Batman Ascending Knight Build

CosBlade

Active Member
BATMAN - ASCENDING KNIGHT
Mezco-Batman-Ascending-Knight-001.jpg

I'm in love with Mezco's Batman Ascending Knight figure, and have decided I have to take a crack at replicating the suit, since the batsuit dispay I'm working on has room for two! I'll be doing the default black and gray version, not one of the alternates they're releasing. I'm currently wrapping up another build or two first, but then I'll be grabbing parts for this, thought I'd post and see if I can get a headstart against the few challenges I see here.

The Cowl and Neckguard
A two piece cowl? Yes, please. I've got some experience working with EVA foam, and as a regular viewer of Xieng Prod on YouTube, I know I can tackle the cowl itself with relative ease. I just bought some 3mm craft foam, and plan on heat forming the face over one of those cheap plastic BvS Batman masks, then building up the rest as a sort of helmet. Since the design is plain black, and not textured like leather, this makes things simple. Just have to build the helmet, plastidip it, and insert the lenses.
The neck guard will be made from a 3mm neoprene diving hood, bulked out with some upholstery foam for neck muscles, and skinned in a stretch fabric before being plastidipped to match the cowl. Having made a full body muscle suit once already, this seems easy.
3923.jpg

The Cape
The cape seems like your usual pleather 6 or 8 panel cape, but I've been considering altering the pattern some. Since this is based on the classic Kane/Finger batsuit, I looked at some of the older designs as inspiration. I'm not yet 100% on this idea, but I may make the cape scoop upwards at the sides, to about crotch length. This way, when I raise my arms to the sides, the hands are uncovered, but the cape still drapes, and with the scallops this would give a very wraithlike appearance.
Kotobukiya ARTFX - Batman First Appearance 0004.jpg

Gloves
I found some on eBay that are really similar, and I can add the fins and straps needed to complete the look. As for the fins, I know a few sellers who make some in all styles, and I can always make them from EVA foam if I don't see any that I particularly like.
s-l1600.jpg

Compression Suit
This here's the only hurdle I'm seeing up front. His suit is one part circular knit compression gear, and one part charcoal lycra decals. This type of work is usually done by machine, and is crazy expensive to commission. If I were to build it up from scratch, I would need to sew a base of circular knit fabric, which is easy, but then figure out what adhesive would allow me to add the charcoal lycra over it, and I'm just not sure there are any. Alternatively, I could stitch down lycra on top of the knit, but the designs are so intricate that it would be a huge investment of time, and would be really hard to get the seams to look clean. I know this from my Deadpool build.

Mezco-Batman-Ascending-Knight-003.jpg
Another option is to commission a dye sub suit, but I don't know how well the details will translate to print, and I don't want to invest a bunch of money in something I'm not happy with, so I may need to commission a swatch first, and I'm not sure if sellers do that. But I'll be asking around, so if anybody has particular recommendations (I'm a fan of Frontier Costuming, myself), lemme know!

The last option is to go with "close enough" compression gear. The best I've found is Under Armour's Charged Compression Shirt and Pants. Not cheap, but pretty cool looking. The right color, just a different pattern, but it could work.
V5-1267641-040_HTF.jpg

I think that UA chest logo is in just the right spot to be covered by the Bat emblem. Speaking of which, I'll probably make one my own. My last suit has an emblem I made from craft foam skinned with a 3d hexagon stretch vinyl, and I'm really happy with how that came out so I see no reason not to do it again. It was cheap, and I still have excess fabric.

Utility Belt
Although it'd be nice to commission a solid resin belt, I don't see it as necessary. One of my favorite aspects of my other batsuit is the belt is so lightweight it's like it isn't there. I'll make this belt out of EVA foam. It's design is intricate, but not so intricate I can't handle it.

Boots
I'm looking around right now for a good pair of base boots. He's got customized combat boots on the figure, and that seems really appropriate with the theme of this build. I'll probably find a pair that I like, and then build new uppers for the boots myself and have a cobbler attach them for me.

Gadgets
There are plenty of gadgets to choose from here. I love the crossbow and Bat Brick, and of course you gotta have staples like the grapple gun, bombs and batarangs. We'll see what happens there. Suit first, toys later!
Batman-Ascending-Knight-One12-Collective-007.jpg
 
I was hoping to see someone do this rendition of Batman so I'm excited to see how the build goes!

As a suggestion for the boots, I saw Richard Browning wear boots that are very similar to the type this Batman wears (see below).

I haven't been able to find out what kind of boots they are, but with these you could just modify the shoe tongue so that it has the arrow design into the shin.

Richard-ar-Comic-Con.jpg
 
I was hoping to see someone do this rendition of Batman so I'm excited to see how the build goes!

As a suggestion for the boots, I saw Richard Browning wear boots that are very similar to the type this Batman wears (see below).

I haven't been able to find out what kind of boots they are, but with these you could just modify the shoe tongue so that it has the arrow design into the shin.

View attachment 780103

Ah, interesting! A little Google Fu suggests those are snake resistant boots, likely for brush hunters and that sort. Those could work! I had a similar idea to get these mining boots, and use leather to add the peaked tongue, and paint the rubber toe cap gunmetal.

71xLDOGHJBL._SL1500_.jpg
 
This thread is more than 6 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top