Creators Log - Batman Beyond / Nightwing Changable
A lot of mixing and matching to create a cosplay form two of my favorite Batfamily/DC characters.
Welcome to Creators Log - a log of the who, why, and how behind my cosplays. For this entry, I look at my changeable Batman Beyond and Nightwing cosplay
Becoming Half Terry McGinnis and Half Dick Grayson
The Character(s)
In 1999 a new animated Batman show hit the Kids’ WB. Gotham was completely re-imagined as a cyberpunk-inspired version of the metropolitan city we’ve become familiar with. In 2019 Bruce Wayne retired as Batman after suffering a heart attack and nearly resorting to using a gun, which he swore he’d never do during a rescue attempt.
20 years after the incident, disgruntled teen Terry McGinnis runs into a reclusive Bruce Wayne. Terry discovers Bruce’s secret and Bruce eventually agrees to train Terry as the next Batman, while Bruce assists from the Batcave. All the while, Terry’s friends and family believe Bruce has employed him to assist him with his daily activities while he is elderly.
Nightwing had had a few different origins in the DC Universe. The most well-known backstory is that Dick Grayson was taken in by Batman after Grayson’s parents died in a flying trapeze act that was orchestrated by bob moss Tony Zucco to extort money from the circus. Bruce trains Grayson who is already athletic and strong due to his training to be a trapeze performer and becomes the first Robin. Grayson eventually retires as Robin to become Nightwing and takes down crime in Bludhaven.
Both characters can be interpreted as being prodigal sons of Bruce/Batman. In both cases, Bruce trains the characters to fight crime and join his mission to take down the criminals of Gotham in ways the police cannot.
The Inspiration
I’ve been a fan of both characters for a long time. I have early memories of watching Batman Beyond as a child and the series has always stuck out to me. This is largely due to the futuristic art style it was produced with. To me, it stands out from other Batman cartoons due to the change of who is wearing the Batsuit and the severe change Gotham undertakes.
Nightwing/Dick Grayson has always been my favorite Robin iteration/sidekick of the Bat. The way he overcomes tragedy at a young age has always stuck out to me and is something that I identified with as I read through the comic series. Without digging too deep into my personal life, I too went through a significant loss at a young age. Seeing Nightwing metaphorically rise from the ashes and become a hero has stuck with me through my comic reading journey.
The Process
I worked on these costumes…..for a very long time. V1 of both of these costumes saw me putting together suits based on the templates and instructions from XiengProd on YouTube. As much as I enjoyed the end result and saw just how talented Xieng is at designing and creating cosplay, I just felt too restricted by the amount of armor the builds had. This was completely a personal preference and has nothing to do with Xieng. Again his work is outstanding and his videos are extremely helpful. They taught me a lot and I have so much respect for his skills and craftsmanship. This was strictly a personal preference.
So I went back to the drawing board and decided to more or less start over. I had an idea of making a costume that wasn’t as heavy on the foam and would be more comfortable for me. I also decided I wanted the costumes to have largely interchangeable parts to make wearing both for a photo shoot/con a possibility.
So I dug through some temples I had on my computer. I had a chest/back piece and shoulder template from AndrewDFT for a Clone Scout Trooper. Since it is from Star Wars, it has a sleek and futuristic design to it that makes it the perfect starting point.
I grabbed a utility belt from Amazon and cut squares from foam to resemble utility pouches. The COD and knees were taken from XiengProds Batman Beyond and Nightwing templets and the boots were bought on Amazon. The Beyond helmet template is from XiengProd and the Nightwing mask template is from Zolus Cosplay. I added some prop Batrang/E-sticks from eBay and the shopping was done.
The last pieces to come together were the gauntlets. I got templates from the Foam Cave that I modified with some duck fabric instead of foam to give a different look.
After some tracing, cutting, gluing, shaping, sealing, and painting, the builds were pretty much done.
The chest, shoulders, and belt have interchangeable emblems that make it very easy to change between them. All that is left is to change the gauntlet, knees, and mask and I can change within minutes for a shot or a con without bringing two full costumes. I was so laser-focused on this build…….I forgot to take work-in-progress photos.
Full list of materials and sources
Templates (Also Above)
Shopping
Gloves - old Darth Vader gloves I have had around forever
The End Result and the Photoshoots
A lightweight and comfortable foam cosplay that doesn’t restrict too much movement. I rocked the suit for the first time at C2E2 and Juan Pintor Pintogrophy did this amazing photoshoot. It was my first ever cosplay photoshoot and Juan was great! He answered all my questions (and I had a lot) and guided me from start to finish. The rooftop shots gave such a great Gotham vibe and the silhouette shots like the one below are amazing!
I rocked the suit to Fan Expo Chicago and met Dan Riba who was one of the artists for Batman Beyond. He signed my spare helmet (the first one I built was too small and is now a prop for autographs) and completed my suit multiple times. I walked away from the table with a giant smile under my helmet.
Danny Reyes (Drey6) shot my Nightwing on the roof of the parking garage of McCormick place. We had a great time and his edits came out great! Danny nailed the lighting on everything and the photos look pulled straight out of a movie.
I also worked with Sepra Photography to shoot my Nightwing on Lower Wacker in Chicago. It was a super fun shoot and we captured an underground gritty Gotham feel. The photos look like someone could jump out and start a scrap at any second. They wouldn’t stand a chance against Nightwing though……
I hope you enjoyed this version of “Creators Log”. You can connect with me on all my socials here.
I hope you enjoyed the version of “Creators Log”. Thanks for reading and happy creating! Be sure to connect with me at all my links here!