Octopus Prime

Let’s transform and go get some sushi…

Yes, there seem to be almost no limits that we won’t go to for a bad pun. This was my costume at Mile-Hi Con 49 last weekend, where it won a judge’s choice award (one wonders what is wrong with that judge!).

Actually, Anna and I built it originally for our friend Rose’s mini-convention, Karval Kon, but decided that so much work had gone into it that we might as well do a bit of cleanup work and take it to Mile-Hi. One big problem was that Mile-Hi presentations are done on a stage, and so I had to redesign the feet so that I could climb stairs (and even then, I almost went flying).

Most of the construction is of layered foam-core over a wooden frame, decorated with various fish tank supplies. The glowing chest plates are a couple of old Android tablets showing animated fish tanks. Anna carved the head out of foam. I did most of the (very substandard) sewing, including attaching dozens of suckers. Lots of work to look like a 5-year-old’s Halloween costume :-).

The routine (such as it was) was done to a dramatically orchestral version of the Transformers theme which faded into an instrumental version of Under the Sea, from the Little Mermaid. My tag line was “Michael Bay isn’t really even trying anymore.” To be honest, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying particularly hard from the beginning.