Batou - Ghost in the Shell
Why I chose to make this costume
Ghost in the Shell has always been my favourite anime/manga francise and the wise-cracking badass, Batou, my favourite character from it. As soon as I started cosplaying I knew that I would need to play "the big man" some day!
How I made this costume
Most of the time Batou is in pretty casual gear, so that part is easy. However, I did 3D-print his cyber-eyes as well as his signature Jericho 942. For the eyes, I started with a model from Thingiverse (by thinkpool). I then went through 5 iterations of printing, testing for fit, tweaking the model, and printing again to get these to properly fit my face. After some paint and clearcoat I added 'lenses' made from grey lighting gels. Rather than include any other parts that might break the illusion of these being cyber-prosthetics, I wear these by using Pros-Aide, a prosthetic adhesive. For the firearm, the IMI Jericho 942 does not exist, but it is supposed to be a version of the 941 chambered for .50-cal. I was able to find files for the IMI Jericho 941 on Thingiverse (modeled by Fuzzy_Wafflz) and use 3D Builder to remove and replace the embossing of the model number.
Thoughts on this costume
Batou has made a great "casual cosplay" on a number of occasions now, and I have enjoyed it every time. This is a recognizable character and I always get comments on the eye appliances. I have had to resort to white hair gel so far, because I have been fighting with several wigs to get the right look and have not yet been satisfied with the results - I will just have to keep trying! I also intend to add temporary tattoos of the back-of-neck data jacks prevalent to the GitS cast as another fun detail.