Justin (Jacksonville, FL)
as Steampunk Bender from Futurama
The wife and I got into cosplaying when I moved here from the UK; to us it was an expansion of the general geekiness that had bought us together across the pond. The creative process, scavenging for materials, building, and painting, then finally getting to show it off to like minded people is just great fun. Cosplayers are usually pretty awesome people and a blast to hang out with.
That year was our fourth try for convention madness, and as Futurama fans in the show’s last year we wanted to honour it. But steampunk… we love steampunk… mash up time!
The actual build kind of ran away with itself. I started with a trash can and went from there. The wife gave me some funny looks when I stole one of her mixing bowls to make part of the head. The rest was primarily ABS plastic sheet, heated and riveted in sections, then held together with fishing line to give the best mobility. I’ve included a bunch of construction pics.
The best day was when we happened across John Dimaggio (the voice of Bender). He leapt out of his booth to take pics with us and tweeted it! I’ve never been prouder or more excited to get that sort of reaction from the individual who inspired us.
