Continuing to finally document and post what I've done in the past few Halloweens, we move on to year 2016, where I decided to bring it down a notch. In order to do that, I had to decide for a character that uses regular every-day clothing (just in very specific color schemes).

I don't remember using this outside of one Halloween party and a Superhero day at work (yes, I know The Riddler is not a superhero), so the main purpose was for it to be low-effort, economical and comfortable to wear.

So I really don't know how this happened, or rather how it didn't, but I discovered I hadn't posted my first ever figure/collectible photos on my blog. These were taken with my now-defunct Canon Rebel XTi camera and I did not own the figures, I borrowed the figures from a local at my hometown.

I recently found out these were 18+ inches tall! It's been almost ten years since I took these photos, so memory is a bit hazy thinking they were 12 inches.

Okay, let's start off with...

Edward Scissorhands 18" Movie Maniacs Series 5 - McFarlane Toys (2002)

I remember it having very little articulation and it supposedly had "motion-activated  blade moving action" in order to wiggle its scissor-fingers but the figure I had was bust.

Picking up from my previous post, I try to document what I did all these past Halloweens since I did not bother to do it back then.

As you may have assumed from my MS-Paint Beetlejuice from 10 years ago (ouch!), I am a fan of the bio-exorcist and it was only because my wife promised she would endure the process of painting my face for all three outings that I was able to do this. My costumes require little to no make-up and that's a conscious decision. Anyway, she fittingly went as Lydia Deetz in her wedding gown from the film. At first I did the film version which had a white shirt, whereas the animated series version sported a pink shirt instead, so the next day I decided to switch it up and now I can say I did both.

Learning how to run away from reality by dressing up as my favorite fictional characters has been an annual aspiration to buy things I definitely do not need for many years now. It was not up until a few years ago, the only excuse that I could get away with was to do it at Halloween and if you add my signature style of "Oh I have no real responsibilities lemme drink until I learn how to socialize properly" and it instantly became my favorite time of year!

Well, these past few years the tradition has somehow stayed alive but I have not been bothered to continue posting about it so I'll try to make up for it in a few upcoming posts, starting with this one.

Halloween 2014: Mortal Kombat II - Raiden

This was actually the second Raiden costume I had because the original did not live up to my standards and I lacked the drive to improve it. So I bought a white gi on eBay, have someone sew the blue and black apron-like fabric and the rest were hand-wraps both on my arms and legs.

What actually set me off on considering customizing any sort of figure in any magnitude was this thing right here. I was given this figure by my ex-boss and good friend Tony. It surprised me that someone would give me a kid's toy out of nowhere but the more surprising thing is that it was based off Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a movie he really disliked. Turns out a niece or nephew gave him the toy and suffice it to say, it is a very crappy and basic looking toy that was obviously meant to cater to little kids.

Since I haven't posted in a while, instead of getting to the point straight away I wanted to give some background on this idea. If you don't want to read all that, click here.

What I remember most about my childhood was the entertainment and in that area, the Nintendo Entertainment System and action figures were top contenders for the crown of time wasters. Much like today.

Like most other kids born in the 80's, my toys were mainly composed of:

• • ThunderCats 
• • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
• • G.I. Joe 
• • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• • Batman

This was taken way back on October 14, 2013 when I was a receptionist at a college that set up shop in an old hospital building. The amount of people that would go there to ask if it was still a hospital was stupid crazy considering the damn building had stopped being a hospital for at least a decade.

Being closed for that long may explain why the third storey (or story) was full of humidity and all around creepiness (bat shit, no tile work, extreme darkness, etc.) You would risk being trapped up there as the elevator was in on the classic gag of letting others know how much you may shit yourself under stress. Obviously it was perfect for a photo op.

The WHAT

I made my own Batman suit. Or costume. Or cosplay (I mean, it just means costume player but whatever). It is a low budget one and it is not accurate or without its shortcomings for both the person wearing it and those that look at the details.

The WHY

Ever since my 3rd birthday I've had at least some sort of evidence that I'm a Batman fan. Prior to this one could only assume looking at paint dry and angling my rectum in the perfect direction as to shit out my diapers were my only past times. I don't know. I don't want to know. Having been a fan for so long, I've bought Batman-related merchandise in some way or another throughout my life. Be it t-shirts, sneakers, cereal, action figures, wallets, you name it. I'm not the biggest or the most ambitions fan, not by a long shot, I'm just a very big fan of Batman, period. I'm also  a fan of Halloween and the opportunity to dress up, I've previously covered in this very blog the various disguises I've donned over time such as V for Vendetta, Cobra Commander, The Riddler, Ghostbusters, etc. One thing I had never contemplated for longer than 5 minutes at a time was to dress up as Batman, this thought would cradle back and forth for YEARS mainly because anything under $300 was a very pathetic attempt at a costume:

Or at the very least just not a decent version of one:

But then there were some expensive ones that while they didn't really turn any heads other than to say "Wtf?!" they just were not worth the money.

Then I discovered cowl replicas (Batman's helmet or mask) and this opened up a whole new world of Batman cosplaying to me. I had not imagined there would be people out there sculpting and molding replicas of movie cowls, comic cowls, cartoon cowls, video game cowls, and everything else imaginable. Same goes with the gauntlets, its fins, the shin guards, chest pieces, capes, etc. A pretty average  price for one cowl is around $200 and most of them are made of a type of rubber called urethane but there are others made of latex, I've yet to buy either one of these so I can't really vouch for one or the other. When I decided to tackle this project, my main thought was "If I can't make the cowl work, the whole thing is doomed" and that it needed to be done within $300-$200, no more maybe less (but unlikely). So if I didn't shell out $200 for a cowl what did I do? I'm glad you didn't ask.

The COST

I had a lot of research done, I would go back and forth video games, movie stills and ideas from groups such as Becoming: BATMAN and Brotherhood of the Bat, but it was also a LOT of trial and error. To be honest, after a while it stopped being research and it was just a mish-mash of anything I could wrap my head around and create a low-budget version of. Below you'll find most if not all the components used and a link to the website I got them from:

HEAD AREA

Batman Arkham Origin Mask = $22.00
Notice it does not cover the back of the head, so you will have to think ahead and figure out how to cover that. Plain cloth could work but it will not look convincing at all.
eBay Link

Batman Returns Rubies Mask = $27.00
This was actually the first thing I purchased. My mentality was that if I couldn't make the cowl work, nothing would. I wanted to do the Keaton version first and foremost and without shelling out $200+ I thought this was as close as I could get. Boy was I wrong... Keep in mind that both styles below are actually meant to advertise the exact same product. The grossly exaggerated poor craftsmanship of the second version is inaccurate with both the actual product and the product it tries to imitate.
eBay Link 1 | eBay Link 2

Ultra-thin Balaclava = $2.50
I have long hair so this helps keep it in place, as well fill in the gaps that will inevitably show up when tilting my head.
eBay Link

CHEST AREA

Compression Shirt and Pants (Link) = $18.00

This specific texture was a very nice starting point for the actual bodysuit. Of course, the photos are using an amazing specimen of some mannequin I bet, but it's still decent. And come on, you're not going to find a bodysuit for less than $20.00!

Foam yoga mat (4mm) for the Bat Emblem (Link) = $5.00

CLASSIC GAUNTLETS
Faux Leather Opera Gloves (Link) = $3.50
Archery Arm Guard (Link) = $2.50 x2 = $5.00
9-inch Black Zipper = $1.00 x2 = $5.00

ARMORED GAUNTLETS
Craft Foam (6mm)
Craft Foam (3mm)
Tactical Gloves (Link) = $10.00 (approx.)
Soccer Kids Shin Guards (Link) = $4.00

BELT
10 Pocket Utility Pouch Cartridge Ammo Tool Rugged Cotton Canvas Adjustable Belt (Link) = $15.00 (Approx.)

MISC.
Mannequin head (foam) = $5.00
Heat Gun = $16.00
Dremel / Rotary Tool = $10.00
Precision knives = $8.00
Velcro = $5.00
Contact Cement = $6.00
DAP Rapid Fuse Adhesive = $6.00
Plastidip = $7.00
Tall combat boots = $35-$55
Upholstery Foam = $ Varies
Upholstery faux leather fabric (at least 6 yards) = $ Varies

"Who needs the Bat signal when a card facing away from Batman will do?"

Completed in MS Paint without the "anti aliasing" brushes included in the modern version of the software. The Joker was initially a side-activity during downtime at my job, it was meant to be only a Batman logo with the Joker laughing in the background on the back of a box at my desk. The box was vandalized and I decided to go digital. What was only a face seemed bland and I decided to add a partial torso, which evolved into a background with a bit of detail by the end of the ordeal.

The Batman's pose was basically re-done from a variant poster of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

DeviantArt link.

For the past two months I've been trying to bring to "life" a concept I've had in my mind ever since I found some old rubbery dismembered body parts that only qualify as "toys" if you watched Dexter (not the boy genius). As a kid.

Coming up with the concept of "Art equals self-sacrifice" in a graphical manner wasn't difficult, shooting it, however, was a whole other ballpark. My dated Canon Rebelt XTi is good for some closeups and places with decent lighting. Photography with flash is hideous for the most part (the most part is when talking about the camera's built-in flash), and it is especially dated when all you've to work with are the stock lens and a pretty below-than-average macro lens. All these factors, plus the lack of space, good shooting angles and doing this by myself prompted me to have a second shoot because the first one was that awful (see below at the end of the post).

Second time around I had help from my good friend Sofia, providing the severed arm on the right, I could've used my own, like I did in my first shooting, but it was sub-par and awkward as hell. This will be submitted to an international art magazine, let's see if it gets approved.

We all wear masks, others better than others, and those who don't, just can't take theirs off.

It's been a while since I've taken pictures of-- well, just taken pictures in general. I was busy for about a month learning, practicing and finalizing the "documentary" of the short-lived punk rock band I was in, Cheap (A) Oi!, and ever since I've struggled to go out and take pictures.

Tonight was a night out and the sky was pretty clear so I went back home, grabbed my backpack and went off, because if I didn't take the chance, I was going to wait somewhere between a year and an eternity while the "muse" visited me. I have no new equipment, which should be considered a sin, so this was still shot with my Canon Rebel XTi and the Sigma DG 70-300, a nice, cheap, albeit slow lens I've had but not used very much. I used Photoshop to play a bit with the contrast and add the watermark because even using Lightroom after so long is a hassle for me (I'm reaching new heights of procrastination, I know).