It's common lore that some of the more iconic monsters of Dungeons & Dragons drew their inspiration from a set of plastic monsters mixed in with a bag of dinosaurs from Japan. Those monsters were not included by accident -- they were drawn from another show with quirky critters: Ultraman.
Patchisaurs
Kent David Kelly explains the origin of the monsters in HAWK & MOOR - The Unofficial History of Dungeons & Dragons: Book 3 - Lands and Worlds Afar:
The inclusion of these creatures is no accident; they're "patchisaurs," toys molded after a type of Japanese giant monster known as kaiju. Patchi are off-brand knockoffs of popular toys, and in the case of patchisaurs they all hail from one source: Ultraman. The Clever Mantis blog explains them in detail:
Ultra Who?
Ultraman's nearest analogue to American comics is probably Green Lantern. Like Green Lantern, an alien crash lands on Earth and bestows the ability on a human to transform into a similar form -- in this case, Ultraman, a martial artist alien who could grow to huge proportions to battle similarly-sized kaiju. Ultraman featured kaiju in the 60s before Godzilla made them mainstream, and it was this popularity that inspired patchisaurs. The picture above is from a sonosheet. Pink Tentacle describes sonosheets in Japan:
Of particular interest to gamers is the top left photo, which Monty N. Mypokit identifies as the progenitor of the umber hulk, and the bottom right which was the inspiration for the bulette. In tracking down the origins of these giant monsters, we can narrow down the search to a few specific elements.
Ultraman surged in popularity in the 1960s, which was why toys were later produced to feed fan demand. Any patchisaurs Gygax might have considered were therefore before the 1970s, when D&D debuted, limiting what type of kaiju could be the archetypes for later D&D monsters to that time period.
Secondly, not all kaiju are created equal. Patchisaurs didn't even necessarily appear in the show; part of being a patchi means the kaiju were knock-offs and could be fabricated out of whole cloth for a sonosheet.
Third, the transition from comic book or television show to toy format means that something is likely lost in the translation. Thus kaiju who might have wings are sculpted without them, and since there are no moving parts it's impossible to tell if a monster (like Gabora) could transform into something else.
These three elements have served to obscure the origins of D&D monsters, such that players have often thought that the monsters inspired the toys rather than the reverse. In the next several installments, we will set out to clarify the family ancestry of the D&D monsters we know and love.
Articles in this series:
Patchisaurs
Kent David Kelly explains the origin of the monsters in HAWK & MOOR - The Unofficial History of Dungeons & Dragons: Book 3 - Lands and Worlds Afar:
The specific creatures were from a bag of toys included with dinosaurs. Although some are recognizable dinosaurs, some are completely alien creatures. Tim Kask, Dragon Magazine's first editor, explains on Dragonsfoot:
These creatures, all iconic by D&D standards, created an entirely new category of monster. These aberrations included the bulette, carrion crawler, owlbear, rust monster, and umber hulk.
The inclusion of these creatures is no accident; they're "patchisaurs," toys molded after a type of Japanese giant monster known as kaiju. Patchi are off-brand knockoffs of popular toys, and in the case of patchisaurs they all hail from one source: Ultraman. The Clever Mantis blog explains them in detail:
By pinpointing the time when Gygax would have acquired the toys (late 60s early 70s), most patchisaurs were in fact from Ultraman or derivatives thereof.
Ultra Who?
Ultraman's nearest analogue to American comics is probably Green Lantern. Like Green Lantern, an alien crash lands on Earth and bestows the ability on a human to transform into a similar form -- in this case, Ultraman, a martial artist alien who could grow to huge proportions to battle similarly-sized kaiju. Ultraman featured kaiju in the 60s before Godzilla made them mainstream, and it was this popularity that inspired patchisaurs. The picture above is from a sonosheet. Pink Tentacle describes sonosheets in Japan:
The kaiju pictured, in clockwise order are: a patchisaur breathing fire at Ultraman, Alien Baltan vs. King Joe; Eleking vs. another patchisaur; and two different views of Gabora who is one of the few "named" patchisaurs we know of (more on him later). Incidentally, if anyone can read Japanese please share the translations as that may give us further clues as to who these creatures are.
Of particular interest to gamers is the top left photo, which Monty N. Mypokit identifies as the progenitor of the umber hulk, and the bottom right which was the inspiration for the bulette. In tracking down the origins of these giant monsters, we can narrow down the search to a few specific elements.
Ultraman surged in popularity in the 1960s, which was why toys were later produced to feed fan demand. Any patchisaurs Gygax might have considered were therefore before the 1970s, when D&D debuted, limiting what type of kaiju could be the archetypes for later D&D monsters to that time period.
Secondly, not all kaiju are created equal. Patchisaurs didn't even necessarily appear in the show; part of being a patchi means the kaiju were knock-offs and could be fabricated out of whole cloth for a sonosheet.
Third, the transition from comic book or television show to toy format means that something is likely lost in the translation. Thus kaiju who might have wings are sculpted without them, and since there are no moving parts it's impossible to tell if a monster (like Gabora) could transform into something else.
These three elements have served to obscure the origins of D&D monsters, such that players have often thought that the monsters inspired the toys rather than the reverse. In the next several installments, we will set out to clarify the family ancestry of the D&D monsters we know and love.
Articles in this series:
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