DIY Doctor Who Cyberman Costume

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Over the years, my son has been very creative with his Halloween costumes. When he was three he wanted to be a chef, the following year a stop light, and he's even been a LEGO. This year may have been the most challenging. He wanted to by a Cyberman from Doctor Who.

You would think this would be an easy find considering how popular the show is with cosplayers. The only full costume that I could find is terrible unless you want to go as a classic Doctor Who cyberman and he did not.



We had to figure out how to make a robot costume that would pay homage to the Doctor, but not cost a fortune.

The answer came one night while discussing Doctor Who with some friends and it was so simple - a superhero costume spray painted silver! It was a perfect idea since cybermen were once men.
We decided on using an Iron Man suit because it seemed the closest to what a Cyberman looks like. Plus the arc reactor looks like glowing disc on the chest. I searched thrift stores and bargain bins looking for an Iron Man costume that would fit him with no luck and ended up purchasing one.

I started with a can of gray and two cans of metallic silver thinking that the gray would make a good base coat, but it really wasn't necessary. The metallic did a great job of covering the costume but did take two cans. I probably could use one more can of metallic, but I was running out of time.

The whole process took three days. The first day was the main coat, I let it fully dry for another day, and the third day I hung it on the clothe's line and pulled at it to see where it would crack or what spots I missed and used the last can to fill it in and finish covering it.

To finish off the costume, we added a tap light. It comes with velcro that sticks on, but I sewed it on to make it secure.


The costume cost about $40 which is more than I wanted to pay, but it was so worth it!

What was the most challenging costume you've made for your kids?