Someone made an actual prosthetic based on Imperator Furiosa’s from Mad Max: Fury Road. Is saying something is “shiny and chrome” passé yet?
I love this. Not just because it looks so good, but because there’s competence porn to go along with it in the form of the detailed process photos and writing from the maker.
Over at The Replica Props Forum, Michelle Sleeper has a thread which details the incredible process behind making a real Furiosa prosthetic. Someone had put Sleeper in contact with Laura, a left arm transradial amputee, who is an active and enthusiastic cosplayer. The original plan was to make a Terminator-style Endo Arm, but then, as for so many of us, Mad Max: Fury Road changed everything. Laura posted about her reaction to the movie and the character of Furiosa, and Sleeper changed the plan:
We had a short conversation and I asked her permission to build her the Furiosa arm as a real actual prosthetic, much like we were going to do for the T-800 Endo Arm and she couldn’t have been more thrilled. Our plan was to finish it for Dragon Con 2015. Needless to say, I was excited too.
During our planning for the Terminator Endo Arm project, I took a 3D scan of her using an Xbox Kinect and a software called Scannect. It allows you to easily get a rough 3D scan of someone or an object. It’s not high enough detail to look photo realistic, but it’s enough to get basic proportions. I use this myself to scale Pepakura files and do other digital sculpting. We tried getting a 3D scan of her arm and the results were alright. Really it was just enough to use for scaling and “subtracting” her arm from the Endo Arm model.
When we shifted gears to Furiosa, I decided the first thing to do was to get a plaster cast of her arm - The prosthetic would have to actually fit her, and there was no way for me to “try on” the prop myself while building it. After an afternoon at the shop, I had one of the weirdest casts I’ve ever made, but it was exactly what we needed!
Sleeper used 3D printing to make the arm light enough to be worn for large amounts of time, sanding and putting together all the pieces into a recognizable shape:
After adding joints to make the wrist movable, painting, creating the necessary details, and weathering the whole thing, it was delivered to Laura at Dragon Con. With the designer standing by to make any repairs.
As you can see from the top photo, it looked amazing. If you’re interested in a lot more detail about the build process, head over to the original thread. You can also contact Sleeper at Overworld Design’s Facebook page and blog.
Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.