Oh my goodness, I haven't a thing to wear!

[gwalla]

Okay, here's the deal. A friend has invited me to his Halloween party. Costume party, o'course. A theme costume party, and the theme is G.I. Joe.

I never watched G.I. Joe.

Sure, I was aware of it. I'd occasionally see some at friends' houses if I was over, and sometimes caught the "knowing is half the battle" end segments if I tuned in early for whatever show came on next (He-Man? I can't remember). And of course I saw ads for toys all the freaking time. But I never watched it, or paid much attention to the toys. I didn't even know there had been a movie until the advent of the Internet. Consequently, I have no idea who most of them are. Of the Joes I could probably pick Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, and Sgt. Slaughter out of a lineup. From Cobra: Cobra Commander, Destro, Serpentor, and Baroness. And I couldn't really describe them in much detail (except maybe Baroness, whose rendering by BigBigTruck has been etched into my retinas). That's the extent of my knowledge. Well, that and the fact that Cobra Commander hissed "I was once a man!" in the movie, which I think I learned from X-Entertainment.com a few years ago.

So I need help coming up with a G.I. Joe costume. Preferably one made of items that are not difficult or expensive to acquire, and don't require heavy construction.

Doesn't help that I'm really not a costume person (as aurora77 can probably attest; getting me to even wear a pair of devil horns at BoardieCon a few years ago must have been like pulling teeth)

Comments

[frustratedpilot]

Depends on what look you want to go for. Besides, you can always go as a Greenshirt. A Greenshirt is a guy in a mostly standard Army battledress uniform, which you can assemble at any military surplus store.

Once upon a time, I had hopes of anime cosplay as the titular character of Armor Hunter Mellowlink, which is sort of in the same vein. What the costume would have entailed for me:

Poncho
Camo-pattern hunting trousers (which you can get at WalMart for cheap)
Suspender type torso harness (look in hardware stores)
Heavy-duty tank-top shirt
Combat boots (I had work boots that were close enough)
Pony tail hairdo
War paint
Gloves
Fake guns (I actually own the official G.I.Joe Laser Tag(TM) pistol set...and my plan was to augment this with a bazooka assembled from a mailing tube and a defunct hairdryer unit)

I gave up on cosplay after a particularly pathetic Char Aznable I did. Got dead last in the Masquerade but won Char's Counterattack on VHS afterward, so I felt vindicated but also justified in quitting.

There's no shortage of websites devoted to Joe, including some that have pictures of the action figures and the package art.

[frustratedpilot]

Just saw the pictures of you on your website. I think one of the Drednoks or Zartan himself (for one of his later figures) sported a black leather jacket. Going to dig around a little...

[frustratedpilot]

Idea #1) Headhunter (badguy mook)
Black Beret hat
Black leather jacket (you have)
Black pants or jumpsuit
White "slasher" hockey mask
Red shoulder pads, gloves, boots, waist holster belt
Fake assault rifle, shotgun or machine pistol

[frustratedpilot]

Did you get any other ideas?

Another idea I had was the Black Major (from G.I.Joe European cousin Action Force), but I don't know if you could have pulled that one off.

[derakon.livejournal.com]

Worst comes to worst, you could always just go as an army slut. ¬.¬

[shortpacked.livejournal.com]

You would make a perfect Blowtorch.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

...

Well, at least now I know where the "Sucks" audio comes from...

[wanderingbhikkh.livejournal.com]

Whoa whoa whoa, somebody mention Big Big Truck?

[(Anonymous)]

Woot!! I got my cobra commander hood completed today!! Looks awsome!!