Rodan Attacks Godzilla Weekend

Godzilla - 2012 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 in.

Yes, all weekend right now is my Godzilla Weekend. Movies, Magazines and Painting all weekend long. At the moment there is a Godzilla convention called G-Fest held in Rosemont, Illinois, U.S.A., just outside of Chicago. I was hoping to get out there this year,... but no.

The convention (this is it's 19th year!) is organized by G-Fan magazine and it's publisher J.D. Lees.  He so kindly offered to take a couple of my paintings to the convention for display, so I hope many people are seeing them right now! Here they are now!

These are my first and second Godzilla paintings. This week I've already finished a third and this weekend I'l be finishing my fourth. They are all a bit different from one another, and I contribute this to my channelling efforts of all fans of Godzilla painting, especially right now happening on this weekend. There is a full page color reproduction of my Godzilla painting (above) published in G-Fan Magazine No.99.

Rodan Attack - 2012 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 in.

Here I am right now sporting my new Godzilla t-shirt that my son bought for me last week at Value Village. What a terrific find!....and just in time for my Godzilla Weekend 2012.

Menko Cards

1 3/8  x  3 1/2 in.

When my daughter brought these cards back from Japan as a gift for me, I had no idea what they were except for being some kind of trading card. What were all these symbols on the backs of the cards? More that just trading cards. Even though these two are from different sets, they share similar symbols on the back. I imagined that these were there to play a similar game but in different ways.

I eventually found out they were Menko cards. They are usually made from heavy paper to heavy cardboard and be many shapes. The images are often from the pop culture of the times, whether it be from sports, anime or manga. They were popular from the 50's to the 70's. There was an even older form of cardboard trading cards called Karuta form a Japanese card game called Obake Karuta of early 19th century featuring monsters from Japanese Mythology.

I think the Menko cards were the precursor to the popular Pokemon card came. The Instructions I post below for playing the Menko game, I got from the net. Why don't you delve into it further as there are many other examples of Menko as well as Karuta cards to be be found. 

2 1/4  x  3 1/2 in.

Players do "Jan-ken" (rock, paper, scissors) to determine who goes first. All players, except the one whose turn it is, lay down one of their menko on the ground.

The first player tries to flip one of the menko over by throwing his own menko at it. If a menko on the ground is flipped over, the thrower keeps it and the loser is out of the game. If no menko flips, the next player gets a turn. Rules vary. In one variation, a circle about one meter in diameter is drawn on the ground. Menko knocked out of the circle are taken. In another variation, players take turns, and whoever flips over a menko first gets to keep all of them on the ground.

Some menko have extra details on them, such as images that represent Rock, Paper, or Scissors. "Gu-choki-pa” (AKA Rock, Paper, Scissors) marks on the back of the menko are played as the classic game of RPS. Players would take out one of their menko to compare with their opponent's simultaneously following a given signal. If they won, they win the opposing menko.

Another extra is "Fighting Numbers". Playing with "Fighting Numbers" is largely the same as Gu-Choki-Pa; trying to outnumber your opponent's menko on certain digits. For example, one player might have a Fighting Number of 58786 on his particular menko and the other might have 96587 on his. If they were dueling with the last digit, then the player with the 7 as his last digit would win and again get the other boy’s menko. There were many more ways to play with Fighting Numbers, but this is just one example.

Rodan Rules!

                                       This is a portrait of Rodan that I recently made.

                                             Image still from the 1956 movie Rodan.

 

I was into building model kits as a kid, mostly army stuff, like planes and tanks, but there was the occasional model that grabbed the money out of my pocket. One of those was Rodan. I liked dinosaurs too, but Rodan was something else. I don't think I was familiar with him in any movies at the time but he WAS a gloriously huge flying MONSTER. Later when I saw him in a Godzilla movie, I could not believe it. My Rodan model had come to life like a moving statue. I had felt a real kinship with him because I had already lived with him, in fact I even made him! In the movie when I saw that he had atomic breath (as I call it) it added an invincible armament against my plastic army. Another fantastic feature of Rodan is his sonic wind crushing from his flying speed and flapping wings.....and in battling Godzilla ....... watch out.

Believe it or not, I have still not seen the Original Rodan movie of 1956. I know, I can't even believe it. It seems that I have just not come across it anywhere. So hey, if anyone out there reading this has a copy or knows where one is, please drop me a line. It will be so fantastic to see an old monster classic for the first time.

My Rodan model has been through it's battles from various moves with the occasional tumble and broken pieces. I had glued him onto a solid heavy rock and in one move, his leg snapped but his foot remained glued to the rock. He's also losing part of his horn and a wing tip, but he is still proudly always in my view.

 

                        Aurora model of Rodan built in December 1976. I was 12 years old.