Three years ago, I told my son, Nicholas, that he could be anything he wanted for Halloween. All he had to do was show me a picture of the character he wanted to be and I would make the costume for him. Being a huge fan of Lego, Nicholas chose to be a Lego Bionicle character. And, I have been making different Bionicle characters for him ever since.
This year, Nicholas chose a new character with “special edition” armor called Toa Lewa. The character comes as part of a building set called Axalara T9. These new Lego characters and building pieces are far more intricate than any of the Lego sets that I owned as a kid.
The costume itself is made from a sheet of 3/4″ extruded polystyrene foamboard (available in 4′ x 8′ sheets) and painted with a non-toxic washable kids’ paint (after all, it is a kid’s costume). Although I used sandpaper to make the various shapes and details, a Dremel kit would no doubt have worked far better. I used a water-based primer to coat the polystyrene before painting it in order to improve the cohesion of the kids’ paint and because solvent-based paints dissolved the polystyrene very quickly, like acid (I found this out the hard way). The entire project is coated with a non-toxic sealant in case of rain (In Vancouver, it almost always rains on Halloween). I increased the size of the eye holes to maximize my son’s field of view. The whole project cost me approximately $25.00 and left me with enough remaining material to make another similar costume or costumes.
If you don’t know what Bionicles are, I invite you to check out the pictures on Lego’s website (Lego.com). For this character, I simply typed in “Axalara T9”. If you have kids, then you probably already know about Lego’s new toy lines.
Related costumes:
Homemade Batman Lego Couple Costume 
Coolest Lego Minfigure Costumes: LEGO Magician and Lego Sir 
Coolest DIY Bionicle Halloween Costume 
Awesome Lego Benny Costume from the Lego Movie 
Cool Lego Minifig Costume 
Amazing Lego Men Horror Villians Group Costume! 
Everything is Awesome, a Lego Movie Group Costume Journey! 
Amazing Family Themed Lego Movie Costumes!
I am so impressed by your costume. My son told me that this year he wanted to be Ackar and I told him I’d try…thank you for the discriptive info on how to go about making parts of this costume!
I love your costume. I can’t seem to find the extruded polystyrene foam board you used. Where can I buy it?
Wow George! What an *SPECTACULAR* costume! Can’t wait to see what you do this year!
Thanks to all for for the great comments. Bernadette, I bought the polystyrene foam board from Home Depot, but it should be available at most lumber yards. You can find it in the insulation section. It comes in pink and blue sheets and costs about $6.00 CDN per 2 foot by 8 foot sheet. It’s dense enough to be sanded into all sorts of intricate shapes. You’ll also need to buy an adhesive that is designed especially for foam board (also about $6.00 CDN per tube). Don’t use regular Styrofoam, it’s far too brittle and the edges will disintegrate if you cut or sand it. Remember to use only water based paints, oil based paints will eat through the foam like acid. Good luck and happy Halloween everyone.
Thank you for this idea! My 9 year old decided to be a Bionicle this year, and we had no idea where to start. Unfortunately, we’ve only been able to find 1″ think foam board which is $13/board, but it’s working just fine.
Wow! George, thanks for all the details and for introducing me to a new product to work with! Paper mache and office foam board only get me so far. Thanks so much for sharing.
I need to know how to make that. Can any of you make a video on how to make a bionicle costume and post it on youtube. I would appreciate it.
cool i want one