Toho Godzilla Suit 9
84Goji (1984)
- Return of Godzilla (1984)
- Godzilla 1985 (1984)
For the rebirth of the Godzilla legend, Toho decided to once again portray the King of the Monsters as an evil creature.
Thus the 1984 Godzilla would posses the general appearance of the 1954 Godzilla (from Godzilla, King of the Monsters) and the facial expression of the 1964 Godzilla (from Godzilla vs. the Thing), the latter incarnation being arguably the most evil-looking version of Godzilla up to that time. The 1984 Godzilla suit therefore possessed features previously seen only on the 1954 and 1955 (Godzilla Raids Again) suits; fangs, four toes, ears, staggered rows of dorsal plates, and a rough underside of the tail. The detailing in the legs for the 1984 Godzilla was very good, but the musculature for the chest and shoulders were less well-defined, thus diminishing the costume’s overall image of power. As with the 1962 Godzilla (from King Kong vs. Godzilla), the 1984 Godzilla is an anomaly in the evolution of the King of the Monsters because it does not resemble prior or subsequent Godzilla costumes.
Return of Godzilla (1984) – Japanese Trailer
The dorsal plates were very well-detailed, but also appeared to be more numerous compared to the 1954 and 1955 costumes. The largest dorsal plate was placed at waist level, which had not been done before or since.
The neck was short and the head was fairly large in proportion to the body.
The 1964-style eyes, with red-brown irises, looked suitably evil.
The 1984 costume also boasted a new feature for a Godzilla suit; the upper lip could curl up in snarl.
return of godzilla (japanese blu-ray) : SPECIAL FEATURE
Making of Return of Godzilla - Edited
Within this special feature from the Japanese Blu-ray you’ll see lots of impressive work! Like the 5-meter tall mechanical figure of Godzilla, called the “cybot”, which was used for several close-ups in the movie. Unfortunately, the face of “cybot” scarcely resembled the face of the suits, and in the finished film the alternating footage of the Godzilla suits with the “cybot” is very jarring. They also take you on location to filming at the crater, into the giant pool for water scenes, removing parts of the suit from molds (tail and legs), testing the mechanical head, the giant foot that’s bigger than a car, blue screen shots and so much more!
84Goji Suit Reference Images
The screencaps were captured from the Kraken Releasing Blu-ray (2016) and the rest were found online and/or scanned in from magazines and books. Some of the images may have been modified to see the textures more easily.
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