W

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"W"
Concept art of W created by Akira Inoue
Written by Nisan Takahashi
Designed by Akira Inoue
Planned for Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W
Concept history "W" → Garasharp

A monster tentatively named "W" (W,   Daburyū) was planned for an unmade 1972 Gamera film entitled Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W (ガメラ対双頭怪獣W,   Gamera tai Sōtō Kaijū Daburyū).

Development

Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W was penned by Nisan Takahashi following the production of Gamera vs. Zigra as the next entry in the Gamera series. The tentatively named W was designed by Akira Inoue, with clear resemblances to the Godzilla series villain King Ghidorah. Production details mentioned in the Remember the Gamera Series featurette indicate this was intentional, as King Ghidorah was on the mind of Noriaki Yuasa while working on Gamera vs. Zigra.[1] A practical W prop, either a puppet or a suit, was created at Daiei, but it was destroyed amidst a riot caused by the studio going bankrupt and not paying its workers.[2]

It is a common misconception among fans that Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W was replaced by Gamera vs. Garasharp prior to Daiei's bankruptcy in 1972. However, this is not true, as Garasharp was created for the Gamera Permanent Preservation Plan LaserDisc set, which came out in 1991.[1] Despite this, Gamera vs. Garasharp did serve as a sort of fulfillment of Takahashi's desire to create another Gamera story, with Inoue also contributing concept art and storyboards of Garasharp.[3]

Design

W's body is long and snake-like with two necks, large tattered wings and short arms. Its heads have sharp beaks with spikes in their cheeks and running down their backs. W's body seems to be covered in scales, and its underside resembles an annelid's segmented body. Concept art shows that W would be at the very least two times Gamera's size, and it could triple Gamera's height in length.

History

Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W

Little is known about W or the role it would have played in the next entry in the Gamera series, though concept art shows that Gamera would have fought the monster in an area completely surrounded by flames.

Abilities

  • W's heads would have been able to breathe fire or something similar.
  • W could have used its wings to protect its heads by hiding them behind the wings when they were concealing its upper body. It is unknown if W could have used its wings to fly.

Gallery

References

This is a list of references for W. 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]

  1. 1.0 1.1 LeMay, John (15 June 2017). The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films. Bicep Books. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1548145255.
  2. Milner, David (July 1996). "Noriaki Yuasa Interview". Kaiju Conversations.
  3. "Gamera vs. Zigra (ガメラ対深海怪獣ジグラ)". ja.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 22 August 2020.

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Unmade
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