Notzilla

From Goshilla to Gorgo, these bros are down-low with Toho.^{Clockwise from top left}Giga Bowser, Gorgo, Yongary, Goshilla. Godzilla is in the center.

Japanese Man 1: RUN! IT'S GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: It looks like Gojira, but due to international copyright laws, it's not.
Japanese Man 1: STILL, WE SHOULD RUN LIKE IT IS GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: [to the camera] Though it isn't.
Both: AAAAAAHHHH!!!

— Austin Powers in Goldmember

Ah, Godzilla. One of the most easily recognized monsters in fiction. A giant reptilian monster that rampages across Tokyo. Because of his recognizability, writers/directors/producers/etc. will often use a parody or Expy of him for their giant monster attacks whether it's explicitly meant as a Satire/Homage or not.

Enter the Notzilla. The Notzilla is a Stock Parody of Godzilla used in movies, cartoons, TV shows, and other forms of media. While the Notzilla may bear a resemblence to the famous Japanese movie monster, he may also be just a generic reptilian monster with "-zilla" at the end of his name. In a comedic setting, the Notzilla may also parody other aspects of Japanese monster movies such as bad dubbing and cheesy special effects. Other common elements include:

• Emerging from the depths of the ocean.
• Spitting fire or another brightly-colored Energy Weapon from the mouth.
• Some kind of plates, a shell, or spiky protrusions running down the back- they may also glow.
• A tripod stance with two legs and a long tail dragging behind, like early dinosaur reconstructions (or a kangaroo if you're feeling less generous.)
• A Broad Strokes origin (if given one) as either an ancient relic revived in the modern day or a Nuclear Mutant, or both.
• Complete immunity to conventional weapons.
• A tendency to focus their destruction on a certain major Japanese city.
• And of course, being very, very large.

Interestingly enough, many Notzillas also possess traits that their inspiration rarely or never exhibited, but somehow have entered the public consciousness as Godzilla-like in a sort of monstrous Beam Me Up, Scotty!. For example, a lot of them tend to be colored bright green despite the original having scales that are black to charcoal gray, or are fully reptilian with snake-like pupil slits and a forked tongue despite Godzilla having almost as many mammal traits as he does reptile. Notzillas often also possess a single distinguishing non-Godzilla feature such as a horn, ears, or fins, usually on the head- perhaps as an attempt to keep the notoriously protective Toho from taking notice. After all, as they say, if you think Godzilla's scary, wait until you meet his lawyers!

Compare Rent-a-Zilla, which simply involves some sort of giant creature (not always a Godzilla parody) present in a work not normally focused on giant monsters. Also compare King Kong Copy, for expies and parodies of the other most iconic giant movie monster, and T. Rexpy, for creatures inspired by the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Not to be confused with CoDzilla, a fanspeak term for overpowered "Cleric or Druid" builds in Dungeons & Dragons.

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Examples:

Advertising

• An old Tootsie Pop commercial had a kid asking a giant robot and a Godzilla parody the old question, "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"
• Chewits is the brand name of a cuboid-shaped, soft chewy sweet, manufactured in Britain since the 1960s. The original advertisements featured the 'Monster Muncher' (now known as 'Chewie the Chewitsaurus'), a Godzilla-resembling mascot on the hunt for something chewy to eat.
• One Subway Five Dollar Foot Long commercial had a knockoff of Godzilla in it. A remake of it was replaced with a generic giant robot.
• There was a novelty light sold in Spencer's Gifts stores called "Flamezilla".

Anime & Manga

• Sonic X: In "Emerald Anniversary", Sonic and Dr Eggman's robot Weazo end up on the set of a movie featuring a Godzilla lookalike, with Weazo using a flamethrower on the giant monster.
• One episode of Case Closed had the heroes on tour of a studio that featured a spoof of Godzilla and Gamera called "Gomera".
• A couple of episodes of The Adventures of Mini-Goddess involve a rat transforming into a Godzilla parody.
• The Digimon Tyrannomon (and according to Word of God, Guilmon-line) is supposed to be a parody/homage to Godzilla. Tyrannomon's variants or higher forms add in more obvious references, like Dark Tyranomon's maple-leaf shaped spines or Metal Tyranomon having an attack called Nuclear Laser. Tyrannomon's Mega level forms like Machinedramon or Rust Tyranmon add in Mechagodzilla references.
• The premise of Kaiju Girl Caramelise involves socially awkward high school girl Kuroe Akaishi sporadically transforming into Harugon, a Kaiju heavily resembling Godzilla but with added horns and batlike wings (and heart-shaped pupils that are also present in Kuroe's human form).
• My Hero Academia:
  • My Hero Academia: Two Heroes features a Pro Hero named Godzillo, who looks like the Godzilla from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah except wearing a white longcoat and pants with red flames.
  • During the Final Battle, Spinner, the Lizard Man of the League of Villains, receives some Quirks from All For One which lets him grow to gigantic proportions and develop a hard scaled hide, making him look like a homage to Godzilla. Unfortunately, the strain of the new power causes Spinner's mind to slowly fade.

Comic Books

• Marvel Comics have one to a certain extent.
  • At one time, they owned the comic book rights to Godzilla and ran a successful comic series Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1977) in which he fought The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., making it canon. Since that time, they have lost the rights so whenever there have been flashbacks or references to these events, Godzilla's name is absent. The villain known as Dr. Demonicus had used a horned kaiju that was hinted at being a mutated Godzilla. More recently, in an issue of Mighty Avengers, the Fantastic Four villain Mole Man used a swarm of giant monsters to attack New York, one of which looked suspiciously like Godzilla.
  • In addition to that, many characters and items that first appeared in the Marvel series have returned multiple times since they are still owned by Marvel. For instance, Amadeus Cho has been shown piloting The Behemoth, a ship that was created to destroy Godzilla. The Red Ronin, a giant samurai robot (similar to the Sentinels except over 10 times taller) built for the same purposes, also shows up every now and then. Then there is Yuriko Takiguchi, a Godzilla supporting character, who has resurfaced in an issue of X-Men.
  • The "American Kaiju", aka Todd Ziller, is a Godzilla-like monster with the Stars & Stripes on his stomach and head, brewed from a mix of Marvel Comic super serums and applied phlebotinums.
• Played with in one Usagi Yojimbo story, when two recuring peasant characters find a large egg and try to warm it up for a meal. It ends up hatching to reveal a friendly child-sized Notzilla, at which point the peasants flee. Usagi (who intends to bathe in nearby hot springs) encounters the creature and feeds it. A little later some bandits who wish to rob Usagi show up and catch Usagi without his swords. At this point the creature uses his atomic breath to blast the bandits. After naming the creature "Zilla" (after the sound it makes), Usagi bids it farewell and notes that he is heading to the city and maybe the creature might head there itself after it grows up...
  Usagi: "Are you a god, Zilla?"
• Played with when one year of Superman's annual New Year's "Metropolis Mailbag" letter-answering/wish-granting traditions was constantly interrupted by a clash between a Japanese kid in a Super Robot (a new Toyman) and a giant Metallo. One that was constantly interrupted by various Kaiju coming out of nowhere. The "Godzilla" in this case was a literal giant Gorilla-whale.
• The titular prison in Kaijumax is for giant monsters, so it's got Expies of lots of monsters, including the Big Guy himself. Our protagonist Electrogor has something of Godzilla's body shape, and is the "hero" of this story. Local don Ape-Whale's name is a pun: Godzilla/gojira comes from kojira, "whale," and "gorilla."
• Kaiju Dayz:
  • Big Mama is a bipedal reptilian kaiju capable of breathing flames, though her full head of Supernatural Floating Hair sets her apart from the crowd.
  • Zillgar, an aggressive reptilian kaiju who picks a fight with Big Mama by trying to steal her drink. They hit it off, but his callousness towards the possability of her kids being killed by Vassal the Righteous leads to her maiming him before storming off to save her kids.
• Top 10: Gograh, an over-the-hill city smasher with a skyscraper sized beer belly who can't return to Monster Island because he's skipped child support payments. He also mentions that "A Gojira" is a Kaiju insult for a Category Traitor who sucks up to humans for approval. His Half-Human Hybrid son Ernesto is merely a very large (7 feet tall) reptilian gangbanger.
• El Lagarto Hombre from The Goon is a mutant horned toad who speaks in Gratuitous Spanish. Naturally, Goon defeats him by being turned into a giant gorilla-like creature to fight by Dr. Alloy. Alloy later resurrects El Lagarto Hombre as a human-sized servant, but he escapes and becomes a giant monster again.
• Animaniacs: A story from the comics is set in Japan and has a Godzilla-like monster named Gigantasaurus a.k.a. Leon.
• Robin: Tim's friend Ives keeps a figurine of a lawyer friendly Godzilla-like creature from an in universe similar franchise on his desk.
• The cover of the first issue of XXXenophile features a man putting on a Godzilla-like costume while a woman lies back with paper pagodas covering her...assets. The Collectible Card Game version calls it a "'Zilla Suit".
  • The XXXenophile Big Book O' Fun extends the cover to a wraparound image with a guy in a Mothra costume (and two tiny naked girls(!)) hiding on the ledge outside the window.

Fan Works

• Sharptooth in Prehistoric Earth is an abnormally large Tyrannosaurus rex who goes on a Godzilla-style Escaped Animal Rampage in which he serves as the story's biggest threat and engages in multiple Behemoth Battles with other dinosaurs. In Phase Three, he even shows a Grumpy Old Man personality similar to the MonsterVerse incarnation of Godzilla (while, ironically, bonding with and becoming the protector of a petite blonde woman, similar to another iconic giant monster).
• RealityCheck's Nyxverse: In Nyx's Family, Garble and his gang of teenage dragons ingest dozens of fire opals to grow to a massive size and raid the Crystal Empire after a series of miscommunications by the media, eventually inciting Spike to grow to his giant monster form to fight back. He eventually sends them packing, but not without additional help from Bright Eyes, ala Pacific Rim, and a nick-of-time magic boost from the long-lost second Crystal Heart.
• Rise of the Galeforces: An Out of Character Violet Parr, her family, a host of Original Characters, and several hundred other things replace Ian Malcolm and company in a re-hash of the climax of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. What leads to this trope is the fact that Violet gets turned into a mutated and utterly invincible Tyrannosaurus rex, resulting in a Godzilla-style rampage that single-handedly wipes out the antagonistic forces and eventually the Big Bad himself.

Films — Animation

• One of Mike and Sulley's friends in Monsters, Inc. is Ted, who is so big only his green, scaly feet are visible. (They clearly resemble the foot in Bambi Meets Godzilla.) Originally they planned to use Godzilla's roar, but they couldn't secure the rights so they used a chicken cluck instead.
• A Deleted Scene in Toy Story 2 has Rex attacking buildings and soldiers a la' Godzilla.
• Shelley the turtle in Frankenweenie is turned into a giant monster that looks like a cross between Godzilla and Gamera.
• The beginning Dream Sequence of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America has the titular duo rampaging through the city as giant versions of themselves. Though, this is mostly Butt-Head's dream and Beavis interrupts when he starts shaking him in the waking world.
• Batman Unlimited: Mechs Vs. Mutants sees Killer Croc transformed into this thanks to being infused with samples from Bane, Chemo, and Clayface, only with freeze breath instead of atomic breath.

Films — Live-Action

• Austin Powers in Goldmember lampshades this with two Japanese men running from a monster statue that vaguely resembles Godzilla.
  "It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not!"
• Gamera began his life as a very blatant Godzilla knockoff with Giant Monster Gamera, featuring a giant reptilian beast with a Breath Weapon that is awakened by a nuclear blast, is immune to military attack, and destroys Tokyo. The two sequels followed this trend, with further expies of spiky quadruped Anguirus and crested, winged Rodan in the forms of the spiky quadruped Barugon and the crested, winged Gyaos, although the franchise would start to establish its own identity after that.
• Gogola is a lost Indian kaiju movie from 1966, which, from what little is known of its existence, is a near carbon-copy to Godzilla in terms of story (featuring another giant reptilian monster emerging from the sea to rampage in the city), the monster's appearance, and even its name.
• Gorgo, the title monster (and its larger mother) bear a very strong resemblance to Godzilla, something that was initially even more obvious, as the film was initially going to be set in Japan before the Japanese investors funding the movie pulled out. So in the final product, we have a giant semi-aquatic dinosaur rampaging in London instead of Tokyo. The comic spin-offs made this comparison even closer by having the film's two monsters do battle against a variety of other beasts and aliens.
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park combines this trope with Escaped Animal Rampage in the third act, in the form of the bull Tyrannosaurus rex running loose in San Diego in search of his lost infant — which is in fact a Shout-Out to a similar sequence in the climax of The Lost World (which was released in 1925, nearly thirty years ahead of Godzilla's own debut) involving an escaped Brontosaurus. The JP film drives this trope home by briefly featuring some panicking Japanese civilians screaming what roughly translates to, "We left Japan to get away from this!"
• The 2019 parody kaiju film literally called Notzilla stars a Godzilla-esque monster called Notzilla that grows in size whenever it consumes alcohol.
• Lizzie from Rampage (2018) may qualify, and in fact the producers had to change her from a bipedal lizard-monster to a quadrupedal giant alligator to tone down the aspect of her being a Godzilla knockoff. In the original games she was actually based on the Ymir, a different lizard monster, but the movie version is another story.
• Reigo King Of The Sea Monsters and its two sequels feature monsters which look like an aquatic subspecies of Godzilla, and the comparison is made even more blatant by the Western titles and cover art, which play up their mockbuster status for all they're worth. The first is made to resemble Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), the second Godzilla (2014), and the third (titled God Raiga vs King Ohga) Godzilla vs. Kong.
• Yongary: Monster from the Deep featured an upright, fire-breathing reptilian monster that rampages through an East Asian country's capital city, and it was made in the 1960s, attempting to ride the wave of Godzilla and Gamera movies that were being rapidly pumped out at the time. Yongary was originally even more like Godzilla until they added a nose horn to the suit. There was also a quasi-remake known as Reptilian released in 1999 meant to ride the popularity of Godzilla (1998); the Western home video cover art looks very similar too, and the film has a direct Take That! to Godzilla, calling him a "pussy" compared to Yongary.

Literature

• The children's book "Dogzilla" parodies this with relish, featuring a giant dog terrorizing a Mouse World by doing dog things such as chewing up bones (from the natural history museum) and chasing cars (right off the highway), until the mice ward her off with lots and lots of soapsuds. Unfortunately, they hadn't figured on puppies!
  • From the same author, we have "Kat Kong", a King Kong Copy complete with the titular monster climbing a building, then falling to its doom.
• One of the Nightside tales has a scene referencing classic Monster Mash horror characters, including a passing reference to Big Green Lizard. Said reptile had reportedly been barred from the Nightside ever since an embarrassing "radioactive dump" incident.

Live-Action TV

• Agon: Atomic Dragon was a four-episode 1968 tokusatsu kaiju miniseries starring the titular mutated amphibious reptile with atomic fire-breath, who even looks like the Showa Godzilla with greatly-reduced dorsal scutes. This led to Toho prohibiting Nippon TV from broadcasting the series for four years, until they were convinced the resemblance to Godzilla was coincidental.
• Given how it was made by the people behind Godzilla, the Chouseishin Series has quite a few monsters resembling Godzilla, as well as other kaiju in the Godzilla-verse.
  • In Chouseishin Gransazer, the Akelon is capable of transforming into a giant scaled dragon-like form that looks like Godzilla, only pink.
  • Defrog in Genseishin Justiriser is a black lizard-like kaiju with a spiky back that looks and acts almost exactly like Godzilla, even being able to fire a blue heat beam from its mouth like Godzilla does. The series also features King Zero, a Rodan-like bird monster, and Megarion, a mole-like mecha based on Moguera. And of course, we can't forget how Riseross is clearly modeled after Mechagodzilla, or to be precise, it's Kiryu incarnation.
  • Chousei Kantai Sazer X has Bardress, a lizard-like kaiju who resembles Godzilla fitted with a suit of armor. The show also features an expy of another Godzilla kaiju in Deathber, a Hedorah-like Muck Monster (who was even originally called "Heddora" in the planning stage, but was changed for being too on the nose).
• A special episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had Crow making a spoof of the 1998 remake of Godzilla (since they weren't allowed to review it and Crow's use of the title is even bleeped out) using a toy iguana calling it "Goshzilla".
  "And Mike paid a quarter to watch it, so it's already made more money than *bleep*zilla."
• An episode of Muppets Tonight featured Kermit as "Frogzilla".
• An episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch had Sabrina be a Godzilla parody.
  • Another episode dealt with Sabrina having to try and convince a parody of the USA Godzilla of all monsters to stop destroying a city. In a rather interesting reference to the film, the monster understands French but not Japanese.
• In an episode of iCarly, Freddie's date gets lemon juice squirted in her eye and rampages thru Carl's model Utopian city like Godzilla.
• Even the Ultra Series has done this trope! Makes sense when you consider that the special effects guy behind Godzilla created the franchise.
  • Gomess from the first episode of the first series (Though, he's made many appearances since) was made from a modified Godzilla suit. He still looks distinct enough that you probably wouldn't notice that if you first saw him. Beyond the suits, Gomess doesn't have much in common with Godzilla, though later series such as Ultraman X and Ultraman Decker put multiple Shout Outs to Godzilla in episodes where Gomess appears. Shin Ultraman pokes fun at this via a Mythology Gag by having its iteration of Gomess as an obviously recycled Shin Godzilla CG model.
  • Bemular — who first appears in Ultra Operation No.1 — is a gigantic reptilian alien covered in spines, and is capable of breathing a jet of blue flames. Rumor has it he was intended as an expy of the Showa Godzilla to show just how much more powerful Ultraman was than Godzilla.
  • Jirass from Episode 10 of the original Ultraman, who is physically nothing more than Godzilla with a frill (Even then, Ultraman tears off the frill in the battle, creating the closest you'll ever get to Ultraman vs. Godzilla). He even uses a modified version of Godzilla's roar, a similar Breath Weapon, and has the same suit actor! He does have a different origin story though (the creation of a mad scientist obsessed with dinosaurs). Eiji Tsuburaya did not intend Jirass to look like Godzilla, but due to budget issues during the early episodes, he borrowed the Godzilla costume from Toho Studios for usage.
  • Earthron (originally from the first episode of Return of Ultraman, but has appeared in other entries) is strongly based on Godzilla, though he still manages to carry a distinct appearance like a horn on his head, two rows of fleshy ridges where Godzilla has his famous spines, a different head design, and magma breath. It's probably not a coincidence that Ishiro Honda directed his debut episode and the Earthron costume was designed by the guy who made the Godzilla suit either.
  • Demaaga from the first episode of Ultraman X, like Earthron is based on Godzilla, but not made from a Godzilla costume like Gomess and Jirass. However, beyond resemblance, he bears nothing in common as Demaaga is primarily a fire monster.
• ThirtyRock: Tracy's con-artist fake son Donald starts a Kaiju-themed Dinner Theater restaurant featuring "Godzila with one 'L' for trademark reasons."
• Hannibal plays a Godzilla knock-off monster named Gatorella in The A-Team.
• Super Sentai and its American counterpart Power Rangers occasionally feature these as well:
  • Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (season 1) had Dragon Caesar/Dragon Zord, a Humongous Mecha used by the Sixth Ranger. While Dragon Caesar had a lot of similarities to Kiryu, the mechanical kaiju killer from Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, Zyuranger actually came out first. The face and chest being similarly shaped and both having a 4-bladed drill weapon actually turned out to be a case of Toei and Toho having similar ideas on how to update the design independently.
  • Seijuu Sentai Gingaman/Power Rangers Lost Galaxy had Daitanix/Titanosaur, a Godzilla-expy monster used by Captain Zahab/Catain Mutiny.
• One of the Whammy animations (specifically a Double Whammy, meaning the contestant would covered in stuff) from Whammy was "Whamzilla" attacking a city (with a talking stack of dollar bills going "Look, it's Whamzilla!") The contestant then got tiny foam buildings dumped on them.

Manhua

• Reborn as a Monster: Lin Yuan, after being run over by a truck while trying to save a Godzilla figurine his absentee father sent him, is reborn as a Thunder Dragon — a bipedal reptilian monster with jagged dorsal spikes that can emit a blue glow, and the ability to breathe blue flames — and finds himself in a parallel universe which essentially mashes together Chinese mythology and the MonsterVerse.

Music

• The Historian Himself's songs (especially Approaching Destroyers) often features Kaiju that sound suspiciously Godzilla like in description, with such words as "reptilian", "prehistoric", and "extinct" being used to describe them.

Pinballs

• In Red & Ted's Road Show, San Francisco gets attacked by a giant lizard monster. Red and Ted have to stop it with their bulldozer.

Print Media

• The magazine G-Fan's mascot is a Godzilla parody named "Gfantis".
• Dragon magazine once had a editor's note about their refusal to print Dungeons & Dragons stats for Godzilla, the editor at the time simply stated that, licensing issues aside, they could change his name to "Herman" and most PC's would be lizard food.

Software

• Mozilla, the original mascot of Netscape and the namesake of the Mozilla Foundation and community (whose logo is a red dinosaur instead). Certain versions of Netscape Navigator had an Easter Egg which changed the normal page loading animation to Mozilla raising its head and breathing fire.

Tabletop Games

• Call of Cthulhu: One of the monsters added in the "Secrets of Japan" supplement is a colossal irradiated dinosaur-like creature called Gazira, who breathes radioactive flames, has dorsal spines that glow as it charges its Breath Weapon, and is known to pick fights against other giant monsters.
• The Happy City Expansion Pack Grozilla adds giant monsters to the game. Grozilla itself is a clear nod to Godzilla, though Played for Laughs — this giant green monster is drawn in a cute artstyle, and its Flavor Text is the quote "I am not fat!"
• King of Tokyo, as a kaiju battle game, quite naturally has one in the form of Gigazaur.
• The Mecha vs Kaiju setting has Expy Kaibutsu (which translates as "Monster"). Every inch of it is a Godzilla reference, ranging from being portrayed as a dinosaur-monster to having atomic breath and connections to the A-bomb.
• Pathfinder introduced its version of kaiju (naturally, enormous primal monsters with dramatic titles) in Bestiary 4. The names of about a dozen are listed with no information, but one of the statted-out examples is Mogaru, the Final King — a 300' bipedal reptilian monster with huge dorsal spines that breathes fiery red force beams and who occasionally shows up just to fight other rampaging kaiju... or to smash his way through a city. Several other kaiju are expies of Godzilla's franchise mates, but Mogaru is easily one of the most blatant homages.
• Monsterpocalypse has Terra Khan as this. As a Kaiju miniature game this is almost mandatory.
• One of the cards in the Nuclear War expansion Nuclear Proliferation is "Klodzilla", in which the nuclear blasts awaken a rampaging kaiju.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has the monster Dogoran, the Mad Flame Kaiju, a Fire attribute Dinousaur-type monster whose appearance takes heavy inspiration from Burning Godzilla. Considering the archetype is named Kaiju this was to be expected. To drive the point even further, Dogoran also has a mechanical counterpart called Super Anti-Kaiju War Machine Mecha-Dogoran, an obvious nod to MechaGodzilla (More specifically, it's a reference to Kiryu, as Mecha-Dogoran's effect of gaining power from dead Kaijus is a reference to how Kiryu was built over the skeleton of the original Godzilla).

Toys

• Several novelty plastic dinosaur toys tend to contain at least one dinosaur that vaguely resembles Godzilla. It's also common for inexpensive dinosaur figures with sound effects to use Godzilla's signature roar, though often having to be changed at some point due to threat of legal action from Toho.
• Transformers had a Notzilla of the American Godzilla in the Transformers: Energon toyline in the form of Cruellock (and its recolor Doomlock), but their main giant robo-dinosaur (usually breathing fire and/or with laser cannon in its mouth) is Trypticon. Energon also had an Autobot MASER Tank (Signal Flare), destroying any possibility that this was a coincidence.
• Zoids:
  • The Gojulas, the mainstay of the whole line before the emphasis on Ligers in the anime. It's been remade and upgraded several times, and acknowledges Zilla with the Gojulas Giga.
  • Taken further with one called "Brachio-Zilla" who's tank-like turrets could also count it as a notzilla of MechaGodzilla.
  • Zoids: Wild has Death Rex, which at first seems like more of a typical T. rex themed Zoid... until the laser cannon pops out of its mouth.

Video Games

• Bayonetta 3: Using her blood, Bayonetta is capable of augmenting the draconic demon Gomorrah into a skyscraper-sized behemoth called Sin Gomorrah, which is bipedal and capable of spitting beams of energy from its maw in a blatant reference to Godzilla.
• Goshilla, one of the six stock monsters in Epyx's Crush, Crumble, and Chomp! strategy computer game, a giant amphibian reptile with a Breath Weapon who leaves a trail of radioactive waste, and can swim underwater when the humans become too annoying. The Spiritual Successor The Movie Monster Game averts this by having the King of the Monsters himself.
• Dawn of the Monsters: Megadon is a 65-meter-tall reptilian kaiju with giant back spikes and a fiery Breath Weapon, and two of his palette swaps are based on Godzilla.
• Giga Bash: Rawa has the golden armor and nose horn of the Malaysian Naga but is also clearly the Godzilla stand in for the game. He's a kingly draconic dinosaur monster who breathes green fire and even has Godzilla's infamous victory dance as one of his taunts! Also his ultimate attack is almost identical to the first time Godzilla uses his atomic breath in Shin Godzilla. And then Godzilla himself was added as a DLC Guest Fighter, allowing both the original and the copy to duke it out.
• Hakaiou: King of Crusher: Your first kaiju form obtained as soon as you reach New York resembles the classic Godzilla-esque dinosaur kaiju, albeit one with horns. But then you start developing extra features of your own, including wings.
• Hungry Dragon: Geogantis is a mountain-sized bipedal dragon who is a Shout-Out to Godzilla, with its nose-horn resembling that of a Pacific Rim kaiju.
• The Pokémon Tyranitar is a reference to Godzilla and Bemular. Several Pokedex entries even state that it goes into destructive rampages.
  • Similarly, Feraligatr shares a design reminiscent of that of USA Godzilla.
  • So does the Ground-type Groudon have in common with Godzilla, especially the early ones.
  • Several monsters take cues from classic Kaiju. Examples include Aggron and, more obviously, Duraludon as Mechagodzilla, and Hydreigon as King Ghidorah. Word of God states that a lot of the bulky bipedal Gen I monsters were generally meant to evoke mini Kaiju like Nidoking/queen, Blastoise, Rhydon, and Kanghaskan.
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet introduces the Ice/Dragon type Baxcalibur, which is the most Godzilla-like Pokemon yet, along with features of spinosaurs. Its signature move, Glaive Rush, is a direct homage to Godzilla's famous Showa drop-kick and breath-flight, and its pre-evolutions, Frigibax and Arctibax, resemble Minilla and the 1998 Zilla, respectively.
• Rampage features Lizzie, a woman who has mutated into a giant Godzilla-esque lizard monster.
• One level of The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare has Bart dreaming he's a giant monster named "Bartzilla".
• The Revenge of Shinobi features a boss battle against a Godzilla parody.
• In Super Bonk, eating meat transforms the player character into a bizarre-looking Godzilla-esque monster when they are under the effects of candy that enlarges their body.
• One level in Gex: Enter The Gecko has the titular lizard transforming into "Gexzilla".
• Destroy All Humans! 2 features a monster named "Kojira". The trailer for the remake lampshades this with a news broadcast declaring "FAMILIAR LOOKING MONSTER ATTACKS TAKOSHIMA CITY".
• The Zilla (not to be confused with the Toho monster of the same name) class monsters from the Monster Rancher franchise are a Punny Name parody of Godzilla. They look like a cross between a whale and an ape (The name "Gojira" is a combination of the words "Kujira" (Japanese for "Whale") and "Gorilla" meaning it translates into "Whale Ape").
• The first opponent faced in Time Gal is a dinosaur that looks like a cross between a Tyrannosaurus rex and a Godzilla without the dorsal spines. It even has Godzilla's same roar and Breath Weapon.
• Geon from King of the Monsters is a clear take on Godzilla. The same applies to his evolution, Super Geon, in the sequel.
• Reptomicus! from the budget PC title, I Was An Atomic Mutant.
• SimCity: A recurring disaster in the city is a giant monster that rampages through the city, with a scenario in the original game — where the monster is a reptilian creature — being a Shout-Out to Godzilla. In the SNES port of the original game, a kaiju-sized Bowser plays the role. In SimCity Creator, the monster is a fire-breathing bipedal green dinosaur with giant red spikes on its back.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • The villain Bowser definitely has more Godzilla-esque trappings the bigger he gets—see, for example, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, where he makes himself huge in order to battle over-sized enemies. (In his normal size, he's a bit too obese and ineffectual to inspire terror.)
  • In the Paranormal Productions floor in Luigi's Mansion 3, the ghost director Morty has Luigi walk onto a model city film set and battle a Goob dressed from the waist up as a Notzilla (though its ox-like horns and snout give it a resemblance to Pulgasari). The opening cutscene for the fight (shown through Morty's camera) even has a slowed-down overcrank effect like that seen in pre-CGI Kaiju films.
• War of the Monsters has Togera who is reptilian/dinosaur, has a Breath Weapon, and similar roars. What makes him notably different from Godzilla is that Togera can grow spikes out of his skin and use them as a weapon.
• The Monster Hunter:
  • Monster Hunter (2004): The Lao-Shan Lung from the same series doesn't have the breath weapon, but is otherwise a dead ringer for Godzilla.
  • Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) introduces Deviljho, which looks like a hideous cross between Godzilla and a pickle. It's a nomadic Super-Persistent Predator known for devouring entire species in its endless hunger, and it also has a Breath Weapon that's often a One-Hit Kill. As such, it's considered The Dreaded both in- and out-of-universe, even by other monsters (most of which flee the area the moment one appears). The Turf War system in Monster Hunter: World shows us exactly why it's so feared when it bodyslams most monsters smaller than it; it's strong enough to suplex a Diablos.
• The Earth Defense Force series has a variety of giant fire-breathing lizards across the series, starting with Saurous in the first game. Later games introduce Erginus and Beizal, which look slightly less like Godzilla. Some games also allow the player to engage them with kaiju-scale Humongous Mecha.
• One level of Psychonauts has the protagonist Raz enter the mind of a mutated lungfish. In said lungfish's mind, Raz is a giant kaiju in a metropolis of tiny lungfish. The first cutscene even has him roar like Godzilla when he realizes what is going on. He then proceeds to spend the level tearing apart most of the city...for the lungfishes' sakes of course.
• The highest-leveled Optional Boss in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a Godzilla-like weaponized Titan called Tyrannotitan Kurodil. It has a mainly dinosaurian build but has an upright stance and fully developed arms, unlike its possible namesake the Tyrannosaurus rex.
• Terror of Hemasaurus: Hemasaurus is a green theropod-like kaiju unleashed by the melting of the polar icecaps, and is worshipped by a cult who seek to avenge the pollution and despoliation of the Earth by corrupt capitalists like Richie Hoarderson and the apathetic citizens who do nothing to prevent it from happening.
• Kaiju Wars: Alphazaurus Prime, while shaggier than the typical Godzilla Expy, is clearly based on the King of the Monsters. It's a bipedal reptilian Kaiju that walks upright, frequently makes its entrance by emerging from the sea, and has a Breath Weapon that's visually very similar to Godzilla's atomic breath.

Web Comics

• In El Goonish Shive, a sketchbook strip features what is nominally a giant platypus that breathes fire but other than the platypus duckbill and webbed feet it looks like a dead ringer for Godzilla.

Web Original

• The term "Bridezilla" actually has nothing to do with this trope, instead referring to a bride whose behavior is demanding or unreasonable. Nonetheless, the word itself clearly has the -zilla suffix with Godzilla in mind, to imply monstrous behavior.
• The Neopedia from the Neopets website talks about a giant mutant Chia named "Chiazilla".

Web Videos

• In the Brian Engh short film Children of Stone, the opening monologue talks about ancient reptilian creatures being such a threat to humankind that Earth Mother has to create giant stone guardians to protect her human creations. These creatures are so deadly, that they actually succeed in killing one of the stone guardians. When we see the stone guardians later in the movie, it turns out that they are not only huge, but sky scraper tall... at least, depending on the shot.

Western Animation

• The 1942 Fleischer Superman cartoon "The Arctic Giant" manages to give us a Notzilla about a decade before the real one shows up! The titular Giant is described in-cartoon as a T. Rex, but it stands as tall as a building and has fins down its back.◊ Fleischer Studios was huge in Japan (with Osamu Tezuka considering them an inspiration) so perhaps Eiji Tsuburaya had a memory of seeing this...
• In Rugrats, one of the recurring Show Within a Show characters was a child-friendly giant monster named "Reptar". A one hour-long special even centered around a Reptar-themed spoof of Godzilla VS MechaGodzilla. Reptar's goofy In-Universe franchise also serves as a specific reference to Godzilla's own time as the cuddly star of children's movies, and the way that adult characters react to the Show Within a Show suggests that the Reptar flicks might even share some of the same flaws. Oddly enough, this very direct parody of Big-G ended up becoming popular with the fanbase to the point that when the Godzilla reboot first came out, it wasn't unusual to hear young people describing Godzilla as an expy of Reptar.
• An episode of What's New, Scooby-Doo? has a giant monster named "Shagzilla". He's supposed to be Shaggy cursed to transform into a Godzilla parody at night (Actually, it's a giant robot built by the villain of the week.).
• In Ben 10: Alien Force, Humongousaur, one of Ben's alien forms, has shades of this trope, especially when he grows to his full 60-foot height.
• South Park has the Season One episode "Mecha-Streisand", where Barbara Streisand becomes a giant Mecha-Godzilla-like monster and tries to destroy the town, only to face interference from other kaiju parodies who try to stop her. She later returns in the 200th episode.
• Mr. Bogus:
  • In the second act of the episode "Babysitting Bogus", during one of the bouts of channel changing, the TV shows a monster movie depicting Ratty as a Godzilla-esque monster called Ratzilla.
  • In the episode "Totally Bogus Video", Bogus meets up with a Godzilla-esque monster after entering a monster movie.
• The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!:
  • One episode featured a character called "Dadzilla".
  • Another episode had Bowser transforming into a giant monster called "Koopazilla" and fighting a giant version of Mario.
• Looney Tunes: The short "Night of the Living Duck" had Daffy dream of being a lounge singer for an audience of monsters and nearly getting eaten by "Schmodzilla" after trying to roast him.
• A Pinky and the Brain short did a spoof on the original Gojira parodying not only the monster, but the dubbing and the effects as well. The monster here was called "Gollyzilla".
• An episode of DuckTales (1987) has a brief scene where the characters are watching a parody of Godzilla on TV.
• An episode of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius had the group going to Japan for a baseball tournament with Sheen wanting to meet "Bonzilla" while there. He does, and Bonzilla turns out to be very tiny (though as Sheen finds, it's still very capable of breathing fire).
• One short in Tiny Toon Adventures has Babs daydreaming she's "Babzilla" while taking a bath.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot features one scene where the heroes remove part of Jenny's body from the foot of a Godzilla-esque monster in Japan.
• Dexter's Laboratory:
  • One short features Dexter transforming into a Godzilla parody and trying to escape from Dee Dee, who has transformed into a giant spider-monster (she was trying to tell him a joke).
  • One full-episode cartoon ("Last But Not Beast") involves Dexter joining a foreign exchange program that includes references to Robotech, Gundam, and Godzilla. The Notzilla in this is called Badaxtra, with is also a shout-out to Gamera monster Guiron.
• Ultra-Pipi from Invader Zim is a giant hamster monster that resembles Godzilla.
• The holiday special Olive, the Other Reindeer has a Godzilla parody and an Ultraman parody shown when Olive flies over Japan.
• One episode of CatDog features the titular duo watching a movie called "Catzilla".
• An episode of Eek! The Cat features a monster named "Bigzilla".
• In one episode of The Mask, the Mask transforms into a giant Godzilla-esque monster.
• An episode of The Fairly Oddparents had a sleep-deprived Timmy accidentally wish for a Godzilla parody to destroy the city.
  • Another episode featured a giant robot named "Dogzilla".
• An episode of Chowder featured Mung Daal and Truffles dressed up as parodies of Godzilla and Mothra before being stepped on by another Godzilla parody.
• The Zillo Beast from Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an homage/parody of Godzilla and King Kong. The Russian translation makes the allusion even more obvious by translating the beast's name as "Gad Zillo" (Zillo the Reptile).
• One episode of the series Class of 3000 had a Funny Background Event of a Godzilla parody fighting a Mothra parody.
• An Animaniacs parody of "Jack and the Beanstalk" soon segues into a take on Green Eggs and Ham (Gold Eggs and Meat), with Yakko asking the giant, "Would you could you in Japan? With Godzilla and Rodan?". At which point parodies of the two show up. When the giant refuses, they attack him. Unlike most examples of the trope, the Notzilla in this instance is actually called "Godzilla".
• An episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) had a Godzilla-esque robot used for shooting a movie. Its name, at least in the French dub, was Gorgonzola.
• A Halloween-themed episode of Family Guy featured Stewie accidentally killing a Godzilla parody.
  • One of the credit screens for the episode Road To The Multiverse featured a bunch of Japanese Stewies running from... Brianzilla?
• Mr. Gus from Uncle Grandpa is a human-sized anthropromorphic dinosaur that looks like Godzilla.
• On the first episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the characters watch a parody of Godzilla on a movie theater.
• The Real Ghostbusters's universe has Lizardo as the fictional monsters from a Kaiju film franchise (although it looks more similar to Gorgo than Godzilla, but still is located in Japan, not Britan). Fictional, that is, until escapes from the movies into the real world by Phlebotinum.
• An unnamed monster (but clearly Godzilla) and its daughter appears at the end of Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School prompting Scooby and Shaggy to quit their teaching job and run away.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Spike contracts a nasty case of dragon greed in "Secret Of My Excess", which is described as being able to induce destructive urges and rapid growth in dragons. True to form, he eventually grows into a gigantic reptilian monster and rampages throughout Ponyville in search of things to add to his growing Dragon Hoard, with clear homages to both Godzilla and King Kong.
• In the Sabrina: The Animated Series episode "Harvzilla", Sabrina gives Harvey a potion known as Dragon Spray which grants him super strength and lets him join the school wrestling team. Unfortunately, he later becomes hooked on it and after using too much, transforms into a giant Godzilla-like monster bent on destroying the town. Luckily, Sabrina manages to snap him out of it and break the spell.
• The Let's Go Luna! episode "Lizardzilla!" is about Luna, Andy, Carmen, and Leo going to Japan and learning about kaiju movies. The four go to a movie theater to watch a movie called Lizardzilla, which is pretty obviously a reference to Godzilla.
• In the Darkwing Duck episode "Jurassic Jumble", Darkwing gets transformed into a gigantic dinosaur resembling Godzilla. He also even gets mistaken for Godzilla by the fleeing crowd.
• In The Tick episode "The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil", a paleontologist gets mutated into a gigantic, human-faced dinosaur who is clearly a homage to Godzilla.
• One of Bunnicula's, abilities from sucking vegtables includes turning into a Godzilla-esque monster when he drains seaweed.

Real Life

• Toho, the movie company that created and legally owns the Godzilla character, is notoriously vicious about defending the trademark; since the character is so popular, trademarks tend to be forgotten and people often assume Godzilla is in the public domain. As the saying goes, "If you think Godzilla's scary, wait 'till you meet his lawyers!"
• Sears, Roebuck & Co., a garbage bin company, was sued by Toho for marketing "bagzilla" garbage bags as "monstrously strong bags." The adverising package even depicts a giant lizard.
• A similar issue rose with the game 'Fingerzilla' in which Toho complained that the title screen looked too much like Godzilla.
• Sailfin lizards (Hydrosaurus sp.) resemble Godzilla somewhat. Good luck trying to sue Mother Nature, Toho!
  • As does the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). Plus it's amphibious! The resemblance is so strong that Godzilla (1998) recasts the King as a mutant marine iguana instead of a dinosaur, and in the other direction, a subspecies of the real lizard was christened A. cristatus godzilla in 2017.
  • Another agamid lizard, the bearded dragon (Pogona sp.) vaguely resembles Anguirus, minus the nose horn.

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