Rodan (Millennium)
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“
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It's a big birdie, heading for us! We better get outta here!
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„
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— A drunk man in New York City, (Godzilla Final Wars) |
Rodan (ラドン Radon) is a giant Pteranodon kaiju who appeared in the 2004 Godzilla film Godzilla Final Wars.
A mind-controlled pawn of the Xiliens, Rodan appeared in the skies over New York, destroying the plane carrying United Nations Secretary General Naotaro Daigo and allowing him to be captured by the Xiliens. Rodan devastated New York before being recalled by the Xiliens as they posed as mankind's savior. When their true colors were exposed, the Xiliens unleashed Rodan and their other mind controlled kaiju across the globe. Rodan resumed his destruction of New York, and was then deployed to Mount Fuji alongside Anguirus and King Caesar to battle Godzilla. The combined might of all three monsters was not enough to bring down Godzilla, who knocked them all unconscious and stacked them in a pile before continuing on his way.
Name
Rodan's Japanese name, Radon, is a truncation of "Pteranodon." It may also have been chosen to suggest radiation. The name was changed to "Rodan" in English-speaking markets, possibly to avoid confusion with the element Radon. Toho eventually trademarked the name "Rodan," making it the monster's official English name.
Development
Artist Shinji Nishikawa designed Rodan for the character's appearance in Godzilla Final Wars, his first film appearance in over a decade.[2] As with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, production of Rodan was carried out by Shinichi Wakasa's company MONSTERS, Inc., this time sculpted by Kakusei Fujiwara.[3] Super Sentai actress Naoko Kamio, who also played Minilla in the film, donned the Rodan suit, making her the second woman to portray a Godzilla kaiju after Rie Ota as Baragon in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The suit featured a mechanical head mechanism for opening its mouth and it was stipulated that its wings be large enough to conceal itself, similar to the cape of Batman.[4] In addition to the suit, a wire-operated flying prop was made from the same base model,[4] and was used for the majority of the monster's scenes.[3] CGI was also employed for certain shots.[3]
Rodan concept art by Shinji Nishikawa
Clay prototype heads of Minilla (sculpted by Akira Yamada), Rodan, and King Caesar (sculpted by Kakusei Fujiwara)
Rodan's base model
The Rodan's suit's head mechanism
The unfinished Rodan suit is test fitted.
Rodan's flying prop being filmed in front of a blue screen
Design
The Millennium Rodan is made to closely resemble the 1956 Rodan design, with large wings, spiky armored plates on his chest, a long neck and two horns on the back of his head. Unique aspects of this Rodan's design include his orange-colored skin, toothless beak, especially long neck and legs, upward-slanted horns, and green eyes. This Rodan's body is considerably slimmer, and his armor chest plating is yellow in color and extends down to his legs. Rodan has pronounced fingers on his wings.
Personality
This incarnation of Rodan is mind-controlled throughout his appearance, and attacks New York under the command of the Xiliens. He is later sent by the Xiliens to attack Godzilla alongside King Caesar and Anguirus. Rodan coordinates his attacks with Anguirus and King Caesar to try and defeat Godzilla. After Rodan and his allies are defeated, they are spared by Godzilla for unknown reasons, while Godzilla killed all of the Xiliens' other monsters.
Origins
Though Rodan's origins go unexplained in Godzilla Final Wars, the film's theater program explains that he is a Pteranodon who was reawakened due to "environmental disturbances in the earth."[5] In the film, he suddenly appears in New York under the control of the Xiliens in the year 20XX, but the Earth Defense Force recognizes him and refers to him by name, suggesting that he had appeared in the past. In an interview with Henshin!Online published a month prior to the film's release, Shinichi Wakasa explained:
- Shinichi Wakasa: “[The monsters in the film are] not brand-new. The only new monster is Monster X. The others all have the same elements, the same character as before.”
- Keith Aiken: “So when Rodan appears onscreen for the first time in Final Wars, the characters will recognize him because he's attacked before.”
- Shinichi Wakasa: “Yeah.”
- ― [3]
History
- Godzilla Final Wars (2004)
Millennium era
Godzilla Final Wars
In the year 20XX, Rodan was taken control of by the Xiliens, along with many of Earth's monsters. The Xiliens unleashed Rodan upon New York City. Rodan first destroyed the United Nations Secretary General's plane, then descended into the city. Rodan ravaged the city with his supersonic abilities and battled the Earth Defense Force warship Rumbling, but was suddenly teleported away by the Xiliens, who were pretending to "save" mankind from the monsters. When their true colors were discovered by the EDF, the Xiliens redeployed their monsters, with Rodan resuming his attack on New York. Rodan destroyed the Rumbling when it attacked him again, and continued his destruction of New York unopposed.
When the EDF's remaining warship, the Gotengo, freed Godzilla from his prison in Antarctica, the Xilien leader the Controller of Planet X unleashed his monsters one after another to try and defeat the King of the Monsters. Godzilla defeated the Xiliens' pawns, and eventually reached Mount Fuji. The Controller unleashed Rodan, Anguirus and King Caesar all at once, who proceeded to attack Godzilla. When Anguirus curled into a ball and tried to ram into Godzilla, Godzilla hit him with his tail, sending him slamming into Rodan as he was flying overhead. Rodan fell from the sky and was knocked unconscious upon striking the ground. Godzilla then defeated both Anguirus and King Caesar, knocking them unconscious and stacking them on top of Rodan. Rather than destroy his helpless foes, Godzilla simply roared victoriously and continued on his way, leaving Rodan and his allies unconscious on the ground.
Abilities
Supersonic flight
Rodan can fly at supersonic speeds, leaving a trail of destructive sonic booms in his wake. He can destroy aircraft or buildings simply by flying over them, including the Rumbling, or detonate missiles before they can reach him.
Chest spikes
Rodan was able to cause Godzilla to stagger forward by scraping him with the spikes on his armored chest as he flew by.
Weaknesses
Though he remained conscious after a high-speed collision with King Caesar's head, Rodan was quickly knocked out after being hit in midair by the curled-up Anguirus, who was knocked into him from a blow by Godzilla's tail.
Video games
- CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle (2006) - Pachinko
- Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash (2007) - Nintendo DS
- CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God (2010) - Pachinko
- Godzilla (2014) - PlayStation 3 and 4 [Kaiju Guide]
- Godzilla Kaiju Collection (2015) - Android and iOS
- CR True King of the Monsters Godzilla (2018) - Pachinko
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android and iOS
- Pachinko True King of the Monsters Godzilla 2 (2022) - pachinko
- The Ants: Underground Kingdom (2021; added in 2022) - Android, Google Play, iOS
Rodan 2004 in Godzilla Kaiju Collection
Gallery
- Main article: Rodan/Gallery.
Roar
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Trivia
- This is the first and so far only incarnation of Rodan to be portrayed by a woman, being played by suit actress Naoko Kamio, who also portrayed Minilla in the same film.
- The Millennium Rodan is the tallest incarnation of Rodan to appear in a film, standing 100 meters tall, though he is outclassed in weight and wingspan by the MonsterVerse incarnation of the character, who has a wingspan of 871 feet (265.5 meters) and a weight of 39,043 tons.
- Rodan, Anguirus and King Caesar are the only enemy monsters to be spared by Godzilla in Godzilla Final Wars. This may be a nod to their status as Godzilla's allies in the Showa series.
Video
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References
This is a list of references for Rodan (Millennium). 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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