Titanosaurus

Real Name: Titanosaurus

Identity/Class: Gigantic dinosaur / Kaiju

Occupation: Animal

Affiliations: Dr. Shinji Mafune, Katsura Mafune, Mechagojira, the Simeons from the Black Hole Galaxy

Enemies: Jiro Murakoshi, Akira Ichinose, Interpol, the Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF), Gojira

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the Pacific Ocean

First Appearance: “Mechagojira no Gyakushu” (first aired on March 15, 1975); “Mechagodzilla’s Counterattack” (English translation), “Terror of Godzilla” or “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (alternative titles)

Powers/Abilities: A humongous dinosaur nearly 200 feet in height and weighing 33,000 tons, Titanosaurus possesses awesome strength and durability. He proved practically invulnerable to all manner of conventional weaponry from explosives to heavy artillery to even enormous impacts in addition to his immense physical strength.

Titanosaurus is amphibious in nature. His lungs are capable of processing not only air but extracting oxygen from water as well, enabling him to remain underwater indefinitely. His incredibly developed fan-like tail enables him to swim at incredible speeds by undulating it. His top speed underwater was never accurately determined but he was capable of surpassing any modern day submarine or marine vessel’s speed and he proved incredibly maneuverable underwater as well. One of his tactics was to create gigantic whirlpools of incredible intensity and power.

Despite his amphibious nature, Titanosaurus proved somewhat clumsier on land but by snapping his fan-like tail, he could create powerful cyclones of such fury and power that he could create windstorms capable of blowing tons of debris and rubble into the air, knocking down buildings, and even staggering a being of Gojira’s size and bulk. His powerful hind legs also enables him to jump great distances as well. In addition, Titanosaurus was equipped with powerful claws and teeth which he can also use as weapons as well.

Due to his shy and docile nature, Titanosaurus was not normally a fighter but when under the control of Dr. Mafune and later Katsura Mafune, he demonstrated that he could hold his own in combat with even the King of the Monsters and was a surprisingly formidable and canny opponent with an arsenal of fighting moves such as head butting, jump kicks, and uppercuts that proved capable of dazing even Gojira. Through some unknown means, Titanosaurus was susceptible to outside influence and control as demonstrated by Dr. Mafune, the exact nature of which was never revealed.

Titanosaurus’ one known weakness was that he was particularly sensitive to sound waves. Sufficiently powerful sound waves caused him tremendous pain, enough to disorient and confuse him even under Mafune’s control.

History: Titanosaurus is apparently an undiscovered amphibious dinosaur that escaped detection until the late 20th Century when a Japanese scientist, Dr. Shinji Mafune discovered its existence. Mafune found himself ridiculed and humiliated by the scientific community, who proclaimed him a fraud who had manufactured his evidence and dismissed his outrageous claims that a gigantic aquatic dinosaur species had somehow managed to survive undetected to the present day. Enraged, Mafune sought retribution and began developing a means of controlling Titanosaurus to serve as the instrument of his revenge. Shortly afterwards, his daughter Katsura was severely injured, apparently during one of his attempts to harness the power of Titanosaurus, and he was contacted by the Simeons, the race of ape-like aliens from the Third Planet of the Black Hole whose latest plot to invade Earth with their mechanical war machine Mechagojira had recently been foiled by the combined power of Gojira and King Shisha (as seen in “Gojira Tai Mechagojira”). Believing that the two kaijus' combined power had been the tipping point in their last attempt, the Simeons sought to recruit a kaiju of their own to ally with their monstrous creation, Mechagojira. The Simeons used their advanced technology to repair and rebuilt Katsura as a cyborg, restoring her to full health and in exchange, Mafune agreed to an alliance, promising to use Titanosaurus on their behalf.

One of his first uses of the aquatic monster was to sabotage an attempt by Interpol to locate the missing head module of Mechagojira that was lost in the ocean after being ripped off by Gojira at the climax of their previous battle. Sinking the research submarine however only whetted Mafune’s lust for revenge and he quickly became impatient with the Simeons’ time-consuming rebuilding of their mechanical monster. Interpol Agent Jiro Murakoshi, assisted by a marine biologist, Akira Ichinose, came to the conclusion that the submarine disaster was the result of a gigantic aquatic monster's attack. Ichinose remembered Shinji Mafune’s claims about Titanosaurus' existence and both men decided to visit the scientist hoping that he might have more information. However they only encountered his daughter, Katsura who claimed that her father was dead. Despite her loyalty to her father and her own mechanical nature, Katsura fell hopelessly in love with Ichinose and tried to warn him not to investigate Titanosaurus any further, fearing that he would be killed. Despite being attracted back, Ichinose disregarded her warnings, and his research submarine was attacked by Titanosaurus. However, before Titanosaurus could sink the vessel, Ichinose accidentally activated the sonar which drove the aquatic monster away. Ichinose quickly realized that Titanosaurus was vulnerable to intense sound and the JSDF began construction of a sonic weapon.

Aggravated by his perception of the Simeons’ slow progress, Mafune released Titanosaurus on his own, convinced that the power of his living creature far surpassed the Black Hole Aliens's mechanical creation. Titanosaurus rampaged in a Japanese coastal city, causing massive destruction Gojira arrived and engaged the dinosaur in combat. As the two prehistoric monsters furiously dueled, Ichinose almost completed the sonic weapon when Katsura sabotaged it and fled. Titanosaurus gained the upper hand over the King of the Monsters by using his tail to generate a surprising cyclonic wind gust that knocked Gojira off balance but before he could land a decisive blow, a pair of Interpol agents attempt to apprehend Katsura. Their weapons wounded her, causing her to topple off a cliff and into the ocean, and a horrified Mafune immediately ordered Titanosaurus to break off the attack and rescue her.

Katsura’s badly damaged body was brought to the Simeons who repaired her again once Mafune agreed to submit to their orders from now on. However the Simeons had an ulterior motive: After carefully reviewing the data retrieved from the submerged head module, the Simeons believed that Mechagojira’s reaction speed could be significantly upgraded if a living brain was used to operate it and secretly installed a control module in Katsura. Believing herself a freak that no one could possibly care for, Katsura unleashed both Mechagojira and Titanosaurus to destroy Tokyo. Once more, Gojira rose to defend the city and its inhabitants but found himself outnumbered and began losing ground until the JSDF unleashed the repaired sonic weapon. The high pitched sonic frequencies disoriented Titanosaurus, giving Gojira time to recover. Ichinose confronted Katsura, who revealed her mechanical nature, only for Ichinose to protest that he didn’t care about that. Distraught, Katsura realized that she has committed a horrific act by unleashing the monsters and going through with the Simeons’ genocidal plans and in a fit of remorse she committed suicide, dying in Ichinose’s arms.

Deprived on Katsura’s control, Gojira’s mechanical doppelganger proved no match for the real King of the Monsters who destroyed Mechagojira once more, ending the threat. Titanosaurus also reverted to his docile state but found himself under Gojira’s vengeful gaze. Gojira unleashed his atomic breath ray and sent Titanosaurus tumbling off a cliff and back into the ocean. As to whether or not the aquatic dinosaur managed to survive Gojira’s last attack remains a mystery as he has never been seen since.

Comments: Although sharing the same name of a real dinosaur species, the actual Titanosaurus species bears no resemblance to his larger and more fictional namesake, one of the most obvious being that it was a land based quadruped dinosaur rather than the Gojira film’s fictional bipedal aquatic one. It should also be noted that the discovery and the naming of the real dinosaur species does actually predate Toho’s own fictional Titanosaurus.

In the original script, Titanosaurus was actually intended to be two separate kaijus known as Titans who ultimately combined into a single creature for the climatic battle at the end of the movie. Which probably explains its somewhat unusual and somewhat awkward looking appearance. One Titan was apparently to be a land based bipedal creature while the other was to be an aquatic one but no actual designs were made when budgetary restraints forced Toho to abandon the concept. Instead of two separate suits for the two different monsters, Toho instead focused on constructing the final “combined” suit as well as modifying the script.

Titanosaurus himself has never been seen again in any of the sequel Gojira films; although he was considered for one of the many monstrous guest stars that populated the 2004 “Gojira: Final Wars” movie, he was ultimately dropped from consideration and so has remained largely forgotten. However, he has reappeared in one of the most recent Gojira video games. His most recent video game incarnation has included the ability to discharge a sonic beam, ironic considering sound was his key weakness in his movie appearance and undoubtedly was solely included to balance out the character’s playability and should not be considered canon.

Thanks to Michael Higuchi for the above profile.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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