whoa! Weta "legs"

gobler said:
You really need to consider that doing a "one of" can, and usually will cost more then buying from a vendor who has an assembly line of products. I own a business and have experience in this. The Prototype "one of" will always cost more the production units.
Click to expand...

The great thing is, they've already done the "legwork" for you (sorry!). This wouldn't be a case of ground-up engineering, but just working from their design. Mind you, I'm not recommending that for a sellable product, but just for your personal costuming needs. It COULD be cheaper and, in the long run, more fulfilling.

Imagine the pride of ownership when you tell 'em you made the costume... ALL of it.
 
Hi Everyone

Thanks for your interest in our Weta Legs. I can assure you these are very different to any other legs / stilts commercially available, in particular because they are reverse legs (shaped like a Centaur or Horse). Please take a minute to think about the engineering challenge this poses.

They are also developed for a completely different audience to other legs on the market. These are targeted at performers and costumers, to enable them to take on the appearance of "reverse leg" characters / creatures.

Please post any questions you may have here, and we would be delighted to answer them

Kind regards

Tim
 
I have got to tell you, this "broke-leg" design has always been one that creeps me out (think werewolf legs) but the more I am looking at these, the more I am wishing I could think of a character I could find an excuse to use them for! And I have to agree with Tim and Tom, while I haven't seen these in person, just looking at the build, these are in a totally different class than the painters legs, which are just stilts or even the Powerstrider which is based on more of a spring design for sports/athletic pursuits.

Keep the ideas on different characters coming as I seriously want an excuse to buy a set!
 
PredAlien_facepage.jpg


Not perfect proportions... but still.
 
You know, these would also be good for World of Warcraft characters, Draenei and Tauren specifically.

There are a lot of characters in videogames with these kinds of legs, I guess. :lol
 
Not understanding any of the negativity in this thread ...

Designing a pair of digis that are actually comfortable, keep your feet
relatively low to the ground, AND don't destroy your legs in the process
is a huge feat (pun?) unto itself. Huge props to Kim and the WETA crew on
seeing this to fruition.

Question: are these or a variation of these in particular the ones used on the most
recent Wolfman movie? (The times they weren't CG'd out entirely,
that is :confused). If not, anyone know who was responsible for those
w/ Baker, Elsey, et al?
 
I think I could maybe shed some light on the negativity, or at least give you another perspective.

Sculptor Kim Graham adopted the design of these stilts from the theatrical digitigrade stilts that were developed by (Patrick) Tatopoulos Studios for their production design work on the Underworld and Underworld Evolution films (as stated at her personal website, where she still sells these for far less than the Weta price). Kim opted to build her stilts with steel feet as opposed to the lighter carbon fiber feet Tatopoulos used. Look in the special features sections of both films to see how the design was first implemented and later refined for the second movie.

stiiiiiilts.jpg


GrabbedFrame18.jpg


Admittedly, further developing these stilts to be used by most anyone is no small feat..(pause for laughter) But having built a set of these myself for my Arbiter costume I wore at Dragoncon 2008, I know firsthand that it can be done and it's actually not expensive at all. Anyone with time to spare and moderate engineering and metalworking ability could do this based on the documentation of the construction provided on the DVD's. Total material cost for me was around $100.

I think that the stilts that Weta and Kim Graham are offering are beautifully crafted, and certainly a convenient solution for anyone that would not be able to weld and fabricate or go through the trial and error necessary to balance the design. For those without the budget and more of a Do-It-Yourself attitude.. the cost may seem a tad unjustified.

I think they're great, and I applaud the concept of making them commercially available to the public as a great step in the right direction.. and furries everywhere just breathed a collective sigh of relief (is that a purr?), but seriously I do question the degree of 'invention' here, and think that it will only be a matter of time until someone copies and improves the design and undercuts this price.
 
Last edited:
I was really shocked at the price they quote. I first got interested in these legs before they got the artist to assist them in NZ. She quoted people about 700 USD at the time per personalized pair. During the year or so development at Weta, I was expecting the price to go down about 150-200 due to machining and production perfection.

I was hoping to use them for Transformers Movie Starscream's legs.

Sean > I hope you're right and the design becomes competitive enough that we can all get it for cheaper soon.
 
"reverse leg" is technically incorrect. It's really more of an "extended foot" design. The reason a dog's leg and most other four legged types have what looks like a reverse knee is because that is not the knee joint but actually the ankle joint.
 
Sean Bradley said:
Admittedly, further developing these stilts to be used by most anyone is no small feat..(pause for laughter) But having built a set of these myself for my Arbiter costume I wore at Dragoncon 2008, I know firsthand that it can be done and it's actually not expensive at all. Anyone with time to spare and moderate engineering and metalworking ability could do this based on the documentation of the construction provided on the DVD's. Total material cost for me was around $100.

I think that the stilts that Weta and Kim Graham are offering are beautifully crafted, and certainly a convenient solution for anyone that would not be able to weld and fabricate or go through the trial and error necessary to balance the design. For those without the budget and more of a Do-It-Yourself attitude.. the cost may seem a tad unjustified.
Click to expand...

I guess I am not following your logic here. That is like saying "resin is very cheap and you can just sculpt it up yourself, so I don't know why an artist (pick one of the dozens of amazingly talented artists here on the board) charges so much for their sculpts."

Can someone make digitigrade leg extensions at home? I am sure most anyone could... you see a lot of them online, but most are clunky and unwieldy. Could you make better legs with thousands of dollars of metal working equipment? Sure... but not all of us have the equipment. Could you make an equally engineered leg with engineering knowledge? Sure... but not all of us have the knowledge. We pay "high prices" for most of the things we buy due to the convenience. In my mind, less than $1000 is a steal compared to me trying to build a set of these myself. If I had a machine shop at my disposal and a great depth of knowledge of engineering and CAD, maybe I wouldn't feel the same, but I guess I don't understand the argument that these are "too expensive."
 
That's not what I said at all. What I said was "For those without the budget and more of a Do-It-Yourself attitude.. the cost may seem a tad unjustified."

What I'm saying is that for people with the know-how to weld or fabricate things like this they do appear to be overpriced. For people without.. maybe they would rather pay for the convenience.
 
yes, they may be priced outside the range of the average hobbyist, however the simple fact that they exist and are being sold to the general public means nothing but good things for us down the road.
Pretty much all the costume ideas I've had for these have already been said, except for an awesome Devil. what was the Tom Cruise movie? The Last Unicorn or something? Pretty sure he had this style of legs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sean77
TDKR Bane Cosplay WIP
Replies
13
Views
605
Sean77
Sean77
Sewdotcoe
Broadway Squidward Shoe Rig - Help
Replies
0
Views
2,396
Sewdotcoe
Sewdotcoe
J
Jurassic Park Muldoons Boots Q
Replies
1
Views
1,398
FPLeatherCo
FPLeatherCo
K
Lethal Weapon costume supervisor contact information
Replies
0
Views
346
Kypropguy
K
ebeckman83
KR x ECO Luke ROTJ Hero Brass Neck
Replies
9
Views
793
ebeckman83
ebeckman83
Back
Top