Godzilla misconceptions

Due to Godzilla being one of the biggest franchises and pop-culture icons in Japan and generally the world, it is not uncommon for non-Godzilla fans or even some Godzilla enthusiasts to believe in or create misconceptions or stereotypes about the franchise and spread them around directly or indirectly via virtually any means, from art to videos and from websites and misinformation to stereotypes. Here is a list of misconceptions and stereotypes.

Godzilla

 * GxM.jpg suit is the only green Godzilla in the films]]
 * Godzilla being green is a stereotype that started as early as the American poster for the 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters! film. Godzilla has never been and was never green in Japan whatsoever until the MireGoji and GiraGoji designs on 1999's Godzilla 2000: Millennium and 2000's Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. Godzilla was green in The Godzilla Power Hour, Marvel's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Dark Horse's Godzilla, King of the Monsters comics. However, all of these were American media.


 * However, Godzilla has been represented green in media in Japan and even made by Toho, mostly in video games. Some examples include Gojira-Kun, Godzilla vs. 3 Major Monsters, and Godzilland.


 * Tn_godzillasaurus.jpg
 * This misconception is very heavily believed in, not just on the real world but in-universe. Godzilla quite simply is a mutated Godzillasaurus created from from atomic bombs, and his design is based on a tyrannosaurus rex crossed with a stegosaurus. Calling Godzilla a dinosaur or an aquatic dinosaur is not particularly wrong.


 * Calling Godzilla a lizard could mean that the person who calls him that may be confusing Godzilla for Zilla, the titular monster from the 1998 American "GODZILLA" film directed by Roland Emmerich, who in fact is a lizard. Specifically, an iguana.


 * Atomic_Breath.jpg
 * Anyone who is not familiar with Godzilla would immediately believe that Godzilla has a generic fire breath that may sometimes be blue. However, Godzilla's "fire breath" is a much more powerful Atomic Breath which he gained because of the atomic bomb that mutated him. Godzilla's atomic breath, sometimes called a heat ray, is much more powerful than fire and is typically blue, and is usually regarded as stronger when red or orange. Again, some versions such as the Marvel Godzilla and the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla have a normal fire breath, but these are not part of the main canon of the franchise.


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 * Godzilla has been shown to be from semi-sapient to sapient like a human in a majority of the films. In the Showa era specifically, Godzilla is completely sapient and can think, perform human-like activities, give directions, and even talk in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, which Mothra's Shobijin translate, and Godzilla vs. Gigan. In the Heisei era, Godzilla is able to detect threats and find his son, Godzilla Junior. Godzilla also seems to talk to Junior, warning him and telling him to follow. Godzilla also expresses feelings when Junior was killed by Destoroyah in the climax of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. In the Millennium era, Godzilla's sapience level changes between films. In Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla is a force of nature that protects his home, the Earth, from threats. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla is able to outsmart, evade and overpower all of the guardian monsters, meaning he was Semi-Sapient at least. In Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., Godzilla seemed to lose much of his sapience and become just a force of nature. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla is again at least semi-sapient, as he can understand Minilla standing in front of the humans as meaning that they are not threats, and Godzilla also could quickly discover weaknesses or flaws against his opponents that he could use to his advantage. Godzilla also knew to destroy Gorath before it impacted the Earth, and also knew to completely destroy Keizer Ghidorah. In the end, Godzilla is usually semi-sapient in the films.


 * Godzilla_Against_MechaGodzilla_-_Godzilla's_Bones.png
 * Main Article: Godzilla
 * Godzilla has weaknesses. The two obvious ones are the Oxygen Destroyer and Meltdown. The Oxygen Destroyer reduced Godzilla to nothing (or to bones in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.). Meltdown completely killed Godzilla and could have been catastrophic to the whole planet. However, there have been more weaknesses Godzilla has had. The Absolute Zero weapon used by Kiryu in Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla managed to leave a cavity in Godzilla's chest and force him to retreat. Dr. Shiragami's Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria managed to lower the radioactivity within Godzilla's body to the point of causing him to hibernate in the sea for three years. In King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla was weak to strong voltages of electricity, but this weakness eventually went away. Godzilla also can be completely devastated by his second brain's destruction, which was used by Super MechaGodzilla to kill Godzilla in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2.

Zilla

 * Godzilla-1998.jpgTrademarkia_logo-75503990_-_Cancelled_and_abandoned_GODZILLA_1998_logo.jpg
 * Main Article: The Zilla Name Change
 * It is very common for non-Godzilla fans to believe that the titular character from the 1998 American "GODZILLA" film directed by Roland Emmerich and the 1998 animated series is called "Godzilla". However, this is not true whatsoever as the character has been legally renamed to "Zilla" in late 2005 because of the original 1998 character's trademark being cancelled intentionally and its copyright icons abandoned, as well as TriStar's rights to the franchise being lost in 2003 and the name change being confirmed by Shogo Tomiyama, the man in charge of the Godzilla franchise, in an interview in 2004, before the release of Toho's Godzilla: Final Wars film.


 * New Godzilla fans may be confused about the Zilla character's official name, and may be lead to believe that at least the 1998 character's name is "Gino", an anagram for "Godzilla In Name Only", by other Godzilla fans who also are not aware of the name change. This is easily not true, as "Gino" is not an official name and has never been used in any official media.


 * [[File:Zilla_1998_-_Zilla_Breathes_Fire_-_I_Will_See_if_You_Even_Dare_To_Steal_This,_Swe.png|250px|thumb|right|Zilla blows on two cars with his flammable power breath]]
 * There is a scene in the 1998 American "GODZILLA" film which shows Zilla blowing at a few cars and creating an explosion of fire. Many people have misinterpreted this as Zilla breathing fire or even an atomic heat ray. This is actually just Zilla blowing his power breath, a flammable breath that ignites flammable objects such as gasoline when enough force is exerted. The 1998 Zilla was never intended to have any type of atomic breath, but the power breath was put in the film to please the fans that wanted an atomic heat ray.


 * However, Zilla's son, Zilla Junior, from Godzilla: The Series, does have a green atomic heat ray. The original Zilla from 1998 also appeared in the animated series as Cyber-Zilla, and had a blue atomic heat ray, obviously an homage to Godzilla. Originally, though, Zilla's son was not going to possess an atomic heat ray in the 1998 film's sequel, "GODZILLA 2".


 * Main Article: Godzilla (1998 film)
 * Zilla and his movie are just as unrealistic as Godzilla. Giant velociraptors created from mutated marine iguanas by nuclear fallout on French Polynesia are not known to science. Zilla existing is just as probable as someone finding a living Godzillasaurus on their own yard, as no amount of exposure to radiation can make a creature grow several stories tall and give them power breath. People might confuse animalism for realism in this case, as the Zilla character is certainly much more animalistic than Godzilla, although that does not make the character more realistic in any way. In the end, both are fictional characters that do not, have equal chances of, and will never exist in reality.
 * Zilla and his movie are just as unrealistic as Godzilla. Giant velociraptors created from mutated marine iguanas by nuclear fallout on French Polynesia are not known to science. Zilla existing is just as probable as someone finding a living Godzillasaurus on their own yard, as no amount of exposure to radiation can make a creature grow several stories tall and give them power breath. People might confuse animalism for realism in this case, as the Zilla character is certainly much more animalistic than Godzilla, although that does not make the character more realistic in any way. In the end, both are fictional characters that do not, have equal chances of, and will never exist in reality.