Mother Brain Cosplay by Object Oriented Props

Last month was the annual Super MAGfest celebration, and as usual, I was one of those in attendance. Along with all my other con-going friends, I was able to hang out with one of our contributing editors, Carl, aka Object Oriented Props, who is now known for one of those ambitious “cosplay” creations ever made: a mechanical, over ten-foot-tall bipedal Mother Brain from Super Metroid. 

Carl (left) and Matt (right) with their creation, in the hallway at the Gaylord National Hotel and Resort, National Harbor, MD. January, 2024.

If you follow our social media pages, you may remember Carl and his colleague Matt unveiled the costume at last year’s MAGFest, as it was the “Metroid Prime” theme that year. It was a huge hit and was received with thunderous applause and cheers. Carl then went on to take the costume on stage at the Metroid Metal concert that night:

Music and Gaming Festival held at the Gaylord National Convention Center at the National Harbor, MD from January 18th to 21st, 2024. Musical performers in the Potomac Ballroom with The Protomen from Nashville, TN as the headlining act.


Over the course of 2024, Carl and Matt were continuously updating and making adjustments to the costume as “version 1.0” had some significant flaws needed to be overcome. The costume made its second MAGFest appearance in January, 2025. I was lucky to sit down with Carl and hash out this interview to provide some deep insight on the creation and maintenance of this wholly unique costume.

(The following video is from the original costume unveiling in 2024)

Note: The following interview was slightly edited for clarity due to length and time. It is a very close recreation of the answers provided by Carl.

State your name, age, and occupation.

Carl: Carl Campbell, 36, software developer.

Other than Super Metroid, what brought about the original inspiration or “spark” that gave you the idea to create such a thing?

Carl: Conversations with Dan Cattell (pixel art cosplayer) who lives down the street from me. We originally met at a party and after I showed him my Metroid leg sleeve we started bonding over our Metroid love. We got to talking about his dream costumes and how stunning a “to-scale” Mother Brain would be, just adding on detail after detail until it felt impossible. But a couple years later when the Prime theme was revealed for MAGFest 2024, I knew the time was right. Metroid Metal was gonna be playing that year, and band frontman Grant wanted to bring cosplayers up on stage again. It was a “sign.” I started work shortly after the theme was announced, in May-June, 2023.

Carl’s calf depicts the final epic battle from Super Metroid.

How much research/pre-production work was involved before work began?

Carl: I originally roughed-out a skeleton in CAD. The most difficult part was the neck mechanism. Her head is very floaty, almost like a bird’s. I thought, how would that even work? I started creating prototypes – none of it worked. Some ideas included a scissor mechanism that functioned similar Nintendo’s Ultra Hand, but in the end didn’t work due to weight restrictions. Overall I went through three or four iterations in CAD. It was about three months of research before the actual build started. 

Failed prototype mechanism for Mother Brain’s neck.

Work In Progress Gallery

Where was most of the work completed?

Carl: Most of the work was done inside the garage of my condo. The project eventually grew to completely take over the entire house, but it’s under control now.

Have you done any other mechanical engineering-type work before this project?

Carl: Yes, but mostly small hobby stuff. I don’t have any formal education in mechanical engineering. I watched a ton of YouTube videos for research. Years ago, I had made this mechanical-lift music box as a gift for my wife. The music box has an automated mechanical platform that raises up and down. That project was how I originally became familiar with using CAD. I also do 3D printing as a side hobby. Building my own 3D printer was how I got confident with many of the materials and techniques used for Mother Brain.

How heavy is the costume? How many individual parts is it made out of?

Carl: The first iteration was about 60-70lbs. We had a large speaker in it for audio cues that made it very heavy. Every aspect of the costume has to be considered for weight and balance. It’s a real battle against gravity in many places. Overall the costume is made out of hundreds, possibly thousands, individual parts!

The tech behind Mother Brain is quite impressive.

What has been some of your fondest memories with wearing the costume?

Carl: The memories that stick out in my head the most have actually been the most stressful times that we managed to turn around. It was originally scaled to fit [a friend and fellow cosplayer, John] who wore it during the Metroid Metal concert in 2024. The timing of showing was flubbed up a little, and she came out too early, but it worked out in the end. Admittedly, I was sick during the first unveiling which made my energy levels low, but you just gotta power through.

Approx. how much funding have you invested into the creation?

Carl: I’d estimate over $10,000. When you factor in new tools and extras, it adds up fast.

Carl and Matt had to build a rolling container box for MB to be transported in safely.

What is the most expensive part of the creation?

Carl: My mindset is “Spend money now, so I don’t have to again,” which drove up costs. The most expensive piece on it is probably a portable, 500W battery pack that costs $500-600. The costume also has a fog machine built into it which created the demand for such a battery, not to mention it’s the heaviest thing too.

Mother Brain’s fog breath is no joke!

Were there any parts or ideas that you had that weren’t able to implement?

Carl: So many. Initially, Mother Brain was gonna be on stilts to really make her super tall …as if she isn’t hard enough to control! I was planning to make Mother Brain shoot the “super eye beam” with a laser light, as well as make her shoot the blue hoops and squiggle beams.

In an ideal world, I wanted to implement some kind of DMX (digital multiplex) for allowing sound engineers to control MB’s parts remotely if I were to bring her on stage. That would have allowed her movements and lights to be timed with the music. 

Their custom Stream Deck allows Mother Brain to perform various fuctions at the touch of a button.

What aspects have required the most attention/troubleshooting/reworking/rethinking and if you had to do it again from scratch, what would you change?

Carl: When it comes to this costume, it strictly follows Murphy’s Law. The day before showtime, several parts broke. I had to constantly and continuously fix it. The MAGFest hallway show in 2024 was our “rehearsal” where it was unveiled for the first time. As you might remember, she crashed then, too. But we quickly fixed her by giving her a “reboot” and despite the issues, we had a successful showing.

I know you are deeply familiar with the world of 3D printing. Were there aspects of the costume that are 3D printed?

Carl: She contains about 2-3 spools worth of parts that were 3D printed. They’re split between carbon-fiber reinforced polycarbonate and ABS plastics pieces which is good for stiff, temperature-resistant parts that are lightweight. The prints were all done on my Bambu Lab X1C and custom RatRig V3 400 printers.

How long does it take to put together / wear?

Carl: 29 minutes is currently the fastest time we’ve assembled her from transport boxes. After that, it’s only takes a minute or two to put on.

🤘

Since its original inception and unveiling in Jan, 2024, how many iterations has it had since then?

Carl: I makes changes and additions between every showing. It’s been shown at five local events thus far.

What aspects of the costume are you the most proud of?

Carl: “Our tenacity” not giving up on the costume and continuously wanting to improve it. The ability to bounce back and push towards fixing it. Regarding the costume itself, I am very proud of MB’s “drool” mechanism that I’ve reworked quite a bit. It works sort of like a gravity-fed PEZ machine with a series of pockets that have bits of Vellum (paper) inside, and they get pushed over a cliff and fall down. There are definitely more complex parts I spent time on, but I just love how simple but effective it makes a “pixelized drool” effect.

Are you planning on creating anything else at this scale?

Carl: Maybe Ridley? Maybe Kraid? Who knows…moving outside of Metroid, it would also be really cool to do the “Technodrome” from TMNT or “Big Fuzz” from Contra 3. What we’ve built could be the foundation of other large-scale “costumes,” but I don’t know how much time I have to work on those things, now that I’m a dad. I don’t know when i’m going to be able to start over on something like that.

What other details would you like to provide about the costume that you haven’t already told us about?

Carl: I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the support of friends and family. Matt did so much (all the computer coding) and I don’t know what state it would’ve been in without him. I also received a bunch of support from my wife who contributed to cutting the front-facing parts
of Mother Brain. Obviously, I wouldn’t have gotten the inspiration without Dan’s pixel costumes or the motivation from Grant giving us space on his stage. Also the talented folks at my local makerspace, Hive76. I have many friends who helped and other teamwork assisting with creation overall. Couldn’t have done it without them!

Any last words or comments?

“Mother, time to go.”

Big thanks to Carl for taking the time to be interviewed! We wish him and his family all the best in his endeavors. -Ryan

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