Shadorah
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Shadorah (シャドラー Shadorā) is a shadow kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in episode 10 of the 1973 tokusatsu kaiju series, Zone Fighter, titled "Zone Fighter Annihilated".
Design
Shadorah resembles a stout, beetle-like creature with large yellow eyes and bluish-grey skin. Shadorah also possesses two pairs of large grey fangs with one on his upper jaw and the other residing on his lower jaw. His legs and arms appear to have become degraded, with the arms ending with double pronged claws and the legs being noticeably stubby. Shadorah also possesses a striped back with what appears to be fur, with a tail and the end of it that has 2 triangular spikes protruding from it.
History
- Zone Fighter (TV 1973) [episodes 10 and 25]
Showa era
Zone Fighter
"Zone Fighter Annihilated"
Tired of Zone Fighter and the Zone Family's constant victories over the Terror-Beasts, the Garogas sent in an orb containing Shadorah, planning to have the shadow kaiju steal the hero's energy. Hikaru encountered Shadorah's energy bubble and transformed into his human-sized Zone Fighter form, blasting the bubble apart. Thinking Shadorah was defeated, the hero turned back into his civilian form and drove off in Mighty Liner.
A short while later, the Garogas sent Shipdraw as a distraction in order to get Zone's attention and make him grow into his giant form. Zone did so, defeating the cephalopod after a brief fight. As Zone began to pose, his shadow suddenly came to life and appeared across the valley he had defeated Shipdraw in.
Once the shadow menace had made his presence known, Zone attempted to fight the kaiju, but was not able to leave any lasting damage on Shadorah. Shadorah eventually left Zone Fighter exhausted after it had been revealed that the energy bubble he had earlier destroyed was Shadorah's, and that the kaiju had been leeching off of his energy ever since, leaving Zone to collapse. As Zone was helpless on the ground, Shadorah walked over to the injured Shipdraw and helped the cephalopod to his feet. Both kaiju made their escape.
Zone's family realized that Shadorah required an energy base to sustain his abilities. Zone Great managed to triangulate the location of the base that supplied Shadorah the proper energy he needed to survive; Zone Angel and Zone Junior destroyed it after a scuffle with the Garoga agents running it. With his supply of energy cut off, Shadorah was left paralyzed and unable to move. A green gas emanated from the shadow creature's mouth before it exploded.
"Carnage! Zone & Godzilla vs. the Allied Terror-Beast Forces"
Shadorah reappears as one of the many Terror-Beasts encased in a capsule, a plot by the Garogas to make sure the kaiju stay hidden from the Zone Family's radar system, in order to overwhelm them after the kaiju were released after 3 hours. Unlike most of the other Terror-Beasts however, Shadorah wasn't seen being visibly deployed, shrunken down, and placed inside of a capsule. Shadorah's capsule would then be hidden by a Garoga agent disguised as a mailman inside of a trashcan in front of the Zone Family's house, with Detragon and Mogranda's being hidden in neighboring trashcans. Unlike Jikiro, Spideros, Garoborg, and Kabutogirah, he is not set free to rampage and his capsule is instead discovered very early on alongside Detragon and Mogranda by Yoichiro and Tsukiko Sakimori. Hikaru then runs tests on Shadorah's capsule, putting in underneath a scanner, where it is revealed that the capsule does indeed contain a Terror-Beast shrunken down to micro-size, and that Shadorah's capsule would explode and release him after 3 hours. After defeating Kabutogirah, Yoichiro contacts Hikaru via a Zobot and reports to him that the capsules containing Shadorah, Mogranda, and Detragon were destroyed before the three of them could burst free.
Abilities
Physical abilities
In their second fight, Shadorah used his claws to batter Zone Fighter, as well as kneeing the hero. Shadorah had also used his claws to shove the hero to the ground. After beating Zone Fighter again, Shadorah went on to attack the nearby city by stomping on the buildings causing them to explode.
Shadow imitation
Shadorah can imitate a being's shadow while also leeching off the hosts energy as a shadow, and can willingly change between it and his kaiju form. This makes him immune to their attacks as well as capable of absorbing their energy. This allowed him to shrug off Zone Fighter's Meteor Missile Might, which proved fatal to many other Terror-Beasts in the show. Shadorah spent most of the episode leeching off of Hikaru's energy leaving him bedridden, staying with him even after he was brought home to rest after fighting the Terror-Beast. During their first fight, Shadorah was able to bring Zone Fighter to use knees by absorbing the hero's energy, leaving him helpless, with not even a Zone Marker Change recharging Zone's energy levels. It was explained by the Garoga Baron that the more Zone Fighter struggled, the more pain he would feel from the attack.
Atomic Beams
Shadorah can emit flashes of light from his eyes called Atomic Beams (原子光線 Genshi Kosen)[3] which were able to temporarily blind and stun Zone Fighter, causing the hero to fall onto the ground after being hit by them.
Miracrogas
Shadorah can emit an acidic green mist called the Miracrogas (ミラクロガス Mirakurogasu)[3] which not only chokes the opponent, but also saps away their energy. The mist also creates explosions on whatever it touches, this was shown when numerous explosions went off across Zone Fighter's body when hit with it. After leaving Zone Fighter behind, Shadorah used his Miracrogas on the nearby city, causing large explosions upon impacting it.
Capsule
In "Carnage! Zone & Godzilla vs. the Allied Terror-Beast Forces", the Garogas shrunk Shadorah down and placed him inside of a capsule in order to avoid his detection by the Zone Family. After three hours, this capsule would have exploded, releasing him, but it was destroyed by the Zone Family before this could take place.
Weaknesses
Shadorah needs a constant energy source in order to sustain himself and will become paralyzed and eventually die if said energy source is destroyed or cut off. Shadorah was also shown disappearing from leeching off of Hikaru once the sun had set, with Zone Great explaining that the Terror-Beast was using solar energy in order to absorb the energy within Hikaru. Shadorah was ultimately killed after Zone Angel and Zone Junior had destroyed the control center that supplied Shadorah the solar energy, leaving Shadorah to stop in his tracks before a green mist would erupt from his mouth and eventually explode.
Gallery
- Main article: Shadorah/Gallery.
Trivia
- Shadorah is one of only four Terror-Beasts to defeat Zone Fighter in battle, along with King Ghidorah, Gundarguirus, and Super Jikiro.
- Shadorah is also one of two enemy kaiju in the series who is never defeated by Zone Fighter in battle, the other being the Garoga Gorilla, who he never encountered.
Notes
- ↑ In episode 25, capsules containing Detrago, Shadorah, and Mogranda are found stashed inside of the Zone Family's trash cans. After discovering them and bringing them in the house, Akira picks up the capsule containing Shadorah. He remarks that the three capsules they discovered had each contained a kaiju that weighed over 70,000 metric tons.
References
This is a list of references for Shadorah. 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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