Project Rooftop announced the winners of their 2008 Fights, Flights, & Tights contest. The winner is the cutest Robin I’ve ever seen. Lucky for Batman she’s around to take care of the bad guys.

The runners-up were Joker Hefner and a playful Harley Quinn. I like when people have fun with the characters. The Joker even has a more formal suit for the big showdown with Robin and Batman. Head on over to the Project Rooftop site and check out the notable entries. DC characters ruled the list this year. Does that mean their designs are bad or are they just popular characters? Hrm. There’s another Robin and Harley Quinn, as well as a Riddler. Supergirl and a female Blue Beetle round out the honorable mentions. Very cool.

One of the more impressive entries is the Steampunk Justice League group. They’ve made over Superman, Powergirl, Green Arrow, Catwoman, and even the Joker. Check out their flickr page to see all the creative costuming.

Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like there is still one prize to announce for the Halloween Costume Contest. Costume Craze loved all the costumes and wanted to participate in the fun. A group of employees looked through all the pictures and finally decided on the costumes they liked best. There was an intense discussion.

Costume Craze selected the DC Trio as their favorite entry. They gave the Super Heroes a $25 Gift Certificate. Congratulations Batman, Robin, and of course Wonder Woman! I didn’t know they were going to make such a generous offer. Thank you.

On a more personal note, I need to apologize to Action Ranger Timmy. I was unclear when I said, “This costume may be constructed of mostly purchased pieces…” I in no way meant to imply that a purchased costume was somehow inferior to a handmade costume. I meant that a person wishing to duplicate his very awesome look could do so with an Elvis costume or make a jumpsuit themselves. It was very bad wording. Reading it now, I see that my intent does not come across. Dino Elvis, was from the moment I saw it, one of my favorite costumes. It made me laugh. I want a Dino Elvis costume for myself. I’m sorry Timmy.

I decided to give the Fights, Flights, and Tights contest a try. I started working on the costume a little late in the game since I hadn’t decided which superperson I was going to try to redo. I eventually picked Starfire. Starfire’s a sweet girl from another world who wears a bathing suit as a costume. Well, not an actual bathing suit but she shows more skin then Wonder Woman. I thought it could be interesting to try to create a more modest outfit for Starfire.

In the cartoon series Teen Titans, Starfire was given a completely new costume. It is cute and age appropriate. Perfect for a teen on the go frighting crime. I thought she could use something different as a woman attracting stares from men and glares from their wives.

I started with the idea that she would wear pants. She does a lot of flying and needs to have things covered. I realize she has a different sense of modesty and body image than us silly earthlings, so I wanted to leave some skin showing. The top keeps her high collar yet shows her midriff. I’m not into the boob window or the super v-neck styles some artists give costumed females, but I acknowledged the trend by adding cutouts along the collar bone. Starfire is one of the heroes that wears gauntlets. My version also has gauntlets.

Things about my changes that aren’t really changes just me working with what I have. She has long red hair and when she flies she leaves an energy trail that makes her hair look longer than Godiva’s. I don’t have a long hair wig. I have my hair but it isn’t red. I felt it was more important to have the red hair contrasting with the purple suit than my long hair. So, short red hair wig. You’ll notice I don’t have any shoes. I thought boots would be the best thing to do. However, since I started so late on the project and finished right at the last moment, I didn’t make boot covers. I know, how can I submit a costume without shoes? I did. You can imagine knee-high purple boots. A dark purple similar to some of the accent color.

What do you think? I won’t know if I placed in the contest for a few weeks. For my first entry, I think I did okay.

I’ve decided that I’ll have a few more rules and categories next year due the very hard decisions I had this year. How could I pick only four winners? Just look at the awesome variety of costumes people wore and created. Here a a few costumes I’ve selected for Honorable Mentions.

The Wizard of Oz group is simply beautiful. The intricate sewing and imagining of the female characters is impressive. Each of the costumes was hand made. I particularly like the look the use of ruffles to stand in for hay in the Scarecrow. The Wicked Witch’s contracting fabric choice really stands out. Individually they all shine: together they’re outstanding. Athena submitted her friends for this contest and they deserve to be recognized for not just for their skills but their creativity.

Vegas Elvis from the 70s costumes are popular with costume companies. You can find Elvis for men, women, and children. But what about Dinosaurs? I see no reason why they can’t demonstrate their Elvis love like the rest of us. I give you Dino Elvis. This costume may be constructed of mostly purchased pieces, but it’s full of spirit and fun. In my book, if you’re not having fun with costumes, then you shouldn’t be wearing one. Action Ranger Timmy is clearly having a lot of fun. I don’t know about you, but I’d see this movie. Maybe Jurassic Park 4 can be a Vegas park where the dinos put on Rat Pack, Elvis, and Acrobat shows. Wouldn’t that be an interesting reboot? Or go old-school with Godzilla’s new hobby. Thank you Timmy for bringing the silly to this Halloween.

I love theme costume groups. I like when adults and chaperons dress similarly to the children they’re accompanying. It helps the children relax into their costumes and it adds to their fun. So when three brothers wanted to be Pokemon for Halloween it was natural for the adults to dress and Pokemon Trainers. Ash, Misty, and Dawn wear regular yet distinctive clothes. The parents found it easier to put together their outfits then find the old Pokemon costumes for the children. Sometimes themes can save the pocket book stress. Congratulations to Shasta and her family for putting together an inexpensive and fun theme.

I think all the kids did a great job picking out creative costumes. We had the classic Raggedy Ann, the best friends Sugar and Cookie, and the cute Wedding Cake. Maybe these examples can inspire new ideas for next year. Just be careful with it…the very creepy and awesome Broken Doll might be too much for the little ones to handle.

While some of these costume required a lot of planning and work, like Athena’s 400 fabric triangles for Shiva or Jennifer’s Headless backpack, not all costumes do. You can keep it simple or go all out just as long as you have fun.

Again thank you for participating in That Costume Girl’s first contest. I can’t wait to see what you do next year!

Congratulations everyone for sending in fantastic pictures of your costumes. There was a great blend of home made and purchased costumes. I was blown away by how creative you are. There were four main categories for the First Annual That Costume Girl Halloween Costume Contest: Child, Teen, Adult, and Group.

Our first winner this year is Wild Cherry Hi-C. This cutie and her mother Jeserae worked for two weeks on a re-creation of her favorite drink box. They started with a plain old cardboard box. Then they covered the box with wrapping paper. Each of the parts were carefully cutout and placed on the box. They printed up the nutritional information and made sure to include the bar code and expiration date. Jeserae sealed the life-size juice box in vinyl to waterproof it. They did a great job.

The teen bracket was a little lacking. But that’s okay because the friends that entered the contest had fun with it. Awesomesauce Pumpkin and Penguin show their fun Halloween attitude by wearing their costumes at school. The young ladies are wearing children’s costumes to hilarious effect. There’s no reason you can’t be silly on Halloween.

The adult bracket was full of awesome costumes. I had trouble selecting a winner from the entries. I’m pleased to announce Austin’s Reptileman as the winner. He used a variety of materials to complete the green scaly look. Austin shaped his horns from clay. His tail is made from plumber’s pipe. Cut up fishnets and liquid latex create a great 3D look. A little duct tape to shore things up and you have an incredible costume.

Last up today is the group winner. The DC Heroes won me over with the television accurate costumes they made. Shane brought back the 60s with the great Adam West inspired duds. Blake’s fantastic Boy Wonder makes this a truly dynamic duo. They’ve even got the Batman/Robin teamwork kick down pat. It doesn’t end with Bats and Robin; Wonder Woman joins the DC lineup. Crystal made a third season inspired Lynda Carter era costume. Put them together and you have an unstoppable team.

As you can see by looking through the gallery of entries, everyone did a fantastic job on their costumes. This was a tough decision. Make sure to check back later this week when I feature a more fantastic entries.