Debuted: Anime Expo 2018

Notes:
​I had heard so much talk about My Hero Academia for the longest time before I finally decided to give it a watch. Let me tell you, I'm so glad I did. It didn't take long for it to become one of my favorite animes and I found myself adoring so many characters! I've added nearly all of them to me "to cosplay" list. But Bakugou was my absolute favorite and I just had to cosplay him--plus look how cool his design is!

I altered a racer back tank top by adding an orange "x" and some black buttons. It took a bit of work to figure out how to pattern the gauntlets but I eventually got there and crafted them out of EVA foam. All of the armor pieces were made out of EVA foam as well. Once I finished all those up, I just had to grunge up some toy grenades I bought and add orange foam pieces to the boots.

Bakugou was a fairly quick build and I had so much fun making this cosplay--especially the gauntlets. I loved the distressing and paint job I got to do when it came to the gauntlets. I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

What was made?
Grenade gauntlets. Hair piece. Mask. Neck piece. Knee Armor. Belt. Top-altered. Shoes-altered. Grenades-altered. All gloves. 

What was bought?
Pants.

Related Links!

• Building the Gauntlets
• Painting the Gauntlets
• Grenade Gauntlets Template
• Mask Template
• Armor & Accessories Template
• How I Made My Bakugou Mask
• ​Bakugou's Neck Armor Tutorial
• The Making of My Bakugou Cosplay

Photographer: Arlena Fae, Drew Kaizen

Reference:

Material & Cost Breakdown

EVA Foam

Material: 6mm and 2mm EVA foam
Cost: $10 per roll of 6mm, $5 per pack of 2mm
Purchased: 1-2 rolls, 1 pack
​Where: Harbor Freight, Walmart 

Black Tank Top

Material: Black, racer back, tank top.
Cost: $5
Purchased: 1
Where: eBay

Plastidip

Material: Black PlastiDip
Cost: ​$6 per can
Purchased: 2 cans
Where: Walmart

Acrylic Paint

Material: Orange, Green, Black, Yellow, White
Cost: $0.89
Purchased: 5
Where: Warlmart

Glue

Material: Contact Cement, Wood Glue
Cost: $5 per bottle(CC), $1 per bottle (WG)
Purchased: 5 bottles (CC), 3 bottle (WG)
Where: Walmart

Boots

Material: Black, lace-up boots
Cost: $20
Purchased: 1
Where: eBay

Wig

Material: Bakugou Wig
Cost: $15 
Purchased: 1
Where: eBay

Orange Fabric

Material: Orange Stretch/Preformace Fabric
Cost: $12 per yard
Purchased: 1/2 yard
Where: Joann's Fabric

Green Fabric

Material: Green Stretch Cotton
Cost: $10 per yard
Purchased: 1/2 yard
Where: Joann's Fabric

Toy Grenades

Materials: Green Toy Grenades
Cost: $10 per pack
Purchased: 1 pack
Where: eBay

Spray Paint

Materials: Clear Gloss Spray Paint
Cost: $5 per can
Purchased: 2 cans
Where: Home Depot

​Nylon webbing

Material: Black Nylon Webbing
Cost: $7 per roll
Purchased: 1 roll
Where: eBay

Total Estimated Cost: $150

WIP Photo

Build Time

Shopping: About a day + a few hours of searching online
Pattern Making: 1 day
Sewing: About 1 1/2 days
Foam Work: About 2 weeks
Painting: 1 week

**Days are not a full 24 hours. They're more like "work" days. Meaning for each day, I worked on the cosplay for anywhere from 4-10 hours per day--it's all a rough estimate.

Fun Facts!

Cosplay of favorites?

• Bakugou quickly became one of my favorite characters after watching this anime and reading the manga. On top of that, his props were one of my favorite to build and they're my overall favorite prop I own. I want to eventually make enough space to display them on a wall in my work space. I'm probably most happy with the battle damage and paint job I did for this prop. 

Hotter than it looks!

• I originally wore this cosplay to Anime Expo in 2018 and it was way too hot for even this cosplay! It doesn't look like it'd be that warm but the fabric of the pants and foam didn't breath at all. The heat wave that was going on during the expo didn't help either. I only stayed for a very short time at the convention because of this. Luckily, I actually got to wear it for a good amount of time at later conventions, once summer passed.