Needlar
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Needlar (ニードラー Nīdorā) is a cybernetic horse-like insectoid kaiju who appears in episode 24 of the 1973 tokusatsu kaiju series Zone Fighter, titled "Defeat the Needle Shooting Terror-Beast Needlar."
Design
Needlar is a hybrid of sorts and draws traits mainly from horses as well as insects. His head is shaped like that of a horse and has a long, dark brown mane which drapes down the back of it. At the tip of Needlar's head lies a spotlight-esque device. Near his mouth, two short mandibles can be seen which spread apart when his jaws are open. Needlar does not have ears, but in their place are two insect-like antennae. These appendages rest directly behind his orange, robotic looking eyes. Needlar's entire body is a dark turquoise color, but is mostly covered in metal panels. However, part of Needlar's insides can be seen from the left side of his body; red and blue wires run out from the hole over to another exposed part on the opposite side. Finally, Needlar has a short lock of hair starting on his back side which resembles a horse's tail.
History
- Zone Fighter (TV 1973) [episode 24]
Showa era
Zone Fighter
"Defeat the Needle Shooting Terror-Beast Needlar"
After believing they had killed Hikaru and Hotaru Sakimori in a car crash, a group of Garogas attempting to convert humanity into obedient cyborgs launched a Terror-Beast Missile towards the planet. It exploded near the Garogas' base as Hikaru, Hotaru, and Akira fought to free the villagers inside, releasing the horse-like kaiju Needlar. Now outside, Angel and Junior led the villagers out of view from Needlar while Fighter pulled out his Maser Shot and began to blast the beast. However, this only angered Needlar, the monster continuing to lumber towards them. Tired of being fired at, Needlar unleashed his flamethrower on the Fighter, forcing him to back away before transforming into his giant form. Fighter immediately struck Needlar with an uppercut upon transformation, sending the kaiju sprawling to the ground, then pummeled his as he got up. Noticing the wiring on Needlar's chest, Fighter ripped them off, sending sparks flying from the cyborg's body. Undeterred, Needlar pulled out his blowgun, known as Needla Might, and fired explosive darts at the hero, who was dodged them all. After noticing the destruction caused by the blowdarts, Zone Fighter charged towards Needlar, who simply spun out of the way, and shoved him to the ground when Fighter charged him a second time. Needlar then pulled out another explosive weapon, his Missile Shuriken, and tossed them at Fighter, who again evaded them. The horse-like kaiju then rammed Fighter with his shoulder before flipping the hero on his back after the Meteor Man attempted to jump on him. Needlar helped Zone Fighter to his feet before slamming him back into the ground and slamming his fists into Fighter's body, even sending him flying backwards with one particular gut punch. Seeing the hero weakened, Needlar fired Gamma Beams from his hands, constricting and electrocuting Fighter while worsening his pain. With the hero panting on his hands and knees, Needlar ran up and kicked him in his head, launching him back and revealing that Fighter's energy was running out. Angel and Junior immediately noticed this and boarded Smokey in order to recharge their brother. Needlar promptly targeted the spacecraft with his flames and shuriken, but proved unable to hit it, and Smokey succeeded in recharging Fighter. Invigorated, he overpowered the shocked Terror-Beast with a Meteor Kick. While beating on the kaiju, Zone Fighter ripped off the spotlight on his head and tossed it away. Panicking, Needlar pulled out his shuriken once more and flung them at Fighter, only for the Meteor Man to backflip out of the way of each one. Seeing the hero effortlessly dodge his attacks, Needlar summoned a giant sword-like shuriken as a last resort, and hurled it at Zone Fighter, only for it to be intercepted and destroyed by his Meteor Proton Beam. Out of options, Needlar backed away in fear as Zone Fighter charged up his Meteor Windmill, which knocked him to the ground. Fighter summoned his Meteor Gauntlets and unleashed two volleys of his Meteor Missile Might at Needlar, who writhed in pain from the blasts. Although initially appearing unharmed after the attack had ended, Needlar stumbled back to reveal his head had been severed, with geysers of blood spraying out from his stumped neck, before falling back and exploding.
Abilities
Physical abilities
When Zone Fighter charged at Needlar, the horse-like kaiju simply sidestepped the hero both times it was attempted against him, even forcibly shoving the hero to the ground on the second attempt. Later both Needlar and Zone Fighter charged at each other, resulting in a shoulder clash from the two that knocked Zone back a bit. When Zone Fighter tried to jump on Needlar's back, the horse kaiju leaned down and flipped the hero right onto his back, before pulling the hero off the ground just to flip him over onto it again. Needlar then walked over to the downed hero and began to slam his fists into Zone Fighter's body, lifted him off the floor once again, then proceeded to hit Zone with a few gut punches, before ending it with an uppercut to the head, flooring the hero. While Zone Fighter was weakened and on his knees, Needlar ran over to kick the hero in the head while he was down. After failing to be charged by Zone Marker Change the first time, Needlar ran up from behind and knocked Zone to the ground. Needlar attempted to knock Smokey out of the air by swiping at it, only to miss.
Missile Shuriken
Needlar can materialize both small and large sword-like shuriken from nowhere, which when thrown will embed themselves into their target and eventually self destruct, with the ability being called Missile Shuriken (ミサイル手裏剣 Misairu Shuriken) within the episode. Needlar initially threw a few of the smaller shuriken at Zone Fighter, causing massive explosions the size of Zone himself to pop up after impacting the ground. The smaller shuriken were described as having a very high temperature that can burn everything it touches. When targeting Smokey, Needlar threw multiple of the smaller shuriken at the spacecraft in an attempt to destroy it. The larger version of the shuriken is wielded like a sword by Needlar before the horse kaiju had thrown at Zone Fighter in an attempt to kill the hero.
Needla Might
Needlar wields a giant blowgun which when held up to a hole in his neck will fire explosive darts of various colors in rapid succession. These are coated with poison, according to All Kaiju Kaijin (First Volume). According to Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia, this attack is called the Needla Might (ニードラマイト Nidoramaito). Needlar used his blowgun against Zone Fighter, shooting multiple darts at the hero, with each one exploding after impacting the ground. In the episode itself, it was explained that the darts fired from the blowgun are extremely powerful and that if they were to hit Zone, he would be "shattered into pieces". One dart from the blowgun was shown to cut a large tree in half.
Gamma Beam
Needlar can fire a pair of orange energy beams from the palm of his hands which can constrict any enemy it comes in contact with as well as shocking them. Needlar used these beams against a weakened Zone Fighter, leaving the hero to groan out in pain and stumble around, before eventually falling to his knees. According to All Kaiju Kaijin (First Volume), this attack is called the Gamma Beam (ガンマービーム Ganmabimu).
Flamethrower
Like various Terror-Beasts, Needlar can breath a concentrated stream of fire from between his mandibles. Needlar first used this attack by directing his flames at a human sized Zone Fighter while the hero was ushering civilians to safety. Needlar later unleashed his flames upon Smokey, as the spacecraft attempted to get closer to recharge Zone Fighter.
Intelligence
Needlar was alerted to Smokey's presence and understood that Zone Fighter was attempting to recharge himself via Zone Marker Change, and began to target the spacecraft in order to prevent Zone's recovery. When Zone Fighter was preparing his Meteor Windmill technique, Needlar was shown backing away in fear.
Durability
Blasts from Zone Fighter's Maser Shot were able to briefly stun and interrupt Needlar's pursuit of escaping captives and Zone's siblings, although it did not appear to harm the horse kaiju, only irritating him. Needlar was knocked backwards when Zone Fighter transformed into his giant mode, while the hero was directly beneath him. During their fight, Needlar endured various punches to the head and chest, along kicks being mixed in. Needlar was also noticeably unaffected after the wires on his chest were ripped out of their sockets. A Meteor Kick from Zone Fighter was able to send Needlar to ground, where the horse kaiju was then pummeled repeatedly by Zone. Needlar was also shown being unaffected by Zone Fighter ripping off the spotlight-esque device attached to the top of his head. Needlar was knocked to the ground by Zone's Meteor Windmill and was finally killed after being hit with the twin volleys from Zone Fighter's Meteor Missile Might, leaving the horse to stumble around before revealing that the missile volleys decapitated him, with various spurts of blood erupting from the stump. Needlar's headless body then began to stumble backwards before falling over and exploding.
Comics
Goji-Maga
Needlar along with Zone Fighter, the Garogas, and several other Terror-Beasts appeared in a volume of the fan-made manga Goji-Maga.
Gallery
- Main article: Needlar/Gallery.
Roar
Needlar’s roars are low pitched Fubugirara roars, which themselves are lower pitched and slowed down Sanda roars.
References
This is a list of references for Needlar. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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