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After spending most of my free day painting the giant 16 inch polar lights godzilla model I thought a lot about the movies. So to start a new topic I was curious what are your top 5 favorite monsters featured in any of the godzilla films? Here are mine:

1. King Ghidorah
2. Godzilla
3. King Seesar (strange choice but I happen to like this monster, I believe he is based on an actual mythogical god in Japanese culture.)
4. Anguirus
5. Rodan

And my most hated list:

1. Minya
2. Godzilla's other young
3. Megalon
4. Gigan
5. Hedorah

Not counting Godzilla, my favorites are:

1 - Rodan - Definately has the most personality, as far as I'm concerned.
2 - Mothra - There's something beautiful about that flying moth.  I know thats a bit weird, but still...
3 - King Ghidorah - The one from the first series.  The second series Gidorah was a bit of a wuss.  Don't know about the current one...
4 - Angalus - You know, the guy with the spikey back.  The one that gets his butt kicked every time he pops up.
5 - King Kong - Nuff said?

Honorable mentions go to Spiga (the giant Spider) and the Gimatis (the Giant Praying Mantis) from "Son of Godzilla", as well as Mecha-Godzilla and Destroyah.

Least favorites include:
1 - Jet Jaguar - A bad Ultra-man clone.
2 - Megalon - A dull monster from a dull movie.
3 - The Giant Vulture from "Godzilla v. the Sea Monster" - A one hit wonder
4 - The Electic Bully-Monster from "Godzilla's Revenge" - I've only seen this one once, and once is FAR MORE THAN ANYONE NEEDS TO SEE IT!  Very bad.
5 - Battra from the second "Godzilla v. Mothra." - A dull Mothra clone who flip flops in personality.  Ugh.

Does the spastic pharmaceutical magnate from "King Kong vs. Godzilla" count? :)

couldn`t agree with you more about adorable little minya, and minya is really a great big masculine monster`s name too.

Yeah, there's just something about Monster Zero, being King Ghidorah.

Brother Ragnarok has told me repeatedly that Biolante is cooler though... and I'd make a choice, if I had seen Gojira Vs. Biolante by now.

Hmm.  I'll have to make him break out the collection so that I can see Biolante now. Damn.

Anyone else getting excited about B-Fest yet?  Sorry to bring it up again, but it's LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY.  f**k yeah.


~Brother Ferox

I would also have to go with Monster Zero( King Ghidarah) and Rodan.

I love them all, even Gabara (the bully monster from Godzilla's Revenge)--they all have some unique property. (Gabara has a cat's face, and is the only animal-kaiju with no tail. That's no big whoop, but it's unique.) But if I had to choose:

Least Favorite:
(1) Ebirah: Did I say they ALL have some unique property? Ebirah is a giant lobster. That's about it for him. He blows his best shot right at the start of Godzilla vs The Sea Monster skewering some poor saps. After that he gets his ass kicked both times he meets Godzilla, and only puts up a marginal fight. Bor-ring.
(2) Orga: Okay, by Godzilla 2000 we're starting to really see the limitations of suit-based monster designs. Looks great on paper, but once the rubber had to be fitted around a human body, the proportions had to be tweaked and this time it was just awful. Worse, he only shows up in the last ten minutes of the movie, the actor has a hell of a time manipulating those heavy-ass forearm-claws, and he puts Godzilla's unfettered head into his mouth, which, I suppose, is how monsters commit suicide. (Unlike Biollante, Orga doesn't regenerate spontaneously.)
(3) Titanosaurus: He heralded the end of the original Godzilla series. Whiny and wimpy, he looked weak and got his ass kicked hard by both Godzilla and humanity; we had him running around screaming and clawing at his own head. Impossible to take seriously; a five-year old armed with a lollypop could have wiped him out.
(4) Megalon: Giant hopping roach that barfed up grenades, ordered around by a little bald human and completely lost without his robot guide. His buddy Gigan just barely gets away with his weird look--he appears to be wearing Yakuza-stereotype sunglasses--but Megalon is a bad joke. There was either something very wrong inside the suit, or the actor had severe arthritis. (Battra is basically a souped-up version of Megalon--they have too many similar features for it to be an accident--crossed with Mothra for the sake of the script.)  
(5) Jet Jaguar: A self-programming, self-resizing robot in a colorful sweater, he appears to be the Joker's bionic double. Immune to the most basic laws of physics and common sense and good taste. He had a thousand opportunities to kill that little bastard kid, and passed on them all. Fool.

Favorite (Ascending):
(5) Mothra: Once Toho began playing with alternate designs, they went nuts. Aqua Mothra? Armored Mothra? Rainbow Mothra? Light-Speed Mothra? Prehistoric Mothra? Fairy Mothra? Yikes! Still, the best version is the Heisei Godzilla and Mothra version; the scene in which it emerges from its cocoon is breathtakingly beautiful.
(4) Biollante: Winner, Weirdest Concept. Godzilla's DNA mixed with that of a rose--and possessed by the spirit of a dead woman? I don't know how that idea got green-lighted, or what writer-director Omori was smoking when he thought it up, but the monster and the movie were blasts that saved the Godzilla franchise. The monster itself is horrifyingly ugly and toothy and violent. Not too strong but impossible to kill, it was the immovable object to Godzilla's irresistable force.
(3) King Ghidorah: Almost as many variations as Mothra--Death Ghidorah, Prehistoric and Mecha-King Ghidorah, space monster, holy defender of Japan, and time-travelling mutant pet. After him, the original series immediately started running on fumes with only the occasional bright idea.
(2) MOGERA: Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I don't care; MOGERA is an obsession with me. MOGERA suffered from the same problem Orga did--fitting the design around a certain actor in the middle of a rushed filming schedule skewed the design, which is a terrible thing for what is supposed to be a precisely-proportioned mecha. Still, I love the fact that they went to great lengths to revive the original Moguera from The Mysterians (possibly the weirdest design in Toho history) without making it look too much like the prior movie's MechaGodzilla--and turning the name into an acronym was a masterstroke. And say what you will, if it had faced Godzilla or Space Godzilla one-on-one on the ground, it would've won handily. I spent hours playing with the Star Falcon/Land Mogera conversion sequence--without mucking up the design noticably--until it was almost believable, and one of these days I'm going to use my Poser and Ray Dream Studio to realize it. There's just something about a super robot mecha that looks like a grotesquely obese penguin...
(1) Godzilla: Duh. Were you expecting Gezora?

Gotta do it.  #1. Godzilla- Duh.  #2. Angalius. Maby i just like the fact that he keeps trying, even when he gets his spikey butt handed to him.  #3. King G. The early version....ever wonder if the heads have the same conversations as the 3 headed Knight in Monty P. and T.H.G ?  #4. Fire Rodan. Finaly getting the flame weopn they had not the budget for before. And, just cool styling.  And finaly, #5. Mecha-kong! I'd love to see him agine....as a combat mecha for the U.S.M.C.!  Kong,King. Lt. A. Borntreger commanding!

Biollante was the idea of a dentist.  If I remember right, Toho had a contest to design a new monster, Biollante was one of those ideas submitted.  I don't know if it was for the movie or if the guys at Toho liked the idea so much that they decided to use it in a movie.  I believe I read this in the Official Godzilla's Conpendium.  (I read it a few years ago, I'll have to check to confirm it when I get home from work.)

Oh, yeah! I remember reading that Biollante was a contest entry--the two finalists were Biollante and a giant weapon-building supercomputer straight out of The Terminator which eventually became the basis for Gunhed, I wonder, though, if the dentist created the backstory as well?

Okay, first off, I don't think Godzilla counts because that's a bit obvious.  My favorite monsters are Gigan, the 70's Mechagodzilla (the new one sucks ass), Biollante, Battra (yeah, shut up, the flying was was a bit weak in the knees, but the larva kicked ass), and Space Godzilla.  Wow, three out of five from the heisei series.

Now here's a topic that's right up my alley, Statcat! This'll actually be the forth time that I've attempted to post a reply. For some reason my friggin' internet service doesn't register that I'm actually doing something when I'm typing, and has repeatedly logged me off for "inactivity", thus ruining every effort I've made so far to post this thing! Grrr! Anyway, enough about that. On to the subject at hand....

Besides Godzilla himself, my top five monster picks would be:

1. Biolante'. Strangely enough, the final version of Biolante' earns the top spot for easily being the most bizzare, as well as the coolest looking, opponent ever to be pitted against Godzilla.

2. King Ghidorah. Coming in at a very close second is the space monster turned sacred defender. What can I say, he's a legend! His only major flaw is that, when he isn't being controlled by an outside intelligence, he appears to be completely brainless.

3. Orga. This one was a tough call between Orga and Destroyah, but in the end I've gotta go with Orga. And while I can readily see Squishy's points about this one, I have to disagree, overall, about Orga not coming off well due to the design of the suit. Orga had a genuine feel of menace about him that I don't think can be said of any previous monster to challenge Godzilla. And despite the fact that there were moments when the battle was as slow as a match between the Undertaker and Big Show, I liked the way Orga's attacks had a definite sense of calculation to them. Additionally, the markedly different way in which the entire fight sequence was filmed earns it the distinction of being the best Godzilla battle I've ever seen. As far as the moment when Godzilla seems to deliberately rush headlong into Orga's....mouth....I think....goes. Who knows? I'd checked out enough online reviews of this movie when it first opened in Japan to learn that, from a cultural standpoint, certain moments in the film had more of a significance to it's actual target audience than they would to us. For all we know something might've gotten lost in the American translation, and that strange noise emitted as Orga expanded his...whatever... could've acted as a lure to draw Godzilla in.

4. Destroyer [or "Destroyah", as the case may be]. The concept of the Oxygen Destroyer spawning a creature which would quietly evolve for years, and then appear to battle the second Godzilla was an incredible idea! However, a major problem I've always had with this movie is that, if Destroyah's energy blast is supposed to have the same effect as the Oxygen Destroyer itself, which is what always seemed to be the case, then how come it didn't obliterate Godzilla immediately??? And NO explanation is ever even attempted....WHAT?....Paging Dr. Sarizawa....

5. Battra. Last, but not necessarily least, is the initial version of the "Black Mothra". With the abilty to move above ground as well as burrow through it, swim, and fire energy blasts from the horn on his head, Battra is second only to Biolante' as being the coolest, weirdest monster created for the first modern day series. [As opposed to the second modern day series which began with GODZILLA 2000...Man, this is getting confusing...]

As for the worst of the Godzilla gallery:

1. ANY incarnation of Godzilla junior! [Especially the original, which bears a striking resemblance to Gary Coleman.]

2. Hedorah, the "Smog monster". Watching this film gives me the distinct feeling [Along with that other feeling that sends me rushing to the bathroom.] that Jim Henson was secretly working for Toho studio's during the seventies.

3. Megalon. Does anything else really need to be said here?

4. Gigan. This was an unusual idea that, with more thought put into it overall, could have made Gigan the giant monster equivalent of the Borg.

5.. Anguirus. Now, I know that several of you really like this guy, and I respect that. His constant determination in the face of overwhelming adversity, combined with that mournful wail, make him almost admirable. However, the only entry which prominently featured Anguirus that I thought was well done was GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN. It's the only movie I can recall where extra care was obviously taken to de-emphisize the fact that this was an actor on his hands and knees [As opposed to every future appearance, in which it is painfully obvious.], and also the only one where Anguirus displays any kind of real ferocity. After this film he's just relegated to being Godzilla's dumber-than-a-free-thinking-Ghidorah sidekick. Additionally, for those who say that Godzilla looks buck teethed or goofy in this film, in direct contrast to that, I think this is the movie in which Anguirus looks the coolest!  

In addition to these I'm gonna suggest one more catagory. [This could become a very long thread. Hahaha!] How about your choices for the monsters that any fan knows should have ROCKED, but ultimately didn't....

1. Space Godzilla! This SHOULD have been the crowning acheivement of the entire modern day series! An even more twisted clone of Godzilla, with unearthly abilities to boot? The idea alone brings visions of the ultimate battle to my monster lovin' brain! How this concept, so LOADED with potential, could have turned out the way it did makes me wanna write angry letters to Toho! That's not to say that it isn't an enjoyable movie, it falls nicely into the catatgory of being a fun sci fi film with lots of cool effects. But it COULD have been SO much more....[I have to admit, though, that this film also features what I think is the worst Godzilla suit of the present day films.]

2. Rodan. The ONLY film to present Rodan as a formidable monster is the original. I mean, come ON! With his ability to travel ANYwhere in the WORLD via flight, [As opposed to being restricted to land or water.] plus the fact that he's able to generate nuclear blast force shockwaves, Rodan would be, at the LEAST, as much of a potential threat as Godzilla! But, in all of his subsequent guest appearances in the first Godzilla series, Rodan does little more than fill the role of the flying monster that, upon close up shots, looks like a rubber chicken that's been melted in a microwave. And, for his big revival in MECHAGODZILLA 2 [If this remake is "2", then shouldn't there, logically speaking, have been a "1" first?] , what does he do? He spends much of his screen time following a misguided paternal instinct. [But he looks darn cool this time around! I'll say that for him!]    

3. Gabara. The cat-faced monster from GODZILLA'S REVENGE. Kudos to Squishy for recalling his name, when I was too lazy to even look it up as I was trying to write this thing the first COUPLE of times! I think that Gabara COULD have been to the first Godzilla series what Biolante' was to the second, and he would be my candidate for revamping in a future movie. With that unsettling roar, the electrical powers, and an evil appearance that I'm sure Angus Young was trying to mimic on at least one AC/DC album cover, Gabara was easily the most bizzare monster of the first Godzilla series, and might've arisen to occupy a spot among the top five best if he'd been Godzilla's opponent in a better film. Instead... he's used as an object lesson in the most juvenile entry of all the original movies.      

And on a final note, which I'm sure you're happy to get to at this point - Hahahaha! - I ask this question:

If the people of Infant Island were so intelligent, then how come they were worshipping an giant BUG???

"I like BIG things. The size of them impresses me".

Okay, leave Gigan alone!  How can everyone else NOT think he's a kick-ass monster?  An evil-looking cyborg bird monster with huge meathooks for hands and a sawblade belly.  If they revamped Gigan for a new movie, he'd RULE.  The alien invasion in G2000 was a bit weak, although the movie overall was good, but I'd like to see a visit again from the Black Hole alien cockroaches, or the evil space gorillas from the original Mechagodzilla, and maybe a remake of him while we're at it.  The new effects are obviously better, but the old plots rule the roost where I'm concerned.  I love the old "aliens taking over the Earth which is better suited for them" plots.  Bring back the Devo aliens!

How 'bout just bringing back Devo? 8)

Way back when, a Japanese manga artist, as a page-filling lark, suggested that G-Force's next giant robot, after MOGERA, be GIGAN (acronym unknown) or Mecha-Gigan. He drew a picture, but only of the head. My take would be that he might actually be a sort of Mecha-King Ghidorah II, built using what's left of the first MKG recoved from the ocean floor--body intact, but heads all lost. Appropriate, I think, as Gigan sports golden scales and winglets resembling his original partner in space-crime. (C'mon--Gigan's got sunglasses! He's a giant Yazuka knife-man!) Personally, I think the features of all the previous Heisei-series mecha, including Super-X III's freeze-ray, would have logically resulted in the All-Terrain Robotic Anti-Godzilla weapON (ATRAGON), but hey.

Gigan would be the toughest kaiju to revamp, but I think elements of his character have already been used (see below). Unfortunately, he comes from space, and that's something Toho seems to want to avoid; in the Heisei series, the only monster from space was something that originated on Earth. I suppose they wanted to avoid the rut the Showa series got into. There's a lot riding on designing the aliens; if you show too much cool stuff, it overwhelms or waters down the kaiju fights, and if it's not cool enough, you have space gangsters who wear tinfoil and turn into men wearing monkey masks. (No offense to Brother Ragnarok.) But Godzilla 2000's "Millenian" was cool, wasn't it? The giant semi-translucent alien that mutates into Orga? Reminded me of Dogora a bit. Best alien invasion of late: Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. Simply an alien animal culture that we cannot co-exist with. Simple and direct. Leave it to rubber suit monsters to finally get the whole "killer bee" movie concept right, hah? Still, King Ghidorah's origins have changed for every series--Mothra 3 managed to make him BOTH prehistoric beast AND space monster, which was a damn cool touch--so if someone comes up with a good new story and design for Gigan...

As I mentioned earlier, I think Battra is basically a cooler Megalon crossed with Mothra; all that's missing are the barf-grenades and the embarassing hopping. M-11, a jackass-grinning clothed robot who is built for good, commandeered by forces of evil, then reclaimed by the heroes to save the day--even becoming "huge" as a part of Mecha-King Ghidorah--is as close as Jet Jaguar will ever get to Dignity. Destroyah follows Hedorah's back-storyline almost perfectly. Space Godzilla strikes me as an amalgam of Gabara--big island bully with electrical charges coming out of his hands at one point--and Gigan--travelling space in a giant (albeit uncut) crystal.

Devo, fine. Flemish merchants or Tudors wearing sunglasses (Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster), no.

Tip to Hairzilla: go offline--save the page with IE to disk if you need to--and write your reply on Wordpad or whatever word-processing prog you use. Then go back online, copy and paste. It used to drive me Nutzilla too.

There are all kinds of teams Godzilla could face in a series of "Holy Defender" confrontations. Biollante, Battra, and King Seesar; Angilas, Varan, and Rodan; Kumonga, Megalon, and Manda--make your own teams up! But next time, I wanna see South Seas Holy Defenders! The monsters from Yog, Monster From Space--giant squid Gezora, giant crab Ganime, and giant turtle Gamera.

Was that last word a typo? NO IT ****ING WAS NOT! C'mon, Toho! GXG!! It HAS to happen!

 Thanks for the tip, Squishy, I appreciate it. I got SO annoyed with my internet service pulling that "Your account has been logged off due to inactivity" crap [Hey, it may just be about giant monsters or zombies, but it's obvious that we all invest a decent amount of thought into our posts, and it sucks that being abruptly cut off from the 'net can wipe out the whole thing.] that I actually did just that this time, and typed my post in Wordpad first and then cut and pasted it. I've been decently computer literate for quite awhile now, but I confess that I havn't really experimented with using Wordpad all that much, so I didn't think that it could actually work.

Oh Lord! M11!? I totally forgot about him! Hahahahaha!!! Now HE deserves some kind of special recognition just for running around like the Six Million Dollar Man! They had the technology....

Speaking of cross confrontations, as I was writing that last post the thought occured to me just how similiar the overall concepts of Legion and Destroyah are. Now THAT would be a battle which could, conceivably, spread around the world!

After reading your thoughts about the reused monster elements [Good observations, Squishmeister!] a saying came to mind which seems to nicely sum up the apparent whole of Toho's creative process: "The more things change the more they stay the same". Hahahahaha!! Sheesh, it's no wonder Gamera's THREE recent films kicked the collective butts of Godzilla's first modern-day SEVEN.

Hey Toho! Daei! Can you hear it?! The fans WANT a well done Godzilla vs Gamera! IT'S TIME!

A nice thread going here i must say..IMO Toho monsters are the best in all of movie monsterland!! My favorites are: Godzilla-becuz without him we'd all probably be Rodan or Mothra fans about now.. (2) i like the updated Mothra(90s)with all the whizzbang effects he has now(the old Mothra was a girl i believe). (3) the 1st Ghidrah(from outerspace)NOT the 90s version but had they stuck with the meteoric origin story than some cutesy '3 'lil dorats'mutation and gave him back the supertough'outerspace' skin he deserves, then i could root for him in with the rest of my favs.(3) is without a doubt-the 70s MechaGodzilla!! i've never been so influenced by a icon of b-movie history(i even created a Halloween costume out of posterboard and 2 cans of metallic silver spraypaint--imagine walking around the city with my then 6 and 7 girls trickortreating and kids in PowerRangers outfits saluting me in codespeak. Also i found the 90s MechaGodzilla rather innovative enough to make the list, but notice that this one is way more cumbersome and defensivetype of model while the 70s one could actually 'beat up' a foe(Seesar and Angurus for example) via remote control over human manual control.(4) Gigan--this guy IMO edges even MechaGodzilla in all out design and at times the most humorous sidekick monster of the bunch-he still deserves some sorta 'eye visor' weapon and/or breath weapon to this day..(5)Rodan(the 'Larry' of the 3 Stooge monsters(Angurus or Mothra can vie for the 'Curly' role); a flat out top speed plus superhurricane winds at his will is hard to beat(i prefer the very 1st Rodan model over the one used in the Ghidrah/Monster Zero flicks-too comical looking; LOVE the model when flying-as in DestroyAllMonsters; 90s Rodan get kudos for newfound breath weapon but appears to be a little too small(?)compared to 1st Rodan.(6)JetJaguar-if only they gave him some flashy artillery to go with those karate moves.(7)goes to Titanosaurus--a further thanks to Toho-just  when you think they ran outta ideas for an ordinary foe,they give him the ability to use his tail as a gale force means of attack(8)will go to king Seesar(he's another one for credibility via Toho ingenuity; any monster that can use its 'eyes' as a deflective counterweapon outta the blue like that is just one of the things that makes b-movies good..(9)believe or not-Kong,this Toho version to me is underrated-sure he vanquishes Gorosaurus and MechaKong(who is also underrated..)but is top honored for going up vs the G.(10)Hedorah(smog monster);i know he's(or she) rather ugly-i like the land/sea/air metamorph ability to boot. (11)MechaGhidorah(this weapon reminds me of an idea i had a long time ago when i drew up a similar one based on the 60s Ghidorah(hence MechaGhidrah),except it was to be remote controlled like 1st mechagodzilla and 100%robotic from a black hole in outerspaceAND it had way more weaponry that we as fans have yet to see in a G. movie..)(12)Mogera--i never had the chance to see 'The Mysterians but i totally admire this weapon machine and truly wish they left MechaGodzilla II on remote control and just stick to manually operation as they did with Mogera
  What are my LEAST favorites goes to (1)Megalon(only becuz of whoever the director was--under the right director, he would've surely been candidate for my top 10).(2)Gabera(i dont think this one would've even existed if the 1st director were at the helm).(3) Aspiega(kumonga)but at least he fits the story he was in.(4)Minya;only if it weren't for the 'doughboy' design and personality(5)Minilla--nice name,might as well had stuck with Minya;again though a bit too cutesy,but the story..(6) Ebirah(fits the story as well)but what more can you expect from a giant lobster?BTW, anyone notice that Godzilla looks aLOT like 70s Gamera at the time in G.vs the Sea monster?(7)Battra(yet a feisty foe if i seen of one).(8) Baragon(a little known monster who needed to share the spotlight more).(9)Varan(the Unbelievable);only needed more involvement in D.A.M. movie-great potential,also.(10)Destroyah, SpaceGodzilla and Biollante are in a 3 way tie for this one-i dont dislike 'em, they're just my least favs..Oh i almost forgot Gappa and the 2 Gargantua bros.(update 'em along with Kong and that'll help). And hey i hear the chant for a GXG in the future--LETS DO IT ALREADY!!

i  have   been  watching  godzilla  movies  for   a long  time  and   hope  some   tv  station   will  have   a  godzilla   movie  marathon   because   it  doesnt   seem  right   not  to   see  a  godzilla   movie   during   the  week   or   week  end or  at  least   during    the  new  year   like   the  did   during   for new  years   night   but  as  i  know   godzilla    is  not  as  inportant   as  he  was   during   the  late   60s -70s 80s   and  90s   but  any  way  i  still   hope  one  day some  station   will  have   a  godzilla  movie  marathon    thank  you  for  your  time   11-27-08  time  11-19pm

Not going to mention Godzilla because that's a given.  Not going to mention King Kong becasue he's not really a "Godzilla" monster.

1.  Rodan:  He gets the number one slot because his stand alone movie is pretty good.
2.  Angurius:  Good design.  Fierce fighter.  Cool sounding roar.
3.  Gigan:  A lot of people seem to dislike Gigan.  But how could you hate a giant cybernetic space chicken? 
4.  Biolante:  Definately one of the more unique design.  And one of the better Godzilla movies at that.
5.  Tie between King Ghidorah and Mecha-Godzilla. 

Least favorites
5.  Mothra:  Over-rated.  Could somebody please explain how a moth keeps beating a mutant dinosaur?
4.  Meganurius:  Like Battra only weaker.
3.  Ebirah:  Although I do like the movie, the enemy monster is a giant shrimp. 
2.  Gabara:  stupid monster
which leads us to
1.  Minya:  Nobody likes Minya.

I'm going to add something here.  Favorite Godzilla suits/design
1.  Godzilla from Godzilla vs Biolantee   One of the more realistic designs.  This suit perfectly blended a natuaral look for Godzilla while adding to his threating nature.
2.  Godzilla from the Origianal.  GKOTM.  Yes, its the first, but latter designs really improved from it.  Its high up on the list for historical purposes.
3.  Godzilla from Godziila Mothra King Ghidorah  This design was all about making him look mean.  And boy, does it ever do that. 
4.  Godzilla from King Kong vs Godzilla
5.  Godzilla from Destroy All Monsters