User:Gerdzerl Kinerfdamahnsters/Sandbox/Kaiju design descriptions
ShodaiGoji
As the first official design, the ShodaiGoji suit would set the basic template for nearly all Godzilla designs to come. That is, a gigantic, bipedal reptilian creature with rough, bumpy, usually charcoal gray scales with a keloid scar or tree bark-like texture, a fairly small head with prominent eyebrow-like ridges over the eyes, moderately long, humanoid arms with four fingers including an opposable thumb, thick, muscular legs, a long, powerful, segmented tail, and three rows of generally bone-white dorsal plates.
The ShodaiGoji suit has a lizard-like, wedge-shaped head with a large, wide mouth attached to a fairly short, serpentine neck. The face is round and lumpy with a large upper jaw and a thin lower jaw and the nose is similar in fairly mammalian in appearance, similar to that of a crocodilian or Chinese dragon. The cranium is small, relative to the rest of the head, and resembles the sagittal crest found on gorillas. The head also sports a pair of small, pointed, elf-like ears, giving this design an almost draconic look. The eyes are round and have white sclera with large black pupils that are painted to look in a downward direction. When viewed from a frontward direction, the pupils on each eye point in the opposite direction of each other. The teeth are conical in shape and, with the exception of a pair of large fangs on the upper jaw, they are all uniform in size.
This design also has barrel-shaped upper body with wide shoulders and a prominent sternum accompanied by a concave collarbone. The biceps are quite large and roughly twice as wide as the forearms. The hands are considerably wider than the wrists and sport four semi-webbed digits each. The legs on this design are fairly short, columnar, and quite muscular, and each leg sports prominent knees. The feet are plantigrade and very wide, being comparable in thickness with the legs themselves. Like his hands, the 1954 Godzilla's feet also sport four clawed semi-webbed digits each. This suit's tail is fairly short in proportion to its body, having a rough underside, a pointed tip, and faint tail segments that aren't as prominent as later suits. Unlike most of the later designs, the ShodaiGoji suit's dorsal fins were staggered and uneven in appearance. They also curved slightly forward, whereas most of the later suits would have dorsal fins that didn't curve in any particular direction.
For close-up shots, a hand-held puppet and the prototype suit were used. The puppet primarily differed from the suit in that it had a much larger head with a wider and puffier face with a very flat, almost nonexistent cranium and forehead and a shorter, thicker neck. Additionally, it also had much smaller and thinner arms and hands, giving it a less humanoid and more dinosaurian appearance. The teeth on the puppet version were uneven and had a needle-like appearance to them.
It is unknown what color the ShodaiGoji suit was painted, but rumors commonly suggest that it was painted brown.
A partial ShodaiGoji suit was constructed for flashback scenes in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla in 2002, in order to recreate the original Godzilla's attack on Tokyo in 1954 and to emphasize the fact that, in this continuity, the monster was merely reduced to a skeleton by the Oxygen Destroyer instead of being completely disintegrated. Production photos reveal that this half-suit's body and dorsal fins were painted a bluish-gray, the claws were painted white, the teeth were painted yellowish-orange, and the inside of the mouth was painted a bright pink.
Baragon
To date, Baragon has had a total of three major onscreen designs over the course of 36 years from 1965 to 2001. All versions of Baragon share many of the same features; that is, a quadrupedal, mammal-like reptilian creature with either reddish-brown skin, a single large horn on his forehead which is followed by several backwardly-curved spikes on the back of his head, and large, floppy ears. Additionally, Baragon typically has facial features that look fairly similar to those of a bulldog or pug, with large, expressive eyes and a short muzzle. Baragon also usually has two sets of segmented, plate-like structures on his back and tail.
The 1965 suit, compared with its Millennium era successor, has more robust, Godzilla-like proportions, with a much smaller head and a longer, thinner neck. This suit's eyes are a good deal smaller than those on the 2001 suit. Each eye's sclera and pupil are cloudy white and the irises are dark blue. The 1965 suit's ears are also significantly smaller and have a less prominent concave notch to them. The structures connecting the main parts of the ears to the sides of the head are much longer, meaning that that the crescent shaped section of this version's ears are not directly attached to the sides of the head. The forehead is larger than the GMK version and the backwards curving spikes are placed farther back on the head. This suit's face is much more wrinkly, the nose is smaller, and the muzzle and upper lip are more prominent. The 1965 suit also has a longer torso, a longer tail, and considerably more back plates. This suit's hands and feet are much smaller and the claws are thinner and sharper than the GMK version. This suit has a much larger amount of teeth and they are all of a uniform size. The teeth are also smaller and more needle-like, and the 1965 suit does not have prominent canine teeth/fangs like its successor. This suit is, with the exception of its forehead horn and claws, uniformly painted a dull, sandy, grayish brown.
When this suit was brought back three years later for Destroy All Monsters, a new head had to be sculpted as a result of the heavy damage inflicted on it from overuse in Ultra Q and Ultraman. This variation has a larger head, a shorter neck, and bigger eyes. This iteration also has a much smaller and sharper looking forehead horn that curves more upward than the original version and its face, especially the upper lip, is flabbier and sags at a downward angle. This version's sclera are orange, the pupils are bright red, and its claws are duller. This version's ears are more rabbit-like in shape and their notches have been greatly reduced. The 1968 suit is primarily painted a dark shade of brown with the insides of the ears, the spikes on the back of the head, and the back/tail plates being a light, cream-colored brown. This version's head and neck are an even darker, almost tar black, shade of brown. The teeth are also black, making them appear almost nonexistent when viewing the mouth from certain angles.
Compared with its 1965 and 1968 counterparts, the GMK Baragon design has a more aggressive and somewhat predatory appearance. The head is much larger and the neck is shorter and thicker. The eyes are larger and have dark red irises with black pupils. This version's teeth are less numerous than the Showa suits, but are much larger and bear a slight resemblance to the dentition of carnivoran mammals, including a pair of prominent fangs. This suit's mouth can open much wider than its predecessors, has a wide, flat tongue, and its lips are wavy and wrinkly and the mouth is almost always open, making this design look like it's constantly snarling. The upper lip and muzzle are reduced while the nose has been increased in size. The forehead is reduced and the backwards curving horns are placed closer to the top of the head. The ears are larger, wider, and protrude slightly sideways rather than back towards the head. The ears also have a much more prominent concave notch in them and are directly attached to the sides of the head, unlike the 1965 design. The forehead horn on this suit is considerably larger and has less of a curve to it. The GMK suit is stouter and has thicker, more muscular limbs with larger hands and feet. The undersides of the 2001 version's forearms and heels are studded with small spikes. This suit's torso is shortened and more compact, bringing its limbs closer together. The claws on this suit are much larger, duller, and straighter and the plates on its back and tail are more angular. This suit has a more hunched posture when standing bipedally and the tail is shorter than on the Showa suit. This suit's body was uniformly painted a dark pinkish-red with slight grayish-purple tinges while the horns on its head and its claws are painted a bold amber.
