The Masks We Wear: Part I - The Quality of One's Character...

Why do we choose certain characters over others?
I mean... some people I know would possibly wear a spandex-costume if it wasn't too revealing or flattered their figure enough... (*cough* Poison Ivy *cough* Power Girl *cough*)
... but is that ALL there is?

I mean... as I said before... I'm 6'2" and a semi-husky 210lb... I'm not small. Despite my love for some superheroes, I simply don't or wouldn't feel right wearing some costumes - like Spiderman.
(I'll probably do Venom at some point in the future, though... maybe even the pointy-toothed shark-smile and a latex articulating jaw, but I digress...)
I like Peter Parker - I *identify* with Peter Parker to an extent... and well... who doesn't really... it's how he was designed... the 'underdog' 'everyman' hero with foibles and weaknesses and 'humanity'.
But Peter Parker is (depending on the source material) anywhere from 5'8" to 5'10" and a lean 165lb... WAY smaller than I am). I kind of feel that I would be doing the character a disservice to wear that costume.
How weird is THAT, right?

Marvel Comics I have found to be far superior to DC in regards to 'three-dimensional' character development... consistently pulling out heroes that don't forget who they were before they put on the cape... and even WHEN they're wearing the cape.

Is there more to it... or am I merely trying to nerdily justify which characters I want to portray and which I do not? I mean... some characters simply LOOK cooler than others... which is obviously a factor... and usually enough for most people (Hence the sheer humber of Batman costumes out there)... but cosplayers seem to take things a bit further... and identify with certain characteristics within their chosen characters' mindsets...
... which is why we get looked at askance... we read the comics not just to look at the colourful action shots, but to immerse ourselves in the lives of our favorite heroes (or villains)... to reaffirm that bond of appreciation and understanding - of empathy - of the character's foibles, life and all that happens within it.
(It's also why real 'fans' of comic characters get passionately upset when the storylines of their favorite characters are ret-conned.)
("Ret-con: Short for 'retroactive continuity'... a process by which the creator/writer/editor of the comic or character drastically (or subtly) alters the timeframe and process of a character AFTER significant events so as to fit the character's current story to an event that happened in the past)
Cosplayers - serious ones - love the characters they portray... or else they wouldn't spend so much time crafting the costume OF that character and subsequently wearing it.

My initial thought is this:
Which of Jung's Archetypes - the Persona, the Shadow, the Soul or the 'Wisdom' - are cosplayers adopting when they put on the costume?
The easiest would be to say 'Persona' - the face they show the world... but that would not only be naive of Jung's philosophies, it wouldn't even be completely accurate... as the *character* underneath the costume is what appeals to the cosplayer, not necessarily the 'face' of the spandex mask itself.
It's never really simple, is it?
The 'Persona' in this instance is the character underneath the spandex... the appeal to the mask behind the mask... so is it a multi-layered Persona... or something altogether different - a sort of reverence to the Soul of the character?

Thoughts to ponder...

Quickie Progress Update!

Hey.
So I heeded the advice of those most-sage-of-prop-makers over at the RPF... and have been second-coating the outsides of all the pieces I have resin coated already... and of the pieces I have actually dremeled the inside of... I applied a second coat of fiberglass plus resin.
By the gods fiberglass soaks that stuff up. The chest alone takes at least a half can of resin. =/
Ah well.
The good thing about a double external coat of resin is that I can sand the edges down... which apparently makes Bondo application go THAT much smoother... (hyuk hyuk seewhatididthere?)
We shall see.

Reading more about bondo, it looks like it's a thin THIN layer is applied, then sanded... rinse-repeat a few times until you get the angle and smoothness you want... also the 'detail lines' will go on after a full layer of Bondo... I have a few ideas for them, too... some contact cement and small wires in the right places just might save me having to draw them in and sanding them out with a grit-covered popsicle stick.

Pieces ready to Bondo:
left bicep
left arm
left forearm

Pieces requiring internal grinding (and subsequent second internal fiberglass layer):
- back*
- left thigh
- left shin
- right arm
- right forearm
- ribs*
- lower back plates*
- abdominals*
- shoulders (internal and external, both sides)*
- neck

*These also need heat-forming and attachment to each other

Pieces requiring resin (or a second coat):
- left fingers (I don't think I'll be fiberglassing these... they're too small and dainty... two layers of resin should do them before I Bondo them)
- spine segments
- foot plates
- hand guards
- helmet
- elbows (both)
- codpiece
- right thigh
- hip pods

Pieces left to cut:
- MkIV chest (will be adapting it to look like the MkVII)
- torso brace
- right bicep
- right hand (palm and fingers)
- left hand (palm)
- right shin
- both boots (well one boot and a heel, technically... but I'm going to be futzing around with the articulating disc on the side of the boots... so don't be surprised if I have to do these twice more rather than once...)

Update: Supplemental - Filling in the Gaps, Part I

Yeah yeah... I haven't yet quite worked all the kinks out so I can post here and have it appear on Facebook.
Shut up.

No pics tonight... had to futz with a report due in the middle of the week...
PLUS, I did a bit of reading and apparently all the 'experts' highly recommend multiple layers of resin and fiberglass for each piece... if the piece has to stand up to a significant level of Bondo, then it needs that extra reinforcement.
This entire project it's felt like taking one step backward for every two steps forward...

Also... the metal plates for boots thing isn't working QUITE how I had envisioned it... so I'm going to be putting a bit more thought into it... I simply refuse to walk on a wooden block - it feels like cheating. =/

That said... I HAVE been doing a bit of 'creative research'/snooping online with regards to the 'gaps' in the armor... underarm, elbow, fingers, back of knees... and wouldn't you know it... I found a guy with a fair chunk of talent that apparently had been banned from the Replica Props Forum from where I - thus far - have gotten most of my information.
Go figure.
The internet is a harsh mistress...

Resin-ant Evil...

Resin-ator

... With a Box of Scraps!

That's my helmet. Shut up!

Heh. I found this pic of the helmet pre-assembly.
If anything, it's a lesson in why you want a storage file for each piece if you cut them all out first.

Slicin' an' Dicin'

Yes. Yes it is.

Very stern looking fellow...

Thigh anterior view

Inside thigh

Helmet. Profile.

Left arm minus elbow

Left bicep

Mk VI chest

Pile o' parts

So You Want To Be An Iron Man...

Let's get started, then.

Go here:
http://www.4shared.com/folder/6bSi87B-/Robo3687s_Iron_Man_PDFs.html

Robo has probably the BEST collection of pdf files for the Iron man armor I've seen... there MAY be better out there... but it's nowhere NEAR as accessible (it involves a downloadable Windows-only program called 'Pepakura', a small fee (if I recall correctly) and a certain talent for reshaping 3D images...
... why re-invent the wheel, I say?

Give props to Robo (I'll be tossing him a donation in appreciation very shortly) and set to work!

What you will need for this stage of the game:
- A cutting knife (something small, hand-held, exacto-style... with the capacity to replace blades... as you will go through a fair number of them)... if you don't have one... they average around $10
- Replacement blades... assume you will go through a half-dozen packages at least (5 or 6 I think per package)... around $5 per package... so $30
- PAPER! Cardstock... and the fine balance is between the weight of the paper and the capacity for your printer to suffer through printing on it... I have a pretty tough printer, and most printers (really) can handle 110lb cardstock... but be prepared to (yes) hand-feed the paper through the printer ONE SHEET AT A TIME.
Assume 350 pages... so two packages (at 250 pages each) SHOULD be enough to finish the job... but never assume... at any rate... each package will run you around $20... so $40 for the paper
- A cutting surface... your significant other/parent/partner/roommates will NOT appreciate you slicing the heck out of the countertop... so head to an art supply store and pick up a small one (8x12 or so) for about $10 give or take.

And... you would not be remiss if you had some sort of multi-slot file-folder thing to store all the printed pages as you print them; you can separate each into the bodyparts (and not mix them up) and you can keep your work area relatively neat and organized.
Trust me... this will save you a boatload of time later on.

Not For the Faint of Heart...

Yeah... I'm not gonna lie to you.
If you Google 'Iron Man costume', you will invariably be taken to a page or three wherein the costumer is wearing a pretty damned spiffy-looking replica suit... and the comments read like a bunch of grasping desperate panhandlers: "ZOMG Awesome! Can u make one adn send it 2 me?", etc.
This is a project not to be undertaken without full knowledge of what it is you are getting into.
We're talking hundreds upon hundreds of hours of stuff to do... spread over a fair chunk of time.
As an example, I consider my lifestyle 'moderately' busy... I have a number of things that eat away a good deal of my free time (family obligations, homework, full-time University, part-time Massage Therapist practice, plus the invariable commutes between all those places) but I estimate that I can probably squeeze an hour or two per evening where I am otherwise doing nothing (aka 'watching television')
If this is you, read on.
I started this project on December 16th, 2011.
It is now January 27th, 2012... I haven't yet finished the paper cutting... I gotta tell ya... it's mind-numbing... you need a LOT of patience for it... conservatively, cutting all the little pieces out of each page, then contact cementing them together at their respective tabs... I'd estimate around 30-45 minutes PER PAGE. Closer to 45 if you include the time I spent in Adobe Illustrator re-sizing the pages to fit my physique.
How many pages?
Around 350 after all is said and done... allowing for errors, re-sizing and print errors, mistakes and 're-do's... I 're-did' the left bicep piece three times before I finally settled on the size that fit the most accurately.
Which for me was 105% of the adjusted template.
Add to this the resining - which is smelly, fussy, sticky and generally unpleasant... but goes a lot faster... then the fiberglassing (even more messy and sticky when you add fiberglass tendrils that stick out everywhere)...
... I haven't even STARTED the autobody filler stage.  =/

It's a labour of love... but it's been a LOT of labour so far.

What do the British have to do with Iron Man?

Where to begin?
Those who know me - or have read about my exploits on Facebook - know that I'm into superheroes in a rather geeky way... having worn Green Lantern and then Cyclops for the past two successive Hallowe'ens.
I'm THAT kind of geeky, though... that is a bit sticklish about 'realism' (such as it is)... I vastly prefer to wear a costume that fits my body size and frame... so I won't likely wear a Spiderman... but I WOULD wear a Venom, for example... and even Cyclops (statistically 6'3" and 175lb) is smaller than my 6'2", 210lb... but the way he was illustrated in the Claremont/Lee days of the 1990s, you would have thought he was more my size.
(Hullo! Comic book geek? LOL)
So that said... I had decided to (and still eventually will) wear something I have yet to see done WELL in the cosplay community - Brian Braddock, aka Captain Britain.

(Hey shaddap... *I* like him. Also... please refrain from the obvious 'wearing white spandex pants' issue... I'll deal with it when the time comes. LOL)
The spandex part of the costume should be easy enough... I'll just commission it out... I know enough costumers that I could get this done easily and well within a decent budget (I anticipate $200 per bodysuit conservatively... hey at 6'2" and 210lb I have a fair bit of terrain to cover... let alone the labour of sewing lycra/spandex, the colour matching, the specific angles and shapes of the areas of the costume... no... far better for me to fork out the cash to someone who can and will do it right the first time rather than stumbling through it myself...
The PROBLEM I anticipated was with Cap's helmet.
Rounded ear cups, solid back... in any number of comics, ol' Cap has clearly taken off the helmet... so it's a legit piece of the costume (and doesn't change much from illustrator to illustrator) but the fact remains that I had ZERO idea how to go about making it.
I asked a Facebook friend - Panda Valentine (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=820205600&ref=ts) - whose partner Jason (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=830935186&sk=photos) seems to have gotten the hang of helmet making... as he appears in a number of Panda's photos as Magneto (another costume plan of mine, but that's for later).
I had geared up to send Jason a couple or a dozen questions or so (I really did intend on getting back to you guys!) when I had stumbled across a number of posts on the Replica Prop Forum (www.thereplicapropforum.com) where members were discussing Iron Man armor builds (and the helmets).
I read one builder state that it took him 'five months of weekends' to complete his armor... and I started thinking.
... and anyone who knows me KNOWS that when I start thinking... bad things happen.

The rest, as they say... is history.

We're (I'm) Back!

... cause you KNOW I'll be doing something like this when the Armor is ready to roll...

Set it all up...

Yeah... humor me as I configure the blog to something remotely resembling something people would want to visit on a semi-regular basis.
More to come.
Input appreciated! =)