Optimus Prime Stilt Costume for AdultsTower over the other Halloween party-goers in this unique Transformers costume!In the slide show above, you're viewing the original Optimus Prime Stilt Costume for adults designed by reader Joseph Barrett of New York. This eye-catching costume is actually fairly easy to make, says Barrett. Why not read through this page to find out if you'd like to give it a try this coming Halloween? Looking for a unique homemade men's Halloween costume?You'll be the center of attention in this original Transformers stilt costume!If you're looking for a unique men's Halloween costume that's fun to make and wear, why not give the unusual Optimus Prime on Stilts costume that Joseph Barrett of New York made a try?Joseph lives in New York City, where walking down a public street is sure to catch PLENTY of attention. And indeed, all eyes were on Joseph as he towered over the other Halloween revelers on his way to and from his Halloween party this year! Doing a superlative job, you would hardly guess that this professional-looking costume is made from a mountain of cardboard boxes! How does this Optimus Prime costume get to be so tall? STILTS! Yes, inside the costume, you'll be balancing on stilts. Be sure to make your Optimus Prime Stilt costume several days---or even weeks!---in advance of when you need it so that you may do the practice you need in order to appear as a smooth dude when you strut down the streets! On the rest of this page, you'll find Joseph Barrett's instructions for making his Optimus Prime Stilt Costume for men. How to make the Optimus Prime Stilt Costume for MenDesign and Instructions by J. S. BarrettAlthough this costume may look difficult to make it really isn’t, although it is quite time consuming. The only experience I had before doing the Optimus Prime costume project was making one robot I for Halloween last year...plus countless model airplane kits when I was a kid. That being said, here are some instructions you can follow to try and replicate him.How long did it take to make this Optimus Prime costume? I spent roughly 3-4 weeks in the construction of this project. In addition to making the body, arms, legs and head, some extra time is needed to make the robot's hands, which a separate project. I pretty much followed the instructions I found on this website: www.ScienceToyMaker.org's Robot Hands page. Materials needed for the Optimus Prime Stilt CostumeUsed boxes are cheaper...but new boxes give you the smoothest lookHere are the materials I bought and assembled before starting my homemade Optimus Prime costume:* Lots of large cardboard boxes; I purchased 7 extra large boxes at U Haul for about 3 dollars a box. * Two rolls of brown cardboard tape * One retractable razor blade * Staple gun * One bottle of wood glue (Essentially used to reinforce seams or wherever you see fit) * Some scrap plywood; Home depot sells scrap wood for about 50 cents a piece * Wood (I used 1x3’s for the stilts) * Wood screws and Four 4” bolts * Velcro Strapping * Paint: Red, White, Blue, Grey, Light Blue paints are all needed. How to assemble this Optimus Prime men's costumeI started off with the midsection of Optimus Prime being that it would be the most difficult to get the sizing correct.First you must take your measurements. Raise both of your arms straight up as if you are trying to put on the finished product and measure the widest part of you (which is under your arms & around your chest and lats.) This will be how wide you must make the midsection...at minimum. I would add and inch or two for comfort's sake. Then, measure from your waist to your neck. That is how tall you must make the midsection. Making the Optimus Prime Grill: I started the project by making the grill in the front. The grill is just a piece of cardboard about as big as my stomach. I marked lines on it about every half inch or so and carved little U shaped slats with gaps in between and then popped them forward. I then cut a long strip about 2 inches wide and wrapped it around the perimeter of the grill and taped it into place on the underside. Now you have the stomach done! How to make the Optimus Prime Chest: The chest section was basically the top half of a box with two of the flaps still on the front and back. Cut a V into one of the flaps down the middle and tape it back together and bend the frond of the box down the middle as you can see in the picture of the unfinished costume. I basically then cut out arm holes and slots for my head to fit through and taped the flaps to each other forming the head hold and shoulders. Then I taped the grill to the underside of the chest section. The rest of the midsection is done just by cutting out individual pieces of cardboard depending on how you want him shaped and taping them into place and securing it all to the grill and chest section. Also cut individual pieces to fill any gaps like between the shoulder straps and chest section and tape them all into place. Use lots of tape because the midsection has to be the most durable since you’ll be getting into and out of it a lot! Also make the arm holes very long vertically versus just cutting out circles. It will make it a lot easier to get your arms into it. The midsection is now complete! The waist of this homemade Optimus Prime costume: The waist is actually quite easy to make. First, take a large flat piece of cardboard and cut out a section of the middle so that you can stand in the middle of the hole and pull the flat piece up around your legs and up past your hips. I made it kind of tight so that once I get it up, it kind of rests on my hips. Then draw a big square around that hole so that the square is a little bigger then the base of your midsection you just finished. That will be the base that your midsection can kind of rest on. The front is just a basic elongated pentagon-shaped piece of cardboard that I added a sort of wedge shape to. The sides of the waist are just long rectangles and the back looks sort of like the front and all taped into place. Use lots of tape on this section too since you’re going to be squeezing into and out of this one as well. How to make Optimus Prime's HelmetOk…the helmet. As you can see this is probably the hardest part to make. First of all, take a measurement of the width of your head. Now cut a strip of cardboard at about a little wider than the width of your head by about a quarter inch. With that strip you will hold one end to your forehead and wrap the rest over the top of your head and down to almost the bottom of your neck. Try your best to mark that spot with a pen and cut it off at that point.Now, doing your best to roughly hold that curve to your in place next to your head, hold it sideways against some cardboard and have someone trace the curve onto it. Next, using that tracing, cut out two sides for the helmet. Notch the front and back a bit though so that you can see out of the sides. For the two jaw line wings, just make two wedge shapes and tape them to the sides. It looks best if instead of straight wedges, you add some curve to it. To tape down the curve, use lots of little pieces of tape instead of one long piece that will crease a lot and look messy. Use the same technique to make the wedges for the ear things. As for the crest of the helmet, lay the helmet sideways again and trace the shape onto another piece of cardboard. Then using that tracing, draw a side profile of the crest and curve it all the way back to the neck of the helmet. Cut out two of those and tape them onto the helmet. Seal off the top with a strip of cardboard and put a notched piece in the front just like how the grill was made except with considerably fewer notches! Making the Optimus Prime Face Mask: The face mask portion is really trial and error. Basically, I bent a piece of cardboard in half to make a V. Then I cut a lot of little pieces out and taped them onto the V to match the shape of my face. Make this part separate so you can hold it up to your face until you get it right and once it’s done you can then tape it into the helmet. Half way done! Making Optimus Prime's legsUpper LegsLet’s start with Optimus Prime's upper legs. Trace a good side profile of your thigh onto a piece of cardboard, basically from your knee to your hip. Taper it down a bit near the knee to make it look a bit angled. Cut out four of those. Two you will leave as is. For the other two cut off the top half of them using an arc. These will be the insides of the thigh. The curve is cut in for… comfort shall I say? Then cut out the front and back and tape it all up. Being that the two outsides go all the way up to the hip, the waist will sit perfectly on the thighs. Don’t worry about these falling down because they will be resting on the lower legs. Lower Legs and StiltsMaking Optimus Prime's lower legs might take awhile since you have to make the stilts on the insides first. My height is 5’7,” so I made the feet platforms on the stilts at 17 inches tall (so that Optimus would be a good 7 feet in height.) Use whatever height you prefer; however, keep in mind that you want him to look proportionate. Making the stilts: For the stilts I used the 4 inch bolt to hold together three 1x3’s. Two beams were 17 inches and one beam was 17 inches plus the distance from my foot to my knee. That long beam will be what holds the stilts to you leg. The two outside beams go straight up and down and the middle beam will be angled forwards to make a sort of tripod like design. Angle it forward just enough so that it goes a little past your toes. Once you get all that done then screw that all into a rectangular shape of plywood. That will be the Optimus costume’s foot pad. On top of the two 17 inch beams, screw in another foot sized piece of plywood. That will be your foot pad. When you attach the stilts to Optimus’s foot pad, attach them closer to the instep. I found out the hard way that if you attach them too far apart you’ll be walking bow-legged all night! I had to redo mine. When that is all in place I suggest using another 4 inch bolt a little below the first bolt to hold the tripod at its angle for safety. Now it will be very sturdy. I found Velcro strapping at home depot and used a staple gun to attach it to the legs and foot to hold it onto me. Now to encase it all in! Cut long pieces of cardboard to the length of your longest leg beam for the sides and back of the leg and tape them together. Make little tabs at the bottom and bend them in. I used the staple gun again to attach the sides and back to the plywood footpad. The Toes in front I made separate so that I could reach over and staple those down as well. You won’t be able to reach all the way to the bottom to secure them otherwise unless you have really long arms! Finally cut out pieces to seal up the front. Using little pieces of cardboard, make a ledge around the top to close the legs in around your knee to give the thighs something to rest on. Lastly you’re going to have to cut in a door on the insides of the legs so that you’ll be able to put these things on. I basically cut an L shape in from the top and bent it like a door. I then glued in magnets to the door and frame so that once I’m strapped in I can close the door and it secures itself! Or you could just tape/glue some Velcro strapping onto it. I prefer the magnets which I bought at home depot. Making the Optimus Prime suit's armsThe costume's arms are fairly easy in comparison to the rest of the costume. For the shoulders, simply cut out 5 equally sized squares and tape them together making essentially an open top box. Then cut out 4 slightly smaller squares and tape them together making a box with no top or bottom. This will form the upper arm.Holding them up to your arm, judge where you’ll have to fit the small box into the larger box so that you’ll still be able to bend your elbow at a 90 degree angle. Tape the small box into place to one side of the inside of the larger box. Seal the gaps with small strips of cardboard and tape. Cut in an arm hole on the side you taped the boxes together. In the picture below, the upper arms are just being held up with binder clippings so you can see how it should look in relation to the rest of Optimus. As for the forearms, make a rectangular box and tape it to the upper arms where you will be bending your elbow. Make sure to tape it on the inside and the outside for durability. I used a heavier duty tape such as duct tape or gorilla tape as this will be the only thing holding it together. Optimus Prime's hands: Hands can be easy or difficult depending on how much effort you want to put into this project. The easy way, of course, would be to just attach a stuffed work glove to the end of the forearm. However, I wanted a better-looking set of hands, so I followed the project mentioned at the top of this page to make mechanical hands (which I attached to gloves inside the forearm.) I pretty much followed the youtube instructions exactly and then beefed it up a bit at the end. Painting the homemade Optimus Prime costumeUp to this point, except for painting, you are done with the costume's construction.I went with spray painting which I immediately regretted. It makes for a better finished product; however, I live in an apartment and had to cart everything to the local park to paint outdoors because spray paint can get a bit messy. I also had to wait for good weather and I almost wasn’t able to finish painting due to rain! Had I gone with paint brushing, I could have done that in my living room. If you have better facilities, then spray painting may be the method that you'll prefef. Have fun re-creating this project!
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