The late 1990s during Dragon*Con, an Atlanta based multi genre event (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics, film & TV, gaming, etc.) held during the Labor Day weekend. I haven't costumed since 2002 and I haven't attended a con since 2006. Really, 90+ percent of what I desire from a convention I can readily find online such as panel discussions, galleries of costumes, fan art, fan films, collectibles and so on. But it was a fun decade and each tear I kept building upon this concept I mockingly called the
Fur-minator.
A college student tailored the furred sleeves and the grieves, but the vest was my getting crazy with a hot glue gun. The mask is a poured rubber casting I made from a mold I formed over a life cast of my face built up with oil based clay. I did not glue the mask like a prosthetic appliance. Instead it was held firm simply by a thick band of Lycra and hidden by a Tina Turner mane type wig. I broke down a second wig to glue lengths of fiber laced "cord" to the outer edges of the mask, hiding the thick edges and blending with the full wig.
The sci-fi looking Kruger gloves were an item I found at Spencer's Gifts. The acrylic blades were illuminated by strobing LEDs (washed out by the daylight). the blades were originally far longer and blunted for safety, but i trimmed them to look more imposing. I also festooned my ensemble with greeblied boxes rigged with self contained blinking LEDs in red and green. They flashed randomly out of sync with one another, giving the suggestion of operational status.
At a later D*C, I added "power bands with buttons and LEDs, geometrically cut foam to the plastic shin guards and a tawny colored furred tail I commissioned somebody to make.
As I said, I've long retired from all this. Back then I weighed less than 150. Now, I'm around 205. I'd look more like Garfield than some genetically "uplifted" cyberpunk assassin.
But it was fun while it lasted.