The Challenge Factory discussion

News Alert: Godzilla is rampaging again! The city of Toyko must be saved!

How it works:
For this challenge, you and a partner will each choose a Japanese monster (kaiju) from the list. You cannot pick the same kaiju that your partner is reading for.

Each kaiju will have four tasks. You must read one of those tasks. Each task will score points. The higher the points, the harder the task. The 4 point task will always be the same: Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU. You can use or ignore the articles 'a', 'an', 'the'.

When both partners have finished reading their books, post a message on the Battle thread that you are ready for your fight with Godzilla. The moderator will use random.org to pick a number between 7-10 for Godzilla. If the total of your points ties
or is higher than Godzilla's number, you win.

Each partner will then pick another kaiju from the list (remember, it cannot be the same monster that your partner chooses) for another battle with Godzilla. This will continue until you have read for all the kaiju on the list.

If the partnership has won five or more of the battles with Godzilla by the time you have read for all the kaiju on the list, then Godzilla returns defeated into the ocean. I shudder to think what will happen to Tokyo if you don't :)

✱ Books must be 140 pages.
✱ Re-reads and audio books are okay.
✱ Page count for audio books will be determined by the first paper version shown on Goodreads. From the book's page, select “all editions”, then find the first paper edition as your guide.

Sample Completion Post:
Kaiju:
Book:
Date:
Number and Task:
How it fits the task:

Kaiju list and Battle scores:

Erica
Anguirus
Biollante
Destoroyah
Ebirah
Gigan
King Ghidorah
Mothra
Orga
Rodan
Titanosaurus


Sha
Anguirus
Biollante
Destoroyah
Ebirah
Gigan
King Ghidorah
Mothra
Orga
Rodan
Titanosaurus


Battles
1. Rodan and Anguirus win
2. Orga and Biollante win
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Hey Sha - what monster do you want first? I'm looking at Rodan to start.

Hi Erica! :)

I'm going to start from the top for now. Anguirus, please

For Erica

Rodan


Rodan is very popular, one of the all-time legendary monsters. But consider this: Rodan’s design, while classic, is just a bit on the boring side. On top of that, he and Godzilla don’t actually fight all that often. They’re good pals in most of their appearances together. Rodan certainly isn’t a poor monster, but when it comes to the big ones, he’s a little on the overrated side.

3 point task - Read a book with 10,000+ ratings
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read a book with a cover that is 50% white
6 point task - Read a book that is tagged 'Classic'

tineye - https://labs.tineye.com/color/

For Sha

Anguirus


Godzilla’s first foe, the legendary Anguirus. Another quadruped, Anguirus has a much more prehistoric look to him, taking many features from the Ankylosaur. He has a long snout like a crocodile and a turtle-shell back covered in spikes. Though he and Godzilla start off fighting each other in Godzilla Raids Again, they spend most of the series as good pals. Aside from Godzilla, Anguirus has one of the series’ greatest roars. A great monster, and a great friend. But also a great foe. Those Raids Again fights are no joke.

3 point task - Read the first book in a series
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read a book that has been tagged 'Humor' or 'Humour'
6 point task - Read a book with the word 'Great' in the title

I can probably scrounge up a 5 point task

I can do a classic for 6. I've had on my short list for a bit. Now's the time!

Monster 1:

Kaiju: Anguirus
Book: Seduction and Snacks
Date: 03 Apr 2023
Number and Task: 5 point task - Read a book that has been tagged 'Humor' or 'Humour'
How it fits the task: MPG humor

I read this one fast because I had some free time during the weekend, but this might not be the case for other monsters/tasks.

Oh my. I was out of town. Picking up my book at the library today...

In case I vanish over the weekend; Biollante is going to be my next choice.

Got it. I've started my book and will try to get through it over the weekend.

Monster 1:

Kaiju: Rodan
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Date: 4/11
Number and Task: 6 point task - Read a book that is tagged 'Classic'
How it fits the task: This is tagged a Classic on its home page. Also extremely good! Why did I wait so long to read it???

And I'll take Orga for my next monster.

Erica wrote: "Monster 1:

Kaiju: Rodan
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Date: 4/11
Number and Task: 6 point task - Read a book that is tagged 'Classic'
How it fits the task: This is tagged a Classic on it..."

I have a tendency to avoid classics (my english classes didn't require us to read any books; just textbooks and I never read any of them growing up) but that was a good one. //nodnod

Don't forget to post something on the Battle thread when you both are finished with your books :)

Battle 1



Erica
Rodan - 6 points

Sha
Anguirus - 5 points

Godzilla - random.org says 10 points

And the winners are Rodan and Anguirus! *mighty roars are heard*

WOO HOO!!!

Lanelle wrote: "Don't forget to post something on the Battle thread when you both are finished with your books :)"

OOPS! Sorry - will remember next time. We picked our next monsters. I have Orga and Sha has Biollante.

For Erica

Orga


A lot of Godzilla’s later enemies transform throughout the film, not emerging as their full selves until the final fight. Orga goes another route, simply beaming down to Earth when it’s time to fight Godzilla. His transportation evolves from a flying rock to an alien spacecraft, but he appears fully formed. This means we don’t get to know much about the monster. He looks cool, almost like a Pacific Rim monster, but doesn’t stand out among other monsters on this list. He does get points for trying to swallow Godzilla, though he learns the hard way why that’s a bad idea.

3 point task - Read a book set along the Pacific Rim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific...
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read a book that is tagged "Science' or 'Science Fiction'
6 point task - Read a book from the Life Transformation Books list

For Sha

Biollante


The main thing about Biollante is how visually striking she is, almost beautiful. Which makes sense as she was created by a scientist who combined Godzilla DNA with the DNA of his dead daughter and injected it into a rose. She’s not even all that villainous until the Godzilla genes take over and turn her into a crazy monster. Supposedly, Biollente can never die due to her ability to regenerate wounds and turn into a cloud of spores if things get too heavy. That means she’s still out there somewhere, just waiting to bloom.

3 point task - Read a book by a female author
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read a book with clouds on the cover
6 point task - Read a book where a significant character is a scientist of some kind

Cool. I'm going to read Siddhartha for this one. Happily, it's free on Project Gutenberg!

YAY WINNING

Question: Does an archaeoentomologist count as a scientist?

Also, Biollante sounds like an incredibly cool monster tbh.

@Erica: is it okay for whoever finishes their book second does the post on the battle thread? That would speed stuff up.

That makes total sense. I completely forgot that for our first battle - just too busy lately. I will remember in the future!

Monster 2:

Kaiju: Biollante
Book: A House with Good Bones
Date: 14 Apr 2023
Number and Task: 6 point task - Read a book where a significant character is a scientist of some kind
How it fits the task: Protagonist/Narrator is an archaeoentomologist; ie a biologist who specializes in forensic entomology re: historical sites. (It may not be a physicist but it's still science. There's taxonomy and everything.)

I'm trying to overlap the books in this challenge with the super series challenge, because that makes it easier to narrow down options.

Monster 2:


Kaiju: Orga
Book:
Date: April 16
Number and task: 6 point task - Read a book from the Life Transformation Books list
How it fits: Siddhartha is on the list and over 140 pgs. long

I requested our battle. My next monster will be Anguirus.

Battle 2



Erica
Orga - 6 points

Sha
Biollante - 6 points

Godzilla - random.org says 9 points

And the winners are Orga and Biollante! *mighty roars are heard*

I'll take Destoroyah next please.

For Erica

Anguirus


Godzilla’s first foe, the legendary Anguirus. Another quadruped, Anguirus has a much more prehistoric look to him, taking many features from the Ankylosaur. He has a long snout like a crocodile and a turtle-shell back covered in spikes. Though he and Godzilla start off fighting each other in Godzilla Raids Again, they spend most of the series as good pals. Aside from Godzilla, Anguirus has one of the series’ greatest roars. A great monster, and a great friend. But also a great foe. Those Raids Again fights are no joke.

3 point task - Read the first book in a series
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read a book that has been tagged 'Humor' or 'Humour'
6 point task - Read a book with the word 'Great' in the title

For Sha

Destoroyah


A fan favorite, and for good reason. Destoroyah was designed as the ultimate Godzilla foe, as he came from the same oxygen destroyer that took out the original Godzilla. In his final form, he means serious business, looking like a big, thick demon straight from Hell. But Destoroyah also starts small, as a collection of little demons that kill humans like monsters from a horror film (including mini-mouths that totally rip-off Alien). Toho needed a monster that would take Godzilla’s final Heisei movie out with a bang. And they got one.

3 point task - Read a book with "favorite" in the text
4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
5 point task - Read an anthology (collection of short stories)
6 point task - Read a book that is tagged 'Horror'

Oh boy I see that I have A Great Deliverance on my to read list for April in another challenge that I'm decidedly behind on. I could get that out but realistically it will take me a few weeks to plow through it because I'm pretty buried on reading and at work. Will that work? Sorry I'm pokey.

But I also have a KAIJU book I could finish much sooner that will give us 4 points.

I was thinking of horror or anthology - I think you could do a KAIJU if I find a horror novel (because that would give us a total of 10 which seems pretty good to me imo). Which I probably can.

That's a relief. I'll keep on with the KAIJU book then. Thanks!

Kaiju: Anguirus
Book: An Incomplete Revenge
Date: 4/27
Number and Task: 4 point task - Read a book with a title that begins with a letter in KAIJU
How it fits the task: Book title starts with letters A and I

//BARGES IN

I AM REALLY SORRY it has been a very weird bunch of weeks and everything has been put on hold because of family and work stuff I just saw the PMs.

I apologize. This situation might not clear up soon. T_T

No worries!!! Life can be like that. I've had a weird bunch of weeks too. Just let me know if/when you want to continue. I'm pretty maxed out in many directions so can wait indefinitely or let it go too. It's all good.