Dogzilla vs. Mothra

I grew up in a household steeped in Godzilla. My dad was a huge (big? moderate?) fan, and had several Godzilla figurines that were fun to play with when I was a kid. Beyond that, however, and a theater viewing of Godzilla 2000, I didn't develop much interest of my own in the movie monster.

Until I decided to do a Bridezilla costume for Halloween in 2013. I watched a couple of Godzilla films to help me get into character, and once I saw Mothra vs. Godzilla, I fell in love. With Mothra, that is! A giant monster, who also happens to be a moth, who is in a team with twin singing fairies, who also happens to save the earth? What more could a wannabe geek girl want?

Later that year, I tried to make a T-shirt with Mothra's likeness, using the last of my opaque T-shirt transfer paper and some permanent markers, but the effort was a failure, and I was forced to leave my public declarations of love for Mothra unspoken. Until, several years later, I thought to make her into a Halloween costume. A way better option than a tiny image on a shirt!

I started construction of my Mothra costume last September, but it was becoming clear to me that despite my infatuation with the greatest movie monster ever invented, not many other people even know who Mothra is. I hesitated to bring her to a party where she would not be recognized. 

 

 

So I finished painting the wings (laboriously, on both sides of an old shower curtain, which I do not recommend as the paint flakes right off), sealed them with a clear rubber coating to hopefully keep the flaking to a minimum, and rolled them up, never to be seen again until the next year.

 

 

It was sometime in between last Halloween and this one that I realized Mothra might have a higher recognition rate if she appeared with her nemesis, Godzilla. But since I'd stupidly thrown away my human-sized Godzilla spines, I really wasn't keen on making another version of them. Maybe in a smaller scale it would be OK. Maybe in a dog-sized scale. Maybe, my companion in Halloween tomfoolery would have to be Dogzilla.

It was settled. When October rolled around this year, and I learned that the annual Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Howl-O-Wine party (the one where Jack Jack and I won a prize for our spider/web costume!) was three days away, I decided (rather belatedly!) to get cracking on a couples costume for me and Kodiak.

I made his spines out of a yoga mat that he himself had conveniently torn to shreds, and painted them with some rust-colored paint I had lying around that almost matched his coat.

 

I found an old T-shirt that I'd partially destroyed already for another sewing project, which happened to fit the dog fairly well, so I dyed it with a watered-down mixture of the same paint, and made a jacket to which the spines could be attached.

 

I sewed the spines on in alternating rows, bracing them against each other so they would stand up straight (spoiler! They didn't!)

 

I also made Kodiak a Dogzilla tail with more of the yoga mat, which I attached around his own tail using a couple of rubber bands (word to the wise: a dog who likes to wag his tail is not going to be wearing a tail accessory for very long!)

With Dogzilla finished and just one day to go until the festival, I set out to make my Mothra costume more complete, starting with the furry antennae. I have a few fur scraps left over from my Rabbit in a Hat costume, so I wrapped two of those around lengths of wire and attached them to a headband. They are removable and reusable!

 

A pair of blue sunglasses look remarkably like Mothra's glowing eyes.

I had to find some way of supporting the wings, so I made some elastic bands for my fingers and wrists and carefully threaded them through slits I cut in the shower curtain. I used a metal snap to hold the center of the wings to the back of my shirt.

Mothra has legs sticking out of her chest, but I am not that crafty, so I ignored that rather important feature and focused on getting the general color scheme right. A black underside with a furry back could be accomplished with a white fur-textured sweater (it happened to be one I bought but didn't use for my rabbit in a hat costume) with a black strip glued to the front (black strip being another part of a previously cannibalized T-shirt). 

 

Black shorts, because it was a gloriously warm day for October, and orange sandals just because I could, and I was done, ready to save the world from my adorable foe!

This was a complicated costume, but it cost me nothing except the paints I used on the wings, which probably totaled around 16 dollars. Sadly, it won me no prizes, but I guess defeating Dogzilla is accomplishment enough.

Until he comes back from the dead...