Say Hello To My Little Claptrap!!

He's done!

 "HELLOOOOO, TRAVELER!"

I probably should have set up a better photo backdrop, but I was so excited I just had John wheel Claptrap out to the back deck for some quick photos.

Behold our marvelous creation! MWUAH-HA-HAA!

"Oooh, check me out!"

We worked off of our own screen shots from Borderlands and this excellent reference art by Keith Schaffer:

 

We made Claptrap as screen accurate as we possibly could, right down to the screw heads. The only major differences are a few tweaks in the arm structure:

Claptrap definitely puts the "pain" in painting; we spend a solid 4 or 5 nights getting all those layers on. I was in charge of all the detail work, outlining and highlighting. And for the record: I am NOT an artist, so that was some scary stuff. 0.o Good thing my screw-ups can be chalked up to battle damage!

 

 John came up with a genius way of constructing the hands; they're pose-able and can even hold things!

I'm still deciding on things Claptrap might hold - the funnier the better. Any suggestions?

We originally planned to put one arm on a puppet-rod so I could make Claptrap wave, but the arm turned out too heavy for me. So instead John attached both arms at an angle, which we can easily change.

Unfortunately Claptrap does require someone to move him; he rolls on one wheel, and has a small handlebar on the back. (It's pretty short, so I'll probably be the one "driving.") He also has a magnetic kickstand, so we can step away for pictures.

We painted the kickstand so it blends in to Claptrap's body when it's up, but now that I've realized it's more important to blend in when it's DOWN, I'll be repainting that black soon.

 

 I think I should also paint the push bar black. Right? Or yellow?

The kickstand uses extremely strong magnets to hold it in place both when it's up and down. It could still be kicked out, of course, but it's the best compromise we could find between stability and ease-of-use. We'll just have to stick close-by at cons and make sure no one gives him a hearty back-slap.

 

 Note to self: next time move the deck chairs.

 

These daylight pics don't show it, but Claptrap IS lit up inside in four places: his eye, warning sign, bottom window, and antennae.

I'm most proud of the window below the Warning sign: I hand painted everything on there, and then we used a blue LED ribbon to match the light from the game. Here's a comparison shot:

And here are some shots in our darkened back room to give you a better idea of the lights:

We tried to make the lights relatively dim so they wouldn't blow out anyone's photos - although the green antennae light is a lot brighter IRL. We also shortened the antenna, both so it would fit better in photos, and so it won't whack me in the face while I'm pushing him around. :D

We used screen shots for the name plaque - which, oddly enough, does NOT match the letters Claptrap gives you in-game. (He calls himself the CL4P-TP.)

Here's our screen shot. The C looks a lot like a B, but that'd be just crazy-pants, so we stuck with C.

Claptrap has a hinged top and is almost completely hollow inside, so we can use him for storing our gear while at cons. (Handy, right?)

The one feature I *haven't* shown you yet is the audio; Claptrap is wired to say four different things from the game, using small push buttons on the back. (We cut open this keychain and just wired it to a bigger speaker.) Here's his most famous line:

(Watch your volume; he's pretty loud!)

And that's our Claptrap!

Those of you going to MegaCon will get to see his big debut, so be sure to say hi if you see/hear him coming your way!

(I don't expect we'll be in costume with Claptrap for MegaCon, but John and I brainstorming options for Dragon Con in August.)

 And finally, since I know most of you haven't played Borderlands, here's a compilation I found of some of Claptrap's best lines, to better help you appreciate his comedic genius/annoyingness.

Hope this made you guys smile! 

Oh, and this week John and I drive to Williamsburg, VA to help my parents with some remodeling, so I hope you'll bear with me if it gets a little quiet over here. Lots of stuff to share; just gotta find the time to do it!