discussion about the whole godzilla has gills thing

The scales that overlap on his arms look different to the ones on his neck. I am not sure if they are actually gills but I think it would be a good new feature. And also in the trailer, when you see the soldiers shooting flares at Godzilla's body, you can see gills on his neck. So yeah, idk.

They're overlapping scales. It's just armor, no need to get scared. Godzilla doesn't need gills because he can breath underwater. He sleeps underwater without any problems. Those aren't gills, just scales.

Either Godzilla is reptilian and he can be underwater for long periods of time, or he is amphibian and can use gills AND lungs. To be honest, I would like this Godzilla to have gills.

I dont see why having gills makes him less "unstoppable", its a great new feature, he doesnt need to go to the surface to breath, wich is a good reason why noone  has seen a small spiky islan raising in the ocean 

He is a fire breathing 350 feat tall reptile, but cant have gills?

Well, he's never actually needed air in the first place, though I could see the gills being remnants of a past life style that simply is letover from the Frankenstein-esque mutation process millions of years ago. I like to think of them, with that in mind, like those vestigial features you see on certain animals where they used to be of some use, but are now functionally unnecessary, an example being some claws left on certain snakes from when they still had legs.

The same could be said of these "gills". You can create a creature of this size, make his hide as durable as previous movies, and even give him an atomic breath and whatnot, but air is the main issue that can't be solved, which is why you just forego that need and become self-sufficient with other materials on hand.

If you look at a profile view of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, you will see the almost the same looking gills. Yes, they are gills, and YES, they look awesome. Godzilla is a Mutated radioactive 350 foot dinosaur. Adding gills to him wouldnt do much. Plus, its an awesome asset.

If that's gilla than he wouldn't be attacking Las Vegas if it's a desert, the only water nearby is lake mead. CRAP AND THE HOOVER DAM!!

he doen not have gills.  if he had them he'd never be able to leave water.  since when did lizards have gills?

just because you have gills doesn't mean you can't still live on land. like demplex said, if he is part amphibian, than he is able to use BOTH lungs and gills. I personally really love the gills btw.

Why are we still debating this? They are gills dude, deal with it.

Godzilla 98 had gills and concept art of Godzilla 2000 had gills. They don't impede him in anyway-- if I hear one more person going on about Godzilla having gills somehow reducing his ability to fight in space (which I assure you this Godzilla will never do) I'll go batshit crazy. 

@ Jorgermh: It's not fire, IT"S RADIATION! Godzilla is a radiation breathing lizard. That's why its called Atomic Breath.

Godzilla 98 wasn't this godzilla. You can't compare the two as the same creature.

@Jordan Swickard

Just putting crap into perspective. Godzilla 98 was able to survive out of the water for hours and hours on end. The gills did not impede him and hes the weakest Godzilla of all time. 

@kingkaijugojira I know, I was being sarcastic.

All I know is I don't think they'll put gills on Godzilla, I don't see any obvious gills and I havent yet. It looks more like natural armor. Toho never really did the gills, and it's possible Toho has that on the lists of "don'ts" they handed to the studio.

We are assuming that this Godzilla is a type of creature we understand-- and I'm willing to bet my shoes that he isn't. I don't think hes a dinosaur, or a known species of reptile-- he is a monster. We don't know what he is-- and we probably won't be given a clear idea just what he is when the film comes out.

Because hes not a defining species... well that means he can have whatever the director wants. How many reptiles have gills? Well how many reptiles are able to survive being nuked multiple times? Its a redundant ass argument. Just because you don't like a portion of the design doesn't mean you need to go in and half-assedly throw some psuedo-science at it in an attempt to debunk it.

They are gills, they look nothing like the rest of his scales. Having gills does not mean hes confined to breathe underwater, his diaphragm alone proves that he more than likely has lungs as well. There are a few select species out there that have lungs and gills. Its rare-- but it happens.

And if he were an amphibian, then he wouldn't even need nostrils because he'd more than likely breathe out of his skin like a frog or something. 

And I'll restate-- just because you don't like something about his design, it doesn't neccesarily limit him or impede him in anyway outside of your skewed opinion on it. 

@Jordan

Did you not hear when I said that Godzilla 2000 was originally suppose to have gills? Toho obviously has no problem with it-- the main reason they didn't give Godzilla 2000 gills was they had no idea how they'd function on the suit so it was scrapped. I know this because I've ya know, talked to the damn guy who designed the costume at G-fest. But what do I know, I'm not some random fan assuming what Toho would and wouldn't do like you. 

The gills debate would make sense if he had no lungs, but he very clearly has lungs, which are necesary for roaring, he will had no problem going into land

Lungfish have both gills and lungs-- their lungs are very simplified versions of our lungs, but they are indeed lungs.

Some amphibians have lungs and gills-- some have breathe through their skin as well as nostrils. 

There are some fish that are actually able to take in air through their mouth when they are out of water-- these creatures have gills and NO lungs. 

There are plenty of creatures in nature that can breathe more than one way.

#realscience-to-counter-angry-fanboy-psuedo-science

Again, a creature that size can be that large and have those proportions without faltering under their own weight, have an atomic breath or any other abilities similarly exotic, and can functionally live forever due to non-decaying/dying cell structure and repair system, but in this scenario, air becomes redundant in normal biology. If anything, I see air as a mere catalyst for some the things going on in a nuclear creature's systems like Godzilla.

It helps, and gathering as much as you can by way of lungs, nostrils, and gills is certainly beneficial, aiding in a few reactions and cooling down of the nuclear organs, but it's likely not vital to Godzilla in general. How does this sound? A compromise between needing it or not, being explained by nuclear mutation-based self-induced-over-time evolution, whereby it's not a matter of urgency of taking it in, rather to simply aid in bodily functions.

To sum it up even more: Godzilla doesn't NEED air, but air HELPS, and that's why he has nostrils, lungs, AND gills

There are a hell of a lot of assumptions being made. Why does this Godzilla have to be a reptile, or an amphibian, or a dinosaur? I find it unlikely he's any of these in Edwards' version, but rather an ancient form of life we've never encountered before.

I think it's highly likely that trying to blow him up with nukes DID have an effect on him, but... come on folks, it's 2014 - being hit with large doses of radiation doesn't mutate you into a super-monster - it gives you cancer and kills you. With Edwards pushing for a more realistic take on the property I find it highly unlikely that Godzilla is essentially a lizard Hulk.

Well, I'm assuming he's a prehistoric creature that lived a long time ago, had numerous features still present in his latest form, was mutated a long time ago in a fashion more like how Frankenstein's monster was given life, further radiation is added into his already nuclear-evolved body that interacts positively with his biology, and that all of that accumulates into the entity known as Godzilla.

Guys, Godzilla does not have gills. He has never had gills and therefor never should. How long can a blue whale hold its breath? A long ass time. Now Godzilla is way bigger, so he should be able to hold his breath almost indefinitley. NO GILLS! 

You guys all assume that Godzilla has to breathe and i find that weired.  The purpose of the lungs is to provide oxygen to blood cells that give oxygen to mucles which is their energy. Godzilla can have blood but he doesn't need to breathe at all. His heart is a living nuclear reactor that puts energy into his body so he has no need to eat, drink(but he might to cool of his body from the radiation), and breath. I mean he might not have a stomach,lungs,or other organs and are replaced by a larger heart to make more energy. Why do you think all the blue whales aren't extinct from him?

You guys all assume that Godzilla has to breathe and i find that weired.  The purpose of the lungs is to provide oxygen to blood cells that give oxygen to mucles which is their energy. Godzilla can have blood but he doesn't need to breathe at all. His heart is a living nuclear reactor that puts energy into his body so he has no need to eat, drink(but he might to cool of his body from the radiation), and breath. I mean he might not have a stomach,lungs,or other organs and are replaced by a larger heart to make more energy. Why do you think all the blue whales aren't extinct from him?

The Art of Destruction cover kinda suggests that the supposed "gills" are just thick hide.