The next entry in the ongoing Trendmasters project - Godzilla 1998!

Yes. Godzilla 1998. You read that correctly. Not "Zilla". Not "GINO". Not even "Godzilla".

"Godzilla 1998". It's in a similar vein to why I refer to the cartoon version as Godzilla instead of Zilla, Jr.

I drew this strictly just focusing on [some of] the toys, not the movie. Say what you want about the movie, but the toys are actually really well-made and have cool gimmicks (I played with Living Godzilla quite a bit, and he still doesn't have any paint scuffs). With a bit of imagination, you aren't limited to just reenacting the '98 movie - he can go off on his own adventures. Each toy was unique, exploiting different kinds of attacks he was capable of, including firing atomic breath (yeah, I know what the Tornado Blast really is, but with the toy, you could look at it as playing around with the "force of nature" shtick, in that it's a raging storm all on its own).

Putting aside how one could portray this guy as Godzilla with some imagination, some of the toys - usually the gray/tan ones - come across as Godzilla (for me, anyway), with a bit of a stockier build, larger fins, and an upright posture (and as already mentioned in Tornado Blast's case, the atomic breath). Ironic, considering my initial reaction to seeing the '98 design was "That's not Godzilla!" In fact, as cool as ALL the toys were, the gray/tan ones were the best ones because they had a look that felt closer to the classic Godzilla.

And that's why I looked mostly to my two favorites of the line, Living and Tornado Blast Godzillas for the design and main color scheme. My third favorite, the big R/C one that walks and roars, for the alternate color scheme. :)

But to each their own on this matter. I just have a lot of sentiment for the toys.