A little bit of cosplay progress

Hello cosplayers! Thought I would give you a small update on the progress on my latest cosplya which is a genderbend of Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels.

As mentioned before in a previous post, I gained some weight lately, so I decided to start with the props before the actual costume because I want to be slightly more fit before I get into tight pant and a shirt like Sabine has. Ofcourse I could just make a suit that fits me as is, but I really want to make my beer belly disappear a bit. The end result will be so much better. Don't get me wrong here, I am not the shallow type and I actually encourages people to cosplay nomatter what they look like. Cosplay is for everyone, and I do not, or will ever not have a perfect body anyway. Just a little better proportions is what I am after here.

Anyway, here comes some pictures of my progress so far with the Sabine outfit and som ideas I have for future parts.

The Mandalorian helmet

This is the top dome of the helmet made out of EVA foam. For this I checked out Evil Ted's awesome Youtube channel for how to make this. You can see the tutorial on how to make a foam helmet here.

I then drew around the base of the dome to cut out at flat round piece. You will see further down why.

I used the flat round piece of EVA foam to tape the cardboard templates of the helmet sides on to it. This way I had the helmet perfectly sized after my measurements.

Then I glued the dome on top of the round piece, and then built polyester resin and glass fibre(the kind you fix and build boats with) layer by layer around the template to form the sides of the helmet.

I also covered the EVA dome with polyester resin to make it more sturdy. The dome itself is still there and actually makes the helmet more comfortable to wear. The surface of the dried polyester resin is pretty gritty so I used just polyester resin and mico glass ballon to make a putty for the finish. It did involve a lot of sanding afterwards. But totally worth it. The surface is now completely smooth and ready for small parts and paint.

Guns and holster

I have seen a few different ways to do the guns and holsters for Sabine costumes, and it has been made in EVA foam aswell as balsawood and plain hard wood. I know EVA foam better than any other material so I went with that, both for the holster and the guns.

I just drew out a template I found online on printer paper and cut out two layers of 12 mm EVA foam. Then I glued them together and stroke som wood glue on cracks and dents to make it smoother. 

The holsters I cut out the frame from 6 mm EVA foam and cut it to fold around the gun. Check out this clip at 3:17 how to do it. It is a little tricky but the result is worth it even if you fail a couple of times like I did.

Here is the result of the glued holsters with the guns. I made the small parts on the guns with 2 mm EVA foam.

My uncle in Finland had a good elk hunt last year so he sent me som left over elk skin a couple of months ago. Lucky me. The skin came in handy for the holsters, and I think it turned out to be a perfect detail to the finished job. 

Well, future work continues. The costume itself will need to be made. The idea is to sew the shirt from scratch. The pants I will buy a pair of cargo type pants and alter them to look more like the pants Sabine use. The belt I will also make from scratch since the style is typical Star Wars and nothing like that really exist in the real world, and attach the holsters on it. The armor I will continue to make from 6 mm EVA foam, the templates are finished after my measurments, they just need to be cut.

I hope you liked the progress I made so far considering this is my first cosplay. Please come with suggestions, tips and comments below.

Later, awesome nerds!

Trends in cosplay

Cosplay is currently one of the fastest growing trends in Japan and the quality of costumes is remarkable. Fans of the crafting hobby goes to great length to create proffessional hair, make up and props. In Japan, a cosplay meet can bring 100 000 visitors without raising an eyebrow.

As a Swede, and a noob cosplayer,  I can also say that the interest for Cosplay over all has increased greatly even here in Sweden. It has always been around since a long time back but only during the last few years it has exploded. In someways, you can even say that it has become a little more mainstream. This has been proved by Swedish public service television in recent years broadcasted the Swedish and Nordic Championships at NärCon live, first online, later live on the main channel. In 2016, NärCon is hosting a third convention for the first time in Gävle, with qualification contest för the championship show on TV in February 2017. Cosplay is growing.

Photo: Shila Forsman Photography

  

The levels of Cosplay in Sweden is wide, from the beginners like myself, to experienced cosplayers holding high international standard. One of a handful is Linn Eriksson from Stockholm. She finished at least top 3 in every Swedish or Nordic Championship she has entered. To the left Linn as The Emperor from Final Fantasy 2, a costume which she won the Swedish championship with in 2015.

Trends

Trends come and go, that's why it's called a trend, duh! Often it is inspired by films, TV-series, games and comic books that have become popular. Last year it was not uncommon to see atleast a handful of Dead Pools at almost every convention. The trend now Among many female cosplayers is Harley Quinn as of the movie Suicide Squad. The comic book version we saw even erlier. During the last six months we also have seen a lot of pokémon cosplays since that darn game showed up...

Some try to be as unconventional as possible deciding their next cosplay. the most obscure costumes can be seen at most conventions, and sometimes you have to ask the character name and from the wheret it belongs. Some odd costumes you might know, but may also surprise you since you couldn't dream someone would pick that particular character. At The San Diego Comiccon 2015 there was a Triceracop costume present from the kickstarter marvel Kung Fury. If you do not know what the hell I am talking about, follow the link. You should though.

Mostly, cosplayers chose a costume based of a character they like. I am a Star Wars fan, and when I think of cosplay my thoughts goes to characters from that universe, and that's a big universe. My two current projekts revolves around Star Wars characters.

What will we see in the future then? Probably the usual stuff from the big productions coming to theatres, the most recent and old computer games and comic books. I would like to see more characters from the background, or characters that probably wouldn't be the first pick of most people. Perhaps someone from the recent movie The Girl with All the Gifts? 

Well, cosplay is here to stay and is coming closer to the homes of average Joes.

Later, awesome nerds!  

I dream about Rey and BB-8

Bad Swedishfanboy, bad Swedishfanboy. No post since April 3rd. Sorry for that. For the last couple of months I have had a lot of exams at the university but now I am almost finished with school for summer. You will all get frequent posts from now on. I am always available on Twitter of course. Check my feed in the right panel. Please do follow!

Most people know me as a Star Wars fan and a collector of mostly Star Wars vintage, but also other pop culture stuff and gadgets. Since The Force Awakens (TFA) hit the cinemas in December last year, I have had my eys on a very special collectible which is not released yet. I dream about her constantly. Day and night. This lady and her companion is haunting me...

Sideshow Collectibles sixth scale Rey & BB-8.

I am talkning about Sideshow Collectibles sixth scale Rey & BB-8. This is a truly great and high detailed figure that will stand out in any collection. How do I know if no one hasn't seen it live yet? Well with the reservation that it is released in the last few days. Anyway, Sideshow Collectibles is known for their high quality products and pictures of this figure looks completely ridicoulus! Ridiculously good I mean...

Collecting is of course an expensive hobby sometimes, and Sideshow figures is high in demand and you always get your moneys worth. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

The Rey & BB-8 sixth scale figure comes with a lot of features...

• Authentic and detailed likeness of Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Newly developed head sculpt with a highly-accurate facial expression and make-up
• Head wrap with goggles can be freely worn onto the head sculpt to achieve 2 additional looks
• Body with over 28 points of articulation
• Approximately 28 cm tall
• Six (6) pieces of interchangeable palms including:
  - One (1) left fist
  - One (1) relaxed right palm
  - One (1) pair of palms for holding staff
  - One (1) pair of palms for holding blaster
• Six (6) pieces of interchangeable gloved palms including:
  - One (1) left fist
  - One (1) relaxed right palm
  - One (1) pair of palms for holding staff
  - One (1) pair of palms for holding blaster
• Each head sculpt is specially hand-painted

Costume:

• One (1) beige top
• One (1) beige wrap dress
• One (1) pair of beige arm wraps
• One (1) detachable left shoulder pad
• One (1) leather-like left wrist cuff
• One (1) brown belt with pouch
• One (1) pair of beige pants
• One (1) pair of dark grey boots

Weapons:

• One (1) lightsaber with blue colored blade
• One (1) staff with strap
• One (1) blaster pistol

Accessories:

• One (1) leather-like backpack with accessories
• Resistance emblem hexagonal figure stand with Rey nameplate and Star Wars logo

The BB-8 Sixth Scale Collectible Figure specially features:

• Authentic and detailed likeness of BB-8 in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Newly developed spherical body embedded with self-balancing mechanisms
• Metallic white, silver and orange painting
• LED light-up eyes (white light, red and blue lens, battery operated)
• Approximately 11cm tall

Accessory:

• Specially designed Jakku desert-themed figure base attachable to Rey’s hexagonal figure stand

This will be yours for the sum of 289.99 USD. Well, I know what I want for christmas! 

I will be back with new fanboyish stuff soon!

Later, awesome Nerds!

Collecting as a hobby

The Jawa I got when I was nine.

My mother bought me my first Star Wars action figure in 1981. It was a Jawa. When I got tired of the action figures, I guess puberty hit and my interests went in another direction, I sold all my 50 or so figures to a friend's little brother. Cheap I might add. Way too cheap. Maybe I should be thrown in The Great Pit of Carkoon for that?

When I became a father myself 20 years later, I felt regret over getting rid of my childhood's most priced possessions. I knew that many who grew up with Star Wars collected the vintage era but I didn't think of it more until one day when I found a box with old stuff in the attic. My first Star Wars action figure. The Jawa!  This became the start of my collection.

The Star Wars vintage toys was in the early years of the millenium rather cheap to collect. The Swedish market was in fact the buyers market. You could get almost mint condition loose figures for less than 6 USD. I bought a couple of figures or smaller ships per month during the first couple of years and my collection today is containing more than 40 figures and nearly a dozen ships of various size. My favorite until this day is Luke's landspeeder from 1977. Collecting Star Wars vintage became more popular over the years to come and the price went up. When it was announced that Disney was planning a new movie, it sky-rocketed. Today on the Swedish market, you will pay 20 USD and up for the same figures you payed 6 USD for only 7-8 years before.

Part of my collection.

Today I buy a figure or a ship/vehicle a couple of times a year, but the collecting as a hobby is also much about just that - to search and track down the perfect figure. Just the one you want. I usually pick one I don't have and make it a quest to find that particular figure no matter what bargains show up along the way.

As of now, I have a bookshelf with glass doors and no lighting to display my collection. I am working on getting a better type of display. Like glass monters stores use to display merchendise. My plan for the future is of course to have a room or atleast a whole wall for my collection. We'll see how it goes.

I am a fan of pop culture as you know, I collect other stuff as well. Anything from the movie or

Talking Heads' debut album

gaming world really. Mostly from movies though. Music is another thing, and here I collect some vinyl records. The direction of my vinyl collection today is towards music I grew up with, this usually means heavy metal and classic rock/pop, and new age and punk bands that sometime played at the legendary bar CBGB in New York during the 70s.

The classic rock/pop thing comes from my father's interest in music. I have been listening to Beach Boys, Otis Redding, Rolling Stones, Beatles and all the other great ones since I was newborn. No wonder that kind of music sticks like glue still.

I don't know what it is really, I like retro stuff. Nomatter what it is really. Mostly it goes back to the 60s and 70s but also in some cases further back. When I visited my brother who lives in Ohio I went to a local antique store and found really cool 1950s milk bottles  from an old dairy that once was found in the town there. I think the name was Wooster Dairy. Didn't buy that one because the logo was a little too worn off for my liking, but next time I will find one in mint condition. Old truck licence plates from the 30s and 40s was also very cool. They have a certain old feel I like, and they actually make a nice interior decoration wall piece.

Collecting as a hobby is my thing, and it can be exciting and really fun. The Star Wars collection is my main thing though and it probably will for a long time still. What is your favorite?

Later, awsome Nerds!