If you’re a frequent crumleyBlog reader, you’ll recall our family participated in Free Comic Book Day, back in May. You may also remember that Fuller won $100 worth of free comics for his Speed Racer costume, and that about a month ago, we went back to the store and used Fuller’s winnings to start a very respectable comic book collection (for a 3-year-old).

In one of those comics, Spider-man battles Doctor Octopus. After being read that issue, Fuller developed a fascination with Spider-man’s 8-appendaged nemesis. So much so, that he would sometimes make Mommy or I pretend to be Spider-man so he could do battle as Doctor Octopus.

Since we’ve been trying to steer Fuller towards the virtues of super-heroism, not super-villainy, I was a little unsure of what to do. Ultimately, I decided that occasionally experiencing the world of superheroes from the antagonist’s point of view could be helpful if channeled properly. So, I decided to make Fuller a Doctor Octopus costume.

I drew up a quick list of supplies for Alli to procure from the thrift store and Lowes:

• 1 - child’s backpack
• 1 - adult-sized jacket, lab coat, or dress blazer
• 2 - 6′X1/2″ foam pipe insulation tubes

I knew I’d also need some zip-ties, black electrical tape, and some copper wire, but since I already had those, there was no need for Alli to buy more. (Interesting note: we purposely didn’t tell Fuller about the costume, but as he and Alli were purchasing the pipe insulation, he remarked, “those are Doctor Octopus arms.”)

Alli took photos of the construction and posted them in a new Flickr album, here. With the exception of the jacket (which had to be altered a bit), the construction was very easy and only took about 20 minutes (it took an extra hour to hem the jacket’s sleeves, remove some of the back panel and add slits for the extra arms).

While it’s may not have quite the polish of Rob Cockerham’s Doc Ock costume, Fuller still thinks the world of it. And since you could probably count on one (non-mechanical) hand the number of 3-year-olds who have one, he’s kinda right.

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