Blast from the Past: Godzilla vs. Megalon
Blast from the Past: Godzilla vs. Megalon
My dad put up with a lot from me when I was a kid in the ’70s. It’s not that I was a bad kid, but he was more of a Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger kind of guy while I kept wanting Star Trek and Star Wars toys between dragging him to science fiction and horror movies.
In the summer of 1976, when I turned seven, I made him take me to yet another film I’m sure he did not want to see. We parked downtown and walked the distance to the only local theater that showed foreign films.
I don’t remember what it was that drew me to his movie. Perhaps I had heard of the main character, or maybe I had been mesmerized by the newspaper advertisement artwork which showed two giant monsters battling it out atop the World Trade Center towers (a scene which is nowhere to be found in the movie).
I’m talking about the epic Godzilla vs. Megalon, originally released in Japan in 1973 though it didn’t make it to the U.S. until 1976.
This is not everyone’s favorite Godzilla movie. In fact, it tends to be one of the lower rated of the big guy’s series of films, but for the seven-year-old me, it was simply awesome. See, this was my first Godzilla experience, and I would be something of a fan for the rest of my life.
And what wasn’t to like? First off, you’ve got the big guy himself, Godzilla, leading a monster-packed story with the likes of Gigan, a beaked and hooked horror; Jet Jaguar, a robot who can perform martial arts and change size (and looking vaguely like a later generation’s Power Rangers); and the other star of the title, Megalon, a giant bug-like monster with a star-shaped spike sticking out of its head and some kind of earth-digging drills in place of hands or claws. Even Anguirus makes an appearance, a somewhat rare site, with his dinosaur-like body with armored plates and spikes sticking out everywhere, along with Rodan, a flying, dragon-like beast.
Blast from the Past: Big Trouble in Little China
[caption id="attachment_11850" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Jack Burton, center, has plenty of pals backing him up as he prepares to face down the evils of Lo Pan. And remember, if they're not back by dawn, call the president.[/caption] This month 30 years ago, a movie decades ahead of...
Blast from the Past — Transformers: The Movie
With the live action Transformers movies of the last decade it can be easy for some fans to forget the franchise was originally a cartoon series back in the 1980s, a series based upon a line of toys produced by Hasbro. Also, some fans might be too young to know about the old cartoons, and they might have missed the spectacle that was Transformers: The Movie from 1986.
Gaming like a box of chocolates: D&Dizing Forrest Gump
Run, Forrest, run! The Mobile Feat in action.
Yes, this week I’m doing something silly. The idea occurred to me during a recent road trip. Behind the wheel of a car for hours on end, I had to have something to think about, and a Fifth Edition D&D version of Forrest Gump came to mind. Once I started thinking about it, Gump has a lot more talents than I initially thought.
And to be clear, all references are to the movie version of Forrest Gump, as I’ve not read the books the character is based upon.
I’ll provide some explanations below, but first, his stats:
Forrest Gump — D&D style
Chronicles of Shannara By Terry Brooks is Now a MTV Fantasy TV Series
Hello and well met traveler of the Internet,
Nerdarchist Dave here with a bit of a review, my thoughts, or just plain ramblings about the new series on MTV Chronicles of Shannara based off of the novels written by Terry Brooks. I’m going to do my best to stay away from spoilers. If you aren’t familiar with the books or the shows on MTV it’s fantasy TV series. When it comes to network television we seem to be getting more nerdy goodness than ever.
5E D&D Character Builds — Dragonborn Paladin
Hello Nerdarchy reader, Nerdarchist Dave here to talk character builds. I got me a hankering to delve into a dragonborn paladin for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Paladins are an iconic character class harkening back to the very beginning of the game. Dragonborn on the other hand are a bit newer, first appearing in 3.5 D&D towards the end in a different incarnation than the current version. They really came into their own with fourth edition D&D. To be honest it took me a little while to warm up to them as player character race. Honestly it was the 4E D&D art that killed them for me. Two words: dragon boobs! The idea of a mammalian trait slapped onto a reptilian race seemed ridiculous to me. But I’ve decided to grow as a person and get over it. Not too long ago I wrote an article about dragonborn that kind of made me want to play one hence this article where we build a dragonborn paladin.
