Legion

The **Legion** (レギオン *Region*) are extraterrestrial silicon-based kaiju that appeared in the 1996 Gamera film, *Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion*.

Gamera's second foe in the Heisei trilogy, the Symbiotic Legion were a race of insectoid aliens that cultivated colossal plants which allowed them to spread from planet to planet. Upon arriving on Earth, the Legion established a flower in downtown Sapporo, but were interrupted by Gamera, who destroyed their flower and killed several of the creatures. The gigantic Mother Legion fled the nest and relocated to Sendai, where she successfully established a second flower and defended it from Gamera. Gamera prevented the flower from firing its seed into space, but was seriously wounded in the process, while the city of Sendai was completely leveled. The Mother Legion and her Soldiers made their way to Tokyo to build a third flower, with the JSDF helpless to stop them. Fortunately, Gamera was revived and flew to Tokyo and resumed his battle against the invaders. Gamera was forced to call upon a dangerous ability that required him to consume the very energy of the Earth itself in order to finally destroy the Mother Legion and end her species' assault upon the planet.

## History

### *Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion*

The Symbiotic Legion arrived on Earth in a meteorite that crashed near Sapporo. The meteorite caused strange lights to appear in the sky, and also drastically elevated the oxygen levels in the surrounding air. Two Soldier Legion raided a nearby brewery, where they disintegrated the glass on the beer bottles to absorb the silicon. Eventually, the Legion congregated in the subway under Sapporo, where they attacked a train and brutally killed several passengers. In the tunnel, the Legion planted a giant flower, which grew rapidly and eventually broke up through the street and became prominently visible. The JSDF formulated a plan to place C-4 charges on the plant's roots, hoping the explosion will ignite the oxygen-rich air and destroy the plant in a fiery explosion. However, the explosion failed to destroy the plant. Suddenly, Gamera arrived in the city and destroyed the plant with his plasma fireballs. In response, a swarm of Soldier Legion climbed onto Gamera, biting through his shell and drawing blood. Before the Legion could kill Gamera, they were attracted to a nearby electrical transformer, which electrocuted them all to death. Gamera flew away to recover, but the gigantic Mother Legion suddenly emerged from underground and flew away with the JSDF in hot pursuit. The Mother Legion was apparently shot down by the air force over the ocean, but no body was ever found, only a wing.

Suddenly, the Symbiotic Legion and their queen appeared in Sendai, where a new Legion Plant had been cultivated. Anticipating the flower to seed and destroy the city in a catastrophic explosion, the citizens of Sendai attempted to evacuate in helicopters from the city's airport. As the last helicopter, on which Asagi Kusanagi was present, prepared to leave, the Mother Legion erupted from the ground and tried to destroy it. Thankfully, Gamera arrived once again and distracted Legion long enough for the helicopter to escape. The Mother Legion proceeded to brutally injure Gamera, impaling his chest with her horn and blasting off his shoulder with a plasma beam. Aware the flower was about to seed, the Mother Legion retreated, leaving the wounded Gamera in the blast radius. With no time to lose, Gamera approached the flower and threw his body in front of it just as it seeded, preventing its pod from being launched into space, but annihilating Sendai and apparently killing himself in the process.

The Mother Legion and her swarm later arrived in Tokyo, intending to plant another flower. The J.S.D.F desperately tried to halt the Legion's approach, but their weapons had no effect. Gamera, miraculously revived by the Earth's Mana, flew to Tokyo to battle the Mother Legion. Meanwhile, the Soldier Legion were lured to an electrical plant, where they climbed onto the power lines. The JSDF wasted no time in blasting the stationary Legion with missiles, eradicating them all. Gamera managed to tear off the Mother Legion's horn, but she was far from defeated and proceeded to bombard Gamera with deadly red energy strands fired from her head. Out of options, Gamera absorbed a huge amount of the Earth's Mana and opened a cavity on his chest, out of which he fired the Ultimate Mana Blast. The powerful beam collided with Legion, pushing her back as she tried to withstand it. Finally, the blast was too much and Legion was completely vaporized, ending her species' conquest of Earth.

### *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris*

Although the Legion do not make a physical appearance in *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris*, the Mother Legion's demise at the hands of Gamera's Ultimate Mana Blast is revealed to be responsible for draining Earth's Mana, allowing the film's secondary antagonists, the Hyper Gyaos to emerge in vast numbers all over the world.

## Abilities

### High Band Electronic Eyes

The Legion are drawn to electromagnetic waves and can emit electromagnetic waves of their own for various uses in combat. The Legion are able to detect electromagnetic waves of all wavelengths thanks to their **High Band Electronic Eyes** (ハイバンド電子眼 *Hai Bando Denshi Me*). Mother Legion's eyes usually emit a blue glow, but become red when she is agitated.

### Microwave Shell

Mother Legion can split her nasal horn and fire a blue beam of focused microwaves from the opening called the **Microwave Shell** (マイクロ波シェル *Maikuroha Sheru*). This attack possesses major destructive powers thanks to its splash damage, being able to destroy a manufacturing facility with a few blasts, annihilate a fleet of tanks with one shot, and leave massive craters in the ground. The Microwave Shell also demonstrates penetrating properties, shown when a shot from it managed to destroy a corner of Gamera's shell. These attacks cause the Mother's horn to burn with an intense heat hot enough to burn Gamera's hand when he attempted to tear off the horn, impressive given Gamera's resistance to high temperatures such as when his body was unaffected by the massive amount of heat given off by his Ultimate Plasma attack.

### Red Rod

After Gamera tore off Mother Legion's nasal horn, her Microwave Shell was replaced with another attack called the **Red Rod** (レッドロッド *Reddo Roddo*) or **Legion Butte** (レギオン・ビュート *Region Byūto*). This attack takes the form of crimson tendrils of high-temperature energy that extend from the opening on Mother Legion's forehead which she can guide to a target. The Red Rod is able to easily penetrate Gamera's flesh and burn it, causing him intense pain. Unable to stand against the Red Rod, Gamera was forced to call upon his Ultimate Plasma attack to finally defeat Mother Legion.

### Egg Chamber

Mother Legion releases a swarm of Soldier Legion from her Egg Chamber.
Mother Legion possesses an **Egg Chamber** (エッグチャンバー *Eggu Chanbā*) in her abdomen from which she can produce Soldier Legion at a rate of 100 individuals per hour. The Mother guides these Soldier Legion with electromagnetic waves, allowing them to seek out threats to their colony and their mother as well as be given attack commands. These Soldier Legion are able to swarm the Mother's foes, clinging onto them while delivering painful stabs into the opponent's flesh. The Soldiers can discharge electrical energy through their limbs into their victims to further damage them. While not much of a threat individually. the Soldier Legion are shown to be quite dangerous in vast numbers such as when a swarm of them was able to bring Gamera to the ground and keep him down for a prolonged period. Despite their small size, the Soldier Legion demonstrate great resistance to blunt force trauma when Gamera attempts to shake off the swarm by ramming himself into several buildings without the Soldiers being affected.

### Sledge Arms

Mother Legion's front legs, known as **Sledge Arms** (スレッジアーム *Surejji Āmu*), have incredibly sharp tips which are capable of cutting through many different materials, and are able to injure Gamera by easily piercing through his shell. In addition to serving as weapons, Mother Legion can use her Sledge Arms to burrow underground at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour.

### Size Legs

The Mother Legion has two rear legs with sickles attached to them, which are known as **Size Legs** (サイズレッグ *Saizu Reggu*). These legs can be utilized to attack the enemy from underground by bursting out from underneath an opponent and impaling them, which is facilitated by their wide range of motion.

### Shell

The Mother Legion is covered in a highly durable **shell** (甲羅 *Kōra*), composed of insulating material similar to rigid silicon resin that repels virtually any attack. Her shell shows extreme heat resistance, to the point that it withstood Gamera's Ultimate Plasma attack for several seconds.

### Interference Wave Claws

The Mother Legion possess ten clawed limbs that form a crown around her head called **Interference Wave Claws** (干渉波クロー *Kanshō-ha Kurō*) which can produce different types of electromagnetic waves. While primarily used to communicate with Soldier Legion, the Interference Wave Claws, true to their name, can interfere with the communication of electronic devices. Additionally, they can generate an electromagnetic barrier which defends the Mother against projectiles by either deflection or chemical breakdown depending on the type of projectile. This allowed the Mother Legion to deflect missiles and neutralize Gamera's Plasma Fireballs by chemically breaking down the fireball's ions. However, the claws are comparatively weaker than the rest of Mother Legion's body and can be destroyed by a direct strike from anti-tank missiles, negating her ability to generate the electromagnetic shield and block projectiles in this way.

### Flight

Mother Legion is capable of flight at speeds of up to Mach 1 and can launch herself into flight from underground..

### Weaknesses

As mentioned previously, the Mother Legion's Interference Wave Claws are considerably more fragile than the rest of her sturdy armored body, and are able to be blasted off by sustained fire from conventional anti-tank missiles. While the Mother Legion's armor is highly resilient, she can still be damaged if sufficient force is applied, such as when Gamera successfully tore off her horn. The Soldier Legion can become distracted by other electromagnetic sources, causing their focus to shift from the Mother Legion's target. The JSDF exploited this by luring the Soldier Legion to an electrical substation where they were promptly eradicated by the JSDF. Despite their impressive resistance to blunt force trauma, the Soldier Legion were defenseless against the JSDF's barrage of missiles.