Gorosaurus

Gorosaurus (ゴロザウルス, Gorozaurusu) is a fictional theropod dinosaur created by Toho Studios. He stands 35 meters (105 feet) tall and weighs 8,000 tons in his first appearance. He was an opponent of King Kong in 1967's King Kong Escapes. He later enjoyed a prominent role in 1968's Destroy All Monsters, in which his size was increased to match Godzilla's 50 meter stature. Gorosaurus is a typical giant dinosaur, having no special powers like beams or energy weapons, relying on his strength to fight.

King Kong Escapes
Gorosaurus was a dinosaur living in Mondo Island. He attacked and attempted to devour Susan Watson. King soon appeared, saved her, and fought Gorosaurus. Gorosaurus was a formidable opponent due to his powerful kick. Each time the gigantic ape tried to stand, he would be grounded once more by Gorosaurus. However, Kong snapped the dinosaur's bottom jaw (in a reference to the 1933 film where Kong broke a T-rex's jaw) and successfully defeated Gorosaurus.

Destroy All Monsters
Gorosaurus then moved to a new island that was artificially created by humans. Monster Island was meant to be an environment for the giant monsters of Earth.

He lived with other monsters including Kumonga, Minya, Varan, Mothra, and Manda. But all was not well, as a race of aliens called Kilaaks invaded the planet. They captured and mind-controlled the monsters, releasing them in cities throughout the world. Gorosaurus was released in Paris, France, where he attacked and destroyed the city. However, the humans retaliated and broke the mind control. The aliens were not finished, and used King Ghidorah to destroy the Earth monsters, who were now being controlled by the humans.

Gorosaurus at first was knocked back twice by the Gravity Beams, once when he charged forward alone, and the second time when he and Godzilla charged together. He later played an important role in the battle, as he snuck behind King Ghidorah during the dust rumble, created by Rodan, and used his powerful Kangaroo Kick to knock him down. Then Gorosaurus and the other monsters successfully destroyed the space monster once and for all. After the fight, Gorosaurus and the other monsters were returned to Monster Island where they lived in peace to this day. Gorosaurus later appeared in All Monsters Attack in Ichiro's dream.

Go! Godman
Gorosaurus reappears in the series, Go! Godman.

Trivia

 * The Gorosaurus suit is in such poor shape that the inner support seems to be deteriorating. It makes Gorosaurus' torso look like its caving in.

Powers/Abilities
Aside from the usual tooth and claw, Gorosaurus has been noted for using a "kangaroo kick" against foes like King Kong and King Ghidorah. This is Gorosaurus' most popular trait. Also, in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters, Gorosaurus is shown with the ability to burrow underground. This is the only incident where this ability is shown.

Gorosaurus' battle against King Ghidorah showed his strategies. While fighting, Rodan made a large dust cloud, which Gorosaurus used to sneak behind King Ghidorah, his blind spot. Gorosaurus kicks King Ghidorah down to the ground, where the other kaiju pin him down and finally kill him. Gorosaurus is also known for being just as strong or even stronger than Godzilla when it comes to muscle strength.

King Kong Escapes
Much like Baragon; Gorosaurus' roar is also another modified Varan roar, but was more sped up and pitched, to make it sound as if it was a young adult.

Destroy All Monsters
In Gorosaurus' protagonist role, Gorosaurus still was the same, but this time Toho had edited the roar and deepend, plus slowed the roar, to make the new Gorosaurus sound more older. Gorosaurus was gifted to have one of Godzilla roars, during the fight with King Ghidorah.

Trivia

 * Gorosaurus04.jpgaurus was strangely shown to be burrowing in Paris in Destroy All Monsters. This role was originally intended for Baragon, however the Baragon suit was on loan to Tsuburaya Productions for use in an Ultrama television series. Toho instead replaced him with Gorosaurus, having Gorosaurus "borrow" Baragon's burrowing ability. Gorosaurus was even refered to as Baragon.
 * Gorosaurus' name and appearance is similar to that of a real dinosaur, Gorgosaurus.
 * Gorosaurus is one of the three monsters that have "saurus" in their names. The other two are Titanosaurus and Godzillasaurus.
 * Gorosaurus appears in the fan-made Toho Kingdom online shorts. He is portrayed as being very cheerful, works at a sushi bar, and has a poster in his house called "I Visited France", a reference to how he rampaged in Paris, France in Destroy All Monsters. In the short Destroy All Parodies an announcer claims Baragon is destroying Paris, to which Gorosaurus responds, "WHAT?" when in fact he was doing it. Gorosaurus also was seen happily swatting at Megaguirus when he was about to go to bed.
 * Out of all Toho Monsters, Gorosaurus' roar was originally used by Rodan in one scene of Rodan (1956 film).
 * Gorosaurus' name is derived from the Japanese word Goro (fifth or approximate) and Greek word Sauros (lizard or reptile), so the name Gorosaurus means "approximate lizard".

Filmography

 * King Kong Escapes (1967)
 * Destroy All Monsters (1968)
 * Godzilla's Revenge (stock footage cameo) (1969)
 * Godzilla vs. Gigan (stock footage cameo) (1972)