Things You'll Need:
- Cardboard boxes of various sizes (three for each arm, two long narrow boxes for each leg and one large box for the upper body).
- Bicycle helmet
- Markers, pens, paint
- Face paint
- Corrugated flexible plastic pipe (large enough for your arms)
- Glue
- Details for Optimus Prime: old tires from toy trucks, racquetball rackets
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Step 1
Obtain a picture of the Transformer on which you would like to base your costume. The Optimus Prime instructions here are based on the classic toy model design (See Resources.) However, you can use these instructions to build the basic elements of almost all Transformer costumes.
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Step 2
Obtain a large, rectangular box about as wide as your upper body that extends to your waist. Cut off the lower side of the box and cut holes for arms and your head on the opposite side. Obtain three boxes for the arms: one large enough to cover the shoulder, another for your bicep and the next for the forearm.
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Step 3
Cut two holes in each shoulder box--one for the shoulder itself and one for the rest of your arm as it continues into the next box. Make the diameter of the holes just smaller than the corrugated plastic tubing. Connect the main body box to the shoulder boxes by pushing the tubing through the boxes. This should hold the boxes together while allowing you to move.
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Step 4
Cut two holes on opposite ends of the bicep boxes and forearm boxes. Extend the tubing through the boxes and cut it when it reaches the inside edge of the forearm box, where you hands will be. The resulting upper-body costume should be flexible and appear like a series of mechanical parts connected by flexible wire.
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Step 5
Cut holes on opposite ends of the leg boxes. Make the holes just large enough so that you can get your foot through them. The boxes should sit snugly against the lower leg, covering the calf down to the ankle. If the boxes start to slip off your legs, wear several pairs of thick socks to hold them up. Find a couple of old tires from toy trucks and attach two along the outer side of each leg with glue.
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Step 6
Build the head piece from a bicycle helmet and a box large enough to fit over the helmet. Look for a narrow, tall box into which the helmet fits snugly. Cut the box at a point where it almost meets the upper body box. Cut two holes for eyes. Optimus Prime has a radio transmitter on either side of his head, which can be made by wrapping two small racquetball rackets in paper and gluing them to either side of the head (with the handles pointing up).
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Step 7
Decorate and paint your Transformer costume. For Optimus, paint the legs and helmet blue, the upper body red, and the face portion of the mask gray. Because the Transformers are machines, draw several details in pen or marker, such as the series of lines and squares on Optimus Prime that make up the front of a truck.
