Godzilla

Monster: Swarm: Thri-kreen

Will update as changes come up/are decided!

Player: Riki
Contact: rikimaruhitori, rikimaruhitori on Discord
Age: 34
Other Characters: N/A

Name: Godzilla
Canon: Godzilla: the Series
Canon Point: Post-show
Age: We never get a definite number, but he is confirmed to be an adult

Backstory: Wiki link!
Personality:
+Default emotional state and temperament: what is your character normally like? What personality do they show to the world, and is this at odds with how they really feel?
Generally, Godzilla is quite calm and relaxed. Most people understandably are afraid of a kaiju, but he understands this and tries to keep away from them unless he has to. He set up his home near the HEAT research lab; whether or not he knows they perform all kinds of studies there (including on him), he knows they (especially adoptive father Nick) spend a lot of time there, and living near them is a conscious choice Godzilla made on his own. He genuinely cares about other people and tries to help when he can. Nick may always be his first priority, but he will always try to help others when possible. He can fight monsters and keep them away from civilians, taking the blows himself. Even without a monster in sight, he's smart enough to take measures like stopping a speeding train with his hands, splashing a wave of water atop burning oil out at sea, or place a hand over people to keep a tower from falling on them. Some might write off his behavior as territorial, but considering several instances of sticking his neck out for people far smaller than himself, it's easy to see that he is a kind and protective individual.

+Motivations and goals: What drives them, in both the long term and the short term? What pushes them to keep going even when things are tough?
Community. Through his upbringing, Godzilla developed a natural fondness of and interest in humans. He fights the fights they can't, they fight the fights he can't. He's worked together with them enough to understand cooperation and does not shy away from it when necessary. He stood perfectly still while waiting for the military to place a visor on his head so he can see the monsters of that week. This also extends to other kaijus; compassion lead to setting a fight with the Loch Ness monster aside to help her recover her baby from a thief, and he refused to fight her any further. Keeping those around him safe so he can continue having a community around him is his biggest goal; he can work with anyone as long as there's a good reason to, whether or not there's a language barrier. And those he gets close with might find Godzilla will fight monsters, robots, aliens, whatever's threatening them with no hesitation if it means keeping them safe. It's a pretty simple answer, but it means everything to the big guy.

+Regrets and fears: What holds them back? What do they want to avoid at all costs?
Loss. Even animals can understand death, and Godzilla is no different. He's shown pain when he lost a mate and her egg to a fissure. He's a tough lizard, so he has no problem throwing himself into danger if it means other people will be safe. He's strong! He has sturdy scales! He can heal! That's a lot more than most humans have. Because he's so communal, he'd also be afraid of breaking relationships with others. Being estranged, friends becoming enemies, things like that distress him. While he would always take Nick's side when he's around, not having him means needing to make such decisions on his own, which risks frustrating him. And no one wants to deal with a frustrated kaiju, shrunken or otherwise.

+Breaking points: What can cause them to fly off the handle in rage? Or break down in tears? Or alternately just shuts them down entirely?
The people he loves are extremely important to him. Losing any of them would absolutely break his heart and put him on a destructive rampage. This is especially true with Nick, who he will do absolutely anything for. He's a guardian at heart, and failing such tasks can seriously hurt him. On a less metaphorical note, Godzilla strongly dislikes having bright lights flashed in his eyes. This confuses him and can have him lashing out aimlessly, from swinging at whatever's nearby to unguided flame breaths. This might be especially interesting in a game all about driving cars, so consistent use of high beams may annoy him if they shine at him long enough. Good news is he'll do what everyone wants to do when seeing obnoxiously bright headlights at night and smash them.

+Values: What do they admire in themselves or in other people? Do they have any codes or beliefs that they try to uphold?
Community has come up several times in this application and will come up afterwards. He's surprisingly capable of emotion for an iguana, and those emotions include wanting to maintain comfortable situations with people he cares for. In addition to this, Godzilla understands that family is not limited to blood ties. He encountered his biological father during an alien invasion; he was revived as a cyborg and struggled to pick between him and Nick before eventually falling under mind control. Near the end of this saga, Godzilla willingly chose adoptive father Nick over biological father cyber-Godzilla. He was also absolutely ready to adopt an egg he had no part in making. The female komodo dragon kaiju already had it by the time he arrived, yet he worked with her to help build a nest. He welcomes being adopted and can straight up adopt people himself, regardless of what they are. The bonds matter more to him than anything else.

+How do they handle change and trauma? Specifically the changes and trauma of turning into a monster?
While Godzilla is already a monster, that means he has experience in people being afraid of him simply for what he is. He's been captured several times for various reasons, whether to experiment on him or throw him in a fighting ring that he didn't want to participate in. He's had to face off against the military several times and while trying not to kill anyone, he will still defend himself. If people are afraid of him for things like that, he can understand keeping his distance and sticking to whoever he may be close with. Sometimes he needs guidance during those low moments, like direction towards a safe place or being told to stand down and go back home. Humans and most people understand nuance better than he does, so even Godzilla can understand turning to others when he can't handle something himself. He just doesn't want to hurt people, if he can avoid it.

+Closing statements: Anything else you wish to add or sum up?
I understand that the same points were made several times throughout this section; while it may be seen as a cop out, they're key parts of Godzilla's identity. The fact that he's a kaiju capable of compassion and a desire to protect people is the reason the military lets him live. He does his best every time there's a threat and to his credit, he's pretty smart. Most importantly, bonds with other people keep him grounded and happy. His father, the Godzilla featured in the 1998 movie, had no one he could count on whatsoever. He panicked, fled a lot and was ultimately killed for simply trying to nest. Godzilla junior doesn't want that, because if there's no one who trusts him, then nothing stops others from trying to kill him. He knows he's very lucky to have influential people looking out for him; he thanks them by looking after them in ways he understands. Fortunately, he is smart enough to learn and just might impress people enough to prove that, despite what he is and what he looks like, he's a defender.

Powers/Abilities:

Superpowers
1 - Super Senses - At least three of Godzilla's five senses are incredibly sharp. His sense of smell is very precise, able to track individuals with it across great distances. This includes Nick, and using it to tell when he's traveling. He was able to hear a mating call from a female reptilian kaiju in another part of the world. Most prominently used is his supreme low light vision; while Godzilla can still be blinded, he's shown to have no problem seeing in normal light or deep underwater or in unlit tunnels with no help required.

2 - Atomic Fire Breath - This Godzilla does a much better job living up to the name than his father did, as he remembered to have a signature breath weapon. While not a laser, Godzilla's atomic flame breath allows him to breathe incredibly hot green flames that can rapidly melt metal and turn sand into glass.


3 - Healing Factor - Godzilla's regenerative capabilities let him heal through many injuries quickly to get back into the fight. While it has its limits, they typically involve exploiting particular weaknesses, such as poisons or electricity. Poisons are a much greater weakness, whereas electricity affects him normally. This is compared to innate fire and ice resistance, as he can endure extreme temperatures in both directions without issue.

Mundane abilities
1 - Amphibious Reptile Physiology - It's heavily implied, if not outright stated, that Godzilla is a mutated iguana. He brought his relatives' skillset with him during his glow-up, as his most used trait is his ability to comfortably dwell in water and on land. The ability to breathe underwater helps. He also possesses unrivaled digging abilities, able to carve a tunnel through dirt and concrete at alarming speeds. He's also really good at climbing, to the point where one might think he's part tegu.

2 - Problem solving intelligence - Throughout the series, Godzilla has proven himself capable of adopting different strategies to different situations(Digging under a cliffside to drop a monster off the edge, dragging a pesky insectoid monster underwater to drown it), understanding different kinds of scenarios that have innocent people in danger(slowing a speeding train with his hands, splashing water atop an ignited oil spill to stop it) and the ability to make moral decisions (Helping a mother monster retrieve her baby and siding with his adoptive human father over his angry reconstructed birth parent). He's even able to understand when he needs to work with others he can't communicate with (letting the military put a visor on him so he could see hummingbirds pestering the local area). All of this plus Godzilla's larger brain leads to the big guy being arguably as sapient as any human.

3 - Danger Sense - Godzilla has a keen ability to tell when something bad is happening, particularly when something threatens his adoptive father, Nick Tatopoulos. It's so keen, he's never failed to rescue Nick because of it.

Inventory: Nothing!
Game Plans: I very much enjoy playing with the fact that Godzilla can't communicate with people normally. It doesn't stop him from being a well meaning lizard who enjoys being communal! And being a smaller size, while weird for him, might help enable more opportunities to be around people more. He's a social creature and acting like a big scaly dog will probably warm him up to plenty of people. Also the thought of him driving around like it's a kart racer is hilarious to me. Like seeing Bowser drive back in OG Mario Kart.

Monster Choice:
Swarm: Thri-kreen
Aside from the hive-mind stuff allowing him a limited means of communicating with others, it plays into the fact that Godzilla is very community-based. He can get along with others very well, from humans to other kaiju. It'll work very well with wanting to support the caravan and his natural instincts. Plus there's an opportunity to make a Mothra reference through his changes and that's always worth it.

Elemental: Water Genasi
He's already an amphibious creature; why not double down on it? It'll let him have some really cool glamours and potentially T-1000 esque shenanigans once he gets the hang of it. Access to water is already gonna be questionable at best, so the ability to call down rain could help a lot. And hey, more water if the caravan needs it! Just about everyone gets thirsty, after all!

Drakonis: Dragon
Do you want more giant lizard to go with your giant lizard? Because this is how it happens. It's probably the closest compromise to letting him be somewhat of a kaiju again, which he would appreciate to better protect people. It refines a lot of what Godzilla already has, from animal instinct and territorial nature to sheer power. Hell, he'd be a shoe-in for an eastern dragon and those are especially cute and lovable. Plays along well with my plans of playing Godzilla like an emotional support critter.

Vehicle Choice: A convertible in the shape of the Heat Seeker, HEAT's boat used to sail around the world. Accessible will be its main trait because yeah, Godzilla driving a car properly might take a while at best. So instead, there's a headset to let him drive with thoughts. Makes it a little easier to figure out driving so he can leave with the group.

Sample: Bam

What were your character's most formative experiences?:

1 - Without a doubt, the most important experience in Godzilla's life was imprinting on Dr. Nick Tatopoulos when he hatched. Taking in the scientist as his father unintentionally led to an opportunity his predecessor didn't have: proving himself to the world. Thanks to his bond with a small, fragile human, Godzilla demonstrated the fact that he could not only fight off the threat of other monsters, but also protect mankind whenever he's able. Nick would always be his top priority, but he would make efforts to aid others throughout the series. This convinced the US military to leave him be and allowed the kaiju to develop a bond with humans his father wasn't able to have.

2 - During an investigation of the Loch Ness Monster, Godzilla regularly battled with the beast of local legend when it threatened Nick and the others. However, he learned from the creature herself that she was fighting to retrieve her kidnapped child. Upon learning this, Godzilla set the feud aside to help rescue Nessie's baby. He refused to continue the fight after mother and child reunited, showing that he's willing to empathize with other monsters and those who left bad first impressions.

3 - During an alien invasion, the aliens reanimated the previous Godzilla (the one featured in the 1998 movie) with cybernetic enhancements, forcing Godzilla jr to choose between his surrogate parent or his birth parent. In choosing Nick over Cyber-Godzilla, Jr. made it known that the bonds of found family matter more than blood ties alone. That he hesitated proved he didn't completely discount his true father, but circumstances forced them on opposite sides and left no room for reconciliation.

4 - From across the ocean, Godzilla heard a call he couldn't ignore and swam great distances to find the source. On arrival, he met a female komodo dragon kaiju, who sought a mate and someone to help raise her egg. Godzilla shooed away the humans he knew and trusted and helped build a nest for her egg. While she and her egg fell down a ravine and were presumed dead, it allowed for a moment of tenderness and heartbreak for the big reptile. He was ready to adopt a child as he himself was adopted, and to help its mother every step of the way. If nothing else, it proved that his emotional capabilities developed as much as his superpowers.

What values, morals, and/or philosophies does your character live by, and how are those beliefs demonstrated? What happens when they have to compromise what they believe in?

Godzilla is a very communal creature. With his lair so close to H.E.A.T. headquarters and willingness to travel with Nick, it's clear he believes in sticking close to his loved ones as much as possible. He doesn't mind that Nick and the others don't understand him, as they've gained his trust. He even answers their calls when there's no danger! In times when he's forced to choose between loved ones, he will defer to his found family and among them, Nick is his highest priority. He would rather not lose anyone he cared for, but he can and has made such tough calls before.

What is your character afraid of? How does avoiding or preventing these fears influence their actions and decisions?

As mentioned earlier, Godzilla does not take the loss of loved ones well. He roared out in pain when his mate and their egg were lost forever. Likewise, he fears that one day, he may lose his adopted father, Nick. It doesn't help that his dad's line of work regularly puts him in danger, emphasizing a need for Godzilla to tag along and be on standby when something inevitably goes wrong. Some rescues are cleaner than others, as there have been instances of the big guy letting himself get hurt to protect others. A few instances even had him poisoned for his efforts. It spared the humans a gruesome fate, but because Godzilla is the most important player when it comes to battling mutations, getting taken down leaves the others to do battle with the enemy and cure Godzilla at the same time.

What goals does your character have right now? What do they want, and how do they go about getting it?

Godzilla never gets a chance to voice his own desires, but with the love for his family in mind, it's a safe bet that his interests lie in having a community with others, especially one that involves Nick. He wants others to spend time with and learn about, he wants friends big and small, even if there's language barriers between him and them. He would relish the chance to start a family of his own, whether or not the kids are genetically his, and live a peaceful life with them. While that possibility went down the drain alongside his girlfriend, Godzilla makes the best out of what he has now, that being his adopted father and the other members of H.E.A.T.