Moguera in B&W, #2 (Then & Now)

Another black and white night. Pretty noir-ish, if you ask us. Or maybe a tokusatsu version of The Blues Brothers?

Kaiju on the red carpet!

WOW...looks like somebody in L.A. is holding red carpet events, even in spite of the virus-fueled entertainment lockdown. A bunch of our favorite kaiju recently hit the step-and-repeat for a promotional event for this blog, somewhere in Hollywood! It was great to see Godzilla '54, Gamera, Moguera and even unexpected guest Lunamaria from "Gundam Seed" make it down. Here's a sampling from the carpet:

 

Shodaigoji and Kingugoji getting all chummy.

Gaiking, looking pretty badass in the new armor.

King Ghidorah.

Mechagodzilla head shot.

Kingugoji reacting to fans. He looks to be having a good time.

Gamera, the Guardian of the Carpet.

Shodaigoji, not looking happy at this photographer.

Moguera.

Lunamaria Hawke from Gundam Seed.

OMG, they're doing the shie.

Surfin' After Midnight: how kaiju maintain their underground cred

Looks like the Nineties are back, at least for one night. The only thing missing is the KROQ music in the background. Looking pretty gnarly, actually.

(Yeah, it's a California reference. Look it up.)

Moguera on the Boulevard

Yeah, they all went down there. No one ever accused a kaiju of having intense originality.

Back to the beach with Mechagodzilla and Moguera

"You know what I hate about these photo shoots? The sand gets everywhere!"

"Oh God, don't remind me. I'm going to need a total overhaul when I get home. And the itching..."

Scooby and Scrappy

Moguera, before and after. Yes, the old one does look like Scrappy Doo, doesn't he?

(Hmmm...if these guys are Scooby & Scrappy Doo, then which kaiju is Shaggy?)

WAIT...what about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in "Twins"? 😲

Cool promo shot, BTW.

Peek-a-boo in the hills

A scene from Runyon Canyon: two guys who aren't as concealed as they think. The locals don't seem too spooked, though.

Kaiju as fine art black and white

Inspired by lith printing. Thanks to Gene Nocon and Tim Rudman for showing the way.

Of course, this could be done in the genuine lith printing process, with a digital negative...wow, the possibilities...

Damn, we've gotta hit the darkroom soon.

Visit Freestyle Photo Supplies for all your traditional and alternative photographic needs. It's where analog still rules, even in the digital age.

VIDEO: Moguera's hypnotizing eyes

Careful...those eyes have been known to fry jeeps at 100 yards. (See The Mysterians)

For God's sake...whatever you do, please don't blow this video up to full-screen! We're serious, don't even think of making this bigger! Trust us on this one, you'll regret it for ages--once you see this, you can't un-see it!

We warned you!!!!!

😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨

Kaiju Abbey Dirt Road

Cute. Maybe a more appropriate question might be, which one of you is Mr. Ingalls, and which one is Laura?

(Yes, you just saw a "Little House On The Prairie" reference in a kaiju blog. Pigs do indeed fly.)

Hollywood Boulevard (again)

Moguera & Tachikoma: got your nose!

Moguera is having a surprise encounter with a rather unexpected companion: a Tachikoma from Ghost In The Shell. Meetings like this are rare, as Tachikoma aren't normally allowed by Security Section 9 to wander about on their own--certainly not beyond the realm of anime. Though armed to the teeth with an array of hi-tech weapons, they have the personalities of young children, which explains why this Tachikoma is trying to play "got your nose" with Moguera. As you can see, the Mysterians alum doesn't think this is all that kawaii.

Then again, Moguera isn't exactly known for his sense of humor.

Silverlake #2

Will Ferrell is huge in Japan.

How hardcore are these fans of Will Ferrell? They actually saw "Holmes & Watson", if you can believe that...in the theaters. Now that's dedication.

Moguera in the Alley: Street Portrait

Moguera is darker than you thought.

“Every society has its outliers. The ones who are never satisfied with your normal, everyday existence. The ones who lead life to its fullest extreme, who literally become larger than life. People like Edgar Allen Poe, Jim Morrison, and Beat Takeshi Kitano. The outlaws. That’s what I am, you know—an outlaw.”

“The others don’t take that seriously. Most of them are rank amateurs, to be honest. They talk a great game, and once in a while, one of them will actually go and destroy a city or two…but those are rare now. It’s not like the old days, where you couldn’t find a major Japanese metropolis that hadn’t been flattened by a kaiju. Oh, how the people would run…”

“And we can’t blame it all on the Americans. A good deal, yes, but let’s face it—we had to expand into foreign markets, sooner or later. We had to compromise to do it. And therein lies the great trap that the others don’t understand. The trap that leads to the horror…the dubbing…”

“I know I’ve paid a price for that—for knowing. But, in the end, somebody has to be at the vanguard. Somebody needs to take the point. And that’s what I did. I took the point. And they dropped a bridge onto me for it.”*

“Somebody has to keep it real. And I’m the only one here who does.”

(* = see The Mysterians)

Silverlake #1

Ah, Silverlake! L.A.’s trendiest neighborhood is of course also home to some of the city’s trendiest restaurants and boutiques. With loads of resident actors, producers and publicists that make up the beating heart of Hollywood, it’s a place to be seen, so naturally Mechagodzilla and Moguera are out and about, getting overpriced cold-brewed coffee, and rubbing elbows with the ultra-hip locals taking their accessory dogs to the dog park by the reservoir. Unfortunately for these two, the tabloid press doesn’t consider shots of them to be money-makers.

(**TECH NOTES: this is not a composite, it is a single shot, based on old-school tokusatsu techniques involving subject placement and perspective. Care to guess how I did it?)