Stone Creature
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The Stone Creatures (ストーンクリーチャー Sutōn Kurīchā) are a pair of stone monsters that appeared in the 1978 Hanna-Barbera Godzilla episode "Attack of the Stone Creature."
Name
The Stone Creatures' name is a generic description of their physical appearance.
Design
The Stone Creatures are a pair of animated stone monsters resembling lions with tusks. Their bodies are entirely made up of stone blocks and wheels, with their main body and face being made up of orange stones while the stones making up their manes, eyes, lower jaws and tusks being tan. At the tip of their tails is a wheel-like structure covered in spikes, which they use as weapons.
Origins
The Stone Creatures were created by the ancient pharaoh Ramal, a king rumored to have mystic powers, with the intent of protecting the Pyramid of Ramal. After an undisclosed period of time, the Stone Creatures were buried underneath a mountain of sand and remained inactive until archaeologist Gordon Jarvis stumbled upon the pyramid, causing a golden orb attached to the pyramid to flash and awakening the guardians. Research from Dr. Quinn Darian in modern times concluded that they were "legendary creatures" and could control freezing winds.
History
- Godzilla (TV 1978) [episode 3]
Godzilla
"Attack of the Stone Creature"
Created by the ancient pharaoh Ramal, the Stone Creatures watched over the Pyramid of Ramal with the intent of keeping out any trespassers. In modern times, a lone archaeologist named Gordon Jarvis came across the pyramid after 20 years of searching, finding it buried underneath a mountain of sand. As he climbed it, a golden orb began flashing and alerted the Stone Creatures to his presence. A gust of wind unearthed the previously dormant guardians, who began to roar at him. Both guardians shot a vast amount of sand from their mouths while advancing towards Jarvis, crushing his jeep underfoot. As they got closer, the sand turned into icy winds which quickly overwhelmed and nearly killed him. The man managed to survive, albeit afflicted with frostbite, and walked across the desert before collapsing near the Calico crew while they were visiting the Nile River. Curious as to how someone could get frostbite in the desert, they questioned Jarvis and learned of the Stone Creatures' existence, eventually setting out to find the location. Their chopper was soon brought down by an intense blizzard caused by the Stone Creatures, but Godzilla managed to save them from crashing.
The Stone Creatures fought Godzilla after he saved the group, but they were soon buried beneath the sand, leaving Godzilla confused as to where they went. Later on, as the Calico crew tried to go inside the Pyramid of Ramal, the Stone Creatures appeared again and began to fire their blizzard breath at Captain Majors, Quinn, and Brock. Godzilla was summoned again, but the two creatures froze him solid. As the two Stone Creatures charged to tackle him, Godzilla broke free of the ice and evaded the attack, causing them to destroy each other from the force of their collision.
Abilities
Physical abilities
While advancing towards archaeologist Gordon Jarvis, one of the Stone Creatures crushed his jeep underfoot. During their first encounter with Godzilla, they moved out of the way of a blast of his fire breath. Both Stone Creatures have a wheel-like structure covered in spikes at the end of their tails, which they are able to use as weapons by striking opponents with them. When one of them was put in a chokehold by Godzilla, it used its spiked tail like a bat and slammed the appendage into Godzilla's thigh, causing the reptilian to stumble forward and fall with the guardian. The other Stone Creature flung Godzooky through the air after batting him with its tail right after the juvenile kaiju blew smoke rings at him. The force behind the blow was immense enough that it sent Godzooky crashing into Godzilla's face, causing him to fumble his grip on the trapped Stone Creature. The Stone Creatures also display impressive speed, with one bounding towards Godzilla after it noticed its companion trapped under him. After freezing Godzilla solid, both guardians attempted to charge into the reptilian to shatter him into pieces, although this plan was foiled once Godzilla broke out of the ice.
Storm breath
The Stone Creatures can create massive sandstorms or intense blizzards by spewing a steady stream consisting of intense wind and either sand or snow from their mouths. The Stone Creatures can alternate between spraying continuous streams of sand and ice, or firing them in rapid succession like bursts. After being unearthed from their dormancy, the Stone Creatures spewed torrents of sand at Gordon Jarvis as he attempted to climb the Pyramid of Ramal, disorienting him. The sand soon switched to ice, causing the archaeologist to scream in a panic and run off as the area around him began to freeze. Despite escaping the blizzard, Jarvis was left with blue and frostbitten skin and eventually collapsed before the Calico crew. Research from Dr. Quinn Darian confirmed that the guardians could control freezing winds, with Jarvis describing their breaths as akin to a blizzard. The residual winds left by the Stone Creatures was strong enough to kick up a sandstorm and caused Godzooky to get thrown around mid-flight and crash into the ground. It also froze over the Mini-Copter's rotors once the sand changed into ice, requiring a rescue from Godzilla. The Stone Creatures can also use their winds to hide themselves, demonstrated when they buried themselves under sand while Godzilla was distracted with Godzooky, remaining there until the reptilian left. One stream of icy wind from a Stone Creature instantly froze over Godzilla's hand. The streams of ice also proved strong enough to compete with Godzilla's fire breath, engaging in a beam-lock when both rays hit each other. Enough exposure to the icy winds froze over Godzilla's entire body temporarily, leaving him as a statue.
Ice balls
As an alternative to the icy winds, the Stone Creatures can create massive balls of ice from their mouths and then launch them at a target. This was demonstrated when one of the Stone Creatures sprayed its ice breath at Godzilla, only for it to materialize into an ice ball mid-air. The rate at which these ice balls can be fired is very quick, as Godzilla was immediately overwhelmed with the amount of ice balls pelting his body. Upon witnessing this, Dr. Quinn Darian likened them to giant hailstones.
Intelligence
After noticing Godzilla distracted with Godzooky, the Stone Creatures buried themselves under sand by using their storm breaths, leading the Calico crew and Godzilla to become confused as to where they went, with Godzilla even leaving after assuming they were gone. After seeing its companion trapped underneath Godzilla, the other Stone Creature bounded towards the reptilian. After freezing Godzilla solid, both guardians got on opposites sides of him and attempted to shatter his body by ramming into him; this plan would not come to fruition as Godzilla broke out of the ice just as they got close to him.
Durability
One of the Stone Creatures survived being crushed by Godzilla after the reptilian fell on top of it, although it still struggled to get out of his grasp. The other Stone Creature was unaffected by a direct blast of Godzilla's fire breath to the face, only letting out an annoyed roar in response to the attack. Similarly, Godzooky's smoke rings only irritated the Stone Creature.
Weaknesses
A single Stone Creature was easily overpowered by Godzilla, requiring assistance from a second to stand against him. Both Stone Creatures were destroyed when Godzilla tricked them into colliding with each other, reducing them to a pile of rubble.
Gallery
- Main article: Stone Creature/Gallery.
See also
References
This is a list of references for Stone Creature. 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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