Tips For Cosplaying as a Space Marine!?

[ragnar blackmane]

as a more than 15year veteran of wearing stormtrooper armor, im used to wearing armor all day.  for 3 years iove worn my human sizxed space wolf. never any issues besides the random people punching you, etc... but a quick swipe of the chainsword sends them away.

as for the 8' space wolf...done once at an event for a few hours.  needless to say for four days my calves and thighs were killing me.

you cant see in front of you, i had zero handlers, but the other costumers were always around to watch out for me, which is good.  Im known for not having handlers, but next time im definitely getting two or three.  I trampled two kids i never saw. literally ran one over and kept walking, as i didint feel him, the other fell down and started to cry.  the dad said, see...i told you  to watch out!

Im more concerned for someone breaking something in the toes, so i might fill the toes with great stuff incase someone steps on it, it wont collapse.  but anyone under 40 seemed to keep their distance if i was moving.  Fans have NEVER helped at all for me, so i gave up on them ten years ago.  its all about breathing down or thru your nose so you dont fog up

[Lupus Irae]

Ragnar thanks so much for the pointers. Your suit is amazing and I hope that my 3 suits will come out great as well. This community has been truly an inspiration and an amazing help. 

[ragnar blackmane]

thanks very much

[kaiwanxiao]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned: comms with handlers. See if you can get at least a pair of walkie talkies with a headset and boom mike.

If you *want* to wear a helmet, invest in fans. Invest in ventilation. Invest in some paintball mask lens wax. Also consider a wet doo-rag which is placed in the freezer overnight. And take periodic breaks from the helmet once that sucker thaws out.

My suggestion, if you want to rock the suit all day long, is to make it out of lightweight materials and start working out now. You'll want a little bit of muscular training, but cardio is going to make a big difference. Don't rely on "not being fat". Also, don't wait until your big debut to put it on. Wear it around the house. Practice going up stairs if you have any. Practice stepping on and off a curb. With and without handlers. Go to a few conventions, go to a Games Workshop brick-and-mortar location. Wear it around and see what works and what doesn't.

I wore a 75-lb suit at Dragon*Con in the dead-ass summer in Atlanta. I marched in the parade with that beast. I sweated off about eight pounds that weekend and my entire body felt like I'd been worked over by Mike Tyson. So wearing it for multiple hours per day for multiple days is perfectly feasible for people.

Also: bring a well-stocked repair kit.

[Lupus Irae]

Great points Kai! I'm going to wear my helmet  a bit, but I won't have to because I'll be wearing custom fit werewolf fangs and contact lenses to make the eyes look like wolves ( on top of me rocking my beard lol) so if I'm not wearing the helmet then I'll still have a well rounded look to the suit. I'm going with throat mics for myself and my pack brothers along with our 3 handlers keeping walkies with them as well. I played airsoft for a long time so I'll have my lenses fog free (cross fingers lol) and the suits should be mostly made of eva foam and worbla so that should keep the weight down some. Fans will definitely be placed in all 3 suits and camelbacks as well. I'm going to try and walk around and scare everyone around my town in order to get as much time in the suit as I can. Thanks again for all the insight from this incredible community

[Finnlock]

 Just wanted to follow up and say that if you are staying at the con ( not just a one day stint) make friends with the hotel staff! the frieght elevator are an awesome way to move you and your large suit without the crammed in crowed of the main ones, also they can save you from having to try and walk up stairs or ride the escalators.

 one thing about camle packs is you can also fill them with ice and that will help keep you cool.
 But the best take away is as Kaiwanxiao and Ragnar alluded too, be ready, wear the suit around and try and get in some kinda shape for it, it's WAY MORE taxing then you think it's going to be.
And when you are dying inside and every kid wants to have his or her picture taken with you...it's not fun and becomes torture.

[Lupus Irae]

Thanks Finn appreciate your insight. It seems like this experience is definitely a labor of love. I'm in workout mode now and hoping to drop some weight on top of making sure I'm strong enough to handle being in the suit for a long period of time. The ice in the camelback is a great idea that would definitely help out keeping the heat down

[Ronan]

A couple more things.  Fans & Camelbacks are nice in theory, but add weight and fans especially might not be powerful enough and worth the weight.  So keep that in mind as to build.  Maybe have a way to take them out if need be.  I found it almost 100 degree weather, the fans just didn't cut it. 

Also practice your poses and smiles.  Everyone will stop you and want pictures.  Make sure they have the best picture of you as possible.  Especially the kids. 

[Lupus Irae]

Thanks Ronan! Yeah I'll be hamming it up at home to see the best poses and facial expressions work with the custom fangs, contacts, and makeup ill be using. I have 2 other wolves to work with too which I think will look awesome as a pack roaming the con floor. I can't wait to get this going!!

[Shadowwolf]

Hmm, why are we not sticky-ing this? Sound like a lot of useful info for builders that we wouldn't search for.

[Lupus Irae]

That would be a great idea!  This community has put a lot of great information and experience in this thread it would be great to have this sticky sticky. I know I have learned so much!

[kaiwanxiao]

Sticky: I can do that. Probably need to edit the title to something like "Tips for Cosplaying as a Space Marine".

Camelbaks: what I recommend doing is getting one of the bladders with gel packs. Freeze it for like 2-3 days. Then the night before, fill it about a quarter or third of the way. Lay it flat. Let it freeze solid. Use hot water, it freezes faster. Morning of, add cold water and fill it the rest of the way. The frozen block will be lengthwise instead of sitting at the bottom, so it will spread cold uniformly. The frozen gel packs function like those cooler inserts.

You can even wear the cold Camelbak inside your chest piece, though I prefer to leave it in the backpack (I wear a cooling vest, so it's unneeded).

Fans in the summer: the fans aren't for cooling. They are for circulation. They are to pull and push air, when done correctly. Properly ventilated masks with air circulation mean your lenses won't fog up as badly, particularly if you have treated the lenses with anti-fog. The frozen doo-rag will help keep it cool, for a little while. Then it will melt, but it should still remain cool for a good 4-5 hours.

[Lupus Irae]

Thanks for the sticky Kai. That cameback idea is something I am very interested in.

[Lord Abaddon]

If you want the coldest possible water in your camelpack, so long as you are not going to be drinking from it, put salt water in the pack before freezing it. The salt prevents the water from freezing until a much lower temperature. This will make the pack last a bit longer.

[Ronan]

Also the salt will help with dehydration.  You really wont be drinking the water to stay cool, you will be doing it more for hydration.  You will sweat like never before.