Today I was reminded of my long defunct Tyrantis ask-blog, which, while ultimately a failed experiment (’cause if I couldn’t keep up with it back then, I sure as fuck can’t now that I’ve got carpal tunnel syndrome), produced some really good pieces that I’m still proud of today despite their shortcomings.  Also it helped flesh out my second novel, which you can buy now BTW.

I decided to post some of its highlights today, along with two never-before-seen pieces that I never found time to finish for the blog - one “canon,” the other obviously not.

A.T.O.M. Kaiju File #2: Ahuul

Aliases: The Menace of Makeout Point, The Generiton Slasher

Date Discovered: March 16th, 1954

Place of Origin:The Hollow Mountain

Notable Stomping Grounds: The Hollow Mountain, Typhon Island

Height: 95 Feet (125 including crest)

Length: 80 Feet

Wingspan: 180 feet from wing tip to wingtip

Biology: Ahuul belongs to the carnivorous branch of the retrosaur family, specifically belonging to the Flying Tyrant subclade.  Like many flying tyrants, Ahuul is a cunning predator with grasping talons and needle-like teeth.

Ahuul sports the standard set of kaiju powers, including:

Personality: While Ahuul’s predatory instincts could account for some of its misanthropy, the creature displays levels of cruelty that go beyond the innate ferocity of a hunter.  Ahuul is known for playing with his prey and trying to inflict as much pain on his victims as possible before striking a killing blow - behavior that gives him apparent delight.  He is, essentially, a bully, picking on the weak and cackling with laughter as he does so.  Despite his love for violence, Ahuul is cowardly and often flees from battle whenever the tide turns against him.

Ahuul is also something of a prankster, albeit a malevolent kind, and has been known to trick kaiju into fighting each other simply for his own amusement.  This capricious side of the reptile’s personality is the only reason the beast has made any allies amongst the world’s kaiju; Tyrantis swayed the flying beast to his side by offering him a good fight, which the vicious monster relished.

Since his vicious streak is ten miles wide, Ahuul is a hardy combatant.  The reptile’s long claws are great at raking the flesh of fellow kaiju, being sharp and strong enough to tear through their armored hides and into the soft wet muscle beneath it.  While his bite isn’t strong, his jaws are bristling with crooked fangs that can create a ragged wound.  His crest doubles as a blade to gore his enemies with, and is remarkably sturdy compared to most other crests in the flying retrosaur family.

Flight is Ahuul’s main weapon, however, and he uses it to his advantage.  There are few kaiju who can fly, and fewer still who can match his speed, which allows the kaiju to soar in and out of combat with incredibly ease.  Ahuul is able to quickly wear down most opponents without taking a scratch himself.  He is also clever enough to drop heavy objects from great heights upon his foes.  In a pinch the reptile will even carry his enemies into the air with him, flying far up into the sky before dropping them painfully down to earth.

Ahuul’s greatest flaw as a warrior is often the reason he starts a fight in the first place: he is a sadist, and most of his blows are meant to be painful instead of lethal.  Ahuul spends so much time hurting his enemies that he often lets his guard down, carelessly ignoring the actions and plots of his foes until it is too late. This, combined with the beast’s cowardice, means he rarely wins a fight.  Then again, victory is also rarely his goal - Ahuul fights to for the sake of violence itself, not to win.

~ ~ ~

holy crap drawing wings is so much easier now I love this new tablet

These files are going to be posted in chronological order of appearance, which means Ahuul here is Tyrantis’s first opposing kaiju in the story.  A lot of people assume he occupies a Rodan/Anguirus sort of role because of that, but A.T.O.M. isn’t that blatant with its homages.  He’s more of a frenemy than an ally - in my mind Ahuul’s much more like Kumonga, being a voracious and territorial monster that opposes and allies with Tyrantis in equal measure depending on what’s most convenient for him.  He’s also just kind of a prick in general.

Ahuul’s design got a couple of tweaks.  Back when he was an actual pterosaur, instead of the retrosaur equivalent, he had this awesome neck ruff of fur that I really liked.  It gave him sort of a villainous rockstar vibe.  Since my retrosaurs are explicitly reptilian, that couldn’t fly anymore, so I gave him a neck frill as a substitute.  It kind of doubles as an homage to Alichino’s design from No Sympathies, and I think that’s neat.  I also gave him a long tail to complete the “horribly inaccurate rendition of a pterosaur” look - he’s the perfect mix of rhamphorhynchoid and pterodactyloid traits to make paleontologists angry!

Finally, I should acknowledge that using Ahuul as a starting antagonist is at least slightly and homage to Godzilla 2014 - flight is a good power to give the enemy of a grounded monster, since it forces both combatants to get creative in countering each other’s contrasting strengths.

Also it’s a fun homage to the student movie I made that Ahuul comes from back in high school:

Good times.

Retrosaurs: A Guide

This is inspired by another suggestion from @titleknown.  I’ve posted a couple things about my retrosaurs before, of course, but this one is different for a few reasons: 1. it’s more detailed, 2. it’s open source with ONE condition, namely that the designs used in this guide belong to me.  That is to say, all the written concepts here are open for anyone to use in any story they see fit, but all the monster designs in the images belong to me alone - especially the colored ones, since those guys are specific characters of mine.

All of the information here is canon for my novel-in-progress The Atomic Time of Monsters, but is also written vaguely enough so it could be used in other stories.  Once again, I must reiterate that the specific monster designs shown in these illustrations are mine - but I’m sharing the written stuff with anyone who wants it.

So if you ever wanted to use my retrosaurs in a story, or just know more about them, well, this is your guide.  More after the cut!

A.T.O.M. Kaiju File 2: Ahuul

Aliases: The Menace of Makeout Point, The Generiton Slasher

Date Discovered: March 16th, 1954

Place of Origin:The Hollow Mountain

Notable Stomping Grounds: The Hollow Mountain, Typhon Island

Ahuul was the second kaiju discovered by humanity in 1954, emerging from the same cave system that housed Tyrantis.  Unlike his green scaled neighbor, Ahuul was openly antagonistic to humankind, sneaking out of the cave at night to prey upon the local populace.  He fought several times with Tyrantis, but would later ally himself with the jade giant against other kaiju with even crueler temperaments.

  Height: 95 Feet (125 including crest)

Length: 80 Feet

Wingspan: 180 feet from wing tip to wingtip

Biology: Ahuul belongs to the carnivorous branch of the retrosaur family, being an almost typical example of the Flying Retrosaur group.  Like many flying retrosaurs, Ahuul sports patches of bristly proto-fur on his body - in his case, this fur has grown into a luxurious collar along his neck, which kaijuologists theorize may be used to attract mates.

Ahuul sports the standard set of kaiju powers, including:

  Origin: Shortly after the Hollow Mountain split open, a series of grisly murders occurred at a nearby bluff known to the locals as Makeout Point.  More than a dozen teenagers were slaughtered over the course of three nights by some unknown killer - and, stranger still, so were their cars.  The discovery of Tyrantis in the Hollow Mountain led the locals to believe they had found the killer, and soon plots were made to kill the green reptile.

However, the fourth night revealed the true killers identity as Ahuul, a massive flying reptile, soared out of the mountain for another hunt.  Finding Makeout Point deserted, the reptile flew on to Generiton itself just as the task force sent to kill Tyrantis mobilized.  Ahuul preyed upon the populace of Generiton for hours without opposition.

However, Tyrantis survived the plot against his life and tracked down Ahuul himself.  The two giants brawled in the city streets, and while Ahuul's ability to fly gave him a brief advantage, the tide soon turned to Tyrantis's favor.  Eventually the flying reptile tried to retreat altogether, but Tyrantis knocked him out of the sky and tore open his throat.

However, this was not the end of Ahuul.  The flying reptile survived the seemingly mortal wound he had been dealt (thanks to his heightened kaiju healing factor) and crawled back into the Hollow Mountain.  From there he traveled through the elaborate and massive system of subterranean tunnels he and several other kaiju had lived in for years, eventually finding another world of prehistoric refugees.  Ahuul would clash with Tyrantis a few more times in his life, but eventually the two would reconcile their differences and work together as allies.

Personality:  While Ahuul's predatory instincts could account for some of its misanthropy, the creature displays levels of cruelty that go beyond the innate ferocity of a hunter.  Ahuul is known for playing with his prey and trying to inflict as much pain on his victims as possible before striking a killing blow - behavior that gives him apparent delight.  He is, essentially, a bully, picking on the weak and cackling with laughter as he does so.  Despite his love for violence, Ahuul is cowardly and often flees from battle whenever the tide turns against him. 

Ahuul is also something of a prankster, albeit a malevolent kind, and has been known to trick kaiju into fighting each other simply for his own amusement.  This capricious side of the reptile's personality is the only reason the beast has made any allies amongst the world's kaiju; Tyrantis swayed the flying beast to his side by offering him a good fight, which the vicious monster relished.

  Since his vicious streak is ten miles wide, Ahuul is a hardy combatant.  The reptile's long claws are great at raking the flesh of fellow kaiju, being sharp and strong enough to tear through their armored hides and into the soft wet muscle beneath it.  While his bite isn't strong, his jaws are bristling with crooked fangs that can create a ragged wound.  His crest doubles as a blade to gore his enemies with, and is remarkably sturdy compared to most other crests in the flying retrosaur family.

Flight is Ahuul's main weapon, however, and he uses it to his advantage.  There are few kaiju who can fly, and fewer still who can match his speed, which allows the kaiju to soar in and out of combat with incredibly ease.  Ahuul is able to quickly wear down most opponents without taking a scratch himself.  He is also clever enough to drop heavy objects from great heights upon his foes.  In a pinch the reptile will even carry his enemies into the air with him, flying far up into the sky before dropping them painfully down to earth.

Ahuul's greatest flaw as a warrior is often the reason he starts a fight in the first place: he is a sadist, and most of his blows are meant to be painful instead of lethal.  Ahuul spends so much time hurting his enemies that he often lets his guard down, carelessly ignoring the actions and plots of his foes until it is too late. This, combined with the beast's cowardice, means he rarely wins a fight.  Then again, victory is also rarely his goal - Ahuul fights to for the sake of violence itself, not to win.