In 2001, I built an 8ft G1 Transformers Optimus Prime Costume using the 2000 Timehouse Metalforce Optimus Prime figurine as my pattern and built from extruded polystyrene. He even carried his 3ft Blaster rifle. I was unhappy with the final product and decided to try it again. The costume was boxed up and sent him to the Autobot Mausoleum (my basement).
In 2004, I redesigned the Optimus Prime costume from the ground up. Instead of building this costume to actually transform into a semi-truck, I opted to take a different direction. Up. It ended up being 10ft tall with my feet 37 inches off the ground. I noticed that when people wearing tranforming costumes and in fact transformer when in a crowd, only the first few rows of people get to see the costume. For the most part, not everyone gets to see and appreciate the time that it takes to build costumes. With my costume being 10ft tall, Optimus can be seen over the crowd across a crowded convention hall with no problem. And usually spectators say something along the lines of "what the hell is that?!" or "no way!" when they do see it. The general idea is to dwarf spectators and try to hold true to the idea of 'giant robot' when someone stands next to Optimus.
Optimus also has fully articulated fingers/ wrists, jointed toes to aid walking, working lights, opening chest and matrix cover, light up removable Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and a 4 1/2 foot Megatron in Gun Mode that he can carry. He is even rigged with a headset walkie-talkie to communiciate with the ground crew.
In 2005, using the Hard Hero full-sized statue as my pattern I built a 10ft G1 Tranformers Megatron to compliment Optimus. Megatron also sports articulated fingers/ wrists, jointed toes, and working lights. Megatron is still a work in progress. He will have his Cannon soon along with a few more surprises.
The music used in this video is by 'Lazer'. I dont have any other information than that.
The biggest problems with these costumes is space. Whether it be storage or production, they take up a lot of room. I recently bought a house with an 800 sq ft studio addition so more costumes are sure to follow...
Tags: transformers optimus prime megatron tranformer matrix movie autobots decepticons
