Introduction: Make a Scorpion Costume (Mortal Kombat Ninja)

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If you want to make an inexpensive Scorpion Costume ( Or any of the other colored ninjas such as Sub Zero, Reptile, or whoever ) ,this is the perfect way.

The design I went for myself was a combo of MK and MKII scorpion.  The yellow cloth resembles the MK style and the leg guards and mask are from the MKII style.  If you are good at sewing, and want a complete MKII style, you can search for yellow diamond patterned fabric.  You need to be able to sew in order to cut and stitch diamond pattern fabric.  I am not a skilled sewer so I do not use that style.

Forgive me for the lack of step by step pictures.  I only decided to make this instructable after I had completed most of the costume.  If you have any questions, please comment and I will try to answer them.  Most people should be able to figure out what I did.

Please let me know if I should clarify any information.  I will gladly do so.  This is my first instructable so please, understand that I am not used to explaining everything clearly in a written format.

Most of the material can be found online and rather inexpensively:

1. Yellow Fabric
It can be hard to find yellow fabric online, I settled for yellow cotton tablecloth which I found on eBay. I would usually use bed sheets for something like this, but I could not find an inexpensive yellow bed sheet online or in stores.

2.  Black cotton pants/sleeveless shirts
Very easy to find online and in stores. Check out Kohl's for inexpensive Champion brand clothes

3.  Black Balaclava
Amazon or Ebay. If you use Amazon, look for Super Saver Discounts for free shipping on orders over $25, so buy what you need on Amazon and get them shipped for free.

4.  Baseball catchers leg guards
I was lucky and was able to find cheap used catchers leg guards on eBay. Just keep searching, I almost bought a pair for $30 but kept looking for a week and found some for half price.

5.  Water-Skiing Shoes
I found perfect soft shoes at Sports Authority.

Craft Materials:
Found online or any craft store

6.  Fabric Glue

7.  Spray Paint

8.  Sticky Velcro

9.  Painters Tape

10.  Electrical Tape

Optional:
Paintball Mask:
I had an old paintball mask that I used to play paintball then eventually was used for my Shredder costume from ninja turtles

Wooden Kunai Dagger:
Just search eBay.

Other materials:
Possibly Hacksaw
Cardboard

Everything together cost me less than $80

But many of you will already have some of these materials just like I did

Create this costume at your own risk.  I take no responsibility if you injure yourself when creating or wearing any part of the costume.

Step 1: Using the Spray Paint

1.  Use painter's tape to tape the cloth areas and the metal hooks on the leg guards.
2.  In a well ventilated area, use yellow spray paint to paint the plastic parts.
3.  Wait for the paint to dry completely before you remove the tape.
4.  If the paint bleeds or you did not tape properly, use a black sharpie or black paint to cover any mistakes made with the yellow paint.

If you are using a paintball mask for the costume, paint it as well.

The mask I used in the picture was altered using a hacksaw to trim the mask down, since most paintball masks are rather big.  I then sanded the edges down with ordinary sandpaper to smooth the mask.

Use the saw and paint at your own risk.

Step 2: Creating the Main Costume

Everyone has a different body type so the measurements will be different.  I am 6'6" so my measurements wont match up with most people.  What you want to do is compare yourself to pictures of Scorpion and make adjustments for yourself.

First picture:
The first picture shows two long yellow strips that will be used for the cloth that goes over each shoulder.  I use fabric glue since it is quick, easy, and since I can't really sew.  This guide is for people using glue not sewing, if you are skilled at sewing I assume you can figure most of this out on your own.

1.  After discovering the width/length you need for yourself, write the measurements down.
2.  Double the width measurements and mark it on your fabric.  Keep the length the same size as your original measurement. 
3.  Cut the shape out.  This only makes one shoulder strap, you will see why.
4.  Once the piece is cut out, you will see that the edges aren't perfect, they are probably frayed or jagged, that is fine.
5.  What you are going to do is fold the fabric at the width inwards, so the two edges meet.  You want to glue one edge to the other edge. 

In doing this, you will create a long strip at the length/width of your original measurements. 
The reason behind this is simple, you create a smooth, even outer edge.  Also, glue can show through to the other side, so instead of gluing each side down separately, you are gluing one piece to another so the glue doesn't show through the other side.

Picture 2:

The same concept is used for the belt and the flap that hangs from the front of the belt.  Make your measurements while looking at pictures of Scorpion so you can get a scale of how it should look.

Once you have finished making these parts, use a strip of velcro so you can fasten the belt.  Also use velcro to attach the shoulder pieces to the belt in their proper locations.  You should have someone help you do this, especially  when attaching to the back.

You should attach the velcro by keeping the pieces connected.  Peel off the back of one piece place it where you want on the shoulder straps.  Once in place, peel off the back of the other piece, and connect it to the belt.  In this way, you know that the velcro will align with each other.
Check out pic 3 of the velcro connected.

Pictures 4-7:
These pictures show you how to fold the fabric properly. 
Be sure to look at the image notes to see what I am talking about.

Step 3: Shoulder Pieces

To help make the shoulder straps look rather stiff and pointy as Scorpions costume, you can create this additional piece.

Take a look at the pattern shown.  You need to make you own measurements for your body.

1.  Take a piece of cardboard and make the shape as shown.
2.  Bend at the line.
3.  Use black electrical tape to cover the cardboard so that if it is seen at all on your body, it will blend in.  Also the tape makes the cardboard more sturdy.
4.  Repeat for the other shoulder.
5.  You can attach the pieces directly onto your black shirt using velcro or tape.  You can also attach the pieces onto your fabric shoulder straps, either way is fine.

You should notice that the shoulder straps appear more rigid and stiff as Scorpions.

Step 4: The Mask


There are many ways that you can attach the mask to the balaclava.

My first idea, was to use magnets attached on the inside of the balaclava and the mask. 
    This did not work since the magnets weren't strong enough to hold up the mask.  I could probably find better magnets, but I had a lot of velcro so I used that.

1. Attach strips of velcro on the inside of the mask, I would use the rough side on the mask.
2  Attach the softer velcro on the outside of the balaclava, around the face hole.

I would attach the velcro in the same method as the velcro for the shoulder straps to the belt.

Velcro will allow easy removal of the mask.

If you don't like that way, you can use string/ shoelace to tie the mask around your head.  Then put the balaclava on over the mask. 

You decide how you want to do it.

The reason why I listed the mask as optional is if you wanted to do a complete MK style Scorpion.  In the first game, his mask was cloth, so you could use left over yellow cloth to make the mask.  MKII and on, the mask is no longer cloth.

Step 5: Put the Costume Together

Get your stuff on!

Go on the next page for additions.

Note that my hand is holding my mask on....i ran out of velcro and decided to take the pic, once i get more velcro, ill take another pic for the instructable

Step 6: Creating the Kunai Spear

A Kunai dagger should have a ring at one end.  This ring is used to tie a rope to it.

I did not use rope, but yarn.

Yarn is lighter and easily managed.  Rope can be heavy, rigid, and expensive.  Use what you like.

Yarn users, just braid many lengths of yarn together.  If you don't know how to braid, just google it.  I ended up using about 31 strips of yarn at about a 10' length. 

I also used an off white yarn.  I know that his rope is a darker color, usually brown.  But I want the rope to stand out more on the costume, so I went with white.

Once you have your rope/yarn just tie a knot through the ring on the kunai and your done.

You can create a fabric loop on your belt or something to that effect to keep the rope tied to your belt.

Step 7: Another Effect


If you want, you can buy contact lenses to make your eyes appear white.  I suggest getting the whiteout contacts.  It keeps your pupils visible which allows you to see.  Full white contacts make you blind.

Contacts are rather expensive, $30 a lense for colored lenses. 

You could instead paint your eyelids white, and when you take pictures, close your eyes so it looks like your eyes are white.

Check your doctor to see if you can handle colored lenses.

Step 8: Group Ideas

Dressing up is even more fun if you have people to do it with you.  For guys, you can do the same process for the rest of the MK ninjas by obviously altering the colors.

You can even create easy costumes of Kano/Raiden

If you have girls in your group, as I did, making a Kitana/Jade/Mileena costume is relatively easy as well.

Check out the pic of a Kitana costume I designed.

This female ninja costume was created by me.  I searched online for Cosplay costumes, and they can cost hundreds of dollars.  I looked at images from MKII through the latest MK and put a few designs together to create this cheap but effective costume.   Altogether, this costume cost around $60 if you are able to find the materials cheap enough (The black boots and black shorts were already owned by the person wearing the outfit).

Choose your character: Kitana = blue, Jade = green, Mileena = purple
The top is a corset.  You can find cheap corsets online for about $20 bucks.  They come in blue, green, and purple which are perfect for the costume.

The pic shows to blue and black gloves just to show how each would look with the outfit.  These gloves are opera gloves and are cheap and easy to find.

Knee high black boots and the appropriate colored fishnets looks great.  If you go with blue, green, purple colored gloves rather than the black ones, you may want blue, green, or purple boots with black fishnets.  Just alter the color scheme as you see fit.

Very short black shorts or even a bathing suit bottom works well.

The fans could be bought cheap online.  You can buy sais for Mileena or a use a stick for Jade.

The mask is made from a blue shirt with black elastic in the back to hold it on the person's head.  This is the only part of the costume which required any crafting.