Feb 1, 2008 09:30 AM
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Tue Feb 9
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Now that the Cloverfield monster has won a place in the giant-monster canon, everybody wants to know how he'd do in a fight against Godzilla. The answer: he'd have a chance against the original 1954 Godzilla, but none whatsoever against the newer, twice-as-tall version. See how Cloverfieldy stacks up to other giant monsters in the crucial giantness department, after the jump. (Very minor spoilers only.)
Of course, height isn't everything. But it counts for a lot in monsterland. As Robert B. Parker writes in one of his Spenser novels, a tough tall person will always beat a tough short person in a fight. (He never learned Judo?) So here's our round-up of which giant monster is the tallest:
Ymir. The monster from Venus in 20 Million Miles To Earth, the Ray Harryhausen classic.
Height: Only about 4 meters. Bah.
The Blob. An extraterrestrial lump of flesh-eating goo that stalks Steve McQueen.
Height: It keeps getting bigger and bigger, so it's hard to say how tall it could have gotten. It gets big enough to engulf the Downington Diner, which is probably at least 10 meters tall.
King Kong. America's giant ape, whose only weakness is beauty.
Height: In the 1933 original, he's 50 feet (15 meters) tall. In the Peter Jackson version, he's shrunk to about 8 meters. In Godzilla vs. King Kong, he's suddenly upgraded to 46 meters, so the movie doesn't just consist of Godzilla wiping splatted ape off his foot.
Yongary. The South Korean version of Godzilla.
Height: 50 meters, according to a few sites.
Cloverfield monster. He's sort of a big ugly thingy with a weird head and evil parasites. Here's an animated gif of him dancing.
Height: These people claim he's about 60 meters. That might be a bit on the short side. He's able to whack some tall buildings. But he does take a swing at the Statue of Liberty, which is only 40 meters tall. So he can't be too much taller than it is, or it wouldn't even have been in his line of vision. Here's one fan's handy chart of how the Statue of Liberty, 1954-vintage Godzilla, and the world's tallest Buddha statue all measure up: 
Gamera. Evil giant armored turtle guy with fireballs and the power to fly at Mach 3.5.
Height: 80 meters.
Godzilla. Japan's uber-monster and star of a zillion movies.
Height: 100 meters, but it used to be 50.
King Ghidorah. Maybe Godzilla's biggest rival, an awesome three-headed space dragon with bat wings... often mind-controlled into fighting Godzilla and other daikaiju monsters.
Height: 150 meters, but he used to be just 100. Here he is towering over Godzilla. 
Kroll. Big octopus guy. Pretty much Doctor Who's only entry in the giant monster genre, from "The Power of Kroll." (Okay, there was that Loch Ness Monster, but he was puny.)
Height: His head alone is 250 meters high, according to this site. Here's a clip of him celebrating being the biggest giant monster:
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