Halloween came and went, and I wish I'd been able to get more photos but the evening got away from us. I promise I'll have more - I put too much work into this build to not have it sufficiently immortalized.
A few things:
- It did take some assistance putting on. I can do just about everything but the torso. By the end of the night the chest completely popped out (though miraculously didn't fall), which I think was my mistake. I'd hiked the ab wrap a little too high, which put pressure against the inside of the chest and kept it from engaging fully.
- The biceps also drooped down a bit, which took away my mobility at the elbows. I think I'll need to permanently secure them to the shoulders to prevent this from happening.
- Speaking of the arms, the SAP/CDO shoulder made it incredibly difficult to put the torso on by myself. I think a reprint is in order, but this time I'm going to use some powerful bar magnets so it can be detached when necessary, but still hold during use.
- Hand guards fell off. I may just resort to a loop of elastic in addition to the hook-and-loop strip for next time.
- I absolutely need to print the inner chest rig in flexible filament. Of course, my only large format printer isn't really capable of that so I'll have to convert it to direct drive before I can do so. That or just print it in several pieces, which isn't too much of an issue since most of it isn't visible and I won't need to worry too much about seam lines.
- I didn't have time to do all of the weathering that I wanted to do, as well as add lights even though I had all the parts for it. Also, because it was so windy out I didn't want to mess with the sniper veil - I'm sure it would have only caused more problems.
Despite all of the issues I felt like it was pretty successful. It didn't feel uncomfortable to wear and I felt like the proportions looked really good for my build. Walking around felt great once I got used to the additional weight at my feet. I learned *a lot* and can really only improve from here. I got a ton of compliments walking around. Apparently the drip was the talk of the bus stop the following morning.
To be frank, I
understood cosplay before - I never didn't "get it." However, donning the finished suit for the first time was an absolute rush that I can't sufficiently put into words. I've wanted to do this since Halo 3 came out. Maybe even before that. Gonna be real corny here - I felt like a
SPARTAN. I'm still riding the high and I don't know when I'll be coming down from it.
I'm
very appreciative of all the guidance and wisdom I've benefited from here. Between the forums, socials, and the Discord, I have learned so much from you over the last several months - and I'm still learning. I'm hoping I can meet you all before long. Until then, I'm going to keep working on this guy some more.
