SOUNDWAVE COSTUME

CLASSIFICATION: HALLOWE'EN COSTUME
CHARACTER INSPIRATION: SOUNDWAVE (THE TRANSFORMERS)
MATERIALS USED: CARDBOARD BOXES, PACKING TAPE, SPRAY PAINT, SUNGLASSES, WHITE GLUE
FIRST APPEARANCE: "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE" PART 1 (G1)

"The secrets of the universe reveal themselves to those who listen."

Preamble: I've wanted to build a Transformers costume for a long time, and I've been talking about this thing on the newsgroups for years.  (I've been kind of self-conscious about actually doing it, since the American side of the fandom tends to have such a low tolerance for people celebrating the Transformers characters with costumes that I'd be terrified to ever make a public appearance in this thing.)  I've been building robots out of cardboard boxes ever since I was a kid, though, and just once I wanted to do a full-fledged costume that utilized my current modeling skills, the harshness of critics be damned.  My favorite character from the original series is Soundwave, and thus was the natural inspiration for this project.

Construction: Collecting the necessary materials came first; I gathered up about 25 cardboard boxes in very specific sizes to create the forearms, shoulders, legs, etc.  I ended up reinforcing some of the parts with extra layers of cardboard because I knew they would need to hold up to a fair amount of abuse, like the bottoms of the feet.  I started with only a vague idea of how I wanted to assemble the costume, so I ended up making lots of little improvisations in mid-project, balancing functionality with aesthetics. I also had to frequently stop and test-fit pieces of the costume to make sure they fit me, fit together with the other pieces of the costume, and that I could move inside the suit reasonably well.

The finished costume has a number of gimmicks that makes it more than just a pile of cardboard boxes.  Both the shoulder cannon and handheld weapon are equipped with battery-powered flashing LED lights, so not only does it make the costume safer to wear at night, but it looks like Soundwave is equipped with some kind of intermittent laser sights.  Also, the eject button on the shoulder is made of a spongy foam, so you can actually press the button and it will spring back into shape afterwards.

Designing the proper articulation was very important, since the costume would be completely useless if I couldn't move around in it.  I bolted the forearms to the upper arms to create a hinge, designed to deliberately limit the movement of the joint so the forearms wouldn't flop around all over the place.  I did the same with the shoulders, which are attached to the body and are designed to swivel and pivot a little.  The panels on either side of Soundwave's knees (which are actually several layers of double-thick cardboard glued together) served to likewise limit the movement of the upper legs.  The face mask has a large rubber band attached to it that wraps around the back of my head, so the mask actually moves with my jaw when I speak.  One element that you don't see too often in robot costumes are the hands, built out of cardboard with 15 moving joints apiece, with blue cotton gloves underneath.  They're surprisingly versatile; I can still open doorknobs and carry objects (like the gun) while I'm wearing them.

Most of the colors were done with several coats of spray paint, though I did paint some of the fine details (like the chest window and Decepticon insignia) by hand.  It took about ten cans of spray paint to get the job done, plus a couple more cans of clear acrylic spray to try to stop the paint flaking off the packing tape.  When wearing the costume, I put on a black sweatshirt and black pants so that any visible clothing inside the joints would be relatively inconspicuous.  I also put on some costume make-up to cover my neck and nose, the only parts of my skin otherwise visible in the costume.

Wearing the costume was a physical challenge unto itself.  When I'm wearing it, I can't walk very fast or take very large steps, which also precludes me from climbing stairs.  (In the two days I wore it, dozens of people must have asked me, "How do you walk in that thing?"  I usually replied, "Very slowly.")  It's also really easy to lose my balance; I discovered this on Halloween night when I tripped over the sidewalk curb!  More than anything else, though, it disappointed me that my vision and hearing were adversely affected with the helmet and goggles in place, since I'm told I missed out on some very flattering comments about my costume.

Comments: I started this costume in August, and it took me about two months to build and paint.  I've seen lots of other fan-made Transformers costumes, and while I've seen a handful of other Soundwave projects, most of them seem to be based on the toy rather than the cartoon model.)  If I had to do it all over again, there are a handful of things I'd probably do differently (I'm not really pleased with the way some of the tape wrinkles are visible, and I've got to find a way to stop that paint from flaking off), but for a first attempt, I'm more than suitably pleased.

Photographs by Laurie Edwards