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Check out how Anthem's already inspiring a new wave of cosplay
Anthem's futuristic styling is already inspiring a new wave of outlandish cosplay. We get the lowdown on one die-hard fan who's already forged his very own Javelin exosuit.
Cosplay is serious business. Die-hard fans all over the world are assembling incredible, larger-than-life creations from their favourite games, which look like they've burst beyond the polygons and into reality. Forget the cheap off-the-shelf Halloween costumes, many custom creations have had blood, sweat and tears poured into them over a period of weeks, months or even years.
It's all down to the fans, whose dedication goes beyond barriers. Even small snippets of concept art or 30 second teaser will send cosplay creators into a creative tizzy. Take for example Elliot and Carla Politte, the husband and wife duo behind Irradiant Cosplay, who've created their very own Anthem cosplay suit, based on the EA and Bioware game that isn't even out yet.
The ambitious open-world shooter isn't set to launch until next year, but the duo have already broken out the tools and foam padding to craft their own rendition of one of the futuristic Ranger Javelin exosuits featured in the game – a towering 2.5m super suit that was made just by referencing the few video and screenshot teasers that have been released to date, like in the trailer below.
Politte isn't a full-time cosplayer. By day, he’s a senior UX designer based in Atlanta, Georgia, but, by night, he and his wife create outlandish video game-inspired creations. "We got started in cosplay six years ago, after our closest friends talked to us about this giant cosplay event called DragonCon," Politte explains. "We'd never done cosplay before that, but we wanted to be apart of it once we went and talked with so many amazing cosplayers, and made friends we still have to this day.
"I chose Anthem after seeing the demo at E3 a few years back. During the gameplay trailer, I was so drawn to the Javelin and was excited for the game, due to its visuals and landscapes," he says. "For the suit design, it was like Marvel's Iron Man, but way more intriguing to me. I've seen Iron Man cosplay that blew my mind in their level of detail – what I would consider perfectly executed. Because of that, the Javelin was the one I wanted to try and be the first to do it. I knew it was going to be a big project, and boy it was."
The husband and wife duo have gone the extra mile
© World of Gwendana/Irradiant Cosplay
Anthem's array of Javelin exosuits draw similar comparisons to Tony Stark's larger than life Iron Man suits. They do have plenty in common, such as completely encasing their wearer in armour, but unlike the sheer array of comic books, movies and would-be reference material available for one of Stark's creations, referencing Bioware's not yet released work was a whole different challenge.
"A lot went into this project. At the time we started it, Bioware had only released a game trailer," Politte says. "So, I took apart that video frame-by-frame to see everything I could; every angle and every colour I could find. It's such a complex suit, with many parts that I would have missed without seeing them in just the right light. After that, I had some unanswered questions so I called up EA and Bioware to see if they were willing to talk about anything in regards to the suit, such as colors, the size, weapons and so on. Anything I could get help on.
"We actually got hold of some great people at Bioware, but they couldn't tell us much. It was still cool to talk to some people who had made some of my favorite games, though," he says. "Reddit actually proved to be extremely effective, as their developers are on there watching their subreddit, so I was able to get a small amount of information, but not much due to the secrecy of the game. I actually had no clue they were building their own as well. After that, it was just drawings on paper and a lot of thinking."
Truly larger than life
© World of Gwendana/Irradiant Cosplay
18 months is how long it took Politte to create his very own Javelin exosuit, and if you're a stickler for detail, you can surely appreciate just what went into it. Politte explains that it was such an ambitious project that he had to pull in extra resources to fully get it done. After all, creating a suit that's almost as big as the tallest man in the world would need some extra help.
"I knew a project this big would take more time than myself and my wife had available so we painstakingly tried to find people to help. There was a lot trial and error; we had to have people who could weld for the custom steel legs, and we needed people who had experience with building something of this size," he tells us. "But an 2.5m giant is much harder. We ended up finding some great people to help, and we're grateful for that.
"In regards to the scale of the project, it changes everything in terms of our usual approach. You need to figure out time first, and how much of it you have to sink into it. We have jobs that we love so we needed to make sure there was balance in that. Then it's research, research, and more research. After that, it's design and sizing, and then materials. There are so many things you learn during the process that can cause headaches or that can change your approach, but you try to stay the course as much as possible."
There's no shortage of details pulled from EA's upcoming game
© World of Gwendana/Irradiant Cosplay
While the suit itself looks like it's made up of futuristic material, the Ranger Javelin suit is actually created out of cosplayers' favourite material: foam. "It's actually a pretty simple suit in terms of materials. It's all foam other than the digitigrade stilts, which were custom welded steel," Politte explains. "The paint gives it the look of metal or plastic, but it’s all foam and glue. So the positive on that is the suit is pretty light, other than the feet."
Just like the suit it's based on, there are plenty of electronics packed in, too. The helmet's visor slams shut at the press of a button, thanks to servos powered by an Arduino micro computer, while another Arduino runs a custom built pitch-shifting vocoder and sound effects rig that's all hidden in the body.
"The wiring was the hardest part on this, because getting suited up had to be done in the right order or cables would not make the runs," Politte says. "Sound effects and music are triggered by buttons that are run to the tips of my fingers, while two small speakers are located in the hip joints; all powered by a large capacity USB power bank."
While the suit is 2.5m of outlandish video game creativity, Politte tells us that it's not as unwieldy as you might think. "The suit is not uncomfortable, but I can only wear it for about three to four hours due to heat and my feet going numb. The reason for the issues with my feet is how the custom stilts sit on my foot. I usually explain it by saying, 'Think of a parrot on a stick, their toes are wrapped around that to ensure they have balance'. It’s the same deal with the Javelin. I have that gun in my hands, which draws my weight forward, onto my toes, so I have to use the balls of my feet and toes to ensure I have balance.
The suit's digitigrade stilts are made from solid steel
© World of Gwendana/Irradiant Cosplay
"I also have very narrow vision when the visor is down, but, thankfully, that runs on servos so I can raise and lower the visor with a button push. People loved that visor slamming down as we stepped out for photos. There are also some other LED lights that are in the back vents and leg vents, but they're wireless and just need to be charged before use. We had all sorts of ideas for doing a lot more with it, but with that comes a lot more complexities. We also just ran out of time to figure out how to work them in.
"Overall, the suit worked – headaches included – but what's made it amazing is seeing people's reactions to the visor slamming shut right before a photo, or catching them off guard with sounds," he says. "It makes you feel like a badass when you see everyone smile, and their phones come out to take pictures and record it."
For the moment, the Politte's are eagerly awaiting the launch of the game, and in the meantime will be looking to showcase their handiwork to conventions and expos, no doubt catching more praises from the devs at Bioware and EA. "We took the suit to DragonCon this year, which is one of the largest cosplay conventions in the United States," Politte says. "That was its maiden voyage. I'm assuming I’ll do something fun with it during the game release, but there's nothing set in stone."
For now, the duo have set their tools down and are looking for their next inspiration. "We're in full research mode for my next cosplay," Politte tells us. "For my wife, we’re going to build a badass set of World of Warcraft armour." For Anthem cosplay, you can bet the race is on to see who else will rise to the challenge and make their own Javelin suits. With the bar set so high already, we can't wait to see what the community does to honour EA and Bioware's ambitious game.
