...and I'll form THE HEAD!

November 25, 2012 5:19 PM

The pinnacle of convention cosplay has finally been achieved: The five-person assembling Voltron costume. (sideways phonecam video)
posted by Strange Interlude (39 comments total)

My money is still on the space marines.
posted by absalom at 5:22 PM on November 25, 2012 [10 favorites]

that next cosplayer on stage looks... thor'd as hell.
posted by boo_radley at 5:26 PM on November 25, 2012

Voltron is cool. Dark Angels win.
posted by dazed_one at 5:27 PM on November 25, 2012

Somewhere in the world right now fifteen cosplayers are staring intently at CAD designs of Vehicle Voltron, making plans for 2013.
posted by mhoye at 6:03 PM on November 25, 2012 [12 favorites]

I dunno... Does Voltron work if two of the pilots just kind of walk off during the assembly?
posted by Sys Rq at 6:08 PM on November 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

I think I could win this by just making the same costume and taking better photos of it.
posted by DU at 6:11 PM on November 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the last days of the Roman empire.
posted by craniac at 6:15 PM on November 25, 2012 [17 favorites]

absalom: "My money is still on the space marines."

That's hella cool. Would be even cooler if they painted them to look like painted figures (i.e. washes and drybrushing).
posted by Bugbread at 6:16 PM on November 25, 2012

My money is still on the space marines.

The costumes are 840 percent larger than the game piece. [...] The hugely popular tabletop game Warhammer 40K is set in the far future and played with 28mm miniature figures.

Either those are some awfully tight costumes, or math is hard.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2012

Holy shit. I've been failing at Halloween my whole life.
posted by Fuego at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

28mm * 84 = 2.35 meters. Not too tight. Even less tight if we take the "larger" more literally and take 28mm * 85 to get 2.38m.
posted by DU at 6:28 PM on November 25, 2012

Psh, robot can't even walk!
posted by pwnguin at 6:36 PM on November 25, 2012

28mm * 84 = 2.35

Is this how it works? I thought 840% of X is X * 8.4

Based on 100% of X = X * 1
posted by Hicksu at 6:52 PM on November 25, 2012

"X% larger" is kind of weird, though. "100% larger" = twice as large, right?
posted by kenko at 6:59 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

"X% larger" is kind of weird

Now I am confused...

Is 200% larger ...
A. X*2
B. X + X*2
C. X*4
D. X*20
posted by Hicksu at 7:06 PM on November 25, 2012

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the last days of the Roman empire.

Knowing nothing else about it, I'd confidently say that a culture that encourages doing crazy engineering tasks for fun is well on its way to doing so for serious important purposes too.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:11 PM on November 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

Don't take my math at heart because I stopped taking math courses last year, but IIRC,
100% larger = X*2 where X is the original number in question.

So Y% larger = X + X*Y%

Ex: 250% larger of 12
12 + 12*2.5 = 42
posted by Angel of Khaos at 7:16 PM on November 25, 2012

"X% the size of Y" is "X * Y", remembering that X is a percent, so "200% the size of Y" means "200% * Y", not "200 x Y". % means "1/100", so "200% * Y" = "200*(1/100)*Y"

"X% larger than Y" is "Y + (X * Y)"

So "840% larger than the model" means
28mm + (840% * 28mm) = 28mm + (840 *(1/100) * 28mm) = 263.2mm
posted by Bugbread at 7:25 PM on November 25, 2012

That's really cool! But not enough to unseat the reigning Voltron cosplay champion.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 7:29 PM on November 25, 2012 [7 favorites]

So "840% larger than the model" means
28mm + (840% * 28mm) = 28mm + (840 *(1/100) * 28mm) = 263.2mm

Bingo. And that's being rather generous and assuming "larger" means taller, which it doesn't.

(Percent, DU. You're off by about a thousand of them.)

/math derail
posted by Sys Rq at 7:31 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks ya'll. Gold stars all around.
posted by Hicksu at 7:44 PM on November 25, 2012

Yeah, assuming "larger" means "larger" in all three dimensions, not just "taller", then the amount of increase in any single dimension is 840%^1/3, which is 204% (204% taller x 204% wider x 204% deeper = 840% larger). So that would make the costumed Space Marine (28mm + (204% + 28mm)) = 85mm tall. About as tall as a coffee mug.

But, you know, maybe the woman in the photo is just really, really short.

And yet none of this changes the fact that that Space Marine costume is totally cool.
posted by Bugbread at 7:54 PM on November 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thank you for giving me the one occasion I have ever had to press the button that rotates the output from my monitor 90°.
posted by XMLicious at 8:03 PM on November 25, 2012 [3 favorites]

The hardest part was when blue lion cosplayer Sven got injured and they had to find a replacement cosplayer.
posted by drezdn at 8:41 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorry, still not as cool/adorable as this one.
(Also, obligatory Perry Bible Fellowship.)
posted by blueberry at 9:01 PM on November 25, 2012

that next cosplayer on stage looks... thor'd as hell

He didn't dye his hair! Even I dyed my hair.
posted by The Whelk at 9:46 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

*yawn*

Wake me when they do that land, sea, and air team Voltron.

seriously, this is good
posted by sourwookie at 10:32 PM on November 25, 2012

Yeah, but they probably don't REALLY love Voltron like I do. They're just doing it for the attention.
posted by verb at 11:06 PM on November 25, 2012 [3 favorites]

Imagine if they made a Voltron costume so realistic that one of the evil villians suddenly appeared at the convention and totally destroyed the cosplayers? The villian would be all embarassed and confused, thinking "Why would the puny humans turn themselves into a giant Voltron pinata for me to crush? Are they laughing at me?"
posted by orme at 12:24 AM on November 26, 2012

Meh. It's no Four bored Scousers at Manchester Airport.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:00 AM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

Imagine the value of putting this much energy into something useful.
posted by spitbull at 2:03 AM on November 26, 2012

I thought 840% of X is X * 8.4

d'oh
posted by DU at 3:53 AM on November 26, 2012

Imagine the value of putting this much energy into something useful.

eh, Voltron protected the galaxy from evil. I'm just glad these young people have good traditional role models!
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 4:10 AM on November 26, 2012

> Imagine the value of putting this much energy into something useful.

Imagine how much time you've "wasted" on MeFi that you could have spent doing "something useful". Oh wait, this is different, because of reasons.
posted by blue t-shirt at 6:01 AM on November 26, 2012 [4 favorites]

it hurts me i will never be this geektastic :D
posted by liza at 6:57 AM on November 26, 2012

Imagine the value of putting this much energy into something useful.

Any creation borne of true passion is art, buddy. Cope.
posted by absalom at 8:34 AM on November 26, 2012

Imagine the value of putting this much energy into something useful.

Awesomeness isn't fungible.
posted by mhoye at 11:06 AM on November 26, 2012

Guntron Alliance Force
posted by brain_drain at 11:26 AM on November 26, 2012

Oops missed that earlier in the thread! *Shoots self from Guntron in shame*
posted by brain_drain at 8:48 PM on November 26, 2012