Godzilla Kids

Godzillasaurus

Gorosaurus

 

Godzillasaurus
Species:Theropod Dinosaur
Height:Heisei: 12 Meters
Weight:Heisei: 60 Metric Tons
Appearances:Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)


Summary


Godzillasaurus (Gojirazaurusu) is a fictional species of theropod dinosaur that first appeared in the 1991 Toho Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

In 1944, Japanese and American garrisons battling on Lagos Island during the Pacific War encountered a Godzillasaurus, which proceeded to attack and repel the American forces in order to defend its territory. The dinosaur later collapsed from injuries sustained in the battle, while the Japanese garrison paid their respects to the creature before departing. In a misguided attempt to erase Godzilla from history, a group of time travelers used the ship KIDS to teleport the wounded Godzillasaurus into the Bering Sea where they expected it would die far from nuclear testing. In the 1970's, a Soviet nuclear submarine crashed in the dinosaur's vicinity, the released radiation revitalizing it and transforming it into Godzilla. In 1994, a team of Japanese researchers recovered what seemed to be an intact Pteranodon egg from Adonoa Island and brought it back to Kyoto. To the scientists' surprise, the egg hatched into a Godzillasaurus, which was given the name BabyGodzilla. Professor Hiroshi Omae came to the conclusion Baby may have been a parasite egg laid in a Pteranodon nest by another Godzillasaurus. Baby was subsequently adopted by Godzilla, with prolonged exposure to his radiation gradually transforming him into another Godzilla.

Name


Godzillasaurus' name is a combination of "Godzilla" and the suffix -saurus, derived from the Greek saûros, meaning "lizard." As with Gorosaurus and Titanosaurus, the "saurus" part of Godzillasaurus' name uses the less common Japanese spelling (zaurusu), using the voiced character (za). Shinji Nishikawa's concept art for the creature, however, spells it as (Gojirasaurusu). Though the creature's official trademarked name is Godzillasaurus, some Japanese sources offer the alternate spellings of Godzilla-Saurus and Godzilla Saures. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the Futurians refer to the Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island as the Dinosaur of Lagos Island (Ragosutō no Kyōryū). In Omni Productions' English dub of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, BabyGodzilla is called a "Godzillasaur" rather than a Godzillasaurus.

Design


The Godzillasaurus is different from other theropods because its posture is more upright like a human, and it drags its tail on the ground, much like older theropod reconstructions. At 12 meters in height, it is much larger than any other theropod species, probably due to its erect posture. It has a smaller head than a real theropod, and has a double-row of teeth, much like a shark. The Godzillasaurus species is also different from other theropod dinosaurs due to the fact that it possesses a second, or "sacral", brain located in its hip to control lower body functions, like how the Stegosaurus was mistaken to have had a second brain. Godzillasaurus is also shown to possess tear ducts when BabyGodzilla is seen crying when Azusa Gojo is forced to leave him behind.

History


Heisei Era

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

A Godzillasaurus lived on Lagos Island and was attacked by American soldiers during World War II. This was observed by some of the Futurians and a group of people from the present that had traveled back in time to remove Godzilla from history. The Godzillasaurus fought off the Americans, seemingly 'defending' a bastion of Japanese soldiers who were on the island at the time, but was gravely wounded after multiple naval ships bombarded it with shells and artillery. Badly injured, the Godzillasaurus fell to the ground. After the Japanese soldiers paid their respects and left, the Futurians transported the injured dinosaur to the Bering Sea. However, they failed to prevent Godzilla's creation, as a nuclear submarine accident in the Bering Sea provided the energy to turn the Godzillasaurus into Godzilla in this new timeline.

Trivia


  • In an in-universe book about Godzilla made by Kenichiro Terasawa, the main character of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, one of Terasawa's theories about how Godzilla came to be was that he was mutated from a Mosasaurus.
  • An actual species of dinosaur was named Gojirasaurus quayi in homage to Godzilla himself. However, Gojirasaurus bears little resemblance to its movie counterpart, and is a dubious genus.