Baragons

BARAGON VARIANTS

Happy kaijuly​, again. Another assortment of monster variations, this one focusing on Baragon, just in time for the end of July.

Baragon first appeared in the 1965 film Frankenstein vs. Baragon, directed by Ishirō Honda.  Also known as Frankenstein Conquers the World, Baragon was a dinosaur that survived extinction by adapting a subterranean lifestyle. After rampaging through Japan, Baragon is finally confronted by a giant mutated Frankenstein’s monster and is killed, though the battle also takes the life of the heroic Frankenstein monster.

In 1968, Baragon or another of its species reappeared in Destroy All Monsters, also directed by Honda. In this film Baragon plays a much smaller role, one of the many monsters living on Monster Island, mind controlled by aliens and ordered to attack Earth, and allegedly attacking Paris, France alongside Gorosaurus.

Baragon’s latest appearance was in the 2001 film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack directed by Shusuke Kaneko. In this new setting, Baragon is one of a trinity of ancient, sacred monster guardians, released from its slumber in order to defend Japan from the wrath of a resurrected Godzilla. Baragon puts up a fierce fight, but is outmatched and obliterated by Godzilla.

Again, this is a bit lengthy. Info on the variants under the cut.

In the 1992 manga series Godzilla, King of the Monsters, published by Kodansya Comics, a mad scientist creates a series of anti-Godzilla kaiju. The first of these was Sea Baragon, a hybrid of the original Baragon, a narwhal, and possibly Maguma the walrus monster. Though this critter impaled Godzilla through the chest, Godzilla soon turned the tables, snapping off its horn and setting Sea Baragon ablaze, killing it.

The American poster art for Frankenstein Conquers the World has a strange, retro dinosaur design for Baragon. This Poster Baragon sort of looks like a missing link between Baragon and other theropod-like monsters, such as Gorosaurus and Godzillasaurs.

A small town in inland Japan was demolished and set ablaze by an unknown monster, attacked with such fury that it was feared a new Godzilla had emerged. Eye-witness accounts of the creature rising out of the ground before the attack and tunneling away afterwards conflicted with this idea. It seemed another monster was responsible.

It seems as Baragon, or ~a~ Baragon, had tunneled it’s way into the stockpiles of the rogue scientist Doctor Hu. Hidden within were weapons an unrefined ore derived from Element X, a mysterious radioactive mineral. Contact with this element caused the Baragon to mutate into Element X Baragon. This mutated condition was similar similar to Godzilla or Fire Rodan’s mutated physiology. This included a tougher exterior, larger proportions, prominent glowing spikes for discharging excess energy/light, and seemingly an intelligence boost as well. So far this Baragon has twice outsmarted and defeated teams of Mutagen Soldiers and Super X’s normally used to wrangle lower category kaiju.

Element X Baragon was last reported in battle against Battra at the base of Mount Fuji.

Tunneling through the sand dunes of the Gobi desert, the Sandfish Baragon is the newly discovered Baragon relative that specializes in dry arid environs. Much like its Japanese counterpart, this Baragon is a voracious eater between periods of hibernation underneath the desert. It has yet to be captured.

Another variety of Baragon, the Star-Nosed Baragon was uncovered during Godzilla’s fight with Varan in the Himalayas. The two monsters fighting caused an avalanche, briefly exposing this strange Baragon to observers. Spooked by the titanic battle, it turned tail and tunneled back into the earth.

Relying heavily on the sensory organ that makes up most of its face, the current theory is that the only use its small eyes still have is for identifying the glowing horns of other Star Nosed Baragons. This idea would hold more water if other Baragons of this species have been discovered.

A discovery made in 1995, a wildlife biologist discovered a gigantic, unseen life-form preying upon the emperor penguin populations and moving under through the ice of Antarctica. A crew flying a Super-X was sent from CCI headquarters to observe this potential new monster. They learned that this was a new kind of Baragon, the Ice Borer Baragon. This Baragon is able to radiate heat from its strangely shaped head crest in order to melt and tunnel though ice. Transport to Monster Island is under consideration, but may be problematic due to it’s need special habitat requirements.

Based upon an April Fools joke from Discover Magazine.

Far into the future, humankind sets out to colonize space.

The problem with establishing colonies in space is that many planets are inhospitable for human habitation. Yes, you can create a city under a dome with its own artificial atmosphere, but in a hostile environment that can take a lot of time, even for assembly-drones. And even if a planet did have nice breathable air and didn’t rain acid, chances are it was covered ferocious space beasts or space conquerers invaded part way through settlement. It was a tiring affair.

By this time, many of the giant monsters of Earth’s past had ceased to be a problem. Some eventually got old and passed on, others were eventually destroyed by new technology, and some left the planet. New ones emerged, of course, but the aforementioned advanced tech took care of the nastier ones. But their genetic data had been collected and stored. And thanks to new achievements in genetic engineering and manufacturing, the vast might of the giant monsters could at last be used to benefit humanity, all under human control.

The Biollante derived PCA (Planetary Conversion Agent) Botanical Units were able to change a barren wasteland, unable to even sustain lichen, into lush greenery complete with forests and fields in a matter of days. The PCA “Air-maker” units are descendants of Destoroyah, and their field of expertise is their ability to transform certain minerals and elements into a multitude of gasses, most importantly carbon dioxide and oxygen. The PCA Aeration/Irrigation Unit B’s were the spawn of Baragon would burrow through the dirt, as well as creating tunnels that would introduce water to the soil, making it more fertile and rich. Other Anguirus based unites did similar jobs. When it comes to protection, the Gorosaurus descended Rex-9s were the perfect guardians, able to work alone in or in tandem. One time a pack of them were able to drive off a humongous creature that looked as if it could have been Gigan’s bigger brother.

The terraforming of the planet orbiting the star Gorath went off without a hitch. New air, new soil, new plants, guardians and Kiryu mechs put it place, etc. This planet was prime real estate, and transport ships were full of eager colonists. After settling, communication with this colony as well as many others was put on hold when Earth and it’s allies entered a prolonged conflict with a small armada of Millenian aliens. After Earth’s victory, a probe was sent to check upon the far flung colonies. Most were fine, some a little angry at the lack of contact, but none the worse for wear.

All except Gorath. Destruction and ruin was all that was found. Human settlers clinging to life in small communities amongst devastating infrastructure. Living in constant fear of monsters.

Normally when terrafoming had been completed, the kaiju tools would enter a dormant state, ready to be collected and either assigned to another barren rock or to be broken back down and their genes recycled. It seems on this planet, the monsters did not enter hibernation, on the contrary, they had gone berzerk, rampaging though the settlements and destoying buildings in displays of savagery not seen since the king of the monsters reigned. Of note is a particular Aeration/Irrigation Unit-B of unique ferocity that the settlers have nicknamed after the ancient mythical demon, Bagan.

One time Great Great Grandmother Turtle told me a story that, as she says, was told to her by her great great grandmother.

Long ago, before birds knew how to fly, before the sky had decided to be blue, and before the Sun had met the Moon, the Spirit of the Earth was creating life.

She had already spent seven days creating everything that we know of now. It is common knowledge that the Spirit of the Earth spent ten days creating, making things like rocks and mountains during the first day, and ending the tenth day with humans. At the end of the eighth, when she thought she had finished for the day, she saw there were many spare parts left unused. Taking a lump of clay, she attached the spares, which included two giant ears, a beast’s horn, the tail of a great lizard, and elephantine feet. Though complete, the creature would not come to life, so she took a beam of light, plucked from the Sun as it rested on the summit of a mountain before disappearing for the night, and placed it deep inside this creature’s chest. With that, it came to life, and this creature was the Primeval Baragon.

Baragon knew he was made from unwanted parts, and that made him feel inadequate, though he was a mighty as any beast. To bury these feelings, he raced around the land and battled other beasts, to prove his superiority. There were two creatures he would not fight; the first was Old Kumonga, who was made on the second day and was already getting old (days were longer back then) and was not worth sporting with. Kumonga claimed to be a seer, and told strange tales like a lizard emerging from a giant flaming mushroom, or a turtle with a blazing flower blossoming out its chest. Most people thought she was simply mad.

The other creature Baragon would not fight was Yog, who alone in the world was not made by the Earth’s Spirit, and often changed shape. This made many people afraid of him. Like Kumonga, he was mad, but in a different way. Capricious and tricky, he was tolerated, because sometimes he could be helpful.

One day, many Earth inhabitants held a meeting to decide what should be done about Baragon. ‘He’s out of control’ said Varan. 'What is there that can be done?’ asked the Giant Condor. Ghogo suggested reasoning with him, while the half-human Snowman said everyone should simply ignore him. Earthquake and Storm had differing opinions and argued, causing a tsunami. Finally, Yog appeared, taking on his multi-armed form, saying he knew exactly what to do.

On Yog’s advice, Human approached Baragon at dusk and got his attention. Because Human was new, Baragon had never seen Human, and would not want to fight because Human was too small and not worth it. Whispering into his ear, Human said that while being created, they had heard that there was another piece that the Earth Spirit had meant to put on Baragon to make him complete, but it had been lost. Intrigued, Baragon followed Human to the largest mountain in the world and Human said that the lost piece was stuck under the mountain. Using his immense strength, Baragon hefted the mountain onto his back, looking for the piece. As the day was ending, Sun was looking for a place to rest before it went away for the night and saw the mountain and decided to settle on it. Under the strain of the mountain and the Sun’s weight, Baragon collapsed, with the mountain landing on him, just as Yog had planned.

Some people say he's still trying to tunnel his way out. Other people say that his body was split into multiple parts and each part went its separate way, underground. Or that he’s  accepted his punishment, waiting to be released and to use his mighty strength for a greater good. I guess we’ll have to wait and see which is true.