#so Godzilla isn't really much of a stretch at this point

[i-didnt-hate-it]

I didn't hate Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, honestly it was awesome!

I just got done watching it so I'm still digesting it, but here are my initial thoughts. Any potential spoilers will go under a break.

I went into GxK that it would be similar to GvK and the other Monsterverse films: big monkey hit big lizard, big lizard breathe laser, big monkey block laser with big axe, and so on. And don't get me wrong, it definitely was all that, all pro wrestling but with big monsters, but in a cooler way than what I thought. I'm still trying to figure out what all made GxK more than what I was expecting, but I think this is the main bit.

In today's media, there seems to basically be two options. Either you make a show on streaming, which means your seasons are too short so you have to sacrifice character to plot. Or you make a two to three hour long movie, which uses a big budget to explain either characters or concept, hopefully with something of a plot to tie it together.

But GxK is a secret third thing. Worldbuilding. Adding to lore. Letting the landscapes they paint and the creatures that inhabit them speak for themselves. There were long stretches of screentime where the titans weren't necessarily fighting, they were just doing their thing, exploring their worlds.

Now obviously we need some humans to A, be able to connect to the story some, and B, know what is actually going on. Because while I would love a completely dialogue kaiju movie, the concepts and gimmicks of the Monsterverse just get too convoluted to figure out without Exposition Lady.

I can confirm that Legendary realized that the less human characters they have the better. The cast was relatively small, and while character development was minimal, they did make me feel some feelings toward some of the humans. But they made the right call not giving them too much of the story. What is this, Godzilla Minus One?

It's not, and if you can go into it knowing that it isn't even close to being the same movie as Minus One, and just watch it as a fun Monsterverse entry, I think you'll love it. The music is great too, better than GvK, imo. VFX were awesome too.

Okay, now for some spoilers, just random extra thoughts:

Godzilla really did the OMG MOTHRA!!! thing from that one meme! And I did too tbh, our Queen is back and beautiful as ever!

I love how it wasn't an instant father/son connection between Kong and Mini-Kong (I don't remember his name). Kong tried to help him out a couple times, but then gave up after MINI KONG TRIED TO KILL HIM LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES! Like come on, this little guy is just chaotic. But like they actually had growth in their trust and relationship, it wasn't just like "me big, you little, I dad now".

Scar King was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting. Shimo/Shimu whatever her name is did not have as big a role as I was expecting, but I'm glad she's okay.

Shout out to Mothra for stopping her boyfriend from killing Kong, helping them in Hollow Earth, and then just chilling when they all went to Rio. She said, "you guys got this, right?"

When I saw there was another hollow earth inside Hollow Earth, I'll admit I had a bit of an eye roll. But they explained it away pretty well.

SCOTTISH GUY THAT SAID SHIT IN STAR WARS. Alex Ferns is literally the same character he was in Andor.

I love how they imply that they basically imply that the Iwi had something to do with building the pyramids in Egypt by having the portal thing open RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. Made a cool setting for the fight, too.

At this point, I have no idea how big the Coliseum actually is.

Last thing, for now. For having top billing, Godzilla wasn't in it as much as I thought he might be. I think Legendary is realizing that if you have a character like Godzilla who can just level up his powers instantly to take on anything, and just kinda does his own thing, you've gotta limit that screen time. Since Kong is kinda humanoid, it's easier to empathize with him and thus add character development. Godzilla can only convey so much emotion that most humans can relate to (obviously Shin and Minus convey a lot of emotions, but anyway). Godzilla is in the movie, but Kong is more of the star. Honestly the world of the Hollow Earth and the Iwi people and their history are almost as much of the focus.

#i didn't hate it #film #film review #movies #godzilla x kong: the new empire #godzilla x kong spoilers #spoilers #godzilla x kong #the new empire #godzilla #king kong #kong #titanus gojira #mothra #titanus mosura #titanus kong #shimo #scar king #monsterverse #legendary godzilla #adam wingard #godzilla minus one #hollow earth #kong skull island #skull island #the coliseum

[hrodvitnon]

Kiryu!Dagon & How He Can Still Work Without Invalidating The Revived!Dagon Idea

Have a bunch of other headcanons I want to post later, but for right now I have this neat tidbit that could help clear things up with Kiryu!Dagon: So, one of the novels (I think it's the GVK one) states outright that Godzilla - and presumably all Godzillasurus - have an ingrained genetic memory that not only stretches back very far into the past and can be used to recall events beyond what the individual has experienced, but literally goes so far back that it can recall when the Earth was still a molten ball only just cooling to give rise to land. Whilst Godzilla does state that it doesn't let him recall exact locations, shapes, or details, it's potent enough that it basically informs him of events from well before he was ever born.

Now we know Dagon died a really long time ago - specifically 11th century, B.C. and his body was used by Jinshin-Mushi as a bed for her eggs and eventually died as a result, leaving only his remains behind. Now whilst that's long enough for him to become a skeleton and for the soul to leave to be reincarnated, it almost certainly wasn't long enough for general memories to COMPLETELY fade, and definitely wouldn't have been enough to mess up the genetic memory if it can stretch far enough back that Godzilla can recall the Hadean Epoch with any amount of clarity, so I think it can sort of be justified that when the bones are recovered and used to make Kiryu, and when Dagon eventually regains sapience, they sort of just tap in to the genetic memory to 'fill in the blanks' as it were, paired with flashes of memory from his actual life.

Now this isn't an immediate process - it's very slow starting out and exact details won't come to him outside of vague out-of-context snippets, at least not at first. But due to the relative recency of his death, plus being around his son and his family, as well as other things that might trigger some level of remembrance whether personal or genetic (like say, Manda since a number of his species probably were alive when Dagon was), it's much easier for memories and experiences to be found and picked up by the genetic memory - and Kiryu!Dagon slowly and painstakingly begins to put together the context of these events until he more or less recalls a rough timeline of his life up until Jishin-Mushi killed him, with some help from Goji or Mothra as well.

But at his core, Kiryu!Dagon still isn't the original Dagon - even if he regains enough to basically reinvent himself and recall all the major events of his lifetime, the OG Dagon's soul still moved on and was reincarnated. Presumably the Gods like Mothra or Megalon (possibly Battra as well) can tell, but given how much he acts like Dagon did originally, they don't really care enough to make a total distinction (or Megalon doesn't, Mothra probably does tell him as such at some point) - he's functionally Dagon for all intents and purposes.

This essentially allows us to explain away the discrepancies between Kiryu!Dagon functionally acting like and being treated as Dagon in the Abraxasverse despite him dying and not being eternal in the manner that the deities are, whilst also keeping it so that his original soul left and was reincarnated by the Mother Dark like everyone else. And it could create a fun interaction in the event that Kiryu!Dagon ever met Anomaly!Dagon or a variant of himself who never died to begin with.

It also allows us to keep the funny and silly family plus Dagon and Barb shenanigans but that's something else entirely

---

Welp, this is one of those times where I think "oh shit time to reread the novelizations" because Godzilla's species having a genetic memory of that scale is crazy... (Plus this adds something new to the Ozymandias Space Crystal Cordyceps situation, because if Godzilla can't recall specific details then from his perspective, his brother would've been there and literally gone the next.)

Aw, I do love the Barbagon shenanigans, those are nice.

#submission #abraxasverse #kiryu!dagon