Oh what an absolute joy it is to stumble upon this little corner of the interwebs
Been playing TD1 since Covid and got absolutely hooked. The game by then was already 4 years old so I was rather late to the cosplay scene. Started collecting items and gear slowly. I didn't want to shell out tons of money so I stuck to 2nd hand items mostly. It was not before last fall I felt confident enough to 'come out of the closet' as a cosplayer.
So I thought I'd share what I made for the local comic con last October. I'm really into the Reclaimer build since I'm not exactly a great gamer, my reflexes aren't up to par to those of better players. So I'm more comfortable hanging back a bit and providing support where needed and keeping team members alive and nicely beefed up. It then made quite sense to head out there as a real world Reclaimer sporting all sorts of paramedic gear (stethoscope, trauma scissors, leg plate with a first aid kit etc), a first aid launcher and, of course, everyone's favorite lunchbox!
I set out wanting to fabricate a device that could somehow transformer-wise/Iron Man-like unfold from the rather small kit that hangs from an agent's backpack to the full in-game suitcase. That proved to be unrealistic quite fast. Another intention was to incorporate a green construction laser device that casts green circles around as a level indicator, mimicking the sphere in which the support station operates. That got scrapped, too. The end result doesn't even have opening sides or any other functionality like simple green LED lights, sadly. Still very proud though.
Asked Ubi/Massive for 3D files about the in-game support station model, but received no reply, so had to resort to taking screenshots and tracing them in Inkscape:
link to resulting PDF.
Made this during the better part of last week, mostly from spare parts:
- MDF wood
- plywood
- plastic water tube
- electric housing tube
- old navy blue shirt.
I'm not a professional woodworker, rather slightly comfortable with DIY tools. Nor am I a seasoned cosplayer -- this was my first time.
Dimensions: 50 cm (L) x 40 cm (W) x 40 cm (H, including grip on top). This was maybe the hardest part to determine.
Weight: approx. 8 kg.
Colors used:
- RGB 127 - 112 - 99 (Buffalo brown) for the dark army brown. Sorry, dunno RAL color; the color number 7274 doesn't seem to translate to any RAL reference.
- RAL 7032 (Pebble grey) for the sides
- Silver Metallic spray paint for the 'metal' tubes, which are actually plastic tubes, bent in shape around the box using a heat gun (paint stripper)
Tools used:
- table saw
- jigsaw
- heat gun
- nail / staple tacker
Beginner's mistakes made/to remember for next endeavours:
- 8 kg is way too heavy to haul around on a convention floor all day. I'm not feeble, but my shoulders were aching until two days after the convention
- Color picking is hard: not 100% satisfied by how the buffalo brown turned out. I chose to go for the Immunizer mod (and accompanying color scheme), mainly because of the navy blue shirt/rag I had lying around. The differences with other mods are mainly color scheme and greebles when deployed.
- Should've sanded more inbetween paint layers. The gritty look may give it a 'real' feel but I think it's a bit too rough.
- Curb my enthousiasm & lower my expectations!
- Comic cons take place in heated venues! Being decked out in true TD1 blizzard-proof attire, I was waaaay overdressed
Thanks to:
- Division cosplayers worldwide: you're awesome. Big shouts to agents Mab, Keelan Grace, Melih Carter, DB The Division and this Italian guy who really nailed the D3 shield.
- The game's developers and story tellers, of course. Say what you will about the game's intrinsic mechanic problems (bullet sponges, RPG approach of missions, ...), the flawed PVP experience (client side calculation, rampant cheaters, ...): if a game of over 8 years old still has a community this dedicated , that's a testament to its original beauty and potential.
