Toho Kaiju Popularity Index

Reader survey of kaiju popularity from "Godzilla Magazine" Vol 2 1993 right in the middle of the Heisei aka Versus era. Readers sent in postcards from the first Vol of Godzilla Magazine. The results are just over 900 votes, with Godzilla easily the number 1. Also included was most hated ranking with Jet Jaguar the clear winner. Hedorah the only kaiju to make both lists. 

Favorite Kaiju

1 Godzilla (206). 

2 King Ghidorah (124) 

3 Mothra (108) 

4 Anguirus (84) 

5 Rodan (73) 

6 Mechagodzilla (60) 

7 Battra (56) 

8 Baragon (42) 

9 Biollante (41) 

10 Mecha King Ghidorah (38) 

11 Gorosaurus (21)

11 Gigan (21) 

13 Varan (9)

13 Hedorah (9)

13 King Caesar (9) 

Most Hated Kaiju 

1 Jet Jaguar (59) 

2 Gabara (32)

2 Hedorah (32) 

4 Megalon (28) 

5 Minilla (14)

5 Kumonga (14)

Godzilla Final Wars

Toho decided for Godzilla's 50th Anniversary they would do a big extravaganza again like "Destroy All Monsters". They hired a young up and coming director, chucked it full of daikaiju's and former Godzilla actors. But still had it made in the same short development and shooting time.

Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla aka Godzilla Vs. the Bionic Monster aka Godzilla Vs. the Cosmic Monster

For Godzilla's 20th anniversary Toho wanted a new opponent, something he had not faced before. Remembering they had Kong face a robot duplicate, they decided to have Godzilla face his own mechanical doppelgänger. Also made the aliens controlling Mechagodzilla, in honor of King Kong, are apes, or maybe it was because of the popularity of the Planet of the Apes movies.