Coolest Homemade Transformers Halloween Costume Ideas
Home » Character Costumes » Transformers
The Halloween costume ideas in this section have been graciously submitted by readers like yourself. If you end up with a cool costume, or already have some cool costume photos and tips to share, send them over via this form. You can win a cool prize - but more importantly, you'll be taking part in creating the Web's ultimate homemade costume resource that's ALWAYS FREE for everyone to enjoy!
Transformers Costume Index:
(Click on an image below to view the enlarged
photo and preparation tips submitted by our readers)
 Transformers 25 |
||
 Transformers 24 |
 Transformers 23 |
 Transformers 22 |
 Transformers 21 |
 Transformers 20 |
 Transformers 19 |
 Transformers 18 |
 Transformers 17 |
 Transformers 16 |
 Transformers 15 |
 Transformers 14 |
 Transformers 13 |
 Transformers 12 |
 Transformers 11 |
 Transformers 10 |
 Transformers 09 |
 Transformers 08 |
 Transformers 07 |
 Transformers 06 |
 Transformers 05 |
 Transformers 04 |
 Transformers 03 |
 Transformers 02 |
 Transformers 01 |
Bob M.
Brielle
Battle damaged Transformer Joshua, who actually appears in your costume area as the bulldozer from the past is back. This eight year old wanted to be a transformer for his Halloween costume. I started back in August to create the helmet by using a plastic helmet and wrapping it with cardboard and duct tape and some vinyl spackle and sanded it to make it look a little more solid, spraying the whole thing with clear to make it solid. |
 |
The costume is cardboard with duck tape and krylon spray paint with lights in the eyes. Two blue lights that looked good at night not to good during the day.
Total Spent: $40
John W.
Mesa, AZ
For this Halloween costume we used minimal materials. The following were materials we purchased that can be found at Wal-Mart. Two foam camping bed rolls, black sweats and bike helmet. The following tools were necessary to complete the project: hot knife from a craft store, low temp hot glue gun (or one with adjustable temperature). The following materials were useful but not necessary: -Polyurethane Coating (Modge Podge would work similarly), iron on heat and press material.
We traced the child that would wear the Halloween costume onto a piece of butcher paper. Then I used that to scale the pieces again. (We actually had access to a large printer so we printed this out but initially we traced him onto the butcher paper). We simplified the detailed pieces from the original character and tried to keep the pieces that have heavy emphasis. Each piece was cut and hot glued in place. the knife makes it easy to trim corners off which gives everything a pretty rounded appearance. Be sure to use a low temp hot glue gun. It will hold the material but the high temp just melts it all away.
Once you have all the pieces cut and glued into place add flanges to the arm and leg guards so they can wrap around the legs and arms. These can then be tied with string or ribbon. We used Velcro. The 'shiny' parts that need to appear glossy were coated with a polyurethane coating. We used a pretty tough industrial coating we had laying around. But several coats of a thinner (but flexible!) coating should work just as well or better.
Then the Halloween costume is spray painted, yes spray painted! Surprisingly it didn't eat the foam! Details can be added in with a small paintbrush or we used our airbrush. Then a sharpie or felt tip pen is great for adding detail in the face. The foam can be glued directly to the helmet and you can even blend it pretty well to match some of the curves on the helmet.
This is the movie we compiled of the process. Here is a link in case that doesn't work for some reason
The whole costume took me about 10-12 hours to make and he was the hit of his school Halloween party! It is great having a costume that no one else has.
Total Spent: $30
Brando B.
San Francisco, CA
The idea for this Halloween costume started as a huge fan of the Transformers series and a bigger fan of well done on-screen special effects. This character is one to admire as well as a challenge to duplicate. The entire costume is hand cut from cardboard. It was broken down to six main pieces, the front torso, back torso, left forearm, right forearm, left leg and finally the right leg.
Once the cardboard was cut and assembled to my liking every inch had to be covered in duct tape. This provides a lightweight but durable 'skin' and also gives the surface something to paint onto. Once each piece was cut, assembled and taped, it was time to assemble each piece using luggage replacement straps. The tires are lawn mower tires bolted in to a simple wooden skeleton under the foot pieces. The costume was then painted and detailed with war wounds and dirt. The headlights do function turning on and off at the touch. They are battery powered closet lights found at any drug store. That is about it to make this Halloween costume.
Total Spent: $50
Andrew C.
Springfield, MO
I was going to be a Rubik's cube so I went to Wall-mart and got my supplies but as I stood in line I watched the DVD menu for the new Transformer movie. The menu basically revolved around the glowing all spark and I thought to myself, forget Rubik and his cube, let's have a Transformers Halloween!
So I got out of line and picked up some gold and silver spray paint and a sharpy for this Halloween costume. I already owned the box and box cutter for the texture. The rest is history.
Total Spent: 15$
Amber K.
Denton, TX
I originally wanted to be a Transformer and got the idea from this website for a Halloween costume. I saw one made entirely out of foam and wanted to do something like that. While on my quest for materials I decided to use the boxy body structure of a transformer out of Styrofoam to-go boxes and it just so happens I work at a restaurant!
I used approx 20 boxes, bigger ones for the body piece-chest/back/big leg parts (thigh) shell and smaller ones for detail on chest piece, outer legs and arms/shoulders. I began with gathering cardboard boxes; medium sized also from my place of work and constructed the legs, torso and arms. Initially I spray painted everything white as the Styrofoam was white, I was simply not going to use color. I held the pieces together with masking tape, white duct tape and spray adhesive.
| While I was spray painting the pieces with the Styrofoam attached I heard and found a chemical reaction in the spray-paint disintegrating the Styrofoam! So after reapplying some pieces this lead to me to the idea of painting my costume and this of course was only possible by hand. It took me about one week, two to three hours a day to create and four days to paint fully (Metallic Gold/ Metallic Amythyst fabric paint, about five 2 oz @ .88 cents each at Wal-Mart bottles with two coats for a smooth finish). Secondary materials included a metallic poster board for the face mask and a transformer logo which I found on the internet under Google images. |  |
I traced two logos on the metallic poster board and cut the pieces and glued with spray adhesive to a converted motorcycle helmet and torso portion. The helmet also has about four bottom pieces of to-go cups for a different shape. The body is not identical to a transformer yet made do with my own ideas and contours and came out well with the logo and similar metallic facemask. I couldn't move easily but the compliments for my Halloween costume were well worth it and I had fun getting into creating it.
Total Spent: $24
Will U.
Hopkinsville
I decided to build this fire truck costume as an aid for the local fire departments when the fire safety classes were being held and a lot of children were being brought together to learn about fire safety. I finished this Halloween costume in time for a Halloween party that was organized to benefit abused children. This Halloween costume actually does transform into a fire truck and has working lights on top and a working siren in front above the bumper. I received first place for homemade costumes at the party. I put in around 20 hours of work. It is made up of the following: The backpack that holds the PVC ladder is made of wood and houses the battery for the lights and siren and also is the attachment point for the support straps to hold it on my back. The ladder is made from pieces of 1/2 inch water pipe found at Lowes. The backpack is 1/4 inch interior plywood (will use cardboard for weight savings on next one). 1&1/2x1&1/2 wood was used for bracing inside. Then it was painted with Apple Orchard red from Lowes. I attached the ladder to back with sheetrock and metal screws. Cab was original 1/4 inch plywood but found it was way too heavy. Went to Ups store, got a 24x18x18 box x2. Cut windows out of one box, cut panel out of second box to glue in behind windows to give depth and strength. Used 3m headliner spray glue. I used 7/8" dowel rod for rear support of cab and place for straps to wrap around from backpack. Used Styrofoam sheet to cut 4"strips (three of them) and glued to front of cab for bumper also added 4x4 bumper sides. I used sheetrock anchors from backside along with Elmer's glue to attach bumper I covered with chrome tape bought at parts store. Made grill from Styrofoam, cut out louvers, added chrome tape, painted cab black behind grill before mounting grill with 3m weather-strip adhesive and sheet metal screws. Siren is auto alarm siren with seven tones and very loud. I used toggle for power to both and wired in a momentary on button to siren. Toggle is run in plastic conduit inside one sleeve siren button to other sleeve all the way through arm pieces into palm of glove. Arm pieces are made of one 6x6x 36" box from Ups store. Great Stuff foam was sprayed inside then after hardening I hogged it out to fit my arms and painted red outside black inside. Very light weight! Wheels were attached to cab with 1/2" bolts and nuts. Legs were built starting with 2x8 lumber about 18"s long. All sides made of 1/4"plywood with 1&1/2x1&1/2 wood reinforcing. I painted red outside and black inside. Boots were screwed down to base. Chair antis lip pads were added to bottom to avoid scratching. a floor strap was added to inside to keep leg upright due to higher amount of outside weight. Two wheels on each side, 1" lettering on sides. Gloves were some black ones I had lying around. Hope this info helps you make this Halloween costume yourself. Don't be afraid to try! Total Spent: $200 |
|
Steve H.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I decided to resurrect a portion of my childhood Halloween costume and made this Optimus Prime costume out of insulating Styrofoam. The chest doors open and the arm designs allow relatively easy movement. The feet are also independent of the legs to allow for actual walking (as opposed to limping along). (Build log is at: http://optimuscostume.blogspot.com )
Total Spent: $180
Erphylle V.
California
This idea to be Transformers was my brother's. We knew we wanted to make our Halloween costume and not use store bought ones. At first we all agreed to be PEZ (the candy). To be more specific, Star Wars PEZ. We planned on making the heads out of paper-mache and our bodies out of cardboard. But after about 3 days, things weren't working out as planned. So, we tried to come up with something else.
Since I had already started paper-macheing our heads I thought we should be Bobble Heads! They didn't go for it. A couple days later, my brother, who had been working on the boxes, came out with a few of them on and said he was going to be a robot. We told him that wasn't going to win any costume contest. And then it hit him. "Fine. I'm going to be Optimus Prime!" (In case you never watched the Transformers, Optimus Prime was the leader of the Autobots, or good guys. He was the most famous Transformer.)
Well, his Halloween costume was the easiest since Prime is very boxy. The hardest part was his head. His girlfriend ended up being a character called Arcee. The most famous female Autobot. Of course I was left to be Bumblebee. The smallest Autobot, but one of the main characters. About 95% of each Halloween costume was made of cardboard. Our heads were made of a combination of things. In my case, I used an old creme puff container as the base and built the shape of the head out of cardboard right on top. Then I used blue transparent paper to cover the eye holes. |
 |
For the rims of my wheels, which are attached to my arms, I spray painted plastic plates with chrome to give it a realistic look. The windows of my body were cut out and backed with black Carolina paper inside plastic protective sleeves. We used a combination of packing tape, double sided tape and blue painters tape to hold everything together. Then we spray painted each part accordingly.
For the Autobot logo shown on each of us, I cut a stencil from Carolina 12pt paper that each of us could trace with the designated color. For the most part, we worked on our own characters. When needed, we helped each other with ideas on how to go about making certain parts. Some easier than others. All we had to go off of were the pictures we found on the internet of the cartoon characters.
It took us about a week (3-6 hours a day) to complete.
Tips to anyone attempting to create a Transformer costume next year:
1) Pick a character who looks more boxy not round (like me). They're way easier!
2) Allow yourself at least 2 weeks to avoid lots of sleepless nights.
3) Use thicker boxes for the body and feet and the thinner ones on the head and arm pieces.
4) Don't make your feet so big! It's hard enough moving with cardboard all over the rest of your body.
5) If you want to really transform...Good luck!
Total Spent: $25
Ed L.
Houston, TX
(Editor's note: We decided to put this costume in the Transformer's category although it was called "Armor of God" by its creator).
I made this Halloween costume entirely out of 'WASTE FOAM" from appliance boxes. It was a project for our Church and I wanted to be a bit more creative than an "Angel" or "Moses" so I decided to challenge myself with the "Armor of God" as a Halloween costume.
At first I readily found foam around the house in boxes of old TV and computer equipment but I kept running out of plain flat sheets. So I decided to go on an adventure with my daughter to look for foam. What better place than appliance stores right? WRONG! Most of the time they had thrown away or crushed their trash before I could get to them.
Then I hit the jackpot with a freshly dumped "goldmine" of foam. I asked the manager if I could have it and with a dazed and confused look, he allowed me to rummage through his dumpster.
You should have seen the embarrassed look on my daughter's face as "crazyman" dad looking for foam. At one point, all you could see of me were my feet sticking out of the dumpster, but I was determined to get my hands on the "white gold" before me.
Putting the Halloween costume together was another mountain to climb. I started cutting in the living room and filled the whole area with 'snow'. My wife kicked me out (to the garage, that is) and I toiled every night till 3 am with Tacky Glue (the best glue on earth!) and wooden skewers to hold the pieces together.
I then purchased a cheap light-saber-type sword and doggie-collar lights to enhance the look. The helmet was an old bike helmet with chunks of foam attached with glue. If you notice carefully, the chest piece of the Halloween costume is mainly taken from a monitor box. The chest light is a .99¢ battery night-light with a little foam shape over it.
This costume was hard to move in, but it never fell apart and I'm going to use it again this year. Total spent $5.00.
Grant B.
Vancouver, BC
This costume is mostly Duct Tape (coloured) and cardboard (about 50 rolls of D.T). The helmet is papier-mâché over a cardboard frame. I used a metallic paper for the face and pipes of the Halloween costume.
Two L.E.D lights in the helmet and four $1 store flashlights mounted into the body. I took 2 photos of the front of a real truck and cropped the images (used the inside of windows part) printed them on photo paper, and then glued them behind the plastic windows. The boots are snowboard boots raised up on hard foam then covered in blue material.
This Halloween costume took about 60+ hours and $70 Canadian to make, I wanted to be my childhood hero, and didn't expect it to take so long! (Good thing I started in September).
Oh yeah, it's really hard to see out of this Halloween costume! Go out with a seeing-eye person to guide you around!
Submit Your Homemade Halloween Costume Here!
