Costume Update: The Reveal!

Hey everyone! I know I missed last week (totally forgot with the house renos, to be totally honest), but I'm making up for it with a super special post! Today we will be doing the reveal for both the Diablo 3 Barbarian version 1.0 AND the Princess Shuri Pink Black Panther! Read on everyone, because I'm really happy with how all this turned out!


Pink Black Panther

First up the the Black Panther reveal. Now, my daughter decided that not only was this to be a palette-swapped version of the character, but that she would also be a Shuri Black Panther. Now Shuri has been the Black Panther in the comics, but it's not a costume my kid wanted, so we went a more movie-inspired route. So, here it is:

Now the belt we added mainly because the suit we bought has the word 'morphsuit' written in black across the butt and we needed to cover that. The silver on the suit is glittery-silver fabric paint that we added. My kid's hair is shorter than Letitia Wright's is in the movie, but we did a Shuri-type style and really she did the rest by nailing the attitude in the pic.


Barbarian Mark 1.0

Now this is something I never thought I'd get to way back when I started. And I'm calling this 1.0 because there are things I want to tweak and things I want to add before I actually do debut this at a con (I'll get some more out-and-about with it Halloween night for further research). But before that, quick things I have learned from putting the whole costume on:

-It is not very flexible. As in, I'm not bending down to pick things up off the floor and I can go up stairs, but down is difficult. Knights had squires, and this is why. And for the record, start from the bottom when you put on a suit of armor. I personally went: knees, greaves, sabatons, wig, chest, belt, crown, bracers.

-Between wig and foam and wearing a different undershirt than planned, it's quite warm, even just hanging out and not doing much.

-I remember why I hate long hair, especially when staticky.

-I never explained the belt, but its a piece of faux fur crudely tied with leather straps to the belt itself, which is threaded through the metal loops of a piece of old curtain and then snaps at the back. It works shockingly well but is best put on with help.

But here she is, in all her glory:

I am beyond happy with how this turned out! As for what it still needs, there's a few things. Weathering, to start with, and especially if I want to add some blood, wounds, etc. to myself when wearing it. I need to de-static the wig, as I already alluded to, and I need to add some details on the knees and greaves and perhaps alter the sabatons so they have the claw-foot like appearance from my reference. Like the chest, they were painted silver with gold lightly sprayed over top, but they're too plain at the moment for my liking. I have some upper-arm guards that I never finished that I could probably add and still be alright (it's not like I could get less flexible) and there's two little straps on the top part of the chest that I need to fix to hold better. I only lost one small strap on my right hand where the glue gave way, but other than that it held up great!


A quick final note before I go: sometime in November I will hopefully have a game review to do! Although online and multiplayer, usually anathema for me, I've been playing the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A and will pick up the game when it comes out in November. Expect a review, or at least some first thoughts, as a person playing a multiplayer game solo. Hopefully it all goes well. See you all soon!

Lyra's ready to take on the Appalachian Wasteland. Doesn't play well with others.

Countdown to Halloween!

 Well, since this isn't a countdown to Con anymore, Halloween is the next best thing! Progress report below!


Pink Black Panther

 This is my younger spawn's costume, Black Panther, but in pink. Main progress so far has been on the helmet.

This is what we started with:

Just your average, ten dollar kids' mask, nothing too fancy. First thing was to give it a quick wash in warm, soapy water to get any factory schmutz off, and then primed black all over.

Then on to the paint. These were the two paints I used. It was 5:1 (light:dark) ratio. I also started that way with paint to water, but quickly moved that to a 3:1 for better coverage.

After the first coat:

More Coats:

So much painting...

I did about 6-8 coats in total. I actually lost count as I was painting while watching the local election forum, but it was about eight total.

Finished pink

Trying it on for good measure.

It just needs details now. Silver in a few spots, and I'm going to try some glow in the dark in some of the forehead and cheek etchings.


The Barbarian

 I'm still working on making this happen. It's a long haul, but version 1.0 should be ready for Halloween.


Bracers- are done now apart from weathering! A small elastic strap was added to the hand plate and a larger one across near the elbow on the bracer. The brown strap at the wrist is velcro, and keeps the whole thing on.

the left elastic strap isn't crooked, it's the angle of my arm.

The leather-ish under-gloves are actually enjoying their third costume outing. Originally, I bought them for a custom-costume Mileena from Mortal Kombat. Then I used them for Loki (another original costume, this one closer to a closet cosplay). They also went to a Judas Priest concert. Doing pretty good for themselves for five bucks off ebay.  

gotta love the post-gym red-face :P

 Chestplate- This has been the biggest project of late. I had put it aside due to some issues with fit and flexibility, but I think I've figured it out now after some additional research. As far as fit goes, I put the pieces on and had the other half trace out where I needed to trim. As for flexibility, I’ll get to that.

So the back piece has some material added to it for what I intended was a way to tie the two sides together. Add some grommets, good to go!

The front plate was cut down from full coverage, but now I cut off the bottom piece and then riveted it together again with elastic bits in between.

Sides were measured and riveted to the back plate. I suppose should mention that I chose rivets for this part of the project for strength. I don’t want any glue or anything letting go under stress from moving, etc.

So now I had this.

To attach the sides to the front I took an old, stretchy belt with snaps and cut it in half. One side of the snap was attached to the front, the other, with the material attached was added to the backplate. Voila! We have a chestplate! Well, the rough form of one, at least.  

still needs a few adjustments...

Helmet- There’s been a change of plans for this. Originally, I wanted to do the big, horned helmet my Barbarian currently wears. But, we’re in a time crunch (added to this also: work, going to the gym, and a massive house re-arrange). For the sake of my sanity, I decided to do something different. I, on a whim, searched for crowns and just happened to find this:

It’s from the Snow White and the Huntsman movie, which I haven’t even seen. But, it’s almost a dead ringer for one of the early in-game legendary items that everyone gets for killing one of the first big bosses, the Skeleton King. I don’t have a picture of my Barbarian wearing it (was still on the 360, so no screenshots), so here’s Delilah the Crusader rocking it.

I couldn’t not buy it, and especially given the time crunch I wasn’t going to wait. Thankfully, it’s only shipping from Ontario, so with the expedited shipping it should reach me here in Manitoba pretty quick. So version 1.0 is going with a Leoric’s Crown, which is okay too because now that I won’t have so much helmet covering my face maybe I can look at some prosthetic wounds or scars or something to give me that real battle-hardened look.


Well, if you made it through all of that then I congratulate you. That was a long one. So I’ll end it quick by saying happy weekend and we’ll see you next time! 

Spider-Man, Hellboy, and Halloween!

Hey everyone, just dropping in with a few things. Read on below...


Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Trailer #2

HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THIS! Spider-Gwen, Noir Spider-Man, SPIDER HAM! THEY HAVE FREAKIN' SPIDER-HAM IN THIS MOVIE?! I was looking forward to this one already, but this trailer really put it over the top for me. I'm not sure how I feel about the Kingpin's look, but Scorpion's design is sick. This is going to be an awesome pre-Christmas present if it's even remotely as good as this trailer makes it out to be. 



Hellboy Poster

So I was one of those people that really liked Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy films, and apparently one of the few that actually went to The Golden Army. And Ron Perlman was so perfect in that role. So it was with trepidation I heard about a remake, which is coming April of next year. Now we have a poster, and damn it all if it isn't friggin' awesome.

 

Now that's a poster! I just hope the film is as good. I mean, I'll give this new dude and this new movie a chance. The Hellboy makeup is at least really well done, since that's all we really have to go on so far.



Costume Update

I will be starting costume updates again leading up to Halloween. I'm trying to finish up my Barbarian costume, as well as do a Black Panther (in pink) for my younger spawn. Expect a dedicated post soon, as I've been working and getting materials again and ramping up production, including finally getting somewhere with this very stubborn chestplate I've been trying to getting properly fitted. So yeah, more on that very soon.