Given my username, I suppose it was inevitable I would create this thread. And since I'm hoping to join a group of friends dressing as Legionnaires for
DragonCon 2010, it's time I finally posted the pics in preparation for recruiting others to join us.
The initial version of this costume was created in the late 90's and debuted at Wizard World '98. When the idea first sparked a few years earlier, I had intended to do the classic purple jumpsuit, but by the time it came to fruition, Zero Hour had happened, and I decided to go for the contemporary reboot version of the character. I only have a couple of shots from that outing, but one of the best came from Wizard magazine itself:
That's me with TV's Superboy, Gerard Christopher, who was signing at that con.
I omit the lame and derogatory caption Wizard chose to label that particular picture with.
As you can see, there were some unfinished aspects to the costume, particularly the belt.: yellow stretch elastic held in place with pins as I hadn't worked out a buckle yet, and black leather pouches I was determined to color yellow somehow but never got to. Legion artist Jeff Moy took pity on me and gave me a Legion-symbol pin to use as a makeshift buckle for the rest of the con.
My hair: it's not blond. During a trial run on the costume a few days earlier we had used a spray on coloring grabbed from a costume shop. It was OK, but not terribly convincing up close. Resources for such things (especially cheap, good-looking men's wigs) were a lot more scarce a decade ago, so we went with that. Unfortunately we hadn't judged the amount needed to fully do my hair twice (or maybe the second can we had gave out early, I don't recall) so I ended up more with golden highlights for the actual con, which does not come through in the photo at all.
My hand: not green. We had actually done my hands green for the trial (and I shaved the backs on my hands for that), but decided against it for the con in case I actually wanted to handle stuff. The makeups we had access to then were kind of messy, and while they didn't come off too badly once they dried, it wasn't something I was willing to risk at a vendor booth.
The outfit is made of a purple spandex, attached yellow spandex for the boots (with slipper bottoms sewn into the feet so I have a sole to walk on) and a heavy black stretch material that I don't know the name of. The yellow booties had a problem because the yellow was too thin and you could see the socks (or worse, my hairy legs) so they have to be worn with knee-length white socks. Plus, the booties are attached, so the only way to adjust the fit is to fold up some of the material at the top, giving the attached boots a 'lip' of sorts.As the folds slip down over time, the boot bottoms had a tendency to get away from me, so I had to step pretty carefully.
My wife (WiliQueen on The League of Heroes) made the outfit, with some help from Cptspndx, who pointed her towards appropriate patterns to base it on. Even though I think I had my official Legion Flight Ring by that point, I wore the version I had made years earlier out of Sculpy.
At the con, Leman suggested I dye some latex gloves green if I didn't want the mess of makeup. I've used that idea for Halloween that year, and ever since.
Here's a shot from Halloween '98:
Edit: I forgot that at the con itself, I had a stuffed monkey I would produce on my shoulder, since KoKo had been introduced in the comics by then. I couldn't find an all white stuffed monkey, so I got a white and gray one, and tried to bleach it white - didn't work (and so the tail was a little funny looking). No photos with KoKo unfortunately, but I will always remember the Babylon 5 Q&A from that con. During one of her answers, Claudia Christian interrupted herself, saying, "I'm sorry, but I just have to ask one of the audience members - WHY ARE YOU GREEN?" I stood up to explain myself (or rather, the crowd explained as I stood up), but as I placed the monkey on my shoulder - that's when the thunderous applause started up!
The initial version of this costume was created in the late 90's and debuted at Wizard World '98. When the idea first sparked a few years earlier, I had intended to do the classic purple jumpsuit, but by the time it came to fruition, Zero Hour had happened, and I decided to go for the contemporary reboot version of the character. I only have a couple of shots from that outing, but one of the best came from Wizard magazine itself:
That's me with TV's Superboy, Gerard Christopher, who was signing at that con.
I omit the lame and derogatory caption Wizard chose to label that particular picture with.
As you can see, there were some unfinished aspects to the costume, particularly the belt.: yellow stretch elastic held in place with pins as I hadn't worked out a buckle yet, and black leather pouches I was determined to color yellow somehow but never got to. Legion artist Jeff Moy took pity on me and gave me a Legion-symbol pin to use as a makeshift buckle for the rest of the con.
My hair: it's not blond. During a trial run on the costume a few days earlier we had used a spray on coloring grabbed from a costume shop. It was OK, but not terribly convincing up close. Resources for such things (especially cheap, good-looking men's wigs) were a lot more scarce a decade ago, so we went with that. Unfortunately we hadn't judged the amount needed to fully do my hair twice (or maybe the second can we had gave out early, I don't recall) so I ended up more with golden highlights for the actual con, which does not come through in the photo at all.
My hand: not green. We had actually done my hands green for the trial (and I shaved the backs on my hands for that), but decided against it for the con in case I actually wanted to handle stuff. The makeups we had access to then were kind of messy, and while they didn't come off too badly once they dried, it wasn't something I was willing to risk at a vendor booth.
The outfit is made of a purple spandex, attached yellow spandex for the boots (with slipper bottoms sewn into the feet so I have a sole to walk on) and a heavy black stretch material that I don't know the name of. The yellow booties had a problem because the yellow was too thin and you could see the socks (or worse, my hairy legs) so they have to be worn with knee-length white socks. Plus, the booties are attached, so the only way to adjust the fit is to fold up some of the material at the top, giving the attached boots a 'lip' of sorts.As the folds slip down over time, the boot bottoms had a tendency to get away from me, so I had to step pretty carefully.
My wife (WiliQueen on The League of Heroes) made the outfit, with some help from Cptspndx, who pointed her towards appropriate patterns to base it on. Even though I think I had my official Legion Flight Ring by that point, I wore the version I had made years earlier out of Sculpy.
At the con, Leman suggested I dye some latex gloves green if I didn't want the mess of makeup. I've used that idea for Halloween that year, and ever since.
Here's a shot from Halloween '98:
Edit: I forgot that at the con itself, I had a stuffed monkey I would produce on my shoulder, since KoKo had been introduced in the comics by then. I couldn't find an all white stuffed monkey, so I got a white and gray one, and tried to bleach it white - didn't work (and so the tail was a little funny looking). No photos with KoKo unfortunately, but I will always remember the Babylon 5 Q&A from that con. During one of her answers, Claudia Christian interrupted herself, saying, "I'm sorry, but I just have to ask one of the audience members - WHY ARE YOU GREEN?" I stood up to explain myself (or rather, the crowd explained as I stood up), but as I placed the monkey on my shoulder - that's when the thunderous applause started up!
