New 52 Green Lantern suit

[TheAutoTech]

Hey guys, this was a build that I did about a year and a half ago. I've decided to revisit it to see if there's any improvements that can be made or if there's any other Green Lantern cosplay builds out there. Here's the basis I used:



I don't have any professional pictures at this point since it's unfinished, but here's some shots:

 

[TheAutoTech]

Here's the breakdown of the costume:

Undergarments:

Medium sized dance belt from local dance wear shop
Underarmor medium shorts
Underarmor medium shirt
Ace bandage wrap for the midsection (I only use this if I'm on a bulking phase for strength training and need some "help")

Outer garments:

New 52 dye sub pattern from 4 Neo Designs (enhanced in photoshop and scaled to my size)
Fabric printed by Fabric on Demand (assembled by local seamstress using U-shaped back zip)
Pattern gloves removed and replaced with custom white gloves by local seamstress
Green Lantern symbol 3D printed by local friend, painted, and assembled by myself

Accessories:

Funtasma Hero-100 boots (black base painted green by myself)
Rogue FX Green Lantern mask (painted to same green shade as boots and emblem by myself, adhered using Spirit Gum)
Green Lantern comic style ring (can't remember who sells them, but it came with a whole set)
Eye black, setting powder, and other makeup provided by local theatrical shop
Solid white contacts provided by Pinky Paradise


I'll start by saying this: spandex is extremely hard to get comfortable in to start with. Everything is rather "out there." I will say without a doubt if you're a male a dance belt and some Underarmor clothing will help immensely to "smooth" things out. The first time I wore this I felt a bit naked. You kind of just have to go with it and enjoy it. Originally I used a Reeve FX mask but did not like that it was too small and it wasn't quite as "rigid" as the Rogue FX one I went with. Lyrca suits are a PITA to assemble and I will highly recommend you get someone to sew it who knows how to work with it and has a good serger. By the time I paid for the pattern and printed and shipped the fabric I was probably over 250 dollars. This isn't something you really can use "do-overs" with. The gloves that came in the pattern were garbage, didn't fit right, and the coloring was terrible so I had the seamstress make ones from scratch and sew them on. The nice part is that Green Lantern provides some room for different looks, be it different hair or facial features, etc. I now have long hair for my Kylo Ren costume, and I can still match this character as it's really the suit that makes the character. Really I'm very happy with how it turned out. I had a ton of help from the man dressed as Spidey as he's been doing appearances for 10+ years now and really understands dye sub suits.

My only real gripe at this point is the boots. Painted them turned out to be a total waste. The paint cracked as it wasn't flexible enough. All I could find at the time were shiny plastic looking green ones which I did not want. The boots are the right shape and size and the paint was the right shade, but after wearing them once they were done for and needed re-done. So, at this point I'm in search of some different boots. I could get the same boots in white or black and have considered that for a temporary solution until I could find the right shade of green. It seems they would have to be dyed in order to keep the color without cracking. I would love to be able to re-create the "metallic" look to the suit but have found this to be extremely difficult without doing a Man of Steel style muscle suit underneath. The only way I could see is if I were to "armor" the suit with metal plates, but I feel that would reek havoc on the lyrca.

Any advice or criticism is appreciated! Thanks guys!

 

[Sunsetgrey]

That is so cool! I love the first picture, it looks freaking awesome. The one thing i would change is the boots. They seem a bit large a stand out quite a bit, but that's just a personal opinion. Really great suit

 

[TheAutoTech]

That is so cool! I love the first picture, it looks freaking awesome. The one thing i would change is the boots. They seem a bit large a stand out quite a bit, but that's just a personal opinion. Really great suit

Thank you very much! With cosplay the one thing I've always found is footwear is easily the hardest part to get right. With these boots for some reason they're made with a really large calf area. These are the medium size ones. I actually started with the smalls so the calf would be smaller but it was way too tight in the feet. There's no adjustment for them either, they just zip in the back. Like I said in the above post I'm definitely wanting to do something different with the boots. A real leather pair would be ideal but I haven't been able to find anything yet.

 

[TheAutoTech]

So, at this point I'm thinking of going with these and apply some light satin clear to knock the shine down a bit:

View attachment 614561

They're the same style as what I have and I think it fits the suit perfectly, but I need a finish that will last. I figure if I go light enough on the clear just to bring the shine down a bit it won't crack like my painted boots did. So far this seems to be my best option for a decent boot.

 

[TheAutoTech]

Ended up doing a lot of looking around about these boots. There's only a few designs out there that I could find. I was hoping to try and scare up a set of leather boots that looked decently close that I could just dye but all of them I've seen aren't even close to the right shape. Lantern's have that very specific "spike" in the front that I haven't been able to find in any other boots except these:



My only gripe with these is they are a bit too "plasticy" and shiny. I'm going to attempt to do some very light coats with satin clear coat to knock the shine down. I tried with my last pair that I painted to scuff them up but it dulled the finish way too much. Also, from what I've found it's about impossible to paint polyurethane and have paint stick to it without cracking.

 

[TheAutoTech]

Threw the costume on tonight to run a trial fit since I haven't worn it in forever. Fits even better than last year. Just have a couple seams in the hips and left shoulder to serge back up. I got the new boots in and need to trim the insoles and put them in and spray them with the satin clear to knock the shine down some. Also, I've gotta touch up a few spots on the chest symbol since some of the paint cracked. Otherwise this cosplay is pretty well done.

 

[TheAutoTech]

Got the boots all done last night and am going to get the seams fixed up tomorrow along with hopefully fixing the few paint chips on the chest symbol. A few light coats of the satin clear was enough to knock the plastic-y shine down and the insoles made the boots a million times more comfortable!