The Gryphon (Godzilla Found Footage)
is a fan-made animated short film by animator Tarrel Christie and published by Lost Utopia films based on the Godzilla franchise. The short film depicts a reimagining of the climax of the unproduced 1994 Godzilla film in the form of Found Footage of Godzilla's fight with the titular kaiju. It's the first of the Godzilla Found Footage series, an anthology of short films depicting an alternate universe where kaiju have become a normal part of life.
Like in the movie it's inspired from, the Gryphon arrives on Earth to destroy it and after acquiring its final form launches an attack on New York City, though Godzilla intercepts and fights it, at the same time another Godzilla-like kaiju also makes landfall in NYC and soon joins forces with Godzilla to defeat the monster from space.
The Gryphon provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Zilla here is based primarily off the 1998 TriStar Godzilla, but unlike said kaiju it possesses a Breath Weapon of its own, is no coward and despite taking a brutal beating from the Gryphon, it fearlessly rejoins the battle once he recovers and helps Godzilla defeat the Gryphon.
- Antagonist Title: The Gryphon is the titular character as well as the short's main antagonist.
- Beam-O-War: The last-seen clash between Godzilla and the Gryphon has Godzilla's atom breath clash with the Gryphon's lightning-wing attack. Though the victor of the struggle isn't shown.
- Big Bad: The titular Gryphon is the short film's main antagonist, opposed by both Godzilla and Zilla.
- Canon Welding: Not only does it use the basic outline of the 1994 Godzilla film, but it also combines it with the MonsterVerse with its Godzilla's design and even the 1998 Godzilla film with Zilla making landfall at the same time as the Gryphon; additionally, it even incorporates bits from Godzilla: The Series via this Zilla being an Adaptational Badass with a green-colored atom breath.
- Found Footage Film: The short is presented as archival footage by the fictional United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC), detailing the incident and incorporating bits of recordings from citizens caught in the fight, concluding with an estimate of the damages and casualties of the fight.
- Heroic Second Wind: Zilla is knocked out early on by the Gryphon, once he recovers and wakes up, he picks himself back up and helps Godzilla fight and defeat the space kaiju.
- Killed Offscreen: The Gryphon's last recorded living footage shows its lighting wing attack clashing with Godzilla's atom breath. Then after it cuts, we only see its fleshy remains and head impaled on the Liberty Statue.
- Mythology Gag:
- Godzilla's Beam-O-War clash with the Gryphon is similar to the one between him and King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) as well as his on with Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong.
- Not only does Zilla arrive on New York like in the 1998 film, but the narration also states that Zilla was initially mistaken as Godzilla like what happened in Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!.
- Not Quite Dead: Zilla is taken down and apparently killed by the Gryphon early on, but while Godzilla is fighting the monster and stuck in a stalemate, Zilla recovers and rejoins the fray, helping Godzilla defeat and finish off the Gryphon.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The plot is virtually the same as in the unproduced film, starting out as a colony of organisms that merge into a single final form and confronts Godzilla. It also ends up beheaded with its head impaled on the Liberty Statue as it was described in the script.
