Photo via Wetworks SFX Studios/Facebook (Fair Use) Remix via Max Fleishman Meet the man behind this genius Baymax Stormtrooper If you think this cosplay looks pro, you're right. Internet Culture Colette Bennett There’s something special about hybrid cosplay that puts it a notch above your average creation. You’ll pass them by in a con hall, shake your head, and mutter, “Why didn’t I think of that?” This mash-up of Baymax from Big Hero 6 and a Star Wars Stormtrooper is one of those genius inventions. Its creator, Ben Garcia, told the Daily Dot in a Skype interview that creating it took roughly three months, and he’s still adding some finishing touches. [Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/WetworksSfxStudios/photos/a.472768806119022.108412.472511166144786/1181860078543221/?type=3&theater embed.] “I’m putting in a sound system right now—I didn’t want to do the basic Stormtrooper voice and I didn’t really want to do too much of the Baymax voice either,” Garcia said. “So right now I’m putting in a DJ sound system in it. When he’s walking around he’ll play the Imperial March and it’ll be like an EDM mix, something like that.” As for wearing the unwieldy looking costume, Garcia admitted that he’d have to stand through the cons he plans to bring it to. While the small legs do extend up into the costume, they only allow the wearer to take 3-4 inch steps, just like the real Baymax. Despite looking heavy, the costume is actually light. Garcia used EVA foam to build the armor atop a wire frame, remarking that four sheets of the foam retail for under $10. Because of that, he was able to keep the cost for the project fairly low. “I’d guess it cost us about $600, maybe,” he mused. “Not very much.” If Garcia seems laid back about creating something so unusual, he is—probably because he does it all the time. He co-owns Nebraska SFX studio Wetworks SFX, which has been working in film and TV for the last three years. That’s the reason the Baymax Trooper took as long as it did to build, because Garcia juggles a full-time day job during while working at the studio at night. Otherwise, he says, it would have taken about three weeks. “(For a project like this), it’s a little bit here and there, and then I have to work on other projects, stuff I’m actually getting paid for,” Garcia said. “Plus I didn’t want to rush. I just felt like—most of the times this is not just me, it’s every cosplayer—you get down to that last minute and you’re two or three days out and you’ve got 100 things to do. This time I thought I’m really going to space it out, and make sure I get it done and not be stressed about it. And it paid off, it turned out really good.” Despite how cool the costume is, it won’t be out on the con circuit long, as Garcia has a firm rule that he only wears costumes he makes for a year. “I don’t want to be that guy that plays the same character every single time you see him,” Garcia said. “For my last costume, I did the Comedian from Watchmen. After I wore it a while, I sold it to a guy that lives in San Diego. He told me he’s thinking of taking it to to Comic-Con. He paid enough for it, so he should!” [Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/WetworksSfxStudios/photos/pb.472511166144786.-2207520000.1465503333./961321060597125/?type=3&theater embed.]

Garcia has had an interest in SFX since childhood, and has been making stuff just for fun ever since. When it came to the idea of creating Wetworks, he knew he needed a partner, so he reached out to a woman he met when they both worked on a music video together. Luckily, she was just as enthusiastic as he was about the idea.

“I was at a local zombie walk in Lincoln, Nebraska, and my girlfriend at the time and I decided it would be great to do the craziest zombie makeup ever and blow all the attendees away,” Garcia said. “It just so happened that there was a scout there, and he asked to be put in contact with the person that did our makeup for a zombie music video they wanted to make.”

Wetworks SFX

On the video shoot Garcia met Candace Mass, who had been into SFX for about as long as he had. After the project they stayed in touch, and when Garcia was offered a short film project, he knew he couldn’t do it without help. So he gave her a call to see if she might want to form a special effects company together. Mass was all for the idea.

“Our first name idea was Dead Kitten Special Effects,” Garcia said with a laugh.

The new partners went to meet with the director to discuss what he wanted for his film, called One More Time for the Camera. Little did he know at the time that Garcia and Mass were very new to the business and were making it up as they went along.

“He said, ‘Oh, we need a fake head, and we need to be able to chop the head off and blood needs to squirt out and I need people to look like demons,’” Garcia said. “All this in an 11 minute short film. And I’m like ‘OK, no problem.’ So then the meeting ended and I was like ‘How in the eff are we going to make a fake head that looks like the actor?’ I didn’t have the first clue how you even did it. And I signed onto this movie. So Candice was like, ‘We better figure this out.’”

The two put all of their effort into learning how to create the effects needed, pouring hours and money into research and supplies. They were successful, but not without paying a price for their experimentation.

“We went so far over the budget that they paid us that between she and I we spent an extra $1,300 just to be a part of this film,” Garcia said. “Because you’re going through materials and you’re testing, and you fail, and you’re like, ‘Goddammit, we gotta order more shit.’”