Jet Jaguar

Jet Jaguar (ジェットジャガー, Jetto Jyagā) is a heroic mecha created by Toho that first appeared in the 1973 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Development
Jet Jaguar was the result of a contest Toho had in mid-to-late 1972 for fans to come up with a new hero for them to use, to capitalize on the many tokusatsu, anime superhero and super robot shows that were very popular at the time. The winner of the contest submitted the drawing of a robot called Red Alone (レッド·アローン, Reddo Arōn). The robot resembled both Ultraman and Mazinger Z (both of which were very popular). The robot was renamed "Jet Jaguar" and was set to star in a film vehicle for him, titled Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon, which put him against Megalon. However, Toho figured Jet Jaguar would not be able to carry the film on his own, in screen appearance or marketing value, so during pre-production, the project was shut down for several weeks, until screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa was called in to rewrite the script to add Godzilla and Gigan. The resulting film, Godzilla vs. Megalon, paired Godzilla with Jet Jaguar against both Megalon and Gigan.

Origins
In Godzilla vs. Megalon, Jet Jaguar was created by scientist Goro Ibuki.

Godzilla vs. Megalon
Jet Jaguar was a human-sized robot created by inventor Goro Ibuki for unknown reasons. Having been stolen by the underground nation of Seatopia, Jet Jaguar's mission was to guide Megalon to Tokyo so the insect kaiju could destroy it. Eventually, however, Goro regained control of Jet Jaguar and sent him to fetch Godzilla from Monster Island. As Godzilla made his way to Japan, Jet Jaguar flew back to the mainland and faced Megalon. Increasing his size to fifty meters, Jet Jaguar attacked Megalon and was winning the battle until the cyborg Gigan arrived to provide Megalon some back-up. The two evil beasts were too much for Jet Jaguar, who was beaten senseless until Godzilla arrived. After a long fight, Godzilla and Jet Jaguar were able to defeat their foes, sending Megalon back to Seatopia and Gigan back into outer space. After the fight, Jet Jaguar reverted to his normal size, and returned to his home with Goro.

Godzilla Island
Jet Jaguar appeared extensively in the TV series Godzilla Island. In the show, Jet Jaguar appears in several different forms: a Silver Jet Jaguar, who was a fighting machine that battled alongside MechaGodzilla and Moguera, a Medic Jet Jaguar, who tended to the injured monsters, and a Fire Fighter Jet Jaguar, who worked to put out the fires caused by the monsters' fights.

Weapons
The mechanical hero has the ability to alter his size at will, and is skilled at melee attacks. His abilities also include being able to communicate with monsters and flying. He also has floodlights located within his eyes.

Outside of his film appearances he can fire beams from his arms, similarly to Ultraman. He has also been shown growing larger than his film appearance in the Atari trilogy, rivaling Biollante's height, but being this size makes him very slow.

Video Game Appearances

 * Battle Soccer
 * Kaiju-Oh Godzilla
 * Godzilla Trading Battle
 * Godzilla Generations
 * Godzilla: Save the Earth
 * Godzilla: Unleashed (Wii and PS2)
 * Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash

Godzilla Trading Battle
In Godzilla Trading Battle Jet Jaguar can release an "explosion breath" from his mouth.

Godzilla: Save the Earth
Jet Jaguar has also appeared in the video game Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed, where he can increase his size further to 1.5 times normal size.

Godzilla: Unleashed
In Godzilla: Unleashed, he can release a concentrated blast of energy from his wrists, and from the game's predecessor, Jet Jaguar can spin himself around at extreme speeds, creating a deadly tornado; and while in his smallest combat form, Jet Jaguar has a Reflection Shield put up at all times, meaning that he can't be harmed by weapons, and can even perform a Weapon Reflect, in which he can block a weapon to bounce it back at its source.

Height: 90 meters Weight: 38,000 tons

"Jet Jaguar is a human-sized robot created by a Japanese scientist for unknown reasons. Created with a great potential for learning, Jet Jaguar achieved sentience and began to modify himself and his programming. His most impressive modification has been his ability to change his own size-allowing him to grow large enough to dwarf monsters such as Godzilla. Unfortunately, Jet Jaguar cannot maintain his enormous size indefinitely, and must perodically rest to regain his energies. Jet Jaguar is a reserve member of the Global Defense Force-heroically protecting humanity whenever it is threatened by monstrous threats."

Comics
Jet Jaguar appears in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. Jet Jaguar appeared to help Godzilla to fight against Orga and Gigan. After flying into Orga's mouth, and expanding in him, Jet Jaguar flew to the Cryog ship to help Steven Woods and Chavez.

In Rulers of Earth #12, Jet Jaguar fought Destoroyah, even shrinking to human size, then piloting Kiryu to fire the Absolute Zero Cannon, killing Destoroyah. He then attempted to stop the humans from killing Godzilla, but did not make it in time.

Trivia

 * For the German release of Godzilla vs. Megalon, Jet Jaguar was renamed to King Kong. However, there is no connection to the real King Kong beyond his name, and in contrary to a widespread misconception, he is not said to be a giant ape wearing a robot suit in the dub.
 * It was suggested that Jet Jaguar and other monsters Godzilla fought were created by Dr. Frankenstein in the German dub of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
 * The anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion paid homage to Jet Jaguar in the episode "A Human Work"; the episode featured a robot named "Jet Alone", a combination of his final and prototype names.
 * Jet Jaguar's Unleashed Bio references his origins in Godzilla vs. Megalon, but doesn't state the reason why he was made from the film.
 * Jet Jaguar has a song about him at the end of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
 * His design looks similar to Ultraman from the 1966 television series, Ultraman.

Poll
Do you like Jet Jaguar? Yes! No. Kind of.