's atomic breath. It seems to me they did a good job of not making Tyranitar a straight rip off of Godzilla, by giving him his own traits that stand out as unique.

Tyranitar wasn't introduced until gen 2 though, were there any older Pokemon who show signs of this influence? There were indeed, theoretical question asker! Two Pokemon in particular seem as though they could have been influenced by the Kaiju Hedora, the smog monster. Muk and Weezing are certainly weird ideas, and they may not share designs with Hedora, the thematic element seems clear: They are all the product of pollution. Weezing may seem like a stretch to some, but if you pay attention to Godzilla vs The Smog Monster, you can see that Hedora releases many toxic fumes, much the same way that Weezing does. Muk and Hedora both share the distinction of being made entirely out of sewage, a rather disgusting similarity that seems like more than coincidence to me.

And even in one of the most popular generation 1 Pokemon you can see the push of Toho movies, with the Pokemon Nidoking, who bears a striking similarity to the monster Baragon. Ever wondered why Nidoking was Ground type? It's because Baragon is a monster who digs underground! They both have long ears and a horn, as a scaly looking body. Baragon can, at different times, be seen standing on all fours, or on just his hind legs, similar to the way that Nidorino is on all fours, but Nidoking stands on his back legs.

Jump forward to 2010. Black and White are on the way, and I have a list of all the new Pokemon being released in my hands. I see the Pokemon known as Sazandora, and my heart suddenly flies with excitement at the thought of a Pokemon based on King Ghidorah. But America butchered this with the romanized name, Hydreigon, playing to its similarity to the Hydra instead of the clear Pokemon based on the most popular Godzilla villain ever. You will never convince me that Hydreigon is not King Ghidorah, you simply won't. Both Hydreigon and Ghidorah are based on a dragon from Japanese lore with 8 heads, however, both of them chose to cut it down to 3. Both of them fly everywhere and have pretty useless legs. Both of them can shoot lightning- actually this is the one thing that stands out as a possible proof that it isn't based on King Ghidorah, as Hydreigon cannot use electric moves for the most part, which are Ghidorah's signature, but this could simply be a reworking similar to Tyranitar. Speaking of Tyranitar, him and Hydreigon share Dark typing, which is interesting given that Godzilla and King Ghidorah are both destructive forces, and bitter enemies. It stands to reason that putting them in the Dark type together could speak a lot to their similarities then.

One final example comes from an unexpected place: Wurmple. Everyone knows who Mothra is, right? Well she has a twin brother named Battra, who together seem very similar in concept to Wurmple's evolutionary line. One being a beautiful butterfly, and the other being an ugly destructive monster.

You can take this or leave it, as these are mostly my opinions, but perhaps I have opened your eyes to the kind of things we may never realize influenced Pokemon.
 
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