User:Shirley Grace/TKT edit

Twisted Kaiju Theater or TKT is a webcomic by Sean "Shin-Goji" McGuinness. McGuinness created his webcomic inspired by a humorous photo comic-strip appearing in Toyfare: The Toy Magazine, Twisted Mego Theater (now renamed "Twisted Toyfare Theatre"). Like these strips, McGuinness poses and takes photos of figurines in his personal vinyl/action figure collection (most of which consist of kaiju) in bizarre situations, with added dialogue bubbles.

Quite often, the subject matter of TKT is not for children; in fact, the webcomic has a self-imposed MA-17 rating, and McGuinness is unapologetic in his take on controversial topics and use of language most would consider offensive.

TKT is divided into fifty-episode seasons, and is currently on season 17. McGuinness also maintains another web comic similar to TKT: Ultimate Hero-Lix, a series of one-panel cartoons using WizKids Heroclix figures.

The website, designed and programmed with the assistance of Ken Vermette, is also popular for its "Kaiju Girl" or K-Girl page; which features humanoid female versions of famous Kaiju monsters (mostly Toho Studio's famous creations, like Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Mothra) in suggestive/sexual poses (another reason for the MA-17 rating). It should be noted that McGuinness does not draw the Kaiju Girls. They are gifts and commissions from a series of different artists.

Since the webcomic is a platform to creatively display McGuinness' vinyl/action figure collection, there are various kaiju, mecha, bionicle, comic and anime characters who make appearances within the webcomic. These characters may only make one appearance in an episode or throughout several storylines and are known for occasional colourful expletives, such as "Mongolian Butt Monkey" and "Sweet Monkey Jesus." However, the main cast of TKT represents Shin-Goji and his friends, collectively known as the Toxic Pirates, who are loosely based around McGuinness' own personal circle of friends: A list of the more regular cast members can be found, here. Some more info on the origins of the toxic pirates here and on their backgrounds here.

Plot
TKT depicts the goings-on on Neo-Monster Island, an island nation of daikaiju (giant monster). The characters are represented by vinyl/action figure toys in McGuinness' collection. The leader of this nation is Shin-Goji, represented by a Godzilla vinyl figure.

Storylines in the comic have included Shin-Goji's convention visits (the most recent being I-Con), a "takeover" by Yahoo!, a second takeover attempt, a quest to reshoot a lost episode, and a number of invasions by bootlegs and a Bionicle warlord.

Twisted Kaiju Theater is about the Toxic Pirates, agroup of daikaiju based off of Sean McGuiness and his friends. The toxic pirates are led by Shin-Goji, Sean McGuinness in SD Daikaiju form. The comic originally had no plot, being only a series of crazy events on Neo Monster Island involving Shin-Goji, aside from four comics that parody the Blair Witch Project.

Then, Neo Monster Island is taken over by a strange creature who claims it in the name of Yahoo (Link to comic). This creature is later revealed to be Tyrant, CEO of Yahoo. Tyrant's power and trickery seems to be too much for Shin-Goji and the rest of the island, until they turn one of Tyrant's own tricks against him, and force him to back out in shame and embarrassment (Link to Comic). After that, Twisted Kaiju Theater lapses back into it's original style, with one comic meaning little to do with the rest.

However, eventually the bandwidth cost for the site cuts into Shin-Goji's massage money, so he is forced to get his site hosted by Yahoo (Link to comic) (this never ACTUALLY happened, as the island and the site are used interchangably in the comics). All seems peaceful until Tyrant atttacks again, deciding that his next step is to censor Neo Monster Island (Link to comic), as the city-destroying monsters (as well as the rest of the content) would be 'insensitive' to the victims of 9/11. He also tries to convert GINO, but when Tyrant is turned down, he goes on a rampage, trying to destroy the Island. Eventually, Shin-Goji finds Tyrant and defeats him with a single kick to the testicles. Tyrant later tries to take over Neo Monster Island again (Link to comic), but is told that Shin-Goji has already been hosted for over a year, cutting Tyrant's plans short.

Immediately afterward, it came to Shin-Goji's attention that comic #71 was missing entirely. And so, the Toxic Pirates set out to find Giaking, as he starred to remaking TKT #71, and left shortly after. Unfortunately, Gaiking only shot the scene (which features Gaiking kissing Jar-Jar Binks) because the 15+ beers had dulled his sense of judgement (Link to comic). Eventually, the scene gets shot, although a new Gaiking figure comes in the mail, making the real Gaiking's role in the making of the comic unnecessary.

After a short period of much-needed peace, the island is invaded by aliens that copy the monsters of the island, known only as the membros (Link to comic). Eventually the leader, a creature called Reptos (described as the conservative right and liberal left), takes over the island, forcing all comics to be censored. Unfortunately, instead of censoring what anyone else would censor, the ocean would be censored as it was 'discriminate to those who live in the midwest and have never seen the ocean. Unfortunately, Shin-Goji and several other Kaiju caught the SARS virus during the invasion, only adding to the danger. The SARS came from bootleg figures from Hong Kong, and in the end, Tyrant was behind the invasion, as Shin-Goji had broken away from Yahoo. Kaigojisan, the doctor on the island, learned that SARS could be cured by Lemon Sours, a sweet generic candy made from King Ghidorah feces. Shin-Goji later found the decency squad to be immoral themselves, and once again engages in battle. While the kaiju fight off the Membros, Reptos ceases to exist after Shin-Goji proves his own contradiction (Link to comic).

However, the island doesn't stay safe for long, as it is infiltrated by a pair of Bionicle figures and their master, who kills one of the figures for being disrespectful (Link to comic). When the remaining servant is sent to give his message of doom, Space Hojo, tired of all the invasions, confuses the poor servant with loads of paperwork and forms explaining what his force should represent. When the lackey tells his master, Omega Vorahk, that they are to represent the illegalization of downloadable music so that they can invade early, Omega Vorahk cuts him in two. He then goes on a rampage, killing many denizens of the island before he is stopped by Great Mazinger (Link to comic). Of course, the island is once again under attack, but this time by an angry fanboy who doesn't like being rejected (Link to comic). The angry fan-boy ressurects Mecha Barbara Streisand to wreck havok on the island, but by the time he realizes what he is doing is wrong, it is too late. Barbara doesn't prove to be much of a threat, considering all the invasions before, and the angry fan leaves of his own accord, so he can set things straight.

Shin-Goji then finds love in a slightly insane bird named Murugu, who enjoys dropping Kaiju from great heights to hear them scream (Link to comic). While Shin-Goji and Murugu are out dating, GINO goes crazy and starts killing kaiju with weapons he doesn't even have. Shin sets up defences, but when GINO shows his power by destroying the city, Shin-Goji realizes he is a fake, and Murugu brings the real GINO in to fight him. The fake then reveals himself to be Mecha-GINO, and Murugu attacks him, only to be killed by Mecha-GINO. Mecha-GINO turns to destroy GINO, but is stopped by Shin-Goji, with the newly acquired seal of vengeance (Link to comic). He destroys Mecha-GINO, and sleeps for an entire week before waking up, finding Murugu safe and asleep beside him.

After the fight with Mecha-GINO, Shin-Goji decides that he needs to learn to control it, and tries to do so by fighting Son Goharotto. Son Goharotto and Shin-Goji are both giving their all when Murugu sees Shin-Goji, and the battle is interrupted as Shin-Goji is carried off by Murugu.

Soon after, Great Mazinger is found slain by Vorahk, who was supposedly dead. Unknown to the people of the island, Vorahk, the Membros, and Mecha-GINO were revived, and are now working for President Bush. Bush reveals his plans to invade the island for oil. Shin-Goji seeks out Tyrant, suspecting him to have joined forces as well, but finds him working at a fast-food restaraunt ((Link to comic). Shin-Goji's plan backfires when he finds out that Grendel isn't around to assemble Mazinger Z, so C-Ball is forced to build the robot himself. Meanwhile, Vorahk goes rogue, and Shin-Goji decides to try and battle Mecha-GINO himself. Mecha-GINO transforms into Magma Mecha-GINO, giving Shin-Goji a run for his money (Link to comic). GINO comes back from Pasadina in the nick of time, and destroys Mecha-GINO. C-Ball finishes building mazinger Z, which draws Vorahk back to the island. The two fight, and in the end, Mazinger Z defeats Vorahk and convinces him to help the island (Link to comic). Shin-Goji and GINO go to Bush and Cheney with their new lawyer, who happens to be none other than Bill Clinton. They all go to court, and Vorahk testifies against Bush. Bush is found guilty, and the island is safe again, until the next invasion.

Style
The art of TKT is done by juxtaposing digital photgraphs of vinyl/action figures (mostly kaiju) into backgrounds also primarily generated from photos and photoshopping various effects. This style has alternately been called photocollage, photocomics or fumetti. McGuinness shares his art techniques for TKT with "tutorials" on Web Photography and specific comic effects: The Wild Take, Word Balloons and Breath Weapons. Other webcomics that utilize this style or similar techniques include Alien Loves Predator and Nukeland Cinema.

The humor of TKT is both verbal and non-verbal. In the webcomic, McGuinness parodies various subjects, especially kaiju fandom and vinyl/action figure collecting  , through the personification of McGuinness' figurines  and the juxtaposition of their surroundings , the primary being Neo-Monster Island. McGuinness utilizes various techniques in dialogue to drive his fictional characters and their respective positions in the photographs to deliver the punchline: double entendre, stereotyping , slapstick , one-liners , and obscenity. The first comic featured what would become a running gag in the series: the toilet humor of equating Lemon Sours with kaiju excrement.

Characters
Since the webcomic is a platform to creatively display McGuinness' vinyl/action figure collection, there are various kaiju, mecha, bionicle, comic and anime characters who make appearances within the webcomic. These characters may only make one appearance in an episode or throughout several storylines and are known for occasional colourful expletives, such as "Mongolian Butt Monkey" and "Sweet Monkey Jesus." However, the main cast of TKT represents Shin-Goji and his friends, collectively known as the Toxic Pirates, who are loosely based around McGuinness' own personal circle of friends:

Shin-Goji
Described as "The Bootlegger", the character of Shin-Goji is represented by a personified (Heisei Godzilla SD) Shin-Goji's debut

Shin-Goji is the name the creator gave to himself for the comic, and represents himself with a super deformed godzilla figure. This figure first appeared under the name Shin-Goji. Of all the strips in his collection, this one perhaps best exemplifies Shin's personality and general attitude about life. Still, Shin does posesses genuine affection for his fans and, rarely, expresses it here and here. Appearances of Shin-Goji, as himself in comic (Link to Comic A), (Link to Comic B), (Link to Comic C), (Link to Comic D).

Space Hojo
Described as "The Ghost Writer", the character of Space Hojo is represented by a personified (Space Godzilla SD). Space Hojo's debut

Space Hojo is Shin-Goji's long suffering roomate. A true soul brother, he'd much rather listen to some Led Zepplin or Steely Dan than torture his delicate ears with the crap spewn out over the radio, especially rap and pop. Space Hojo contributes heavily to the development of Twisted Kaiju Theater.

Space Hojo, who appears in a large number of strips is the creators room mate. He is characterized by a miniature Space Godzilla figure and often makes crude jokes at the creators expense. He was first identified as his roomate here and later took the name Hojo here and Shin describes their first meeting here. Space Hojo seems to prefer common sence and simple trickery over violence (Link to Comic. Space hojo, who helps write scripts, often uses the comic to voice personal political opinions, usually those relateing to race (Link to Comic A), (Link to Comic B),and (Link to Comic C)(Link to Comic D). Shin and Hojo are obviously very much close friends, but they don't seem to be able to go more than two minutes without needleing each other (Link to Comic).

MOGUERA Marius
Described as "The Wheelman", the character of Mogeura Marius is represented by a personified (MOGUERA SD). Mogeura Marius' debut

Bidibidibidi! Another of Shin-Goji's friends reduced to Twikki from Buck Rogers. Also a long-suffering victim of Shin-Goji's bullshit, he buries himself in his Taekwondo, his motorcycle, and his vinyl women.

MOGEURA MARIUS, who was first named here, spends most of his time threatening Shin Goji and acting like Twikki from Buck Rogers. Marius displays his typical conviction here. He also apparently has trouble controlling his lower body.

Grendel
Described as "The Smuggler", the character of Grendel is represented by a personified custom Heisei Godzilla w/ Stormtrooper Helmet. Grendel's debut

This voodoo lovin', tequila drinkin' Stormtrooper in one of the best miniature painters around. This guy is a bigger lecher than any of the other Toxic Pirates, and will probably end up in jail long before Shin-Goji does. By the way, he really does hate it when you ask him, "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" Grendel, a painter of minatures, a smuggler and lecher, first appeared here.

C-Ball Sleazeball
Described as "The Married Man", the character of C-Ball Sleazeball is represented by a personified (Hedorah SD).C-Ball Sleazeball's debut

Life has not been kind to C-Ball. Already saddled with the burden of being associated with Shin-Goji, C-Ball is also a husband and a father. He's had to give up his days of punk rock and Danzig worship, but he's traded them in for a glorious sunset of Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers. No clowns down here. Since he's married, he also gets laid more than any of the other Toxic Pirates combined. C-Ball Sleazeball, who was introduced here, is the only married man in the Toxic pirates crew. C-Ball seems to enjoy married life, although if the comic is acurate, it does sometimes grate on him (Link to Comic). C-ball also has a sarcastic streak (Link to Comic).

Spidersense
Described as "The Spirit Warrior", the character of Spidersense is represented by a personified (Custom Godzilla SD).Spidersense's debut

God-loving man, walks the path of faith, rocks hard to Dokken. He's an oddity on the sometimes blasphemous island of Twisted Kaiju Theater, but watches over Shin-Goji and friends to make sure they don't stray too far. He also plays Mini-Heroes with the Toxic Pirate crew.

Spidersense first appeared here, and shows up infrequently to guide Shin through moral crisis. The job does seem to tax on him sometiems when dealing with the rather blasphemous inhabitants of the island (Link to Comic) and his idea of spiritual help can be a bit unorthodox still there seem to be good reasons for him to be here (Link to Comic). Spidersence also has a son, who appeares here.

Thor
Described as "The Manga Fanboy", the character of Thor is represented by a personified (Custom Virus SD). Thor's debut

Don't ask where his hammer is. You won't be original. Thor is the resident manga artist of Neo-Monster Island and has a "special" store of rare artist's ink. Thor, a manga artist who drew some of the characters in a comic book was introduced here. Thor is actually an artist who works with Antarctic Press and Radio Comix and was partially responsible for getting TKT published. He is also the butt of many jokes involving the origins of his ink. Some of Thor's artwork appeared in this strip. Sometimes he gets jealous over Shin's popularity. Occasionally Shin helps Thor promote his work his work. Thor apparently has a daughter (Link to Comic).

Fortunately, all of Shins friend clearly care for him deeply (Link to Comic).

Other characters are simply the original vinyl productions with recurring roles and themes, such as Mazinger Z and the imfamous lemon sour pooping Ghidorah. Gigan and Megalon became regular characters after a poll showed that fans wanted them to own a Mexican wrestling circuit. Mothra appears to be one of the creator's least favorite monsters, and spends most of his appearences getting beaten up by the other characters, such as here. G.I.N.O. was created to represent Shin's frustration at what he considered the low quality 1998 American Goszilla movie. For a long time G.I.N.O. existed only for random pummelings from the other characters but has since become more accepted and even pals around with Shin himself (Link to Comic). A relative newcomer is die cast Kiryu figure, who seems to be popular among the fans (Link to Comic).

Forums
All news and comic updates for TKT are posted on the main page of the webcomic. These update announcements are also stored in the internet forum for the webcomic, allowing for comments about each episode. Along with the update announcements for TKT, McGuinness has written about personal aspects of his life on the main page, so the internet forum also doubles as McGuinness' personal blog.

Besides discussion about TKT, there is also a forum for the Kaiju Girls, where artwork (completed or in progress) and fiction depicting the K-girls is displayed, shared and critiqued. A forum for Godzilla discusses kaiju movies, vinyl/action figure collecting and other aspects of Godzilla/kaiju fandom. Another forum discusses things outside of the subject of kaiju and the K-Girls, and includes threads on various subjects such as aspects of Japanese and American pop culture, a repository for hentai found on the internet and a sprite comic starring and created by the registered members of the TKT internet forum.

"Guest Forums"
Along with the internet forums for TKT, McGuinness also has "Guests Forums" that showcase a few of the artists who have contributed to the K-Girls and/or TKT. Qualifications for obtaining a "Guest Forum" are not known, yet the artists with a "Guest Forum" also have their own webpages that share their art and interests and are designated as TKT forum adminstrators. The work in these "Guest Forums" invite the TKT readers to critique what the artists wish to display or discuss the artists' specific interests:


 * Blake "Cthon98" Hebb
 * "godofchaos"
 * Thor "Thormeister" Thorvaldson, Jr.

Availability and Copyright
All strips are available free of charge from the website. TKT is an ongoing webcomic and updates every week, on Monday and Friday. Frequently, McGuinness would make a "bonus comic" on Wednesdays, in which he would encourage his readers to place a vote for him on various webcomic lists so that they receive a bonus incentive comic. This tactic has kept McGuinness in the top 10 of webcomic lists, such as buzzcomix.

McGuinness also distributes publications of his webcomic and the Kaiju Girls at the conventions he visits, free of charge. The TKT storyline, Darkness was printed in comic book format and distributed at his last convention visit along with promotional postcards and laminated Kaiju Girl badges with the artwork of Travis "Son Goharotto" DeSantis. McGuinness also plans to distribute an Archive CD featuring the first 500 episodes of the comic, the complete Kaiju Girl gallery and other exclusive CD artwork at the cost of manufacture per unit.

McGuinness acknowledges the individual copyrights retained by the vinyl/action figures he personifies and the artists he showcases. McGuinness does not generate personal financial profits from TKT or the K-Girls. McGuinness' work may fall under the fair use doctrine of the United States Copyright Act of 1976.

Community

 * The Twisted Kaiju Theater Forums

Interviews, Publications and Tributes

 * [ Interview #1]
 * [ Interview #2]
 * Article in March 2002 issue of Toyfare Magazine
 * McGuinness' letter in issue #97 of Toyfare Magazine
 * Fan webcomic tribute by Rc2000

Category:Webcomics Category:photocomics Category:Internet forums Category:Sprite web comics