Bender, meet...Leela.

[on:]

Well, we finally got around to making a Leela costume to go with my Bender...

It's still not perfect and the visibility was near zero, but it worked for the event we needed it for...



I could't carry my Old Fortran because this was a Pediatric Cancer Survivors picnic, so I carried my slurm, and I also made a can of Mom's Old Fashioned Robot Oil to go with it.



-cris

[Reply #1 on:]

Hey, that looks pretty, damn neat. The best looking Leela-eye I've seen so far. Nice work, Cris.

So what did you tell the kids when they asked where slurm come from? 

[Reply #2 on:]

That's probably the best Leela costume I've ever seen, although it does kind of illustrate my point about the problems with a live-action Leela: even if it looks good, that one giant eye is freaky when she's not a cartoon.

Also, I applaud you guys for dressing up as cartoon characters to entertain kids at a Pediatric Cancer Survivors picnic.  That's class.

[Reply #3 on:]

How did she see out of that thing anyway?

[Reply #4 on:]

Maybe the pupil is a hole.

[Reply #5 on:]

Hehe, cool. Seems like Leela doesn't know where the camera is  . So how long did you spend upon making the Bender suit then?

[Reply #6 on:]

 

Originally posted by Wooter:
Maybe the pupil is a hole.

Look at the placement. The pupil is to far up on her forhead for her to see anything even if it was a hole.

[Reply #7 on:]

I think it's really sweet that you guys would take the time to make costumes to entertain a bunch of sick kids. 

My guess is that the eye is made of white mesh or something. (I wanted to be Leela for Halloween last year, but I couldn't find the outfit...I planned to cut the middle out of a domino mask--you know, the kind that kids decorate for Mardi Gras--and stretch white mesh over it...maybe she did something similar?)

[Reply #8 on:]

Futurama isn't really a show little kids watch. Did they even know who you guys were supposed to be? What was the most entertaining reaction you got?

[Reply #9 on:]

Yeah- some kids didn't know who we were, but some of the older ones did     Ped's covers all the way up to 18, plus there were some older siblings that knew us and were excited.  OF course the parents got the most joy out of it, but that's how it always is, even with the Star Wars costumes.

Nobody asked about the origins of Slurm....luuuucckkkyyyyyyy.

Visibility was near zero.  The pupil is a hole with smoked plexiglass inserted, but still she had to tilt her head to see anything.

The white part is a tap-light so it transmits light pretty well, but still she could only see shapes.

For the next version, we may try bus wrap decals or some sort of fabric behind a plastic dome- as well as experitmenting with foam latex to get a better eyelid.

It's really hard to do a big cyclops eye without making a really big nose notch, and David you are right that it is a little freaky in real life, but next to Bender, she is more recognizable.

We were also toying with the idea of putting the eye inside of some sort of "Battle goggles" or something.  I know in at least ONE episode she had a big monocular goggle!

thanks you guys,

-cris


p.s. here's another picture...

[Reply #10 on:]

 

Originally posted by kimncris:
It's really hard to do a big cyclops eye without making a really big nose notch, and David you are right that it is a little freaky in real life, but next to Bender, she is more recognizable.

I think that the costume looks great, I was just commenting on the fact that being a cyclops chick in real life isn't as cute as it is on a cartoon.

[Reply #11 on:]

so true- But Bender needed a friend!!   

We had a Fry lined up too, but he wasn't able to find a suitable red jacket in time   

-cris

[Reply #12 on:]

 

Originally posted by Venus:
Futurama isn't really a show little kids watch. Did they even know who you guys were supposed to be? What was the most entertaining reaction you got?

The most entertaining was the guy at the corn dog stand who wanted to take my picture with the corn dog!

I also got a lot of giggles by walking around with my palm out yelling "Gimme Three!" I have a really loud voice amp inside to whenever I started talking I got lots of double takes and grins.  Some kids were just excited to see the "Robot" and some thought I WAS from the movie "Robots"

oh well- at least it wasn't "Tin Man!" this time around 

-cris

[Reply #13 on:]

Another awesome costume kimncris. You don't cease to impress.

[Reply #14 on:]

 

Originally posted by kimncris:

We had a Fry lined up too, but he wasn't able to find a suitable red jacket in time   

Oh damn. Couldn't he like find one and you take a nice picture of him and put it on PEEL for us anyways?   

[Reply #15 on:]

If I had a corn dog stand, I would want to take your picture with a corn dog too.  Then I would display the picture in a prominent place, so that everyone could see that Bender likes corn dogs.  If that wouldn't attract customers, then I don't know what would.

I guess you didn't get to use a lot of actual Bender quotes with that voice amp, since most of them are inappropriate for children to hear.  That's okay though, a life-size talking Bender is pretty cool no matter what.

I see that Luke Skywalker was also in attendance.  Do kids still like Luke, or are they all into characters from those prequel movies now?

[Reply #16 on:]

Top notch!
Good to see the Bender outfit holding up well after
repeated wearings.

[Reply #17 on:]

Yeah- it's still holding up OK.  some of the seams are starting to crack, but it is still wearable.

And yeah- the closest I got to an actual quote was "Bite My Shiney Metal Can!"

Some kids still like Luke, but more like the Clone Troopers, Darth Vader and such.

There are lots more pics of all of the characters on our website:
 http://www.scgarrison.net/modules.php?set_albumName=albun24&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

The theme of the picnic was Hooray for Hollywood, so there were lots of characters from all different media.

-cris

[Reply #18 on:]

The pix of the stormtroopers and the imperial guard on the
little train are priceless!

[Reply #19 on:]

Awesome costumes!  Too bad there's no Futurama costumes like that for real!  Really cool! 

[Reply #20 on:]

photos are starting to surface from Comic-con....

here's one of us with Bill Morrison.



and a full length shot in the hall




-cris

[Reply #21 on:]

I'll be expecting a Fry and Zapp Brannigan costumes next year... 

[Reply #22 on:]

Now that would be the best. A Zapp costume...