Toho Godzilla Suit 10

BioGoji- (1989)

The winner of this battle would be the most enormous enemy against human beings.

This suit can be seen in these movies:

The 1989 Godzilla featured a triangular build, with stocky legs recalling the 1962 Godzilla.

The chest and shoulders featured pronounced musculature, which gave the 1989 Godzilla a very powerful appearance. The number of dorsal plates was reduced, but oddly the largest plate placed at shoulder level. The tail was shorter than the previous suit and the underside was smooth, in common with all Godzilla suits from 1962 to 1975. The other features of the 1984 Godzilla, such as the fangs, ears and four toes were all retained. The neck of the 1989 Godzilla was longer and the size of the head reduced. The face was changed radically, and featured a fierce expression with several new features; a feline-like upper lip, multiple rows of shark-like teeth and eyes with large, brown irises and very little white showing. The new face added much to Godzilla’s evil personality, making the King of the Monsters appear fiercer and more dragon-like than before. It also made him look more intelligent.

Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) – Japanese Trailer

Sea Godzilla 1989

A second costume was specially built for water scenes. Called Sea 1989 Godzilla, this suit was made of lighter material. Although constructed from the same molds as the land suit, the sea suit featured some differences, such as a pronounced crest at the top of the head and odd-looking, square shoulders. The sea suit was also used for Godzilla’s grand appearance as he lumbers out of the volcano at Mt. Mihara.

NG 1989 Godzilla suit

The NG version of the suit was built to replace the modified ‘Sea Godzilla’ suit that had fallen into disrepair due to age and heavy use. However because this new ‘Land Godzilla’ (NG) suit did not precisely match the newer head and neck style of the one that had already been filmed, further alterations were required before it could enter the scenes after Osaka.

Mechanical Upper-Half

A mechanical upper-half for Godzilla, which was constructed from the same molds as the costumes, was employed for close shots. This method was also employed in the subsequent films, though with a varying degree of success in matching the mechanical figures with the Godzilla suits.

Dorsal Plate Mounting System

Previously, all Godzilla suits featured a zipper that ran along one side of the body to allow entry for the suitmation actor. Both the land and sea Godzilla suits had a new feature that would apply to all later Godzilla suits; the dorsal plates were mounted on a separate block-shaped piece of rubber that could be detached from the suit by means of velcro strips.

Electronic Light Up Dorsal Plates

This set could be alternated with a special set of dorsal plates made in Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) that would glow electrically, giving greater realism when Godzilla’s dorsal plates emitted light.

BioGoji Suit Reference Images

The screencaps were captured from the Echo Bridge Blu-ray (2012) 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.

Behind the Scenes Suit Screencaps Sea 1989 Screencaps Publicity Photos

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