CREATURE FEATURE: Trilopods

The Trilopods (トリロポッド Toriropoddo) are a species of power-absorbing alien creatures created by IDW that first appear in issue #19 of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.

Name
The "trilo" part of "Trilopod" likely comes from trilobite, a class of extinct prehistoric arthropods, while "pod" might come from "arthropod," and by itself is a suffix that means "feet" and is commonly used to describe creatures with multiple 'feet.'
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Appearance
The Trilopods' general physical appearance is much like real arthropods. The Trilopods have a Trilobite-like shell, pedipalps lined with sharp teeth and radial mouths resembling those of Anomalocaris, and sharp arm-like scythes with red spheres.
Whilst all 'base' Trilopods share common features, the Beta Trilopods are taller than their alpha counterparts, mostly so that they can fight other Kaiju using their massive scythes.
In addition, the Trilopods' appearances are altered because of powers they absorb from other monsters—such as gaining wings when they gain Battra or Megaguirus' powers, SpaceGodzilla's crown and crystals when they gain his powers, etc.

​History
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
While Godzilla and Megaguirus battled in Machu Picchu, Peru, the Cryogs deployed a pod to their location, which released several Trilopods. Some multi-legged Alpha Trilopods pounced onto Megaguirus and bit into her, draining her blood. Godzilla tried to fight the creatures off, but was overwhelmed by them and then pinned down and restrained by a bipedal Beta Trilopod. Several Alpha Trilopods bit down on Godzilla and began to drain his blood, while others crawled onto the Beta Trilopod and merged with it, causing it to gain additional legs and sprout copies of Megaguirus' wings and spikes. Godzilla fired a blast of atomic breath to free himself. He then incinerated several of the Alpha Trilopods with his atomic breath and even bit another's head off. The Trilopod that absorbed Megaguirus' powers proceeded to blast Godzilla with a powerful laser beam and then grabbed him and carried him off into the sky.
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The Cryog emperor Karkaro, pleased with the result of the Trilopods' attack, sent two more pods full of them to the Monster Islands, while another group of Trilopods dragged SpaceGodzilla to Earth, then attacked him and absorbed his powers as well. Just then, the Megaguirus-Trilopod dropped Godzilla down in the same area, and it and the other Trilopods surrounded both Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla. SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla unwillingly fought the Trilopods together, until SpaceGodzilla was knocked out by one of the Beta Trilopods, and had some of his blood taken by the Alphas. The Beta Trilopod then took on SpaceGodzilla's characteristics, and the fight was quickly swung into the alien monsters' favor. Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla managed to break free from a crystal prison the SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod put them in, and destroyed the SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod. After SpaceGodzilla retreated and Godzilla collapsed from exhaustion, three Beta Trilopods absorbed his blood and took on his characteristics. The military engaged the Godzilla-Trilopods, but was powerless to stop them. Godzilla regained consciousness and attacked his clones, while Jet Jaguar emerged from the ocean to battle them as well.
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Planning his endgame, Karkaro ordered the Trilopod hive to touch down in Los Angeles and unleash the new hybrids inside. Godzilla soon found himself surrounded by Trilopods with the characteristics of nearly all of Earth's kaiju. Before Godzilla was overwhelmed, the Counter-Kaiju Reaction Forces deployed Kiryu and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. to assist the monster king. Together, Godzilla and the mechas briefly took the upper hand against the Trilopods, but Kiryu and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. were both eventually destroyed. Godzilla called out for assistance as loudly as he could, and the various Earth kaiju inside the Trilopod hive heard him and burst free. Godzilla and his allies took on the Trilopods together, destroying all of them. While the rogue Gigan destroyed Karkaro's ship, the Cryog emperor released a last-ditch effort to destroy Godzilla and Earth's kaiju, a giant Trilopod called Magita. After Magita was defeated and the Trilopods were exterminated for good, Godzilla led the other monsters to the ocean, from where they then all went to live across the world in peace.

​Abilities
Power Absorption
The smaller multi-legged Alpha Trilopods can gain the powers of monsters whose blood they suck with their mouths. They will then latch onto the larger bipedal Beta Trilopods and merge with them, granting the Trilopods the powers and physical characteristics of the monster the energy was stolen from.
Chest Laser Cannons
The Trilopods can fire laser cannons located on their chest. 

Trivia

• Trilopod is the first completely new major monster to appear in any of IDW's Godzilla comic series.
• The Trilopods can be seen as a counterpart to the Cryogs' purely-mechanical MechaGodzilla units. While the MechaGodzillas are extremely powerful, they are unable to think for themselves, meaning that they are easily destroyed, while by comparison, the Trilopods are weaker, but their ability to strategize and plan their attacks mean that they can subdue and overpower even more powerful monsters such as SpaceGodzilla.
• The Trilopods are similar to the Skrulls, a race of shapeshifting aliens in the Marvel universe that are able to utilize the powers of whatever superhero they disguise themselves as.
• According to artist Matt Frank and writer Chris Mowry, they initially planned to have a 'Monster Zoo Menagerie' invade Earth and challenge its defending humans and kaiju in the final story arc of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. However this idea was abandoned in favor for a singular, uniform species of antagonists, the Trilopods, so that the duo wouldn't have to design an entire series of one-off creatures.

A group of Trilopods bearing Godzilla's characteristics.