Viras
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Viras is an alien Kaiju featured in Gamera's fifth film, Gamera vs. Viras, known as "Destroy all Planets" stateside.
Viras somewhat resembles a squid, with a pair of foreword-facing eyes, an owl-like beak and a whistling cry. It has six tentacles upon which it walks, and three more on its head.
Viras has no projectile weapons to speak of - it is purely a melee fighter, whipping, grasping and throwing an opponent with its tentacles. It can also clasp the three tentacles on its head together and stiffen them into a solid, razor sharp point. It can then dive headfirst into an opponent and violently skewer it. Viras is an accomplished swimmer as well.
Viras was the leader of an alien invasion, set upon conquering the Earth. An earlier attempt by his kind was easily thwarted by Gamera, so Viras employed a mind probe to discover Gamera's weaknesses. Viras discovered Gamera's kindness to children, and exploited it by kidnapping two boy scouts and using them as hostages, coercing Gamera to get into perfect position for the launching of the mind-control device. Then they made Gamera rampage through Japan, the targets being the Okomasashi Dam and eventually Tokyo.
When the two boys were able to escape, Gamera attacked, and Viras fused with his crew members to become a giant. After a fierce battle, Viras was defeated when Gamera flew with him up into the atmosphere, killing him in the cold, and then dropping him.
[edit] Other Appearances
Like many of his fellow "Showa" era monsters, Viras has not appeared in any movies since his initial movie debut, save for a stock footage appearance in the film Gamera: Super Monster. However, he made an appearance in the short-lived Gamera comic series by Dark Horse that was based on the Heisei Gamera movies. In this series, he was the product of experimentation with Gyaos DNA. He'd eventually face off against Gamera amidst the streets of Paris, France. In said comic series he looked relatively the same, except for more Octopus/Squid-like features. Viras also appeared (along with other "Showa" era Gamera monsters) in an episode of the children's cartoon Franklin (TV series). In the episode, Franklin is afraid to go into his shell at night because it's dark, and his fear is manifested as ghosts of the various Gamera monsters including Viras[1]that come out of his shell.
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![[1]](http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2082/virastv2.jpg){kind=link}