by Billie Edington

So a month has passed since I decided to build a Master Chief costume for Halloween and it’s finally over. If I knew how to communicate an audible sigh of relief via internet, I would do it now. Stephen told me I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this project—and he was right. I’ve spent time, money, and a little dignity since this saga began. But I’ve got to say, it was worth it.

Now, I know what the “gamers” are going to say when they see my costume: It doesn’t really look like Master Chief. And it’s true.

I took a lot of liberties with the armor’s design, top to bottom. Instead of building the armor from scratch with paper or fiberglass or some other material that I would never know where to find in Home Depot, I ordered a bunch of sports equipment that felt authentic enough to me. And I spray-painted it. I originally planned on building on top of that, but I’m going to play the College Student And Part Time Intern card here and say: “Sorry, guys. I just didn’t have the time.

(Check out the full costume here)

If anything, most of my energy went into the deconstruction and rebuilding of the Legendary Edition Helmet. Were it not for the authenticity of that particular piece, my costume would probably have me mistaken up and down Manhattan for a Ninja Turtle.

I took the time to make the helmet how-to pictorial not to claim originality, but simply as another visual aid for similar minded do-it-yourself-ers to follow. Not only did Brian Crecente from Kotaku beat me to it, he sent us step-by-step directions on how to get it done. I didn’t really follow those but I certainly used his pictures as a guide. In fact, many of the comments between Kotaku and MTV users were suggestions far more ambitious and creative than I could ever have dreamed up. Thanks for those.

You know, I’m not Ms. Halo 3000. I don’t have a clue how to build armor, clearly, and I’m not well versed in the online world of video gamers. But I love playing “Halo,” so I chose to make a Halloween costume that showed a little creativity and covered my ass. I’m happy with the finished product because it was relatively painless to construct and I had fun doing it.

It’s definitely a female take on Master Chief and I think that’s what makes it original. So you guys are free to duke it out about the quality of my finished product but I’m looking forward to hitting the pavement this evening with my low visibility helmet and gold-minted water gun. (”I realize the gun isn’t realistic but I was trying to have fun with it. Everybody knows Master Chief doesn’t carry around an AK-47 but it’s really hard to walk into a toy store and ask if they carry fuel rod guns.”)

It may not be hotter than the mini skirts that I’m sure will abound tonight, but it’s definitely going to keep me warmer.

Happy Halloween!