ActGoji and his origin
Art by Specterpie
ActGoji was born out of a long held childhood desire to create a Godzilla of my very own, instilling in him design aspects from the many incarnations of the character over the decades.
I had even attempted to write a series of stories titled 'Godzilla Versus' years ago, using the same crossover basis in CrossActs. It would have been told strictly from Godzilla's point of view, awakening to the modern worn, confused... angry. Scared, even.
But that fell apart quickly, as human (or human-like, in this case) characters were needed for exposition. I'm not one of those Godzilla nerds that thinks a movie of only monster antics could succeed. The human element is 100% pivotal to the monster element.
And it was with the conclusion of the first CrossActs saga that I had the brilliant idea of incorporating Godzilla into the world as the weapon ancient Mobians had used the first time to defeat [spoilers], which lead to the creation of the Phantom Ruby.
But what ingredients from the Godzilla design cookbook did I mash together to create my dream kaiju? Let's dive into it.
ActGoji, in spirit, is the 1975 Godzilla. It is hands down my favorite design across the entire franchise, and the look for Godzilla that always comes to mind first upon hearing his name. Near perfectly proportioned body, lengthy tail, prominent dorsal plates and a combat spirit that allowed him to take one two monsters--one of which being his most deadly adversary--and still come out on top!
Obviously, this was the aura I wanted ActGoji to give off. Maybe not so much in appearance, but definitely in attitude.
So right off the bat, I knew I wanted the Trendmasters Godzilla design to be the basis. To this day, I adore the mid-90s aesthetics of everything Trendmasters put out. The day I found the bendable figures at Walmart still exists vividly in my mind to this day.
Anywho, yeah, there's a bit of a mixture of a gentler, almost Hanna-Barbarah thing going on with ActGoji, foregoing the bloodred eyes of TrendGoji in favor of eyes that more closely resemble that of an alligator.
If you'll notice in the two pieces of ActGoji art that he has one dorsal plate that stands taller than all the rest, then you have the Godzilla sprite from the NES game 'Godzilla Monster of Monsters" to thank for that.
In the CrossActs universe, a Godzilla creature's back plates represent a crown of sorts, with the larger the display, the more respect that individual commands, male or female. Young or old.
The plate connecting to his spinal cord is the biggest, with diminishing sizes leading to and away from it. To the left and right of the spinal run are two smaller lines of plates running up to his shoulders.
I always liked Godzilla to have a prominent display of dorsal fins, but I hated when they looked overly crowded(Heisei) or lacked the signature leaf shape (2014), so I strived to give my Godzilla a crown befitting of true king.
Other little, less noticeable aspects I incoroprated include the presence of ears, akin to the 1956 and 2004 designs.
Finally, I want my Godzilla to be brawler first and foremost. The beams only come out when the fight calls for it, so I threw in the whip-like tail from Gareth Edward's 2014 design to make ActGoji just a little bit more deadly.