Cosplaying a Multiple Armed Character

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Thanks for this thread, I need to figure it out for a maybe-future cosplay myself and I can't seem to find any satisfactory arms just randomly searching. Pic related seems to be the average quality of extra arms at the moment. Following this like a hawk.

Really interested in this too.
>>8865311
That one is the best in this thread.

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Thinking about how to rig up something like this, I had the idea of making the arms more like ball-jointed dolls' arms. They can hold a pose fairly well purely on the tension of the elastic inside the arms, and it would leave the arms posable yet easy to move. No idea on material yet, though; maybe paper maché with a (few) layer(s) of bondo/resin/fibreglass on top?

How bad of an idea is this?

>>8865328
Depends on what you're cosplaying, and whether you disguise the ball jointed-ness with a "skin" of fabric or some such, but I don't know that it would hold up well. I'd be worried the weight to hold up to the pressure caused by the tension bands would be a bit too much, really.

See >>8865254 and the way the heavier mannequin arms pull away from the costume really distractingly.

That's why most people go with wire/stuffing. Lighter.

>>8865251
This is disturbing, her fake hands are all turned and twisted.

>>8865331
Was thinking something Steven Universe, so I'd probably pad slightly then do the fabric "skin" method.
I'm mostly worried about tension, like you bring up.

I'd like to have some movement possible, but independant and not relying on string like >>8865311, even though that also looks good.

>>8865331
I agree, I have yet to see mannequin arms look natural. It always looks so heavy compared to the real arms.
>>8865256
this is why I don't enjoy the use of strings from far away it can look really cool/ok (>>8865311
) but unclose it just looks weird.

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>>8865254 did a multi-armed tutorial after realizing that the mannequin arms were too heavy to use. pic related was the result.

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Hope you guys don't mind a self post but I figured I'd contribute.

Last year I cosplayed Mistral from Metal Gear Rising, and of course she has like 14 extra arms.

My method of making the arms was I made plaster of paris casts of my own arms, then I made tons of paper mache copies using the plaster of paris mold as like the base mold. Hands were duct tape copies of my own hands then filled with spray foam, arms were filled with foam too. The upper and lower arm parts were joined with screws for bendability.
Then cover them all in fabric.

Pic related are the finished arms. Them came out pretty strong and fairly light too.

>>8867098
Looks pretty cool, anon! Happen to have any progress shots to share? In what ways do the arms bend?

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self post incoming.

I used stuffing, and armature wire to shape and fill my fake arms, then sewed them below the armpit of my actual arms. They were then attached with invisible thread so I could move them easily.

This was possibly the most fun character I've ever cosplayed.

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>>8867606
Here's some really messy WIPs thrown together

The arms bend in one way at the elbow joint via wing nut a bolt from a hole drilled through plastic. (Circled in red in pic related) I didn't need them to have a ton of movement, just some when I walked.

>>8868103
Thanks anon, that helps!

>>8867885
What character is this? It certainly -looks- fun.

>>8865317
tfw your cosplaying this character and you hope your arms don't look as fucked as this pics.

>>8868445
It's Orendi, from Battleborn.

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>>8865328 back again, I've looked around and found some fairly cheap mannequin arms on Taobao. Although I don't know if it's per pair or not, if the price is for one arm it turns out to be as expensive as Aliexpress.

I think for people who only need an extra pair of arms this can be a fairly good solution? I might use these since they're made to hold poses and to move easily.

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>>8867098
>>8868103
Thank you for posting this, Anon! I really like the method you used and overall look. Weird question, but how did you attach the arms to the harness? Working on pic-related and I'm trying to get that similar suspended look.

>>8869798
Nice anon! Thanks!
The arms attached via waterbottles inside the arms with the caps inside of PVC pipe that I bent to make the sort of framework of the harness thing. So the arms sort of screwed in and out of the sockets on the harness.

However for screaming mantis there might be a better/stronger way you can attach them since they attach differently.

>>8870142
Shit anon that's a pretty clever way to save money. Thank you so much!