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As soon as the pics come flooding in I'll post them. I recently completed my Shadow Guard costume, fully armored, chest, (except a back plate ran out of time), torso , leg guards, arm guards, shoulder guards etc, and I didn't have a belt (ran out of time). I created my armor from custom made templates of my own . I first drew them on posterboard, then cut them out and transferred them to plastic. Originally I wanted to buy sintra but it is not available to me readily (70 for a sheet, and 150 for shipping, no thanks). So I researched and found people made theirs out of plastic totes (buckets / storage containers) from lowes or walmart or whatever . I went to walmart, and got 2 of the biggest ones I could find, and used them. I began to cut out most of them with a dremel and then sanded the edges to make them look presentable. Later I found heavy duty scissors that were much easier and cleaner and less noisy so I just used them for the last couple of pieces. I can provide more detail if anyone is interested.

Continuing .....my saber staff was 6ft tall (I myself am around 6'3") and it looked pretty much exactly like i wanted it to (to clarify the blade was not attached to the hilt of the saber, with it attached it reaches around 9 ft or so ). The only thing I want to add to it is more grips along the body (as mine was a smooth shaft created from a 1.5" wooden curtain rod from lowes). I used an authentic ninja Shinobi Shozoku for the base costume (I intend to change this to a standard black jumpsuit for the sheer heat I was feeling), as well as Military combat boots completely black. I had someone tell me the standard is the officer boots (no laces showing or anything) I have a friend who is accepted as Grand Admiral Thrawn, and he uses the same boots. *mini rant incoming* Those are simply idiotic for a shadow guard to wear, a shadow guard is a fighting force of the empire, they should ... nay, they NEED to be wearing combat boots. Compared to other higher ranks in the empire, sure red guard boots are closely related to officer boots, but if this is a hard requirement, I will not be able to compromise my integrity on this especially considering the shadow guards are an EU creation and not G-Cannon. Anyway, my wife is a seamstress who made me the cloak, 2 pieces, the back piece completely covers my shoulders and comes around to the front of me to my armpits, the front piece is sewn on inside of the right shoulder, and has 3 heavy duty snaps on the left shoulder for ease of removal for combat purposes. The cloak looks as if in one piece when at attention which is what I have seen in the pictures I have seen.

My primary issues I intend to address (as this was my first outing with the costume) is the under suit, buffing and cleaning up the helmet to a higher quality, repainting and buffing my armor out as well as standardizing the attachments with some industrial quality Velcro with precise measurements (mine were small Velcro straps I super glued / epoxied to my armor (while they worked, they simply were not strong enough for heavy use until my bounty hunter friend let me use some of his industrial stuff which worked wonders)) , and most importantly adding an air / ventilation system in the helmet.


Anyway, It was a fantastic hit. Pics will be up as soon as I see them posted. If you would like to get in touch with me and ask more question, my name is Andrew Kocurek, so the easiest way would be to facebook me.

Evenglare wrote:I had someone tell me the standard is the officer boots (no laces showing or anything) I have a friend who is accepted as Grand Admiral Thrawn, and he uses the same boots. *mini rant incoming* Those are simply idiotic for a shadow guard to wear, a shadow guard is a fighting force of the empire, they should ... nay, they NEED to be wearing combat boots. Compared to other higher ranks in the empire, sure red guard boots are closely related to officer boots, but if this is a hard requirement, I will not be able to compromise my integrity on this especially considering the shadow guards are an EU creation and not G-Cannon.

Andrew,

Thanks for the post. It's always interesting to hear about different ways to build the armor pieces. As for the boots, the costume standards are set to reflect what is seen in the game, not what is seen in real life military. In Force Unleashed, the guards are wearing officer style boots, not laced up combat boots. This is the G-Canon standard that is approvable for the costume of ShadowGuard with the 501st Legion. I am sorry to hear you won't be willing to compromise what you consider to be your standards, however, we must also maintain our standards to that which is seen in the Star Wars universe and cannot approve the use of laced combat boots.

Andrew, As said at the Con. Do the costume cause you want to do it. Enjoy it for the of the Costuming aspects. Star Wars is based on the German Military Uniforms of World War Two, so back then Military boots were Riding Boots or Jack Boots. 0ver all its a great start. Do the costume cause you love the costume first. A costuming group status should always be second.

Here are some pics! I do have my armor and all under, but of course I'm in my robe so you cant really make out the armor... My thing about the boots, really stems from the point that the shadow guard first appeared in a game. And the fact that they didnt program in laced boots I feel were attributed to the fact that laces on boots are just not worth it in a video game, considering how little time they would be shown. Plus there are armor pieces on the boots which would cover the laces anyway, so that's my reasoning and thinking behind it. So if cannon is to be accepted on a game due to graphical limitations that would completely discredit other costumes due to graphical limitations (16 bit characters anyone?). Also I have friends in the military that are very heavily into star wars, so the fact that people have said shadow guards should have Officer books considering the fact they are a Heavy combat class (whether it is any kind of cannon) is completely absurd .

I was under the impression G Cannon was anything made by George Lucas himself. Most if not all star wars stuff passes through him, but isnt considered G-Cannon but C-Cannon. The fact that C-Cannon can be interpreted in many different ways considering the RPG books, which I am heavily into, as well as Comics and is such a subjective point. I would love to see some citations for a G-Cannon version of this costume. Conjecture and 2nd sources (not primary sources) really hold little sway with me due to the fact I'm working on my thesis so secondary sources are not allowed.

for whatever reason it wont let me upload my pic, but I will link to it , anyway, cheers!


http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 4832_n.jpg

there are many more floating around

Took me years to get the image part figured out, I'll save you the trouble. Click the img button and then right click the image and copy the image URL between the img and /img points.

And I do quite understanding your reasoning. However, the "screen accurate look" often means sacrificing some utility and practicality. Shoot, a 7 year old could whoop my butt in this costume as long as I didn't see him walking up to me.

Evenglare wrote: My thing about the boots, really stems from the point that the shadow guard first appeared in a game. And the fact that they didnt program in laced boots I feel were attributed to the fact that laces on boots are just not worth it in a video game, considering how little time they would be shown. Plus there are armor pieces on the boots which would cover the laces anyway, so that's my reasoning and thinking behind it. So if cannon is to be accepted on a game due to graphical limitations that would completely discredit other costumes due to graphical limitations (16 bit characters anyone?).

The simple fact of the matter is your argument is based solely on what would happen in a real life situation based here on earth with what is currently available to real life military forces. By this logic, none of us should be approved as we can't move our heads around and look around freely while wearing our helmets as they do not bend the way they do in the comic books and games. In reality, these costumes are based in a fictional universe where the materials used possess unique qualities and as such, we sometimes have to sacrifice functionality in earth based real life in order to achieve the asthetic look of the fictional universe. Also, to my knowledge, not one single costume from the Star Wars Universe that has been represented by the 501st Legion has laces showing, as no costume reference shots, either on screen for a movie/tv show, or in game (graphical computational cycles aside) would indicate that any of the boots used are laced.

You are free to have your own opinions, however, for the purposes of this costuming club, we do have set standards that are followed by all other costumers and that have been diligently researched (including detailed looks at costumes direct from the lucasfilm archives) over many years to ensure that we represent the characters as they are seen in the movies, games and comic books. To this end, laced boots were not used on any of the original costumes and are not, nor ever will be acceptable for the costumes.

who did your robes? I like the look of the cut, is it based on Ep II?