IDW Publishing Forums

[atomicgator]

we all remember back in the 90s when Godzilla was at the absolute peak of his popularity. Godzilla stuff was all over the place in stores. Toys, movies, backpacks, clothes, books etc. Both the Japanese and American Godzilla

then after the 98 movie everything started going down and was decent for a little bit until after the 50th anniversary and then everything seem to disappear almost

but lately with the announcement of the new movie, IDWs fantastic godzilla series and the SH MonsterArts toy line being a big success as well it feels like Godzilla is starting to come back

but what do you guys think? Where does Godzillas popularity stand now? What can get it back to how it was in the 90s?

Some fans claim Godzilla isnt a popular character but i disagree. Sure giant monsters may not have a huge following but Godzilla has always been more than that. Heck when people think about giant monsters they usually think of Godzilla or toho monsters.

Right now the big popular things seem to be Marvel, Transformers, Star Wars and DC but i feel like with the right stuff Godzilla could be up there close to them. I have a close friend who is big into Transformers and always sees TF stuff in stores. I want to do the same with Godzilla like back in the 90s

Godzilla seems to have a ton of fans and a fairly large fan base. How it is compared to other fan bases im not sure?

I believe a good American Godzilla movie could gross a lot of money and a good trilogy could really gross a huge amount of money. Back in the 90s when SONY planned to do a Godzilla trilogy just imagine that if they did it right like they should have how big of a hit those movies would be and where the franchise would be at today. They wouldve grossed a ton i can guarentee that. Remember the 98 movie grossed about 400 million worldwide and that was including bad word of the mouth. Think about what a good film could do....

I belive Godzilla is still a popular character but nothing new for years hurt the franchise just like the same thing would for any other franchise. But now with IDW building their big Godzilla franchise and Legendary Pictures working on a new American Godzilla movie things may be getting back to how it used to be....

but what do you guys think? Where is Godzilla at now and for the future? Can it get back to the 90s? I would love for Godzilla to be up there with Transformers, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek etc.

[Rhuen]

The 80's were a bigger peek, and the 70's even more so.

Most of the 90's movies weren't even known in America till after 2000, even if the toys did find their way here.

you can thanks comic books for the 90's popularity.

Godzilla's current popularity is less than the 90's. So it has a ways to go, but Godzilla is a household name. Chances are the new movie *if done right* will be a hit (and hated by some; everything is anyway).

we just have to wait and see.

[Kingoji]

It's difficult to gauge Godzilla's popularity. He is, after all, one of the few pop icons who has managed to become completely ingrained into society's cultural subconscious. There are millions of people in the world who may never have seen (or read) a Godzilla tale, but they still know exactly what it means when they hear the word 'Godzilla'.
So there's popular in the sense of a lot of people knowing him, and there's popular as in a lot of people enjoying him. For the former, it's without question; for the latter it's a bit trickier.
Godzilla obviously has a vast and suportive fanbase worldwide. If he did not, then he wouldn't hold the record for number of movies made. But as a case example, I live in the UK. I became a fan from an earlier age than I can remember most likely through the H-B cartoon show, and then my dad renting The Return Of Godzilla for me. After that, there were a number of 60's and 70's movies shown around Christmas time after midnight for about five or six years that I was allowed to stay up and watch. Every year it was the same few films.
and that was it for a very long time. I never saw any toys, or comics, or soundtracks, or anything you can care to think of. And none of my friends or family ever liked those films either (although my brother has come around to them in recent years and even owns many of the films for himself now). In fact, the first time I ever even met another Godzilla fan was about three years ago at a TransFormers convention.
I now own every Godzilla film and a great deal of related movies. I have in one form or another every western Godzilla comic or book ever printed. I have an assortment of soundtracks, biographies, compendiums, fan magazines and toys. But damn near every single one of them had to be imported, and it has been a labour of love which has spanned thirty years.
So from my own viewpoint, I can probably say that in the UK Godzilla has never been as popular as in the few months building up to the release of Godzilla '98. And looking back, all that was was a flash in the pan nostalgia kick.
_________________


Print me easy!

[BURNINGODZILLA79]

hi

on a scale of 1-10 id say it's a 5 godzilla will never trully die out just go into hibernation

[fbwash]

I really believe that they should do a Godzilla animated show to help sell the IP to the newer audience that might not even know who or what he is. It worked for the Transformer franchise and could possible help Godzilla.
The animation and storytelling would have to be treated serious enough but not to the point that it scares kids.
I'm a huge fan of the new ThunderCats for the storytelling and yes the artwork. I love the original of course but I understand why they went the route they did with it. This will help insure a possibility of a live action film down the line.
The same should be considered for Godzilla
_________________
Frankie B Washington
http://www.frankiebwashington.com

Robot God Akamatsu Facebook Page :
http://www.facebook.com/RGAkamatsu

[cultistofvertigo]

I know what you mean by "more popular in the 90's," but I don't think it has anything to do directly with literally how many people keep up with the big gray gecko.

In the 90's there was still a movie every year but us folks on the west just weren't seeing most of what was happening. The fan press from the 1990's blossomed out of 1) adults who grew up with Godzilla as kids seeing the monster in new contexts and 2) the fact that at the time Godzilla was not a very strong presence in the west, and his movies didn't get here anywhere near as fast as they did in the 1960's and 1970's.

It was more of, the 90's were when the newer stuff was harder to get any real information on, but with the help of G-Fan, the internet and a generation of older fans who were trying to bring awareness to the western fans, it really turned into this actual community... like the sort of thing Trekkies have and stuff. Except about Godzilla... if you know what I mean.

In the aughts the internet was no longer this big scary thing and information was more readily available to people who didn't have to be superfans to know where to look. That was the era when Rodan's Roost and it's inferior competitors attracted the younger fans (90's kids like me, generally) who took to picking apart movies still in development and such. And it was still a large community, but things were different, because now the gradual release and licensing of goods in the west had sort of saturated, and in the aughts we had finally gotten used to being surrounded by Godzilla merchandise and getting to see the new film not long after it came out, on DVD, with subtitles.

The thing that bugs me is, at around GFW, all the stuff the 90's fans were asking for in the 90's (bring back Anguirus/Gigan/etc., DAM-style movie, more X-ians plz, all the rest) actually happened, and apparently if you give the fans exactly what they want, they will hate you forever. Also, GFW did something else that broke things up. In 1998, just the fact that GINO existed brought the fandom together, because it was, you know, hyperbolic word for bad. After GFW, there suddenly seemed to be "fans" who... liked... Zilla. Disgusting, I know.

Like what Kinggoji was saying, Godzilla's actual popularity is constant. He's Bugs Bunny, Star Wars, Hamlet, he's too much a part of pop culture to worry about not being well known by a large group of people. What's changing is our perception of him. That is to say, when the fan community was the strongest and most like something Trekkies might be, was precisely when you suggested Godzilla was at the height of his popularity.

To be honest, I'm really burned out on fandoms at the moment, and I've avoided the roost and Toho Kingdom like the plague for years now. So, I honestly have no idea what other groups of people are saying about the big gray gecko these days. I'm of course offended that they're making yet another GINO (although I heard Toho was going to insist on a practical Godzilla, I could never find a source, and looking for news about that movie is depressing), and a part of me up and decided Guilala was the new king of the monsters a couple of years ago.

But, as far as I know, Godzilla is still as popular (and lucrative) as ever, it's just that G-Fans are too varied a group now, and it doesn't seem as cohesive as before. But there's plenty of them. Apparently a bunch are comic book fans as well.
_________________
I've always said that./

[Guitar Rodan]

[atomicgator]

Great answers guys! I enjoy discussing this

Let me ask this how big do you feel the Godzilla fandom is compared to other fandoms?
Why is the fan community not as strong as it used to be?
Why do some fans act like Godzilla is unknown or nobody really cares about it?
What would it take to get Godzilla to be a huge deal again like seeing merch in stores again like Transformers and Marvel and Star Wars for example? I feel like Godzilla could be just as popular as those franchises

[Void_Master]

Personally, I can understand where cultistofvertigo is coming from on the fandom. For a long time I wanted to meet other Godzilla fans as my own friends grew out of Godzilla. However, upon joining a site or two for fans, I found the overall mood could be pretty negative about the overall series in general, which totally killed my desire to get involved. Don't get me wrong, it's not just Godzilla, it happens in all circles (online Star Wars fans are pretty terrible about bashing everything concerning the universe they are allegedly fans of), but I don't want to hate on the series I love so much.

Back on topic though, I hope Godzilla grows more popular. While it's true that everyone still knows Godzilla's name, it needs to be more than that. After all, I'm sure just about everyone had heard of Flash Gordon at one time too. I agree with fbwash that a new animated series would be great to gain more fans (plus it would be rather rewarding for we fans who are already out here waiting for more). More people need to be pulled into the fold. This comic is a great start, but there needs to be more done here in the west.

Now I'm not saying I think Godzilla will ever go away, but he could stand to have more fans is all. And considering how short the collective attention span of our culture is now, I feel it goes almost without saying that the big guy could use some more exposure.
_________________
You are what you dare.
Loyalty to the end.

Okay to print.

[Rhuen]

Something current and mainstream.

Comic books arn't as mainstream as they used to be.

For instance if there was an animated show, with a fourth wall breaking pink pony you'd be amazed how fast and "in your face" the sudden fan growth would become

Basically, fandoms are fickle, take for instance "Aliens"

the Xenomorphs and Predators, even with two movies out, they were kind of hit and miss thanks to fans who had been indoctrined furing the 90's to comic books (which were bigger then), video games, and even novels.

Basically how does something become popular: exposure and new stuff to feed the fandom.

Godzilla may be well known, but the comics arn't giving "much" to feed the online fandom. I...can't say for certain what would help; after all we are talking about a field of study people actually take lessons and classes for and people analyse (trends) for/ and still somethings can just be hits out of no where unexpectadly, or can fall *for reasons that seem vague and hard to grasp*.

[Rhuen]

Actually as I mentioned it I will give the full example.

Some may be aware that "My Little Pony FiM" has gained a huge following of adult fans male and female.
looking into it the cause was unintentional, Lauren Faust and their great creative team saught out to create a little girl's cartoon with strong and natural female characters and give the show a feel where little kids could watch with their parents and the parents be entertained.

Rather than go the "Shrek" route of sneaking in sexual innuendo and adult humor that they "think" the kids don't get they went a classic cartoons route (like Merry Melodies and Tex Avery) as well as bits resembling skits from Benny Hill and other nostalgic moments.

What this brings to me is, perhaps if Godzilla brought in classic elements.

things fans have been asking for, Red Bamboo, The Simians, other aliens, and human characters from the Toho franchise. As well as other classic Kaiju stuff like the Super-X ships, and even elements from other Kaiju films, heck just using the Maser cannons could draw more people in.
I do feel that some of these attempts to make the comic more "modern" might actually be turning away fans.

(take for instance the reactions to all the political satire and "down your throat" feel of some of it in KoM.)

Also stop killing kids! We get it, you are establishing that the monsters are not "Friends of children" like the old Gamera and how they came across at times in the 70's. But it got so bad in the earlier KoM comics that it quickly turned into a gag. Do you really want your Godzilla comics to have (what kid will die this issue) to be expected like killing Kenny in South Park?

[atomicgator]

Seems like everyone agrees that even though the comic series is fantastic Godzilla could still use a good cartoon series and toy series like Transformers, Star Wars and Marvel have


Now let me ask you guys this...where would be today if Sony DIDNT screw Godzilla up and actually made a successful trilogy like they wanted to? Starting with Jan De Bonts plan for the American Godzilla movie and using the Stan Winston design. How well would the films done and what would the Franchise and fandom be like today? Remember that before the film Godzilla hype seemed to be through the roof.

And lets say LPs Godzilla is good and a major hit? What will be the impact for the franchise then?

[Rhuen]

[atomicgator]

The hype dwindled after the 98 film which hurt G2000

Batman and robin is a good example too but I wouldnt say a big franchise like Godzilla or Batman could be "dead" just dormant you know? Atleast until the next big thing is done

But i still truely believe that had Sony not screwed the American Godzilla up I have always believed that it wouldve been a very high grossing franchise that wouldve rivaled Jurassic Park and other big ones from that era. The toys and merch wouldve been amazing

[BURNINGODZILLA79]

hi


there's no way to know for sure the debont godzilla could still have failed.