Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Megalon is one of the classic monsters I wanted to make a 3D model of all the way back in 2015, it just took a little while until I got around to it. Now that it's mostly done, I understand why I was hesitant. His design has so many complex elements that it was almost counter-intuitive to try and make him conform to my simplified modeling style. Not to mention he has several sets of wings, which alone took days to set up.
Finding good references wasn't easy either, I looked up images of many Megalon figures to see details that might not be clear in movie screencaps, but most of his figures interpreted his details differently. Some of them added extra details, other just ignored certain things altogether. Let it never be said that the 1970s monster suits were simplistic or lazily designed when toy makers can't seem to get them right even after half a century.
He's easily one of the most troublesome characters I ever tried to model, rig and animate because of all the cumbersome details and parts that need to move together... or in the case of his drill-hands, spin separately from the arms while also being attached to the arms. So while he looks okay standing still, the model sort of falls apart the moment it begins to move, and his flight animation somehow looks worse than in the actual film.
Megalon is one of the classic monsters I wanted to make a 3D model of all the way back in 2015, it just took a little while until I got around to it. Now that it's mostly done, I understand why I was hesitant. His design has so many complex elements that it was almost counter-intuitive to try and make him conform to my simplified modeling style. Not to mention he has several sets of wings, which alone took days to set up.
Finding good references wasn't easy either, I looked up images of many Megalon figures to see details that might not be clear in movie screencaps, but most of his figures interpreted his details differently. Some of them added extra details, other just ignored certain things altogether. Let it never be said that the 1970s monster suits were simplistic or lazily designed when toy makers can't seem to get them right even after half a century.
He's easily one of the most troublesome characters I ever tried to model, rig and animate because of all the cumbersome details and parts that need to move together... or in the case of his drill-hands, spin separately from the arms while also being attached to the arms. So while he looks okay standing still, the model sort of falls apart the moment it begins to move, and his flight animation somehow looks worse than in the actual film.
