At first glance, Aaron Forrester looks like your typical comic shop employee. He’s a long time collector, knows his comic history and loves to frequent cons. However, none of this is what got me interested in Aaron Forrester, no for me it was when Aaron started posting photos on Facebook of his latest project. A fully wearable, and quite honestly, stunning Iron Man armor. Even better then the armor itself, is the good Aaron plans to do with it. He’s decided to suit up and be a real life super hero, making charity appearances for kids alongside the rest of the Arizona Avengers, a group of friends who have gathered together to bring Marvel’s mightiest to life. I’m incredibly honored to have the chance to sit down and talk with Aaron about the build process, the reception and the future charity work he plans to do.

1) The most obvious question to all of this is, what inspired you to build something as detailed and time consuming as the Iron Man armor?

Hey there Ryan, well Iron Man has always been one of my favorite superheroes, next to Batman.  The very first comic book related item I purchased was at a shop right around the corner from my grandmother’s house.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I walked into the shop looking for Pogs when I saw a cartoon cell of Iron Man and knew I had to have it.  From that point onward, I made sure to always watch the cartoons of “Iron Man” and “Batman: The Animated series.”  I’ve never been much of a fan of overpowered guys like Superman, but more self made heroes.  Men who didn’t have powers but used their ingenuity, intelligence and of course millions of dollars, to become super.

Through the years I’ve been addicted to costuming, performing on stage, acting in front of the camera, and like many costumers, start planning for Halloween 6 months in advance.  Then a couple summers back I saw the first “Iron Man” film, and once again felt like the little boy in the comic shop.  I wanted that armor so bad, but didn’t think I would ever have it.  Shortly after seeing “Iron Man” in the theater, I was online looking for Halloween ideas, and I came across a website originally designed for Halo costumers.  A small group of people started talking about building Iron Man armor based on the film, and I began to see that my dream of becoming one of my favorite comic heroes was very possible with a lot of hard work, patience and time.

2) Is this the first Cos-play project you have ever done?

Well, that would depend on your definition of cos-play.  Personally, when I hear “cos-play”, I think of those who costume as video game characters or anime related characters.  In regards to making costumes, well like I’ve mentioned prior, I’ve had an addiction to Halloween.  I fault my brothers for always making it such a blast, as well as being in performing arts for as long as I can remember.  The costume I had previously to the Iron Man, was a costume based on a statue of the Joker and Batman.  The Joker was in Arkham Asylum garb as well as a straight jacket.  Many guys were doing the Heath Ledger look, but I wanted a more comic accurate look that would turn heads.

After a long search, I found a company based in Hollywood that makes prosthetics for use in film.  I was able to obtain a face that only a mother could love; an over exaggerated chin, brow, nose, cheekbones, the whole nine yards.  I was able to make facial expressions, talk, eat; do pretty
much anything like it was my normal face.  So with all that together, I think I made quite the Arkham Asylum inmate. I have also worn that face make-up for another Joker costume based on the Killing Joke written by Alan Moore.  Prior to that, I made an Alucard costume from “Castlevania”, and Neo from the ” Matrix”.  Of course, I’ve had ones prior to that, but they were all fairly simple, like vampires and such.

3) What building materials did you use to build the armor and how long did it take you to complete the build?

Well, believe it or not the entire armor starts off as card stock that you can get at Wal-Mart… that’s what I said, paper…  Well I skipped a step. IT
actually started it’s life as a 3D computer model made by a fellow online. That data was then opened in a program called “Pepakura”.

This is the same program that 90% of “Halo” costumers use to make their armor.  The program takes the image and flattens it so it’s able to be printed on any regular printer.  From there, you spend many hours just simply cutting, folding, gluing, fitting, remaking pieces that you mess up on…  Once you actually have your pieces made, then you resin them to add a little bit of rigidity.  After that is fiberglass work, followed by Bondo, glazing putty and then paint.  But the thing you spend more time on then anything is sanding; especially to get a nice automotive finish. Granted there are a few nuts and bolts, brackets, straps and such to put the whole thing together, but for the most part it’s fiberglassed paper. The whole process took me about a year.  That was doing about 10-20 hours week. I could have finished it much earlier, but I have been working full time and going to school almost full time.

4) How did you learn how to do all of this?

Well that’s actually really simple.  My father and I have always done all our own mechanic work and body work.  Combine that with being the son of an Aerospace engineer and  I guess some things are genetic. I can also thank my mother and grandmother in regards to my art skills.  I’m currently going to school for automotive design, and that basically combines engineering and art all in one career… although, many feel that I should become a prop/costume maker in Hollywood.  We’ll have to see.

5) I think my favorite part of the armor is the working repulsors in the hand, how did you pull that off and what gave you the idea?

In my experience, it’s the little things that people really notice in a costume.  Where many just have a light in the chest, I chose to go the route of making a replica “arc reactor” to give my Iron Man a more realistic look; whether it be under my shirt as Tony Stark or in the armor itself.

For you, the detail was in the hands.  That was one of the easiest things for the costume.  I found a little touch sensitive LED light at Ace Hardware and noticed that it fit in my palm like it was fate.  I then wrapped fiberglass around my hand and the light, did a little tweaking here and there and now I have it where if I tighten my hand, it puts pressure on the switch and turns the light on and off.  Nothing complicated, just thinking creatively.

6) Are there any other characters you plan to tackle in the future?

Well, to be honest, I’m no body builder, so spandex is very much out of the question. I have thought about possibly going for the Green Goblin or Red Skull.  After getting some time with kids in the Iron Man armor, and doing some good in the costume, I plan on going after the brand new Iron Man armor.  The one that debuted in Invincible Iron Man #25.  All I can say is, it’s oh so sexy. Although to some, it may seem more complicated than the Mark III , it will actually be an easier build and I’ll have much more mobility based on the way I have it designed out.  Who knows, maybe I’ll try to make it fly… or as Buzz Lightyear said it, “falling with style.”

7) What exactly are the “Arizona Avengers” ?

I’m glad you asked about the Arizona Avengers.  After Istarted on the Iron Man armor, I met some great people in the costuming community;  groups like the 501st who do charity work costumed as Star Wars characters.  For me this was a great influence because it reminded me of all the volunteer work I did while serving a mission for my church.  I knew that I was the happiest when I was helping other find joy, and that I was blessed with certain talents and gifts.  So why not take this one little talent of making a costume and use it for some good?  I tried to find groups much like the 501st but based on superheros, but sadly found none in Arizona. The few I did find online that were somewhat what I was looking for were mostly DC Comics based. So one day I decided to start the first official Marvel Comics based costuming group called the Arizona Avengers.  This group was founded to basically provide a collective identity for costuming fans in Arizona with similar interests.

The Arizona Avengers are proud to put its resources to good use through fund raising, charity work, and volunteerism.  We are still in the infancy compared to other large oraganizations but we’re starting to make relationships with local charities and hospitals to try to bring a the people of Arizona a smile or two.

8 ) Just out of curiosity, I gotta ask, what was the reception like at the  con when you debuted the armor and how miserable was it do be inside that thing all day?

I knew going into the convention that I would be popular, but I had no idea how insanely popular I would become!  Every second I was in costume, I had a crowd of people following me asking for pictures.  The security at the con was so helpful in finding us a place to set up and have folks come to us for photos.  We basically stayed in one place for hours and had a non stop crowd of people wanting their picture with Iron Man and the rest of the Arizona Avengers.  I was very surprised that when I met Stan Lee,  he was very impressed with all our costumes,  signed a few of our SHIELD agent’s badges and even asked for one of our cards.

9) Now, although I think the entire build process was insanely cool, the reason that I really wanted to get in touch with you is your plans to use the suit for charity purposes. Please tell us about what you have planned.

Well simply put we plan on working with oraganizations such as the Red Cross, blood banks, libraries, hospitals, and any worthwhile organization that helps do good in the community.  With the help of donations we hope to be able to hand out comic books as well to help promote reading for all youth.  I’m learning a lot fast thanks to the friends I’ve made in the 501st who want to see us grow as well.

10) If someone else out there wanted to start a Cosplay project on a similar scale as yours, what advice would you give them?

Well if you plan on making a very large costume whether it be armor or not, don’t get discouraged.  There were so many times I didn’t want to keep going just because the process was so slow.  It’s ok to take a mental break from time to time and if you get burnt out on one piece, start on a different aspect of the costume and go from there.  Commitment is key. I never thought how much attention I would receive for building this costume and the same can be said for anyone who is ambitous enough to start a difficult project.  It has allowed me to meet some amazingly talented people across the globe and allowed me to learn far much more than I ever thought I could about costumes.  One other thing I would say is that it’s good to have an iPod full of music, energy drinks and patience in abundance.

11) You would have to be a pretty big comic fan to want to do something like this, so how long have you been reading and what are your favorite books?

Well I started watching cartoons like “Thundercats”, “Silverhawks”, “Voltron” and “GI Joe”, but I really didn’t get into comics till I was about 10 years old.  That was partly due to Batman being on television at the time.  When I did start reading it was when Bane had broken Batman’s back and had turned things over to Jean Paul Valley (Azreal).  Looking back, that was the armored bat suit as well.  Pattern here?… Haha.

I read mostly Batman for years until I got into perfoming arts, acting for film and television…as well as cars and girls. When I started as a manger for Atomic Comics here in Arizona, it was the rebirth of sorts for my lost love.  Since I’m a manger of a comic shop, I pretty much read almost everything, but the books I really get excited for is still Batman, but Invincible Iron Man, Green Lantern, and pretty much any book published by Radical Comics.

12) Lastly, are there any appearances or anything else that you would like to plug before I let you go?

Well although we have some events coming up in July for a Kids camp in Tucson, our biggest public appearances will be at Atomic Comics in September when Brian Michael Bendis from Marvel Comics will appear for a signing, as well as visiting the Tucson Comicon and Saboten-con this fall.  SO look for us there. or find us online at www.facebook.com/arizonaavengers.

Also I’m currently in a costume contest for the Iron Man armor and would love it if people would vote for me. The link is:

http://suitup.kmart.com/contests/showentry/279757