Do you want to cosplay Tracer and bring her to life? Tracer, a fictional playable character in the 2016 video game Overwatch, has become really popular with cosplayers these days, so it’s not surprising that you want to join in the fun. Read on to find methods and details on how you can make the Tracer cosplay outfit.
Table of Contents
Who Is Tracer From Overwatch?
Before anything else, who is Tracer in the Overwatch game? What does she do that makes her so famous in cosplay circles? If you haven’t already heard about this character, Tracer is the call sign of Lena Oxton, a young pilot who wanted to become a next generation teleporting fighter but became an Overwatch agent instead due to a teleporting mishap, as explained in her backstory.
Referred to as a Damage hero, Tracer seeks out and defeats enemies using her twin-pulse pistols and energy-based time bombs. Fearless and adventurous and all-around goofy, she time-jumps, blinks through space with her chronal accelerator, and fights the bad guys in between to save the day. She also gets along well with her other hero companions, making her one of the easiest to like in the group.
Do you have a happy personality? Then, the Tracer cosplay will be a wonderful fit for you as she is funny, easygoing, and full of energy. Even with her flair for dramatic poses, her character is a lighthearted tomboy who has a penchant for making jokes.
What Comprises A Tracer Armor Costume?
The Tracer outfit consists of a short straight wig, the Tracer armor, leggings, straps, and boots. Then you have the eyewear, the chronal harness, and the pulse guns. This is her characteristic outfit and her armor accessories that give her this unique Tracer style. Here are a few things to note about her costume:
Tracer Wig
The dark-haired Tracer sports a short, spiked-up hairstyle that gives the character its distinctive look.
Tracer Aviator Jacket
The Tracer jacket is a brown Suede Leather aviator jacket with a front zipper closure. It has a Union Jack patch embroidered on the right arm while her own logo is on the left one.
Chronal Accelerator
This is Tracer’s harness with a bluish glow that keeps her anchored in the present and keeps her from disappearing due to her chronal disassociation condition, in which she disappears somewhere outside of Time.
Tracer Leggings
These stretchy tights are a mix of yellow and orange. The yellow leggings moderately change into an orange shade from the knees down.
Tracer Boots
Specially-designed for Tracer,these boots are made with round toes and come in white and gray color.
Tracer Goggles
This pair of eyewear, which matches Tracer’s suit, has an orange tint with white trim.
Arm Guards And Gloves
Lena’s armor costume consists of white bulky gauntlets on both her arms and a pair of dark brown leather gloves.
Tracer Guns
Tracer has twin-pulse guns that she uses to fire at enemies at blazing speed.
Now that you have a good idea about this brave hero and her getup, let’s proceed to how you can make the costume. If this is your first costume, you may find that making the Overwatch Tracer costume is challenging. Even cosplayers rate the skill level for this costume making activity as advanced.
So, you have two options: to make it yourself or to find the items online. Many cosplayers post their costume tutorials on YouTube and Tracer fans are no different. What’s common among the tutorials is that they require complex steps and a long list of materials and equipment.
Costume Making: How To Make An Overwatch Tracer Costume
If you’re keen on creating your very own Tracer costume, you’ll find cosplayers who provide comprehensive DIY guides that lists step-by-step costume making procedures, including the foam armor pieces.
You can also find a bunch of tutorial articles and videos for making Tracer’s armor set, her gauntlets, leggings, and other foam armor pieces. When using these guides to make your own costume and accessories, make sure to adjust material amounts to your body size.
Foam Armor Pieces
In a particular set of Tracer costume making tutorials, you’ll find that you’ll need a wide variety of equipment and materials ranging a sewing machine, to EVA foam for making the foam armor pieces, craft and spray paints, to small pieces of materials like sandpaper and straight pins.
In these Overwatch cosplay tutorials, the cosplayer provides a very detailed guide on how to make the entire Tracer outfit. This includes tutorials for making the Tracer jacket, jumpsuit, chronal accelerator pack with optional lights, pulse pistols, arm bracers, and goggles.
How To Recreate The Jacket
For the Tracer jacket, you need materials such as faux suede or cotton, faux fur, black webbing, a silver buckle, as well as the Union Jack, Tracer patch, and the admiral patch. For the chronal harness, materials needed include EVA foam, black thermoplastic, webbing, interfacing, and quick-release buckles.
Begin Work On The Jumpsuit
The jumpsuit tutorial, meanwhile, requires items like different kinds of spandex, cotton webbing, plastic buckles, and fabric paint.
Building The Weaponry
In making the pulse pistols, you need NERF toy guns, EVA foam, thin craft foam, black thermoplastic, spray paint, and craft paint. For the arm bracers, materials include craft foam, thermoplastic, rubber coating, spray paint, and spandex. And for the goggles, materials include craft foam, thermoplastic, plastic sheeting, and craft paint.
The tools needed for the construction of the Tracer cosplay are varied as well. Among the required tools are sewing machine, iron, heat gun, variable speed rotary toolkit, heat gun, quilting ruler, hot glue gun, dye pot, and paint brushes in various sizes.
While such methods and instructions call for a lot of hard, complicated work and a good amount of mess, once the costume is complete, you’ll definitely feel proud of your accomplishment.
In the event that sewing or crafts isn’t for you, you may want to consider going the custom-made route. Professional dressmakers use quality materials and can give you an excellent fit, which you’ll find out during a testing fit. Due to their skills, you’ll be pretty much guaranteed to get what you wanted.
Should I Buy A Ready-made Tracer Cosplay Outfit?
As mentioned earlier, if you want to create a Tracer cosplay costume, it’s highly recommended that you have advanced sewing skills. There are experienced cosplayers who cite the challenging process involved in making this getup. Some tutorials mention that making the armor costume requires operating an industrial sewing machine.
For a beginner working on your first costume or an intermediate cosplayer, you will definitely find the task daunting. Unless you possess the needed sewing abilities, your ideal option would be to buy off the shelf. Getting a prefabricated Tracer costume set will save you hours of work and you can be sure that you have an accurate cosplay suit that fits.
If you want the complete set, go for the Tracer complete armor pack or a suit costume. These sets typically come with the Tracer armor, holster, goggles, and shoes. With this option, you won’t need to look around for each item.
How Do I Determine The Right Size?
In buying a prefabricated Tracer costume, determining your body size is important. Costume fit is also another crucial element in getting the proper size. Here are the some tips that will help you in picking out the right fit for your body size.
Choose a dress that fits you in the way that you want the Tracer costume to fit. Using a measuring tape, measure the chest under the armpit seams as well as across the waist and hips. Multiply each measurement by 2. Check the size chart and place an order based on the measurements you took.
Another alternative is to measure your body and add up to 2 inches for every measurement you take. You need to measure your bust, waist, hips, and, inseam. When it comes to cosplays, costumes can come from different parts of the world, so it’s highly recommended that you buy two or three sizes up.
What Are The Pros And Cons In Buying An Off-the-shelf Tracer Costume?
Pros
Accuracy
There are advantages when you choose to buy a ready-made Tracer costume, such as accuracy of design. The Tracer costume has a complicated design and the easiest way that you can get an accurate Tracer look is by getting one from online cosplay shops. Tracer is pretty much a popular cosplay figure, so it won’t be hard finding a supplier.
Convenience
If there’s one other big benefit of getting the premade Tracer costume, it’s convenience. Compared to learning the intricacies of an industrial sewing machine, buying online presents a less overwhelming alternative. This is particularly important if you think your sewing skills are non-existent.
Cons
Expensive
As to the disadvantages, one is that Tracer costumes and the accessories can break your bank. If you really love to cosplay Tracer, then you may be open to the idea of investing in a high-priced premade costume. But if you’re just planning to cosplay Tracer for an occasion, then cost may be an issue.
Quality
The quality of the pattern or fabric is another factor to consider when it comes to ordering ready-to-wear costumes from web cosplay shops. Of course, judging the quality of an item online is not easy (read: expectation vs. reality). But reading customer reviews should give you an idea whether or not to go through with a Tracer costume purchase.
Conclusion
Depending on your personal preference and budget, any of these options to make or obtain your Tracer costume may be suitable for you. If you have decided you want to construct the costume yourself using a Trace costume making tutorial or a YouTube video as a guide, remember that testing fit of the costume is highly recommended and if needed, to adjust material amounts as necessary. You do want to be certain that your body is comfortable in the Tracer cosplay outfit, don’t you?
Should you choose to search for this Overwatch outfit online, check out all the photos provided on the cosplay shop’s website. You may want to spend time looking over and checking the armor costume options as well as the rest of the information provided with it. Whatever your choice, whether you create it or buy it, and however you find methods for obtaining the Tracer outfit, do what you think is best for you.
