Last Minute Benrey (or Barney Calhoun) Costume (Half Life)

"Can I see your passport?"

I really like the Half Life series of games, but waiting for 3 has been a pain for a long time, and with each passing moment, my interest slowly slips away.

My interest was rekindled last year, however, when an at the time relatively unknown Twitch streamer named wayneradiotv (link to his youtube here) came out with a series of livestreams known as Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware (often abbreviated to HLVRAI) which was something that had never been done before, at least, not to this effect. It was a strange combination of Half Life 1, Garry's Mod, and a lot of improv. Here's the link to Part 1, because I can't do it justice by talking about it.

Anyway, Halloween came up much faster than I noticed, and 28th, I realized I don't have a costume! Then I remembered I had a helmet and combat vest for Airsoft, and my mind immediately went to the antagonizing security guard from HLVRAI, named Benrey, who has the same model as the Half Life character Barney Calhoun. I was missing a few items to make it work, like boots and a button up shirt, but I could easily buy them locally, and not have to worry about shipping times. Here's my process on how I made the costume!

Here's what I used to make the costume. They're not perfect, but it was all I could gather on such short notice. As mentioned earlier, I already owned the helmet and vest from playing Airsoft, so that cut down on how much I had to drop on this. Note the amounts I'm listing are in USD, so if you're not in the US, prices will vary. Also, it's not the most cost effective costume, but you could swap out items as needed if you knew of a cheaper alternative.

Combat Helmet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086Y5E30/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $19.89

Combat Vest: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019NZXLSA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $46.99

Work Boots: https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/servus-mens-ct-economy-waterproof-rubber-work-boots-16sbhmsrvsbtxxxxxfbo/16sbhmsrvsbtxxxxxfbo $16.99

Sky-Blue Button-Up Shirt: https://www.target.com/p/men-s-slim-fit-stretch-oxford-long-sleeve-button-down-shirt-goodfellow-co-153/-/A-54601537 $24.99

Blue Jeans: https://www.target.com/p/wrangler-men-s-relaxed-fit-straight-jeans/-/A-52673634?preselect=52428345#lnk=sametab $19.99

Total Cost: $128.85 plus tax.

There's really not much to this costume. Just put on the jeans and shirt, make sure to tuck the shirt in, then put on the boots, tucking the pant legs into the boots, then just put on the vest and helmet. That's all there is to it!

This costume, while good enough given how quickly it was thrown together, could've been better. If I had more time, I would've made a few improvements and additions to the costume.

First, The vest didn't look right, and in fact, didn't fit like I remember. I don't know exactly when I used it last, but I don't recall it being such a struggle to get it on. I would've gotten a different one, and made sure it was the right size, not to mention resembled the source material better. I would've also attempted to get a stencil for the Black Mesa Logo and put it on the front, along with lettering for the SECURITY text on the back.

Second, I noticed early on that the security guards wear black neckties under their vests, but I wasn't able to get one, and as it was such a minor detail, I let it slide. I would've totally taken the time to get one for this, even though it's not really apparent.

Third, I would've made the passport as shown above, with the text coming off of it and everything. I actually made a mockup of part of it in photoshop, also shown above, without the name on it. The idea was that I could print out a transparent label with "BENREY BENREY BENREY BENREY BENREY BE" written on it, and glue it into the passport. This addition would've served no purpose, but would've been fun to have in the case of going to a convention where people might know the reference.

Thank you for checking out this Instructable! I hope you enjoyed!