robbysheldon
New Member
Hello all. I am robbysheldon. I joined this forum over three years ago, and after a few months and a couple paper helmets I sort of disappeared... Before I go into the project, I'd like to tell just a little about why I joined and then left, and how the 405th is a large contributor to who I am today.
I registered an account here when I was 16 or so. I was obsessed with Halo at the time, and had always liked making crappy props and stuff out of whatever, and so with the resources the 405th had(all the amazing tuts, guides, tips, links to reference imagery and pep files) I started to learn. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to make a very poor undersized mark V helmet(the one in my avatar pic; it stuck with me for a long time), followed by a full pep mark V suit and a few paper helmets. After that though, my young attention span drifted, I had played Halo 3 pretty much for hours every day for months, and so I eventually got sick of it and stopped calling myself a Halo fan.
After that, I kind of stopped costume and prop stuff too for a while... until something like a year later. The situation was as such: A friend asked me if I'd like to hit up a con with him, he said I had two weeks, and I said I had a pep file I'd been wanting to build. Two weeks later, I was Megatron. http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae260/robbysheldon/Kitsunekon 11/kon15.jpg Using the scaling know-how I learned from this forum, I turned a six inch pepakura figure into a very flimsy rig, and I took my first step into the world of cosplay. From there, I joined a similar, lesser known group, the TransCostumers, and became the leader of a Decepticon cosplay group, placed in a large cosplay tournament, and built too many cosplays to count after that from all sorts of things. Every time, I'd say find at least one thing to say "I learned this back in the 405th" when explaining it.
And after a few years of doing cool stuff, I decided to do something special for the Halo 4 launch. I took an old, dusty, barely resined mark V helmet I had made so long ago, painted it up, fitted it with an impromptu visor (made from a soda bottle and lightly spray painted gold), talked with the Gamestop employees, and stood behind the counter in tux and helm, with a nametag reading "HI, MY NAME IS: xMAsT4-Ch3Efx", and I talked with fans, struck poses, advertized gamefuel, and nodded silently to each person who picked up their copy of the much anticipated title. It was pretty cool. And the game restored my faith in Halo, making me proud to say I was a fan once more. Then I was reminded of what was coming out a week later.
So guess who showed up at the Black Ops II midnight launch, in front of a hundred freezing CoD fans, in a disheveled tux and Master Chief helmet. Eeyup. Me. With a big sign that read: "COD SUKS" Reactions were mixed. Most took it as the joke it was intended as. There were cheers, jeers, high-fives, hand shakes, pics taken(still can't find any though), and at one point I was leading a synchronized Gangnam Style dance. It was pretty crazy, and then I got punched in the dick. Some people just can't take a joke. Then another person punched me in the dick. Really regretted forgetting my cup. Then someone tackled me, ripped my helmet off, and drove off wearing it and hanging out their window shouting expletives at me. Now, with the way I had made the visor, I was pretty much blind. Bad, bad idea. I couldn't ID who did it, and the Gamestop employees(all of them) wanted to call the cops. I just let it go, saying I could easily make another I guess, and called it a night because by that point most of the people had got their game. The remaining folks were very apologetic for their comrades in CoD though, and the night had still brought many, many laughs.
And that is what inspired me to return to the 405th in earnest. I am officially initiating project "Try Stealing My Helmet Now, Jackass". I have started work on a full suit of armor, mark V of course, as the classic design is still my favorite. It is to be made, not with the traditional pep method I learned of so long ago, but with steel. Metal used in ductwork, to be precise. I have completed the left forearm, only needing some paint now.
I haven't been 'round the forums since I left back in '09. How common is it, exactly, to use steel as a build material? : p I do have a very busy life at the moment, and my projected timeframe is "hope to be done by the time Halo 5 comes out", so forgive me if updates are rare.
Now, it has been a while, and I have long looked up to the 405th and spread the word of its glory. Sorry if my story above is in poor form for a build progress thread, but I felt the need to explain why it is I've returned and what inspired me to do this. Is it too much to hope that this prodigal son might be welcomed back home?
I registered an account here when I was 16 or so. I was obsessed with Halo at the time, and had always liked making crappy props and stuff out of whatever, and so with the resources the 405th had(all the amazing tuts, guides, tips, links to reference imagery and pep files) I started to learn. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to make a very poor undersized mark V helmet(the one in my avatar pic; it stuck with me for a long time), followed by a full pep mark V suit and a few paper helmets. After that though, my young attention span drifted, I had played Halo 3 pretty much for hours every day for months, and so I eventually got sick of it and stopped calling myself a Halo fan.
After that, I kind of stopped costume and prop stuff too for a while... until something like a year later. The situation was as such: A friend asked me if I'd like to hit up a con with him, he said I had two weeks, and I said I had a pep file I'd been wanting to build. Two weeks later, I was Megatron. http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae260/robbysheldon/Kitsunekon 11/kon15.jpg Using the scaling know-how I learned from this forum, I turned a six inch pepakura figure into a very flimsy rig, and I took my first step into the world of cosplay. From there, I joined a similar, lesser known group, the TransCostumers, and became the leader of a Decepticon cosplay group, placed in a large cosplay tournament, and built too many cosplays to count after that from all sorts of things. Every time, I'd say find at least one thing to say "I learned this back in the 405th" when explaining it.
And after a few years of doing cool stuff, I decided to do something special for the Halo 4 launch. I took an old, dusty, barely resined mark V helmet I had made so long ago, painted it up, fitted it with an impromptu visor (made from a soda bottle and lightly spray painted gold), talked with the Gamestop employees, and stood behind the counter in tux and helm, with a nametag reading "HI, MY NAME IS: xMAsT4-Ch3Efx", and I talked with fans, struck poses, advertized gamefuel, and nodded silently to each person who picked up their copy of the much anticipated title. It was pretty cool. And the game restored my faith in Halo, making me proud to say I was a fan once more. Then I was reminded of what was coming out a week later.
So guess who showed up at the Black Ops II midnight launch, in front of a hundred freezing CoD fans, in a disheveled tux and Master Chief helmet. Eeyup. Me. With a big sign that read: "COD SUKS" Reactions were mixed. Most took it as the joke it was intended as. There were cheers, jeers, high-fives, hand shakes, pics taken(still can't find any though), and at one point I was leading a synchronized Gangnam Style dance. It was pretty crazy, and then I got punched in the dick. Some people just can't take a joke. Then another person punched me in the dick. Really regretted forgetting my cup. Then someone tackled me, ripped my helmet off, and drove off wearing it and hanging out their window shouting expletives at me. Now, with the way I had made the visor, I was pretty much blind. Bad, bad idea. I couldn't ID who did it, and the Gamestop employees(all of them) wanted to call the cops. I just let it go, saying I could easily make another I guess, and called it a night because by that point most of the people had got their game. The remaining folks were very apologetic for their comrades in CoD though, and the night had still brought many, many laughs.
And that is what inspired me to return to the 405th in earnest. I am officially initiating project "Try Stealing My Helmet Now, Jackass". I have started work on a full suit of armor, mark V of course, as the classic design is still my favorite. It is to be made, not with the traditional pep method I learned of so long ago, but with steel. Metal used in ductwork, to be precise. I have completed the left forearm, only needing some paint now.
I haven't been 'round the forums since I left back in '09. How common is it, exactly, to use steel as a build material? : p I do have a very busy life at the moment, and my projected timeframe is "hope to be done by the time Halo 5 comes out", so forgive me if updates are rare.
Now, it has been a while, and I have long looked up to the 405th and spread the word of its glory. Sorry if my story above is in poor form for a build progress thread, but I felt the need to explain why it is I've returned and what inspired me to do this. Is it too much to hope that this prodigal son might be welcomed back home?