Gohan

We did Gohan (from Dragonball Z) for my younger son, to go along with his brother's Goku costume.  While this is undoubtedly a more obscure character (particularly in this outfit), it is what the boy wanted so he got it.

Much like his brother's costume, the easiest starting place was hospital scrubs.  The fit and the color are already done, so it's more a matter of alteration than creation.  So we purchased some inexpensive scrubs at Amazon, and also picked up some red cloth from a local craft store.

A bit of work with scissors and sewing machine was all it really took to get the costume to come together.  I tried to convince him to spend a year working out hard so he'd be buff enough, but since it was a few days until Halloween and he wasn't physically mature enough anyway, that didn't pan out!

This is what it looked like when I was all through.  I think it captures the essence of what i was looking for.

Goku

This one turned into a contest winner at my son's high school.

Like many kids (and me!), my boys are big fans of Dragonball Z.  So for 2014, they both decided to be characters from the show.  My older guy, naturally enough, decided to be the star of the show, Goku.

It took a bit of wracking my brain, because I'm not all that hot at sewing and this is all cloth.  Eventually though, I hit upon the idea of using hospital scrubs, which are baggy on a thin child and available in the color I needed.

Making the costume itself was not too difficult.  I took a blue shirt and cut it up a bit to get a belt and sleeves.  I cut down the shirt from the scrubs and hemmed them to make it look more like Goku's top.  The hardest part was probably the symbols on the chest and back, but I have a secret weapon:  A wife who feels guilty about me doing most of the work.  I think she did an excellent job on them, inking on white fabric which I then stitched into place.

Here's how it all turned out:

This one was a winner all around.  Easy to make, easy to move around in, and it took first place in his high school costume contest, which is a real coup for a freshman.