Ok ladies and gentleman, let me have it. Looking forward to getting some hard critique on this thing.

Work Log

Startin' at the top my friend -- positively gorgeous! It looks so well-done for cardboard. I'm glad you've mastered the cardboard technique so the paper material didn't ripple.

The head-to-torso proportions are very nice, and the shoulders seem to vastly help out his width. Nice building out, and I love hoe you attached the shoulders to the torso -- that seems to be the best way in making one look boxy/large!

As for the helmet itself: looking at your work log, it is, I daresay, such beautiful construction. The tape left a funny pattern under (I'm assuming) the spray painted blue, and it would possibly be best to smooth that out with a different material ... though, what what's to be, I've no clue. I know that these people have made a fiberglass + cardboard costume .... Maybe once you're a little more confident in your abilities you could try using those techniques to smooth the surfaces? :)

Laserbeak in your chest compartment is a rather nice touch. He looks cute in there -- however, I'm a touch sad that the Decepticon symbol isn't as prominent as it should be. Against Laserbeak, it is rather dark ... I would have rather seen it as a lighter/brighter purple so it was more of a "HEY, Imma 'Con, Grr." rather than "Can has your energon, plz?"

The yellow around the tape deck rather further accentuates my previously-mentioned statement. The yellow is so bright against the dark window that it draws a lot of attention to your chest, an rather doesn't allow the eye to wander much else as it squints to see what's in the window. Personally, I also would have made the yellow darker to match the darker color job you seem to have chosen for Soundwave here (From the pictures at WalMart, the suit's blue looks rather dark). Maybe creating a solid color hue before beginning the final product might work for you?

I'm a sucker for mid-sections, really. :P So I was kind of saddened to see that Soundwave here doesn't have much of a midsection. I think it's a combination of the torso being too long/cod being too high up ....Or maybe just the torso. So, possibly making the torso a little shorter next time to make the character look a touch taller?

The hands -- don't have much to say here. I like the articulated pieces there! Also, the hands and forearms look pretty spot-on proportions. :)

The cod itself is very pretty. Boxy and there's quite a bit of negative space in it .... but it is rather well done. I like the fact that you've had it all one connecting piece. I wouldn't have thought to do that with my own costumes! Does it help hold up the piece in its place, or is it strictly in order to hold the cod straight?

Goin' with the legs, they look very cool -- however, I'm a touch put off with how the upper legs sat on the lower legs like that. 'Course, I'm used to seeing upper legs going into the lower legs so they sit inside and stay where they're supposed to, instead of one becoming skewed a little to the side. However, after looking at where the feet set in the lower legs, I've come to see that this way worked out better for you and where your feet are sitting. I still feel that the lower legs should have fit inside the upper legs, at least a little.

The feet -- killer that you put sandals in there to keep it stable! I've seen a lot of people do that with their peds and I feel that it's a really useful technique, rather than trying to build something to house your feet.

All in all, I love your costume. It's very well-made and, while looks like it could need some repairs within no-time, it's very pleasing to look at. Smashing design, awesome craftsmanship, and such a striking, familiar face. Well done!

My first impression of the costume is EXCELLENT; even more so that it's your first. That's absolutely amazing.

As to what can be improved:

The first thing that stands out is the negative space, as someone else mentioned. The really skinny upper arm between the shoulder and lower arm, and other areas just are too skinny compared to the built parts. As to fixing that, I suggest looking for a flexible solution - something that will connect the parts visually and will add some apparent mass there, but will retain your flexibility. Building actual pieces out of your normal material will present engineering issues that will really start dragging down your flexibilty. But as for the proportions of what you've built, I have to say it's almost spot on and is certainly very convincing at first glance. You managed to keep the head a reasonable size, but after more study the feet and lower legs do appear slightly too small.

The next place that most concerns me is the texture that appears to still be present on the parts. I have not worked with gumtape, so I cannot be of any assistance there, however I would suggest seeing if you can't reduce the texture somehow, whether it be sanding or using a different paint or material altogether. :) And I'm a sucker for shiny guys, so if you could find a way to do that....I would be most impressed.

Most of my other complaints are isolated and small.

First of them is the design of the lower legs - I realize that's probably as far up as they go, correct? If so, I would suggest having continued their length on the three sides not restrained by your body. Obviously, this might mean reducing length on the bottom, which, if the lower legs were larger would compensate for the change. ;) Or, if they go up higher, but just don't sit there properly, then you might consider another option to keep them in place - like using a small strip of some fabic or something to velcro them off the cod at an appropriate height. :)

My last small suggestion is simply to think about having raised the torso a slight bit to reduce the neck's length just a tad. From the back the neck looks very long, so that would help.

And with that, I return to praise....Some of the places where you actually created detail & greebles, rather than painting it, like in the helm/crest and the buttons on the cod I think increase the value of this costume greatly. Furthermore, every piece looks cut out perfectly. I don't think I've seen a single place where a cut seems to have gone awry AT ALL. I commend your professionalism with that. That also leads me to ask what you used to cut the cardboard so cleanly....?

I suppose since it's past the time for crit that it's ok for me to post so here goes :P

I absolutely agree with everything thats been said, After seeing video of me walking in the suit I was embarrassed with the way the legs looked and preformed. If I ever come back to the costume the first thing I'm doing is completely remaking the legs wider and with fins on both the outside and inside to keep the upper legs in line. As for the upper legs themselves I'll make them another few inches taller so they mesh better.

Those upper arms were originally supposed to be several layers thick but I ran out of time and made them literally a hour before its debut. :ph43r: Just another thing I would love to redo. The entire lower section is really something that I never got the time to properly figure out. As for the actual cutting device it was a simple orange box cutter borrowed from my room mate. I don't know where she got this Godly device but i could split a hair with the thing. I could stand a box up, start a cut at the top and lightly drag the cutter down its length for a quick and perfect cut through the entire box.

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad that I could make a costume like this on my first try, looking for forward to what I can do given more time than a month