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SkarmorySilver — LTF: Gyaos
#gamera #giantmonster #gyaos #kaiju #kaijuly #letthemfight #gameravsgyaos #kaijuly2021 #gameraredesign
Published: 2021-07-23 00:54:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 26615; Favourites: 253; Downloads: 14
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Description
Scourge of Atlantis: GYAOS
Titanus Nosferatu
Favolopteryx strix ("Vicious wing of the Strix", from Greek φαύλος fávlos, "vicious", πτέρυξ ptéryx, "wing", and στρίγξ Strix, a blood-drinking bird-like monster from Classical mythology)
Statistics
- Classification: Unidentified artificial avian/mammal hybrid
- Height: 32.8 feet/10 meters (Gyaos), 98.43 feet/30 meters (Super Gyaos), 278.87 feet/85 meters (Hyper Gyaos)
- Length: 49.21 feet/15 meters (Gyaos), 131.23 feet/40 meters (Super Gyaos), 288.71 feet/88 meters (Hyper Gyaos)
- Wingspan: 98.43 feet/30 meters (Gyaos), 295.28 feet/90 meters (Super Gyaos), 656.17 feet/200 meters (Hyper Gyaos)
- Mass: 22.05 short tons/20 metric tons (Gyaos), 165.35 short tons/150 metric tons (Super Gyaos), 551.16 short tons/500 metric tons (Hyper Gyaos)
- Locality: Technically cosmopolitan, but most sightings have been recorded in and around east Asia. The first recorded sighting of the creatures was in Mt. Fuji, Honshū, Japan, but other sightings have since been reported in various other locations in the western Pacific.
Ecology and Behavior:
"It's looking for food."
"For food? That'll be us if we're not careful!"
- Part of a conversation between ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine and Monarch inspector Osako Hotaru, regarding a Super Gyaos' attack on several cities and towns in Japan, including Tokyo, in March of 1995.
One of the most feared creatures on the planet, the Gyaos are an ancient experiment in militarized biotechnology that backfired in the absolute worst way possible. Engineered by the ancient civilization of Atlantis, they were originally intended for use as guardian beasts until it was discovered that they were instinctively driven to kill and consume every living thing around them, without any restraint whatsoever and in defiance of natural predator behavior. The Atlanteans attempted to seal away the ravenous creatures while trying to engineer a guardian beast that could counter them, the first Barugon being an initial attempt, before they succeeded with Gamera, Guardian of the Universe. By then, however, the damage was done. Atlantis' collapse would send their fell creations into the caverns of the Hollow Earth, Gamera in pursuit, and while most of them were hunted to extinction, the scattered remnants were only barely kept in check by every other kaiju resident of the caverns that recognized the threat they posed to the biosphere. During the Vietnam War, the Gyaos would reemerge into the surface world due to strip-mining opening a gateway into the Hollow Earth, whereupon they would ravage numerous communities around Mt. Fuji. The creatures would reappear several times in the following decades, and some were even being taken by extraterrestrial civilizations in attempts to control them for use as weapons of war... attempts which almost always ended in disaster for all parties involved.
The Gyaos are genetic chimeras of various species of birds, bats, flying reptiles, and other species, all merged together in a bid to create a sort of ultimate superweapon. They are, as previously noted, insatiable in their hunger and driven by preprogrammed instinct to consume every other living thing in their presence, which defies common sense because meat-eating animals do not practice indiscriminate killing or waste energy attacking everything in sight. Their high metabolism makes them constantly active and on the lookout for their next meal, focusing on little else even to their own detriment. More concerning still is their high reproductive rate - they were designed to live fast and die young, and while genetically female they are capable of parenthenogenesis and birth litters of a half-dozen at a time. Even when newborn, a Gyaos is still the size of an eighteen-wheeler and utterly vicious - cannibalism of others of their species is a common occurrence should their food supplies become too low. Because they breed quickly, they are also capable of adapting to environmental conditions to some degree, though this is more limited than some other kaiju with such an ability. Regardless, they are feared across the globe, the shadow of their swarms darkening the sky sending all manner of fauna and sapients instantly running for cover.
The Gyaos are also notable for a semi-eusocial lifestyle - while all capable of reproduction, should enough of them be present in a single area, some will undergo a hormonal influx and rapid growth spurt, becoming Super Gyaos. Their larger size demands greater subsistence requirements which makes them even more aggressive than their smaller kin, and it is usually they who lead a swarm attack should they be part of one. Gyaos will defer to Super Gyaos as their leaders, and as the latter are somewhat more intelligent than the former, they have been known to issue simple commands to the regular Gyaos for various purposes such as defense, prey capture, or scouting. Some Super Gyaos are however so ferocious that they have been known to turn on and cannibalize their own kind, devouring their entire swarm and then moving on to the other creatures around them. Should enough Super Gyaos exist in one area, one or two will then mutate further and become Hyper Gyaos, kaiju-sized members of the species that are the strongest of their kind and the de-facto "alphas" of multiple swarms. Like the Super Gyaos, however, their hunger and savagery often means they are the first to launch an attack should a feeding opportunity present itself.
While the Gyaos are lethal, they are not invulnerable. Fire is the best way of deterring them because they are not resistant to it and burn easily, and they will panic and flee from even the faintest presence of it. They are also largely nocturnal and are less active during the day, making them more prone to lethargy and lapses of judgement (or what little they have of it) during the daytime, especially due to their vision being impaired by bright light. Their blindness to reason and communication is also a liability to them because they are prone to aggressive, predatory responses to any sort of stimuli which can lead them straight into traps or send them diving into a suicide charge should they be up against a powerful-enough opponent such as Gamera. Nonetheless, the Gyaos are still some of the deadliest creatures on planet Earth and beyond, and even pacifistic, nature-aligned cultures make an exception to their rules against killing when it comes to them, as they are against the natural order due to being artificial.
At least a few Gyaos swarms which have been taken off-world have been noted to have pledged a sort of "loyalty" to other, similar monsters, with two of the Beasts of Worlds' End being some of their prime candidates as a sort of "master". King Ghidorah , The Golden Calamity for his part can't care less about them and is prone to obliterating or hunting them as his whims dictate, but they still attempt to serve him nonetheless even at their own peril. Bagorah , Carrier of the Space Amoeba has been somewhat more receptive, and has actually taken in several swarms as minions of sorts, but his own selfish appetite makes him prone to fighting with these very same underlings for the spoils of his hunts, and the Devourer Eternal isn't above killing and eating any Gyaos unlucky enough to be in his way, either. No interactions with the other Beasts have been recorded thus far, but the Xilian Coalition has nonetheless been attempting to employ the creatures for their own ends... though as with many other races that have tried this, their success rate has been utterly abysmal, and casualties are common.
Combat StatisticsNormal Abilities:
- Standard Sub-Kaiju Strength: The Gyaos are deadly predators that present a threat to every other living thing they chance across, including each other. Their teeth and claws are razor-sharp and can leave gashes in materials as hard as concrete, while their powerful wings can bludgeon smaller victims into submission. The bony plates on their heads are also hard enough to deflect gunfire and their sharp edges allow them to be used to slash at prey and enemies, though this is their only means of defense. These monsters are built primarily for attack, and with a high reproductive rate, they care little about sacrificing their own as long as the survival of the population is ensured.
- Flight: A Gyaos' wings are powerful enough to give it flight even at a size much larger than any other flying creature, a trait shared only with certain aerial kaiju. While capable of standing bipedally without too much trouble so they can use their wing claws to fight, they primarily use their forelimbs for launching skyward like bats and pterosaurs do, so they don't need to build up their back legs to do it. An explosive launch and a sweep of its wings can carry a Gyaos at up to 50 mph through the air in an instant. The Super and Hyper Gyaos stages are even faster still, with the latter able to reach speeds of Mach 3.5 and leave shockwaves in its wake.
- Echolocation: While the vision of a Gyaos is as good as any bird's, its hearing is bat-like and is much more acute, fitting for its nocturnal habits. The Gyaos is able to emit a series of high-pitched clicks like a dolphin or bat, and can map its surroundings based on the echoes even when flying at top speed. It's also able to detect noises that are not its own with incredible precision, picking up the sounds of even the faintest movement from a range from a mile for the regular Gyaos to the range of a large city for a Hyper Gyaos.
Special Abilities:
- Sonic Cutting Beam: An extension of its ultrasound-generating ability, a Gyaos is able to concentrate its sonic projections into a beam of soundwaves that appears as a shimmering line in the air. This sonic blast is capable of piercing through steel, to say nothing but the bodies of even kaiju, the effect being comparable to an armor-piercing bullet. The range of a Gyaos' sonic beam is impressive, ranging up to several miles with enough power behind it, though generally its strength diminishes the further one is from it. The Gyaos swarms tend to fire off these beams en masse to tear an opponent apart from a distance.
- Blood Drain: Like Rodan's species, Gyaos have a long, spike-tipped tongue with an internal duct running down its length, allowing them to tap into blood vessels and drain the bodily fluids from their prey. A special anticoagulant in their saliva enables them to continue feeding for longer, while also leading to exsanguination in an affected victim. A swarm of them can drain a small kaiju completely dry within an hour, leaving behind a shriveled, dessicated husk.
- Parenthenogensis: Gyaos are exclusively female, able to produce young without having to breed with one another, and live-bearing so they aren't restricted by nesting sites. The young are independent within a day of being born, with the pregnancy itself being relatively short - about two to three weeks. This means that despite their insiginficance compared to larger monsters, they can easily build up enough of a population that they become a formidable threat. Strict sanctions have been put into place worldwide to terminate any Gyaos that have been sighted anywhere, with not a single one being allowed to live, because no matter what happens, one Gyaos will soon become many.
Weaknesses:
- Fragile: Gyaos have hollow bones, naked skin, and little in the way of body armor even with their bony head plates. A strong-enough kaiju is capable of tearing even a Hyper Gyaos apart with relative ease, which is why they prefer to attack in massive swarms - as a group, they aren't afraid to sacrifice their own members if it means bringing their opponent down.
- Kill It With Fire: Without any heat-resistant aspects to their anatomy, Gyaos are highly flammable and prone to fatally overheating in the presence of high temperatures. Fire terrifies them and they will attempt to hurl themselves through obstacles just to avoid it, even killing each other in a bid to escape. Some cities have been known to deliberately start massive fires if it means keeping the creatures away, though this of course carries the risk of the infernos causing problems of their own. Kaiju with fire attacks are often avoided by the swarms entirely.
- Super-Persistent Bloodlust: Gyaos have hyperactive metabolisms that demand so much flesh and blood that they treat every hunt as though it was their last - which in many cases it really is given their short lifespan. They are perpetually addicted to the taste of living flesh and are prone to going into violent extremes to feed for sheer hedonistic pleasure, and will even stoop to cannibalism in a bid to sate themselves. A Gyaos can thus be expected to attack without provocation, but this also causes them to prioritize hunting over every other instinct they have, obsessively pursuing even prey as small as humans regardless of personal risk.
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Next on the list of Daiei's Showa-era kaiju, it's the second sub-kaiju species to be illustrated for this project, the dreaded Gyaos! I decided to go with something akin to the Gyaos and Super Gyaos designs from the Heisei era, though I think the different "stages" of them would be a good way to integrate the different appearances of it over the years, with Hyper Gyaos' form referencing the original Showa suit and the other forms being more inspired by the Heisei version along with the Revoltech Super Gyaos toy . The variation between individual Gyaos would also allow for the various other appearances of the creatures to be hypothetically possible, too. Not much else to say about this design, really, but hopefully I managed to capture this thing in all its iconic, grody glory!
Gyaos (c) Kadokawa Daiei Studio
NEXT: COMBINED SPACE MONSTER
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