runDisney featured our Avengers group costume on Twitter

runDisney featured my group costume photo for the Avengers Half Marathon on their Twitter account!  I'm famous!  Okay, I'm exaggerating.

During the 2014 Inaugural Avengers Half Marathon (see my race recap here), one of the runDisney publicity photographers followed us throughout the park and shot a few photos.  She even took a group photo of us in front of the Haunted Mansion.  But the only photo I ended up seeing during race weekend was the photo of us high-fiving cast members that runDisney posted on January 16, 2014 on their Facebook page.

After the 2014 Avengers race weekend was over,  never saw the one of us in front of the Haunted Mansion in any of the runDisney Facebook photos, so I just figured that it was lost and that I'd never see it.

But then for the 2015 Avengers Half Marathon Weekend, runDisney posted that photo on their Twitter account.  How cool is that!?

Loki's Scepter selfie stick tutorial

Turn your selfie stick from boring to burdened with glorious purpose

Loki: "I come with glad tidings of a world made free."

Iron Man: "Free of what?"

Loki: "Free of boring selfie sticks."

When I was making my Loki running outfit for the inaugural runDisney Avengers Half Marathon (see my recap of the race in my previous post), I had a sudden flash of inspiration.  Instead of just making a prop scepter to carry, why not also make it functional by making it out of a monopod selfie stick?

Can you imagine the uses?  Not only could you use it for costumed races, you could also use it for ComiCon and for Halloween!  And the idea could be extended to other types of props.  How about turning the selfie stick into an Ewok spear for the inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon?  Ok, now you know what I'm going to be running the Star Wars race as.  

[UPDATE:  As of Summer 2015, Disney no longer allows selfie sticks inside their parks.  As of January 6, 2016, runDisney has made even more restrictions regarding the use of costumes and props for security reasons. See my post for further details.]

The "aha" moment when the strangers around me first realized my scepter was really a selfie stick. Basically every time I attached my iPhone to it people commented on the awesomeness of my selfie stick scepter. TAKE HOME LESSON: Loki scepter elevates selfie stick from geeky to badass.

Well, now you can make one yourself.  It's actually quite easy.  I literally made my scepter in the hotel room at 10pm night before the half marathon.  All you need are a few simple materials:

1. Corrugated cardboard or foam board.  I used a groceries box from Costco because I procrastinated and didn't have time to get foam board.
2. Sharp Scissors or a box-cutter blade.  You actually don't even need a box cutter razor because, in a pinch, I actually used one blade of the scissors like a box cutter.
3. Gold (or silver) duct tape.  I had some left over gold duct tape from when I made my Loki horns.  You can find that tutorial here.  I know, some purists might say "But Loki's scepter blade is silver and the handle is gold."  But I wasn't able to find a golden selfie stick, AND it being 10pm before the race, I didn't have the time to spray paint my selfie stick into gold.  So yeah, the colors are reversed.
4. Selfie stick, also known as a monopod.  I found mine at a vendor's cart at the mall for $30, but you can find them on Amazon.com or Walmart.com for much cheaper.
5. Template of the scepter blade.  I used this template from The Woodland Elf as my guide.  However, I didn't have the time or a way to print out a template because I procrastinated, so I actually free-hand drew my scepter based on a screenshot of The Woodland Elf's video on my iPad.
   

STEP 1:  Draw out the shape of the scepter on the cardboard.  You can use a template, or if you're confident in your drawing skills, you can free-hand draw it like I did.

STEP 2:  Cut out the cardboard shape.

STEP 3:  Cover the cardboard with duct tape.  This takes a bit of finesse.  The trick is using small pieces of duct tape, especially for the curved and tight edges.  You also might need to duct tape a few supportive rectangles of cardboard to give the piece more strength.

STEP 4:  Tape the selfie stick to the scepter blade.  I basically wanted my phone to be in the position where the glowing stone is supposed to be [Ahem, there's peculation is that Loki's scepter has a destiny stone, but it hasn't yet been officially revealed it as one in MCU] [UPDATE: My hunch was correct.  The Avengers 2 movie confirmed at Loki's scepter stone is indeed the Mind Stone, one of the destiny stones].  So I placed my phone onto the selfie stick and positioned it until I was satisfied with it's placement.  Once it was in position, I taped the stick into place using the duct tape.  Just make sure that you don't cover up the telescoping parts of the stick.  That way you can still lengthen the scepter or shorten it just like Loki did in the Avengers movie.

STEP 5:  Now go out into the world, wield your scepter, and revel in the awe of the lesser beings.  After all, you are Loki and you are burdened with glorious purpose!