What's Galactus made of?

Now, having determined that I'm going to create a Galactus costume and that I've got flexibility when it comes to color, I come to the question: What material should I use?

The answer is, I'm not sure. I need to do a little more thinking and research. Here are the options as I see them.

Option 1: Fabric over foam

That's the approach that Wizard Entertainment took with its Galactus costume, which has been seen at many a comic book convention.

 

Tom Brevoort blogged about wearing this costume to work in "The Day I Was Galactus".

Option 2: Poster board

Flimsy and prone to looking like this:

Option 3: Plastic

This seems to be the most popular choice among Galuctus costumers.

Option 4: Dyed foam

I couldn't find any examples of someone using foam for a Galactus costume, but I saw an entire family of foam-based costumes at Wizard World...



...and I think this is doable. I read that professional puppeteers use reticulated foam (A.K.A. Scott foam) to make their puppets because of its texture, durability and its ability to hold Rit dye. I'm afraid that it might be expensive, though. I found a 16X36 sheet of 1/2 inch reticulated foam for $29.95. If I were to use eight of those sheets I'd be spending $250 in foam alone.

Foamcraft USA is a company in Chicago that specializes in foam; reticulated and otherwise. I'll give them a call and see if they've got something to offer.

Option 5: Strategically purchased clothing

I might be able to purchase some costume items off-the shelf.

Target has the Merona® Quarter-Zip Sweater in a variety of colors. They've got the ribbed look of Galactus' undershirt.

blue	red	sand dollar

I'll bet I could dye "sand dollar" to a Galactus purple.

The most likely option: Mixed media

I'll probably use a combination of all of the above. Again, I need to investigate the options more fully.