Which one are you?

So after finally joining the Rebel Legion, I was able to participate in my first costume event. Cinemax was gearing up to play all six Star Wars films on their premium Hi-def channel, aptly named CinemaxHD, as a marathon. They asked us to help out with some events for either the public or their employees. They had some of us make appearances at their call centers so their employees could take pictures. These were usually during the day or on weeknights before I could get out of work. There was also an event in Hollywood that was during a weekday.

The event I was able to attend was a 6 hour long event on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica. It was an all day event featuring a pavilion with info about signing up for CinemaxHD, a green screen wall where people could take a pictures with Darth Vader, and some martial arts people in really lame karate giis pretending to fight each other with Force FX lightsabers billed as the Jedi Training Academy.

Us members of the Rebel Legion were joined by member of the 501st Legion, the “bad guy” costuming group. We were there to hang out, outside the pavilion, and get the crowd interested, take pictures, and generally not freak out kids. It was my first event in costume like this. I learned a few things.

Apparently, these charity events are usually typified by our group being shafted out of agreed upon things. Like the Cinemax event; where we were promised lunch, a changing area, bathrooms, and breaks. We got none of these things. Apparently this happens often at these things and you just have to learn to roll with the punches. Or be one of those bitchy guys that everyone wants to shut up. One or the other. Your choice.

Paying for my own lunch aside, I had a great time. Got to meet a bunch of fine folks in the Legion and the 501st. Saw Obi-Shawn’s infamous H-Wing of the Road Squadron. Got to chat with an old school Han Solo costumer: Vince Sanchez. I actually own a few of Vince’s replica for my costume. So chatting with him and finding him to be a really nice, funny, and open guy was way cool.

I learned an important lesson about kids (and non-hard core Star Wars fans in general). They all just want to take pictures with Darth Vader and Stormtroopers. And there’s a very good reason behind it. Masked characters always look like the person they are dressing as. No matter what the person underneath looks like. From 500 feet or 2 feet, a guy in Stormtrooper armor looks like a Stormtrooper. So people always flock to them because they look like they are straight off the screen instead of some dude in a costume. Especially the TKs.

The only thing that stopped the crowds around the TKs and the Vaders was C3P0 and R2-D2. We had two people willing to done the Golden Rod suits that day. They can only really wear them for a few minutes at a time as it is hot, stuffy, claustrophobic, and dark. We had a guy who brought his remote control full-sized R2. Whenever someone donned the 3P0 and stood with R2, the crowds would flock.

Third thing kids flock to, after the Tks, Vaders, 3P0s, and R2s, is Jedi. Kids know the prequels better than the original trilogy. So they all know Anakin, Obi Wan, Mace Windu, and anyone in tan tunics. The Jedi have an added weapon at their disposal: the light-up lightsaber. Everyone loves lightsabers. Especially kids. So if they see one that lights up AND makes noise, held by a real Jedi, they go nuts. Especially if it’s getting dark. I swear I am gonna put an LED in the barrel of my blaster next time I do a evening event.

There’s probably some steps in between I forgot. But whatever. My original point was to show that people go to OT characters last and I have chosen the most obscure of the OT hero characters. When mild fans think of Han Solo they think of the vest. He wore one in ANH and in ROTJ. People don’t remember he wore a jacket in ESB. They don’t tend to remember he wore brown pants either. If they don’t know the gun or the holster they don’t usually recognize me.

It’s why I decided to do ROTJ Han for the time being. Just a simple addition of a vest and a new blaster. It’s also my reason behind getting a wig. I can keep my hair cut however short I want, throw on the wig, and voila! 70’s shag. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

Sadly, that day I did none of these things so not many kinds wanted to take pictures with me. Most of the time I was just greeted with the question,

“Which one are you?”

Broken hyperdrive motivator

I received an email from the Rebel Legion command that my application had been processed and I had to submit a picture. I submitted what I had: mostly Con photos with other people or where I am wearing a badge. I received a second message asking if I could take and submit some photos without other people or badges and on a plain background. I put it on my to-do list but my work and personal life had been churning like white water since July and the picture continually slipped my mind.

I spent the next few months forgetting to take pictures as the Rebel Legion would slip in and out of my consciousness. It seemed Han was doomed to a life of sitting in a closet waiting for Halloween.

Luckily, at some point around October, Legion command passed membership and costume on to the individuals local bases. So, with that change, Donna was able to push my full membership through since she had seen the quality of my costume firsthand at Comicon. Being a bit shy to all this new frontier, I dragged my feet about checking out the Legion forums or posting for a while.

Eventually, I got over it and started checking the Sunrider Base boards.

Comicon 2006

Day One:

I took off work on Friday, July 21st. I packed up my multitude of clothes and costume accessories the night before. I woke up at 8 am and left LA around 9 for the 3 hour drive to San Diego. I arrived around noon and parked at the Hyatt. Unfortunately my room was not ready yet. So I went over to the convention center and got my badge and checked in with my friends at the Nickelodeon booth. Did a little walking around.

My original plan was to hang out in plain clothes on Friday since it would be a short day. Wear the Han costume on Saturday. Go back to plain clothes for Sunday. But Friday was “Star Wars Day” and there were a lot of SW costumes on the floor. So, as soon as I got the call that my room was ready I headed back to the hotel, got my key, quickly settled in my room and changed into Han.

I made my way back to the convention floor. Keep in mind, this is the first time I have ever worn a costume to a big Con like this. I was truly not prepared for the looks, the picture requests, or the general information exchange with other costumers that would take place. I ran almost immediately into a TK costumer from the 501st who wanted some pics. He was the first perosn to ask if I was in the Rebel Legion. To which I replied, “What’s that?” He directed me upstairs to their table. I said I’d head up later. After that I ran into a guy named Bryan I know from the Anakin threads on the Jedi Council forums. He was hanging out with a large group of Anakins. A guy with them was dressed Indiana Jones so we took a picture together: the two Harrison Ford iconic roles.

I remained on the floor for the rest of the day. Taking pictures with some people. Checking out the booths. I got asked, or told, about the Rebel Legion another 4 or 5 times that day. Finally I decided to go to their booth. I approached, chatted with some of the folks working, and filled out my application. I met Lori (Jedi Loreen) who I knew from the Jedi Council boards and we chatted a bit. She had on her Rebel Fleet Trooper costume and told me about their attack on the 501st. The general consensus from the RL people was that they needed more good guys and especially more Han Solos and especially especially would like more ESB Solos. It’s a bit of a wildcard costume. I left the booth and went to see some panels.

I went back to my room as the floor closed and got changed to go to the Master Replicas Collector’s Society Party. I had a ticket since I am a member and figured free food and shwag is always welcome. I got there, saw some people I knew, got some food, watched a lightsaber fight, and then went to get a drink. In line in front of me was a woman in Fleet Trooper uniform. It was dark. I feel stupid now that I didn’t notice the difference between the blue and black of the standard RFT and this replica of Captain Antilles brown uniform.

“Lori?” I asked.

The woman turned around. It wasn’t Lori. She wasn’t even wearing the same costume. I am a jackass.

Luckily, I soon found out this woman knew Lori, was a tremendously nice person named Donna, and was happy to talk to me about the Rebel Legion and my Han costume. She also knew some people from Nickelodeon by a strange coincidence. She made Jedi tunics for a few guys who work on Avatar: The Last Airbender. So she was happy to know I worked at Nick too. We chatted for a while. I had a few more drinks and then left to meet up with my friends from Nick.

I ended up having a great time and staying up way to late.

Day Two:

I woke up early. I had to get into costume and make it to the convention hall in time for the Lost panel. Afterwards I went back to the Nick booth to take pictures with, my now girlfriend, Austin. As I was in the booth a familiar voice came up behind me. It was Donna. She was at the Con with her son and checking out the Nick booth. We chatted for a bit and she got a chance to finally see my costume. She said she was going to be at the Avatar panel and I said I’d see here there.

I spent the rest of the morning on the floor. Doing the costume thing. Waiting for Dan, the kid who bought my Anakin tunics, at the MR booth. After it became way clear he was not showing up I bolted for some panels. Me and a friend Jef made our way to the Nickelodeon New Shows/Avatar panel. Afterwards, I helped pass out free Avatar t-shirts. A job which almost ended my life as the crowd began to crush me against the table at one point. I guess dying as Han Solo wouldn’t have been so bad. Donna showed up to get a t-shirt. She asked for 2 for both her sons. I was about to oblige, because that’s the kind of guy I am, but a woman from NickToons reminded me one per person. Luckily I would get the chance to appologize in the future. We finished with the grabbing hands of t-shirt doom and I made my way, with Austin, to the Veronica Mars panel.

I stayed for another day. But it was a plain clothes day and there’s not much to tell that relates to costuming. A big thing happened at the Con: I used my costume for something other than Halloween adding to my content with the amount of time and money spent on it and, by applying for membership to the Rebel Legion, had begun taking steps into an exciting new area of costuming.

But, like most good things, it would take a while for the wheels to get rolling.

Frozen in carbonite

On November 23rd, 2005 I was pulled over after a premiere party and arrested for drunk driving. After spending the night in jail, I was charged with driving under the influence, fined $1500, and required to complete a mandatory DUI course which included mandatory AA meetings. My license was suspended for 6 months and I began riding my bike to work shortly after the new year. The whole process set me back about $2500-3000 depending on if you count rising insurance rates.

With my mind dealing with all the things I had to get done by certain dates or face jail time and my Han pants hanging in a closet with a busted zipper, I kind of forgot about Captain Solo for a time. Understandable as it is.

In February I was made aware, by my boss, that the show that I primarily do effects for at Nick was running a heavy risk of being cancelled. Thus, layoffs were a real risk on the horizon. Not knowing when, as it could have been anywhere from March to August, I decided to start saving money and living as if I would be laid off anytime. I began cutting my spending, which was easy due to my lack of automobile mobility, and selling off random crap I had laying around on eBay.

I spent most of the winter and spring slowly selling off parts of my Anakin costume as well as other costume and props stuff I had lying around that I had bought up in the frenzy that was fall 2005. I didn’t give a thought to fixing my Han pants for quite a while. It wasn’t until sometime in April, when I started giving serious thought to attending San Diego Comicon. I had been to Comicon a year before; for one day. I wanted to go for more and get a hotel room. eventually I bit the bullet in late April and snagged a room, through Nickelodeon, at the Hyatt.

With that decision made, it opened up another can of worms. Did I want to go and where my costume? If I decided to take that plunge from normal Con-goer to costumed Con-goer, I had to fix my pants. I wasn’t even sure if they were able to be repaired. I don’t know much about sewing, seamstressing, tailoring, or garment construction. Could a zipper be easily removed from some cheap decades-old pants and replaced with a heavy duty metal one? Was it worth it? Should I just find a new pair of pants at the thrift stores and swap the stripes? I really wasn’t sure how to approach it. And the lack of a car for transportation made it tough. At the time I was stuck walking to the supermarket if no one could drive me.

An answer would come via the Replica Props Forum. A member there was selling his Han pants. ESB style for pretty cheap. I decided to buy them and see if I could alter them to fit. They arrived a few weeks later and much to my surprise fit great! To be honest, I had dropped nearly 15 lbs at this point from my bike riding shenanigans. The stripes on the sides were inaccurate, as most are, and I had them replaced with my stripe patches.

The costume was now complete again and need only wait for July and Comicon International.

The costume contest

As you may remember me saying, last fall I was working quite long hours. I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep and hadn’t had a proper day off in quiet a while. Most of my time away from work was usually filled with all the errands I couldn’t get done while I was at work. Suffice to say I was exhausted.

I had given my ticket to a crazy industry party to a friend the night before Halloween because I had to work that Sunday and had a delivery to make early on Monday morning. Monday being Halloween. I arrived at work an hour early due to a confusion with Daylight Savings in plain clothes. Anakin would have to remain in a bag until around noon. I donned him and had a girl here do some eye makeup on me. I entered the costume contest. I left the costume contest and took some pictures. I went back into my office and changed back into plain clothes. Total time as Anakin: couple of hours. Total money and time spent making it: Couple thousand dollars and at least 8 hours.

Awesome.

I did however have the pleasure of a girl here at work dressing as Padme. Took some pics with her. It was fun. People on the internet thought she was my girlfriend; making me appear less nerdy.

Something worked out at least.

Cheap plastic zipper

My friend, Brinsfield, was having a Halloween party at his house in North Hollywood. Well, more accurately, I bugged him to have a party at his house as he swore the year before was his last. I even helped him decorate. Going over there on weekend for a few weeks to set up the Jar Jar dart board, the Death Star mural, the Imperial symbol drapery, the Yoda Hut, the Jawa, etc, etc.

I decided to wear my new Han costume to his party because Anakin wasn’t done yet. I also kind of wanted to save Anakin for the Nickelodeon costume contest. You know, show off the current duds.

I squeezed into my 70’s era slacks and headed over to his house. The party was great and everything was going smoothly. My friend Eryne asked me, “Those pants look tight. How are you going to go to the bathroom?” I could only answer, “I hadn’t thought about that.” I truly hadn’t. I had neglected to realize I would be drinking beer and most likely going to wizz about every half hour in my hard-to-get-zipped-up slacks. So the moment finally arrived when I couldn’t hold it any longer and I went to relieve myself. When I went to zip back up I breathed in and pulled and heard a rip and a pop and looked down and the zipper had come off the track. I quickly scooted into Brinsfield’s spare bedroom to try and fix the pants; to no avail. The whole time wondering how funny it would look if someone came in. Me sitting on the bed, pants around my ankle, fiddling with something in my crotch…

Anyway…

I decided to make a quick getaway and head home and put on my other costume. This being the only time when making 2 costumes was advantageous. I headed out the door quickly, drove home, changed and came back. Everyone puzzled by my absence and return in a different outfit. They all chuckled at my story and I spent the rest of the night trying to keep my pleather tabbards on my shoulders as I hadn’t yet added velcro to keep them in place.

The worst part of losing Han for the night was it happened before my friend Molly showed up. She had done a ANH Leia dress. We worked on our costumes at the same time and shared a lot of knowledge with each other. I really wanted a picture together. But it wasn’t to be. The moral of the story kids?

Have metal zippers sewn into your tight 70’s action slacks before you do drinking.

The busting of the zipper would actually kind of hault my life as everyone’s favorite smuggler until sometime in the spring. But, from there, it would prove a step into a larger world.

The chosen one

Last fall I had been working like a dog. Won’t go into detail but some special projects at work had me working 6-7 days a week. At some point my body and brain detached and reasoned each of its own accord. My brain decided that it might be a good idea to do 2 costumes for Halloween instead of one. I like doing costumes that are current to the year for Halloween, if I can. So I decided I would try and do an Anakin Skywalker costume from Episode III. I had the shaggy hair at the time and I really lied the glove and the boots. Most of the research had already been done by a few people on the Jedi Council forums. This costume pretty much came down to just buying the stuff.

Not really thinking about the amount of money I would be spending or that I am not lanky enough to pull off a good Anakin, I decided to do it anyway.

The costume breaks down as follows:

- Dark brown inner tunic
- Dark brown outer tunic make of a waffle weave fabric
- Dark brown tabbards, ending at the waist in back, made of the outer tunic fabric
- Dark brown obi belt, made of the outer tunic fabric
- Dark brown 4 piece leather tabbards, extending in both front and back
- Dark brown jedi belt with chrome buckle and smaller inner belt
- Jedi food capsules made from Steadtler pen caps
- Dark brown tall leather pouch
- Brown resin pouches
- Covertec clip
- Lightsaber based off a Graflex flash gun
- Dark brown tall leather boots with spats held with 3 straps
- Dark brown wool robe
- Dark brown leather gauntlet with 3 buckles

I had most of the pieces from various sources I was put in contact with via The Jedi Council forums. I made the belt myself to a good deal of success; my first try at dying leather. The robe came from and old source: Andrea of Twin Roses Designs. The tunics from the illustrious Sheri of captaincarter.com. The boots from Jim of Motorcowboy. I carried both a Master Replicas Anakin Force FX lightsaber and a converted Graflex flashgun. The same flashguns used to make Luke’s sabers in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. I got the pouches from a contact of Justin Monk (Primrodo) of the JC forums. The food capsules, buckle, and belt hardware from Diego in Argentina. I made the leather tabbards from a very nice pleather material in a 4 piece pattern to keep the bottoms hanging straight without waist creases. They were prototyped and cut out by me and sewn together by my friend Veronica. The glove came from DavidYR1 of Universal Designs; a contact from the RPF.

I was worried Sheri may not get back to me in time and I bought another tunic set off eBay. Sheir did contatc me and came through with some wonderful tunics ahead of schedule. The eBay seller sent me the tunics overnight so I received them on Halloween. They didn’t fit and seemed to be made of a crinkle cotton that had never been pre-washed. I have even had a friend who is 6′3″ 250 lbs try them and they don’t fit him. I tried selling them later on but couldn’t honestly tell anyone that they could be altered or salvaged. Eventually I tossed them out. A victim of ignorance and haste.

The costume came together well. Though I only wore it a few times. Eventually I decided to part ways with Anakin. The costume was sold off in pieces over the winter and spring. The last piece I have, the Graflex saber handle, is going on eBay soon. I was actually supposed to meet up with Dan, the kid that bought my tunics, at Comicon this year. But the crowds and the wait for tickets kept us apart.

Anakin would only serve as a reminder to not be so ambitious with my money and time.

The puzzle pieces

Possibly because the movie starts off in a freaking ice cave, John Mollo (the costume designer of the original trilogy) saw fit to give Han a blue waist length jacket in Empire instead of his trademark vest from Star Wars. I have always been a fan of waist length, Eisenhower type jackets so I always gravitated towards this look. It doesn’t hurt that Empire is my favorite movie and Han’s character really came into his own during this episode.

From my research the outfit from Empire lays out as follows:

- Brown calavry-based pants with yellow horizontal stripes down the side
- White cotton long sleeve shirt with front bib closure
- Dark blue waist length jacket with various pockets
- Black leather 3 holed belt with 2 prong buckle
- Brown leather quick draw holster
- DL-44 heavy blaster pistol made from a WWII German Mauser
- Belt tool kit
- Droid caller made from a Kobold flash gun
- Knee high black jack or riding boots

My first find came from a man named Vince Carter. He is an old school Han costumer who operates a side business called Corellian Exports. He sells Han costume parts based off his designs and patterns as well as resin copies of the belt tools and droid callers from all 3 movies. I ordered his ESB toolkit, droid caller, and shirt.

From an information exchange on The Jedi Council forums with a very nice woman named Kay-dee, I was able to track down an army surplus belt that worked once one prong was removed from the buckle and was turned in the direction of another woman named Dawn Anderson. Dawn makes a pattern called The Falcon Jacket. It is a damn near perfect replica of Han’s jacket from Empire. Lucky for me, she also sells ready-to-wear versions that are 100% finished. They are professionally manufactured and com complete with interior pockets and satin lining. I ordered one without hesitation.

The blaster was ordered from a site called Blast-tech. The operator sells various parts for saber replicas and blaster kits. I was not foolish enough to think I had the skills for such an endevor and ordered a pre-made ESB blaster. The kit features the added scope, muzzle, and greeblies and is based on a Denix Mauser replica.

For the pants I went a cheaper route. I found a website called J Kerezman costumes that sells pre-embroidered bloodstripe patches that need only be stitched to the sides of pants. I ordered a ESB set, yellow on brown, and started scouring thrift stores for brown 70’s slacks. Arriving at decent pair for some hefty sum of 2 doillars or something, I took them in for altering. I had the bell bottoms removed and the stripes attached.

This left me with probably the 2 hardest parts of the costume: the boots and the holster.

At the time I knew of a guy in Texas named Matt Poitras making the holsters but he had moved in the interim year between when i found him and when I started the project and had said he was done with making Star Wars stuff and was attempting to get work in the motion picture industry. I was out of luck for the holster and had considered trying to make my own with my all too feeble leather skills. One day I randomly checked Matt’s site and saw that he was once again taking orders for Halloween. I quickly emailed him and got my order in.

The boots were a conundrum. The boots used in the movies were German Officer jack boots most likely from WWII. They are shiny black riding boots that come up to the knee and are straight across the top. Most Imperial officers wore them as well as Han and Luke in ROTJ. I could find replicas, custom made, that went for upwards of 300-400 dollars. I could find standard riding boots with the higher outside top edge. But nothing cheap with a straight top. At least nothing tall enough to reach my knee. I eventually settled on a risky plan. I bought a pair of medium quality equestrian boots and decided to cut the top straight myself at home. Luckily it worked out fine and I still use these boots to this day.

After painting the droid caller and tools, the costume was ready for its debut on Halloween.

There would be a few snags.

The blue jacket

I started researching Han Solo costumes online over the summer of 2005. The internet’s base of information had taken quite a leap since 1998 and I was flooded with sites to read. Perusing through such places as the aforementioned Jedi Academy, The Replica Props Forum, and The Jedi Council Forums I found other people online with this same passion who had catalogued and studied and built and sewn and were willing to share all this with me for free.

My mind began to fill with new terms: Mauser, bloodstripes, DL-44, Kobold, Graflex, Sterling, E-11, MPP, vac-forming, resin casting, weathering, found parts, greeblies, etc.

I realized a couple of things. This project was beyond my skills and would cost me a pretty penny. Not sure yet if I wanted to dive in this far financially, I bookmarked pages and began to think it through.

When my raise came through just in time to start working for Halloween 2005, I decided enough was enough. I would plunge headfirst. The dilema before me now was which costume to recreate? I had recently learned that Han, in fact, wore 3 different costumes in the 3 movies. I was aware of changes in the past but never to this extent. I never noticed that his pants changed to brown in Empire Strikes Back. Or that his blaster was different. I had a tough decision to make. Besides similarities between the Empire costume and Return of the Jedi’s, there was no way to do a generic Han. One look had to be nailed down.

I made the only choice I could ever make. I went for the one detail I had always thought was the coolest:

The blue jacket.

The beginning of the end

I’m not exactly sure when it was that I fell in love with Star Wars. As far as my albeit feeble human memory serves it has been my whole life. I know, from gathered stories told to me by my father, that I had a stuffed Ewok as my favorite toy when I was 5 and flew to Florida to go to DisneyWorld. That would place the date sometime in 1984. A mere year after Return of the Jedi hit theaters.

I do know I have loved the movies most of my life. I remember watching them on my parent’s Beta VCR, taped from a friend’s HBO, and swinging a yellow magic marker in my hands like a lightsaber. This shows us 3 things: that, decieved by the color of the toy Luke’s “arm saber,” I thought his lightsaber was yellow and was too young to differentiate, that I was apparently young enough that a magic marker was large enough to simulate a saber handle, and, most importantly, as a small child I wanted to be Luke Skywalker.

Every kid did. C’mon, before you are old enough to figure anything else out, you see a guy who destroys the Death Star, moves things around with his mind, and seemingly destroys an Empire by himself. I don’t know what kid wouldn’t want to be Luke. As icing on the cake he gets to use a lightsaber. Still an object of fantasy and fascination even to my “old” 27 year old self.

As I grew older and girls entered into my scope of consciousness, I begun to realize the power behind being a scoundrel. There’s a mystery there that is very attractive; the loner seemingly beholden to none who eventually decides to fight for the side of good and win the princess. Not to mention he gets to wear a low slung holster, make wisecracks, and fly the most kickass ship in the galaxy. From then on I wanted to be only one person from the Star Wars Universe.

Captain Han Solo.

It was a fascination that would last me through college. I’ll admit I was slightly sidetracked in 1997 when I heard George Lucas planned to do prequels; finally telling us of the rise of Darth Vader and the birth of the twins. Movies, no doubt, mired in Jedi sorcery and lacking in smugglers. When The Phantom Menace opening in 1999 I couldn’t help but taken in. Do you remember seeing Obi Wan v. Darth Maul sword fight for the first time? I have been told I giggled like a little kid throughout. But once the flash of the Nick Gillard choreographed sword play faded, my mind was always drawn back to the man in the striped pants. Never failed.

I had always wanted to make a Han Solo costume. My dad had instilled in me a love for home made Halloween costumes. I could never buy some cheap plastic thing at a store when I could make something at home using all means of duct tape and Shoe Goo. My problem was not the motive; it lay squarely in the means.

This was the time before the pervayance of the internet. The heady days before DVDs. Old school Star Wars costumers scoff at us young people and our ease of research. While they poured through old cinema and sci-fi magazines for screen shots, we kids just log onto Parts of Star Wars, Obi Wan’s Jedi Academy, or The Padawan’s Guide for free and download images from the tubes of the interweb to our heart’s content.

I have that luxury now. But the late 90’s, when I first thought of the idea of donning the Vest, was a bit different. I still had a dial up 56k baud modem. I watched the Original Trilogy on Special Edition VHS tapes. I had none of the resources at my disposal I do now.

I contented myself to make a rough and tumble Darth Maul costume for Halloween of 1999. Based solely off the many promo shots available of everyone’s favorite Sith Lord. The prequel had given a lot of costumers new abilities due to well lit, well shot promotional material blitzed across the globe for the opening of Episode I.

I stagnated in the pauperism of college and post-college; lacking the funds to finance a costume of my liking. Eventually, Lord of the Rings dominated my life for a while. I took a liking in Strider as he is very similar in initial features to one beloved Correllian pirate. I made a rather fine Aragorn costume in 2003. It rekindled my love of costume making. When I was promoted at Nickelodeon in 2004, receiving a sum closer to a Los Angeles living wage and finally given the funds to attempt an accurate costume.

I decided to finally bring Han into my closet for good.