Michael Bay’s Transformers inspired Godzilla vs. Kong’s Mechagodzilla to not look like a plane crash

It has been an entire week since Godzilla vs. Kong launched in cinemas and online via HBO Max, so the gloves are officially off on spoilers! Consider yourselves warned from this point on as we discuss that scene where Godzilla asks Kong to save Mothra, and Kong is all like “HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT NAME!?” before chucking his Kryptonite spear away.

Jokes aside, the big but sort of not so secret reveal in Godzilla vs. Kong is the reveal of a new titan on the block: Mechagodzilla! Godzilla’s age-old mechanised rival got a new spin on life in the film, this time piloted by the neural ghost of Ghidora, which was presumably still pissed off about it being absolutely flash-fried by the Big G in King of the Monsters.

When Mechagodzilla did emerge for a proper fight though? It was glorious. That triple-threat bout between the heaviest hitters on the planet was so gorgeously shot and choreographed, that it made the brains of every pedantic person in the room explode at the sheer level of physics-defying action unfolding.

The key takeaway here was that Mechagodzilla looked fantastic. Absolutely menacing, lethal in its construction, and able to spam a V-Trigger Superman punch like there was no tomorrow, Mecha-G’s design was inspired by Michael Bay’s Transformers. Or to be more accurate, its visual concept was inspired to be the exact opposite of the Bayformers universe.

Speaking to Inverse, Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard explained the origins of Mechagodzilla’s design seen in the film. “I just always loved the simplicity of the [classic] ‘Transformers’ designs,” Wingard explained. “So I tried to create a look to the character that was punchy and just had a bit more simplicity. There’s an immediacy to his shape and outline.”

I remember watching the third ‘Transformers’ movie in the theater. It was one of those things where I was with a date, and we got there late, and the only seats that were available were literally in the front row. And so I’m sitting there watching ‘Transformers 3’ in the front row, and I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on.”

The Transformers, they just looked like metal. They looked like a plane crash. So I thought, that’s the thing I wanted to avoid. They were too complex. There are too many moving parts, and I couldn’t latch on to anything. Nothing felt iconic with that Transformers design.

Mechagodzilla definitely has shades of the classic Transformers in its design, with a frame that almost feels vaguely reminiscent of the Decepticon’s own resident Kaiju, Trypticon. Overall, it’s a lean and mean design that absolutely clobbered a battle-weary Godzilla, at least until Kong joined the fight and axed it a few questions.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the TLDR review for Godzilla vs. Kong: Big ideas, even bigger plot holes, and big dumb fun that works brilliantly when you suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the film for what it is, which is a classic slobber-knocker of a creature feature.

Last Updated: April 7, 2021