Kaiju bios

Mothra

The Mothras (モスラ Mosura?) of the Showa era are giant divine moth kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1961 Toho film, Mothra.

Subsequently, the first Mothra made her first appearance alongside Godzilla in the 1964 Godzilla film, Mothra vs. Godzilla.

The second Mothra generation would be birthed in the climax of Mothra vs. Godzilla in the form of a duo, and one of the two would go on to become the new Mothra, up until the 1968 film, Destroy All Monsters, where an unspecified third generation individual would be seen.

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Name: Mothra / Mosura 

Height: unknown 

Weight: 8,000- 20,000 tons (larvae) 15,000 tons (adult)

Length: 40 -180 meters(larvae) 135 meters(adult)

Wingspan:250 meters

The name "Mothra" is the suffixation of "-ra" (a common last syllable in kaiju names) to "moth." Since the Japanese language does not have dental fricatives, it is approximated "Mosura" in Japanese.

Originally, Mothra's name was approximated in English as "Mosla," but it was later corrected to "Mothra" by the time of the release of her debut film. In the American dubbing and various posters for Mothra vs. Godzilla, Mothra is also referred to as "The Thing."

Design

Appearance

Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle: Mothra's mammoth egg is colored in decorative blue and yellow waves. The egg hatches into her larva, a massive, segmented brown caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing blue, sometimes red, eyes. In rare circumstances, twins may emerge from the egg.

The caterpillar eventually spins a silken cocoon around itself (the pupa stage), and from this cocoon the imago (adult) Mothra emerges, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings.

Mothra's life cycle - particularly the tendency of an imago's death to coincide with its larvae hatching - echoes that of the mythical phoenix, resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity.

ShodaiMosuLarva

Mothra's larval form in the original Mothra was portrayed by a 3 foot-long remote-controlled puppet and a 6 foot-tall, 33 foot-long suit that was operated by eight actors, including Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka.

The ShodaiMosuLarva is distinct from later Mothra larva designs in that its body is a very light shade of brown, with very pronounced dark spots all over its body. The body is also very elongated and slender. The head is much more rounded than later designs, and features a tall forehead.

The ShodaiMosuLarva has very small light-blue eyes, which are nested within large rounded sockets. The ShodaiMosuLarva's mandibles are relatively small, and the feelers flanking them are thin and located near the bottom of the head.

ShodaiMosuImago

The ShodaiMosuImago would set the tone for all of the Mothra imago designs to follow. The prop's body is predominantly white, with several orange spots decorating its length, most notably on the top of its head. The body is very thick and rounded, while the thin, scrawny legs are held close to the body.

The ShodaiMosuImago's face is flat and its mandibles are very small. Its blue eyes - which are ovular in shape - are surrounded by a black outline. For scenes of the imago Mothra flying in the distance, animation was used in place of the actual prop.