Little Starscream- G1, Costume for my son

Little Starscream
G1 Style


Intro:

Being Built by: Me

Being Built for: my 10 year old son Matthew

Timeline/Deadline:
Start date: August 6th is my start date. (Today...yay!)
Finish Date: To be Announced when complete
Deadline: The weekend of October 25, for AdventureCon in Knoxville, TN.
And/Or End of October for Halloween

Why: My son asked me for a Transformers costume last year. He'd asked to be Grimlock in Dinobot mode, but at the time, he had been changing his mind every five days as to what he wanted and the deadline was far too close to even try. (He wound up being Indiana Jones because he loves those movies and the 4th one had just come out.) Just before his birthday, which was the middle of July, he brought up the subject again. I told him to start thinking about which one he wanted to be, and that it couldn't be Bumblebee, since he'd already done one version of Bee. (Bee is and has been his favorite since he was 4). A few days later, (which was just a few days ago now) he come up to me and asked to play with our G1 figures that we've collected. He picked up only two...my Revoltech Starscream and my G1 Sunstorm, and sat down looking at them. He put Sunstorm back on the shelf and handed Starscream to me. "Momma, I know which one I want to be now. Can I be Starscream? Everybody knows who he is." I admired his choice, for one, for picking one that was recognizable, and two, for picking one of my favorites, and three, for picking a G1 character.

So now, here I am, at the beginning of a project to turn my son into Starscream. Cross your fingers! (and toes...or transistors...or something!)


Method to my madness: Starting with poster board and cardboard to fit the pieces to him, then using the poster board as a guide for creating the finished, harder built up pieces, then going from there.

Step by Step: Right now my first step is to start with an empty notebook, going to all the local craft and supply stores and jotting down pricing and such, getting ideas, etc, BEFORE I start buying random things that may not even be usable or needed. Then take what I've learned from various research, and pricing guides, and start buying and gathering supplies.


Progress Report #1:

Okay, so today I've started with my pricing lists, going to most of the local area stores and checking out what they have to offer and what I have to work with.
I lack going to the costume shops in the next town, so on my way there right now.

Will post pricing lists/idea sheet if anyone asks for it, otherwise I won't bore you with my long lists.

Progress Report #2 coming soon as I get back.

Cool!
Seriously, your kid sounds so cute...
Little Starscream?
Or Sparkling Starscream?
XD
I bid you luck!
Starscream is awesome and I admire his choice of a G1 character.
Yaaay!

Well, Matt is 10, so it's not sparkling Star, but maybe YOUNGLING Starscream...imagine how cute ol' Stars would have been as a little kid!

I'm SO making me a T-shirt at work that has Starscream on the front and on the back says "Starscream's Mom" for when we go to the Cons.

I honestly figured most little kids (like my son) would pick TF Animated series characters instead of G1, but that is the one he wanted. It shocked me to be truthful. He knows one of my faves is Starscream, Sunstorm and the seekers in general.

Progress report #2:

SUCESSSSSSSSS!!!! Good news!

I made it all the local craft stores and supply stores and then to Wal-Mart. While at the Wally World I come across a bunch of stockers emptying tons of various sized cardboard boxes of school supplies, and throwing the boxes into buggies. They were more than happy to let me plunder said boxes because that left less for them to crush. SO, I wound up with more boxes and cardboard than you can shake a stick at! The back seat and trunk of my car was FULL of the clean freebie cardboard. Plus, I scored a SCHWEET deal on white poster board, 6 for $1.00!

I brought home a small stack of poster and my living room is now Box City. Nice start! I plan to use the posterboard to fit the pieces to my son, then start building the frame from the cardboard.

Next order of business was to make the Decepticon symbols for his wings (and to make a half bot-half Con split symbol for his dirt bike). I scored 5 symbols, and the split symbol (my design from two years ago that resembles the clothing tags when you buy TF shirts from Hot Topic, etc..) and they are done now too and ready to be applied to the wings. (They are made from graphics vinyl like car stickers & bumper stickers, so they are accurate and sturdy and will not fade out easily)

I come back home, and started rummaging around in the barn, and come across a HUGE piece of cororplast plastic sign material, AND a few pieces of leftover foam! YESSSS!!! Just that much less I have to buy!

Then to the Dollar Tree I go, and found a bunch of cheap $1 pieces to use here and there in the costume too!

Not too bad for day one!

Sweet!
Where we live, there's a sort of alleyway behind a bunch of stores like Rite Aid and various liquor stores, and in that alleyway there are A TON of boxes.
Sure, most smell, but a lot are freshly thrown in so they haven't gotten that dumpster smell to em :3


Aww, Youngling Screamer.
D'aaaawwww <3
Have him practice screeching and pouting for the Screamer costume!
With phrases like, "I WANNA BE THE LEADER!"

LOL! I've already got one voice changer, and he's quite fluent in G1 verse and scenes already, so I'm sure he'll do fine, and he is still young enough, he has a higher pitch voice still, so couple that with the voice changer and I think he'll be fine.

If you need boxes or cardboard, just go to Wal-Mart and find a worker there, and ask if you can have some empty boxes from the back. Best time to go is later in the afternoon or at night when all the stockers are out, and catch one of them. They are usually more than happy to let you take their buggy of 'trash' boxes. Less for them to do.

Progress Report #3


Yesterday I spent most of the day out and about by myself, shopping and such. I wound up with an extreme deal on a lot of supplies, and some things from yard sales too.


I got foamcore sheets for $1.00 each! I bought 10 sheets. And picked up some cheap foam too. I found an exacto craft knife, brand new at a yard sale and got it for a dollar, and a small black tape deck case to turn into a small Soundwave (boombox style) carry along to play music on to decorate up later. (I even found the PERFECT boots for my costume which I plan to try later)

I got started on the Starscream chest piece today with some cardboard pieces, to start building the interior frame. We didn't get much done due to other stuff going on (and a few visitors), but I did finally figure out how I want to do Matt's chest piece on Little Starscream. The back will break away from itself with velcro to make it easy for him to suit up, and pull his arms through. The inside will be thinly padded to make it more comfy for him and to support it. I cut a 2 liter bottle in half and shaped it to make the front cockpit piece a glassy look, and still need to figure out how I'm going to attach it, but I think I know how I want to do it (by pushing a small 2mm sheet of yellow foam through it, and having it velcro in to the chest piece.)


I'm at odds with the helm...completely stuck as of right now. I have the top done the way I want it made out of stryofoam pieces I had laying around, but the rest eludes me. Maybe when I get up I'll figure it out while kiddo is at school.

Progress Report #4

PICTURES.

I started out using just cardboard and just playing around trying to figure it out as I went.


^Base for the chest piece....just getting the measurements and such.

After two days of reworking the base piece, I come up with this so far.



^My figure and several reference pictures I printed off I found on Google and DA are taped on the walls for me to look at as I need to.

The little jet engine fan things actually are just little $1 car air vent fresheners! I bought them and painted them and the fans still will spin and smell like mountain air scent. XD

The air vents are two cardboard jewelry boxes I cut up and used there on the chest piece, and then filled it in with cardboard. I found a cardboard tube and am cutting it down to make the center cockpit piece, then plan to paint and cover it with yellow glass paint stained plastic to make it look glassy, then finish it with white or silver foam to make the cockpit piece. I am also trying to make the grill like vents right now too to add to the front of the chest piece.

I made a quick wing strut shoulder piece to see if it looked right and plan to put it in place and if it works, make it sturdier and make the second one.





I also started on the pattern for the hip plates/butt part. My son is so darn skinny, I'm going to have to pad it up a little to make the proportions look right on him.


^I put the pattern together with tape and foam to stand it up to see if it would look right.


I'm still stuck on the helm, but I'm taking a couple days away from the building process so I can get my son's school stuff situated first then will be back to working on this.

I love the little car fan thingies. Nice touch.

Thanks I thought they were cute. I took them out earlier and sprayed them shiny silver and they look ten times better to me now. I plan to black out the sides so just the fan itself is seen and you can't tell exactly what it is. Matthew made a cute comment to me about them. He said "Dang Momma, if only they were fans that WORKED and spun around! They'd keep my insides cool!" LOL! I may find a way to insert real battery powered fans if I have time because it was a good idea, they'd be little vents for him to get some air circulation.


I sat down last night and drew out some plans, and may be scrapping the front of the chest piece and starting it over. I don't know yet. I'm just not happy with it, and it feels kinda heavy. I got my gum tape in the mail this morning and intend to experiment with it some too.

Progress Report #5:

Scrapped front chest piece. It was getting too heavy and the dimensions weren't working right. I started over on the front piece, and have started making it from coroplast instead. (Plastic outdoor sign stuff, like yard sale signs and real estate signs are made from). I used a slotting system to put things into place first and so far, so good. And the dimensions are working out SO much better. I need to create the vents, but that should be easy, and the good part is the little fans I had will still work really nicely with this set-up, and it's a lot lighter, more airy, and will conceal the ventilation areas I'm wanting for it too. I plan to work on the cockpit piece now and then the next piece to get it's pattern worked out is the bottom part of the legs.

The feet pieces are awesome! I made them in like 2 hours last night, and they fit perfectly over the high top shoes he'll be wearing with this costume. So far, they are made from just foam board, and some yellow foam I found on sale for $1.00 at the thrift store hot glued inside to form fit around the shoes to keep them from moving, and just slide over top the shoes and will velcro on, but they will be covered with coroplast soon, and sealed off on the bottom so they'll be weather and 'tromp' proof. I'm thinking about adding a hinge for good measure and to add a better way for getting them off and on. I've got the tube cut for the blasters and will be working on them after the legs are done.

That coroplast is what I am making my costume out of. It's great stuff.

It's a pain in the bumper to cut sometimes though.

What thickness are you using? I'll be using 4mm.

I think mine is the 4mm too. But I have one very large piece that is MUCH MUCH thicker that we will be using for the wings so they don't bend or have a tenancy to be damaged.

I know I haven't posted in ages on here, but the costume is finished now, so I guess I better get busy posting the updates!


(Thanks to Boo-Boo for pulling my thread back from the dead. )


Okay, I left off at the feet, and where I'd scrapped the first chest piece, and was starting on a new one. So here goes....let's get caught up.


Here are the robo-feet. I didn't do a 'seeker heel' on these, mainly for balance reasons and to keep it easier for my son to walk in them.


Finished feet!


The beginnings of the reworked chest piece front.




Seen here with the new shoulders.




Doing the jet engine fan compartments.


Added hinges for easier access for putting on the costume and for storage and transport. The inside isn't pretty,

BUT the outside was:

There is the little fans for the jets.



Adding the cockpit pieces:

(made the cockpit from a huge styrofoam cone that I had to cut with a wood hand saw...lol!)







COMPLETED CHEST PIECE TOP!


Hip plates, made, primed and drying, ready to be put together.


Helmet pieces


Working on the null ray blasters:



Added sound effects to the blasters:

CONTINUING UPDATES: I didn't post all my progress photos so you'd not be bored to death, just the major ones. If anyone wants to know how I did a certain piece or extra photos, just let me know.




Legs:



The back of the cockpit:



The WINGS!

Cutting out the pattern:


Putting them together and velcro added, along with red stripe:



Completed wings!


Hands:

THE FINISHED RESULTS:


Late night test run before the convention:



Now, here he is, at the Convention!


Walking down the hall.


Showing off his Soundwave Tape deck that I made him that morning before we left for the Con:



Posing for 'fans'


Posing with MotorMaster:






He was asked to pose for the Convention admins in front of their sign He was a big hit!




Here is the candy catcher I made him for Halloween after the Con.:




He was a little hometown 'hero' too at the local malls and won 3 first places in contests. He won the AdventureCon contest hands down.


Having fun at the malls and the party at the park:



(I can't COUNT how many photos I have of him where a bunch of girls stopped him and wanted pictures with him or how many other kids and parents stopped us for photos of him, I won't have room to post them all, so I just put up the ones of him with other transformer costumes. )







And last of all, a pic with Mom in G1 human gear, carrying his Soundwave tape player.

Cute kid.

Is this costume now considered "complete"?

Let me know so that I may move it to the proper section.

Oh my god, he is so adorable. And man, his costume just wipes the floor with those other movie costumes.

Oh jeese I'm dying of cute! You did a fantastic job!!!

That may just be the cutest thing I've ever seen I like it! Also your design has really helped with my own costumes

So adorable! The best kidformers costume I've seen I hope you had a lot of fun!

My [real] name is in some of those images <.<;

I wonder how Starscream feels being called "cute?" Then again, I suppose he gets that a lot, ha ha.

Very nice finished product. How did the chest fans work out? Yay? Nay?
If there's one spot on the costume I'm not completly satisfied with, it's the face. It seems to lack any detail or angles that would match it up with the rest of the costume. Did you run out of time?

On the other hand, the chest seems to be the most surperb piece. I really liked those real fans you had on the front.

My bets are on "Tilt".

Mirai- Yes, it's now "complete".
Minus future updates of course. Still have some kinks to work out.

Pilot-Talon-Sedra Thanks. People still see us out at the malls that saw us those nights and are still talking about the 'Starscream Kid'. I've had people ask me to make their kids costumes. I'm actually doing a BumbleBee G1 for a boy who's dad I know that does local professional airbrushing who said he'd airbrush details and final paint on my others if I'd do a basic design for his son. That will be for next Halloween though, so plenty of time for that. But he had an absolute BLAST.

Pilot- 'his costume just wipes the floor with those other movie costumes' Oh I know, right?! He got told that so many times by the people and judges at the convention when he won first place. But he was nice to the others and didn't brag or boast about it and loved posing for pics with them.

Seeker- My design helped you? Wow. I'm flattered! I kept some notes and drawn out design ideas for the wings and other 'seeker' pieces that I kept for the next time I ever had to do one (thinking now about one for myself actually)



Natsume-

The chest fans were awesome. Worked perfect for the overall effect and did better than I expected. We plan to revise them a tad, and put battery powered ones in for BotCon since it will be summertime when we go. Ventilation will be a must for that piece, but will be easy to achieve. The chest piece has plenty of interior room to add them in and will give him plenty of air.

As for the face, yes, I am not satisfied with it at ALL. I hate the mask personally, but I just did not get it done the way I wanted, so it was kind of a last resort to go plain white with it. I do plan to add to it before BotCon.

The biggest reason I wanted an overall coverage mask for him, is because he is after all still a small kid. We are used to random strangers walking up to us wanting pictures of us from our pirates and other costuming we do, and I'm leery about it but most people around here are friendly about it. I just don't like the idea of my son's photo showing up all over someone's internet site and him being recognized by unwanted people, you know? He's just ten years old. And with Transformers being so HUGE in popularity right now too, and me predicting the costume would be quite popular (I didn't however expect it to be quite as big as it did get! He was quite the local hit!) I wanted to make sure of safety and identity issues first and foremost. That is why the full face coverage. People could take a million pictures of him, and no one ever really knew who that cool little kid was under the suit. See what I mean? I guess it's a mommy thing.

BUT, I do have plans for the mask for BotCon that will still keep his face covered, but look more robotic, an have true red lenses for eyes instead of just a red 'screen' there. Updates will be coming now that we've test run it and know what to fix and what to alter and what worked well. His range of motion was pretty good overall and he learned how to get around, run and even took a trip up an escalator in the suit... LOL! That was quite a funny sight though.




Real Name.....hmmm....I'm betting on either it being in the Motormaster pics or in the Laurel Run pic...lol.