Doing a bit of a post-mortem on my two costumes after AVCon. Actually, considering how well they faired, I probably shouldnt call it a post-mortem anymore. While there were a few minor breakages, both Optimus and Chiefy did rather well over the two days. A bit of velcro came loose, some bit of armour bent the wrong way, a couple of components didnt stay put but other than that no outright disasters. I was pleased with how Ciefys undersuit turned out but I did rush it and it was slightly off. Things were set a tad too low (or it could have been the base suit stretching over time). With more time and perhaps an alternate material Ill get the look I am after. In previous projects, many of the pieces would stay in place because they fit nice and tight or I had a method to keep them that way. This being Chiefys first run a few of the pieces would slip down the adjustable straps or swing around the limb. Easy enough to solve for next time tough so no hassle there. Very proud of the helmet. It was the exact same helmet I had thought I stuffed up earlier in the year because the visor I wanted to put into it didnt fit. Replacing that with a spare old visor I had made it work again and it looked great. His 5-inch platform boots did have panels break but thats because I forgot to replace the temporary struts keeping those panels on (which I replaced with elastic the next day). They also hurt my feet after a while because they were build with a slipper in mind (which would have made it 6-inches of height) instead of the neoprene sock. But still, I was glad to have a bit more height than usual :) For a third run, Optimus did very well. Because Chiefs build went over schedule I was left with only one evening to repair Prime instead of the two week overhaul I wanted. So I fixed up the breakages and taped down all the PVC pipe joins as that was the major issue last time. And that helped so much. Having the weight distributed across my back and shoulders instead of just the latter worked as I had wanted and allowed me not only a tad more comfort (a little, not complete) but I was also able to last a full lap of the con for an hour and a half and still feel ok to go for another 30 minutes. But I had to get changed in order to go to the judging for the cosplay comp. I am also very proud of how the lights worked out this time. I decided to use the 12v battery and because it was compact I was able to place it somewhere I could easily access. This was a help because the lights did pop off at some point due to the safety feature of these batteries. I am assuming my average wiring is responsible for setting it off but it was simply a matter of switching it off and on again. And from the photos Optimus looked great in the dimly lit VG area (I went there on purpose). He was also easier to walk in this time either because of another adjustment I made to the legs to keep them in place or because I am simply getting used to walking in bucket stilts. Anyways, pretty happy with the results and will spend some time fixing and improving these costume for the next big event. Soon I will have my word spew about my impressions of the AVCon weekend itself. So stay tuned...
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 13:11:10 +0000
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