(2022)

This is actually inspired by a rather obscure reference in DOUG. But before I get into that, a little backstory:

As a kid, I knew who Doug was (as well as the other Nickelodeon shows from back in the day), but I never had cable growing up, so I only got to watch them when I was at Grandma's (depending on who had the remote). Well, around 2019, I caught an episode while I was at a con, and I was really into it. I started watching more of the series, and I really like it. Yeah, they'll sugarcoat a few things here and there, but it's more to make itself easier to digest; an issue is presented, and it's dealt with. It does so in a very modest and honest manner, which I really like. (In fact, I got to meet Billy West at Fan Expo St. Louis in 2022, and he had similar sentiments towards the show.)

Anywho, throughout the show, they'd make a few references here and there to Godzilla, and I was like, "Yeah, some Godzilla fans worked on this show." But there was an episode that opened with Doug and Skeeter watching BEETRA: THE KILLER BEET. Here's the thing, it was plenty a Godzilla reference in and of itself being a poke at monster movies, but Beetra reaches down and grabs a bus that has "King Ghidorah" written on the side in katakana. I was blown away by it. I also thought it'd be a fun excuse to draw Reptar as well (surprisingly, I didn't find out about him until AFTER I knew who Godzilla was; I actually thought he WAS Godzilla).

Of course, I couldn't resist putting Quailman in there, doing the famous Ultraman pose. But since Doug is canonically left-handed, he does it the opposite way.

I dunno, I like to think that maybe Beetra and Reptar are made by rival studios; Beetra could be the "Gamera" to Reptar's "Godzilla", and Doug was simply imagining the two having a crossover (with Quailman joining the fray).