The Book of Gigan

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Here's Skinderella's feedback:

Originally Posted by Skinderella

Hey Swoundwarp! Here's my feedback from my games against toyhandle! I noticed you've pulled Gigan from testing but I thought I'd send you my thoughts anyway.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Here are toyhandle's thoughts on Megalon's class

Originally Posted by toyhandle

Not sure if there’s been In-Sanctum development on Mothra outside of the Kaiju thread, but for the writeup I had done, I wrote:
CLASS = GUARDIAN? DEITY? PROTECTOR?

TLDR; In a Scientist vs Genius or Agent vs Spy type division of hero/villain classes, I think Guardians vs Deities could work for Kaiju along the lines of Megalon. A lot of them are fairly neutral characters, however.

Looking at it case by case:

King Kong is a Protector, but I don’t think we want to give Excalibur a ton of Giant Monsters to work with.

I can only see two Deities, Beyonder and Ares, not heroic characters, and no Deity synergy that I’m aware of.

From at the Guardians we have that I can see, it typically leans toward the Heroic, although, there is also the Phoenix Force, another Cosmic threat, that is a Guardian.
Presently, there is no Guardian synergy that I’m aware of.

We do have to get around to doing Gamera, Guardian of the Universe eventually, and he’s almost always Heroic.

I was pretty decided on King Caesar being a Guardian. Although he was Godzilla’s tag partner against Mechagodzilla, I don’t really think he was necessarily being Heroic, just loyally serving the Azumi royal family. But I also don’t think he counts as villainous when he fought Godzilla in Final Wars, because he was being mind controlled by the Xiliens (the same aliens from Invasion of the Atro Monster). Shisas, which King Caesar is based off, are guardians that ward off evil, so I doubt King Caesar would ever be used in a truly villainous role.

But what if King Caesar were asked by the Azumi royal family to take on a Megalon-like role?
I don’t know, he might listen, but I don’t think the Azumi family would ever be in the position to make a similar request.

The Seatopians are much like the Atlanteans in both Marvel/DC. Godzilla vs Megalon has many shared plot elements with Fantastic Four #4. Seatopia and Atlantis were both wrecked by nuclear testing. Emperor Antonio and Namor both call upon a huge monster to punish the surface dwellers. Emperor Antonio emits a signal from Jet Jaguar to guide Megalon, and Namor has Giganto follow the sound of his trumpet.

Here are the relevant FF#4 panels:

Spoiler Alert!

And the Seatopian speech about nuclear testing from the surface world destroying their kingdom, and his call to Megalon:

Spoiler Alert!

When Jet Jaguar’s creator retakes control of JJ, Megalon goes on a directionless, mindless rampage. The Seatopians hear that JJ is seeking Godzilla for help, so Emperor Antonio asks the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens to send Gigan for assistance. They have a common enemy in mankind, so it’s a pretty smart strategic move.

Spoiler Alert!

So while Megalon and the Seatopians aren’t really evil, Gigan is, and thematically, probably shouldn’t be working alongside Mothra. Megalon is certainly a deity, as he is worshipped, and lies dormant until summoned, so Deity should work for him.

King Caesar had a lot in common with another Toku character, Daimajin. He is a spirit/god that possess stone idols of him when his worshippers beg for help, and offer a sacrifice. At least in the first movie, he comes to aid moments before the sacrifice is made, but is brutal and too destructive when active, so the villager begs for him to stop, offering him her life. He is satisfied by the offer, and leaves without requiring a sacrifice. Not a hero or villain, but not nice. Deity seems a good fit.

Spoiler Alert!

Varan, The Unbelievable is titled such, because the movie is about how there is a village that worships the god “Baradagi,” who prays not to upset him, and will not enter his nearby lake area. But outsiders don’t believe it, thinking him a superstition.
I don’t see it mentioned in his wiki entries, but the theme of the movie was kind of, “believe it,” and to respect superstitions. Even though the non-believers think him to be an ancient dinosaur, there are elements of the supernatural leading up to his appearance that make me think he’s an actual Deity.
Biologists looking for rare butterflies ignore the unwelcoming villagers, and as soon as they move toward the sacred area, there is a small earthquake. They press onward, and their car gets stuck. They get out, and find the rare butterfly, and kill it to capture it. As soon as they kill the butterfly, a rockslide crushes the men, but inspectors find no natural cause of a landslide.
Friends and family inspect the area to find the cause of their deaths, and a fog suddenly rolls in and out, luring in the visitors and the whole village (except the priest) to the lake, where Varan emerges. A very punishing god in his solo appearance, I think Deity is appropriate.

Spoiler Alert!

Manda is the guardian of the undersea Empire of Mu. Unlike their Seatopian counterparts, the Muans are actually determined to retake the surface world, and are more villainous. They worship Manda, performing ritual dances in his name, and offering their captives as sacrifices. However, other than being a sea dragon, there’s nothing supernatural to suggest that he is anything more than a guard dog, and is not depicted as personally aligned toward good or evil. Both Guardian and Deity are appropriate.

Spoiler Alert!

Final roll call-
Guardians:
Mothra
Gamera
King Caesar
Manda

Deities:
Megalon
Daimajin
Varan
Manda

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Ok, I've been mulling over some class stuff for Megalon (so what if anything would be added to Cosmic Terror).

I don't think Divinity works. It doesn't make sense for Gigan to call out or for him to work with Ares or whatever (well, maybe specifically Ares as they're both jerks, but not gods in general). And Megalon isn't a proper divine powers god. He's a big dumb bug that shoots napalm beans at people.

Subterranean could work for Megalon, doesn't have anything to do with the god bit, but he is an underground monster. Could tie him and Gigan into some of Marvel's big monster stuff. Would probably need a name change for Cosmic Terror and is maybe a bit abstract themewise (kinda reliant on Subterranean specifically meaning 'underground/water invader').

I think Scourge could work. It has a bit of 'divine wrath' flavor but is still something Gigan makes some sense calling out. Probably wouldn't even need to change the name on Cosmic Terror. Main downside here is the only thing with the class right now is Scourge of the Underworld, and it would be a bit of weird look for Gigan to call them out and no one else for at least the near future. Once we get other Scourges I don't think it would be a big deal though.

Menace is one Bats suggested. I don't hate it, but not sure it really gains us anything. There are no current Menaces and it's not really a very descriptive class, just kinda generically "this is a bad guy". If it just ends up on Megalon and no one else because we added it here it would be kinda pointless. Would need to see some other plans for it as a class before I'd be about it personally.

So Poll Time! Do you like:

A- Gigan to only call out Invaders, Megalon can either be an Invader or get left behind
B-Gigan to also call out Divinitys
C-Gigan to also call out Subterraneans
D-Gigan to also call out Scourges
E-Gigan to also call out Menaces

[tcglkn]

I'm fine with leaving it as just Invaders or adding in Subterraneans.

[MrNobody]

A.

[Ericth74]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

I'm fine with leaving it as just Invaders or adding in Subterraneans.

Same

[Dr. Jekyll]

I'll take option A with a side of egg rolls.

[Arch-vile]

I think A is the cleanest but C is the next best option.

[tcglkn]

I think you can justify Subterranean or Invader for Megalon, so it mostly depends on if Soundwarp wants Giganto to work with Gigan.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Ok, I think between here and Discord the majority seem in favor of going Invader and me shutting up already

I think Gigan teaming with Giganto would be kinda cool, but not really worth going down in font size for. And that's the only other option that's gotten any traction.

So I propose we move this On Deck:
@tcglkn -
@MrNobody -
@LordVenoc -
@Lord Pyre -
@fret_gurglo -
@Dr. Jekyll -


But like if someone does have some thoughts on the class feel free to post them. I'm just going to talk myself in circles if I don't take an actual action though so I wanted to get this moving

[tcglkn]

Yea

[fret_gurglo]

Pretty sure special power should not be capitalized in the first power and both Huge and Life should be capitalized in the last.