Arthur Dent - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Why I chose to make this costume
I have long been a fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy having read the books and listened to the original radio episodes when I was in college. Arthur Dent was one of my first cosplays because it was relatively easy to pull together.
How I made this costume
I chose to base this on the 2005 movie partly because I enjoyed that version's aesthetic more and partly because I already had a green bathrobe similar to the one being sported by Martin Freeman. :) My first version of this cosplay involved an empty DVD case into which I had inserted the famous "Don't Panic" artwork. For my first DragonCon I wanted to kick this up a notch and so I modeled the The Book myself in MS 3D Builder, printed it in PLA, and painted to match the screen prop.
Thoughts on this costume
I did have some issues figuring out how to best orient The Book for printing and ended up having to abandon ideas to print the logo and "Don't Panic" in clear filament (then painted) so that I could light them from the inside. I may eventually come back to this idea, but the narrow margins of this prop introduce challenges.