Image: Screengrab/Youtube
Thor’s glowing eyes have been an iconic symbol of the god of thunder’s power ever since they lit up in Thor: Ragnarok. Naturally, cosplayers have been eager to recreate this effect, but without the advantage of CGI it’s difficult to capture the luminescence as Thor channels lightning. For the most part, they’ve been limited to very light blue contact lenses and Photoshop:
But New Zealand-based cosplayer Kyle Simpson created a different, and much more convincing, technique using a blacklight LED and blacklight-reactive contact lenses. In his recent build, Simpson made this setup wireless and built it inside a 3D-printed Thor helmet to make the effect even more seamless:As you can see, it works pretty well, though it’s worth noting that UV-A light like blacklights can damage your retina. Simpson cautioned not to walk around with the blacklights shining directly into your eyeballs all the time.“If you wear this for an extended period of time—for example you go to a convention for three days and you have it pumping the whole time—you’re probably going to have problems,” he said in his video. “So just be responsible and stay safe.”