Tron Girl Costume

Objective: Bring a beloved movie character to life for Halloween. Namely, Tron Girl.

Inspiration/muse/all around rockstar: John Maynard, better known as Tron Guy.

I ordered a white hooded bodysuit from Discount Dance Supply. Although Tron Girl's hat is actually separated from her bodysuit, I thought it would be a more faithful representation than if I used some kind of swim cap or helmet.

So, looking at some movie screenshots, it looks like I can pull this off if I add a thick white belt, some shin guards (close enough), some painted blue lines and to top it off, some el wire.

So, additional materials:

1. Thrift store boots: ideally white, actually black.
2. Thrift store shin guards: ideally my size, actually made for a tiny child's twiggy little calves
3. A belt I got as a gift and never wore (sorry Aunt K, it went to good use!)
4. Cheery holiday wrapping paper to contain the mess
5. Blue and white acrylic paint and some suitable paintbrushes

And of COURSE, no Tron costume is a Tron costume without some blue el wire. This I found at

I started by putting a thick coat of white acrylic paint on the boots. I knew it wasn't an ideal way to turn them white, but I couldn't find anything lighter at Thrift Town and I was eager to get started.

Next, the belt got the same treatment. Unfortunately the luxurious suede or whatever it was can soak up quite a bit of paint.

After the first coat it was looking kind of bleak …

… but persistence paid off!

Next, I started painting the bodysuit, being as faithful as I could to the grainy movie screenshots I was using and just kind of winging it when I wasn't sure.

Here's the back. In a perfect world this would be outlined in el wire, but unfortunately that stuff won't survive much bending or twisting, so it can't really be attached to stretchy fabric.

The hood was really tough to paint without something acting as a stand-in head, so I rifled through the closet until I found an old ceiling light cover to simulate my noggin.

Now, obviously a good costume is all in the details. I originally planned to have a frisbee accessory like Tron Guy …

"You will each receive an identity disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disc. If you lose your disc, or fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate deresolution."

… but upon rewatching the movie I realized Tron Girl doesn't actually have one. So instead I decided to make "Bit," the film's oh so loveable little sidekick. Bit has three rough physical states as pictured above so I decided to make the neutral one in the middle. "But how?!" you ask, incredulous.

With the INTERNET!

Getting to this point — making 30 of these little suckers — that's the tedious part. The rest of it is way fun.

Hi, Bit! Okay, on to the other accessories.

As with the body suit, I did the best I could to faithfully recreate Tron Girl's attire. After they dried I was pretty much done; I just had to clip the el wire controller unit to my belt and then wrap the wire around.

All done! Halloween is maybe my favorite holiday.