Jet Jaguar
From Wikizilla
Jet Jaguar was a human-sized robot created by inventor Goro Ibuki for unknown reasons. Having been stolen by the underground nation of Seatopia, Jet Jaguar's mission was to guide Megalon to Tokyo so the insect kaiju could destroy it. Eventually, however, Goro regained control of Jet Jaguar and sent him to fetch Godzilla from Monster Island. As Godzilla made his way to Japan, Jet Jaguar flew back to the mainland and faced Megalon. Increasing his size to fifty meters, Jet Jaguar attacked Megalon and was winning the battle until the cyborg Gigan arrived to provide Megalon some back-up. The two evil beasts were too much for Jet Jaguar, who was beaten senseless until Godzilla arrived. After a long fight, Godzilla and Jet Jaguar were able to defeat their foes, sending Megalon back to Seatopia and Gigan back into outer space. After the fight, Jet Jaguar reverted to his normal size, and returned to his home with Goro. The film concludes with a jaunty theme song extoling the virtues of Jet Jaguar.
Jet Jaguar was the result of a contest Toho had in mid-to-late 1972 for fans to come up with a new hero for them to use (to capitalize on the many tokusatsu and anime superhero and super robot shows that were all the rage at the time). The winner of the contest submitted the drawing of a robot called Red Arone. The robot resembled both Ultraman and Mazinger Z (both of which were very popular at the time). The robot was renamed "Jet Jaguar" and was set to star in a film vehicle for him, titled Jet Jaguar Vs. Megalon, which pitted him against Megalon (a previously unused Godzilla monster design). However, Toho figured Jet Jaguar would not be able to carry the film on his own, in screen appearance or marketing value (which was a big thing with Toho), so during pre-production, even after doing some tests and storyboards, the project was shut down for several weeks, until screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa was called in to rewrite the script to add Godzilla and Gigan to have more marquee value. The resulting film, Godzilla vs. Megalon, paired Godzilla with Jet Jaguar against both Megalon and Gigan.
The anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion paid homage to Jet Jaguar in the episode "A Human Work"; the episode featured a robot named "Jet Alone", a combination of his final and prototype names.
Jet Jaguar has also appeared in the video game Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed (where he can increase his size further to 1.5 times normal kaiju size) and in the mini-series Godzilla Island, which used stop motion animation with Bandai action figures.
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Powers/abilities
The mechanical hero has the ability to alter his size at will, and is skilled im melee attacks. In the videogame Godzilla Trading Battle Jet Jaguar can release an "explosion breath" from his mouth. In Godzilla: Unleashed, he can release a concentrated blast of energy from his wrists, and from the game's predecessor, Jet Jaguar can spin himself around at extreme speeds, creating a deadly tornado; and while in his smallest combat form, Jet Jaguar has a Reflection Shield put up at all times, meaning that he can't be harmed by weapons, and can even perform a Weapon Reflect, in which he can block a weapon to bounce it back at its source.
Godzilla Unleashed Bio
Height:90 meters(variable) Weight:38,000 tons
"Jet Jaguar is a human-sized robot created by a Japanese scientist for unknown reasons. Created with a great potential for learning, Jet Jaguar achieved sentience and began to modify himself and his programming. His most impressive modification has been his ability to change his own size-allowing him to grow large enough to dwarf monsters such as Godzilla. Unfortunately, Jet Jaguar cannot maintain his enormous size indefinitely, and must perodically rest to regain his energies. Jet Jaguar is a reserve member of the Global Defense Force-heroically protecting humanity whenever it is threatened by monstrous threats."
Trivia
For the German release of Godzilla vs Megalon, Jet Jaguar is actually stated to be King Kong in a robot suit, which is quite odd, considering the fact that King Kong can't change his size and that he and Godzilla are supposed to be rivals where in this movie, Jet Jaguar and Godzilla team up to take down Megalon and Gigan.
Godzilla Neo
File:Jet Jaguar Neo.jpgGoro Ibuki, a brilliant technician, computer scientist and part-time inventor, had made some enemies in his lifetime. Enemies that he cared not to speak about to his nephew, Rokuro, or his best friend, Hiroshi. Nevertheless, he knew it would bode disaster to simply ignore the impending threats that would occassionally reach his ears. So, he dove headfirst into a project that had been swirling about in his head for the last several years, being a little project called "JET JAGUAR." Goro had always been a mysterious one, largely keeping to himself, his only visitors being his best friend and little nephew. He knew, however, that because he had such social contacts, such people that were dear to him, they would be targets for whatever threat breathed down his neck. Thus, Jet Jaguar was his crowning achievement as a scientist; a human-sized machine, though easily 6 feet tall, was powerful and constructed to be nearly unbeatable by average human means. When asked how he could create something so advanced, Goro would avoid the subject or use some colorful euphamism to gloss over the fact that Jet Jaguar's design was only about half his own, while the other half was something more advanced....more alien... Rokuro loved the TV series "Zone Fighter," to the point of idol worship. As a result, Goro designed Jet Jaguar in such a way that it would mimic the colorful heroes on television, and hopefully embody the courage and ideology they represented. Rokuro immediately treated Jet Jaguar like a metallic foster father, and "JJ," in kind, treated Rokuro with special consideration, if only because Goro had programmed the robot for such. JJ was Goro's bodyguard, rather than simply a playmate, and it was the advent of the Nebulan invasion that the robot's true purpose would come to bear. Jet Jaguar was, at first, sought out as a weapon to be stolen by mysterious men claiming to be "Seatopians," but Goro regained control, and the machine was able to plow through an entire attack squadron of Nebulan soldiers, becoming instrumental in allowing Godzilla, Anguirus and the JSDF to defeat Gigan, Megalon and the Nebulans.
Fan Art
