Type 90 Maser Cannon

Type 90 Maser Cannon Height 6.1 meters Length 10 meters 19 meters (with tractor) Weight 132 metric tons (with tractor) Width 5.3 meters Tractor length 8.4 meters Targets King Ghidorah, Godzilla Piloted by Various First appearance Latest appearance Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla Godzilla: Final Wars

The Type 90 Maser Cannon (９０式メーサー殺獣光線車,   90-Shiki Mēsā Ya-jū Kōsen-sha, lit. Type 90 Maser Beast Killer Beam Car) is a fictional weapon that first appeared in the 2002 Toho Godzilla film Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.

Developed in 1990 as a direct successor to the Type 66 Maser Cannon, the Type 90 did not see action until the emergence of King Ghidorah in 1999. With the assistance of Mothra, the JXSDF's Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) was able to dispatch the three-headed terror. They were called into action later that same year when a second Godzilla landed at Tateyama, but proved ineffective, leading to the development of a new anti-Godzilla weapon, Kiryu. However, the Type 90 Maser Cannons continued to take part in anti-Godzilla operations in 2003 and 2004. In the continuity of Godzilla: Final Wars, the Type 90 Maser Cannon was utilized during the Earth Defense Force's decisive final battle against Godzilla in Antarctica.

Development

The Type 90 Maser Cannon was primarily designed by Hiroshi Maruyama, with contributions by Shinji Nishikawa. Initially, it was planned to simply use the Type 66 Maser Cannon from The War of the Gargantuas mostly unchanged in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, but the designers ultimately created a more modern and improved successor model. The designers initially planned to have the tractor pulling the Type 90 move on wheels, but director Masaaki Tezuka chose to have it move on tank treads like the Type 66. Tezuka wanted to include Maser Cannons in the film as he felt they were an iconic symbol of Toho's special effects movies aside from Godzilla.

Both large and small miniatures were created for the Type 90, as well as a full-size tractor. The Type 90 was designed with all personnel inside the tractor rather than having some inside the cannon itself, the only model of Maser Cannon besides the CLT-95 to do so.

For Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. a miniature of a Type 90 Maser Cannon was created to be depicted on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier for a battle with Godzilla at sea. The scene was never filmed, but the miniature was used to depict a Type 90 being destroyed by Godzilla's atomic breath.

History

Millennium Series

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

A Type 90 Maser Cannon firing at Godzilla in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

In 1999, when a second Godzilla attacked Tateyama, the AMF deployed their newest Maser Cannon model, the Type 90, to stop him. The Maser's power, already reduced by the rain, was ineffective against Godzilla. After Maser gunner Akane Yashiro tried to target his eyes, he returned fire, triggering a landslide above her commanding officer's truck. As he tried to avoid it, Akane accidentally sideswiped him. The truck tumbled further down the hill before Godzilla brought his foot down onto it, then sliced off the Maser Cannon's ray with a flick of his tail. Following this failure, the AMF began construction of a new anti-Godzilla weapon, Kiryu, which featured a Type-99 Double Maser Cannon in his mouth, which was completed in 2003. A Type 90 Maser Cannon was among the forces standing by when Kiryu went berserk during its first operation against Godzilla, but ultimately never received the order to attack. Two Type 90s took part in a JXSDF offensive against Godzilla at Tokyo Bay to buy time for evacuees and Kiryu's deployment. He swiftly destroyed them both with his atomic breath. After Kiryu ran out of power and the JXSDF moved to recharge him, two more Type 90s engaged Godzilla. Their fate is unknown.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

By 2004, the Type 90 had received an upgrade to the Type 90 Maser Cannon (Improved) (９０式メーサー殺獣光線車<改>,   90-Shiki Mēsā Ya-jū Kōsen-sha < Aratame >, lit. Type 90 Maser Beast Killer Beam Car (Improved)), now equipped with the more powerful yellow-colored Maser beam fired from Kiryu's mouth cannon. When Godzilla came ashore in Tokyo, one of the improved Type 90 Maser Cannons was deployed with JXSDF forces to delay his advance while Kiryu was being readied. Though it targeted the chest scar Kiryu had left the previous year, the King of the Monsters easily obliterated it with his atomic breath. Another improved Type 90 helped distract Godzilla while Yoshito Chujo performed emergency repairs on Kiryu. It met the same fate.

Godzilla: Final Wars

At least one Type 90 Maser Cannons was deployed by the Earth Defense Force against Godzilla in Antarctica in a decisive final confrontation. By the time the Gotengo arrived on the scene, he had already destroyed it.

Capabilities

Maser Cannon

• Armed with a 150,000 volt atomic heat ray. In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, it suffered a 30% reduction in power in the rain.

Tractor

• Operated by a crew of two people.

Filmography

• Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2003)
• Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Gallery

Production

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

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  The Type 90 Maser Cannon and tank props on set

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Screenshots

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

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Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

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Merchandise

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  Choro Q Type 90 Maser Cannon

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  Bandai Toho Machine Chronicles Type 90 Maser Cannon

Trivia

• In the English dub for Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., the Type 90 Maser Cannon (Improved) is called a "Hyper Maser". One of Kiryu's new weapons, the Triple Hyper Maser Cannon, is given the same name.

References

This is a list of references for Type 90 Maser Cannon. 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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