How to Make a Lego: "Superman" Costume

For Wizard world 2012, I thought i wasn’t going to have enough time to build an intricate costume.. so why not just build a lego one~ sounded easy enough.. it took me about 5 days total. I was thinking about which lego person to be, and then i thought, “Why not use this to surprise some kids at a hospital?”.. so, that meant it had to be a well known hero… which hero is more well known than SUPERMAN!

Special notes:
-This costume is ridiculously warm to walk around in. You will be perspiring a lot. Make sure you have alot of water and maybe even a handler to help. 

Materials:

-Cardboard

-styrofoam (home depot)

-high density foam

-craft foam

-hot glue

-red felt (cape)

- 10” concrete tube (home depot)

-masking tape

-velcro

-roll of construction paper/ or poster board

-blue shirt

-red socks

Cut out each shape from the diagram . You should have 2 pieces of piece A. make sure that the top of the pentagon fit about your shoulders. and the bottom should be about your waist line.

(Pic B) is used as one side.. Pic C and Pic D combine together to make a type of door for the opposite side. this way, you can slide in and out of the chest piece. Hot Glue everything together, EXCEPT for C and D. Use masking tape so that the pieces can “swing”. put velcro on C and D to keep it closed.

For the shoulder area, you will make another “door” to slide into. Use tape to attach E and F to front and back (make sure it is on the side with C+D).. use velcro to have the pieces stick to one another. that is the side you enter the chest.. Glue F in place.

Make rectangles for your feet, maybe about 2 inches longer than the depth of the chest.

Once complete, take your shoe, and put 3 pieces of cardboard around it, to hold it in place. once complete, cut several squares of high density foam and squeeze them in between the spaces so that they act as support for the foot. cut out the area on top so you can stick your foot inside.

Legs are simple. Just make your standard box per leg.. but make sure that the width of both legs are the width of the chest.. But the DEPTH of each leg (H) should be 1-2 inches shorter than the depth of the chest (G). This is to compensate for that round part at the top of the legs on a lego figure.

for the crotch, make a box just a TAD bit larger than the legs.. this way, the legs can fit inside the box. you should still have that 1-2 inches of space in the front.. add a smaller ledge the the front of it with cardboard.

now cut half a circle and glue it to the side of the crotch. Do the same on the other side.. Grab some high density foam and curve it around the circles, thus creating the round top of the lego legs.

For the hands, i made 4 C’s. a Pair of C’s will act as the top and bottom of the hand.. I took craft foam and glued it to the edge, making a mitten. i cut out a little triangle in the middle of the C, which allowed me to open and close the hand. I added a wrist and called it a day.

to make the arms, i used high density foam and wrapped them around my arm. i angled the forearm and biceps to get a good curve. i eventually made a shoulder and attached it to the chest with velcro straps.

Cut the cement tube to roughly the length of your head. Use the styrofoam and glue it underneath. from here, you can use sandpaper to smooth off the edge and create the curve for the jaw. once that is completed, cut another hole in the styrofoam for your neck. I took a portion of cement tube and cut the length down to make a smaller diameter for a neck.

Stick the tube on your head. take a pen and reach from the top to mark where your eyeballs are.. cut them out.   I also put in some styrofoam inside the lego head so that it would turn when i would turn my actual head.

Using the styrofoam, i glued about 10 stacks on top of each other. I used a knife to get the basic shape down.

from there, i carved some hair grooves in and used sandpaper to smooth the whole thing to the way i wanted it.

Once competed, i took some see through fabric and glued them in in the eyes.

 I took some construction paper and wrapped it around the face. and finally painted the whole thing.

Don't forget about your muscles

I took some red fabric and used a few safety pins and string to tie around the neck.

i sewed in yellow foam to the red cape to make the superman symbol