| “ | "Scout ship?" No, my friend. You were my scout. That ship? Those are the hunters. | „ |
| ~ Emperor Karkaro revealing the Trilopods to Commander Rhizon. |
The Trilopods are a hostile alien race of power-absorbing kaiju featured as the primary antagonists of the final story arc of the IDW comic series Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. They are summoned to Earth by the evil Cryog Emperor Karkaro to initiate the final stages of his race's invasion of the planet.
Biography[]
While Godzilla battled against Megaguirus in Machu Picchu, Peru, the Cryog Emperor Karkaro sent a pod containing several Trilopods to their location, which proceeded to attack them. An Alpha Trilopod proceeded to feed on Megaguirus' blood, then merged with one of its Beta Trilopod brethren to form a Trilopod/Megaguirus hybrid. The hybrid blasted Godzilla with a laser beam and then carried him off into the sky.
Pleased with the Trilopods' results in their initial encounter, Karkaro sent two pods containing more of the creatures to the Monster Islands, where they captured all of the islands' inhabitants and imprisoned them in their massive hive. More Trilopods dragged SpaceGodzilla to Earth and absorbed his blood in Los Angeles, where the Megaguirus-Trilopod dropped Godzilla as well. Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla were forced to unwillingly fight together against the invaders, but were captured in a crystal prison by the SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod. The two broke free and managed to defeat the hybrid, but Godzilla collapsed from exhaustion and SpaceGodzilla was forced to retreat as more Trilopods approached. In a final move to elmininate Godzilla and the Earth monsters once and for all, Karkaro sent the Trilopod Hive to Los Angeles. Three Trilopods emerged from the hive, fed on Godzilla's blood, and transformed into hybrids, then battled with Godzilla once he regained consciousness. Jet Jaguar arrived in the city as well and helped fight the Godzilla-Trilopods.
Meanwhile, the Trilopods managed to capture two of the last stragglers of the Earth monsters, King Caesar and Gorosaurus, and place them into their hive. Karkaro released all of the new hybrids inside the hive to attack Godzilla. The military sent Kiryu and MOGUERA to the city to help Godzilla. Zilla, having managed to evade capture, soon arrived in LA and slit the throat of a Godzilla-Trilopod which was attacking Jet Jaguar. Together, Godzilla and the two mechas briefly took the upper hand before both Kiryu and MOGUERA were destroyed. Godzilla then roared out for assistance as loudly as he could, alerting the captured kaiju inside the hive. Under the leadership of King Caesar, the Earth kaiju broke free and teamed up with Godzilla against the overwhelming Trilopod army, managing to destroy them all. As the rogue Gigan destroyed Karkaro's ship, he unleashed the massive Trilopod known as Magita from the hive in a last-ditch effort to triumph over the Earth kaiju. Godzilla and his allies stood up to Magita but were no match for the much larger creature. Mustering all of his energy, Godzilla fired a spiral red heat ray that brought Magita to its knees, then obliterated it by firing a nuclear pulse from inside its mouth. With the Trilopod threat eliminated for good, Godzilla and his allies left Los Angeler and dispersed peacefully across the globe.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Bite: Trilopods can bite down on enemy monsters with their sharp teeth, draining their blood and allowing them to later form hybrids.
- Scythe limbs: Beta Trilopods have scythe-like limbs they can use in combat against other monsters.
- Power absorption: Trilopods can steal the powers and characteristics of other kaiju they encounter in combat. This is a two-step process that requires both the Alpha and Beta Trilopods. The smaller Alpha Trilopods bite down on an enemy monster and drain its blood, then climb onto the backs of their Beta Trilopod brethren and fuse with them, creating a hybrid between the Trilopod and the kaiju whose blood was drained. The new hybrid gains both the physical characteristics and abilities of the kaiju, such as Godzilla's dorsal fins and atomic breath. The Trilopods are unable to copy the abilities of inorganic kaiju, as seen by the fact they never copy the robotic Kiryu or MOGUERA, nor the golem-like King Caesar.
List of Trilopod hybrids[]
- Megaguirus-Trilopod
- SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod
- Baragon-Trilopod
- Rodan-Trilopod
- Kumonga-Trilopod
- Battra-Trilopod
- Gorosaurus-Trilopod
- Godzilla-Trilopods
- Kamoebas-Trilopod
- Anguirus-Trilopod
- Gezora-Trilopod
- Gaira-Trilopod
- Titanosaurus-Trilopod
- Sanda-Trilopod
- Varan-Trilopod
- Kamacuras-Trilopod
- Manda-Trilopod
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth co-writers Chris Mowry and Matt Frank created the Trilopods due to Toho's mandate against killing off their kaiju, allowing them to write several decisive battles for the comic's final story arc. Originally the antagonist monster was envisioned as a "Monster Zoo Menagerie", but the concept was refined into a single uniform species to streamline the design process and avoid the need to design a series of one-off monsters.
- Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow designed the Trilopods. Inspirations for their design and abilities included Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, the Invid from the anime series Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, and trilobites. They also appear to be based off Anomalocaris.
- Each of the three Godzilla-Trilopods possesses a different dorsal plate design. One has the plates of the Godzilla featured in the comic, another the plates of the Showa Godzilla, and the last the plates of the MonsterVerse Godzilla.
