Hello Kitty: Gears of War
This all started as a joke. I just thought it would be hilarious to mix the ultra macho burly football player looking armor of Gears of War with pink Hello Kitty colors.
The costume, when II wore it to PAX in 2013, was a huge success. This instantly became my go-to comfort costume. It was light weight, portable, easy to wear, and always got a great reaction. It's also my most borrowed cosplay, as it fits basically anyone.
Transistor! this was me in the costume in 2015 with Volpin Props' amazing Transistor sword.
With Coregeek and Spicy Thai
The one part of the costume I cheated on was the Lancer. While I still want to make my own with my time crunch, it was much easier to just buy one.
I took apart the lancer to remove the weights on the inside. They were these super heavy plastic bars to make the gun feel more substantial.
The gun was then painted pink and black with some hello Kitty stencils.
This was one of my first big all EVA-foam costumes. The boots on this were made in such a way that I could wear my normal shoes, and strap into them at a con.
Note to builders, don't use colored markers to do your lines. These would bleed through the paint later
The boots nearly completed
When EVA foam broke onto the cosplay scene in 2010-2012. It changed everything
Fun fact, I took this metal ruler from my high school art class.
one of the big tricks with eva foam work, is to layer your foam. Use both big and small pieces, and vary the sizes and thickness.
I added a little bowtie
This is a very dark photo, but pictured are tons of backpack vinyl strapping and clips. These are amazing tools for costume assembly and strapping. I buy them now in bulk
The chestpiece nearly complete. This was about a week before the convention.
Didn't know to do foam circles, so I just used some bits of wood.
Coated in a few layers of plastidip.
I still have a ton of pink spraypaint
Sadly at this point the rush to finish the costume was on, so I didn't have more time to document. I used some scrap fabric for the wraps under the wrists and chest pieces. A pair of white pants I got at a thrift store, and unable to find the right white do-rag. I just used an old tshirt.
Later on I would make a lot of adjustments to the costume. Making it could break down for transport to Dragoncon, and even making more comfortable simple-boots so they could fit in my luggage. This costume, got a LOT of mileage, and now is now sorta falling apart. But I still have the memories.