Super Mario - SciFi Armor Suit
I planned this out about 3 years ago, kind of a cross between Super Mario and Starship Troopers/Halo/Metroid.
The concept was simple, but it seemed interesting to me, because I felt that if someone saw the suit, they couldn’t help but imagine what other things from that universe may look like, IE Yoshi, Bowser, Koopa Troopers, and so on.
Because the Nintendo franchise is so well known, it would almost automatically inspire people start thinking about applying this aesthetic to COUNTLESS other characters.
I started out with the concept design, which was basically a modified unused armor design from one of the Halo games. I liked this specific one because it just so happened to have circular plates on the chest that were in the exact right place that if they were painted gold, they would look like Mario’s overalls buttons. I wanted to keep the design in the era of Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World because those were my favorite two games growing up. I kept this in mind while working the yellow scarf into the design to take the place of Mario’s yellow Cape from Super Mario World. Since historically Mario is also known as “Jump Man”, I wanted to work a jump pack into the design (using the cooling vents on the back of the DeLorean Time Machine as a guide)
The concept was simple, but it seemed interesting to me, because I felt that if someone saw the suit, they couldn’t help but imagine what other things from that universe may look like, IE Yoshi, Bowser, Koopa Troopers, and so on.
Because the Nintendo franchise is so well known, it would almost automatically inspire people start thinking about applying this aesthetic to COUNTLESS other characters.
I started out with the concept design, which was basically a modified unused armor design from one of the Halo games. I liked this specific one because it just so happened to have circular plates on the chest that were in the exact right place that if they were painted gold, they would look like Mario’s overalls buttons. I wanted to keep the design in the era of Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World because those were my favorite two games growing up. I kept this in mind while working the yellow scarf into the design to take the place of Mario’s yellow Cape from Super Mario World. Since historically Mario is also known as “Jump Man”, I wanted to work a jump pack into the design (using the cooling vents on the back of the DeLorean Time Machine as a guide)
After I had the design, I sat on it for about 2 years. I would always talk about it, but I was never really sure where to start with it. Eventually around this time last year I decided to go ahead and finally dive in to figure out what it would actually take to build this. I decided I would get an undersuit of some kind, and then build the blue armor (“overalls”) over top of it out of EVA foam. I had never used EVA foam before, but had always wanted an excuse to try it out!
For the undersuit, I bought a urethane chest piece and shoulders/arms. They equated to what I would describe as a tech-Batman style suit. I painted the top of it red using UreCoat and installed some light strips between the shoulders and the pecs.
For the undersuit, I bought a urethane chest piece and shoulders/arms. They equated to what I would describe as a tech-Batman style suit. I painted the top of it red using UreCoat and installed some light strips between the shoulders and the pecs.
After I had the undersuit, I had to start planning out the blue “Overalls”. I didn’t have a template for this specific suit because it was unreleased, and I modified it, so I had to build the armor templates from scratch from cardboard. I then had to cut the pieces back apart, and transfer the patterns into EVA Foam pieces:
Once I had the foam pieces I could start assembling:
I was able to finish the suit for Wondercon 2024 and wore it there, but after seeing the pictures, I decided I wanted to modify a few aspects of the suit (specifically I wanted to change the forearms to look more cybernetic) and I also wanted to build a hammer for him:
So these are the finished photos. The ones with the bare forearms are from WonderCon and the ones with the robotic forearms is the revised design for Halloween and LA ComicCon.
Insta: @waltematech for more build photos
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