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Description
Getting this out of my system before I run to Montgomery for a weekend of computer purgatory.

PLEASE ignore the shitty drawing of NiGHTS too, I did it fast. And that is a silhouetted photo of myself, so the scale is accurate.

I got this idea a few months ago, and don't have time to do it soon, but I REALLY want to someday. It's a 'bunkaru' puppet style of cosplay of NiGHTS (from the SEGA series NiGHTS into Dreams).

Bunraku is a specific style of traditional Japanese puppetry theater, I am using the term loosely, it is often used in the west to describe any full body manipulated puppet that the puppeteer is visible in some way. (This pisses off bunraku purists tho. oh well.)

I came up with a design like this cause I was always a lil disappointed at the full body cosplays of NiGHTS. I mean don't get me wrong I have seen MANY VERY well done interpretations, absolutely beautiful stuff on amazing people, just never a true real life incarnation of NiGHTS as 'he' is in the game, cause lets be honest no one is that skinny or proportioned that way . This way, the character silhouette is the same, and NiGHTS is FLOATING off the ground, feet not touching (cause you never like see NiGHTS walking really)

...

Anyway, you can read my scribbles on the image to see how it works. It's really not as complicated as it looks. I am inside the upper half (arms and above) and the torso and heels are connected off my body on short (like 4") PVC poles, which are secured to by body with sturdy support under my black bodysuit.

For the knee connections, think thick leather capris worn underneath, with rigid support backing / wrapping where the pipe connects above my knee, with secondary support coming off my lower thigh. So they shouldn't slip, sag, or anything. If possible, the pipe chunk will screw onto a screw base that is part of the support pants, so I can slip on the bodysuit, then screw in the lil pipe through a hole in the suit. Easier to put on, and also strong.

The puppet's lower legs are jointed using wrapping paper cardboard tubes and PVC pipe for the joints at the knees and hips (think Ball-jointed doll). So his legs don't 'frog' outwards, I will make the ball-jointed hips have a stop or something, so they stay where I want them.

It will all be VERY light, or obvious reasons. The body will be like a very fancy, not so plushie looking plushie, stuffed with standard stuffing and blown up parts in the large feet and 'horns' to keep things light (beach ball kind not balloon kind).

The whole rare earth magnets thing in the heels is so I can detach them on the fly, and kneel myself on the edge of a table or couch and pose the legs in cute ways, and easily stick them back in a second. (Rare earth magnets are VERY STRONG for their size, just so you know.) There will be bolts in the heels with the magnets on my knee poles, so the feet don't stick to EACH OTHER.

OH YES lastly, I wanted to see if I could rig up my JAW movement to equal BLINKING, since my head will be completely hidden. Also, the big eyes may get creepy if I don't blink them.

Hope you like my design, look forward to this being made someday.

Description
Getting this out of my system before I run to Montgomery for a weekend of computer purgatory.

PLEASE ignore the shitty drawing of NiGHTS too, I did it fast. And that is a silhouetted photo of myself, so the scale is accurate.

I got this idea a few months ago, and don't have time to do it soon, but I REALLY want to someday. It's a 'bunkaru' puppet style of cosplay of NiGHTS (from the SEGA series NiGHTS into Dreams).

Bunraku is a specific style of traditional Japanese puppetry theater, I am using the term loosely, it is often used in the west to describe any full body manipulated puppet that the puppeteer is visible in some way. (This pisses off bunraku purists tho. oh well.)

I came up with a design like this cause I was always a lil disappointed at the full body cosplays of NiGHTS. I mean don't get me wrong I have seen MANY VERY well done interpretations, absolutely beautiful stuff on amazing people, just never a true real life incarnation of NiGHTS as 'he' is in the game, cause lets be honest no one is that skinny or proportioned that way . This way, the character silhouette is the same, and NiGHTS is FLOATING off the ground, feet not touching (cause you never like see NiGHTS walking really)

...

Anyway, you can read my scribbles on the image to see how it works. It's really not as complicated as it looks. I am inside the upper half (arms and above) and the torso and heels are connected off my body on short (like 4") PVC poles, which are secured to by body with sturdy support under my black bodysuit.

For the knee connections, think thick leather capris worn underneath, with rigid support backing / wrapping where the pipe connects above my knee, with secondary support coming off my lower thigh. So they shouldn't slip, sag, or anything. If possible, the pipe chunk will screw onto a screw base that is part of the support pants, so I can slip on the bodysuit, then screw in the lil pipe through a hole in the suit. Easier to put on, and also strong.

The puppet's lower legs are jointed using wrapping paper cardboard tubes and PVC pipe for the joints at the knees and hips (think Ball-jointed doll). So his legs don't 'frog' outwards, I will make the ball-jointed hips have a stop or something, so they stay where I want them.

It will all be VERY light, or obvious reasons. The body will be like a very fancy, not so plushie looking plushie, stuffed with standard stuffing and blown up parts in the large feet and 'horns' to keep things light (beach ball kind not balloon kind).

The whole rare earth magnets thing in the heels is so I can detach them on the fly, and kneel myself on the edge of a table or couch and pose the legs in cute ways, and easily stick them back in a second. (Rare earth magnets are VERY STRONG for their size, just so you know.) There will be bolts in the heels with the magnets on my knee poles, so the feet don't stick to EACH OTHER.

OH YES lastly, I wanted to see if I could rig up my JAW movement to equal BLINKING, since my head will be completely hidden. Also, the big eyes may get creepy if I don't blink them.

Hope you like my design, look forward to this being made someday.