Giant Monster Attack is a classic scenario where huge monsters attack a city/town/village/community where protagonists happened to live in.
A variant is a robot with the particular same effect.
Overview
What is Giant Monster Attack?
Giant Monster Attacks are a common theme in many story, usually when it comes to the main antagonist (or a minor one) whom capable to transform into giant monster (some case overlapped with the One-Winged Angel case if the villain's monstrous form is very huge) or IS a giant monster in nature attacking a city, a place, or a ship. Motivations of the attacks ranges from sadistic amusement, hunting down the hero, claiming a sacrifice, and commencing one-man army siege on a nation/populate.
While at first this theme usually found in certain folklore and folktale, the term ultimately became popular in other media such as film, cartoons, comic books, and modern literature. Some earliest well-known films which featured attacking giant monsters are Godzilla (film about titular monster's rampage in retaliation of destruction of his home by nuclear test), King Kong, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which features giant squids who attacks Nautilus submarine.
Variations of Giant Monster Attack
There are various scenario of Giant Monster Attacks, which are:
- Dragon Attack: Common in medieval fantasies, the dragon lays a siege on a kingdom or village, setting buildings on fire, kidnapping princesses, and ravaging the land until the brave knight shows up to defeat it.
- Sea Monster Attack: A kraken or sea serpent attacks a ship, usually wrapping itself around it, dragging it down to the depths, and consuming the crew.
- City/Kaiju Attack: A bipedal monster attacks a city, devouring civilians, crushing vehicles and tearing down buildings. This theme in popularized upon debuts of titular kaijus such as Godzilla and King Kong
- Battle Against Villain's Super-Powered Form: The main antagonist takes the form of a giant monster in the final climax when going through a breakdown and/or challenging the hero.
Examples
Literature
- The Giant Squid attacks the Nautilus, capturing one of the seamen and fighting the main characters.
Live-Action
- The Kraken (Clash of the Titans) attacks Ethiopia, terrorizing the country and preparing to devour Andromeda until Perseus arrives to use the head of Medusa on the beast.
- After being awoken by a nuclear bomb test from his centuries-old sleep, Godzilla wreaks havoc upon Tokyo, Japan as act of revenge for his terrible mutation, the destruction of his habitat, and the death of his entire family, until Dr. Daisuke Serizawa uses his Oxygen Destroyer to annihilate him, disintegrating the unstoppable force of nature to bones.
- In the 1955 sequel Godzilla Raids Again, a second Godzilla appears and starts tearing apart Osaka this time and has battles with Anguirus, a giant mutated Ankylosaurus that just like the Godzilla, managed to survive the extinction of the dinosaurs by laying dormant until he was mutated in the 1950s by nuclear testing.
- In Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), the second Godzilla attacks Nagoya, destroying the Nagoya Castle, tearing it to pieces.
- In 1968's Destroy All Monsters, in the year 1999, the second Godzilla, under mind control of the Xiliens race of aliens, wreaks havoc in New York City, but later turns on the Xiliens.
- In 1984's The Return of Godzilla (also known in the United States as Godzilla 1985) and 1989's Godzilla vs. Biollante, the first films in the Heisei continuity, Godzilla is rather initially portrayed as a tragic and sympathetic being who is simply lost in human civilization and trying to survive, causing destruction as a consequence instead of acting vengeful towards humanity. As the series progressed, he began actively causing destruction and was portrayed as the main villain in 1992's Godzilla vs. Mothra and 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, but in the Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla began transitioning into an anti-hero character.
- In the final film in the Heisei continuity, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla, in burnt form, goes on a rampage through Hong Kong in the opening scene
- In 2001's Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, the original Godzilla, possessed by the spirits of vengeful World War II victims, attacks Hakone, Japan where he fights Baragon and annihilates him with his atomic ray breath. Later on in the film, the titular atomic dinosaur fights Mothra and King Ghidorah in Yokohama and exterminates the two Guardian Monsters with his atomic breath.
- SpaceGodzilla attacks Fukuoka and creates a crystal fortress around it in order to conquer Earth until Godzilla defeats him with his spiral heat ray breath, turning him into tiny crystal-like particles.
- King Ghidorah goes on a rampage through Fukuoka by shooting his Gravity Beams and flying past Fukuoka Tower's top floor, shattering the windows.
- Rhedosaurus, after being awoken by an atomic bomb test in the Arctic, wreaks havoc in New York City until he is killed at Coney Island when a radioactive isotope was shot into his wound on his neck, burning him alive.
- In Godzilla: Final Wars, Zilla is under mind control of the Xiliens and attacks Sydney, Australia and is later unleashed by Controller X to battle Godzilla, who sends him flying into the Opera House and extinguishes him with his atomic breath.
- The MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms from 2014 MonsterVerse Godzilla film) wreak havoc upon San Francisco in order to wipe out the citizens and to reproduce, as well as ensure the survival of their species until Godzilla eradicates both of them.
- The Kraken, summoned by Davy Jones, tears down a ship with Will Turner on it and then brings down the Black Pearl.
- Rowan North transforms into a ghostly giant monster to seize power over New York City.
Cartoons
- Ursula the Sea Witch transforms into a crown giant evil queen via the magical power of the Trident in a bid to control the Seven Seas.
- Mor'du attacks the Highland clans and nearly devours Merida until Queen Elinor fights him to the death.
Anime/Manga
- In Attack on Titan, Titans have an unsatisfiable appetite for human blood and will devour any human they encounter.
- In Naruto, Kurama the Nine-Tails attacked and nearly destroyed the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
- During the Thriller Bark Arc of One Piece, Gekko Moriah turns into a giant monster after absorbing a large amount of shadows of the people in the island in order to fight the Straw Hat Pirates.
- In One Piece, Big Mom often goes on destructive rampages inside her own territory looking for the sweet she is craving to eat, and only stops after finding it.
Gallery
NOTE: The limit is for 20 pictures only