I've always been a Buzz Lightyear fan, he's the embodiment of a clean cut hero. After playing with the idea for a while I started to re-imagine what a Space Ranger would be like in real life. The main difference between my suit and the Buzz Lightyear suit is that mine is designed for sub-atmospheric engagement where as the original seems to be modeled after a space suit. Overall I attempted to keep many of the features which make Buzz iconic and recognizable; the arm laser, the big chest buttons, wing pack, and the color scheme.
The concept sketch above was intended to be my Halloween costume last year. Sadly it was too large of a project based on my schedule. I'm hoping to have it built before next Halloween. Colored sketches to come
More sketches and commentary on the design after the jump.
In re-designing the suit there were two main things that I wanted to change from the original.
1. Maneuverability The suit needed to be more maneuverable. If you're out in deep space you need a suit that's big and self-contained, but if you are on the ground I imagine a Space Ranger needing to engage in hand to hand combat, run, jump, dive, etc. Originally I started thinking along the lines of an entire suit, like Iron Man, but decided that it would work better with more of a plated armor look, like Master Chief or a Storm Trooper. Side note, I also gave my suit a combat knife stored on the back of the belt, I can really see a Space Ranger scanning a scary abandoned space ship with a knife in one hand and his other hand on the arm laser button.
2. No dome helmet I needed to get rid of the helmet, for a couple of reasons. First off the proportions don't work if you aren't a toy. In order to open and close, the sides of the dome would be past your shoulders and you wouldn't be able to move. Secondly, the shape wasn't important. Unless you are in space you don't need a helmet to be that big, or bubble like. So what to do for a helmet? This ended up being the biggest challenge in my redesign. I decided that a Space Ranger still needed a helmet, if he's on a planet with a toxic atmosphere, or flying around, but had trouble doing it in a way that didn't look silly and didn't take away from the look of the original character. In the end I decided to use the shape Buzz's purple head covering to inspire more of a Power Rangers type helmet. The form of the purple helmet is very similar to the original worn by Buzz and integrates of front view shield panel that can "swoosh" up and back when it isn't needed.
