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| Toho character | |
|---|---|
| Varan | |
| Species | "Varanopode" |
| Alias | Baradagi-Sanjin O-baki (English dub name) |
| Height | 50 metres |
| Weight | 15,000 tons |
| Air speed | Mach 1.5 |
| Major enemies | King Ghidorah |
| Major allies | Godzilla Mothra Rodan Baragon Minilla Anguirus Gorosaurus Kumonga Manda |
| Controlled by | Kilaaks |
| First appearance | Varan the Unbelievable |
| Created by | Ken Kuronuma |
| Portrayed by: | Haruo Nakajima Katsumi Tezuka |
Varan (バラン - Baran) is a kaiju that first appeared in Varan the Unbelievable (1958). Physically, Varan resembles a giant reptile with skin membranes between his arms and legs, allowing him to glide much like a flying squirrel, and a horned head similar to that of kajiu King Ghidorah.
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Film history
In his first appearance, Varan is a monster that lives in a saltwater lake within the Kunishiroshima valley, where he is known to the natives as Baradagi-Sanjin. He is worshipped as a god by the natives very much like King Kong. He kills an expedition duo and then completely destroys the village. The monster proceeds to attack Tokyo and is seemingly unstoppable until he is tricked by the military into eating bombs. But it is unknown if the bombs really killed him until his reappearance in Destroy All Monsters.
Varan reappears in Destroy All Monsters living on Monsterland with many other kaiju including Godzilla. Varan is seen in the climax, joining the other Earth monsters to fight against the King Ghidorah, though he does not actually participate in the fight. After King Ghidorah is killed, Varan, along with the other kaiju return to Monsterland.
Lost Projects
In one of the early drafts of what would become Godzilla vs Gigan, Varan was to have joined Godzilla and Rodan in defending the Earth against King Ghidorah, Gigan , and a new monster that had never been seen before with the name Mogu .[1] Shusuke Kaneko, director of the popular Heisei Gamera trilogy had originally considered Varan, along with Anguirus to star in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as antagonists to Godzilla. Varan and Anguirus were however replaced with the far more popular Mothra and King Ghidorah.[2] Supposedly, the suit designer tried to compromise by giving some of Varan's facial features to King Ghidorah.
Game appearances
- Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (1988) Nintendo
- Monster King Godzilla (1993) Game Boy
- Godzilla: Unleashed (2007) Wii
- Godzilla Trading Battles (1998) PS1
Varan was considered for Godzilla: Save the Earth, but was scrapped at some point. Varan made his first playable video game appearance in the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed as an Earth Defender, though he is not in the PS2 version. In Godzilla: Unleashed, he is given the ability to fire a sonic beam and a concentrated sonic energy ball. He has a gliding ability that works much like Rodan's flying, he can be unlocked by destroying the three purple objects on the Vortaak mothership while playing as an Alien.
Action Figures
Few figures of Varan have been issued compared to other kaiju and Bandai has issued no figures as of yet. The only figure released on the 6" scale was by Y-MSF in 2005.
Footnotes
- ^ Rodan's Roost: Kaiju Scrap-yard: Return of King Ghidorah
- ^ Rodan's Roost: Kaiju Scrap-yard: Varan, Baragon, Anguirus: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack - Godzilla 2002
