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Biollante - Struggle of the Soul

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Ya I know this is not my usual style of artwork. It’s a lot darker than I like to go, but honestly this was an image that was burned in my head after a nightmare. I watched The Crawlers (aka Trolls 3). Now I have seen this movie many times before, but for some strange reason it affected me differently this time. I had a nightmare that same night about those goofy tree roots killing me. Then for some reason I started to think of Biollante and Erika Shiragami. And so this came to mind. So let me explain my crazy thought process a little and explain why I deviated so drastically from my usual bright and fun type imagery.

For those of you who do not know what Biollante is; allow me to illuminate. Biollante is a genetic monstrosity that was the direct result of fusing Rose, Human, and Godzilla DNA together. The human DNA that was used, was that of Erika Shiragami. A beautiful young woman that was killed during a terrorist bombing act. So distraught was her father that he fused her DNA with that of a Rose. This only would prolong her life for so long. He wanted to grant her everlasting life. So he used the regeneration abilities of Godzilla’s DNA to bond with the Rose/Human DNA. What resulted was a hybrid of beautiful, and yet destructive power. The new creature escaped to a lake, where it grew to a massive giant rose monster with teeth. Godzilla was lured to the monster by it’s call and battled it. Setting it aflame he destroyed the Erika plant clone. Biollante would reappear later in the film, this time mutated into a reptilian like plant. Battling Godzilla, monsters ended up with a draw. Godzilla retreated to the sea because of being poisoned by the humans and Biollante turned into pollen and took to the heavens.

Ok, so now we are all caught up, I’ll explain my piece. In Biollante’s first form, she is nothing more than a mutant rose with teeth. It is beautiful, but not destructive. She was merely a deadly beauty that was looked upon in heavenly manner. After Godzilla destroys her, she takes on another form. One more ugly and vile. Horrid and disastrous. One can easily see the internal conflict within the character. As a rose, it is beautiful and has reminisces of human traits. It is a flower that Erika adored. When it is set aflame, something changes. And this is where I can see the spiritual battle for the soul of the monster taking a stand. Biollante’s second form is more reptile and monstrous. The DNA of Godzilla has completely eclipsed the frailty of the human spirit. Strangled and imprisoned by the animalistic fury of the nuclear giant’s encoded cruelty. At the end of the film you see that Erika’s soul still endures, but that is only after Biollante’s form vanishes in a haze of glowing motes of pollen. The whole idea of struggling souls and conflicting natures in a kaiju film is truly a rare occurrence. So celebrating actual good writings and ideas, is something that should be done. Certainly in the face of Toho shying away from new stuff and just falling back on tried and true basics. I’m looking at you Mothra and King Ghidorah!

I suppose that one can also argue that Biollante never truly had a soul. That the closest thing it had, was the souls of Godzilla and Erika. But that is not an argument I will argue at this point and time. The merits of such talk are far to complicated for a few words written out in a blog.

So all in all I am pretty happy with how the piece came out. The glowing eyes and chest. The spiraling motes of light and overall composition of interaction between the two characters. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. I do not plan on doing another dark image like this, but who knows what nightmares will bring. I worked hard and long and hope you guys get a kick out of the strange going ons of my brain.
Image size
1084x1300px 1.54 MB
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kimtieu1995's avatar

Without a doubt one of if not the most underrated Godzilla monster ever made considering that she was a mutant hybrid of Godzilla cells and rose cells. Add to the fact that she appeared in an underrated Godzilla movie (i.e. Godzilla vs Biollante) makes her even more iconic and unforgettable.