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The Costume is complete! Blaster -- modified cheap-o Stormtrooper rifle ripoff Skirt -- thanks to Mom's new sewing machine Red visor stuff -- ZipLoc bag colored with marker Helmet -- cardboard, cardstock, $1 bowl |
Fore-right of the costume -- the gun can be seen well in profile here. Note the wire cable (leading to and from the vocoder switch in my right hand) wrapped around my right arm. Funny story about the pulse rifle: At the Senior Halloween party, I offered the pulse rifle to Officer Jolly, the school's liason-cop from the Erlanger-Elsmere Police Department. He gave one of those toothy grins he's renowned for and promptly broke every firearm-safety rule in the book. I'm glad he enjoyed himself. |
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Detail of the front of the helmet and torso. The torso was a one-piece unit that fit over my head like a yoke and connected on the sides with Velcro. Unlike my Terminator costume, which was hinged like a door, this costume required me to take off my glasses and carefully wedge my head through the yoke. I could wear my glasses easily under the helmet, though. Note the quickly-made wire lanyard that's holding the pulse rifle at my side. You can barely see it crossing over my right shoulder guard. The belt is made up of a series of paper boxes originally intended for a Cardassian freighter attached to a cardboard backing. |
Full front of the costume. Beneath the belt is a "cummerbund" made of cardboard with layered paper detail. It is painted "Anodized Bronze," giving it a dark metallic sheen that acts almost as a natural transition from the chrome armor to the matte black sweatsuit. |
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The left side of the costume. Note the "power control" for the pulse rifle, designed to be easily toggled by the thumb of the left hand supporting the muzzle. The typical ROY G. BIV color/energy pattern is maintained: Blue - Stun, disables neurology of most humanoids |
The rear of the costume, showing the generally uninteresting back. To give the back at least a modicum of visual interest, I put on asymmetrical green, black, and brown layers of paper I dubbed "Kissenger panels." Why? Because, as I made them, I was watching Henry Kissenger defend Nixon's record in his gravely voice on the History Channel. |
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The right side of the costume, with the "Anti-Taliban" gauntlet clearly visible. Why the "Anti-Taliban" gauntlet? The running gag during the party was that I had somehow wired the console on my costume to a series of bombs around Afghanistan. I would ask someone if they particularly cared for Afghanistan, and, when they replied in the negative, I would "press" the blue button and make a "boom" noise. |
