I've wanted to make this costume since I learned what cosplay was! I saw Armitage III: Polymatrix back in the days when the Sci-Fi channel played anime movies on Saturday mornings and loved it! Unfortunately, Armitage III seems to have fallen into the category of "Animes that time forgot" because I was only recognized by about 7 people at a 22,000+ convention. It's a shame because the OVA's and movies are a fantastic addition to the cyberpunk genre. If you've never seen them, or if you haven't watched them in a while, do yourself a favor and go watch them.
This costume is made entirely out of red and black pleather and black wet look spandex. It was my first time working with pleather and I can't say it's an experience that I'm eager to repeat any time soon. It was nerve wracking knowing that if I made any mistakes that it would show and potentially mean that I'd have to start all over. All of the patterns (minus the gloves) were drafted by me and I definitely learned A LOT through out the entire process of making this costume.
Jacket: Red pleather and casa lining. The collar is made of craft foam and wire form to help it keep it's shape. The black shoulder pieces are wet look spandex that was quilted to give it the same blocked detail that the original design has.
Top: Bought a bra and ripped it apart leaving only the cups. Covered the cups in red pleather (NOT a fun experience) and made the straps out of wet look spandex (with pleather inside to reduce the amount of stretch they had). I also attached a clear bra strap to the back/bottom of the top to give me a bit more support. Studs were added by hand once it was finished.
Gloves: Altered my go-to glove pattern, making it longer and wider to give the gloves the same loose fit that's in the design. I added studs to each of the knuckles (lesson learned: add something between the backs of studs and your hands otherwise they will get really scratched up) and made the wrist cuffs out of craft foam covered in more wet look spandex.
Shorts: This is the part of the costume I am the proudest of! The base is two layers of wet look spandex that were quilted to give them the same detailed look as the shoulder pieces on the jacket. I then covered cording with the pleather, attached it to bias tape, and attached that to the bottom of the shorts. Next up was the front and back pleather bits, the fly, and the waistband, followed by all of the studs, which were all placed by hand.
Thigh Highs: Simple tubes made of wet look spandex.
Shoes: These were originally those knee high converse sneakers that I cut down to the right length and then patterned out all of the pieces for. The wet look spandex pieces were sewn to the pleather pieces before they were all glued down into place. The boots shut with velcro along the front, and each of the front claps snaps shut.
Belts: All of the belts were made by hand (1 at the neck, 1 at the top of each glove, 1 at each wrist, 1 at my waist, and 2 at the top of each thigh high) out of pleather. The belt on my waist has an added layer of craft foam to make it thicker/heavier and capable of supporting my "police issue" handcuffs and holster.
Gun: This was the first prop that I made by myself and I'm pretty proud of the results. It started off as a 9mm airsoft handgun that I built a basic skeleton off of using thin strips of plastic. I then covered the whole thing with craft foam and used model magic to make the grips and curved sections. I then used 2 layers of fiberglass filler to smooth out and harden the whole gun. The final product was then primed, painted, and sealed.
Awards: Judges Award for Presentation ~ Anime Boston 2012, Best in Show ~ Anime Boston 2012
