2015-11-03: update on post #13 IMG_2453 by Mr. Eclectic, on Flickr 2015-08-14 update: post #11 Since my boy is turning out to be quite a little SF&F nerd like his daddy, I've been quite eager to dote on his interests. Two years ago for his birthday, I made him an Optimus Prime cake. This birthday, it was an R2D2 cake. Last Halloween, he wanted to be Wall-EE, so I made him a costume out of a bunch of cardboard, which turned out pretty damn impressive, if I do say so myself. This year, my son (who is now four) mentioned last year's Halloween costume, and how much fun he had. He then informed me that he wanted to be Ultra Magnus for Halloween this year. Not only that, but he wants me to dress up as Optimus Prime. I love that my son not only wants to be a transformer, but a second-tier one at that. I mean, most other kids his age would probably choose Bumblebee or Optimus nine times out of ten. Gotta love that little robot nerd! So I'm going to have to get on it ASAP if I want to this done. I'll focus on his, and then decide whether I want to do one for me. Who knows, if I get it done in the next few weeks, maybe I'll take him to the Salt Lake City Comicon. I've never done anything so fancy. Wall-EE was cool, but still mostly a few boxes and straight lines. Magnus is a bit more. I've been checking out some cosplay sites and videos, and I figure I'll try to do the helmet with EVA foam, and most of the rest with cardboard. So far all I've done is this paper prototype just to see how I might go about the helmet. Ultra Magnus helmet proto by Mr. Eclectic, on Flickr The thread is to motivate me to get going on it. Hopefully I'll have more WIP photos soon--and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for the more experienced cosplay people here.
good luck man ive made two transformers costumes first one cardboard second one out of foam. im going to be watching this thread closely.
Clever idea, but my kid is determined to be Magnus. I don't think that explaining Magnus is really Minimus would fly with him
So here are my plans for the costume so far. The helmet roughly like this. Essentially a curved strip of foam for the top, with flat panels on the sides. A foam crest, wood dowels or pvc pipe for the antennae, and foam strips for detailing. I'm thinking of using some thick blue cellophane to make Magnus' "cop glasses" look, but just tape them on so we can take them out if my son doesn't like looking through them as we wander around. The body would be a cardboard frame, almost a sandwich-board front and back, with "epaulettes" extending out from the head hole. I hope I can make it so that they rest straight out, but that they can swing up slightly, so he can reach up a little if he'd like (not too much, because they shoulder pylons will obviously interfere). Then I would build up the "exoskeleton" over that basic cardboard frame. Construct with cardboard and add shoulder pylons, shoulder front flaps, shoulder side flaps with the missiles, and then whatever detailing on the front and back as necessary to make it look like Magnus. The shoulder assembly would all be flaps rather than a solid block to enable better articulation. Then construct pieces for the lower arms and lower legs out of cardbard. The upper legs and arms will probably be left open, and use appropriately colored clothes. Does that, with the below drawings, make sense? Seem feasible?
I mostly lurk here, but as I've done some costuming in my day, I figure I'd pop out of the shadows to share a bit here. I think what you've got makes sense, but I would suggest a few things in the overall of the costume. First, when it comes to kids costumes, keep in mind two things - heat and bathroom breaks. Costumes are hot. It is just a fact. And, if you are going to a con, it can be compounded by just the number of bodies in an area. Unlike Halloween, which is usually no more than a couple of hours in a costume, usually in the cool evening of October, you are looking at more hours in a warmer environment. And, if you are tacking on extra hours, that means more potty breaks. I would suggest that most of the bulkier aspects of the costume be built onto a removable base, along the lines of a chest guard, like you'd see in hockey equipment. That way, when your little guy invariably tires of the costume or has to use the restroom, you can unbuckle him from the bulk of the costume quickly. To help with heat and the weight of the costume, you might want opt for an cloth under suit for the base layer of costume. Like, white spandex for the pants, which will be left exposed for Magnus' upper legs, and a red top with white sleeves for the red torso and the exposed arm between the shoulder pads and the gauntlets. These spandex portions can be painted with detailing for a less cloth look. Also, since it is still summer, you may want to see if you can find some sunglasses that have blue colored lenses. It would be a quick and easy way to have the glasses, if you opt for them. Of course, regardless of whether you find any of my suggestions useful, this will be an awesome costume. You are on the right track to build a great looking costume for him. I look forward to seeing the updates as you go along!
excellent! my wife and I cosplay as well. this year we're going arkham asylum with our friends and guardians of the galaxy with out kids best of luck! i highly recommend using E.V.A. foam over cardboard. its a little more expensive but its light weight strong and has no rough edges
LOL! Thanks for the reminders. I had been thinking about heat, but I was being really stupid and wasn't specifically considering potty breaks! I don't think that should be too difficult, since the torso will be essentially a sandwich board, that should be able to come off easily. But I'll think about it specifically as I develop it further. In terms of heat, I was wondering about cutting some vent holes of various shapes into the helmet, designed to look like part of the greebles. Do you think that would actually be helpful, or pretty irrelevant in such a small space as a helmet? I'm definitely using foam for the helmet, but I was planning on going with cardboard for the body to save money. I figured that I'd bind the edges with paper tape to hide the corrugation, and then seal everything (Mod Podge? Plastidip), and hope that the sealing and paint made all the parts--foam and cardboard--have a consistent look. Do you think that would work, or should I bit the bullet and go all foam for consistency?
Vent holes in the helmet are ALWAYS a good thing. I'm a big proponent of venting. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if it doesn't ruin the aesthetic of the costume or the structural integrity, vent as much as possible. Years and years ago, I decided to fulfill the destiny of all male costumers and do a Batman costume for Halloween. I opted for the gray and black look, and spent good money on a nice, fan-made rubber cowl. I didn't want to mess up the cowl, so I never even considered venting the thing. I mean, it was October, and I'm in Michigan! Little did I know that Halloween that year would hit 71 degrees, a near-record high for that time of year. (Most years, by Halloween, the temps are in the 40's-50's.) The costume looked good, but, man, I lasted about three hours in it. That cowl was a torture device, holding every ounce of heat in. When I finally gave in and tore that thing from my head, it was like a waterfall of sweat released from its rubbery bondage. Eye-black ran down my face, and all I could think was, man, there are guys that do the full, black rubber/neoprene movie suits, and they do full days at cons. I tip my hat to them, because there is simply NO way I'd ever do that. In fact, since I removed that cowl from my head, I've not put it back on again. Now, I'm an old man and tend toward less head-gearish, more comfortable costumes. Jor-el. NCIS Agent (ball caps are no problem). Various Star Trek costumes. Although, I do have a Volstagg costume in mind, and there is a helmet with that... We'll see. Anyway, the helmet shouldn't be anywhere as bad as a rubber cowl, but vent that thing as much as possible. Good luck!
mod podge is a fantastic sealer i use it for everything. best of luck. hot glue works great as a soft sealer on the edges I'm definitely using foam for the helmet, but I was planning on going with cardboard for the body to save money. I figured that I'd bind the edges with paper tape to hide the corrugation, and then seal everything (Mod Podge? Plastidip), and hope that the sealing and paint made all the parts--foam and cardboard--have a consistent look. Do you think that would work, or should I bit the bullet and go all foam for consistency?[/QUOTE]
So here's the progress so far. I watched a bunch of Youtube tutorials on EVA foam helmes, and found many helpful conceptually (especially some videos by Evil Ted and RawCustoms), but none that matched exactly the sort of helmet I was envisioning. So I winged it, trying to adapt principles I learned from those videos. The side panels for the helmet worked about perfectly, but the center section wouldn't curve right without me cutting some big wedges into the front and back, and pushing up a bit of a ridge along the center line. The ridge should be covered up by the crest, so that isn't a big problem, but I'm still trying to figure out how best to cover the cutout on the back side. I used craft foam to add some dimensional interest to the side panels and create the rim along the front, then to create panel along the back, and some dowels and foam for the antennae. So far, I'm really enjoying this. It isn't turning out perfect, There have been some annoying mistakes and bumps in the road, but I'm pretty happy with it for a first effort, and for a kid costume. The next problems are trying to cover that back cutout, creating and attaching the crest, and doing some other greebles I have in mind. The biggest problem is probably the crest. I used a compass, some cardstock, and some trial and error to create a pattern that mostly conforms to the curve of the helmet. But only mostly. I don't think I can create one which would entirely meet the helmet. Which leads me to wonder: how best to seal the gaps between the crest and the helmet when I'm attaching it? What do ya'll think so far?
Sorry, I completely missed this update! Looks good so far. If you still need this advice, here goes: Filling the gaps - The easiest way is hot glue. Fill the gaps and you can sand away the excess. Given that this is a helmet, and won't really be "flexing" much, you shouldn't have to worry about the parts separating in use. Hope that helps, and, like I said, looks good so far!
Sorry for the lack of updates for anyone who wanted to follow it. I intended this to be WIP thread, but I ended up having computer problems over the last couple of months, and between that and spending what free time I had working on the costume, I never got to updating this along the way. But I did succeed in completing the costume, and am ecstatic about the way it turned out. The craftsmanship was frankly mediocre, what with this being my first time on anything like this, but overall it still looks about how I hoped it would. I loved learning some skills and concepts along the way, and look forward to trying more in the future. I do have a number of WIP photos, and if anyone has questions about the process, I can upload some of those and discuss it. Not that I did anything innovative. All the techniques are things I learned from Youtube videos (Punished Props, Evil Ted, etc). BTW, I can't understand why my photos don't orient right. They show up oriented correctly on Preview, on Photoshop, on my computer desktop. Yet when I upload them here, they show up off 90° counter-clockwise. If anyone can let me know what the problem is, I'd appreciate it.
That's it....... its not that great. ITS FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!! That is the coolest costume ever!! Great work on it. Maybe next year you be Ultra Magnus and your son could be Wheelie lol. Really great job
Wow. I would have given your son my entire bowl of candy if he came trick-or-treating to my house like that. Great costume. Did anyone outside of your family recognize him as Ultra Magnus?
