Question About Capt. America Costume-Movie Accurate or Not??

Hi everyone.

I'm building a Captain America costume. I'm kind of struggling with a few of the aspects of it...mainly, I can't decide if I should work towards a specific "movie accurate" costume, or if I should take elements of Cap that I like from pretty much everything, and just put together what would basically be pretty much just a good depiction of Captain America, but from no specific source material.

For example, the basis of my costume is the suit from the first "Avengers" movie. It's just one of those cosplay costumes from Amazon. So, for it to be movie accurate, I'd need to work with that movie's costume only for the accessories, such as the boots, gauntlets/gloves, utility belt, and helmet/head wear.

However, I'm having a bit of trouble getting some of the things movie accurate...such as the boots. I have a pattern that I've been working with to try and make some boot covers, but ultimately they end up not coming out very well. I've got the gauntlets taken care of, and the utility belt will be a breeze. However, the boots are killing me.

So, with that in mind, I've thought a lot about going with a more traditional style combat boot, but dying/painting it red and adding some accessories to it...basically just a "generic" Captain America boot.

I also really like the way that the shield mounts on the back of the "Age of Ultron" suit, so I was thinking of making some straps so that I can have the shield work out like that.

For what it's worth, I'd just be wearing this as a Halloween costume and to a couple of local conventions.

Is it a bad idea to just kind of go with what I like and make a generic costume??? Should I continue working on the boots to try and get them to where I need them to be in order to work with the "Avengers" suit that I already have?

I'm pretty net to all of this. It's my first costume build, and I've been having fun with it. However, I also tend to get anxiety about my hobbies, and it's driving me nuts trying to decide if I should go as movie accurate as possible, or if I should just keep building things and go for just a basic Captain America. I guess I'm not really sure what to expect when I go to a convention...if I'm not movie accurate, will people kind of think I've got no clue what I'm doing?? I would think that if I went kind of what I like, it would make the costume somewhat unique, which in and of itself would be pretty cool.

Anyway...any input would be appreciated!

Jeff

 

Hi Jeff!

It really comes down to why you are building this costume.

If you want and like the challenge of building a completely screen accurate Avengers Captain America costume purely for your own personal achievement, then you better figure out those boots. If you want people to look at the costume and say, "*, it looks like you walked right off the screen!" then, again, you better figure out those boots. But if you just want to look and feel like Captain America... screw the boots!

There's no right or wrong way to feel. All of the above are just a few of the many reasons why people build costumes, and most people have percentages of all of them. The one word of caution I would give is that if reason #2 is the primary reason you are building this, then you have to remember that most people have now seen 3 more Captain America costumes since Avengers (Stealth Suit, updated WWII, and Avengers 2), which means that the Avengers look might not garner as much attention given that it may be considered outdated. (That's always been my problem with building screen-accurate things from any current franchise: they are subject to change. But that's another topic.)

Captain America is a character and look that will be recognizable to almost anyone, no matter what version/design you choose. Just ask yourself whether or not you will be happy in just any design.

 

Hi Vox.

Thanks for that insight. I hadn't thought of the fact that it's a "three versions old" costume, and that does make a lot of sense. It's essentially outdated before I even started it.

When end I first set out to put together a Cap costume, it was for a few reasons...
1. I had never done a costume before and wanted to try it.
2. Captain America is my favorite comic character.
3. I have a friend that's making a Black Widow costume, and she suggested my wife and I come to the convention with her as Cap and Agent Carter.

The only reason I ended up with the Avengers suit is because I didn't trust my own sewing skills enough to put an entire costume together from scratch. I started looking around and found the Avengers version for a good price and it had really good reviews, so I went with that as a base for the project. The accessories that came with it were basically throw away, so I knew I'd be doing some work on those things, which was part of my plan all along.

I think when I look at the reasons I wanted to do the costume in the first place, going with my own take on the character seems like what I want to do. Getting the Avengers version of the suit was just kind of luck of the draw, so to say.

I I think I'll get some combat boots and do them up...but I'm going to keep trying to get the Avengers boots right...because it wouldn't hurt to be able to end up a bit more movie accurate eventually.

Again, thanks for the insight and kind words. Your post helped put things in perspective for me!

Jeff