First off I'd like to apologize for the state of this blog, I'm really busy right now and will be cleaning up the blog and posting more theories once I have enough time to write a proper theory :)
You guys like cosplay? Ever wondered how much Cody’s tail weighs? How long it is? Thanks for asking, here’s the answer!
Cody’s tail weighs around 17.25 lbs (7.82 kg) and is 5 ft (1.524 m) long.
If you want to cosplay Cody with his tail, just know that the tail’s length is equal to your height, and it’s base is ⅓ the width of your back (where the tail would attach).
Weight isn’t necessary for cosplay, but adding it can make for an interesting and possible more realistically behaving cosplay prop.
Most gecko’s tails account for around 10% of their body weight, though Cody’s is perhaps more around 15%.
There was an interesting experiment done in which chickens were hand raised with an artificial dinosaur tail attached to them, the tail was changed out every five days as they grew so it would constantly account for 15% of their body weight. Cody’s tail seems more dexterous and perhaps dinosaur-like to me, so I used the 15% to calculate the weight of his tail.
In order to do that, I first had to approximate his weight. Cody is 13 years and 10 months old at the time, and the weight range for someone of his age can be anywhere from 75-145 lbs ( kg). Using a BMI chart outfitted for someone of his age and sex, I determined he likely weighs around 110-120 lbs, with the average of these two numbers being 115 (52.16 kg). This is a healthy measurement for someone 5’2” (1.64 m) tall, if not leaning slightly on the lithe side considering Cody's body type.
Then you just take 15% of 115 in order to get the tail weight measurement of 17.25 lbs (7.82 kg).
I found the length of Cody’s tail by comparing it to his body length in this image
By using a segmented paper, I created a scale for how much paper equaled 5 ft (1.524 m), using Cody’s known height as a baseline for other measurements. Then I used the same paper to measure his tail and found them to be basically the same.
This weight is spread out over the distance of 5 ft (1.524 m). The heaviest part of the tail is the base, and the lightest part the tip. In order to determine the weight distribution of the tail, I found it’s width across 6 points.
At the base, Cody’s tail is circular with a diameter of around 5” (12.7 cm) One foot down it was 4” (10.16 cm), then 3” (7.62 cm), then 2.5” (6.35 cm), then 2” (5.08 cm), then around 1” (2.54 cm) at the very tip.
I was then able to develop an equation(?) I could use to calculate weight distribution.
Diameter 1 + diameter 2 + … = total diameters
5 + 4 + 3 + 2.5 + 2 + 1 = 17.5
So then (U.S. measurements):
X= weight of ‘one unit’ of tail
Then to find the weight of each tail segment, you multiply times the average width of the segment. Once again, weight is not a necessary part of a cosplay prop such as this, but it’s kid a cool to know and can be a fun thing to experiment with.
The weight ratios roughly follow the average diameter of the segment, but I've made the ratio number bigger to eliminate fractions or decimals.
Base: 4.928 lbs (2.235 kg)
S4: 1.971 lbs ( 0.8938 kg)
Tip: 0.9857 lbs (0.4470 kg)
Thanks for reading my ramblings! I really enjoy this sort of nerdy mathy figuring out specific facts stuff so if you have anything you’d like me to try and calculate, I'll probably get it done faster than the next theory batch.
Have a wonderful day and keep being awesome :)
