Trilopod

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Trilopod
Trilopods in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Alternate names Toriropoddo, Hunters
Species Power-Absorbing Alien Creatures
Forms Trilopod Alpha, Trilopod Beta,
"New Powers" Forms (Depends on what monster the power was gained from),
Magita
Allies Cryogs
Enemies Godzilla, Megaguirus, SpaceGodzilla, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, Sanda, Gaira, Rodan, Baragon, Battra, King Caesar, Jet Jaguar, Gezora, Kamoebas, Titanosaurus, Anguirus, Varan, Kamacuras, Zilla
First appearance Latest appearance
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #19 Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #25

The Trilopods (トリロポッド,   Toriropoddo) are a species of power-absorbing alien creatures created by IDW that first appear in issue #19 of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. They are the first completely new major monsters to appear in any of IDW's Godzilla comic series.

Name

The "trilo" part of "Trilopod" comes from trilobite, a class of extinct prehistoric arthropods, while "pod" might come from "arthropod," and by itself is a suffix that means "feet" and is commonly used to describe creatures with multiple "feet." Scripts for Godzilla: Rulers of Earth issues gave the transformed Trilopods portmanteau names like "Triloguirus" and "Spacetrilozilla," though legal issues prevented them from being used in the comic.[1]

Design

The Trilopods' general physical appearance is much like real arthropods. The Trilopods have a Trilobite-like shell, pedipalps lined with sharp teeth and radial mouths resembling those of Anomalocaris, and sharp arm-like scythes with red spheres.

Whilst all "base" Trilopods share common features, the Beta Trilopods are taller than their Alpha counterparts, mostly so that they can fight other kaiju using their massive scythes.

In addition, the Trilopods' appearances are altered when they absorb power from other monsters, such as gaining wings from Battra, Rodan, or Megaguirus, a crown and crystals from SpaceGodzilla, etc.

History

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

While Godzilla and Megaguirus battled in Machu Picchu, Peru, the Cryogs deployed a pod to their location, which released several Trilopods. Some multi-legged Alpha Trilopods pounced onto Megaguirus and bit into her, draining her blood. Godzilla tried to fight the creatures off, but was overwhelmed by them and then pinned down and restrained by a bipedal Beta Trilopod. Several Alpha Trilopods bit down on Godzilla and began to drain his blood, while others crawled onto the Beta Trilopod and merged with it, causing it to gain additional legs and sprout copies of Megaguirus' wings and spikes. Godzilla fired a blast of atomic breath to free himself. He then incinerated several of the Alpha Trilopods with his atomic breath and even bit another's head off. The Trilopod that absorbed Megaguirus' powers proceeded to blast Godzilla with a powerful laser beam and then grabbed him and carried him off into the sky.

The Cryog emperor Karkaro, pleased with the result of the Trilopods' attack, sent two more pods full of them to the Monster Islands, while another group of Trilopods dragged SpaceGodzilla to Earth, then attacked him and absorbed his powers as well. Just then, the Megaguirus-Trilopod dropped Godzilla down in the same area, and it and the other Trilopods surrounded both Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla. SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla unwillingly fought the Trilopods together, until SpaceGodzilla was knocked out by one of the Beta Trilopods, and had some of his blood taken by the Alphas. The Beta Trilopod then took on SpaceGodzilla's characteristics, and the fight was quickly swung into the alien monsters' favor. Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla managed to break free from a crystal prison the SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod put them in, and destroyed the SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod. After SpaceGodzilla retreated and Godzilla collapsed from exhaustion, three Beta Trilopods absorbed his blood and took on his characteristics. The military engaged the Godzilla-Trilopods, but was powerless to stop them. Godzilla regained consciousness and attacked his clones, while Jet Jaguar emerged from the ocean to battle them as well.

Planning his endgame, Karkaro ordered the Trilopod hive to touch down in Los Angeles and unleash the new hybrids inside. Godzilla soon found himself surrounded by Trilopods with the characteristics of nearly all of Earth's kaiju. Before Godzilla was overwhelmed, the Counter-Kaiju Reaction Forces deployed Kiryu and MOGUERA to assist the monster king. Together, Godzilla and the mechas briefly took the upper hand against the Trilopods, but Kiryu and MOGUERA were both eventually destroyed. Godzilla called out for assistance as loudly as he could, and the various Earth kaiju inside the Trilopod hive heard him and burst free. Godzilla and his allies took on the Trilopods together, destroying all of them. While the rogue Gigan destroyed Karkaro's ship, the Cryog emperor released a last-ditch effort to destroy Godzilla and Earth's kaiju, a giant Trilopod called Magita. After Magita was defeated and the Trilopods were exterminated for good, Godzilla led the other monsters to the ocean, from where they then all went to live across the world in peace.

Abilities

Power Absorption

This ability is a two-stage process involving both the Alpha and Beta Trilopods. First an Alpha must pierce the skin of a target kaiju with its pedipalps to absorb its energy, then climb onto the back of a Beta and merge with it. The resulting creature will have both the powers and physical characteristics of the target kaiju. This includes energy attacks like Godzilla's atomic ray, melee techniques like Gorosaurus' kangaroo kick, and more elaborate abilities like SpaceGodzilla's telekinesis and crystal generation.

Comic Appearances

Gallery

Concept Art

Scans

Trivia

  • The Trilopods can be seen as an organic counterpart to the Cryogs' purely mechanical Mechagodzilla units, lacking the machines' firepower but being capable of executing more sophisticated strategies.
  • Toho's mandate against killing off their kaiju inspired Godzilla: Rulers of Earth co-authors Chris Mowry and Matt Frank to create an original monster army which could take part in more decisive battles for the comic's final story arc. Mowry's initial idea was to have an alien 'Monster Zoo Menagerie' invade Earth, while Frank suggested a single, uniform species of antagonists to streamline the design process and prevent the duo from needing to design an entire series of one-off creatures.[2]
  • The design and abilities of the Trilopods were inspired by the xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, the Invid from the anime series Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, and trilobites. Jeff Zornow also contributed to the design process.

References

This is a list of references for Trilopod. 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]

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