Gryphon Sketch Study

So...here's the Gryphon. Rather ugly sonnavabitch isn't he? Anyway, as per usual this is a sketch study. Four different versions put together to compare and contrast in order to build an effective hybrid from all four. He was hard to find pics of but thankfully he has spurred some interest and had at least four roaming around the internets. My personal opinion of the kaiju is that would have been Zilla's saving grace to be frank with you. Having a beast this lethal on board would have forced then to be Godzilla to be more Godzilla in order to kill it. Funny story. Apparently the Gryphon got shit canned from production because Toho refused to allow Tristar to make their own monsters to fight Godzilla at the time. Apparently only Toho made Kaiju have the right to fight the king. Tristar were stumped at what to have Godzilla fight then so Toho offered Mothra or King Ghidorah...both of which had astronomical price tags. So in response, Tristar dropped the kaiju fight idea entirely and focused 'Godzilla' into a human centric monster film. So the reason GINO came into being is because Toho was being a dick....again. What a twist eh?

Concept Gryphon by Tristar:
-smooth skin, fine fured
-very feline in build
-tiny ears and boxy head
-funky ass square wings with thick limbs
-padded claws
-perfers to walk on all fours but can switch to two

Gryphon 94 by grenderer:
- head has a tricomb crest
-single horn on forehead
- three snake tongue
-greatly textured with scales and leathery skin
- ridged and spiked hands.
-massively muscled
-head is like a cat and a goat
- spikes down thick neck
-thick gnarled wings that point inward
-goat legs and big cloven hooves
-thick black claws on hands, opposable thumb
-tail is sectioned

Lynx Gryphon by Crocazill:
-quadripedal
-big padded paws
-really long thin claws
-purple ridge down head and neck
-spiked chin
-three cobras in mouth
-cow nose
-big lynx ears
-round glowing eyes
-warty neck skin
-osiderms on shoulders
-fully functional wings
-spikes on elbows
-set of three blades on tail tip

Gryphon 'contest' Neo (GCN) by BearKaiju:
-big bat and boar head.
-backward facing ears
-huge bat nose
-tusks on side of lower jaw
-single large snake tongue
- round pupil eyes
-spiked throat
-padded paws
-fragile twisted wings
-wing edges have bony blades
-digitriade legs
-bipedal
-long tail with three sets of axe like blades
-tuffs of fur on chest and thighs
-large mane of fur behind head
-lanky but powerful arms
-lean build, top heavy

Critiques: Concept Gryphon was the first made so I'll start with him. He's like a big cougar pretty much, with a dog muzzle and funky ass wings. Not too many details on him, he's either all skin or fine fured. He's like a big bat cat that can walk on two legs occasionally. A solid but not too inspiring build. On top of that his wings simply don't function, not enough lift. Glide maybe but not fly. He's one for all you realism nuts

Gryphon 94 was the finished production idea by an artist known on DA as grenderer. Being the professional that he is, grenderer created a very feasible and well blended chimera that is both powerful and interesting. Its the first time we see the three snake tongue combo that everyone else adopted later. The details for 94 are simply put, almost real and the muscles on this bad boy are very impressive. Aside from the insanely large cow feet and comparably simplistic tail, 94 has A LOT going for it. I especially love those hands and that crest, fucking awesome. Colors for him are also intriguing, good use of reds, tans and purples. Has a very Heisei vibe with a classical demonic appearance

Lynx Gryphon is a Crocazill creation for the unmade kaiju made 'Neo' contest. This one is on all fours, period. Has the biggest snake tongues and they are cobras this time...where you'd find cobras in Arizona I have no idea. This one is so named for the big lynx ears sprouting out of his head. I kinda like that aspect of the big demon kitty. The wings here are the most functional, typical bat/dragon fair here. Skin textures are good around the neck and shoulders but smooth elsewhere. Got a purple ridge down the back...workable. Biggest oddity for the Lynx is the really long thin claws that you might as well call nails. Good for stabbing but raking maybe not so much. For most Kaiju those would break. Fairly effective version, good traits here.

Finally we have the one that actually made it into the contest, the GCN. Unlike the others, this one has some elements of boar. Whether that was intentional I don't know but it's head is very boar like with that short bristle mane of his. This one has hair too...amazing considering its a mammal, who would of thought? The wings for this one are largely for show. The ligiments are thin and fragile, one good hit would probably snap them clean off or at least break them. The blades on the underside of the wings wouldn't be much use since the wings are so fragile. The upper body is lanky compared to the others, about half way between Lynx and 94. Massive arms though enable it do quite a bit of damage at a respectable range. Its like bear as it can probably maul its victims, which I find pretty cool. How many kaiju actually 'maul' their opponents eh? The legs are digitriade so if you hate less stable or more agile kaiju...this guy is a mixed bag for you. The tail has the most exstensive weaponry of the four as it has freaking axe blades on the end of its tail. I very much like this idea. It could incorperate a stinger or something later but generally it has the heft to cleave flesh and bone. Tail tip is too small to support protrusions that large though so a thickening and sprucing up of said tail would help immensely.

Well thats it for my thoughts on the chimeric beasty. Have fun giving suggestions everyone.

-RenDragonClaw