Product Description

A Diamond Select Toys release! The King of the monsters returns for a second series of the smash-hit Godzilla Vinimates line! Burning Godzilla, Godzilla 1962 and Rodan team up as 4-inch vinyl figures, each with an articulated neck and tail for additional posing options. Each comes packaged in a full-color window box. Designed by Barry Bradfield.

Name

The Japanese name Radon is a contraction of Pteranodon. The spelling of Radon in Japanese also corresponds to the name of Ladon, the dragon guarding the Hesperides in Greek mythology - since there is no distinction between "l" and "r" in Japanese.

It was changed to Rodan for English-speaking markets in order to avoid confusion with the element radon.[5] However, in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, the English version of the film used the original name Radon.

Development

As with Godzilla, writer Ken Kuronuma turned to prehistoric animals for inspiration in developing the character, though unlike the former, whose species is largely left ambiguous, Rodan is explicitly stated to be a kind of Pteranodon.[5] Just as Godzilla was conceived as a symbol of an American nuclear threat, Rodan was seen as an embodiment of the same danger originating from the Soviet Union.[6]

Rodan's debut appearance was the first and only time that the character was given a chestnut color. It originally had a menacing face with a jagged, toothed beak, which would disappear in later incarnations as the character became more heroic. Rodan was portrayed via a combination of suitmation and wire-operated puppets for flight sequences. During suitmation sequences, Rodan was portrayed by Haruo Nakajima, who almost drowned when the wires holding the 150 lb. suit above a water tank snapped.[5] In Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the Rodan suit was of visibly lesser quality than the previous one, having a more comical face, a thick neck which barely concealed the shape of the performer's head within and triangular wings.[7] The modification of the character's face was deliberate, as Rodan was meant to be a slapstick character rather than the tragic villain seen in its film debut.[8] A new suit was constructed for Invasion of Astro-Monster which more closely resembled the first, having more rounded wings and a sleeker face. The sleek face was retained in Destroy All Monsters, though the wings and chest area were crudely designed.[7]

Rodan was revived in 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, this time portrayed entirely via a wire-manipulated marionette[9] and hand puppets. Having received criticism for his emphasis on battle sequences relying heavily on beam weapons, special effects artist Koichi Kawakita sought to make the confrontation between Godzilla and Rodan as physical as possible.

Heisei era

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Rodan in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

When a team of scientists led by Hiroshi Omae arrived on Adonoa Island and discovered an intact egg in a Pteranodon nest, they prepared to load it onto a helicopter so they could bring it back to Japan. As they were doing so, Rodan flew overhead and destroyed their campsite. Omae stated that Rodan was an irradiated Pteranodon that must have hatched from another egg in the same nest. Rodan landed on a cliff overlooking the sea, which began to suddenly flash. Rodan stared into the water, only for a beam of Godzilla's atomic breath to shoot out of the water and strike the cliff. Rodan took flight and flew out over the water, producing shockwaves on the surface of the water. Godzilla fired his atomic breath at Rodan, with one blast striking his wing. Godzilla came ashore on the island, only for Rodan to fly behind him and strike him with the spikes on his chest. Rodan began pecking Godzilla in the back of the head with his pointed beak. Godzilla's dorsal plates began to flash, leading Rodan to fly away as Godzilla fired his atomic breath at him. Rodan circled around Godzilla, then flew directly at him and knocked him to the ground with his wing. Rodan dove onto Godzilla and began pecking at his face, but Godzilla managed to grab Rodan by the throat, choking him until blood began to pour from Rodan's mouth. Godzilla threw Rodan off of him and blasted him with his atomic breath, only for Rodan to fly back at him and knock Godzilla headfirst into a mountain, which collapsed onto Godzilla and buried him in rubble. Rodan flew overhead, but Godzilla's tail knocked Rodan out of the sky. Godzilla rose from the rubble and blasted Rodan with his atomic breath, then stomped on his back. Rodan tried to take flight, but Godzilla blasted him twice at point-blank range with his atomic breath, sending Rodan crashing into a rocky slope and leaving him seemingly dead. In the confusion, the scientists had managed to escape the island with the egg, with Godzilla following after them, intent on recovering the egg for himself.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (ゴジラvsメカゴジラ, Gojira tai Mekagojira, released in Japan as Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), is a 1993 Japanese kaiju film directed by Takao Okawara, written by Wataru Mimura, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the 20th film in the Godzilla franchise, as well as the fifth film to be released during the franchise's Heisei era. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla, along with Baby Godzilla and the mecha character Mechagodzilla. Despite its English title, the film is not a sequel to the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was released theatrically in Japan on December 11, 1993. The film was a commercial success, generating a combined $194,000,000 (equivalent to $364,000,000 in 2021) from the box office, book sales and merchandise sales by 1994.[2] It was released directly to pay-per-view satellite television in the United States in 1998 by Sony Pictures Television. The film was promoted as the last film in the franchise's Heisei series, and was also promoted by a children's television program called Adventure! Godzilland 2. Although Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was not the final entry in the Heisei series, as it was followed by Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla in 1994, Toho producers initially wished to avoid competing with TriStar's then-upcoming Godzilla reboot.[3]

Plot

In 1992, following the events of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the United Nations establishes the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) to stop Godzilla. Their military branch, G-Force, salvages Mecha-King Ghidorah's remains and reverse engineers them to build two anti-Godzilla machines: an aerial gunship called Garuda and a mecha modeled after Godzilla called Mechagodzilla.

Two years later, while on a mission to Adona Island, a Japanese team comes across what they assume is a large Pteranodon egg, which gives off a telepathic signal that attracts Godzilla and Rodan, an adult Pteranodon irradiated by nuclear waste. Godzilla critically wounds Rodan during the ensuing battle while the research team escapes with the egg. It is taken to a research center in Kyoto, where it imprints on a young female scientist. When a Baby Godzilla hatches from the egg, the research team concludes that the egg was left in the Pteranodon nest with Rodan in a manner similar to the brood parasitism displayed by European cuckoos. Godzilla appears, once again responding to the creature's psychic call. The JSDF mobilizes Mechagodzilla, which intercepts Godzilla as it is heading to Kyoto. The two battle, with Mechagodzilla initially having the upper hand until Godzilla disables the robot with an energy pulse. Godzilla continues searching for Baby, but the scientists, having discovered the telepathic link between the monsters, shield it from Godzilla. Frustrated, it destroys most of Kyoto before returning to the ocean.

Tests on the baby reveal that it has a second brain in its hips that controls the animal's movement. The UNGCC assumes that this also holds true for Godzilla, and decide to use Baby to bait Godzilla into another fight with Mechagodzilla. The "G-Crusher" is installed into Mechagodzilla, which will allow the robot to penetrate Godzilla's hide and destroy its second brain. Young psychic Miki Saegusa is ordered to become a part of Mechagodzilla's crew to locate Godzilla's second brain. While she is reluctant due to her mental connection with Godzilla, she agrees. The plan backfires when Rodan, having survived its battle with Godzilla and further mutated by radiation, responds to Baby's call and intercepts the UNGCC transport.

In response, they send Mechagodzilla and Garuda after Rodan instead, which mortally wound it. Godzilla arrives soon after and attacks Mechagodzilla. The fight is evenly matched until Mechagodzilla combines with Garuda to become Super-Mechagodzilla and use the G-Crusher to successfully paralyze Godzilla. Suddenly, the dying Rodan, revived by Baby's call, begins flying towards it, but is shot down by Super-Mechagodzilla, crashing atop Godzilla. Rodan's life force regenerates Godzilla's second brain and supercharges the monster. Now more powerful than before, Godzilla attacks and destroys Super-Mechagodzilla with a high-powered, spiral-shaped atomic ray.

Godzilla locates Baby, who is initially afraid of the giant. Miki telepathically communicates with Baby, convincing it to go with Godzilla. The two monsters head out to the sea together.