Updates To The Website, New "Kollectors" Page

As you can probably tell if you've gone to our homepage, we're making some changes. It is my goal to have our website be your one stop shop for Kaiju news and entertainment, and frankly it's been ridiculous of me to have been excluding collectibles up until now. So, along with our podcast and news, we now have a "Kollectibles" page (Kaiju+collectibles=Kollectibles). I've also created a new home page that is a lot friendlier to browse all of our latest content, right from the landing page.

I hope you all are enjoying our posts and continue to comment and email us about what you'd like to see us do in the future. Stay tuned for our latest podcast episode which should drop in the next couple of days and I can't wait for you to find out what we'll be doing next with adding new and exciting content in the very, very near future.

Thank you all for the support!

Bryan Cranston Cast As Zordon In 'Power Rangers'

Well, if this isn't the day for 'Power Rangers' news! Bryan Cranston, one of the best actors of our time, has just been cast as Zordon (giant floating head in a tube that gives the Rangers their powers) in the brand new film coming out next year. Surprisingly, this is not the first time Mr. Cranston has been in involved in the Power Rangers franchise.

Way back in 1993, Bryan Cranston actually provided the English voice work for two of the monsters the Rangers battled. The creatures "Snizzard" and "Twinman" were some of the first creatures that Rita Repulsa sent after the Rangers, and as you can hear in the clips below, it is very clearly Cranston's voice.

Bryan Cranston's last name was actually used by Saban for the name of the original Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston. Apparently he was a pretty popular guy while doing the voice work for Saban and they decided to drop a little nod to him with the last name of the character.

Having an actor of this caliber attached to the film version of Power Rangers can really only be considered a good thing (even though he will probably be constrained to a CGI effect). I am incredibly excited to see how the film pulls off this iteration of Zordon, and can't wait to see Cranston's motion capture work in action.

The banner for this post could give us some clue into what Zordon might look like in the new film. While he's usually portrayed as a giant head in a glass tube, this early concept art for the film shows him as a full bodied figure- in a glass tube. Check it out below.

'Power Rangers' releases on March 24, 2017.

Teaser Poster For 'Power Rangers' Unveiled On Twitter

While we wait for a teaser trailer for the new 'Power Rangers,' I can't help but be interested in the direction they are going to take this reboot. It's easy to write it off as a quick cash grab on a well known franchise, and so far they haven't given us much to fight that conclusion. Most of the design we've seen so far has not driven the fan base into a frenzy, and as far as I can tell, general audiences don't know this exists yet. So, I'm glad to report that the official twitter for the film pulled through and gave us our first look at the kind of tone they're going for, and it comes in the form of a teaser poster. Check that out and our thoughts on it below.

There are two ways you could look at this poster. Either you see it as an almost Michael Bay-esque generic blue and orange poster that doesn't tell us anything new, OR, you could try to imagine this next to promotional materials of the original 95' movie. That film played up the jokes and the action; making a kid friendly big screen adaptation of the show to an almost fault.

From this poster alone, it seems like they're taking a little more of a pre-destined approach with the kids. Juxtapositioning them against a dominant night sky implies that they really are part of a crazy intergalactic struggle that they have to step up to take on together. Who knows if the marketing team was really going for any of that, but the idea of a really serious Rangers movie does at least get me into the theater. Whether they can convince me to be there opening weekend or not is another story.

'Power Rangers' releases in theaters March 24, 2017.

'Kong: Skull Island' Director Reveals King Kong's New Size

Warner Bros. showed up big for this year's CineEurope convention in Barcelona. On the first day alone, they revealed a megaton of news for their future film franchises, including everything from Harry Potter to the DC superhero line-up. That said, the big news for us was director Jordan Vogt-Roberts talking about King Kong's height in an extended preview for the upcoming 'Kong: Skull Island.'

He's quoted as saying, "This is going to be the biggest Kong there's ever been. Not 10 foot or 30 foot, but a 100-foot ape."

There was also some new footage shown in the preview, but no one has yet to detail what that included. Either way, the director confirming Kong's size (even if we've assumed this for awhile) is a huge reveal for the reboot. This solves the problem of the new Kong being able to stand toe to toe with Legendary's Godzilla, even if he's still going to be quite a bit shorter.

The news also brings up a slew of new questions in regards to the new Skull Island film. Why would Kong even care about humans when he's that big? How will the protagonists hope to fight off the giant ape, or even escape him in the dense jungle? What will Kong fight in the film that equals that kind of power?

I can't wait for the answers to these questions and more. In the meantime, we'll just wait patiently for the first trailer.

'Godzilla Resurgence' News Round-Up, Massive Plot Detail Emerges

These last few weeks have been peppered with tiny pieces of information about 'Godzilla Resurgence' and we thought there might be enough little bits of info to warrant a full breakdown of the new stuff. These news bites range from marketing info to huge plot details, so let's get to it!

'GODZILLA RESURGENCE' SOUNDTRACK UP FOR PRE-ORDER

The soundtrack for the new films has shown up on the Japanese Amazon and is showing the same release date as the film (July, 29th). The coolest thing about the release is the new image of a snarling Shin-Goji that looks amazing! This picture really stands out and kind of proves my point that this Godzilla design will look good from some angles, but not so much from others. My co-host Coleman pointed out that it looks like he may be a bit more regenerated in this image, but I think that may be just hopeful thinking.

'GODZILLA RESURGENCE' PLOT DETAIL AND NEW IMAGES

The biggest news of the last few weeks has been relayed by Sci-Fi Japan. This article not only revealed some great new hi-res photos of the film, but also gave an interesting (but crucial) plot detail that was not known until now. 'Godzilla Resurgence' is not connected to the original 1954 'Gojira' and will be the first appearance of Godzilla in the film's universe. This is the first time that a Japanese-made Godzilla film has tried to separate itself from the original, and makes this movie a reboot of the franchise instead of a sequel. I personally don't like that we don't have a baseline for how this Godzilla will act, but I do see how this may free Toho to make some pretty radical changes to the formula we know Godzilla to adhere to. I mean, the design itself is a decently large departure from what we have seen from Toho in the past.
 

CROSS MARKETING EVERYWHERE

The last few pieces of "news" really just show how hardcore Toho is marketing the new film in the hopes to make it a smash hit over the summer. First we have a little commercial for a cross-promotion with the company PARCO. In the ad, Shin-Goji seems to be going up against the companies giant Koala mascot. There are actually a couple of quick new shots for the film which makes the 30 second ad worth a watch.

Lastly, we have a interesting little event going on at Umihotaru which is an artificial island that is apparently a huge tourist spot.  The full breakdown was done by our friends over at the Gormaru Island facebook page, but it looks like there is going to a 1/60th scale Shin-Goji image put up and some activities like a Godzilla photo session and a talk show interview with Shinji Higuchi. I doubt we will get much more information from the event but at least we got the super silly image out of it right?

Hopefully, we'll be getting some more substantial news in the near future! Maybe a final trailer soon or an actual US distributor will rear their head? A fan can always hope and dream.

Sony and Toho Announce 'Godzilla Resurgence' Video Game Demo for Playstation VR

With this year's Sony E3 conference over and done with, my list entitled "reasons to avoid getting the PSVR headset" is shrinking drastically. Now Sony and Toho have activated their "Wonder Twin" powers to bring us our first Kaiju meets VR experience.

Yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia and Toho announced the mouthful of a tentative title 'Shin Godzilla Special Demo Content for Playstation VR.' I scoured both our source and our source's source, but the only gameplay detail I can find is that you will "confront a 118.5 meter tall CG Godzilla." Does that mean you will be fighting Godzilla? With so little to go on right now all we can do is speculate. Though it has been reported that the game will use the exact 3D model from 'Godzilla Resurgence,' which is being supplied by Toho directly.

'Shin Godzilla Special Demo Content for Playstation VR' will be available October 13th, which makes it a launch demo for the PSVR. If you are getting a PSVR day one, make sure you pick up this demo on the Playstation Store as it is currently the only Godzilla content heading to any video game platform in the near future.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 1

We are on the cusp of a brand new iteration of King Kong ('Kong: Skull Island') - and that of course means a brand new look for the mythical island which he comes from as well. From what we have been shown thus far, the new Skull Island looks to be something completely different from what we have ever seen before. The islands of the films are almost characters of their own and are extremely crucial to the lore of Kong universe.  I just recently watched the 1976 'King Kong' in preparation for the next episode of our podcast, and I thought it might be fun to breakdown the differences between the three islands we have already seen and speculate about the little we have glimpsed of the new Skull Island. Keep in mind, this is not really a conversation about the creature Kong specifically - but more about the world he inhabits (including his competition in the food chain).

1933 - THE ISLAND WITH SKULL MOUNTAIN

Contrary to most people's beliefs, Skull Island was not named directly in the original film. The only reference to the island being skull related comes from the distinctive skull shaped mountain that occupies the center of the island. This is, of course, a place of prehistoric creatures that somehow survived their mass extinctions and live behind a massive wall that sections off a small piece of the island where the group of shipwrecked humans/natives are surviving. The island is said to be located off of the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia and has a very mythological feel to the design. It does not seem like a place that could have formed naturally, and that really adds to the creepiness factor once the rescue for Ann Darrow begins.

As I mentioned above, all of the fauna on the island is from a time long past. The crew of the USS Venture runs into your normal assortment of dinosaurs while on the island, and this being 1933, the dinosaurs all represent that time period's paleontological theories in beautiful stop motion. The Tyrannosaurus that Kong fights still has the third finger on his hands, and of course, is in the upright pose that all dinosaurs were thought to be in at the time.

There are some strange scientific inaccuracies (even for the time period) with the Brontosaurus that chases after the crew in the swamp. It seems that this normally docile plant eater has suddenly gotten a taste for human flesh, and would like nothing more than to chomp down on our hapless adventurers. For the most part though, all of the other creatures seem to be ripped straight out of the film 'The Lost World,' and provide worthy antagonists for the majority of the film.

The islanders are basically your generic pacific tribespeople seen in many films around this time - with painted faces and feathers stuck in the hair of the chief to boot. Just like in the other films, they seem to worship Kong and are the builders of the giant wall. Most of them are actually killed during Kong's final rampage on the island, and for the most part, they are actually kind of harmless. Sure they still kidnap Ann Darrow, but I get more of a scared feeling from these islanders. People just trying to survive who truly believe that Kong is their Protector/God.

1976 - BEACH/ISLAND OF THE SKULL

So here is a bit of a spoiler for the next podcast everyone... I hate this Skull Island. The location is the most generic island I have ever seen. In fact, I could not even find a picture from the film to use, but instead got a picture of the beach in Hawaii where they filmed the landing scene. You want the best description of this place? Hawaii with only a few residents and a single giant ape. Well, I guess there is one other creature on the island...

Yes, your eyes don't deceive you if you think that is a random giant snake. The only other living creature we see on this stupid island is a giant boa constrictor that shows up at the very end of the "adventure." As far as we can tell, this isn't an island where all of the creatures are huge or anything rational like that, just a giant ape and snake living in whatever the opposite of harmony is.

The villagers are kind of just there for the plot progression in the 76' film. In fact, I really don't perceive the fear aspect that we get from the original. Sure, they built a wall to keep out Kong, but it seems like they actually have a huge section of the island that they have carved out for themselves. Also, with the lack of crazy creatures on the other side of the wall, I feel like they have no need to worship Kong and sacrifice people to him for protection. To get my full thoughts on the film check out our next episode of the podcast that should drop sometime next week.

PART 2 - COMING SOON

In my next article, I'll talk in length about Peter Jackson's depiction of the famous island, and speculate on what the new film might be going for. Let me know which island is your favorite rendition, and what you hope they might do in the reboot.

Mondo Releasing Multiple New 'King Kong' Prints, Their History With Giant Monsters

With 'Kong: Skull Island' right around the corner, it is about time for the fan art to start surfacing. Even better when that fan is an accomplished illustrator. Jonathan Burton has designed two exclusive 'King Kong' posters for Mondo Tees, and boy are they cool. Both depict Kong from the storyline of the original movie; one on Skull Island after capturing his beloved damsel in distress, and the other during the intense battle between Kong and the airplanes in New York City. Two very different art styles, both equally stunning!

Jonathan Burton talked briefly at Mondo Con about how these prints came into creation:

"The KONG project has been a huge pleasure to work on particularly as the ideas were voted on by Mondo fans at the MondoCon 2 panel. The audience was split between these two and I’m flattered to be asked asked to produce both. The challenge for me was to make them both work as individual posters and as a pair.

The ‘Jungle’ poster is a nod to the spirit of the original 1933 posters playing on the fear of the immense monster. He is KING in his own habitat. Whereas the ‘City’ version (paying tribute to the Art Deco style of the film’s opening credits) shows us Kong on the defence dwarfed by the man-made skyscrapers fleeing from the human captors.

As Carl Denham says, “He’s always been a king in his world, but we’ll teach him fear”

Linking them together we have Ann Darrow in each, Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham are in both with very similar poses. The titles are in exactly the same place and the tag-lines help express the connected themes of a strange giant beast obsessed with the beauty of Ann Darrow ending up being controlled and destroyed by man."

Some of you might not know about Mondo Tees. Heck, I didn't until Coleman sent the news of these posters my way. The artwork they distribute is top notch, and always on the leading edge of pop culture. They have your fandom covered with everything from the Avengers to the X-Men, and what is that right there in the middle? Yep, it's city-stomping kaiju. Let's take a look back into Mondo's past and see how they represent our favorite giant monsters.

Godzilla

If you were following Godzilla 2014 before its release, you saw this image at some point. This truly stunning piece comes from Phantom City Creative

Mondo also has some interesting Godzilla art with variant options. This one by Tom Whalen has amazing style to it, and the english variant is an up-sale worth every penny.

This great piece comes from Shan Jiang. The visual style of the art is both shocking and eye catching. The approach Shan took with this print makes it one of my favorites on the site. I feel like I could find something new each time I look at it.

Pacific Rim

This one comes from Kevin Tong and features Gypsy Danger's fight with Leatherback. I think the art perfectly captures the essence of Pacific Rim.

I don't know how Ash Thorp managed to create such a powerful piece not only once, but twice with the variant cover. The contrast in colors really make the subjects pop and the action almost jumps out at you.

King Kong

You didn't think the two masterpieces you saw up top were the only 'King Kong' pieces from Mondo did you? Oh no my friends, with Kong being around since the early 30's, he has had plenty of time to build up some fan art. This striking piece from Burlesque of North America really stands out.

Laurent Durieux really shows how to capture both the spirit of the time period and the emotion of the scene.

Last but certainly not least is William Stout's rendition of one of the most iconic scenes in the original movie: Kong defeating the mighty T-Rex.

These posters just scratch the surface of what Mondo has had in the past and sadly all of these prints have been archived and are no longer available, with the exception of the first two Kong posters by Jonathan Burton which are now available for purchase on Mondo's website.

Fukuoka Art Museum Features Massive Godzilla Exhibit

It seems that Toho is pulling out all the stops for the upcoming 'Godzilla Resurgence.' In the past few months alone, they have organized product crossovers with the massively popular 'Evangelion' series and "Gudetama," a Japanese company's popular lazy egg mascot.

Now, from July 15 through August 31, the Fukuoka Art Museum will honor Godzilla's past and promote the future by hosting a massive exhibit featuring the entirety of the Toho roster called "Godzilla at the Museum: Creative Tracks of Daikaiju" 

The exhibit will be a guided tour through Toho history lead by the voice of Shiro Sano, an acting veteran in the Godzilla franchise. It will feature a vast library of memorabilia including such things as notable props, concept art, production notes and photographs, character moldings and some of the original suits worn in the classic movies. I'm only scratching the surface here, though; all in all, there will be over five hundred items from Godzilla history for fans to see!

Some special events throughout the duration of the exhibit will keep Kaiju fans coming back week after week. On July 24th the original film will be shown. If that wasn't cool enough, Toshio Miike, the art director and special effects expert for Godzilla, is stopping by to chat with fans on August 11th.

So, if you're a Godzilla fan with some free time and a few grand lying around this might be the perfect time to take that jump over to the land of the rising sun for a month or two and check out the exhibit.

'Star Wars' Actor John Boyega Drifts Into Lead Role For 'Pacific Rim 2'

I think this news has made me more excited for 'Pacific Rim 2' than anything else announced concerning the proposed sequel yet. Following our recent speculation on what might happen in the gargantuan follow-up, we at least now know who will be leading the fight. Deadline is reporting that John Boyega of 'Attack The Block' and 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' fame has been announced as taking the lead role in Stephen S. DeKnight's sequel to 2013's 'Pacific Rim.' Boyega joins Guillermo del Toro as a producer and is said to be playing the son of Idris Elba's iconic character Stacker Pentecost from the first film. See what del Toro had to say about Boyega's casting and our thoughts on why this is great news for the sequel below.

Guillermo del Toro was quoted by Deadline as saying this about Boyega:

“I am very proud and happy to welcome John into a fantastic sandbox. The 'Pacific Rim' universe will be reinforced with him as a leading man as it continues to be a multicultural, multi-layered world. ‘The world saving the world’ was our goal and I couldn’t think of a better man for the job.”

The fact that they've landed such a hot young actor as John Boyega means that Legendary is not fooling around with the sequel. Boyega's calendar exploded after 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opened to critical and financial success, and the majority of audiences fell in love with Boyega's depiction of a conflicted Stormtrooper who joins the Resistance.

What he brings to 'Pacific Rim 2' is a legitimacy that, honestly, the first film didn't have with a broader audience. I also believe that he can act the hell out of any role he's given, and the fact that he's playing Pentecost's son in the new film is incredibly exciting. I wonder if his father's dour seriousness has passed on to his son, or if they casted Boyega to lighten up a film that uses the word "apocalypse" more regularly than most summer blockbusters? Either way, I can't wait to see this film develop more and am looking forward to a new take on the franchise.

'Pacific Rim 2' goes into production later this year and is slated for release on December 31, 2018.