Female mechwarrior cosplay - some guidance required

[Kret69]

Dear all,

one of my players would like to make a costume of a female Mechwarrior. She asked me for help but and we started to dig for some ideas from books and manuals.

The problem is, most of them require the model to walk at least partially naked. This looks nice on images in RPG books but in real life (and in this particular case the real life association is important) there are some problems:
- cold and draft
- willingness to show a cool costume made by my player, not attract attention with her legs/whatever else she would have to reveal.

I don't want to sound puritan (although this would be mine or hers private matter) but there is a difference when looking at the picture of young photoshopped female in warrior suit and the old picture of Joanna d'Arc or a modern female soldier. The latter has something powerful on her face visible without showing intimate parts, an effect we'd like to achieve (at least partially).

Is there any good reference that would not look like Playboy cover and yet show a respectful (fearful) female Mechwarrior? I only found some fan art of Manei Domini but I am also new to the entire universe.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Sharpnel]

Here's a suggestion on a possible outfit. Spandex/Lycra shorts with a Sports bra (Lady Gym-rat chic). Heavy clunky boots (Doc Martens or military boots). Dark Grey or Olive drab coveralls to wear over the shorts/bra to effect the out-of-cockpit look. Don't forget handgun with belt and holster.

[Kret69]

That's pretty well thought over, thank You.

Would a coverall cooling suit make sense? I imagine that the heat buildup inside the cockpit may be taken care of not only by running the Mech naked but also with the use of some more advanced materials, would that be the case?

[Mendrugo]

Dear all,

one of my players would like to make a costume of a female Mechwarrior. She asked me for help but and we started to dig for some ideas from books and manuals.

The problem is, most of them require the model to walk at least partially naked. This looks nice on images in RPG books but in real life (and in this particular case the real life association is important) there are some problems:
- cold and draft
- willingness to show a cool costume made by my player, not attract attention with her legs/whatever else she would have to reveal.

I don't want to sound puritan (although this would be mine or hers private matter) but there is a difference when looking at the picture of young photoshopped female in warrior suit and the old picture of Joanna d'Arc or a modern female soldier. The latter has something powerful on her face visible without showing intimate parts, an effect we'd like to achieve (at least partially).

Is there any good reference that would not look like Playboy cover and yet show a respectful (fearful) female Mechwarrior? I only found some fan art of Manei Domini but I am also new to the entire universe.

Thanks a lot in advance.

If you use the art in the Star League sourcebook as a guide, you can go with a full-body coolant suit, which effectively takes care of any/all modesty and climate-control issues.  (Essentially start with a jumpsuit and stitch rubber tubing all over the outside).

[Kret69]

Noted, thank You. Although I am not sure if I can find a copy around.

[Mendrugo]

Noted, thank You. Although I am not sure if I can find a copy around.

It's $7.50 on the BattleShop as a PDF.  (http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2345)

[Kret69]

Thanks!

[Diablo48]

The wiki says that cooling suits and cooling vests are detailed in Lostech: The MechWarrior Equipment Guide which might be easier to find, although I do not know if it has pictures you could use for reference.  The pages on the suits and vests themselves are unfortunately brief so there is not really anything there beyond what Mendrugo already said as far as making a costume goes.

[Beazle]

I flipped through the books I knew mentioned full cooling suits and a few I thought just might, but, for some strange reason, I could only find pictures of cooling vests.

Some quick google'n brought up some images of real world cooling suits that will get you going in the right general direction.  Make something along those lines, then up armor it with a hard vest for both projectile and eyeballing protection, and throw on some extra pockets.

'Cause nothing says "I came here to kill people." like a vest with lots of pockets.

[Kret69]

Thank You all for advice, in my and colleague's name.

We (I say in plural because it seems to become a group project) never considered a typical tactical vest or bullet-proof/ballistic vest. An idea of survival kit came to our mind but we decided to leave it as a grab-bag located somewhere at the ejecting chair. The whole thing will be to a large extent done from scratch.

So far I have only seen one Natasha Kerensky's cosplay.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

The neurohelmet is going to be the centerpiece of any mechwarrior costume.  Without the pair of the helmet AND the cooling vest the costume isn't really iconic to being a MechWarrior.

[Von Ether]

You could also do the long pants/full length shirt version of this outfit. I think the character also has bangs. Kudos for putting the word out on BT via cosplay.

[Jackmc]

When it comes to the Cooling vest, remember that it was based on 1980's ballistic vests which were considerably bulkier than modern ballistic vests.  To get the look right, I'd look at a modern ballistic /plate/ carrier as that's a lot closer in cut to the older vests.

Also, I'd avoid loading up the front of the vest with a lot of gear and knick-knacks.  A cooling vest is heavy to begin with and that's made worse by the fact that it's a load bearing element designed to support the weight of the neurohelmet which IIRC according to some of the earlier sources weighs 5-10 kg.  Speaking as someone who wears a very heavy vest for work and drives a rough riding vehicle, you want to minimize the weight involved otherwise the muscle fatigue and shoulder pain severely impact your effectiveness.

-Jackmc

[Kat]

A good base for the "cooling vest" might actually be a chunky-looking life vest. The fellow in this illustration has the whole bikini thing going on, but there's no reason spandex shorts couldn't be worn instead, if that's the cosplayer's preference.



Edit: I finally found a picture of a cooling suit.
This one's a Clan MechWarrior (from the Wolf SB), but I assume that the SL-era cooling suits wouldn't be too different. There's a layer of mesh fabric that covers the whole body, and the cooling part of the cooling suit goes on over that.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

A good base for the "cooling vest" might actually be a chunky-looking life vest. The fellow in this illustration has the whole bikini thing going on, but there's no reason spandex shorts couldn't be worn instead, if that's the cosplayer's preference.

If the friend in question isn't keen on showing skin, the character on the right is displaying a MechWarrior's field uniform (for the DCMS in this case) for use while not in the cockpit.

[Kat]

Whoops, I forgot to mention what House they were from. Thanks for catching that, Tai Dai.

Well, since we're on the subject of uniforms, now, Sarna has a page on IS uniforms and SLDF uniforms.

What faction(s) does your player like, Kret? Maybe we can offer some more detailed suggestions.

[idea weenie]

If you use the art in the Star League sourcebook as a guide, you can go with a full-body coolant suit, which effectively takes care of any/all modesty and climate-control issues.  (Essentially start with a jumpsuit and stitch rubber tubing all over the outside).

This would be useful, and you can even cheat a bit.  Make the rubber tubing actually carry water, and if the convention gets too hot, you go back to the room, and put an ice pack in a storage section.  Not just a costume, but an actual working suit.  You can look for medical diagrams showing where emergency rooms put ice packs when treating heat victims, fur locations where to put more cooling tubes.

Or to avoid the potential for leaks, just put copper or aluminum wire underneath the coolant vest, but in the same locations, and have the ice pack touching the central location.  The metal will help conduct the coolth around the body.

From there, look up information about what modern tankers consider part of their gear when they have to bail out.  First Aid kit, gun, survival kit, similar gear.  Make it practical, rather than fanservice.

Plus you need an outline of a Mech on it so people can recognize it as BT cosplay, not any other group.

[Kat]

Plus you need an outline of a Mech on it so people can recognize it as BT cosplay, not any other group.

The helmet would be a great place for that. Stencil on a few little 'Mech-silhouettes as kill markers.

[klarg1]

The wiki says that cooling suits and cooling vests are detailed in Lostech: The MechWarrior Equipment Guide which might be easier to find, although I do not know if it has pictures you could use for reference.  The pages on the suits and vests themselves are unfortunately brief so there is not really anything there beyond what Mendrugo already said as far as making a costume goes.

I don't have it with me at work, but doesn't TRO:2750 also have an illustration of a Mechwarrior cooling suit?

[SpaceCowboy1701]

The MechAssault games (particularly the second one) have some non-canon suits ... given the nature of Battletech's hit-and-miss technology, you have quite a bit of leeway ... as idea weenie pointed out, the trick in all cases will be to make it distinctively Battletech in some sense. Unit or House patches or decals for the helmet / armor would be ideal, but I don't know how available those are.

[Beazle]

I don't have it with me at work, but doesn't TRO:2750 also have an illustration of a Mechwarrior cooling suit?

It does, but it's a kinda crappy black and white drawing that's too small to give much detail.

It's also a House Kurita specific one.

The description describes it as a close fitting full-body cooling suit covered with a strong, heat resistant polymer fabric.  A hard ballistic vest is worn over that for additional protection.  In addition, it has a med-pack hook up on the front of the right thigh that monitors the warriors temp and vitals, as well as administering medication as needed (since it's a Kurita design, I'm just going to assume it's a sake IV).

In the picture, the tubing for the cooling suit isn't particularly visible.  Pretty much only the hook ups are shown with cooling and cold air (for the helmet) hook ups coming over his shoulder.  Other than those and the med-pak, it looks a lot like an infantry get up.

Of course, my TRO:2750 is pretty old, and kinda faded.  Plus that page has been torn and taped so I may be missing some details.

[Wrangler]

I know the cosplay is done on the cheap.

However aside from pictures.  There are REAL cooling vests out there now.




Maybe this will help your cosplayer be able get ideas for them.  Personnally, old movie version of DUNE has really close version of Cooling vest, but it was full body.

[Kit deSummersville]

There've been some Black Widows that look good while still keeping breezes at bay in GenCon's past.

[SteelRaven]

Someone could always try for something like Rhonda Snord's rocker look
Could always try for GDL The Price of Glory look

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/b2/The_Price_of_Glory_%28reprint%29.jpg

[Kret69]

Thank You all for suggestions. We take notes of each of them and try to invent something reasonable.

I know that some work has already begun, I'll keep You all posted.

Again, thanks for help and support.

[idea weenie]

Thank You all for suggestions. We take notes of each of them and try to invent something reasonable.

I know that some work has already begun, I'll keep You all posted.

Again, thanks for help and support.

Remember, we want to see pics afterward.  If the lady needs mood music, perhaps this would help.   O0

Some sort of weapon (big bore, put a pistol) would be appropriate for a Mechwarrior out of their Mech.  The gun is large enough to intimidate/severely injure, but not a lot of range or ammo means they need to get back to friendly lines ASAP.

[Kret69]

I'll try to arrange someone proficient on site, so we do not end up with amateurish facebook-style self-made portraits. With flash. ;)

As for the music, excellent choice and I thank You for that. My colleague announced she has already started to train the walk.

[truetanker]

Nerf Maverick-6 shot


Sells for 8.99 each. Makes a great Sternsnacht, tho it stats have a 3-shot mag.

TT

[spacewolflord]

A quick question, WHY does/did Mech Pilots don't ware paints or well something?  I mean I get that it gets hot in there but just a vest, helmet and under wear?  How could they have forgotten how to make Full Body Cooling Suits?

[Wrangler]

A quick question, WHY does/did Mech Pilots don't ware paints or well something?  I mean I get that it gets hot in there but just a vest, helmet and under wear?  How could they have forgotten how to make Full Body Cooling Suits?

Its just fact its doubles as full on Combat suit too. Making be able to do both maybe difficult.