ABOUT THE PROJECT

Mega Monster Multiverse is an art and toy-based multimedia project conceived of by illustrator, Joseph Rouleau, as a pastiche and perpetuation of the various aesthetic and narrative trappings associated with the Kaiju Eiga (monster movies) and Tokusatsu (special effects) television series that emerged during Japan's postwar Showa Era (roughly 1954-1989).

Particularly influential on the project was the 1960's "Kaiju Boom", a golden age of kaiju-centric media in which various studios churned out a panoply of giant monster-laden films and shows, (Gamera, Ultraman, etc.) in a bid to capitalize on the burgeoning success of Toho Studios' iconic Godzilla franchise.

Mega Monster Multiverse pays homage to this unique moment in pop cultural history, both in its endeavor to lovingly recreate the aesthetic, thematic, and narrative trends associated with it in an effort to resemble a product of it, and in the very performance of derivation itself, as it is precisely that impulse to imitate and remix that arguably fueled the Kaiju Boom.

It also endeavors to preserve a visual tradition in ostensible threat of obsolescence. While Kaiju Eiga/ Tokusatsu persist, and have even arguably come to enjoy more mainstream success than ever before, they do so largely in an augmented form, embracing sophisticated, contemporary filmmaking methods, such as the utilization of CGI and/ or the payment of deference to anatomical realism, in an effort to achieve optimal verisimilitude, often to brilliant effect.

Mega Monster Multiverse takes the opposite approach, embracing the artifice and naïveté that gave Showa Era Tokusatsu media its ephemeral charm. The monstrous inhabitants of its constituent universes must look, (as a general rule), as though their morphologies could accommodate an actor in a latex suit. Details such as bunches and folds on their bodies, uncharacteristic of living animals, are intended to further evoke the idea of a costume, marionette, maquette, or other physical prop. Machines must look clunky, riveted, ray-punk, or otherwise retro-futuristic. Practicality must take a back-seat to fancifulness.

ABOUT THE MULTIVERSE

As its name suggests, the Mega Monster Multiverse consists of multiple parallel universes, two of which are presently being focused on. They are as follows:

Universe A: a universe in which a unique clade of massive reptiles on Earth developed the ability to consume and combust oil in their bodies as a means of energy production after oil seeps became abundant on the planet's surface. When most of these seeps ran dry, a mass extinction event occurred as a consequence, wiping out the majority of these animals. A few survived, however, trapped in a state of suspended animation within the Arctic's ice until rising global temperatures thawed them out, presenting a new threat to the fossil fuel industry and civilization at large. Most notorious amongst these giants is Petromon, a semi-aquatic saurian creature who has claimed certain regions of the Earth as his territory and will defend them from other kaiju threats.

Universe B: a universe in which kaiju encounters and alien invasions have become such a regular fact of life that a defense team, the Massive Anomaly Defense Squad, (or M.A.D.S. for short), has been established in order to contend with the ever-present threat. M.A.D.S. is assisted in its protective mission by Gildamon, a benevolent extraterrestrial kaiju who, 5,000 years ago, became trapped in suspended animation after crash-landing in the Himalayas and triggering an avalanche. Gildamon was finally freed in present day when the footfalls of a giant abominable snowman sought by a team of zoologists and M.A.D.S cracked the ice in which he was entombed.

It is worth noting that a small number of holes in the fabric of reality separating Universes A and B exist in the vicinity of the Marshall Islands, torn open by the unprecedented power of the 1954 Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test. These nigh-invisible tears can act as gateways between universes, allowing entities to potentially pass from one universe's Earth-variant into another's.