Warning: Spoilers for Godzilla vs. Kong
Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard says Mechagodzilla’s look was inspired by the bad robot designs of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It has been almost one week since the MonsterVerse showdown stomped into theaters domestically and HBO Max. The film has done well in both formats. The film has impressed at the box office, igniting hope for a return to normalcy for theaters. On streaming, the film set an HBO Max viewership record.
One of Godzilla vs. Kong’s biggest discussion points is Mechagodzilla. The mechanical Titan of terror was long spoiled thanks to the toys, but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment. Simply put, many viewers were blown away when Mechagodzilla emerged from Apex. His design has been well received as well. Every Mechagodzilla design in the Godzilla series has been distinctive. The original 1974 appearance is probably the most iconic, while the 1993 version’s simplicity worked within the film. The 2002 version is the most sleek of the three. The Godzilla anime trilogy re-imagined Mechagodzilla in the second film, although not appearing in its advertised form wasn’t appreciated by fans. Now, the MonsterVerse has put its own unique spin on the character, which will forever be ingrained in the mythos.
In an interview with Inverse, Adam Wingard talked about Mechagodzilla’s inclusion in Godzilla vs. Kong, saying he was thrilled he could do his own take on a established character. Interestingly, the director says the design’s inspiration comes from seeing Transformers: Dark of the Moon as a lesson in what not to do for robot design.
“I remember watching the third Transformers movie in the theater. It was one of those things where I was with a date, and we got there late, and the only seats that were available were literally in the front row. And so I’m sitting there watching Transformers 3 in the front row, and I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on. The Transformers, they just looked like metal. They looked like a plane crash. So I thought, that’s the thing I wanted to avoid. They were too complex. There are too many moving parts, and I couldn’t latch on to anything. Nothing felt iconic with that Transformers design.”
Wingard says he was positively inspired by the original designs of the Transformers, wanting to create a look that was “punchy and just had a bit more simplicity.” The director’s opinion on the Transformers movie designs is certainly echoed by many. Michael Bay’s Transformers movies are criticized for plenty of reasons, one being the robot designs. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee may look distinctive, but the constant use of silver made other characters the opposite. In the third film, Soundwave and Starscream appear together, and there’s virtually nothing unique about them. Gone are their distinctive colors from the original show. Soundwave doesn’t even have his shoulder gun. It’s certainly easy to see why Bumblebee featured the iconic designs.
Mechagodzilla looks quite distinctive in the film as a mechanical counterpart to the MonsterVerse Godzilla. Besides the design, his role in the story was also fun to watch. Like other incantations, he was built to destroy Godzilla. In a twist, this version ended up under the control of Ghidorah, and could very well have killed Godzilla. Thankfully, Kong was revived to lend a hand. If the MonsterVerse ends here with Godzilla vs. Kong, it concludes with a tag team against one of the most iconic robots in popular culture.
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