ClaytonW
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A question for those more knowledgable about Beethro than I (meaning Erik):

Halloween is coming, and I've been invited to two costume parties, plus I may go Trick-or-Treating for the last time this year. I have very limited funds, so I've decided that I'll dress up this year as my favorite inexpensively-yet-impressively-dressed exterminator: Beethro Budkin.

The costume is fairly simple. A yellow, long-sleeved sweatshirt, an unnecessarily large sword, boots, a can of hair dye, and maybe that backpack Beethro is sporting on the main page of DROD.net. My one problem resides in Beethro's pants (uh, the problem is his pants, not in his pants ). I've seen several pictures you've drawn of Beethro, and his pants aren't always the same. I must determine the proper attire for my costume--help!

The pants that Beethro wears...
...are they sweatpants or slacks or what?
...what color are they? I've seen grey, brown, and even orange.
...are they held up with a belt? Some pictures have a belt, some don't.

In the highly unlikely event that Beethro owns more than one pair of pants, what are his favorite pants? I must know so that I may accurately depict our hero.

One other question: The hilt of Beethro's sword, is it gold-colored, silver-colored, or wood?

I'll be sure to post a picture if I manage to pull this off.

ErikH2000
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ClaytonW wrote:
The pants that Beethro wears...
...are they sweatpants or slacks or what?

They are made of very thin leather and fit loosely. In general, Beethro's clothes are designed to keep him warm and avoid a few scratches, but not as armor. The exterminator bets everything on moving quickly to stay clear of harm.

...what color are they? I've seen grey, brown, and even orange.

Orangish brown. Tip: you can get a pair of white jogging pants and dye them the right color. If you have the kind that are kind of puffy, scrunch them up over the top of some combat boots and maybe they will flare out like Beethro's.

...are they held up with a belt? Some pictures have a belt, some don't.

Yes. In the pictures where you don't see a belt, Beethro's gut is probably obscuring it.

In the highly unlikely event that Beethro owns more than one pair of pants, what are his favorite pants? I must know so that I may accurately depict our hero.

Beethro wears the same outfit on every trip beneath. I just drew him inconsistently.

One other question: The hilt of Beethro's sword, is it gold-colored, silver-colored, or wood?

Silver-colored.

I'll be sure to post a picture if I manage to pull this off.

You better! Man, I gotta see that!

-Erik

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agaricus5
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ClaytonW wrote:
I'll be sure to post a picture if I manage to pull this off.

That will be really funny to look at!



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ClaytonW
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ErikH2000 wrote:

ClaytonW wrote:...what color are they? I've seen grey, brown, and even orange.

Orangish brown. Tip: you can get a pair of white jogging pants and dye them the right color.

Orangish brown... Like a pumpkin? Or darker than that? Could you generate an RGB or HEX number for me (if that's not too much of a hassle)?

Another quick thing: Beethro's hair. I've seen the three spikes go forward and backward. I realize that his hair can probably move both ways depending on his inertia, but I'm gonna need an awful lot of hairspray just to get my hair up like that. I may even need a wig, seeing as my hair is only about an inch and a half right now. I need to know: front or back?

agaricus5 wrote:
That will be really funny to look at!

Don't make me hit you with my sword.

ClaytonW
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I also just realized that Beethro's hair is in those three spikes, but ONLY those three spikes. He has no other hair to speak of. So what I think I'm gonna do is get a bald head wig, and fashion some styrofoam cones to poke through it.

I'm all excited now. =)

ErikH2000
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ClaytonW wrote:
... Like a pumpkin? Or darker than that? Could you generate an RGB or HEX number for me (if that's not too much of a hassle)?

Wow, you are aiming for perfection here. Darker than pumpkin. RGB 209, 95, 45

I need to know: front or back?

Back. If he were tipping his head forward, they might go forward. Styrofoam sounds like a good idea. In newer drawings I have made Beethro's three hairspikes longer. We should see some consistency here on out, because now I have models to refer to. For the best depictions of the hair, use the spinning heads from the title screen.

Man, you're going to look so cool. Get several pictures! You can be like the centerfold for DROD.net.

-Erik

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krammer
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Whew. For a fancy dress party you seem to be getting a bit too technical. Seeing as most people will probably never have heard of Beethro - unless you've forced them all into DROD playing, of course - it won't matter if you turn up dressed in blue and green.

Anyway, I commend your devotion to DROD. I suggest a medal.

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ClaytonW
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ErikH2000 wrote: Wow, you are aiming for perfection here. Darker than pumpkin. RGB 209, 95, 45

I've matched the color with CMYK and printed it out. I'll take the sample with me when I go get dye.

In newer drawings I have made Beethro's three hairspikes longer. We should see some consistency here on out, because now I have models to refer to. For the best depictions of the hair, use the spinning heads from the title screen.

I've noticed in heads.bmp that while Beethro's head size remains the same, the actual vertical height of his hair varies about 10 pixels on the large picture. (Look at the difference between the left-facing and forward-facing Beethro.) This is by no means a disaster, so I've estimated that the hair height should be half the height of my head, and the actual length of the hair a few inches longer than half to compensate for the curvature. The styrofoam won't be hard to obtain, but crafting it into the right shape, and mounting it to the inside of the bald wig may prove difficult. If you picture a road cone with the wide, flat bottom, I'll probably do it that way.

Man, you're going to look so cool. Get several pictures!

I'll get lots of pictures, in front of blue and red doors if I can. Maybe pointing at a cricket with my sword.

You can be like the centerfold for DROD.net.

I don't do nudes. Heh.

[Edited by Mattcrampy on 10-08-2003 at 10:16 AM]

Schik
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File: devoted.png (123.9 KB)
Downloaded 1260 times.
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krammer wrote:
Anyway, I commend your devotion to DROD. I suggest a medal.

Wear it with pride.


[Edited by Schik on 10-07-2003 at 09:14 PM]

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ClaytonW
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krammer wrote:
Whew. For a fancy dress party you seem to be getting a bit too technical. Seeing as most people will probably never have heard of Beethro - unless you've forced them all into DROD playing, of course - it won't matter if you turn up dressed in blue and green.

Well, it's not really a "fancy" dress party. A group of maybe 10 friends, 5 of whom probably know who Beethro is, and maybe 3 who've actually played DROD. I'm doing this because I've never really done something like this before, and I really like DROD. =P Plus I thought I could share a few laughs and enjoyment by posting some pictures afterwards.

Anyway, I commend your devotion to DROD. I suggest a medal.

I accept greckles.

ClaytonW
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Schik wrote:
Wear it with pride.

*gasp* I'm flattered! I'm gonna print that sucker out and put it on my wall... maybe even iron it on a T-shirt!

Thanks!

bradwall
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I would like to see a picture of this costume when it is done.

ClaytonW
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ErikH2000 wrote:I have made Beethro's three hairspikes longer. We should see some consistency here on out, because now I have models to refer to.

Are these just models of the head, or Beethro's full figure? If they're the full figure, could I perchance have a look at them? You can e-mail them to me if you don't want to post them publicly.

(EDIT: Oops, or did you mean I'm the model?)

Thanks again for the help you're giving me with this. My aunt is coming this weekend, and she's the arts-and-craft type of lady, so she said she'll help me make the hair.

Since there's no way I'm going to go out and find thin leather pants near the color I want in my size, we'll probably just buy leathery fabric like you would use to repair a fancy chair, and make pants out of them. They might be a bit itchy on the inside, so I'll wear long underwear or something underneath.

[Edited by ClaytonW on 10-09-2003 at 03:34 PM GMT: Revelation]

ErikH2000
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ClaytonW wrote:
Are these just models of the head, or Beethro's full figure? If they're the full figure, could I perchance have a look at them? You can e-mail them to me if you don't want to post them publicly.

I have a clay model that I sculpted. Beethro's spinning head was rotoscoped from it. Other recent drawings serve as models too, but they are all up on DROD.net, so there's nothing to give you really.

(EDIT: Oops, or did you mean I'm the model?)

Well, I will probably just use photos of you and your immaculate Beethro costume in the future.

-Erik


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ClaytonW
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Alright! I've made my first two purchases for the costume today.

First off, I've got my sweatshirt. It matches the color perfectly. It has the "Champion" logo on the left side of the chest, but it can easily be removed (it's somewhat like an iron-on).

Secondly, I bought some boots. The boots are less than ideal, but I can modify them to suit my needs. I'm going to very carefully remove the thick sole from the boot, for as you can see in the picture for Chapter Two of Beethro the Delver, there is no sole to speak of. It shows a strictly no-frills boot. Mine has laces and metal clasps and seams. I'm going to remove the clasps and laces, and use some black putty to cover up the seams, and other blemishes I may create.

I've already got a belt, so tomrrow I'm going to see if I can't find some pants. I'll probably see what I can find at Farm & Fleet, possibly bright orange hunter's pants, and dye them darker.

Total Expenses thus far: $42 :buh

Mattcrampy
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As much as I'd like to say putting DROD music on my playlist trumps dressing up as Beethro for Holloween, I'd be a stinking, dirty liar if I did that, so I can't.

My only consolation is that no-one dresses up for Holloween in Australia, and that if they did I probably would have gone as Roger Wilco and Samus Aran at some point.

Matt

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ClaytonW
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Mattcrampy wrote:
As much as I'd like to say putting DROD music on my playlist trumps dressing up as Beethro for Holloween, I'd be a stinking, dirty liar if I did that, so I can't.

I've got DROD music on my playlist. Both Lars' and Erik's. I also have a huge playlist too... over 4 days of non-stop tunes.

My only consolation is that no-one dresses up for Holloween in Australia, and that if they did I probably would have gone as Roger Wilco and Samus Aran at some point.

Samus Aran... Now that wouldn've been impressive. (Especially considering that you'd need a sex-change operation for it to be flawless. ^_^)

Beethro Costume Status Report:
I didn't go to Farm and Fleet yet, but I did get my hands on materials for hair. I found these 2.75" x 3.875" x 7.375" blocks of dry foam that would normally be used to "hold flower stems at any angle without floral picks." It's "Strong and firm for heavy arrangements, yet excellent for fragile material." And it tells me to "use [it] as is or cut to desired shape." The best part about this stuff that I've found is that you can very easily sand it down into the shape you want, by just rubbing it with your fingertips. I've already carved one out of the block, and it looks good, but I worry about it's length. Because of the constraints of the orginal block, it's exactly 7.375" tall, and it's length (because of the bend) is 8.5" the diameter of the base is 2." We'll see if I can't find something better, and if not, this should be just fine. Oh, one more thing, they're green, they need to be spray-painted.

Mattcrampy
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All right, you can have that one.

But only because I can't work out how to get Lars' music on Winamp. Now I know it can be done, I shall prevail.

But I'm mostly interested in "wouldn've", which I think is a greatly fortunate accidental entry into the English language.

Matt


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ClaytonW
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Mattcrampy wrote:
But I'm mostly interested in "wouldn've", which I think is a greatly fortunate accidental entry into the English language.

Heh, oops. At first I didn't get it. I thought you were making a factual statement. Perhaps Websters decided to accept it. I was thinking, "Hey, how 'bout that? Cool." Then I saw my blunder and got very disapointed that I'dve hadt've keep writing out "would not have".

ClaytonW
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Beethro Costume Status Report:

I've crafted the three hairspikes from the flower foam, and each is slightly angled differently. I'll decide later which order they will be in from front to back.

I made a few more purchases today. First off, a sword. Very tough plastic, sturdy. The sword was embossed with a simple design near the base of the blade, it was painted gold. I used a very coarse sandpaper and sanded off the gold paint. It still looked dumb, so I went ahead and sanded the design down flush with the rest of the blade. It's still barely visible, but only in the right light. The hilt of the sword is black, but I will be painting it grey. Which reminds me...

...Erik, is the entire handle silver, or just the handguard? I said "hilt" before, but realized I didn't quite know my sword terminology. I found out that "hilt" actually means everything that isn't the blade. The hilt is composed of the (from the end) pommel, grip, and crossguard.

I bought some black tooth-out to recreate Beethro's toothless grin.

Also, I purchased the bald-head wig. At the halloween store in town, they had three such wigs, and the closer the match for actual skin color, the more expensive it became. There was a three-dollar one, which was Simpsons-yellow, a five-dollar one which was pink, and a thirteen-dollar one which looked like, well, skin. I went ahead and bought the $13 wig.

When I got home, I opened the wig and read the instructions, which urged me to buy their adhesive to keep it down in parts, which it seems I will have to do. Anyway, the wig looks really good, and where the rubber is tight enough next to my skin, the color matches perfectly. In a few spots you can see my dark hair through the wig. I had a few options to fix this. I could go back and get the cheap wig to wear underneath it, hoping you wouldn't be able to see one wig through the other. Shaving my head (ruled "no" by my mother), or buying grey face paint. Beethro's skin is actually grey, is it not? If I paint my face and the wig, you shouldn't be able to see my hair through the wig. I'd have to do my hands too, though.

Unfortunately, I destroyed the $13 bald-wig when pushing the last hair-spike through the holes I cut (it turns out that the hairspike length is just perfect). The wig ripped open. If I decide to use face paint, I'll go back and get the cheap wig. If I don't use face paint, I'll have to get another $13 dollar bald wig.

This is getting costly, but dammit, I'm gonna finish.

Total Expenses thus far: $68 (including the torn wig)

ErikH2000
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ClaytonW wrote:
...Erik, is the entire handle silver, or just the handguard?

It's all silver. The whole sword is one color.

Beethro's skin is actually grey, is it not?

Yep, and you can thank Microsoft for that. In 1995, there were no flesh tones in the 16 system colors.

This is getting costly, but dammit, I'm gonna finish.

Good man! That's exactly the attitude Beethro would have.

-Erik

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Beethro's Sword
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i cant wait this will be funny

[Edited by Beethro\'s Sword on 10-27-2003 at 06:57 PM GMT]

Sokko
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If you're going to pull this off, you'd better hurry! Halloween is this Friday!

On a partially related note, I actually won't be home this Halloween; since it's a Friday we have the weekly high school football game, and since I'm a member of the TV Crew I need to be there to assist in the monstrous task of broadcasting the game live on our local cable channel. I plan to bring many bags of candy.

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ClaytonW
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Sokko wrote:
If you're going to pull this off, you'd better hurry! Halloween is this Friday!

I actually need the costume done by Thursday afternoon. Belvidere, Illinois is an odd little town, and in an effort to keep kids from roaming the streets all night long, hold the trick-or-treat night the day before (or the day after some years). I've decided I am going to trick-or-treat this year (I probably won't stop until I'm 65). I've no use for all that candy, so I'll give it to my girlfriend and my parents.

What sucks about Belvidere holding trick-or-treat the night before, is that all the neighboring towns, including Rockford, come here for an EXTRA night of candy-gathering. It costs Belvidere residents a fortune in candy if they don't want to disappoint little kids. Many have said that Belvidere kids should then go out on Halloween to the neighboring towns and trick-or-treat there just for revenge. This is, however, ineffective because there's maybe 5 towns dumping kids here for candy on Thursday, and then on Friday, our 1 town spreads our kids to 5 towns. It isn't a fair trade.

Beethro Costume Status Report:
I'm pretty much finished. I've bought all the supplies I need, including 4 extra bald-head wigs because they keep tearing (Any suggestions?!). I've spray-painted the hairspikes, as well as the sword (which got worse-looking because I spray-painted over where I sanded, and it got dark and fuzzy-looking). I bought some fake-skin for his scar, and I've got bandages to roll up and insert under the wig for the forehead wrinkles. I bought a clown nose, but I don't know if I'll be able to get it the right color without it looking weird, I may just leave it off. I couldn't find good pants, so I've just got some sweatpants that I'll dye orangish-brown, and stretch at the bottom. I hope it looks okay. Tomorrow I'll put another coat of paint on the hairspikes, and I should be set. That is, if I can manage to get the wig not to rip until after I get pictures. The halloween store was out of the high-quality bald-wigs, so I got the Simpsons yellow one. I've got grey face-paint, but I might not use it. My mother says she can use makeup to get the wig the right color, and blend it into my flesh. If that doesn't work, I'll have to paint my face and the wig grey.

I'll be glad when I've taken the pictures and can relax.

Total expenses thus far: $125+

bdcribbs
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> including 4 extra bald-head wigs because they keep tearing
> (Any suggestions?!)

I'm not sure what you're using but it it sounds like how I was bald for a theater show once.
What I did was stick the bald latex "wig" to my forehead hairline with some of that fake-skin scar stuff, rub smooth, and dry the crease with a blow dryer, then pulled it back over my greased down hair and put more of the putty around the edges, slowly pulling, puttying and drying. Drying it well before pulling it tight was the trick to make it not tear and still not wrinkle.
It took about an hour and a half to put the bald thing on, and if it's like the type I was using it can't be used more than once, you have to rip it to take it off.

ClaytonW
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That's kinda helpful, but the problem is that the wig tears when I'm pushing these 3" diamter spikes through holes I've cut in the wig. I used a hole-punch, but the holes were too small, It would be ideal if I could make a perfect circle about the size of a quarter to push the spikes through, but I can't cut that size of a circle free-hand.

bdcribbs
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Maybe instead of trying to cut the exact circle, cut an approximation with notches to give the latex some leeway.
Something like:

with the outer radius approx. the size of the spikes, and the little flaps can be puttied down on to them, and then painted to match.

Or you could cut the above shape and have a friend trim the flaps off with a razor blade... but you might get an accidental haircut that way.


[Edited by bdcribbs on 10-29-2003 at 05:12 AM GMT]

ClaytonW
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bdcribbs wrote:
Something like:

You rock my socks. Since I'm working in a small area, I reduced the number of flaps to four, and used my normal hole-punch. I used a portion of one of the already torn wigs to test it on, and in a hole the size of a nickel, I can hold the lid of my spray paint can very securely, without it weakening or tearing at all.

Thanks a bunch!

I'm going to cut small grooves near the bottom edge of the spikes for the latex to slip into and grip. This should keep the spikes secure, as well as allow the latex to relax a little bit.

ClaytonW
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Beethro Costume Status Report:
COMPLETE.

I'll have the film developed tomorrow morning, and post the pictures in the afternoon or evening. I got some good shots of me attacking various things in Belvidere that vaguely resemble DROD elements. He he, there were two kids I wanted to have my picture taken with, one was Batman (wraithwing), and one was the Hulk (goblin). It's a damn shame their parents wouldn't let them take a simple picture with a stranger.

I did NOT paint my face grey today, my mother used makeup to match my skin and it looked... Fairly Decent. I forgot to put a scar above my eyebrow, but I don't think thats a huge problem. The wig held up wonderfully, no tears. The tip of the rear hairspike was chipped off somewhere along the way, so I'll just spray it yellow again, but I can't reform it. It's not too noticeable. The front hairspike got a small dent in it when I was showing off and I hit it with my sword. Also, it was extremely difficult to get in and out of the car with the headpiece on. Kind of a backward-bending Limbo game.

I made the horrible, horrible mistake of wearing jeans and a t-shirt under the costume, boy was I sweating. All the sweat made the fake skin on face melt off in big globs. As expected, nobody knew who I was supposed to be, but that's just fine. I got plenty of comments and praise on the headpiece.

I have to wear the costume again tomorrow, and I'm going to see how the grey face-paint looks. If I don't like it, it's coming off, no pictures. =P I won't forget to put a scar on this time. I will take more pictures.

Beethro's Sword
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yesssssss i can't wait!!