So this costume was for my 5 year old cousin. I made myself an Optimus Prime costume (seen later) last year to take him trick 'r treating. He complained because everyone was ogling at me and not at his 'made in china' new gen Bumblebee costume. I went to work and came up with this. Took a couple months of working here and there. He lives almost 2 hours away so I had to wait a lot to measure him and make sure what I made fit, on my trips up to visit. It's all cardboard, hot glue and some little extra cheap pieces. Enjoy and of you have any questions about it, let me know!

MATERIALS:

- Lots of cardboard (varying thicknesses from cereal boxes to double ply cardboard)
- Hot glue gun and big bag of glue
- Interlocking foam mat (1 square is plenty)
- Dollar Store helmet
- Dollar Store kids sunglasses
- Magnets and/or velcro
- Cheap black sweatpants
- Rustoleum x2 paint (can/spray) sun yellow / small bottle of red acrylic
- Rustoleum x2 paint (spray) semi-gloss black
- 4" dryer vent hose
- Light Blue Vinyl
-Red Vinyl (and a couple Autobot logos)
- black 1/8" or 1/4" pinstripe
- Basic white ladies mask (or kids mask if they have it, but the women's mask fits fine)
- Air Conditioner foam weatherstrip
- Fridge Magnet Holder tins
- Devil Horns (plastic round would be best, but if you can't find any, makeup appliance ones work too, with bond on the outside and foam packed in tight on the inside to make them rigid.
- Cheap/small Super Soaker
- McDonald's milk cap
- Funnel

Step 1: The Feet

For the feet, I got the sandals (for ease of getting in and out of them) he was going to wear and pretty much built around them. I kept them inside of the feet and built sideways so he wouldn't (theoretically) trip over them. I made them go up a little higher than his ankle. I didn't write anything down measurement wise so if you need to know something, ask and I'll have them get me a measurement.

Step 2: The Legs

The kid is 5 and his motor skills aren't completely 100% developed yet, so I made this costume to be as mobile as possible and not too cumbersome. So I just painted the crotch piece on front and back on a pair of cheap black sweatpants.

Step 3: The Torso

This part was maddening at first. I had to figure out how to not make it overwhelming, how to have him fit in it, and how to get him into it easily. With my Optimus costume, I cut a slit down the back and opened it up to get into it. Here, I had to split the whole body in half, then have it still connected or easily connected (ended up being the former). I measured his torso width and depth, and just added a little extra to each to get the size of the main body box to build off from there.

Step 4: The Arms

This was probably the most expensive part of the whole costume at a whopping $10 for the dryer vent hose. The forearms are pretty basic, longer than they are wide/tall, holes cut at both ends to put his arms through. Foam inside at each end on each inside wall that ends up to be smaller than the hole (this keeps the forearm in place and prevents rotating and wobbling). I used 4" dryer vent hose and the forearms are just a hair bigger.

Step 5: The Face

Not gonna lie, this part almost made me push with all my might, forcing my hair to grow out like crazy, then subsequently, rip it out. Think Indiana Jones: LC when the guy drinks from the wrong grail, but without all the rotting and...dying. But I digress, once I had the plan, it was a piece of cake that was not a lie.

Step 6: The Helmet

I had 3 days to build this thing. It took so much figuring out beforehand, I wasn't sure I would be able to pull it off. But holy crap, did I ever! I am SO proud of this thing. Just look at it. It's badass. All from a dollar store helmet.

Step 7: Blaster

His hands are small, so he needed a small blaster to go with it. I started with a $5 Super Soaker I found at Meijer. Added a tube of cereal box cardboard, a McDonald's milk cap (thanks again, T), part of a cut down funnel, and some cardboard. Also, some semi gloss black and blue decals so it wouldn't look "real." Also a small autobot logo that I had to draw the features on bc my plotter couldn't cut that much detail in that small scale.

Step 8: Assemble and Walk Out!

It rained on Halloween so we didn't get to go out trick 'r treating in our costumes, but I went up the next weekend to get pics of us together. And with any luck, it won't be raining at next year's Motor City Comic Con in May. If not, we'll be there.