Alright folks, so I’ve been itching to try some cyberpunk cosplay for ages, but damn have you seen those costume prices? Crazy. Had to figure out a cheap way. Here’s how I cobbled mine together, practically from junk.
Starting with Pure Trash Hunting
First thing, I hit up all the thrift stores near me. Total treasure hunt. Found this super ugly, shiny bright blue jacket with weird shoulder things – hideous, but seriously screamed futuristic. Cost me like three bucks. Couldn’t believe my luck.
Then, I grabbed a pair of old, worn-out black cargo pants. Washed them maybe a hundred times already? Perfect. Already looked kinda grungy.
Getting Down and Dirty with Mods
Righto, time for surgery. Had this old black zip-up hoodie lying around. Cut the sleeves off super rough with kitchen scissors – didn’t even measure, just hacked ’em off. Stitched some of the spare blue jacket material onto the shoulders for a patchy vibe.
Needed some glow. Found an old USB-powered keyboard gathering dust. Tore out the tiny LED lights inside it. Grabbed wire, tape, and a USB power bank. Spent way too long soldering wires badly to those tiny lights, almost burned my finger off twice. Wrapped them in clear tape strips and just taped the damn things onto the arms of my hacked-up hoodie. Plugged into the power bank in the pocket. Instant, cheap-ass circuitry look! Messy? Hell yeah. Cyberpunk? Absolutely.
Footwear Disaster Turned Win
Had these beat-up old combat-style boots. Looked sad. Saw someone online use duct tape for armor… thought, “Why not?”. Grabbed silver duct tape. Just slapped pieces of it randomly all over the boots – front, sides, ankle bits. Didn’t even bother smoothing it out completely, the wrinkles added character. Looked like cheap metal plating. Total win for maybe two rolls of tape.
The Goggle Nightmare
Wanted goggles. Found these cheap yellow plastic safety glasses in the hardware store. Looked too clean. Smeared black paint around the edges and scratched the hell outta the lenses with sandpaper to make ’em look weathered. Took some leftover USB LED lights, taped those on the sides too. Wired everything messily to another power bank I stuffed in my pocket. Lit up? Kinda. Fell apart during the con? Almost. But hey, they looked okay from a distance!
Accessory Chaos
- Found weird plastic bits: Broken electronics, plastic containers – washed them and threw some paint and more silver tape on them. Strapped ’em to my belt with cords.
- Used old wires and cables: Draped them everywhere like I was some sort of tech disaster. Totally fake, totally effective.
- Found thin black PVC pipes: Cut them into arm bracer shapes. Held them on with zip ties. Painted them silver and black. Boom, instant cheap armor bits.
The Final Hot Mess
Threw it all on: The shiny blue jacket, my modified hoodie with blinking LEDs, the duct-tape boots, the janky goggles, and covered myself in plastic junk and wires. Felt ridiculous. But people at the con? They loved the DIY grunge! The LEDs blinking through the tape strips, the reflective tape catching light – looked way cooler in photos than it had any right to. Total cost? Maybe under forty bucks, including all the tape and paint. Proves you don’t need cash, just some junk and the willingness to get messy.
Seriously, go raid your bins and just start gluing. Works wonders.
