A few questions for a Mass Effect build

[taywuhsaurusrex]

Hi, I'm new here and to the whole building cosplay thing. I decided to be a crazy lady and jump right in to a rather large project of building my very own femShep armor a la ME2, because I wanted this for Halloween and didn't feel like making a pattern, and that was what was available\easy to find. I'm also building the few armor pieces for Isabela from Dragon Age 2 for my friend. Her build is going much smoother than my simultaneous one. Luckily I work at a chain craft store so I can get a great deal of the items I needed on employee discount plus coupons on top of it. I'll never buy spray paint full price again.

So far the build is going pretty well, I have the majority of the upper armor built. The thing is; I need to be able to wear this beast to work. That involves being able to sit somewhat easily so I don't have to do the Garrus lean-on-walls for meal and break times. From what I understand, the Hahne-Kedar legs are a good option. Can anyone give me some opinions, and maybe some patterns or directions to consider?

My other question is shoes. I'm having a seriously hard time with shoes. What did other people use? I've thrifted to no avail for a base shoe, and muck boots just seem too clunky for this build. I feel like I should avoid laces, but I'm at a bit of a loss. Can anyone point me in a good direction? I'd like to avoid online shopping as much as possible because of the time crunch but if I must, I must.

 

[Laika]

Sitting down in ME (I did ME3 Ashley Williams which is very similar to ME2 Femshep http://www.therpf.com/f24/mass-effect-3-ashley-williams-m8-avenger-finished-pics-page-2-a-172567/ ) armour.... I couldn't in mine, couldn’t lean over either and had difficulty walking down stairs, I found it’s the long abdomen/crotch piece that’s restricts most your movement if you attach it to the chest (like I did).

As for the legs well if the thigh pieces come up too high then you are going to be resting on them if you sit regardless of the design so maybe just shorten the regular ones so they only come up to mid thigh at the back and don’t put in the infamous butt plates or like some cosplayers do, just don’t bother with them?

ME armour although looks nice IMHO it only really works in a video game when they can bend it at will cause it’s just polygons.

As for boots, I used a pair of cheap synthetic leather ankle boots with a wedge heel and an inside zip as I couldn’t find any long boots at the time I liked, that fitted and looked right, but ankle boots actually worked well as I made the lower leg pieces cover my whole leg anyway. Ankle boots appear to be in fashion (well on my side of the Atlantic anyway, not sure what it’s like in the US) at the moment, so it should be possible to find a fairly plain inexpensive pair in black with a low/flat heel and zips?

 

[trackboy186]

What material are you building your armor out of? If it is a rigid material, then I'd recommend building the torso armor in two pieces and have them attached to a suspenders system. Then you place the chest armor over the suspenders. That would allow you to be capable of bending and sitting, even if it may be slightly awkward. If your building material is more flexible, then you can use elastic inside the torso and spine in order for it to flex a bit when you bend. This is what I did for mine so that I could have the ability to bend over and sit without too much difficulty.

Regarding the shoes, I'd have to agree with Laika that some type of ankle shoe would probably work best. It will allow you to have the shin portion of the armor meet up with the shoe, without having to sacrifice ankle mobility.

Best of luck!

 

[taywuhsaurusrex]

Oh, right, mentioning materials helps. Everything is made of EVA floor matting and thin craft foam for the base. The way I've built the torso, the front and back are two seperate pieces that I'm probably going to connect with a mix of velcro and elastic. I had awkward, though probably uncomfortable, sitting in mind at the time, so the lower back spinal piece is a bit shorter than it would be normally in-game, so it's really just the back of the thigh pieces that are going to cause an issue. I really want to try and cover my butt at least somewhat. Like I said, I'm going to wear it to work as well as elsewhere, so I need to be appropriate.

Bending over wise, though, trackboy, your use of elastic sounds interesting. Do you have any pictures you could share showing that?

Laika, that type of boot is super popular here too, but all I've been able to find are suede slouchy boots, both tall and short. I actually own a pair like that already, but I don't really want to paint them black and the slouch just doesn't look good. Can I ask where you found yours?

 

[Laika]

I bought the boots for my ME armour a couple of years ago so the exact ones are no longer available, but the store I got them from sell these now

http://www.shoezone.com/Womens/Boots/Ankle/Softlites-Womens-Double-Ring-Wedge-Ankle-Boot-18440

Which if you remove the strap around the top would be very similar, but they are a UK store which sell cheap very downmarket synthetic shoes and boots (so I didn't mind painting them), but I don't think they ship internationally and even if they did it would probably cost quite a lot to cross the Atlantic and there would be taxes and customs to deal with and UK shoe sizes are different to US ones anyway. Similar boots must be available in the states, but I don’t know any US shops, sorry.

As for covering your self up, well people normally wear an under suit either a 1 piece or a top and leggings under ME armour so your modesty will be preserved even if the rmour doesn't cover everything. Shepard's under suit is quite detailed and some people go to the trouble of getting one custom printed, but most just go with plain black.

One good build to look for inspiration at is Freya's, http://www.therpf.com/f24/femshep-n7-armor-valkyrie-rifle-omniblade-mass-effect-3-a-159296/ its one of the best, possibly the best ME Femshep suits ever.

 

[taywuhsaurusrex]

I've been looking in to a full piece body suit. I adore Freya's, and I'll probably go that route when I have the time to make my own, especially since she was generous enough to share her pattern for the print. For now, I have friends who dance and are helping me find a suit. Luckily there are a few dance supply stores around here.

That shoe is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Problem is I can't find any American stores that carry something similar. Well, ones that carry something like that that aren't also ridiculous amounts of money.

Customs and things actually aren't as bad as you may think, there's a dress shop I like to order from based out of London and the prices are never terrible. Time is more an issue, as I seem to live in some weird shipping triangle where things take either no time or far too much time.

I realize I might be sounding ungrateful or difficult. Really, I'm super thankful for your help. I'd bake you something if I could.