Did you see this reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalpencils/comments/1wixglq/godzilla_x_kuru_toga_ゴジラ2026クルトガ/
Did you see this reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalpencils/comments/1wixglq/godzilla_x_kuru_toga_ゴジラ2026クルトガ/
I did! Thank you !!
I was just trying to figure out how/when to get one.
Incredible collection – I’d no idea there was so much ephemeral around Godzilla, aside from toys and lunchboxes. Godzilla lore has always seemed particularly strong in Japan.
What are your earliest memories of seeing Godzilla on TV, Patrick?
I think it was on a Saturday afternoon “creature feature” on the local channel. I was hooked immediately. Then I’d try to catch it whenever I could - but if i remember correctly, they were shown mostly on Saturday afternoons.
TBH I didn’t know about these pencils and the relation to the movies until I started using proxy services. It was the convergence of two loves.
Edit:
this scene is actually my earliest memory of Godzilla- the now infamous tail slide ![]()
The first regular watch show for me on Saturday mornings was either Fireball XL5 or The Thunderbirds. I remember being so excited by the amazing crafts being piloted around on land, sea, air, and space. The puppets were kind of silly and the mouth moves made me laugh. I wished they’d used real people (I got my wish, when U.F.O. aired… but only for a brief period).
I do remember my first time seeing Godzilla. The thing I found nerve racking was the roaring sound they made for the giant lizard. Sounded so bizarre. But there was something also unnerving about this creature terrorizing cities and killing people. And just when it looked like Japan was done for… the creature turns around and leaves for some reason. It decides to go into the ocean! I sort of remembering having a nightmare about it. Years later I came back to Godzilla and found it a curiosity, especially as the villain creatures showed up in all kinds of crazy forms. Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Megalon, and Gamera are the ones I remember most. Gamera was a weird one. Wasn’t it an enemy of Godzilla at one point, then became an ally, teaming up against another monster? It was so weird… retracting its legs and then fiery exhaust jets shoot out at an angle, making Gamera lift off in a spinning motion.
The Japanese sure had crazy and fun imagination for that show. ![]()
That roar is a great thing to remember.Akira Ifukube made it by dragging a resin-coated glove along the strings of a double bass and slowing the recording down. It was meant to sound like nothing that exists in nature, which is probably why it gets under your skin lol.
One thing on Gamera: he never fought Godzilla. Gamera belongs to Daiei Studios and Godzilla to Toho, so they’re separate franchises that sadly never crossed over. But it would be very cool to see a crossover one day. The Kaiju that went from enemy to ally is probably Mothra or Rodan? Both start out opposing Godzilla, and they team up with him against Ghidorah in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Gamera is the flying turtle you’re describing, with the retracting legs and the spinning fire-jet takeoff. In his own films he ends up as a protector of kids.
Godzilla himself has flipped sides a few times between villain and protector. In 1954 he’s pure menace, a walking stand-in for nuclear destruction. By the mid-60s he’s fighting other monsters to protect Japan, and in the 70s he’s practically a hero, taking on Hedorah the smog monster. The 1984 reboot made him a threat again, and he’s swung back and forth ever since, so which Godzilla you get depends on the era.
And you’re right about the imagination. It’s a big part of why the series has lasted seventy years.