Roberto Arias has got a pretty unique hobby. While the rest of us hit the gym, or play video games or build models, Roberto builds life-sized Iron Man helmets and costumes and roams around Toronto.
He calls himself Toronto Iron Man.
Ever since he was a kid, he always wanted to be Iron Man. He had a collection of toys, comics, you name it. When the first Iron Man film came out in 2008 and he saw Robert Downey Jr. wear the suit, Roberto figured there had to be away to make a practical costume.
So he went about figuring it out, and shared his work on his Facebook & his Website.
Turns out there’s a whole international community of costume designers that have templates, and he’s been able to either work with other builders, special effects companies & prop makers to fabricate his own costumes, or figure it out for himself.
The suits are made with brass, foam, aluminum tape and other materials to get the right look and on average weigh 20-30 pounds when complete.
He also jazzes them up with LEDs.
With every new Iron Man film, he tries to recreate the latest model.
His attention to detail is amazing!
His obsessions came to a head when Iron Man 3 came out. Remember that one? When he had at least 30+ variations of his suits. Roberto’s on a mission to at least build the helmets from all those suits, but for sure the rest of the armour is sure to follow.
On top of building his own costumes, he’s also got business building replica helmets from comic book movies, and he sells them at comiccons across Ontario.
I’m thinking about ordering one of these, they’re pretty sick!
Then of course there’s the best part of making an awesome Iron Man armour; wearing it! Anytime there’s a comiccon or kids event, Toronto Iron Man is there.
There’s a small community of cosplayers in Toronto, so sometimes they’ll band together and you’ll get the Toronto Iron Man, Toronto Batman and Toronto Spider Man trifecta.
There’s a also a Toronto War Machine that is played by Roberto’s brother.
Now that’s a pretty awesome hobby to have!
Wonder if he’ll come do my kids’ birthday party?
Via Facebook & Torontoironman
