Construction Details:

The costume was my real first entry to making costumes, versus buying stuff off the shelf.

I started off making the helmet with the pepakura/fiberglass method, despite being told by many people that the helmet should be your last piece! My rationale was that I was in a rush to complete it for AX, and the costume would be recognized if it had the helmet and chestpiece, which are the iconic parts of an ODST.

I pepped and glassed the chestpiece next, but ended up using a lot of bondo on it. The pep files at the time were based off of concept art and did not have the right look to them, and I wasn't quite skilled enough to fix it properly.

For the visor, I cut up a 'sun visor' that asian mothers tend to like to wear when driving around in liu of sunglasses. By reshaping it, I was able to give the distintive U curve to the ODST helmet.

Glassing the accessory under the chest piece went more smoothly, with a cap off some bathroom products adding a touch of detail.

Painted baseball catchers greevs were purchased for the leg armor, and youth soccer shin guards with some foamie bits made the arm gauntlets. Some random accssories (cardboard shoulders, foamboard belt/codpiece, military rucksack, and other minor things) made it look appropriately 'busy' and military.

The costume was a success the second I heard people calling out 'helljumper!', but it still needed more work.

A visit to Texas to practice mold making with other 405th members netted me an opportunity to pick up a new chestpiece made by a friend. The look was a huge improvement over the one I had made. A new vac formed visor was purchased from other costumers. I glassed knee caps to make the catchers greeves look more like their game counterparts. Then I pepped and glassed proper chest accessories and most importantly, shoulders, including Mickey's iconic CQB shoulder. I also tried glassing some thigh pieces, though I never really liked how they turned out. Ammo bandoleers on the legs and a piece of masking tape to label the brain bucket made for the final details.

For PAX 2009, I pepped a radio pack and slush cast plastic in it to harden it up. I also sculpted a helmet light holder out of clay and molded it. The old rucksack I had was replaced with some military pack straps to hold the backpack. The biggest accessory for PAX was my sister, who I made a 'Veronica Dare' costume for. Bungie loved us, took pictures, and we got to hang out with them afterwards, which was a blast.

I ordered new gauntlets from a friend, who had molded and cast up some nice game accurate ones. I spray painted the shoulder straps grey so they would stand out more. The last upgrade was replacing the poorly made glass thighs with painted riot gear. It was far more comfortable to wear and looked better as well.

Personal Thoughts:

My first constructed costume, and still my favorite. Not only do I love the look, but it's incredibly comfortable to wear around cons!

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