Mechagodzilla

Mechagodzilla
Godzilla film series character
All three incarnations of Mechagodzilla (from left to right; Showa, Heisei, Millenium)
First appearance	Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Last appearance	Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)
Portrayed by	Shōwa Ise Mori Heisei Wataru Fukuda Millennium Hirofumi Ishigaki Motokuni Nakagawa
Aliases	Bionic Monster Cosmic Monster Mecha-G Super Mechagodzilla Kiryu Type-3 Kiryu Mechagodzilla 2 Mechagodzilla 3
Forms	Fake Godzilla Super Mechagodzilla

Mechagodzilla (メカゴジラ, Mekagojira^?) is a mecha that first appeared in the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as an extraterrestrial villain opposing Godzilla. In subsequent iterations, Mechagodzilla is depicted as a man-made weapon designed to defend Japan from Godzilla. In all incarnations, Mechagodzilla appears as a robotic doppelgänger and arch-enemy of Godzilla, boasting a vast array of weaponry.

Mechagodzilla was conceived in 1974 as a more serious villain than its immediate two predecessors, Gigan and Megalon, whose films were considered creative disasters. According to Tomoyuki Tanaka, Mechagodzilla was inspired by both Mechani-Kong from the previous Toho film King Kong Escapes and the robot anime genre, which was popular at the time. Effects director Teruyoshi Nakano also felt that a mechanical monster was cheaper to construct than the mutated animals Godzilla had previously faced. As the resulting Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla proved to be a greater critical success than previous 1970s Godzilla films, the character was revived in 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The film's screenplay was based on the winning entry of a story-writing competition won by Yukiko Takayama, who continued the darker tone of the previous film by adding the subplot of Mechagodzilla being cybernetically connected to a young woman. Mechagodzilla's design remained largely unchanged from its previous appearance, though it was made to look thinner and more angular, with a darker sheen and an MG2 insignia emblazoned on its upper arms. The film's original draft was going to have Mechagodzilla destroy Tokyo utterly, though the destruction was cut down for budgetary reasons.