Hammerbeak was created by takingturnsatrandom for the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest.  Takingturnsatrandom retains all the rights to Hammerbeak, and the illustration and profile here are adapted from his work.  While Hammerbeak is not an official part of ATOM’s canon, he and the other contest entries posted on this site are considered semi-canonical – the Star Wars Legends to ATOM’s Star Wars.  I highly recommend you check out Takingturnsatrandom’s blog!

Aliases: King of the Outback

Date Discovered: July 7^th, 1957.

Place of Origin: Australian Outback

Notable Stomping Grounds: Australian Outback, Bunyip Park Kaiju Reserve

Height: 100 feet

Length: 140 feet

Biology and Appearance: Looking like an incredibly bizarre take on the already strange cassowary, it is unclear whether Hammerbeak is a prehistoric relic of some weird offshoot of the bird family or just a heavily mutated modern creature.  His quadrupedal gait and lizard-like tail suggest the former, yet his resemblance to modern cassowaries cannot be overlooked.  Stranger still, Hammerbeak is capable of flight despite very clearly being mutated from a flightless bird (technically all kaiju are capable of exploiting their gravity manipulating powers this way, but Hammerbeak is one of the few who realizes they can despite the fact that nothing about him even looks flight capable).  Truly, Hammerbeak is an enigma.

One other notable feature is a secondary stomach, which Hammerbeak fills by swallowing large quantities of sand that he is then able to spit out in a pressurized blast, serving as a powerful weapon in addition to his powerful strikes.

Hammerbeak’s powers include:

• Super strength
• An enhanced healing factor
• Immunity to radiation
• Pressurized sand blast mouth

Personality: Hammerbeak is a kaiju with a mean streak. A grizzled, hardened animal, he will not hesitate to dole out lethal force to those that cross him.  He will not seek out combat, but is able to hold his own against just about any other kaiju, even giving some of the fiercest retrosaurs a tough fight.

Though he typically stays in the barren outback, the rare occasions when Hammerbeak wanders into a city are mostly simple to deal with, as the massive bird has no inclination to pursue the evacuating citizens.  Real problems only arise if he spots his reflection in the windows of large buildings, as Hammerbeak will lash out viciously at what he assumes is a rival in the mirror image.  He has recently been observed displaying behaviors indicating that he is searching for a mate. Fortunately no other suitably sized cassowaries exist for him to breed with.

Hammerbeak has become something of a mascot to Australians, who embrace him as one of their more prominent native kaiju.  This has had the unfortunate side effect of convincing some people that he isn’t all that dangerous – a tragic mistake to make, as Hammerbeak’s grumpy exterior doesn’t hide a heart of gold, but rather a deep well of territorial aggression.   Nonetheless, Hammerbeak has “defended” the island-continent on several occasions, but this was almost certainly due to his territorial nature rather than any sense of responsibility.