Draft:Moguera

Name

Moguera's name stems from "mogura" (Japanese: モグラ, Hepburn: dirt dragon)—the Japanese word for "mole"—referencing both the creature's digging abilities and its original design concept as a giant, mole-like animal in The Mysterians. While the Showa-era robot's name is in katakana, the later Heisei version is often stylized in English as "MOGERA" or "M.O.G.E.R.A".^[1][2]

In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), M.O.G.U.E.R.A is an acronym for "Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type".^[1][3][4] Due to the Japanese name lacking a 'U', the "Universal" part is omitted in the Japanese film version, with some media using "G-Expert" instead. Additionally, the Japanese trailer lists the final portion as "A-type".^[5]

Design

Teizo Toshimitsu modeled the head of the Moguera suit, while Kanju Yagi and Yasuei Yagi crafted the body. The costume was built in separate sections—head, upper body, and lower body—that had to be worn individually, with a vinyl material painted over the metal surface.^[6][7] To depict a second Moguera burrowing underground, a miniature puppet, half the size of the suit, was created featuring a rotating drill nose and arms. Originally, the filmmakers first intended to build a self-propelled, tracked model of Moguera’s upper body for this scene, but the design proved too difficult to complete.^[6]

Suit actors Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka, both actors of which had portrayed as Godzilla in 1954, and Rodan in 1956, had portrayed Moguera.^[8][9] Since the costume featured a detachable upper and lower body, the actors filmed destruction scenes—such as stomping on buildings and jeeps—wearing only the bottom half. After the production on The Mysterians had wrapped, the Moguera suit was placed in storage at a Toho soundstage, where it was eventually destroyed by a pyrotechnic fire during the filming of the 1974 film Prophecies of Nostradamus.^[8]

In 1994, during the development of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, special effects director Koichi Kawakita, pushed to bring back Moguera from The Mysterians for the sixth Heisei film. Although the machine was almost replaced by Mechagodzilla, Kawakita’s vision prevailed, and Minoru Yoshida was brought on to design the new incarnation.^[10][11] Early design concepts for M.O.G.U.E.R.A were quite varied, featuring ideas where it could transform into a separate aircraft, an underground vehicle, or even the Gotengo from Atragon. M.O.G.U.E.R.A ultimately realised an early concept for Mechagodzilla by being the combined form of two distinct vehicles, the flying Garuda II and the subterranean Mole Tank.^[10]

The Mysterians (1957)

Before revealing themselves, the Mysterians unleashed Moguera to devastate a village and destroy its shrine. After the robot moved upstream and destroyed a power plant, the JSDF engaged it with heavy weaponry—ranging from flamethrowers to 24 Twin Rocket Cars—but to no avail. Finally, they lured the machine onto a rigged bridge, detonating the explosives and sending Moguera falling into the river below to explode.^[12] After defeating the first Moguera, a second Moguera, Moguera No. 2 (Japanese: モゲラ(2号), Hepburn: Mogera (Nigō)), was deployed to attack from beneath the surface. However, while burrowing, it dug too close to a Markalite Cannon, causing the cannon to collapse on top of it and destroying both machines in the process.^[13]

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

In 1995, G-Force completed construction of the Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type (M.O.G.U.E.R.A),^[3] an anti-Godzilla robot comprised of the Land Moguera and Star Falcon vehicles. Due to its complex design, it was only completed after Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla, utilizing salvaged parts from the destroyed machine. M.O.G.U.E.R.A was first dispatched to intercept SpaceGodzilla, but was severely damaged in space and forced to return to Earth. After being repaired and upgraded, the mech was sent to Fukuoka to fight SpaceGodzilla again. However, pilot Akira Yuki, driven by a personal grudge, hijacked M.O.G.U.E.R.A to attack Godzilla instead.^[14][15] After Yuki was subdued by co-pilots Kiyoshi Sato and Koji Shinjo, M.O.G.U.E.R.A battled SpaceGodzilla alone until Godzilla arrived to join the fight.^[15][16]

M.O.G.U.E.R.A’s pilots targeted SpaceGodzilla by assisting Godzilla in destroying his energy source, the Fukuoka Tower. By splitting into Star Falcon and Land Moguera, they toppled the tower, disabling SpaceGodzilla's recharge ability. While reuniting, the units provided ground-and-air suppressing fire before ultimately destroying SpaceGodzilla’s shoulder crystals with Spiral Grenade Missiles. Although both Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A initially had the advantage, SpaceGodzilla retaliated by stabbing M.O.G.U.E.R.A with his tail crystals and then sent it flying it into a building.^[15][17][18]

While pilots Sato and Shinjo evacuated the trapped machine, Yuki stayed behind to fly it back into action. Despite sparks flying from its ruined armor, Yuki managed to ram M.O.G.U.E.R.A into SpaceGodzilla, knocking the monster down, before it lost control and crashed, becoming completely disabled. After pulling Yuki from the wreckage, Shinjo watched as Godzilla capitalised on M.O.G.U.E.R.A’s final sacrifice to destroy SpaceGodzilla. As the weakened clone struggled to rise, Godzilla’s atomic breath knocked him back down, followed quickly by a barrage of spiral heat rays. While the first two blasts crippled SpaceGodzilla, the third blast struck the remains of M.O.G.U.E.R.A, decapitating it and incinerating its remains. Godzilla’s final blast completely vaporized the celestial clone, destroying SpaceGodzilla. While M.O.G.U.E.R.A was destroyed in the process, the mech's intervention was essential for Godzilla to secure the victory.^[18]

Film

• The Mysterians (1957)
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004; toy)

Television

• Godzilla Island (1997–1998)
• Godzilla Singular Point (2021; toy)

Video games

• Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! (1988)
• Godzilla: Trading Battle (1998)
• Godzilla Generations (1998)
• Godzilla: Save the Earth (2004)
• Godzilla: Unleashed (2007)
• Godzilla Battle Line (2021)