Easy Halloween Costume Idea: Dr. Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot Video Game

Last year, right after school began; I asked my son what he wanted to be for Halloween. He said he didn't know and would get back to me. He was seven years old at the time, and couldn't make up his mind on what to be. We played a lot of Crash Bandicoot video games that summer, and we had just started our newest acquisition, Crash of the Titans. My son decided he wanted to be Crash Bandicoot and told me how he wanted the costume to look. Fearing my son would want to be covered in orange paint and hair, (click here to see what Crash looks like) I asked him to think about it a bit more and get back to me. After about a minute of watching us play the video game, he decided on Doctor Neo Cortex, Crash's nemesis. This costume is rather simple to do and it comes out very nice. He got many compliments on it.

You will need the following supplies: (all these items can be purchased in a craft store. Click the links to see what each product looks like to make this costume.) You will want to print out the picture of Cortex as your guide.

The Mask:

• A plastic face mask like this

• Mellow yellow acrylic paint, (scroll down to the bottom half of the page. You do not want a bright yellow, more of a pale yellow to better match the skin tone of Neo Cortex.)

• Fake black fur for the hair. (This link has brown, but you will need black.)

• Black acrylic paint to use as eyeliner on the mask.

• The letter "N" (it has a sticky back, but you can use an iron on and just glue it)

• X-acto knife/blade to open up the eyes and mouth on the mask.

• Hot glue gun

• Black sharpie

• Sharp scissors

• Fine tip paint brush

• Small or medium sponge brush

• Varnish

The Lab Coat:

• White felt (This link is to show you how it is packaged in the store.) - Take your child to the fabric store and measure the width. Wrap the bolt around their mid-section to get the right size. (every child is different.) Make sure you overlap it by about six inches to give room for seams and comfort. You want to coat to fit down to the mid thigh or so, with no arms.

• Black buttons. Simple 1" round black buttons, six of them. (Three for each side.)

• Black felt or scrap fabric for a belt and front of the coat.

• Velcro sticky back squares (to close the coat)

The Costume:

• For the shirt and pants of this costume, all you need is a black shirt and black stretchy pants, like pajama bottoms. (That is what my son used.)

• One pair of black gloves. (Knit stretchy ones are fine.)

To make the mask, place all the supplies on a tabletop covered in newspapers for protection. Carefully use the x-acto knife to enlarge the eyeholes and mouth until they better suit your child for vision and breathing. Next, using the sponge brush, paint the mask with the pale yellow, only on the outside, no need to paint the inside as it may irritate the skin. Let dry. You may need a second coat to get full coverage. Let dry. Using the black paint and the fine tip paint brush, paint on black eyeliner, top and bottom of the eye, about 1/16^th to 1/8^th of an inch wide. Not enough to make it look like a raccoon, but enough to show off the evil of the character. Again, look at the picture for guidance. Once it is all dry, then spray varnish it lightly, just enough so it is coated and if it rains, the paint won't come off. (Sometimes when you paint on smooth plastic, like this mask, the paint will come off easily.) While the mask is drying, we will work with the fake fur and the "N".

This is a bit tricky to do. You notice in the picture, that Cortex has bushy eyebrows, tufts of hair behind his ears, and a tuft sticking off of his forehead. For the eyebrows, I made long sideways triangle shapes on the back of the fur and cut them out; each going the opposite way. Cut them a bit bigger than what you need because you will want to trim it up when you apply it to the mask to give it a more evil look. (To make them look more like eyebrows and not cut fake fur on a mask... believe me, I know. It took a few extra eyebrows for me to get the hang of it.) Then, do the same for the tufts behind the ears. They are pretty much the same shape. Nothing has to be exactly the same size because he is an evil genius doctor and nothing on him is symmetrical! (Mwahahahaaa!) Now for the evil tuft of hair on his forhead: All I did was cut another long triangle and wrap the end of it to make it a bit stiffer so it wouldn't flop over. The width is only about an inch or so, but you want to cut it at least three inches for the effect. Have it end at a point. Oh, and as a tip for cutting fake fur: comb the fur away from where you are going to cut or you will end up with a square hair cut. This way, the fabric is cut and you will have a bit of 'bangs' hanging over the edge of the tuft for realism. This will come in handy for the goatee as well. Draw the goatee on the back of the fur, just like the eyebrows, so you have a basic outline prior to cutting. If it is easier for you, you can make a separate mustache and chin beard and affix them to the mask as a set. I will say that trying to glue the goatee was difficult, so separating them might be easier.

Prior to attaching the tufts of hair, you will need to work on the "N". Get your sharpie out and color in the "N". It needs to be completely black. Once that is done, go ahead and adhere it to the center of his forehead. Press it on good. Next, take the hot glue and adhere the eyebrows. Make sure they are right above the eyes, not too high to give an inquisitive look, but not to low so the kids can't see out of it, either. You will want to put them at an angle as well, to give that sinister look to it. (Mwahahahaaaa!)

The ear tufts are a bit trickier. Have your child wear the mask to get a better idea of the ear location and mark it. Then, glue the tufts on, with them going backwards and sticking out. It is kind of tricky, but worth it in the long run. The floofier the better. The tuft for the forehead gets glued on right above the "N", and is also kind of leaning back as well. The goatee is glued on as a goatee should. Another tip is being careful with the hot glue and the plastic mask. If the glue is too hot, then it might melt the mask. You can use low temp glue and it will work just fine. I do not recommend using white glue or school glue. It will be too messy and will not hold as well. There you are! The completed mask! This is the main part of the costume, as you can see form this adorable picture of my boy on Halloween last year. (Click on the picture with this article to enlarge it for the full costume.) Now, we work on the easy part, the lab coat.

The lab coat is very simple. The hardest part is cutting the holes to make it fit your child. First, you will need to place your white felt on the table and cut it in half so you have to equal pieces to make either side of the lab coat. Sew up where you just cut. (This seems silly, but it helps with the solidness of the costume. Now, measure the 'coat' to your child and cut armholes. The arm holes should be about an inch bigger than normal to allow for movement with the black long sleeve shirt underneath. You don't want it too tight, or it won't look like a lab coat. Now, take the black felt and cut a strip the same width of the coat. This ids for the belt, and should be about an inch or so wide. Glue it on. With the left over black felt, glue it to the openings of the coat, like an unzipped zipper would look. When that is done, you can either glue or sew the buttons on. Look at the picture and place the buttons about three inches down from the collar and about 1 ½ inches in from the 'zipper' line. Do this with all three buttons on each side. To make the coat close, you can put some sticky-back Velcro tabs along the 'zipper' line even with the buttons.

Place this coat over the black long sleeved shirt and black pants. Your child will need black socks and black shoes. The shoes are not important, so if they are not black it is fine. Comfort is first. Finally, finish off the costume with the black gloves. Don't forget the mask!

There you go. You now have a Doctor Neo Cortex Halloween costume! My son was a hit, and no one had the same costume. He might even wear it again this year! The mask is still the same, and I might have to alter the lab coat, but the time and money spent on this costume is much better for me than waiting in line for a costume that 30 other kids are wearing. Happy Halloween!