Introduction: Lego Batman Costume on the Fast & Cheap!

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About: I adore instructables and use it when I'm playing with ideas for my students (I'm a certified art teacher and the Art Director for a children's summer camp). I have found that it fuels my creative process as …

It is that time of year again when I spend summers away and get creative juices pumping at high speed.

So, when it came time to decide what I would be I pondered and then it hit me. I love Lego's, I love batman, I loved the Lego movie....I shall be Lego Batman!!

The down fall, I am the WORST at taking step by step instructions, but I'll do my very best to fill in where needed! I also never finished the project how I intended (I was making full on Lego legs), but when I do I promise to update the instructable.

Now, I also tend to write like I'm having a conversation with you, this drives my brother who has a masters degree in technical writing absolutely batty (pun intended). So forgive me for being so casual, but I feel it helps the reader understand what's happening.

Let's get started!!

Step 1: Materials Needed

Some of my materials I had laying around, I tried to put the cost I paid for them down, and some numbers are a guess, I know I didn't use all my foam board for example but I did buy 10. If There is a different way to create party of what I did I put an * beside it and will explain what else you could use in the instructions.

Materials:

Lego Batman References

1 -12" Tube for concrete $8.69

1- Gorilla Glue 8oz $10.97 *

15 - Foam Sheets Black 12X18 $.99 Each *

1- Foam Sheet White 12X18 * $.99

1- Foam Sheet Yellow 12X18* $.99

1- Smooth Foam 10" $5.00

1- Styrofoam Cone 9 $3.00 *

2- Styrofoam Wreath $5.99

10- Black Foam Board (White is fine as well) $1.00

1- Roll Yellow Duct Tape *

1- Pair of white Pantie hoes $1.00

1pk- Hot Glue

1- Hot Glue Gun

1- Black Acrylic Paint Pint *

1- Black Cloth or Flat Bed Sheet

1 pk - Foam Connectors & Eyelets (Optional)

Paint Brush

Black Sweat Pants

Black Shirt Long Sleeve

Step 2: Basic Lego Head Form

To Create the basic Lego head shape I used a 12" heavy cardboard tube used to put in cement poles. You can find this as Lowes, Menards, Home Depo or any store that sells similar building stuff.

I cut the tub down 12 inches, so it was taller than my actual head. Once cut, I took two 12" Styrofoam wreath forms and glued them with gorilla glue to the top and bottom of the head. This added a little height as well as comfort. In retrospect, I wish I had also gotten a 10" ring to put at the bottom of the head to make a neck.

It should be noted that gorilla glue is really sticky and slightly messy, It does sort of foam, so put the glue on, add some pressure and go do something else. Put something under the area you are working to save yourself some clean up.

Once dry you can add the 10" round Styrofoam disk at the top of the head close it up. Again you can use Gorilla glue to glue this on. You will notice that it's starting to get a Lego look and feel. If you wanted to make a Lego head you could use another smaller Styrofoam disk to put on top for the little Lego nub. Since this is Lego batman he doesn't have that issue because he has his happy cowl that goes over his head.

You might ask, why not hot glue Poof? Great question. Even a low temp hot glue gun can cause the Styrofoam to be "eaten" It's not that it can't be pulled off, but for this part it really is best to use gorilla glue. There is also a Styrofoam glue out there, I've not tried it but if you wanted to give it a try to hook the two Styrofoam parts together you could.

I laid a few books on top of my Styrofoam disk to help add pressure so the glue suck well to the Styrofoam wreath and disk.

Now at this point, I used hot glue. I know, I know I said no hot glue...but there is a time and place for hot glue and now is the time.

To help seal any openings, I placed hot glue on the cardboard tube, near the Styrofoam but not actually on it. I then used a scrap piece of cardboard (or foam core) and used it like a pallet knife or putty knife to move the hot glue up towards the Styrofoam and fill in the cracks. This lets the glue cool down and gives more of a light layer. This method should be done on the exterior as well as the interior. This technique will be used a lot during this project.

Now, you could use caulking to achieve the same look, but I had hot glue and I didn't want to add any more weight to the head then I had to.

Step 3: What Crime Do My Bat Ears Detect!

To create Lego Batman's ears I bought a Styrofoam cone, and sawed it in half. I happened to have some tools made for doing crazy things with Styrofoam so used those but a box knife, knife, butter knife, hobby knife, or batarang should do it. Once cut in half I shaped the ears to be more Lego Batman like.

To attach the ears to the head, I cut out an area of the Styrofoam disk and glued them together with gorilla glue. I also used a couple of Styrofoam fasteners to keep them in check.

Step 4: Bat-Head

The Lego Batman head is really what helps sell the Lego Batman Costume.

First you are going to need to build up the armature for his face.

To make this happen I took a handy dandy sharpie looked at a picture of a Lego Batman on-line and drew on the areas I knew I would have to build up. In reality what you are doing right now is creating an additive sculpture.

I get driven crazy by silly things like measuring. SOOOO I winged it. Now that said, I'm all for you using a ruler or a tape measure, as a matter of fact I would encourage you to do so, I get get impatient, it's a flaw I know, lol.

Using foam core I created shapes to make Lego Batman's head 3D. Since Lego Batman wears a cowl, I had to create the illusion there was an interior head with the cowl over the top. To do that I used foam core building up areas.

I cut out the shape of Lego Batman's mouth. This will be where his "teeth" go but where you will see out of. At first I made Lego Batman intense, then I realized it might scare some kids so I turned that frown upside down to a sort of half smile.

As I added these shapes and pieces I used the same hot glue technique of squeegeeing the glue onto the shapes. This makes for a tight bond as well as helps fix any imperfections you might have.

One you are happy with the initial build you can start to cover the face with the black foam sheets 12X18. Hot gluing it into place. I wanted the sheets because of the give, the texture and it was easy to grab on the go. You could paint the head, or use a felt or some sort of fabric instead. I'm looking into larger foam sheets to recover the head, I like the look just dislike the seams.

I used white foam board to make the eyes then later cut out white foam sheets to create a very bright white eye look. Using a flesh color acrylic paint I painted the mouth area.

Once everything was dry, from the interior of the mask I hot glued white nylon over the mouth opening. You can see out, but it's all little hazy. The more you stretch the nylon the easier it is to see.

Step 5: Lego C Hands

A very Lego feature is their C hands. To create that look I used foam core, drew two circles then cut them out. Once cut out I split the circle in half, and created the C. Making even spacing around the exterior of the circle so the C shape was even. I then drew strips for the width of the C and hot glued them into place. To make the wrist, I curled the foam core cut to size and inserted it into the back of the hand. Originally I thought I would have a hand hole so I could stick a gloved hand out of the C to hold things, I nixed the idea and covered the whole thing in the black foam. I also extended the black foam up so it would hit near my elbow, helping to give that plastic Lego tube arm look.

As I hot glued the pieces together I again used the squeegee hot glue method to get a tight seal.

Step 6: The Lego Body

Again using foam core, I measured the width of my shoulders and cut out the
top piece, making a hole for my head. I then created the slight trapezoid shape Lego figures have. Hot gluing the pieces together using that squeegee method. Take your time here, you do need to achieve a nice angle. I then painted the entire trapezoid black with acrylic paint, it was actually called Mars Black purchased from Nasco.

Once everything was dry I cut out a yellow piece of the thin foam as well as a bat shape for the bat symbol on Batman's chest. I then hot glued them into place. You could paint this on as well if you wished.

For the utility belt, I started getting crunched on time, so I used yellow duct tape. I then used a sharpie to quickly draw on the details.

The cape was made from a piece of black cloth. I hot glued it onto the top of the body then cut triangles out of the bottom to create the bat cape look.

Step 7: Cape & Legs

So at this point I HAD to get to the dance, so I'll explain what I wore, then what I planned to do. I eventually will make the legs and I will add them to this step.

For my arms I wore a long sleeve black shirt and black sweat pants for my legs. I didn't have black shoes but that would have been way better than my blue tennis shoes.

The plan had been to have Lego legs. I had two Cheez-it boxes that I filled with great stuff foam insulation. I then put show into the foam as it expanded. This hooked them into place. Once dry I can stand over 6 inches taller than I normally am and I would build the legs using foam core up from the feet, all painted black.

Step 8: Get Your Lego Batman On!

It was hot in the head, I had bought a battery powered fan to install into the head piece but ran out of time, I may make that addition before I wear it again and I'll add the step to the instructable.

Comfort wise it was great, I could move around, get hugs from kids and dance dance dance...as well as fail at many different parts of being Lego batman, if you watch the video you can see what I mean. :)

Step 9: PoofRabbit's Tips and Tricks!

  • Take your time, I get so impatient because I get excited and corners get cut. Don't take your time and make it be epic!
  • Hot glue is hot, careful how you use it. I still have a hold in my left leg where it dropped, ouch!
  • Two is better than one. If you have two hot glue guns I suggest keeping both going at once so you can work quickly as you go.
  • It's OK to mess up. I hated my first nose, I cut it off and did it again. I promise any goof up is fixable!
  • Be creative, you can achieve this look by using found items and cardboard bringing the cost down even more!