So this is the new Rita...

     Today I had the pleasure of seeing what the new Rita Repulsa looks like. When I first heard that the design was revealed I was excited. I do believe that Elizabeth Banks is a good actress who can pull of the character of Rita, so I jumped at the chance to see her in costume. I think I got overexcited though, as the suit only serves to deeply annoy me.
     When I first saw this design, I was in an extreme state of disbelief. I tried to tell myself that this was for some other character or that this was fake hype for a fake picture....we all know that is not the case, though. I had to accept that this was the new look, but I simply could nor cannot. I care a lot about the design, probably more than I should, because I grew up with these characters I want to see their core values brought back to some degree for the modern audience to see. This costume, to me, represents everything that this character is not.
    
     The first and obvious problem is that she is portrayed as "edgy" and "sexy". There are a LOT of sexualized female villains in both power rangers and super sentai. Rita Repulsa is a standout villain because she got by with her attitude and powers alone. Rita was over the top and funny to watch despite the fact that she was a lingering and dangerous threat, like her headdress and the thought of it falling off. If you have any doubt that her character was designed to be over the top and dangerous, look at her breastplate. those things will poke your eye out from twenty yards away. I would also like to challenge everybody to find somebody legitimately sexually aroused by those things. I guarantee you, anybody that is, is not well in the head.
     Secondly, and probably my biggest problem with the whole thing, is that it looks like so many characters that are not Rita. I should make it clear now I do not hate the design, but I hate that it is on Rita Repulsa. I am going to put four pictures below and you tell me which one looks the most like the picture above.

      I am willing to bet that a good majority of you looked at the bottom two pictures. The woman in the green is Dulcea, a one-off heroin from the Power Rangers movie from the 90's whose personality was, she had tits and she knew how to work that stick. The woman on the bottom right is Scorpina, a villain in the power rangers series who battled alongside Rita Repulsa, due to their preexisting friendship. The woman in the top left it Divatox, the primary villain from Power Rangers: Turbo. Her personality is in her name. Divatox was a Diva. Finally if it wasn't obvious the top right character, who looks nothing like the picture above it is the actual Rita Repulsa.
    My final problem with the look is that it looks too...."earthy". The armor forms the shapes of spikes and things resembling leaves, and it has snakes and scales imprinted on the arms. The armor itself is a vibrant green and there are brown spots all over her that I can only see as dirt or mud. These are things that point to a very "natural" villain. They point to somebody who fights using the forces of nature for dark and nefarious things, which Rita Repulsa very rarely does.
    Rita Repulsa is a witch who uses spells and enchantments to enhance herself and form the basis of her schemes. Most of her minions are born from magic and are themselves magical beings. From a monster made of eyeballs, to a spartan pig that eats everything and even the sphinx, Rita is clearly somebody who uses magic and the occult over nature. I don't see Rita fighting to save the trees anytime soon is all I'm saying
    At the end of the day, I wish this was the design for somebody else. It really isn't bad. The design does make her look menacing and otherwordly, two very important things for most power rangers villains. I see what the designers were going for in an effort to give Power Ranger villains an edgy redesign. I support the idea, but not at the cost of forgetting some of the core aspects of our iconic villains.

Shin Goji and the monster movie uprising

     Well this has certainly been a week. A Skull Island spot Sunday night and in the days following, trailers for Dr. Strange and Shin Gojira. I was going to give my thoughts on the trailer but a friend of mine gave his thoughts and they pretty much match up to my own. The only difference is, they are typed a lot more eloquently than I could ever hope, so please check out his review on the subject. It is a worthy read.

The Gryphon's Lair

     I would like to talk about the uprising in monster movies and tokusatsu remakes that have blessed us recently. Between now and 2020 we have: 1 new Ultraman movie, 1 new Gamera movie, 1 new King Kong movie, 2 new Godzilla movies and 1 remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla. That is just what is confirmed to happen as of right now. I don't include Pacific Rim 2, due it's funky production record as of late, but regardless big budget monster movies are coming out of nowhere.
     Monster movies are getting darker and more realistic yet staying true to source material and inspired works. Despite it's flaws, I could go on for days about how much I love Legendary's Godzilla film, partly because this was a long time overdue for fans. We, fans, have endured direct-to-video-schlock and SyFy channel original movies for almost two decades before getting an honest to goodness, big budget, good giant monster movie.
     The question that has riddled my mind is; Why so many? Well my first theory is that audiences learned to let go a little bit and be less serious as comic book movies became more popular. In turn, fans became louder about what they wanted and Hollywood listened. I have two problems with this theory: first, nerd rage got even louder than anything else causing many to overreact. second, Hollywood has a record of not doing things for the benefit of the consumer.

     My second theory is that TOHO and other companies, both here and overseas, wanted a curve-ball to compete with the modern super hero movies and remakes. This seems likely since monster movies were a very underutilized and, at the time, untapped market for the masses. Pacific Rim was the preliminary test and Godzilla (2014) sealed the deal. Giant monsters and heroes that many of us grew up with are rising again! Does this mean that they are here for good, though, or is this the last hurrah of a dying generation?
    The Staying power of all of these franchises really depends on their success. I firmly believe that if the new Gamera movie and Shin Gojira are good, the box office will respond in kind and the monsters will be back for another decade of destruction! In America, sadly, I do not think it will last as long. I want to be proven wrong but knowing the modern American audience, the King Kong vs Godzilla reboot may the last giant monster movie for a while. Believe me I want to be proven wrong. I want new and interesting monster movies to arise and much like how the horror and slasher films had an uprising between the 70's and early 90's.
     I mentioned before that monster fans had this coming for a long time. It is ultimately up to us, however, to see these movies and support the filmmakers as much as we can. New monster movies ARE happening. It is up to us to turn this sudden spike into a full blown monster renaissance. I implore everyone, keep spreading the word about these movies. It is up to us to give many new and young fans the one thing they may never experience again, a true monster movie age.

I am the Kaiju Kidd and I'm really looking forward to Shin Gojira.

Skull Island Spot and what the future of the American Godzilla may look like

     I will admit I did not even know that Legendary was to release a spot or trailer or anything regarding Skull island until recently. As such, I did not know what to expect. I am both happy and sad that we got a TV spot as oppose to a trailer. With the Movie about 1 year away, it does make sense that we would get an early behind the scenes look. We get to see the actors in costume, a feel for the era and a look at locations. It only makes me sad because I am reminded of the trailer for Godzilla that was presented at comic-con. How cool would it be if they hyped this movie, similarly to how they hyped Godzilla, but I digress
     We get to see Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson the most and honestly all I can say is they look the part. There cant be any flashy character designs like in the marvel comics since Legendary's Godzilla series is clearly going in a slightly darker and more serious direction. I am confident that the two of them will do well. They both have done good work and it will be interesting to see Tom Hiddleston in a such a grounded role.
     The thing in the spot that caught my attention the most was the setting. The island looks great but the established setting is the Vietnam war era, even part of it taking place around Vietnam and the surrounding islands. Above all else this leaves me wary. anybody who is a fan of monsters knows what happened when somebody tried to re-imagine King Kong in a different time. Let's just say the 70's were no the best years for the big ape. The most successful incarnations of King Kong always reference or recreate the original story and for good reason.
     I would like to believe that if any company can do this series justice, it is Legendary right now. They did so good with Godzilla and I would imagine that producers would take just as much care when approaching America's most iconic monster. Re-imaginings can work if done right and I am more than willing to give them a chance with these new ideas.
     So what does this mean for the big G? All I can say for certain is I'm pretty sure that whatever has been waking up MUTO's and keeping Godzilla active must be playing a part in how big King Kong will be in the movie. Prehistoric monsters are going to be on the island so as far as we know...these creatures could be from the same era as Godzilla? In fact, what if Kong is not as friendly as he was before and is instead playing the menace in the upcoming film?
     I believe Godzilla 2 will have the final answer to what the stakes of that fight are going to be. by the end of Godzilla, the united states viewed Godzilla as a savior. If that mindset remains, what if they do a complete role-reversal to Toho's King Kong versus Godzilla? instead of King Kong being lead to the mainland to fight an ominous threat, it is Godzilla who seeks out Kong for disturbing the natural order and running amok? Just a thought I had, but it makes me excited
    All in all, I am happy yet wary about what I saw. I would like to see more of the movie before I say if this new setting is a good idea or no. Aside from that, I am excited. I'm excited to see what the monsters look like, excited to see what Kong looks like and excited to see how this connects into a greater universe. I cannot wait for the next big piece of news about this movie.