Cosplay Shennanigans: O, Brother Warth, thou? ....and How to Make a Blue Lantern Battery!

I promise I will cut down on the lame puns, including the elephant ones.

In my SDCC Costume article, I learned a couple of things about my Brother Warth costume, the biggest of which is to HAVE MORE POCKETS!!!

Brother Warth 2.0, with improved torso armor and... apparently a messenger bag.

Brother Warth 2.0 does not differ too much, but I made some improvements:  have a different torso armor, so I can carry a messenger bag.  The new armor, which is made out of vinyl, matches my arm bands, and is overall much easier to walk around in.  It was also foldable, so I can carry it in a bag while I took the train to the LA Convention Center.

(Photo by: Alex Halcyon)

From my first try at Brother Warth's armor, I learned that air bubbles on self-adhesive reflective vinyl is near impossible to avoid given the equipment I have, so the added possibility of the costume lighting up due to flash photography suffers from overall normal aesthetic of the costume.

The other improvement for Comikaze is an important one, friends to cosplay with you!  This is Amy, one half of the brother/sister cosplay team, Dual Star Cosplay, and my awesome Blue Lantern, and that in her hand is a Blue Lantern Power Battery!   

(Photo by: Girl on Geek)

I started out with a medium-sized Hampster Ball, costing around $8, and a pair or tupperware for 99 cents each.  I used a glue gun to attach a tupperware bowl on top, and another one on the bottom.  If need be, I would have used a drill and some zip ties for support (if I was gonna use those segments for storage).

The next step is to get some translucent blue paint, which is a bit rare.  I found a good translucent blue paint in hobby stores, one of which is the Tamiya brand.  It makes a very good translucent blue finish.  the only warning I would give is that the paint is very very runny.  It would be done in very thin coats as any thicker would form puddles or drip.  Unfortunately for me, I learned about the puddle and dripping problem first-hand, so to solve it, I took some leftover shiny self-adhesive vinyl and made "effects" on the surface of the battery.  It works to also enhance the look of the lantern , especially those few times the flash photography makes the vinyl seemingly ignite.  If you don't have shiny vinyl, some blue and white vinyl tape will do, and those come in packs of 3-4 colors for under $5 at your local Wal-Marts and Targets.  You can also, you know, not make mistakes like myself.

The last step is to put a handle on it, and I just used interlinked zip ties wrapped in reflective vinyl... and voila!  Hope Burns Bright!

Of course, if cosplaying is fun with one friend, it's more fun with even more... especially Green Lantern friends!

(Photo by: Kevin Kittrige)

John Garcia is a long-time convention goer and cosplayer. You can see some of his other cosplay constructions in our archives.

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