Working on the new helmet shows a significant difference with the 3d printed version. It does need to be weathered though

After starting the third armour of the GAV Commander of Rogue One, I decided to make a patch. I wanted it to be in the striking and minimalist. So I used the three colours found on the Commander armour. It is reminiscent of the ranger patch in the US with the mention of the 71st Battalion which is the one that was station on Jedha ( wookiepedia !). There was also a desire to include the hammer shape since the GAV units are known as ” Imperial Hammer”. The toying started with position and included a *wink* at Pink Floyd ” Another Brick in the Wall” MV. but it did not gel properly. So the Hammer finally appears in the “ST” next to the 71 which left some room to add the Imperial Cog … now to production

Yes China has copycats, bootlegs, replicas, shanzai… all of different degrees of quality and build. From toys to clothes to now badly designed and worn armors ! I’ve shown many in my previous posts and it does not stop !

I can’t really define the level of annoyance I have when I see that; is it the armour or the shoes, or the way it is worn… is it the attitude displayed or the fact that it not even in front of a relevant poster?

This one is a beauty and one of my favourite helmet ! And these are the results once printed, glued, sanded, and painted. !

“Redemption” is a project that took place between Beijing and Shanghai. I was in Shanghai and Troy’s Team in Beijing, we had never met IRL and only communicated through email and WeChat. Comic Con Shanghai actually gave us the opportunity to have our first face-to-face meet which turned out to be quite fun, especially meeting the characters for the first time …

I was commissioned to do another two X-wing helmet; another “Red Five” Luke Skywalker and Raeh… the scavenged helmet Rey plays with on Jakku in The Force Awakens  ( side note RAEH / REY )

Quite happy with the final result, although I think it probably needs to be put under the sun for a few weeks to get that natural yellowish tan and roughened with some real sand.

I’ve been asked that question many times and really it depends on the character. Some are more complex than others and if you talk about Luke Skywalker in ROTJ, well it really is different from Old Ben.

That being said there are “standard” components that one can use a a strong reference to create what we would call a generic Jedi. So find yourself a cool Jedi Name, go fabric shopping ( hint: the robe must be heavy and thick old military blanket style) while you want the pants and inner tunic in cotton for comfort; get someone to help you make the costume and head over the Rebel Legion for tons of info … like everything else you should first research and be patient.

Now follow Master obi-wan

The downside of making so many costumes is that you get to a point where you need the make room for more. Actually in my case I simply like to press the reset button once in a while.

Couple of months ago I decided it was time to let go of some of my costumes including Vader. That’s right I sold my Darth Vader costume and I must admit I was a bit emotional when the courier company picked it up to ship to the new owner…in Canada !

However I got this email today and it made my day
“Hi Vincent –
I wanted to let you know after a lot of work to pad me up and some tweaks to the costume, I received my SL designation. For my first troop as Vader, we raised several hundred dollars to help child victims of domestic violence.  Thanks for selling me your costume and for being a trustworthy person.”

And this is what the 501st is about, camaraderie without border, troopers helping troopers and sharing a passion to help others.

When fans around the world gathered in the 70’ies to celebrate Star Wars by making their own props and costume that was “beautiful” not because of the quality of craftsmanship ( in cases far from it) but because you could see a unification of people in something “greater”, there was emotion, there was a true bound being formed. Retrospectively it started a movement which became a sub-culture and now arguably a culture in its own right; one that transcend gender, age or race.

When Star Wars came to China with the prequels…it fared ok but failed to get the pull that the original trilogy had in the west. With EPVII launched there was “a new hope” for fandom in China and while it may not have yield all the results expected ( yet) there truly has been an “awakening”.

The local 501st has been highly active in supporting Disney in its bid to promote the movie ahead of its release and participated in major events around China. In the same time Disney did produce some amazing events, the Stormtroopers on the wall was an amazing stunt ! Some will argue ( rightly?) that it really played for the rest of the world more than intra-muros ( in China) but the fact is, it was awesome… Christmas time also had plenty of awesomeness with life size swings and tie fighter dropped around China … so yes the marketing worked.

On the branding side of things it may be another story. Back in September 2015 a studio in Guangzhou started producing knock off stormtrooper EPVII armours and sell them – unlicensed for 3800 US$ then started to rent troopers to bars etc.. for 300US$ per head per appearances which fared well during halloween period. Some bars and club had topless ( near enough) dancers with TK helmet on and a slew of other “non approvable” activities banking on Star Wars brand.

This is where I take the stance: strong Brand Guardian are needed. Of course Darth Vader walking the streets is some PR if the said Darth Vader is actually properly attired. Lucasfilm was extremely protective of the Star Wars brand in the west but it seems  China proved to be a huge challenge. You consistently see the Star Wars iconic brand ambassadors ( Vader and Troopers) being abused for commercial purposes. We are not talking about fans making costumes, we are talking about companies profiteering from the image; and by the look of it they have no idea of the actual brand, movie history or cultural impact. What is clear however is that each of these appearances could not care less about precision, quality of execution or show any indication of proper research … More alarming is the fact that we are not always talking about meaningless club in the north of China, or small commercial activities in a remote country side city’s supermarket. Some offense are quite major, attract reasonable visibility, obviously for profit and perpetrated by unlicensed companies.

Yes the only bad publicity is no publicity at all, and having these “things” happening maybe seen  as a promotional gain. I do argue that such gain comes at a greater brand cost which ultimately will not benefit Disney or its licensees.  Brand management here is ensuring that the most iconic “image” is displayed properly so that all may see it as something solid and uncompromising. Allowing these display without consequences mean that it’s ok to have stormtroopers with the wrong helmet, or geriatric Darth Vader. If it is ok for that kind of display then surely it is ok for toys and other merchandising…slippery slope.

every season I design new polos …because that’s what I wear quasi exclusively.  This season I started with the idea “original” as per original trilogy. And yes before the “walkers” zombies and the “white walkers” we had the imperial walkers !

I had to have a go at sculpting, first try Bossk and the end result is not too shabby, the scale is too small but the details turned out nice

classic British Band LP cover re-imagined in the Star Wars Universe

playing with the wookiee in different styles…

Took my daughter to school as Casual Friday Vader…major WTH face on that lady ! Also last time my daughter agreed that I’d go with her to school dressed as SW character !

My daughter pointed out why I really like these cookies…look at the name!  That being said  blue, white, black… did Star Wars get inspiration from my preferred brand of butter cookies?