Mechagodzilla (Ready Player One)

Mechagodzilla® (Ready Player One) Alternate names Kiryunovel Species OASIS magical artifact Height ~156 feetnovel Controlled by Nolan Sorrento Enemies Leopardonnovel, Minerva Xnovel, Raideennovel, Ultramannovel, Iron Giantfilm, RX-78 Gundam Written by Ernest Clinenovel and film, Zak Pennfilm Designed by Jared Krichevsky First appearance Latest appearance Ready Player One (2011) Ready Player One (2018) Roar(s) Ready Player One: More roars

	This article is a work in progress. Please help in the creation of this article by expanding or improving it.

“	An awestruck silence fell over the crowd, followed by a rumble of fearful recognition from the thousands of gunters present. They all recognized this giant metal behemoth. And they all knew it was nearly indestructible.	„
	— Wade Watts as Nolan Sorrento unleashes Mechagodzilla, (Ready Player One [novel])

Mechagodzilla (メカゴジラ,   Mekagojira) appears in the 2011 novel Ready Player One and its 2018 film adaptation. Rather than a real machine, it exists as a powerful magical artifact in a virtual-reality game called the OASIS, piloted by the leader of Innovative Online Industries, Nolan Sorrento.

Name

Mechagodzilla's name comes from the word "mecha," which is derived from "mechanical," and from another monster, Godzilla (ゴジラ,   Gojira).

Origins

Upon his death, OASIS creator James Halliday revealed to the world that he hid an Easter egg in his game; the first person to obtain it will inherit his fortune and control of the OASIS. First, however, they must complete challenges to obtain three keys; in the novel, they must also face additional challenges upon insert each key into a gate. Upon completing the Second Gate, Innovative Online Industries head Nolan Sorrento was presented with a list of giant robots, spanning decades of pop culture, to choose from. He selected Mechagodzilla, receiving a toy-sized version of the machine which he could expand to massive size by shouting, "Kiryu!" After IOI discovered the location of the Third Gate, Anorak's Castle, they sent an army to guard it, then surrounded it with an impenetrable force field. Wade Watts, an independent "egg hunter" (gunter) who had also collected the three keys, infiltrated IOI in the real world to prepare a timed explosion inside the stronghold to disable the shield. He gathered his allies - Samantha Cook, Helen Harris, and Akihide Karatsu, each with their own giant robot - and raised an army of millions of other gunters to surround the castle. Just before the explosion went off, Sorrento revealed Mechagodzilla to them, stepped inside the cockpit, and bellowed a challenge.

The film adaptation does not reveal how Sorrento obtained Mechagodzilla. When Wade's army charged towards Anorak's Castle after Samantha brought down the shield, he selected a toy-sized Mechagodzilla from his inventory and threw it to the ground, causing it to build the full-sized machine around him.

History

Ready Player One

Helen activated her custom Iron Giant for the final battle, while Daito used an artifact to turn into an RX-78 Gundam for two minutes. Helen was no match for Mechagodzilla, who knocked her aside before unleashing its flamethrower. Before Wade and Samantha could slip past it, a tail whip totaled his DeLorean. Daito entered the battle as they tried fleeing on foot, saving them from being crushed underfoot. Samantha headed towards Helen while Wade and Zhou continued towards the castle. Though the Gundam was an even match for Mechagodzilla, landing some solid hits with his Beam Saber, the time limit proved to be Toshiro's downfall. As he stood defiant, Mechagodzilla vaporized him, then trained its finger missiles on Wade and Zhou. Just then Helen leapt onto its back, causing its shots to go wild. With Samantha in the palm of her hand, he held the mech's head in place long enough for the gunter to shoot out one of its eyes with her pulse rifle. Before Sorrento could react, she tossed a Madball grenade through the hole, killing his avatar and destroying Mechagodzilla.

Abilities

Breath weapon

In the novel, Sorrento relied exclusively on a blue lightning weapon fired from Mechagodzilla's mouth. The ray destroyed every giant robot, ship, and avatar it touched, although it required time to recharge after each use. In the film, Mechagodzilla fired a blue flamethrower from its mouth instead. The flames severely damaged Helen as the Iron Giant and destroyed Toshiro's avatar instantly, though he had been able to reflect them as the RX-78 Gundam.

Finger missiles

In the film, Mechagodzilla could fire missiles from each of its fingers.

Weaknesses

In the novel, Mechagodzilla moved relatively slowly, allowing both Raideen and Ultraman to outmanuever it. In the film, Samantha easily shot out its eyes with her pulse rifle, then destroyed the entire machine by throwing a grenade through the hole.

Filmography

• Ready Player One (2018)

Books

• Ready Player One (2011) [as Kiryu]

Ready Player One

As the final battle between gunters and IOI began, Mechagodzilla seemed invincible, unaffected by the barrage of attacks which quickly destroyed the giant robots Sorrento's underlings were piloting. Even Wade (in Leopardon), Helen (in an RX-78 Gundam), and Akihide (in Raideen) couldn't damage it, though Samantha (in Minerva X) destroyed its right shoulder cannon with a Breast Fire attack. They all dodged its counterattack, a lightning blast from its mouth, but soon concluded they couldn't beat it. Akihide, seeking to avenge the death of his friend Toshiro Yoshiaki, attacked Mechagodzilla head-on while Helen and Samantha exited their robots and flew towards the castle. Raideen's God Breaker swords disabled Mechagodzilla's right arm, but its lightning blast annilhilated both the robot and Akihide's avatar. Wade ejected as the ray cut Leopardon in half. As Mechagodzilla pursued him, he followed Helen and Samantha, then stopped, deciding Sorrento needed to be humbled. Using the Beta Capsule Akihude had given him, he transformed into Ultraman. He unleashed a devestating flurry of attacks: a Specium Ray to knock Mechagodzilla over, a flying kick to its spine, and an Ultra-Slice to cut it in half. Sorrento ejected in Mechagodzilla's head, but Wade shot him down with another Specium Ray.

Trivia

• GUNSHIP's "Art3mis & Parzival" music video, released a few weeks before the Ready Player One movie, depicts Mechagodzilla as its Showa incarnation. In this telling, it wiped out Leopardon and Minerva X before Wade transformed into Ultraman and quickly destroyed it.

References

This is a list of references for Mechagodzilla (Ready Player One). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Comments

Showing 71 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators. Loading comments...