Mechagodzilla Is Impractical.
JurassicKaiju14
MemberTitanosaurusDec-22-2019 6:58 PMYes, yes, I know "Rule of Cool" is in full force here, but seriously; Mechagodzilla as a tactical weapon makes no sense.
When you get down to it, the first two incarnations of Mechagodzilla are basically mobile weapons platforms that rely almost entirely on their massive arsenals of missiles and sci-fi lasers and what-not. Their really isn't a reason for this thing to look like a robotic Godzilla at all. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), he starts off as Fake Godzilla, but what were the aliens' goals with that? Were they trying to frame Godzilla or something? And Anguirus seemed to carve through the disguise relatively easily, so that was kind of pointless. The same thing applies to the Heisei Mechagodzilla; it's just a mobile weapons platform, and Godzilla quite literally throws it around in melee combat. But there's no reason for it to look exactly like Godzilla. Honestly, MOGUERA makes more sense; it's a mobile weapons platform through and through.
But even then, they could have had all of those fancy-schmancy weapons on separate units, and then neither the Black Hole aliens or the UNGCC would have a lesser risk of losing all of that probably-expensive hardware.
And then we get to Kiryu. Now, there's a reason why he's my favorite Mechagodzilla; he actually has a justification for being a mechanical Godzilla. He's literally built around the bones of the 1954 Godzilla, which effectively makes him more of a cyborg than a straight-up robot, and I like that concept better overall. But then there's the Absolute Zero cannon, which kind of defeats the purpose of having the rest of him; why waste all that money on building a cyborg Godzilla when you can just have the molecular freezing death ray? Just lure Godzilla into a certain spot, fire the big freezer, and let him get frozen down to the molecular level and shatter. Problem solved, and less cash and time is spent in the process.
Do you see what I mean?
A true fan can acknowledge the bad while still appreciating and cherishing the good.
Gmkgoji
MemberRodanDec-22-2019 7:09 PMI completely get what you mean. But still, this is a franchise of GIANT RADIOACTIVE MONSTERS.
Zwei Wing is the best singing duo. Change my mind.
JurassicKaiju14
MemberTitanosaurusDec-22-2019 7:13 PMGmkgoji Like I said, I totally get that it's one of those hyper-awesome sort of things. I'm just pointing out that from a military standpoint, it'd be a massive waste of resources and time.
A true fan can acknowledge the bad while still appreciating and cherishing the good.
Gmkgoji
MemberRodanDec-22-2019 7:21 PMI agree with you, it really is impractical. Still cool.
Zwei Wing is the best singing duo. Change my mind.
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaDec-22-2019 10:40 PMThe aliens were trying to conceal their existence in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla--Hence Fake Godzilla. They studied Godzilla extensively for it. Plus MechaGodzilla was just as much of a close-range brawler as it was a long distance weapon's barrage canopy. So unlike any other missile truck or tanks or maser tanks, it could get in close. The original MechaGodzilla was a true death machine.
The Heisei MechaGodzilla makes zero sense. It's not any good at close combat at all (in fact I don't think it ever even uses its arms) and the tax dollars spent on making a walking tank look like Godzilla is ridiculous. All of its weaponry could've easily been put on a new Super X.
As for Kiryu, it's suggested in the movie and source books that the Absolute Zero Cannon is a very expensive system that may only be compatible with Kiryu's power system. Since it drains 40% of Kiryu's power, it's insinuated in books that only Kiryu has enough energy to fire it.
Making multiple Absolute Zero canons is also impractical due to how expensive it is. They even replaced it with a triple maser on Kiryu for that very reason.
But you're right that the Godzilla-like appearance is justified since Kiryu is just armor for the skeleton. Plus the DNA computers bring the skeleton back to life in a way that it can move like a real animal.
Xenotaris
MemberGiganDec-23-2019 7:44 AMWell as a fan of the original Showa Mechagodzilla, the original Mechagodzilla was an alien Trojan Horse.
MinecraftDinoKaiju
MemberTitanosaurusDec-23-2019 10:34 AMYeah, I'm going to agree with G. H. (Gman) on this one.
JurassicKaiju14
MemberTitanosaurusDec-23-2019 10:41 AMG. H. (Gman) "MechaGodzilla was just as much of a close-range brawler as it was a long distance weapon's barrage canopy. So unlike any other missile truck or tanks or maser tanks, it could get in close. The original MechaGodzilla was a true death machine."
I haven't gotten to see the movie in it's entirety, but I have seen a lot of the battle scenes, and I don't really recall many instances of Mechagodzilla doing melee battles.
"The Heisei MechaGodzilla makes zero sense. It's not any good at close combat at all (in fact I don't think it ever even uses its arms) and the tax dollars spent on making a walking tank look like Godzilla is ridiculous. All of its weaponry could've easily been put on a new Super X."
Agreed entirely. I recently got the movie on DVD, but then when I was done with it I was like, "wait, why do so many people apparently like this one"?
"Making multiple Absolute Zero canons is also impractical due to how expensive it is. They even replaced it with a triple maser on Kiryu for that very reason."
I mean, they wouldn't have to make multiple Absolute Zeros. They'd just need the one, hook it up to a power source, and then let her rip. They only made one Dimension Tide, too.
That actually brings me to another small thing I like about Kiryu; they actually kind of go more into depth about what could potentially go wrong with that kind of machine. One particular snippet that stood out to me was a reporter asking if the creation of a giant anti-kaiju mech was a violation of the sanctions placed on the country after WW2.
A true fan can acknowledge the bad while still appreciating and cherishing the good.
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaDec-23-2019 11:06 AM"I haven't gotten to see the movie in it's entirety, but I have seen a lot of the battle scenes, and I don't really recall many instances of Mechagodzilla doing melee battles."
Then I'd recommend watching the full film. The Showa MechaGodzilla is equally a brawler as it is a long distance death machine. In fact it had no choice but to fight King Ceasar blow for blow since he could reflect the eye beams.
"wait, why do so many people apparently like this one"?
Mystery to me too...
"I mean, they wouldn't have to make multiple Absolute Zeros. They'd just need the one, hook it up to a power source, and then let her rip. They only made one Dimension Tide, too."
Yes, but the Dimension Tide was launched from space. (And it missed twice.) It's never stated what the range of the Absolute Zero is, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that Kiryu was the only power source that made sense--Especially since they made a big stink about it causing such a drain.
