Kaiju From “Pacific Rim: Uprising”

Here’s Looking at Kaiju:

(Time to cancel another apocalypse)

Sorry. 

We had to see the robots punching giant monsters sequel. It was entirely unavoidable.

I’ll admit, based on repeated exposure to the trailers, I was anticipating my viewing of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” with an emotion I might describe as dread.

But like it’s predecessor, “Uprising,” proved to be much more diverting than I anticipated. I did not sleep through it, and not just because it was too loud to doze.

One had to wonder how they were going to pull off the Kaiju-robot combination (not just the two fighting, but an actual combo) but they did. And not in a way that was any more ridiculous than the basic premise of the movies.

And how else do you raise the stakes on giant monsters? With a giant monster composed of other giant monsters? Why not?

I hope it is not too much of spoiler to reveal that the creative name of this fellow is the “Mega Kaiju” I looked that up online. It was no doubt named in the movie, but I missed it.

I might have exaggerated his lovely color palette a little bit also, but he was quite handsome onscreen.

Gipsy Danger, Godzilla, Kong & Megazord

What do giant characters do when they hang out?

My sons are anticipating more movies and more team-ups between #megafauna #megazord and #megamech

Colossal Titan and Gypsy Danger

"Attack on Titan" meets "Pacific Rim"

Due to a cancelled vacation and a sick parent, we are festering at home this weekend watching too much TV. To be more specific: we are watching too many Minecraft Youtube videos mirrored on the TV.

Rewatching "Pacific Rim" last evening was a welcome respite for me from "mod showcases."  This is not to say that I do not continue to marvel at the appeal of those mod videos.  If we think about the vast sums of money necessary to create a film like "Pacific Rim" versus the minimal overhead involved in a Minecraft mod showcase, and then consider that my sons seem to find the two equally compelling....I'm not really sure what my point is...perhaps I am coming down with something also...

But there are hundreds of Minecraft mod videos available to watch right now, while we will be waiting impatiently for a long time for the "Attack on Titan" movie and the sequel to "Pacific Rim."

Knifehead and Godzilla Chat Across the Brooklyn Bridge

The kids were so very excited to see "Godzilla"  that we had to go during the opening weekend.

On the way home, there was a great deal of discussion, (mostly driven by the obsessed 11 year old) of how this movie compares to other movies in the Godzilla canon and to "Pacific Rim."

Archer could certainly offer chapter and verse about the differences and merits  of all the Kaiju vehicles.  Perhaps I should only observe  that I felt about the same  about "Pacific Rim" and this most recent incarnation of "Godzilla."  This movie did not have the small boy pleasing giant drivable robot angle, nor the "Canceling The Apocalypse" rah rah spirit of Mr.  del Toro's effort, but maybe that was not entirely a bad thing. 

Cardboard Pacific Rim Jaeger with "Cardboard" Characters

We read Doug TenNapel's "Cardboard" again over the weekend.
While we made some more cardboard stuff, we were not able to pull off the fabrication of a huge mech like "Pacific Rim"s Gypsy Danger.

Adventure Time Meets Pacific Rim

The kids rewatched some of "Pacific Rim" on dvd yesterday...leading to the Jake-Kaiju and Finn-Jaeger.  Don't think there are any high rises or tanker ships in Ooo, however...

Mr Gus Tells Gipsy Danger To "Embrace The Weird"

Is Mr. Gus a small, laid back kaiju?

Our sons found Mr. Gus's uncharacteristic hysteria on "Treasure Island," the latest episode of "Uncle Grandpa" to be extremely hilarious. He has trouble accepting the "embrace the weird" lesson of the episode.

Given the weirdness and flexibility of the Uncle Grandpa universe, I figured Mr. Gus might as well be enlarged to the size of the kaiju in "Pacific Rim."  His calm demeanor and flat affect, however, made it hard to imagine him engaged in any physical conflict with Pacific Rim style  jaeger.

Connor Jaeger: Pacific Rim Meets Assassin's Creed

I usually object to drawing Mr. Kenway because of all the fussy detail on his costume. 

After trying unsuccessfully to turn him into a giant mech, I now appreciate the relative simplicity of his human form.

Pacific Rim Meets Pokemon: Pikachu Jaeger

I somehow dodged having to draw Connor Kenway again for today (although Chris Giarrusso's version is very nice) because my kids were reminded recently of the coolness of giant mechs.

There was some debate about the translation of various jaeger features to Pikachu anatomy:  Where do the weapons go? What does one do with the tail?

I'm sure one could spend hours on the topic of  Pikachu mech design...hours that I did not have last night.  So my apologies to all those who inhabit the overlapping territory of the venn diagram circles of Pikachu and Pacific Rim fans.

Kronos From "Sea of Monsters" with Gipsy Danger From "Pacific Rim"

Large characters from my sons two favorite movies square off.

The older child much prefers "Pacific Rim" and definitely does not share his younger brother's affection for the Percy Jackson movie.

I imagined them as fairly evenly matched for the joint napkin.  Gipsy Danger might be larger, but Kronos is a god after all...

Kingdom Rush's Ashbite with Pacific Rim's Jaeger

Ashbite,  a pricey in-app purchase in Kingdom Rush Frontiers, continues to be popular with both of our kids.

Archer says the dragon would be well worth the $6.99 of hard earned allowance if he could walk on the ground as well as fly. 

He asked that Ashbite be paired with something from "Pacific Rim" for today's napkin. Gipsy Danger seemed like the obvious choice so the two could be glowing red together.

Both kids would be happy to point out that the size relationship between the two is definitely inaccurate:  The dragon should be much smaller.

The Regular Show's Mordecai and Rigby Pilot a Pacific Rim Jaeger

Mordecai and Rigby are canceling the apocalypse...maybe.

An image that represents a combination of my younger son's pop culture intake over the weekend.

One would imagine that Mordecai and Rigby would be avid fans of Pacific Rim, if not particularly adept Jaeger pilots themselves....

"Dude! It's like a giant video game!"

Jaeger from "Pacific Rim" Poster

When we saw the movie over the weekend , they gave us three free posters by Yoji Shinkawa of a particularly wasp-waisted version of the main mech.

The boys were so impressed with the movie, that they went home and put all three identical posters up on their bedroom wall.

And Ansel wanted me to draw the image on his napkin today.

Pacific Rim Jaeger with Knifehead Kaiju

We saw "Pacific Rim" over the weekend.

I definitely recommend it if you are, are related to, or in some other way feel compelled to indulge, a male person under the age of, say, twelve years old.

And as long as I am offering advise: Don't sit too close to the screen.

Pacific Rim Jaeger Giant Robot

As promised, I had to take a crack at rendering a giant robot today.  I went for a more impressionistic rather than an analytical drawing.

According to the copious material online available to whip up enthusiasm before the film opens, there are many different kinds of "Jaegers" (or enormous "mobile exosuit weapons")  Often I have difficulty gratifying my kids' napkin requests because there just isn't enough source material available.  In this case, there is probably too much...I don't really want to have to draw one of these things accurately on a napkin after 11pm.

This one is from an image of "Gipsy Danger coming out of the water."

Classic Godzilla Versus "Pacific Rim"s Kaiju

If giant alien monsters attack the earth, no doubt humans will build enormous robots to punch them...or perhaps more plausibly, we will just ask Godzilla to come back and kick them to the curb?

My older son is pretty excited about the prospect of the giant robots in the upcoming film "Pacific Rim."  The monsters are pretty much just an excuse to suit up and pound as far as he is concerned.

I, however, think fondly of the time spent in my youth watching men in latex suits wrestle amid tiny cityscapes and smoke bombs. I gather from my five minutes of research last night that the monsters in the movie are called "Kaiju" just like the original giant movie monster Godzilla.

Having gratified myself, now I am going to have to draw the more challenging giant robot for tomorrow.