Megaguirus (メガギラス Megagirasu?) is a queen Meganulon kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 2000 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
Name
Megaguirus' name, like the Meganulons', comes from Meganeura, a species of extinct dragonflies from the Carboniferous period approximately 300 million years ago. The "girasu" part was turned into "guirus" due to that being the case with Anguirus' name.
Design
Appearance
Megaguirus looks like a cross between Godzilla and a Meganula. She has bumpy purple skin and greenish spikes all over her body. Her head is more reptilian than insectoid in appearance, as she lacks antennae and possesses a reptilian tooth-filled mouth instead of two mandibles like her Meganula subjects. Megaguirus also has visible pectoral and abdominal muscles on the underside of her body.
Roar
Megaguirus' roar is shrill and high pitched in tone, being short in length, much like the call of a cricket, and other insects.
Personality
Megaguirus is a vicious and greedy creature who exists to dominate. She stops at nothing to try and kill Godzilla and steal the rest of his energy. Megaguirus relies on her speed and agility to outflank, confuse, and batter Godzilla.
Megaguirus appears to show a high sense of intelligence, being able to fully understand the pain she inflicts upon Godzilla. Megaguirus is also very expressive, which is noticeable when she smiles sadistically before she drops a structure onto Godzilla, and later when her eyes widen in surprise before Godzilla bodyslams her. Due to her malevolent nature, Megaguirus takes pleasure in causing pain to Godzilla
Origins
Megaguirus was created through a series of events that stemmed from the Dimension Tide, a wormhole-generating device that was designed to send Godzilla into another dimension. During a test run, the device allowed a Meganula, a species of enormous, eusocial dragonfly-like insect originating from the Carboniferous period, to arrive on present day Earth. The creature laid an egg which would later be discovered by a young boy. When the egg began budding and releasing large quantities of water, the boy became afraid and tried to dispose of it in the sewers. There, the egg hatched into several Meganulons that infested the sewers and later spread to the surface.
After molting into Meganula, the swarm attacked Godzilla and absorbed some of his energy, then transferred it into their queen. While the process killed the Meganula, the empowered queen molted her cocoon and became Megaguirus.
History
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
In the flooded streets of Tokyo, a large Meganulon queen waited beneath the waves for her hive to return. The Meganula flew over the city and under the water to give their queen the energy they had taken from Godzilla. They quickly injected her with the energy, giving their lives in the process. Megaguirus then shed her skin and took flight. She flew off, shattering windows and reducing buildings to rubble with her gusts of wind and sonic waves.
After a few days, Godzilla hit the shores of the city, with Megaguirus detecting his presence. She flew with great speed to attack the beast, and proved to be more than a match for him. She flew too quickly for Godzilla to blast her with his atomic beam, and she could easily out maneuver his other melee attacks. She attacked Godzilla with her sharp, deadly claws, and managed to knock him into a building. Thinking he was defeated, she started to fly away, only to be met by another attack. Godzilla charged his beam, but Megaguirus stabbed him with her stinger. She absorbed Godzilla's nuclear energy, and attempted to attack him with a ball of fire from her wings. She fired the attack, but required more energy. She charged at Godzilla with her tail forward, but unfortunately for the queen, her stinger was caught in Godzilla's jaws.
Godzilla then slowly crushed the stinger and ripped it off, leaving him with the upper hand. Megaguirus shrieked in pain and backed away, stunned. Godzilla took this opportunity and charged his beam, then blasted it out, causing her to explode in combustion of flames. Megaguirus' fiery corpse crashed on the ground, and Godzilla roared in victory.
Abilities
Agility
Megaguirus is one of the fastest and most agile kaiju in the Godzilla franchise. Even when stationary she can accelerate so fast that she can vanishes into a blur instantly, enabling her to surprise an opponent from an unexpected quarter. This high-speed flight also produces high-frequency sonic waves that are capable of shorting out nearby electrical equipment. The sharp edges of her wings can even cut through steel and concrete.
Claws
Megaguirus possesses a pair of pincer-like claws which she uses in close combat with Godzilla. She uses her claws to grab Godzilla's neck and bludgeon him.
Stinger
Megaguirus's large abdomen ends in a vicious stinger used to pierce into an opponent's hide and drain energy from it. During this process, the opponent is incapable of launching any additional energy-based attacks upon her. She can also use the energy she siphons from her opponents to shoot her own energy weapon, a fireball from her wings.
Energy Absorption and Projection
In the Pipeworks/Atari trilogy of Godzilla video games, Megaguirus had the ability to absorb energy from her opponents and project their respective beam weapons from her stinger.
Hyper Mode
In the Pipeworks/Atari trilogy of Godzilla video games, Megaguirus could project an aura around herself which enhanced her agility and speed.
Weaknesses
Fragility
Despite her power and agility, Megagurius is a relatively frail kaiju and is very vulnerable to surprise attacks or getting overpowered. While she is the Queen of the Meganulon, she needs their stolen life energy to evolve and survive, at least until she becomes a matured adult. One burst of Godzilla's atomic breath was capable of killing her.
Video games
Godzilla: Save the Earth
Megaguirus appeared as a playable character in Godzilla: Save the Earth. Extremely fast and moderately strong, Megaguirus could fly circles around her foes and pummel them with quick combos. Like Mothra, she is immune to sweep attacks and low attacks, though she is vulnerable to atomic attacks. She is unique in that she starts with no energy. Any attacks with her tail that connect steal energy from her foe and build her energy bar.
When she stabs with her tail, Megaguirus can either drain a lot of energy, some health, or copy her opponent's beam weapon (this does not work with Destoroyah, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., Baragon, Anguirus, Jet Jaguar, or Mothra Larva). She can fire either a glowing sphere that tracks her opponent and detonates on contact, or the opponent's beam weapon if she copied it (her energy bar must be at a certain high level to do this).
Megaguirus' special ability, inertia-less Flight, doubles her movement and attack speed for a time, allowing her to lay into opponents and beat them senseless with super-fast attacks. Her Rage attack sends three swarms of Meganula that chase the foe and latch on, stunning them and draining health and energy for their queen.
Godzilla: Unleashed
Megaguirus leeches power from her opponents using her fearsome tail stinger-and can even absorb and redirect most monsters' weapon attacks. With only a primal thirst for power and a battle-hardened desire for combat as her guide, Megaguirus is sure to be found anywhere that power exists for the taking.
Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
Megaguirus appeared within the game Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash.
Godzilla (2014 video game)
After flooding the waters of Shibuya, Tokyo to establish a vast breeding ground for itself, it laid its eggs in the sewers below the surface and hatched a swarm of large "Meganulon" dragonfly larva. The Meganulon molted to morph into winged "Meganula", collecting energy for their dragonfly larva queen, ready for her to transform into the combat-ready Megaguirus. The Meganula are fiercely territorial and defend their home against any invaders. They drain energy from their adversaries through the stingers in their tails.
The prototype model for the Meganulon was the larva used as food for Rodan, the monster that debuted in the 1956 film "Rodan", one of Toho's three giant monster movies.Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
Megaguirus appeared within the mobile title Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.
In other languages
- Russian: Мегагирус
Trivia
- Skeetera from Godzilla: The Series has similar powers as Megaguirus.
- Megaguirus is the first prehistoric insect to fight Godzilla.
- There is a useful glitch in Godzilla: Unleashed where Megaguirus is able to use a beam indefinitely by taking the weapon after stealing the opponent's energy first.
- The Meganulon are based off of an actual prehistoric species of dragonfly, called Meganeura. These dragonflies lived before the dinosaurs, in the Carboniferous era, and were as large as seagulls. Many giant insects evolved during the Carboniferous because of the high amount of oxygen in the air.
- Because Megaguirus is from the Carboniferous period, she is the second oldest Godzilla monster, with at least 298.9 million years of age. Destoroyah is the oldest, being from the Precambrian period.
- The Pokemon Scyther and Yanmega bear some resemblance to Megaguirus.
- Her design may be a pun on a literal interpretation of a dragonfly.
List of appearances
Films
- Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (First appearance)
Video games
- Godzilla: Save the Earth
- Godzilla: Unleashed (Wii and PlayStation 2)
- Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
- Godzilla (2014 video game) (Kaiju Guide)
- Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
References
- ↑ Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus; Page 109
