Gamera

Gamera (ガメラ, Gamera) is a giant flying turtle created by Daiei that first appeared in the 1965 Gamera film, Gamera.

Appearance
Unlike any other species of turtles, Gamera has the habit of walking bipedally rather than on all fours, though he occasionally walks quadrupedally in his first three films. Gamera was capable of using his upper limbs in the same manner as Godzilla, as his forelegs had appendages much closer in construction to hands than feet, and was capable of grappling with opponents and manipulating objects. His mouth is filled with teeth, unlike any living modern turtle (several types of extinct prehistoric turtles were toothed, however), with a pair of large tusks protruding upward from his lower jaw. Gamera is also usually seen with very large human-like eyes, adding intelligence to his overall appearance.

Origins
In the Showa series films, Gamera was a gigantic, prehistoric species of tortoise who fed on flames, reawakened by an accidental atomic blast in the Arctic during a dogfight between US and Russian fighters. The film mentioned that Gamera had appeared before, from pictographs depicting Gamera, and warning of his ability of flight. Gamera's original origins are largely unknown in the Showa era, as there is no indication that he was a mutation in his original film. Gamera was already capable of flight and breathed true flames, rather than radioactive energy when he was reawakened. And while it was known that he fed on flames (and even radioactive materials such as plutonium, much like his counterpart, Godzilla), no explanation for these powers was given. It was also left unexplained as to why he attacked most of humanity in general, yet spared the life of (and indeed actively saved) a young boy who became central to the original film's plot. This later led to him being referred to as the 'friend to all children in the world' in future films.

In the Heisei series films, however, the origin of Gamera was retconned, giving him a much more directly heroic themed origin: A bio-engineered guardian of the Earth created by the lost city of Atlantis with the purpose of defeating Gyaos, another ancient creation capable of killing all human life. The giant turtle is found floating adrift in the Pacific, encased in rock and mistaken for an atoll. Within the rock, investigators discover a large monolith explaining Gamera's purpose, as well as dozens of magatama, which allow a psychic link between Gamera and humans. In the third film of the Heisei era, an undersea graveyard is found with many other Gamera skeletons, suggesting Gamera was not the only member of his kind created by Atlantis. One character in the film refers to these skeletons as "beta versions" of Gamera, possible failures in Atlantis' attempts to create the final version. Another scene provides Gamera with a link to Asian folklore, with a character relating a story in which a giant tortoise is considered the Guardian of the North, with separate, rival creatures defending the East, West, and South.

Gamera's continuity was rebooted again in Gamera: The Brave. The film begins with the "original" Gamera (whether this is intended to be the Gamera from the earlier Shōwa era series is unknown and unlikely, as the film mixes elements from both continuities) sacrificing himself to destroy a flock of Gyaos birds sometime in the 1970s. Decades later, a young boy finds a strange, glowing red rock near his home, with a small egg lying on top of it. A fairly normal looking baby tortoise soon hatches from the egg, but begins to grow at an alarming rate. The turtle, now named "Toto" by his child owner, also quickly develops Gamera's classic abilities to breath fire and fly, and attempts to ward off another attacking monster but is too weak to succeed. Only after eating the glowing rock found with its egg does the new Gamera achieve its full power, defeating its enemy and flying off into the sky.

Gamera
Gamera made his first appearance in 1965's Gamera.

Gamera vs. Barugon
Gamera returned in Gamera vs. Barugon, where he fought Barugon.

Gamera vs. Gyaos
In Gamera vs. Gyaos, Gamera fought Gyaos, who would become his arch-nemesis.

Gamera vs. Viras
In Gamera vs. Viras, Gamera fought Viras.

Gamera vs. Guiron
In Gamera vs. Guiron, Gamera fought Guiron.

Gamera vs. Jiger
In Gamera vs. Jiger, Gamera fought Jiger.

Gamera vs. Zigra
In Gamera vs. Zigra, Gamera fought Zigra. Daiei went bankrupt not long after the film was released.

Gamera: Super Monster
After Daiei was purchased by Tokuma Shoten in 1974, the new management wanted to do a new Gamera film in 1980, so Gamera: Super Monster was produced. The majority of the film used stock footage (with limited new scenes of Gamera flying), and acted as a "recap" of Gamera's history. However, Yuasa and Takahashi felt that they had done all they could with the monster, so they respectfully killed off Gamera at the end of the film.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
The Heisei era Gamera films began with Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. During the course of the first film, three Gyaos are discovered on a remote island. The Japanese government discovers that they are all female, and decides that since they are the last of their kind, they should be captured and studied. So a trap is set for them. Meanwhile, a search has been assembled for a moving atoll in the Pacific. They find it, staying still and searching the surface, finding many small gems made of an unknown metal. They also discover a stone sticking up out of the center of it, and they attempt to dig it out. They manage to take pictures and collect some of the strange gems, but the stone crumbles and the atoll takes off towards Japan at high speeds. It turns out that the atoll is actually an ancient guardian of Earth, made by the Atlanteans, called Gamera. He attacks the Gyaos, killing two, but one escapes. It feasts on the other newly born Gyaos and grows to Gamera-like proportions. The two battle and Gamera manages to defeat it, heading back to the seas.

Gamera 2: Advent of Legion
In Gamera 2: Advent of Legion, Earth was attacked by an alien force known as Legion.

Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys
In Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys, Gamera had to face hordes of Gyaos and the ultimate Gyaos, Irys.

Gamera: The Brave
Gamera: The Brave returns Gamera to his Showa era roots, but with a modern twist. In the film, Gamera is first seen defending Japan back in the '70s from the Gyaos, but sacrifices himself to destroy them by self-destructing. In the modern day, the child of a man who witnessed that battle finds a turtle egg that hatches into a baby Gamera that he names Toto. When a lizard-like monster named Zedus appears, Toto tries to fight the beast, but ends up being gravely wounded and taken by the military for study. He ends up escaping and growing to a larger size to try and fight Zedus again, this time succeeding against the monster.

The idea of multiple Gyaos battling Gamera in the 1970s is a possible means of attempting to tie together the reboot of Gamera back to his Shōwa Era roots with the concepts seen in the first of the Heisei films, though it is also possible that Gamera battling multiple Gyaos in this film may simply have been because Gyaos is the only monster that has appeared in every era in film.

Abilities
Gamera's shell is extremely resilient and strong. Missiles and other weaponry merely bounce off of it, along with most of his opponents' attacks. There have been a few times where his shell has faltered, most notably when Guiron hammered at the same spot several times and began cutting through. Gyaos' sonic Beam, Zigra's Paralyzing Beam, and Barugon's rainbow ray cannot penetrate Gamera's shell, shown in the films when he withdraws into his shell to avoid the attacks. Gamera's stomach, however, is softer and not as resilient, and he has been cut and gouged in his stomach to the point of bleeding (his blood is blue in the Shōwa era series, but green in the Heisei and Millennium era films).

In the Showa series, Gamera fed on fire and was attracted by other heat sources, such as power plants and Barugon's "rainbow" ray attack,and in his first movie he was lured to a rocket by fire. He could breathe intensely hot streams of flames from his mouth when caught in a more serious situation. The Heisei version, on the other hand, could blast off mighty plasma fireballs from his mouth, usually very quickly, and with varying accuracy; they were highly explosive. At the end of G1 Gamera absorbs fire and fires a "Super-powered" plasma fireball and in G2 he breaths in the oxygen produced by a Legion plant and fires an "Oxygen-Powered" plasma fireball. The Heisei version could also absorb a great deal of "mana", or the living essence and energy of life on Earth, and release an extremely powerful stream of pure plasma and fire from an opened, organic "cannon" in his chest. In the final film of the Heisei series, Gamera blasted his own arm off and absorbed plasma fireballs shot by Iris and used his stump arm to grow back his arm in a plasma form. Theoretically, he could do the same to other body parts as well. Seeing this, he has the ability to manipulate fire.

Of course, Gamera also has the ability to fly. Generally Gamera will pull his arms, legs, head, and tail into his shell, fire flames out of his arm and leg cavities and spin around like a frisbee. This mode of flight had an added advantage in the later films, where he would use the sharp edges of his shell to cut enemies while spinning, similar to a circular saw. He has a second way of flying, where he only pulls his legs and/or tail in, fires flames from the leg cavities, and flies like a jet. In the Heisei era films, Gamera's arms would extend and stretch out into wings similar to the flippers of a sea turtle while using this form of flight, giving him added aerodynamics and control.

The Heisei films gave Gamera one more additional weapon: a pair of sharp spikes protruding from his elbows. In his first Heisei era appearance, these spikes were hidden during the majority of the film, extending only when needed in battle. In later appearances they were permanently extended.

When seriously or gravely injured, Gamera can enter a coma-like state in order to heal. This often fools his opponents into thinking that he is dead. This ability has been used in almost every Gamera film.

Gamera's only major weakness is cold. The monster Barugon was able to achieve success against Gamera using his freezing spray, and scientists nearly defeated Gamera during his first appearance using special freezing bombs. This weakness was only shown in Gamera's earliest films, and has not been explored since.

Body Mechanisms

 * Oil Bag: Gamera can drink oil and similar liquids which are stored in this organ.
 * Coal Sack: Gamera can eat coal, like the oil bag it contents are sent to the Melting Furnaces.
 * Melting Furnaces: Gamera can ingest coal, oil, fire, magma and uranium and they are sent here to be burned.
 * Thermal Energy Conversion Intestines: This is where burned material is converted into thermal energy.
 * Thermal Energy Heart: Works like the hearts of other organisms, but because it was made for thermal energy it has extraordinary power in comparison.
 * High Fever Muscles: Gamera's muscles can produce ten thousand times the force of any human and can withstand high temperatures (High Fever), more so than any conventional metal and are very durable.
 * Cells: Because of his superior ability to regenerate, Gamera can recover quickly even when wounded
 * Shell: Compared to his Showa counterpart it defensive abilities have fallen. It can withstand Gyaos' ultrasonic scalpel, but could not completely withstand the missile assault from the Japanese SDF, resulting in him being knocked from the sky. Legion was also able to damage it with it attacks.
 * Power: Gamera possesses superhuman strength, with physical strength alone Gamera was able to tear off Legion's nose horn.
 * Gamera's Brain: Gamera's semicircular canal was developed to withstand his rotation, even in disk flight his eyes and brain are unaffected by the rapid spinning. Gamera was also made to be very intelligent.
 * Telepathy Brain: Gamera was created to communicate with people using the jewels left behind by the ancient civilization. With these he could sense Asagi Kusanagi's spirit.
 * Thermal Energy Conversion reactor (Plasma Conversion Furnace): Gamera's blood can absorb heat, flames, high voltage current and nuclear fuel. These energies are converted into electrons, protons and atomic nuclei and stored as plasma energy to be used. Life energy from the Earth, Mana, can be converted as well. The power of the total release of Plasma is unknown.
 * Elbow Claw: Sharp nails on both elbows, they are strong enough to tear into the flesh of Gyaos. In 2 they could also damage Legion who lost her Egg Chambers to them. Originally they were tucked away inside the body, in the second movie they were always out by default and in the third movie they had two tips for extra damage.
 * Chromosomal Manipulation: Like the Gyaos of the Heisei era, Gamera could manipulate his own genetic structure to adapt to his environments. Although his mass never change, his appearance altered over the course of the three movies as his body evolved for combat.

Techniques

 * Hard Slap: Hand Strikes mainly used in dog fights.
 * Lashing Claw: An attack to tear into the flesh of the opponent using his sharp claws. Used to take Ayana out of Irys' body.
 * Break Fang: A bite attack using sharp fangs and a strong jaw. The grip is so secure Gyaos had to cut of its own leg to free it self.
 * Shell Cutter: A body attack using the rotating shell and the shell's sharp edges, used against Irys.
 * Plasma Fireball: Gamera's special move, in the throat oxygen and plasma energy from the body's chamber are combine and compressed together. The condensed energy is ejected from the mouth as a fireball with a Ultra Discharge phenomenon.
 * High Plasma: A plasma fireball shot at an output of at least 120% its normal power. It was used in the first movie after absorbing fire from the explosion in the oil refinery and in the second after inhaling the oxygen rich atmosphere. The second instance showcased Gamera's lung power as his inhale created hurricane force winds.
 * Ultimate Plasma: Gamera summons energy from the Earth, mana, and absorbs it into his body, pushing the limits of his Plasma Furnace to the point that Gamera's Plastron (the covering on his stomach) opens and the energy is expelled outward. It is said it can only be used once during Gamera's lifetime, whether this is because of the strain on his body or the effects on the Earth is unknown. Due to the large amount of mana absorbed the technique has adverse affects on the global ecosystem resulting in the outbreaks of Gyaos worldwide.
 * Vanishing Fist: A one-shot technique used against Irys, Gamera absorbed the plasma Irys fired and used the stump of the hand he blew of to create a fist of plasma by manipulating the energy.
 * Fireball Ejection: Gamera fires a fireball from his mouth, he can overload his furnace in as similar manner as the Fireball Ejection Suicide, to fire a highly condensed and powerful fireball.
 * Fireball Ejection Suicide: Gamera overloads his internal furnace until he explodes, used to destroy the Gyaos.

Filmography

 * Gamera
 * Gamera vs. Barugon
 * Gamera vs. Gyaos
 * Gamera vs. Viras
 * Gamera vs. Barugon
 * Gamera vs. Jiger
 * Gamera vs. Zigra
 * Gamera: Super Monster
 * Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
 * Gamera 2: Advent of Legion
 * Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys
 * Gamera: The Brave

Video Game Appearances

 * Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
 * Gamera: Gyaos Destruction Strategy
 * Gamera: 2000

Comics
Dark Horse Comics published a four issue miniseries based on Gamera called Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe in 1996.

Gamera has also made an appearance in Akira Toryama's Shonen Jump Manga, Dragon Ball, considerably smaller than he is portrayed in films or comic books. He is seen after being summoned to help the Muten Roshi traverse the ocean to Fry-Pan Mountain in volume 2.

Sightings

 * Gamera made frequent appearances on the third season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where five of the Showa era films were mocked. The only original Showa films not featured on the program were Gamera vs. Viras and Gamera vs. Jiger.
 * Gamera appears under the name Ghamoo-ra as a guardian beast in the Blackfathom Deeps instance dungeon in the World of Warcraft MMORPG. Additionally, a smaller tortoise named Gammerita is seen patrolling the eastern coast of The Hinterlands, and is the focus of two separate quests.
 * Gamera, along with Godzilla and some other kaiju, appear in side stories of Dr. Slump.
 * An episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited (S5E03 "Chaos at the Earth's Core") had a team of superheroes consisting of Supergirl, Green Lantern, Star Girl, and S.T.R.I.P.E. briefly battle a nuclear-powered giant turtle in Japan that was a homage to Gamera, right down to the flame-spinning flight.
 * In an episode of Dragon Ball, the Roshi summons a Baby Gamera to use as a means of transportation. It makes him dizzy.
 * Gamera is a bonus track on the album Millions Now Living Will Never Die by post-rock band Tortoise.
 * Gamera has made a few cameos in The Simpsons, in episodes such as "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo."
 * A spoof of Gamera named "Cragera" made an appearance in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure.
 * In the Detective Conan series, there is a parody of Gamera called "Gomera." It looks more like Godzilla rather than a gigantic turtle, however.
 * In the Pokémon anime, the water turtle Pokémon Squirtle performs the move Hydro Pump in much the same way that Gamera flies.
 * The Digimon JumboGamemon is an homage to Gamera, with Game being short for Gamera.
 * In the rap song "Paragraph President" by Blackalicious, Gamera is mentioned in a line of lyrics: "City burnin' like Gamera, scamina, blaze-up the space, plus I got it on camera."
 * In the Cartoon Network show Johnny Test, Susan and Mary Test mutated a sponge that would have a monster form and it became an actual monster due to the mutation and Johnny quickly found a book of 1,000 monster names and he dubbed the monster Gameroid.
 * In episode 24 of MAD on Cartoon Network, ArTHOR's fiance had a roar similar to Gamera's.
 * In the 2012 Tim Burton film "Frankenweenie" a turtle named Shelly (who is ironically owned by an Asian character) is accidentally exposed to a growth formula, and the turtle mutates into a giant Gamera-like monster that rampages through a carnival.

Roar
Some of Gamera's roars would later be reused for the Godzillasaurus.

Trivia

 * According to an interview with Simon Strange by Toho Kingdom, Gamera was considered for Godzilla: Unleashed.

Poll
Do you like Gamera? Yes! No. Kind of.