Creators Log: Resident Evil HUNK
Stepping into Umbrella's NEST as I cosplay HUNK from Resident Evil.
Welcome to Creators Log - a log of the who, why, and how behind my cosplays. For this entry, I look at my Resident Evil HUNK Cosplay
At the start of this year, I decided to hang up the superhero cosplay cape for a bit (kind of…..more on that in a future post) and scratch off some video game cosplays I had had on my list for a bit.
Resident Evil is one of my favorite gaming franchises. My college roommate and I had a blast running through multiple titles in the series. One character that stuck out to me was HUNK from Resident Evil 2. I have logged more hours into the remake of Resident Evil 2 than I can count, so it was a natural starting point for me as far as a character from the series to cosplay. Let’s dig into the build and the end results.
Creators Log: Resident Evil HUNK
The Character
Originally appearing in the 1998 Resident Evil 2 game, the soldier known by the codename HUNK (Human Unit Never Killed) is an Umbrella operative sent into NEST to retrieve the G-Virus from William Birkin’s lab. After a confrontation with Birkin, HUNK and the rest of his Alpha Team grab the briefcase containing the virus and depart from the lab. After a run-in with a mutated Birkin, Alpha Team is wiped out, leaving just its leader, HUNK, and teammate Golbin 6. Goblin 6 died a few days later, leaving HUNK as the sole survivor. It took him over a week to rendezvous with NIGHTHAWK to be extracted from Raccon City with the virus.
Dressed in full tactical gear, including a red lens-tinted gas mask, HUNK looks intimidating and tends to show no remorse or mercy for his enemies and no empathy for his fallen comrades.
The Inspiration
I’ve wanted to cosplay a character from Resident Evil for a bit now. The first few characters that came to mind were franchise stars (no pun intended) such as Chris Redfield or Leon Kennedy. HUNK was a character I wanted to cosplay due to the dark and mysterious look, but the process felt intimidating. I am not sure what first drew me to the character, but I knew I wanted to cosplay it just based on the badass look and my love of Resident Evil 2.
The character’s lack of caring for others and overall demeanor is also the exact opposite of my own personality. Sometimes, cosplaying a character that is the complete opposite of your own personality is a fun change, especially when posing/acting for a photoshoot.
I wanted to be dressed as this badass-looking character, but I thought it was unachievable due to the number of parts needed. Once I did a bit of research and looked at the current inventory I had, I saw a way forward and got to work.
The Process
Reusing Pieces
This one had a lot of pieces floating around it, as you can see from the long shopping list below. The good news was that I already had the base layer down, with most of it being re-used from my Red Hood build. I reused the same pants, knee pads, gloves, holsters, prop pistols, neck seal (I have tons floating around my workspace/cosplay closet), and boots.
I was simultaneously working on a Splinter Cell build (more on that in a future post) and knew I would re-use a lot of the same parts, such as the tactical vest and elbow pads. This made the list a lot easier to tackle as I knew I already had some of the pieces and would multipurpose some others. Multipurposing has become somewhat of a signature of mine (see my interchangeable Batman Beyond and Nightwing here)
Stand-Alone Pieces
The centerpiece of the costume and the signature feature of the character is the red lens-tinted gas mask. The character model is mostly based on the FM12 and/or S10 gas mask. Those are……….. a bit hard to find and quite expensive as they are no longer produced. So I found a modern model that has a very similar look and got to work.
The filters in the gas mask are unique to the game. Luckily, Killcade makes 3D printed replica versions that are very easy to attach to the mask with no adhesive needed.
Now for the key part, the red lenses. There are post-production red lenses available from different sellers (Killcade is one of them, and the work on everything else that the shop does is fantastic). I just didn’t trust myself with a screwdriver to disassemble the mask, switch the lenses out, and get it all back together without a major mishap. I am decent with a hot glue gun, heating gun, exacto knife, and other cosplay tools. Real tools and I………… we don’t mix well. So I went with the old reliable method I have used on my other cosplay masks/helmets, lighting gel. I put three layers of it together and tucked it into the mask. It works great as it is very hard to see my eyes, but I can see just fine (minus the tunnel vision from the mask).
One more detail I wanted to add for the photoshoots was a silver case and a G-Virus bottle with a couple of syringes for a fun photoshoot opportunity of escaping from the lab with the virus in tow.
After that, it was just waiting for the shirt, helmet, top layer vest, tactical vest, and elbow pads to get delivered. I added a couple of patches to the shirt and tactical vest, and the build was done!
Shopping
Red lighting gel to tint the lenses
Various Umbrella patches
The End Result and Photoshoot
A very warm (lots of layers and heavy clothing) but badass (I think) looking cosplay that makes me feel like I am escaping from a Raccon City lab with the highly dangerous G-Virus alongside me. The costume isn’t an exact 1:1 replica of the in-game model. That would be incredibly expensive due to the hard-to-find nature of the mask, vest, pouches, and helmet. All that said, I am still thrilled with how the cosplay came out.
I teamed up with Drey 6 once again for a photoshoot at C2E2 (more on that later). We had a great time shooting and got some amazing content.
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!
