Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles SLASH
Jared Lee
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Hello, everyone. It has been a while. As I have gotten older I have narrowed my convention attendance down to one show. Retropalooza.
I read a message that Retropalooza is having it's last show. That the Houston Retropalooza will be the only one remaining.
After getting the news I decided that I need to make a costume worth a final appearance.
I'm going to try and make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Slash costume.
A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costume is my dream costume. Since I saw the Jim Henson suits in the 1990 movie I have dreamed of owning one.
I'm too big to be a normal teenage mutant ninja turtle. At 6 foot 2 inches tall that would be a huge turtle.
So I am going to be the corrupted 5th turtle Slash.
This has been my plan for over a decade. When I made my first creature suit Lizardman it was a test run to make a Slash costume. Visually it was a success. The paint job was fantastic, the moving eyes worked. I won 3 prizes and had a lot of fun in it.
The biggest issue with it was the heat. Even with a cooling vest it was murder to wear. The latex did not allow the costume to breath. I had sweat running out of the legs of the costume. I was clammy and cold after my 4 hours in the costume. I did not add latex to the paint so it peeled off the costume. The costume was not stored well. The latex rotted and varmints got into the container so I had to throw it away.
I've wanted make the design ferocious like Dave Rapoza's art. I liked the idea of Slash having a big slash on his face similar to a clef lip.
A feature I have been wanting to add to my costumes since finding out about it is a jaw operated lip curl. Like the one Star Wars Chewbacca has. So the design will need lips.
I'm thinking about leaning more into the Playmates toy design. The convention is Retropalooza and it is very retro. Also it is a bit silly, and when I get into cosplay I can't commit to the mean characters. I tend to be really light hearted goofy. The Playmates toy design is a good mix of those features.
The convention's cosplay contest on May 23. That gives me under 20 days to make this. Two things will happen. I will get it done in time, or I will have to save it for Halloween. Or plan on taking the costume to Houston (I don't want to ). Wish me luck!
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Comments
I am making the under mask for the silicon mask to cover. The base is a Halloween skull mask with a mouth operated jaw. When you open your mouth the skull opens it's mouth. I want the lip curl when the mouth is opened. So I drilled some holes into the mask for the string to come out of. I plan to attach the string to a wire. It will be sewn, or glued to the inner lip.
The eyes are novelty blinking glasses I got from Amazon. When you pull the string the eyes blink. I ran the string through a tube to reduce friction.
One of the first things I have to do is take care of these eyes. The eyes have a hole to see through, but I am going to look out of the mask from under the eyes.
I am going to add a clear iris and pupil with UV resin. This is using the resin T-Rex eye lesson. I will use some clay as a push mold. I will push the eye into clay. Then I will round out the hole. Next I will put the eye back into the clay indentation. Pour clear resin into the eye, and cure it with a UV light. Then I will paint pupil and iris onto the back of the resin.
Next I will add veins to the sclera /whites of the eye. Slash has distinctive eyes. The left is white, and the right is yellow. I'm going for a more cinematic look. So the left I will be a dark brown, and the right will be a clouded blind yellow eye.
I will use some Magic sculpt to sculpt bigger teeth into the mouth. If I can't get the mechanisms to work, I may just give up. I like my costumes to have a gimmick.
No avoiding it. If I want a costume comparable to Jim Henson's designs. I have to follow what his studio did.
I'll use some EVA foam on the skull and shape it out into the shape I need.
/Chris
I could start the legs now. I tend to leave the body for last so I can get the proportions correct. Looking at how far the eyes stick out, the head is going to be bigger than I expected. I have to make the shoulders are wide enough to off set size of the head. I have the lycra bodysuit and foam. I could start on the legs while I sculpt the head. I've never made a turtle shell before. There should be some templates online, but my foam crafting has always been something I do by eye.
The transport shouldn't be too difficult. The reason I attend this convention is that it's only an hour drive from my home. Everything should be fine in the back of the SUV. I just have to get the sets down.
Getting dressed in the costume is another story. For the Leather costume, I wore light shorts and got dressed in the trunk of the SUV. This is skin tight, so I will need privacy. With my lizardman, I got dressed in my hotel room. I may have to put this on in the back of the SUV, or the bathroom stall. Since it will be covered in rubber, my skin will not be able to breathe. I plan to keep the back of the costume bare so I can get some kind of ventilation, but the shell may prohibit that. So I can't wear the costume too long. If I start shaking and stop sweating, then I have to worry.
I was going to work on extending the Jaw with some teeth, but decided to sculpt it first. I can't change the position of the eyes, but I can put the teeth where ever I want after I sculpt it. This will give me some freedom with how I the head sculpt looks.
I don't want clay getting into the mechanics so I covered everything in aluminum foil. Next I wrapped in wire. This keeps the foil on and gives the Klean Klay something to hold onto.
If I can get this head sculpted and cast by Monday, that will give me enough time to work on the body and shell.
My brother is my wrangler. He has final say if I wear the costume. If he thinks the costume looks horrible I will take the L and not wear it.