I was walking with a friend today to the International District here in Seattle with a mission.

The mission today was to go to my favorite import/classic game store Pink Godzilla. Things are great until we get to the entrance to the building that houses this fine museum of gaming goodness. I was pretty confused as there was no sign. I entered anyway. After browsing through a few of the games there I asked the friendly looking Nintendo supporting clerk where the sign went to.

He proceeds to tell me that the sign had to be taken down. Toho, the company who owns the rights to the word Godzilla, apparently issued a “friendly” letter similar to a cease and desist to the neighborhood friendly Pink Godzilla.  I got the impression the letter wasn’t entirely friendly though. This resulted in a forceful name change, and now the store is known as Pink Gorilla. They even have a new mascot… which looks just about like our old friend, only with a Gorilla face. Toho really wanted to rub it in on them though, so to add insult to injury, they also required that they see a list of possible name changes the store might have. After showing them the idea of Pink Gorilla… they said no.

What does this mean for the store then? Well a new sign would be a good idea I think. As far as Toho telling them they don’t want the store called Pink Gorilla… well that doesn’t really matter because they don’t own the rights to the word. So for now you’ll find the cute pink godzilla stuffed creatures with the name sharpie’d out, as well as the posters. But the rest of the store remains the same and still sells awesome goodness.

I’d like to add also that this isn’t a new thing for the company, as reported by Wired.com

I invite everyone to check out the store though. It’s really awesome and they have printed some new pins and new t shirts. Also the video game selection isn’t too bad. Hell… they even have 64DD’s…. can you go wrong with that?

Pink Gorilla

Nerd Out!