'godzilla' size chart shows how much the 'king of monsters' has grown

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Godzilla is a bigger threat now than he's ever been. The star of _ Godzilla: King of the Monsters _ is 393 feet and one half inch tall, just over four feet taller than its Japanese


counterpart, last seen in _ Shin Godzilla_. But both of the beasts tower over the original Gojira, the star of fifteen movies despite its diminutive 164 foot stature. Noger Chen is a graphic


designer and creative director in Taiwan whose Godzilla illustrations electrify kaiju fans. His latest piece of unofficial art compares multiple generations of Godzilla, offering a


comparison not traditionally depicted in movie marketing. Chen's detailed size chart lines up every live-action Godzilla, from the 1954 original _ Gojira _ to the upcoming _ Godzilla:


King of the Monsters_. Chen described himself to _ Newsweek _ as "a die-hard fan who started watching _ Godzilla _ in kindergarten" and shared his hope that Godzilla will continue


to be a renowned, generational monster, with every era finding something new in the ever-evolving kaiju. For research, including Godzilla's exact height in every movie, Chen turned to a


variety of books, many unavailable in English, including _ Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works_, _ The Art of Shin Godzilla _ and _ Godzilla Graphic Collection_. Here's Chen's


size chart, which he created over the course of a month, often spending hours over a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet in the middle of the night, after long work days at a Taipei City


advertising firm: From left to right, Chen recreates Godzilla's design and comparative height from every movie (some designs appeared in multiple films). Chen's Godzilla size chart


not only captures tiny details—like subtle changes to Godzilla's brow ridges and the plates along his spine—but also dramatically highlights the differences between the multiple eras


into which Toho Co. divides its Godzilla movies. GODZILLA SHŌWA PERIOD The first is known as the Shōwa period, named for the era of Emperor Hirohito's reign. Except for the original


movie, in which the monster is a metaphor for the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by American atomic bombs, Shōwa period Godzilla movies are typically lighthearted and targeted at


children, and show Godzilla slowly evolve from a monster into a hero who fights off alien adversaries, like longtime nemesis King Ghidorah. Chen captures the Shōwa period in eight Godzilla


designs: * _Gojira / Godzilla _ (1954) * _Godzilla Raids Again _ (1955) * _King Kong vs. Godzilla _ (1962) * _Mothra vs. Godzilla _ (1964) and _ Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster _ (1964) *


_Invasion of Astro-Monster _ (1965) and _ Ebirah, Horror of the Deep_ (1966) * _Son of Godzilla _ (1967) * _Destroy All Monsters _ (1968), _ All Monsters Attack _ (1969), _ Godzilla vs.


Hedorah _ (1971) and _ Godzilla vs. Gigan_ (1972) * _Godzilla vs. Megalon_ (1973), _ Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla _ (1974), _ Terror of Mechagodzilla _ (1975) Highlights include Godzilla


holding Mechagodzilla's head (Mechagodzilla originally disguised itself as the real deal, wreaking havoc in Godzilla' name) and Chen's rendition of Godzilla's victory


dance from _ Invasion of Astro-Monster_. via Gfycat GODZILLA HEISEI PERIOD After a nearly decade-long break, the Toho _ Godzilla_ series returned with 1984's _ The Return of Godzilla_,


which acted as a direct sequel to the original movie—Godzilla was once again an elemental threat to Japan. _ Return _ is Chen's favorite. "The tone of the film is different from


the _ Godzilla _ movies of the Shōwa era. It's very serious, gloomy, even epic," he said. "There are no other huge monsters in the film. The story focuses on the confrontation


between humans and Godzilla, taking it back to the fear of the original _ Godzilla _ in 1954." The more serious tone of _ The Return of Godzilla__—_which addressed political tensions


between the United States, Japan and the Soviet Union—didn't last long into what became known as the Heisei period. After 1989's environmentally-minded pollution parable _ Godzilla


vs. Biollante_, the series returned to its monster-mashing roots with 1991's _ Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. _ You can see the massive size jump in Chen's illustration. After minor


design changes in _ Godzilla vs. Mothra _ (1992), the monster king stayed the same through _ Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II _ (1993) and _ Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla_, in which Godzilla


defeats a spaceborne clone (created from a clump of Godzilla cells and black hole radiation, of course) and births Godzilla Junior. The Heisei period ended with _ Godzilla vs. Destoroyah_,


which pitted Godzilla against its own overheating radioactive body. GODZILLA MILLENNIUM PERIOD The Millennium period opened with 1999's _ Godzilla 2000: Millennium_, released a year


after the first American Godzilla. With its iguana body and sprinter's legs, director Roland Emmerich's take on the monster was widely derided by Godzilla fans. In the last movie


of the Millennium period, 2004's _ Godzilla: Final Wars_, the real Godzilla dismissively tossed the imitation "Zilla" into the Sydney Opera House. The far side of Chen's


size chart depicts the split paths ahead for Godzilla. This time, it's the American version of the monster hewing closer to tradition. In _ Godzilla: King of the Monsters_, in theaters


now, the hero kaiju is pitted against old foes, like Rodan and King Ghidorah. References are made to Monster Zero and Mothra's 1960s origin story. Even Ghidorah's lightning-like


"gravity beams" are lovingly reproduced. The mutative monster introduced in _ Shin Godzilla_, with its red, ripped flesh and jagged maw, is a nightmarish reinvention by Hideaki


Anno (_Evangelion_) and Shinji Higuchi (_Gamera: Guardian of the Universe_). Rather than a timeless "Titan," as kaiju are called in the Legendary Entertainment series opened by


2014's _ Godzilla_, Shin Godzilla is endlessly transforming, growing from a tadpole form and mutating in reaction to any threat, until it is indomitable. Chen's Godzilla size chart


is both revealing of the Godzilla series' grand sweep and useful for making comparisons between the different movies. But it's the immense and colorful Godzillas on the right side


of the spectrum that most dramatize the renewed imagination and multinational storytelling that will define the king of the monsters newly open era.