Ren's awesomeness had to be scaled down to enter our mundane universe...

[Darth Justicar]

...without destroying it!

Well, that's the line I have prepared in case someone calls me out on daring to cosplay Ren as a 5'5" woman.  Sure, it makes me a bit nervous to try it, but I have decided that even though I would never be called totally screen accurate even with THE best of the best in costume, I am going to do it anyway.

The cosplay will debut mid-March.  My robes are already on order (cannot post the source publicly as I found out after ordering that they are affiliated with another saber maker), and I am so excited because for the first time I decided to have something made custom tailored for me.  Plus I feel like for this cosplay to work, proper tailoring is going to be key...I want to look and FEEL like my robes were made for me, not dragging the ground or ill-fitted.  I decided to go ahead and have all of the main layers made, including the pleated inner coat. 

I've heard comments about people getting hot under all of the layers, but since the cons in my area are both during cooler weather and I usually get *cold* well before most other people, I actually welcome that.  Common sense with adequate food and water should be plenty for me.  That and thank goodness we now know that if I want a break from my mask it's not a canon-breaker like it would be for a Vader!

Speaking of the mask, I have a Black Series I am doing some mods on. Considering my degree of handiness consists of knowing the "Rightie tightie, leftie loosie" rule means (and I swear the screws on that thing go the opposite direction!), this is going to be an...experience.  Fortunately I have been chatting with a guy on deviantART who had some ideas of things I can do that should be on my level.

So far I have gutted the mechanics.  I know there's a voice-changer fix that has been posted but really, there is not THAT much that can be done with a woman's voice to make it sound like Ren, so I decided it was better to just remove as much of that stuff as I could to reduce the weight of the helmet.

Next steps include:

--Installation of foam on the interior
--Potentially getting some Bondo and sealing up the seams because nothing is more Ren-rage inducing than trying to put the blasted thing together and/or having it come back apart. That thing does NOT fit together easily.
--Spray painting for a less plastic-y look
--Potentially a little dry-brushing to weather some areas after the spray paint

I have a few questions for those craftier than I am:

--Is Bondo the ONLY good way to get the seams sealed and the helmet to hold together?  Any particular warnings to pay attention to when working with Bondo other than what I have already heard which is to do it in the garage with the door open?  (NOT looking forward to doing that outside in the cold...OR the spray painting...)

--Any tips for spray painting something without making a mess?  I was contemplating spraying in a tipped-over cardboard box so that the spray will hopefully be confined to the box.  (Just to be safe though, I intend to back my car out of the garage and put it on the parking pad well away from the area! )


I DO already have the boots on hand from another (less complicated) cosplay and I will get pics of them tonight.  They are not screen-accurate but as far as ladies' boots go, I think they are quite Dark Side in appearance and will do well for the Knight of Ren look.


--One other question.  Obviously the illusion will be blown when I speak or remove my mask (sorry, I am not dying my hair, so while the style and length are reasonably Ren-like it's going to be obvious I'm a brunette), but are there any tips on mannerisms that you guys have based on your observations of Kylo?  I have my own thoughts already but I would be curious to see how well it tracks with what you noticed.

[Darth Logos]

So where's the pics?

As much as I hate this mentality, you get to suffer from my mood-swing to forum bully.

Pics, or it didn't happen.

[Darth Justicar]

Pics of the boots will come this evening.   

[Darth Knox]

...without destroying it!

Well, that's the line I have prepared in case someone calls me out on daring to cosplay Ren as a 5'5" woman.  Sure, it makes me a bit nervous to try it, but I have decided that even though I would never be called totally screen accurate even with THE best of the best in costume, I am going to do it anyway.

Where is it written, this magical rule that only men can cosplay as men? Or you have to have the exact same physical features as the person you want to cosplay as? Does that mean I have to cut my dreads off whenever I cosplay?

Cosplay with pride. If you want to go as Ren, then go as Ren. Any muggle (non-geeky folk) who says anything just isn't worth your time , scorn or energy.

From the sound of things, your costume is going to be amazing.

And i'll just leave this here...

[Noctis]

I cosplay men almost exclusively.  I would put that rule aside for Phasma because she's awesome and her armor is practical, but generally?  I prefer the outfits men wear.  Much of my own clothing is actually men's clothing, so . . .

As far as the voice goes, my natural voice is quite low for a woman (what people hear in my videos is not my natural voice.  I've pitched it way up out of habit), so I see no reason why you couldn't train yours down about a 5th or so.    The voice is surprisingly flexible with a little training.  No, you may not have the bass growl that Ren has with the helmet on, but honestly, when he takes it off, his voice is softer and a bit higher, so you might be able to get close in that respect.

And the boots?  My Kylo Ren boots are SO not even canon.  They make me very freaking tall (not as tall as him, but tall enough).  Because of the surcoat(s), people tend not to notice them, anyway.  They usually aren't looking at my feet and I doubt they'll be looking at yours, either.

Can't wait to see your outfit when you have all the pieces together! 

[Darth Justicar]

Training my voice down shouldn't be too bad.  I am naturally a first soprano but over time I have also learned how to sing in the alto range pretty well.

Oh, and Darth Knox, definitely don't cut the dreads.  They could be the source of your POWER!

So, here are the boots, and a not entirely unexpected visitor that showed up as soon as I put them down to take a picture.





These are very comfortable and I have even found I can store a few things down them because they open up instead of hugging tight to the legs.

BTW, anyone got any clues on the craftsmanship questions I asked in the OP?

[Noctis]

I love the boots!  I think they're a great choice! 

Also, that's a cute Sith Lord you've got there. 

[Merkatrig]

Go for it - try being my 72 year old wife who will go out as Mass Effect femShep and get told "You know you are really kind of old for this" by some punk at a con. :/

Live your life and tell the haters to piss off

[Darth Justicar]

I love the boots!  I think they're a great choice! 

Also, that's a cute Sith Lord you've got there. 

Thanks.

And the cat thanks you too.  That was the apprentice you saw.  The master did not deign to get in the picture.

[ThreadJack]

Hey, I'm a dude and I kinda want to get some Captain Phasma armor. It's all good.

[Merkatrig]

Spraying in a cardboard box - two words: Do Not

A cardboard box will do nothing for the smell and instead will allow paint to suspend in the air which settle on the mask and make it mottled or bumpy. If you want to build a cheap temporary spray booth- which is massively different - there are many you tube videos on that. A booth is sort of like a box but with a fan in it basically to keep the paint contained in an area but to also suck out suspended particles hanging in the air.

If you can do this in a garage then either put the mask on a table covered with paper or suspend it via wire from the garage joist. You could even paper and spray it on the garage floor if you have too. You then want to do several LIGHT coats. Coats of paint that just mist the surface. Let each one dry hard then light coat again. If you do a heavy coat you risk and uneven coat or worse it will start to drip or run. By lightly you start to spray before the paint hits the mask and you make a smooth pass going in one direction until you pass the mask- repeat and overlap slightly the preceding spray.

If you have complex bends or hard to reach areas I suggest doing a couple of closer - thereby slightly thicker - sprays directly into the recesses, etc. Once a couple of those coats go on then do the light coats as stated- the follow on lights will help to blend and smooth the slightly heavier coats in recesses. Do the "heavier" spraying first though.

If your garage is cold then after each coat bring the mask AND the paint into the house. If the mask is lying flat on a table I suggest putting it on a paper wrapped cookie sheet or similar so you can being it in without touching ther mask and spoiling the paint. If you want you can use the cardboard box inside to cover the mask while it dries to keep dust, cat hair, etc from sticking to the surface. If you hung the mask up to paint then hang it in a closet or room where you can close the door to again minimize dust (DO NOT hang in bathroom due to moisture which can bubble the paint)

For the silver of course just use a brush- to get that battered look use a coarse brush and for lack of a better word "roughly" paint it. I would not go for solid silver as the mask does not appear to be like that.

For the black spray paint - just go get some Krylon semi-gloss black or matte black. Krylon sticks to just about anything though make sure to wash the mask before hand or wipe it down with a cloth and windex to again get rid of any dust/hair/finger oils before painting.

Spray painting is not messy. Once you get good at it you may spray maybe a few inches past the thing you are spraying. There are tons of how to vids out there - just google "how to spray paint" or "how to spray paint cosplay" and so on.

[EVE]

Go for it - try being my 72 year old wife who will go out as Mass Effect femShep and get told "You know you are really kind of old for this" by some punk at a con. :/

Live your life and tell the haters to piss off

^^This. So much this!

I wore my Jedi Robe to fencing tonight, to show off my new saber, and you know...complete the look somewhat, and these cheeky little twats that were in the building for another class are laughing at me.  Like, who the hell are you? Shove off, man. I know how to use these weapons to make life very uncomfortable: don't push me. A fellow fencing friend warded that off; lucky them.  But really. People: I hate. I'm a 22 year grad student who likes having fun my way, and that includes cosplay and wicked sabers.  Do you freaking mind much? Between work and classes, I don't get much time to blow off steam. I'm not gonna let some sniveling immature brats or haters ruin the moments I do have. Uh-uh.

Cosplay the hell out of Ren and make him your own! It's your party. That's my two cents.

[Darth Justicar]

Merkatrig, Dark Side points awarded for a detailed spray paint walkthrough and even thinking to suggest a type of paint.  Much appreciated!

[Darth Knox]

Oh, and Darth Knox, definitely don't cut the dreads.  They could be the source of your POWER!

After havign dreads for 10 years I did make the mistake of cutting them. regretted it two days later. Fortunately that was 7 years ago and they have grown back to their previous levels of awesomness (and my mojo returned around the same time!)

Go for it - try being my 72 year old wife who will go out as Mass Effect femShep and get told "You know you are really kind of old for this" by some punk at a con. :/

Live your life and tell the haters to piss off

I will never understand those people who go to a convention and make comments like this to cosplayers. I just hope that when I'm 72 years old I am still able to go to conventions. And yes, I hope to still be doing cosplay then too. Point to you and your wife for being awesome.

So, here are the boots, and a not entirely unexpected visitor that showed up as soon as I put them down to take a picture.

LOVE these boots. They look really comfortable and it's nice to see boots that aren't brand spanking new, so your costume will looked "lived in".

I find it funny that I know so many women who like to cosplay as men as they say the male costumes are far cooler than female costumes. But on the flip side, I know loads of men who say that women have it easier and have far more options finding clothing for their cosplay than we do.

[Darth Justicar]

Hmmm...might have located a product less obnoxious to work with than full blown Bondo body filler, which was looking like an ugly proposition.

Looks like Bondo makes a pre-mixed spot filler in a tube that I've seen other cosplayers say is acceptable for seam filling.  I still intend to do this mess outside just in case but it definitely sounds like less of a toxic pain in the butt to do.  Gonna hit the auto parts store over the weekend, it looks like...

Merkatrig, indeed, the fact that your wife is still cosplaying is awesome.

Knox, the boots have a suede-like texture as opposed to being leather, which is where that look is coming from.  But since Kylo Ren has a lot of fabrics in his costume as opposed to hard armor, I think it's going to work.