GODZILLA

Now the monster featured in our next card surely needs no introduction.... But by the power of Greyskull, his appearance needs one helluva explanation!

Yes, that's Godzilla! Dressed as Jason King apparently! And, no I haven't a freaking clue why! All I can think is that the Unknown Artist responsible for this cavalcade of lurid imagery really had something against the Big G. Perhaps he felt the original series of Godzilla movies (which had just drawn to close when these cards were made) had descended too far into camp and silliness, and therefore he chose to dress the big fella accordingly. ...Or maybe, there was some really, really hallucinogenic fumes from those paints and felt tips he was using. We will probably never know... And frankly that might be for the best!

One possibility I considered was that perhaps this was some very loose intrepation of Godzilla when he use to moonlight on the cult Japanese TV show Ultraman. Here is, thinly disguised with a frill round his neck, as the kaiju Jirass in the episode The Mysterious Dinosaur Base from 1966

However after examining the card closing, I am pretty sure that ain't Godzilla! Now the Big G has had several face-lifts and makeovers during his six decades on the screen, and this lizard just isn't one of 'em! But that scaly fizzog always seemed strangely familiar to me... And so I started looking through pictures of other screen dinosaurs and monstrous reptiles. For example the titualr creature from The Crater lake Monster (1977) looked like a possible contender...

However while this dino is close, it wasn't what the Godzilla card was reminding me of. After a bit more trawling through old monster movies, I came to is the plesiosaur from The Land The Time Forgot (1975), seen here trying to take a chunk out of Doug McClure's woolly jumper.

Sadly I can't find a matching still but those heavily lidded eyes and slightly wonky teeth are uncannily close. Now I'm not 100% on this, but I am certain that this card was taken from some non-Godzilla movie dinosaur - and if you have any better candidates, do get in touch! And we still have no explanation for the rather natty threads either...