What sparked your interest in this hobby? I've got to know!

[zyamaha]

Hey everyone!

I was just really curious what everyone's story was on why they started making cosplay/costumes and what led them to where they are in the hobby today. I didn't see an existing thread that covered this specific topic and I really wanted to see how similar (or different) everyone's reasons/experiences are.

Personally, I have liked to make costumes since I was about 8 or 9 where I made Ninja Turtle outfits and weapons. My material of choice was cardboard until I was about 13 and found out that there were alternatives... but I still preferred cardboard.

The main reason I stepped into the halo side of things was due to some totally cool dudes that I met at Emerald City Comicon with their ODST and Spartan cosplays. I was in so much awe that I had to go home and google what it was all about (using my Nintendo DS-i internet browser), where I stumbled across using foam for making costumes. I was terrible at it and eventually gave up... Until I got a 3D printer!!!

And that's where I am today.

So... what are your stories?

 

[ImBlaze]

Mines very basic but N8tebb (im not sure how to actually link your account) brought me into the 405th and that was after i had already wanted to start cosplaying and making armor. This just gave me more of an incentive and so i got my first printer a resin printer a couple years ago as a birthday gift. unfortunately im not sure my parents exactly put too much research into the 3D printing topic since it was used in my room which is VERY VERY UNSAFE. luckily i dont use it anymore since its not safe to use but i didnt actually know that foamsmithing was a real thing. I always thought people just 3D printed their suits or resin casted them. I'm still not completely done with a suit yet but its being worked on so thats a gist of it nothing too crazy but still nonetheless im here!

 

[Wraith0912]

For Halloween about 8 years ago, my elementary school let us all dress up in costume for the day. I wanted to go as Master Chief, but I stumbled on a Pepakura tutorial on Youtube that made me want to make the costume instead of just buying it. I wasn't able to follow through on Chief, but I did end up making something for the Medic from TF2. Soon after, I found out about the 501st and the stuff that they do, which led me to the 405th. My high school had a 3D printing lab that they used for one of their courses, and once I got my hands on one, the barrier that separated me from knowing how to make the costume was gone. Now, 8 years later, I'm almost done with that Chief costume, and I'm excited to be a part of the 405th for its debut!

 

[Spidermonkey60]

Back in college (2009) I wanted to make a Leonidas costume from 300, back then I was using cardboard and paper mache but it came out decent enough, the following year I did Iron Man from Iron Man 1 out of Fiberglass and Bondo leading me to have a horrible experience with the fiberglass matting(I have the scars on my calves to prove it.) After that build I decided I needed to look into lighter materials which brought me to foam and my first Halo armor, which was a Halo 4 Master Cheif suit.

Over the last 15 years (holy crap its been 15 years already????) I have done 22 suits utilizing a wide range of materials and I have sold them all over the globe. Nowadays I just do builds for myself, and am more than content just sitting back and helping out with my Staff duties with the Midwest Regiment and helping out newcomers and those looking to hear the Gospel of the ways of Foam builds.

Foam for the Foam God

 

[JammedMite942]

Well, when I was a kid I REALLY wanted to be Master Chief for Halloween, but back then the only way I knew how to make the costume was with the fiberglass and resin method, and I was way too young for that. Kept trying to come up with new ideas and finally found out about foam!

Turns out we had a huge roll of EVA foam just sitting in our garage, which is what I made my first costume with. I kept changing what costume I was actually making (flipping between Halo 4 Master Chief and a few others) and eventually settled on making Carter from Halo: Reach.

Being 10 at the time, I’d say my costume turned out well. Whole thing was made out of foam without the use of pepakura, since I had a Mac. I glued it all together with hot glue, then painted it with my parents just days before Halloween.

It took a while before I was able to get ahold of a windows laptop to use pepakura, but once I did my build quality skyrocketed! Anyway, that’s how I started. I’m excited to see what projects the future holds!

 

[marinesniper]

when the game halo first came out my dad and i tryed to make a wort hog it was not scale but it was enough you could tell it was a worthog. then i wanted to make the chiefs suit and went down the fiberglass road i still have the scars from the stiches where the fiberglass broke and cut me pretty good after that i found the 405th it was not very big at the time i know there were ever few of us but i started to learn pepakura and the chief was born i wanted mine to look like adams suit. and now i am stuck on this cosplaying like it was crack.

 

[KatakoShozo]

When I first got my Xbox as a kid, my father got me Halo CE, I became obsessed with the series and wanted to recreate items from it. I haven't really taken off and made my armor yet but I'm quite excited to do so!

 

[zyamaha]

Mines very basic but N8tebb (im not sure how to actually link your account) brought me into the 405th and that was after i had already wanted to start cosplaying and making armor. This just gave me more of an incentive and so i got my first printer a resin printer a couple years ago as a birthday gift. unfortunately im not sure my parents exactly put too much research into the 3D printing topic since it was used in my room which is VERY VERY UNSAFE. luckily i dont use it anymore since its not safe to use but i didnt actually know that foamsmithing was a real thing. I always thought people just 3D printed their suits or resin casted them. I'm still not completely done with a suit yet but its being worked on so thats a gist of it nothing too crazy but still nonetheless im here!

That's pretty cool that your parents got you a printer though! Even if it was horrendously toxic.

Can't wait to see you're suit whenever you get it finished!

 

[zyamaha]

For Halloween about 8 years ago, my elementary school let us all dress up in costume for the day. I wanted to go as Master Chief, but I stumbled on a Pepakura tutorial on Youtube that made me want to make the costume instead of just buying it. I wasn't able to follow through on Chief, but I did end up making something for the Medic from TF2. Soon after, I found out about the 501st and the stuff that they do, which led me to the 405th. My high school had a 3D printing lab that they used for one of their courses, and once I got my hands on one, the barrier that separated me from knowing how to make the costume was gone. Now, 8 years later, I'm almost done with that Chief costume, and I'm excited to be a part of the 405th for its debut!

I think the only costume I ever wore to school was a 501st Clone Trooper costume (when Revenge of the Sith came out), which was kick butt.

That's super cool that your High School had a 3D printing lab! The best we had was woodshop, but I learned how to make swords in there, so that was cool.

I took pictures with some 501st guys when I was pretty young but didn't know there was a similar group for Halo until recently, otherwise I would've joined years ago.

Your armor looks like it's coming together pretty nicely! I can't wait to see it come to fruition!

 

[zyamaha]

Back in college (2009) I wanted to make a Leonidas costume from 300, back then I was using cardboard and paper mache but it came out decent enough, the following year I did Iron Man from Iron Man 1 out of Fiberglass and Bondo leading me to have a horrible experience with the fiberglass matting(I have the scars on my calves to prove it.) After that build I decided I needed to look into lighter materials which brought me to foam and my first Halo armor, which was a Halo 4 Master Cheif suit.

Over the last 15 years (holy crap its been 15 years already????) I have done 22 suits utilizing a wide range of materials and I have sold them all over the globe. Nowadays I just do builds for myself, and am more than content just sitting back and helping out with my Staff duties with the Midwest Regiment and helping out newcomers and those looking to hear the Gospel of the ways of Foam builds.

Foam for the Foam God

That's too bad about the fiberglass scarring! I always wondered if that was possible when coating with fiberglass, but I guess that answers my question. But hey, at least it delivered you to the Gospel of Foam!

Congrats on the 22 suits! I think I'll be good when I finish just one, but maybe I'll do one for a friend... who knows!

 

[zyamaha]

Well, when I was a kid I REALLY wanted to be Master Chief for Halloween, but back then the only way I knew how to make the costume was with the fiberglass and resin method, and I was way too young for that. Kept trying to come up with new ideas and finally found out about foam!

Turns out we had a huge roll of EVA foam just sitting in our garage, which is what I made my first costume with. I kept changing what costume I was actually making (flipping between Halo 4 Master Chief and a few others) and eventually settled on making Carter from Halo: Reach.

Being 10 at the time, I’d say my costume turned out well. Whole thing was made out of foam without the use of pepakura, since I had a Mac. I glued it all together with hot glue, then painted it with my parents just days before Halloween.

It took a while before I was able to get ahold of a windows laptop to use pepakura, but once I did my build quality skyrocketed! Anyway, that’s how I started. I’m excited to see what projects the future holds!

I wish I had the patience to make a whole armor set at the age of 10! That's super cool!!

The earliest that I remember seeing pepakura was when I was 13 and my friend and I were looking at some files for a Combat Evolved Marine outfit. We printed it out, but never found the time to do it. Not sure what happened to those...

Can't wait to see your future projects, whatever they may be!

 

[zyamaha]

when the game halo first came out my dad and i tryed to make a wort hog it was not scale but it was enough you could tell it was a worthog. then i wanted to make the chiefs suit and went down the fiberglass road i still have the scars from the stiches where the fiberglass broke and cut me pretty good after that i found the 405th it was not very big at the time i know there were ever few of us but i started to learn pepakura and the chief was born i wanted mine to look like adams suit. and now i am stuck on this cosplaying like it was crack.

Oh man! Another victim of fiberglass! Do people still use that method or is it feared at this point?

I remember when Transformers (2007) came out, my dad and I made a tiny version of Optimus Prime's truck mode. I forgot how fun it was to make vehicles out of cardboard and whatnot.

I'm a recovering cosplay addict myself, but lately I've been dipping my toes back into it.

 

[zyamaha]

When I first got my Xbox as a kid, my father got me Halo CE, I became obsessed with the series and wanted to recreate items from it. I haven't really taken off and made my armor yet but I'm quite excited to do so!

I grew up with PlayStation, so I didn't experience Halo until I was at a friend's house (Halo 3).

The first game I bought for my Xbox360 was Halo 3: ODST, which was an absolute blast. It wasn't until Halo: Reach where the thought of being my own spartan really became a thing though.

Can't wait to see your armor, whenever you get to it!

 

[Spidermonkey60]

That's too bad about the fiberglass scarring! I always wondered if that was possible when coating with fiberglass, but I guess that answers my question. But hey, at least it delivered you to the Gospel of Foam!

Congrats on the 22 suits! I think I'll be good when I finish just one, but maybe I'll do one for a friend... who knows!

Careful its a slippery slope! Haha

 

[Creativity4ever]

Back around 10 years ago when I was in middle school, younger me had a dream that I wanted to be like some characters that inspired me, I started experimenting and made some crudely made props in 3rd grade starting with a gauntlet made of layers of popsicle sticks.

About a few years after that, I went to Anime Expo (my first convention ever) and met a 405th member that cosplayed Tex from Red vs Blue. That moment sparked my interest in cosplay since then.

I discovered Impactprops on YouTube and creators like EvilTed and Punished Props in 2017-19. My first props I started to make were helmets from games but they weren't perfect. I started progressing more in 2019-2021 when I moved from making helmets to armor sets and more once I studied how cosplay is done and I joined the 405th.


Flash forward to now in 2023: I've improved a lot since my failures and made 2 armor sets and a couple of props and helmets. I couldn't be more proud of my progress and happy to be a part of the cosplay community.

So, thanks to everyone that supported me here since I started!

 

[SierraEdict]

I started sewing costumes maybe 15 years ago, but then I had a long *long* break of nearly a decade of making nothing new and not going to conventions due to moving/not being able to get time off work.

I was super into Halo back as a teen and the last year got into it again replaying the games and digging around the extra media of the universe too: mainly the books - as I'm a librarian so seeing the odd copy pass through had me interested and then deep diving (huge undertaking after seeing the complete list of books and comics haha!)

MCM London then announced Halo VAs this year as guests and it felt serendipitous lol, thought why not now to jump back into cosplay now and try making armour for the first time. I always used watched a lot of old tutorials and builds for things thinking one day I'd do it but now I finally am!

Also, kind of wanted to get real buff and why not pick an ODST or Spartan as an extra fitness motivator

And I have to be honest, seeing everyone here so supportive of everyone's builds and seeing all the costumes in progress and complete is a big motivator and inspiration.

 

[zyamaha]

Back around 10 years ago when I was in middle school, younger me had a dream that I wanted to be like some characters that inspired me, I started experimenting and made some crudely made props in 3rd grade starting with a gauntlet made of layers of popsicle sticks.

About a few years after that, I went to Anime Expo (my first convention ever) and met a 405th member that cosplayed Tex from Red vs Blue. That moment sparked my interest in cosplay since then.

I discovered Impactprops on YouTube and creators like EvilTed and Punished Props in 2017-19. My first props I started to make were helmets from games but they weren't perfect. I started progressing more in 2019-2021 when I moved from making helmets to armor sets and more once I studied how cosplay is done and I joined the 405th.


Flash forward to now in 2023: I've improved a lot since my failures and made 2 armor sets and a couple of props and helmets. I couldn't be more proud of my progress and happy to be a part of the cosplay community.

So, thanks to everyone that supported me here since I started!

Man, a popsicle gauntlet actually sounds super cool, lol. Something about making things with very limited resources is really neat.

I kind of forget how much of an impact YouTube really has had on this whole hobby for me as well.

 

[zyamaha]

Also, kind of wanted to get real buff and why not pick an ODST or Spartan as an extra fitness motivator

And I have to be honest, seeing everyone here so supportive of everyone's builds and seeing all the costumes in progress and complete is a big motivator and inspiration.

That's super cool that you can sew! I really wish I had the patience to learn how to actually do it... but maybe I'll finally do it for my armor set's undersuit.

I would absolutely love to see a super buff Spartan or ODST. That would be so cool!

 

[SierraEdict]

That's super cool that you can sew! I really wish I had the patience to learn how to actually do it... but maybe I'll finally do it for my armor set's undersuit.

I would absolutely love to see a super buff Spartan or ODST. That would be so cool!

Sewing definitely has its own challenges, but its very rewarding when you get the hang of things! If you dive into it for the undersuit I'm sure you'll do fine :> so many resources to learn from these days makes it much more accessible for new learners.

As for getting buff, maybe one day haha! Slow going on that front

 

[S225]

Back around 2010-2011 a buddy and my self started digging into pep files for an MK6 suit and some Halo 3 props. Never got to far with things at this point, an unfinished bicep here, a beam rifle there, but it ultimately was my starting point. Then Halo Reach dropped, and as my profile pic suggests I found MY Spartan. I had a full MK5B pep'd out but never had time to resin of finish anything. Few more years go by and I stumble back to the 405th and see some of our members incredible foam work on the suits they have done and I decide to try a foam suit myself. While I didn't get too far due to moving and less time in my days, only a little work was done. Call it determination or stubbornness but after I was gifted a 3D printer I got back to work on my 3rd suit iteration. Full suit is printed at this point but I still cant find the time to finish it. A few props out of the ever growing collection I have did manage to get finalized. These being an M6, Halo 4 carbine with a custom mag ejector and a plasma grenade. What's unfinished at the moment are 3, yes 3 plasma rifles (one carved from foam, one a random model I found and made printable and the last being the best which is a up scaled Halo Reach model I was able to complete) a DMR, my old pep beam rifle and my newest and coolest H3 fuel rod cannon. Maybe I'll move on to a new project once all this is finished. I could also just print all the other cool props out there too...