Hello everyone, and welcome to Halo Spotlight. This piece is the first ever Cosplayer Q&A for the site. As the name implies, we have a sit down with a Halo Cosplayer and ask some questions.
In this Q&A we spoke to Sorzus, a Halo Cosplayer from Colombia that has used limited resources and a lot of trial and error to craft absolutely incredible Halo themed armour and props.
This Q&A was done via Discord, so if you’d like to hear the full audio version of this Q&A, you can do so on our YouTube channel or at the end of this piece.
The Writing Spartan asked Sorzus a range of questions. You can find the answers below, so please enjoy.
Question: For those who haven’t seen your creations, what armour and props have you made so far?
Well, my first Halo creation was actually the Master Chief armour. It was made out of Cardboard and boxes, but it was pretty fun. Then I jumped to my own designed armour. It is (the) Mark IV armour from Halo Wars.
Then I started changing the helmet design. I decided to try the operator helmet, then the Helioskrill helmet, and I have also made a lot of Halo weapons, like the Needler, the plasma pistol, Covenant Carbine, the Classic Magnum, and an SMG.
I have been trying to improve all of this stuff. My armour is pretty cool I think. I got a very interesting final result, but I still think that it (could) be better.
Question: What was it that made you want to start creating cosplay and props?
Well, it was actually a desire to do something different. You know, I always liked Halloween a lot and I liked to wear original costumes. Actually, my grandma was someone who introduced me to all of this (creating costumes).
She helped me with the sealing parts and making an outfit. The first cosplay ever that I had, I like to say it was the Avatar Aang from the Avatar series. It was her who told me how to use the sewing machine. Then I went into Halo.
Looking at these awesome armours, I was like “I want one of those”. I started looking into all the people who have made armours, the other cosplayers around the world.
I thought “Here in my country, that’s not a very common thing. The materials are very expensive here”, so I started talking to Grandma like “I want to do this, but how could we do this?”
So we started looking to do what I wanted, with the things that we had. There were the boxes, there were the paints. We said, “well we can try” and then we started working. We started trying, and she encouraged me to go ahead.
Even when the first Master Chief armour that I did like in 2014 was not a great success. It didn’t look good, but it was fun. It has been a process of many years. You can see 2014 my first attempt to make armour, then in 2018 I decided, I know how to do many other things now, (compared to) what I knew back in 2014.
(By) that moment I had already built smaller pieces, like some Assassin’s Creed costumes, so I said like, “well, we can take this to the next step. I want my Halo armour. The Halo armour that I have always wanted, but I don’t want to be the Master Chief. I want to be my own Spartan.”
You know the tiny figures of Mega Construx right? I always like so much (that) the armour is detachable, so I took one of my figures and I decided, “I am going to paint this little guy. I am going to build my armour in real life.”
So I did, and it was very fun, because I like drawing too. I started drawing sketches of that little guy. I started painting his armour and then going to build the full armour.
Question: From the initial concept and sketches stage up until completion, how much time would you say it all took?
It was at first four years because I started in 2014 with my first attempt of armour, but I kind of left the project for a couple years. It was actually one year. In one year, I built my full armour and I started the (concept) process.
Wondering first, how would I like the armour to look? Painting the little guy, the figure, and then the final step, getting right into it (building). So it took me like, four or five months, counting the final helmet.
So I would say that the total process of building, just building, was one year for me, and (concepting) was four years.
It was also because I needed to learn first. Maybe now, because I already did one armour, I could build another one.
Actually, I did a Mandalorian armour and it took me one month, but I already knew everything from the Spartan armour, so it was easier to build something when you already know how.
Question: Do you have a favourite helmet and favourite weapon to go with the rest of your armour?
Well, actually yes. As I as I told you, I have the Helioskrill helmet, the operator helmet and the classic helmet (the Master Chief), I think that’s Mark VI. My favourite helmet I can say is the operator helmet.
I don’t know why, but the overall design I think it’s very cool. I edited some pictures for Halloween and painted in the visor a skull, and I think that it looked beautiful. I really love this helmet. The part of the lights with the night vision stuff I think it’s very cool, and in game I actually use the operator helmet.
As for the weapons, I still always (like the) Covenant Carbine. The alien design is something I really like. It’s actually my favourite weapon.
Question: Have you got any tips or advice for those who want to get into armour or prop making, but don’t know how?
Yeah, I think that what I could say is to keep your motivation. When I started, I didn’t know how to do any of this. I only knew how to draw, so I started drawing, and then I started thinking how to bring it into reality, to make what I was drawing real. I said “well I’m going to try.”
I think that everything that is needed is trying. Try with whatever you have. I have a very interesting story about how all of the the final armour started, and it was with building a Needler because I thought it was cool.
I said “if I want to build it, I need first a base.” So I cut a piece of cardboard, but it was flat. It was 1D, like a drawing. I was like “Yeah, it looks cool If I was in a video game like Mario Bros where you see things from the side, but I want something else.”
So I started like pasting paper around, to make it look 3D and consistent. First it looked kinda fugly, but then I started using the Internet and also asking grandma, and she said “Well, you could use glue and paper. Papermache.” So I started using that technique.
I started coating the weapon and even started getting the shape that I wanted. Then I missed just one thing. The crystals. Well what is a Needler without crystals? So for Christmas, I saw some of these decorations that are kind of like an icicle. I said “That could be a good needler crystal”.
At the end of Christmas Grandma gave me those for my weapon and I painted the weapon. I installed the crystals, and when I looked at that weapon, I said “well, I had no idea how to do this, but I have in my hand now a natural Needler”. It’s something I learned to do without knowing anything. It’s not about knowing, it’s about never giving up.
Cut some cardboard, use some paint, try some colours. You’re going to screw up a lot of things, maybe your clothes trying to paint, or cut a finger trying to cut a piece of cardboard, but if you really want to see the final result, If you want to build something new and change your reality, why not keep trying.
Once you have the first attempt completely built, you’re going to start looking back. You will say, “well I did it but I could do it better and in a different way.” You’ll start looking at the internet. The internet is a good source of information about other cosplayers.
Even if you see that they do stuff with 3D printers that you don’t have, you may see how they’ve based the pieces of cosplays, how they’ve built their armours, how they’ve built their weapons and how they attach them.
You have to remember that if you’re going to cosplay, you’re not the first, and you’re not alone in this. If you don’t want to invest a lot of money, It is not necessary, you just need some time and a good idea. From a good idea you can get anything.
The 405th, I looked a lot at what had. The guides and all of that stuff. I remember Pepakura too. I started to look into that when I saw that I wanted to improve my methods. I took a lot of inspiration from them and I actually talked to some of the cosplayers around the 405th, and the cosplayers that I have talked with are very cool people.
They are going to give you advice if you need it. They’re going to encourage you to keep trying. They already know how to do this stuff, so maybe another voice with more experience may be useful.
Question: Where would people go to find pictures or information of your awesome cosplay and props?
I have all my pictures and some stories with the building process of my props on Instagram. I am Sorzus.
A huge thank you to Sorzus for talking with The Writing Spartan. A reminder that this written Q&A is only a bite sized version of the full interview. We really recommend checking out the full Q&A below.
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