Yonggary
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Yonggary, also spelled Yongary (용가리, is an ancient reptilian Yonggali)kaiju created by Keukdong Entertainment who first appeared in the 1967 film Yongary, Monster from the Deep.
Name
Yonggary's name comes from the Korean word for "dragon" (yong) and a monster from Korean legend, Pulgasari.[1][5] The English spelling of Yonggary's name is inconsistent: materials for his debut film spell his name as "Yongary" with one "g," while materials for Reptilian spell it as "Yonggary" with two.
Design
In Yongary, Monster from the Deep, Yonggary is a bipedal reptile with a long horn on his snout, tusks on the sides of his mouth, and a single row of dorsal plates, similar to Godzilla's but shorter. He has red, glowing eyes and spikes in his tail, similar to Stegosaurus.
In Reptilian, Yongarry's head is more feline and retains his basic shape, but with a smaller nasal horn, three larger horns on the back of his head, and spiked shoulder pads.
History
Yongary, Monster from the Deep
Yonggary was an ancient reptile who was awoken by a bomb going off in the Middle East, and a resultant earthquake which travelled through the earth to his underground home. He rampaged across South Korea in search of gasoline and oil, his favorite foods. After an attack on a refinery in which Yonggary displays a weakness to ammonia, the South Korean government lure him to a river by covering it in oil, and then covers Yonggary in the ammonia when he arrives. Yonggary dies an excruciating death through bleeding from most of his orifices, leaving South Korea safe once more.
Reptilian
In this incarnation, Yonggary is a 200-million-year-old giant dinosaur, approximately 50 times the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex, that is reanimated by Galaxion alien set upon taking over Earth. Upon reanimation, the aliens use Yonggary to attack several cities and cause destruction. When the military finds a way to break Yonggary free from the aliens' control over him, the aliens send their personal monster, Cykor, to battle Yonggary. Yonggary eventually defeats Cykor and the aliens retreat. The next day, the military transports Yonggary to an island where he may adjust to the modern age.
Abilities
Durability
In the film Reptilian, Yonggary was immensely durable, able to shrug off attacks from jet fighters and airborne soldiers. His durability also granted him great strength, enough to even keep a building from collapsing onto the ground below.
Fire breath
In Yongary, Monster from the Deep, Yonggary can breathe a concentrated stream of flame from his mouth, sufficient to set tanks on fire and destroy fighter jets. Its range is limited, as he was unable to shoot down a helicopter hovering overhead.
Fireballs
Yonggary also displayed the ability to produce fireballs from his mouth. It is unknown how many he can fire at any one time, but they possessed enough force to destroy jets and kill Cykor.
Horn beam
In his debut film, Yonggary was able to fire a thin yellow beam from his horn, capable of slicing Jeeps and fighter jets in half.
Daemon
Within the Reptilian, the "Daemon" appeared as a control device of aliens for Yonggary. It enabled Yonggary to teleport with electricity running on Yonggary's body, and emitted a light and an energy which caused a pilot of a jet fighter to lose control and crush.
True power
Near the end of Reptilian, the aliens noted that they should flee before Yonggary awakens his unspecified "true powers".
Weaknesses
Despite the original Yonggary's impressive durability and abilities, he has one major weakness: ammonia. This was shown when Yonggary was having a reaction during an attack on the oil refineries. This causes him to start itching.
A more refined concentrate of ammonia, dropped from a helicopter, made him bleed violently from his anus, either knocking him unconscious (in the South Korean version) or killing him (in the American version).
Filmography
- Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
- Reptilian (1999)
Gallery
- Main article: Yonggary/Gallery.
In other languages
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Roar
In Reptilian, Yonggary sometimes emits an edited stock roar which dates back to the 1957 Universal Pictures films The Land Unknown and The Deadly Mantis. It was also used for King Kong in the 1976 film and Toto in Gamera the Brave.
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Trivia
- Screenwriter Yun-sung Seo envisioned the original Yonggary as a single-celled organism from outer space mutated by radiation.[1]
- The original Yonggary suit was constructed for $5,000 by Equis Productions co-founder Masao Yagi, who was heavily involved with the Showa Gamera films.[1] Like many of Daiei's kaiju, the original Yonggary has glowing eyes which could open and close.
- The original Yonggary's horn laser is also visually identical to the sonic cutter of Gyaos, the opponent Gamera faced in Gamera vs. Gyaos, which was released the same year as Yongary, Monster from the Deep. Both rays are thin, yellow, and deployed to slice cars and fighter jets in half.
- The partially-lost South Korean version of Yongary, Monster from the Deep implies that the monster survives exposure to ammonia, with Yoo Young (Icho's original name) wishing that the world's scientists would find a way to launch Yonggary into space, allowing him to live peacefully on another planet.[1]
- The original Yonggary suit was modified and reused for the 1969 film Lady Hong.[6]
- The original Yonggary's skull makes a brief appearance in Pacific Rim Uprising, during the scene where Hermann Gottlieb examines PPDC records in search of a match for the image Mako Mori transmitted.
Notes
- ↑ The 1999 Yonggary's height varies between sources. A bonus feature included with the American DVD release of Reptilian states his height to be 500 meters,[2] and the official Korean promotional site for the film says he is 150 meters (nearly 500 feet).[3] However, the English version of the site instead calls him a "350 foot tall [...] monster,"[4] and the Japanese theater program for the film places him at 106 meters (about 350 feet). Furthermore, Yonggary's height is estimated in the film itself as "50 times the size of a T. rex". As the largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimen currently known is just over 4 meters tall at the hip, this would place Yonggary's maximum height at around 200 meters.
- ↑ The 1999 Yonggary's weight is given as 170 metric tons on the Korean promotional site for Reptilian.[3]
References
This is a list of references for Yonggary. 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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