Creators Log: Red Hood
Another Robin Variant Cosplay from my first and hopefully last con crunch.
Welcome to Creators Log - a log of the who, why, and how behind my cosplays. For this entry, I look at my Red Hood cosplay.
You could say I like the Batfamily. Between my multiple cosplays of Batman characters and the sizable stack of comics I have from different Batfamily characters, I could argue it’s my favorite comic character collection.
So let’s talk about how my Red Hood came to life. It’s the first time (and hopefully last) I ever con crunched.
Cosplaying as an Undead Antihero
The Character
Jason Todd is best known as the second person to take up the Robin sidekick mantle. It’s also the second Robin I’ve cosplayed (see my Nightwing post here). His origin has had different iterations from his parents being killed by Killer Croc to being taken in by Bruce as a petty thief. The character is best known for being aggressive and reckless up to his death.
After being killed by Joker in the “Death in the Family” comic, Jason is brought back to life in the Lazarus Pit unbeknownst to Batman in the 2005 “Under the Red Hood” comic. Jason comes back as Red Hood, as a ruthless villain before being rewritten as an antihero. He rides a fine line with other Batfamily members as an ally but normally doesn’t see eye to eye with how to handle some situations as the other Batfamily members.
The Inspiration
Red Hood is a character that I had on my list for a while. I had a week off between ending one job and starting another and decided that would be a great time to put this build together. It was cutting close to Fan Expo Chicago, especially since I had to go out of town for training the week leading up to the con.
Like I said above I am a fan of all things Batfamily. I like the gritty anti-hero persona and as my music taste will show, I am still in an emo phase much like Jason Todd is. He is a very dynamic character who has gone through dramatic changes and still is struggling with how to process it all. I think we can all look back on a couple of events that changed drastically for better or worse. A few events of loss, change, and defeat come to mind when I think of the connections I have to this character.
There are many different looks that Jason has from comics and video games. I mashed up a couple that I like with my own twist on it as well. I like to mix styles when it comes to these types of cosplays instead of doing a 1:1 replica. There is nothing wrong with doing a 1:1 remake, some people prefer that. My thought process is mine alone, cosplay is about expression and fun. Do what you want and don’t let anyone tell you differently. The only rules to cosplay in my book are to be safe, have fun, and don’t be an asshat and/or creep.
The Process
I used the same Star Wars Clone Scout chest piece starting point that I did for the Batman Beyond/Nightwing build (template from Andrew DFT). Since I planned on wearing a jacket, I just used elastic and Velcro to secure the chest to itself without a back plate.
I used the stomach armor templates from XiengPod’s Batman Beyond template and used his Red Hood helmet template as well.
I glued the chest pieces onto a mesh jersey material to allow some airflow, after a try on of the finished product I realized I needed to add an additional strap to the back of the stomach to keep it in place. Glad I realized that BEFORE going to a convention.
I did the normal sealing and painting process on all the foam pieces to finish it off. For the eye covers I used lighting gel which I do with all masks/helmets as it is cheap and super easy to work with and see out of. It is paper thin and can be cut with just a pair of scissors. Hot glueing it to the foam of a mask or helmet secures it very well.
I grabbed some holsters, prop pistols, a set of knee pads, a tactical belt, some tactical pants, and a jacket from Amazon and was pretty much done. The boots are the same as the Batman Beyond/Nightwing build.
Some of you are probably reading this and thinking, that’s not much of a con crunch, you had an entire week. Let me tell you it’s as close to a crunch as I want to have haha.
Full list of materials and sources
Templates (Also Above)
Shopping
Jacket
Shirt - you can get a compression shirt or any black T-shirt works fine
The End Result and Photoshoot
I planned on wearing this to Fan Expo Chicago….but there was a delay in the shipping of the jacket, and since I didn’t have a backplate, I put it off a few weeks until Anime Magic where I wore it for the first time.
Alex - SepraPhotogorphy nailed the feel of this photoshoot. We did all of these shots in and around the parking garage of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.
I looked at a few of the raws during the shoot and said to Alex “That looks like someone is getting f****d up by Jason which is exactly what I was going for.” The nighttime shoot captured the gritty Gotham vibe I was looking for. The shot of me walking with the guns was super fun. Walking down that alley at night suited up made me feel pretty badass.
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!
Thanks for reading and happy creating!