Darth Malgus Costume W.I.P.

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090603122445/starwars/images/f/f4/UnidentifiedSithLord-TOR.jpg]

Scared you, didn?t I? I thought so.

This guy does look a little terrifying. Then again, what did you expect of someone with the name Malgus who is a Dark Lord of the Sith?

I am planning on this to be my next costume. Already, I am dissecting it based on the model used in the Deceived, Hope, and Return Cinematic Trailers by Blur Studios for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is a high-definition and high-detail look at this character?s costume.

This is going to be the most detailed costume I have ever done. It will include cloth parts, foam parts, sintra parts, leather parts, lights, makeup, and a lightsaber! Needless to say, it will take a little planning and a lot of help from my local sources (and some not so local).

I am hoping to have the costume completed by the release date of the game, whenever that is. The reason is so that I might troop the release (possibly a midnight release) with my wife, as Satele Shan, and the rest of my Garrison and Base (501st and Rebel Legion). I also plan for this to be my primary costume for Celebration VI next August.


Sources
501st acceptance requires three separate sources.
1) Star Wars The Old Republic Character Biography (Bioware)
This is a character in the upcoming video game from Bioware. The character is illustrated in the link, though a better view of the illustration can be found HERE.

2) Deceived Cinematic Trailer Character by Alessando Baldasseroni (Blur Studios)
This is the version of the character I am making. The trailer itself was created by Blur Studios that took their own liberties with the animations and character models (including both Darth Malgus and the Sith Troopers). The reason I consider this a second source is that the character models were created based on the Bioware illustrations, but they held their own little differences. The illustrator also created the models for the Hope and Return Cinematic Trailers using the same model but with different heads and progressively less weathering.

3) Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived cover art by Marek Okon (Del Rey)
While the Critria for an EU costume to be discussed on the 501st Extended Universe forums states that it requires three visual sources, I am using a novel. I am not using the novel as a literary reference, but am using the cover art as a visual reference. It is designed by Marek Okon based on the Bioware illustrations, but with specific details the artist threw in on his own.

 

One of the things that I am fairly well known for are my costume dissections. To that end, here is my dissection of the Darth Malgus costume based on the Cinematic Trailer Model created by Alessandro Baldasseroni. I have classed this costume as having four separate kinds of parts. The soft parts include the cloth and leather pieces. The Firm Parts are all those that are thicker than the soft parts and made of a less flexible material. The Hard Parts are the actual armors and other related pieces. Finally, the Misc. Parts include the FX for the head, the mask, and the lightsaber.

The first this I am going to do is take the picture I have of Darth Malgus from Alessandro Baldasseroni?s website and brighten it up, make it black and white, and sharpen the details.

Before
[image=http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3235/malguspost.jpg]

After
[image=http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/4098/malguslightpost.jpg]

There, isn't that clearer? Now I can begin a proper dissection for costume creation.

 

SOFT PARTS
The soft parts are probably the easiest thing for me to make because? I am not going to be the one making them. Last time I used a sewing machine, there was an issue that ended with a grenade and a battle hamster. Don?t ask, you don?t want to know.

So, because of that, my wife will be making as much of the parts as she can make for me. The only thing she won?t be making are the gloves and the boots. However, I have a couple of people lined up who can take care of those for me.

[image=http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/2567/softpartspost.jpg]

CAPE
The cape will be made of a black gabardine material. It will hang down to the floor when it is worn (unlike in the video, I do not want it to drag for both safety and cleanliness reasons). It will snap to the top of the shoulder blades under the shoulder armor and velcro across the top of the back. The hood is a separate piece that can be pulled up with the drape free.

UNDER SHIRT
The undershirt will be made of a black shiny material. It is only seen on the neck and sleeves. It will include pillow-tucks around the neck and a stiffener or velcro to connect it to the mask. The tucks will have some light detailing to it. The sleeves are tight against the arm and have 1/2-inch seams from shoulder to the wrist. It will include a stirrup for the hand. There will be a line of velcro along the forearm to secure the gauntlet and a snap on the wrist area to secure the gloves.

GLOVES
The gloves are black leather wrist-length gloves. They have leather patches across the main knuckles. The seams appear typical of driving gloves, but are of a pull-on variant. They will include snaps on the inside to secure to the undershirt sleeve and a set of snaps to secure the hand armor.

TROUSERS
The trousers are made of a gray cloth and are loose but not baggy. They have a 1-inch quilting from the waist to the knee. They will include a normal fly as well as suspenders and stirrups. There is a bit of elastic across the shin in line with the hole on the calf padding to keep the material taunt. There is velcro around the waist to hold the torso padding, velcro on the crotch and butt to hold the cod/butt padding, velcro on the thighs to hold the thigh padding, velcro on the knees to secure the knee armor, and a strip of velcro down the calf (above and below the calf padding hole) to hold the calf padding in place.

BOOTS
The boots are a custom make from black leather, reaching to mid-calf. There is a black toe detail strip that comes to the top of the foot. There are heavy black locking zippers on both sides of the boot (yes, the first actual view of a zipper in the Star Wars universe). The sole is a low boot sole and will require some light sanding and dremmeling to produce the lines visible in the picture. The boot will have a piece of elastic on the back to ensure a good fit (much in the same way as the sides of the Boba Fett boots). It will also have the necessary grommets for the armor connection.

 

FIRM PARTS
The firm parts are slightly more difficult, but are still going to be easier than the hard parts. They are solid, unlike the soft parts, but are able to flex and bend, unlike the hard parts. Primarily, they will be made out of EVA foam of 1/2-inch and 1/8-inch.

[image=http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1717/firmpartspost.jpg]

BICEP PADDING
The bicep padding is made of three sheets of 1/8-inch foam glued together and painted a similar gray to the trousers and vest. The top layer will have the necessary detail lines burned into it on the front and back. The black padding strips will be made with two layers of the 1/8-inch pads with the top being separated along the horizontal with a very slight bubbling and having the detail lines burned into it. The entire set will connect to the vest at the shoulder.

VEST
The vest is made of the same gray cloth as the trousers. It has a series of according folds on the front made with plastic canvas under the cloth. The canvas is sewn over a piece of elastic to it stretches but still returns to its original shape. It will have faux seams up the front, but will zip up the back. It has a small t-shirt sleeve that is permanently attached inside the bicep padding. It includes the necessary snaps for the shoulder/back armor and the necessary Velcro for the torso padding.

TORSO PADDING W/ COD AND BUTT
The torso padding will be made with 1/2-inch black foam. It will be cut into faux strips of approximately 1.5-inches in thickness. The three top strips will have rounded ends and Velcro to the vest and back armor. The two strips under those will be solid and wrap around the body. Below those is a 4.5-inch thick strip that is used to hold the belt. The back of the pieces are cut out for another piece that velcros them together and extends up to also velcro to the back armor. The cod padding is connected to the front and includes sanded down pieces as well as bend pieces. The butt padding is connected to the center piece. The padding will have all necessary detail lines burned into it. The belt piece, cod, and butt armor will have Velcro under them to secure to the trousers and the belt piece will have a strip of Velcro over it to secure to the belt.

THIGH PADDING
The thigh pads are made from three pieces of 1/8-inch foam glued together. The top section is cut in strips and bubbled up slightly. The rear has a 1/4-inch thick flay piece with two holes cut through it. The front have two holes cut through the top layer only. It will Velcro to the trousers.

CALF PADDING
The calf padding will be made of 1/2-inch thick foam. It will be cut with faux strips and will have the vertical detail lines and holes burned into it. The back hole will by cut all the way through. It will use elastic on the front to hold closed around the lower leg. The bottom will tuck into the boots and it will have strips of Velcro to connect to the shin armor and snaps on the elastic.

 

HARD PARTS
The hard parts are going to be the most tricky to pull off. They will be made of EVA foam and sintra. Some pieces will only use the foam as a padding, but others will use it as a base.

[image=http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4363/hardpartspost.jpg]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4363/hardpartspost.jpg

SHOULDER ARMOR
The shoulder armor is made of 1/2-inch foam. Both sides are identical and it is also mirrored front to back. The detail lines will be burned onto it. The top also contains a pair of 1/2-inch foam pieces glued down 1/8-inch from the edge. There will be a Chicago screw under the top foam detail to connect the shoulder to the chest/back armor. It will also include a pirce of elastic to keep them from spinning or moving around.

CHEST/BACK ARMOR
The chest/back armor is made with a base of the 1/2-inch foam. Detail lines are burned onto the chest. The center piece of the chest has a piece of sintra over it with the various details built on it using sintra. The lights will be pieces of red acrylic that are back-lit by LEDs. The shoulders have a black stripe at the top made of a 1/8-inch piece of foam for strength above and below. The back armor includes inset details and some 1/8-inch raised pieces of foam. The back also includes a 3/8-inch raised ?Y? that goes down to the belt piece. Additionally, there are three 1/8-inch faux strips on the edge. A small ½-inch box is located on the right side of the back. Finally, there is some detailing on the armor toward the sides which can be burned on carefully. The neck piece appears to be solid and has a pair of red back-lit acrylic pieces. It includes the necessary velcro to attach to the torso padding.

GAUNTLETS
The gauntlets are made with 3 sheets of 1/8-inch foam as a base. It will be made to separate at the underside of the arm with a Velcro piece to connect it. The gauntlets have two white acrylic back-lit pieces on either side of the display. The display itself will be made of sintra and include the necessary pieces of back-lit acrylic with the details painted on them. The hex pieces on the top of the gauntlet are designed with layered sheets of foam. It includes a strip of velcro to attach to the forearm.

HAND ARMOR
The hand armor is made with 3 layers of sintra with a 1/8-inch foam base. The detail work is built-up layers of sintra. It secures to the glove with a set of snaps.

BELT
The belt is built with a series of layered 1/8-inch foam pads and sintra. The silver details are made of sintra while the belt layers are the foam. The back of the belt has a connection piece with a flap that is 1/4-inch thick. The rear detail is made of layered sintra and hides the connection point of the belt in the back (as well as the belt foam). It has Velcro that connects it to the torso padding.

KNEE ARMOR
The knee armor is built with a piece of 1/2-inch foam under a sintra box. The base wraps around the entire leg and uses a piece of 1/8-inch foam to appear flush to the box. The details are built into the box with a sintra box over another piece of the ½-inch foam. The details are sanded into the sintra. The back has a piece of velcro to secure it to the trousers and it slips onto the leg.

SHIN ARMOR
The shin armor will be made with layers of sintra over a foam base. It will have a single layer of sintra with a single layer of foam under it as a base. The top detail includes another 1/8-inch piece with a third in the center for the raised detail. The wrap around piece will be made with foam and velcro under the calf on one side. A single piece of sintra is located under the top detail. The lower detail has separate ?wings? on the sides with the main face being a single layer with a second layer over it that has a piece cut out, and a third layer over that. A separate strip will be included to provide the detail in the cut-out. It connects to the calf with velcro and belt-clips/snaps on the calf armor straps.

ACHILLES ARMOR
The achilles armor is made wi

 

MISC PARTS
These parts aren?t part of the actual costume, but I?ll post them here anyway. They mostly include the FX of the makeup, the lightsaber which I am custom ordering, and the mask that I still have no idea how I am going to do it exactly.


MASK
[image=http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8521/maskr.jpg]
The mask is probably going to be made of sintra and attached to a wrap-around piece made of PVC and rubber tubing. It will include a pair of back-lit red acrylic buttons and a pair of silver mesh panels. The main mouth piece will have a mesh cover hiding a fan (for air and to give the chopped sound to the voice). I do not know exactly how the mask is held on besides it bracing to the nose with the neck piece pulling it around the jaw (possibly spirit gum on the top of the back to hold it up).
Oops, I forgot a section...

MAKEUP
[image=http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3347/makeuprd.jpg]
The makeup will include a set of Sith Eyes contacts as the main part. The scaring on the cheeks will be done with collodion and some light shadowing. The eye sockets will be darkened with makeup. A bald wig with paintd details will be used for the top of the head and will be spirit-gummed to the scalp. The bald wig will also connect to the neck piece in the back to help support it. The bald wig will be long enough to cover the eyebrows.

LIGHTSABER ((this is not my picture, but one I found using a google search))
[image=http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/8963/malguslightsaber.jpg]
The lightsaber is 15 inches long from pommel to tip of the emitter. There is a pair of blades on either side of the emitter. It appears to have a MR Force FX battery pack/speaker in the pommel. There is no clip for the belt on the lightsaber and it has a single button for the activator.

As for the contacts, I have just the thing?
[image=http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-17384296366144_2161_11855824]

 

Just a head's up, I'm pretty sure right now that the 501st isn't taking TOR costumes. So far all the Rebel Legion's taking is the armored Jedis.

 

I've already talked to Pam and Tom (Twi'lek Pam and Clone Emperor). Once the game goes live, I can submit. However, I am still making it for the midnight release. My wife, likewise, is doing a Satele Shan from the videos and Pam is doing an Eleena Daru. Thanks for the concern, though!

 

The first set of pictures, those from the Deceived Cinematic Trailer, have been taken and I can already see that my original thoughts on the costume were wrong. Specifically, the shin armor that I thought was three separate piece is actual one single piece. Also, according to a reliable source, the Malgus model with the cape covering his armor and the one with the cape hanging on only his pack are two separate models (the concealed one does not have shoulder plates). So, I will be focusing on the one with the open cape.

Here is the link to download the Deceived Cinematic Trailer pictures of Darth Malgus. I have removed all pictures not actually showing his armor as well as some that are too unclear or distant to see him clearly.

Deceived.rar - 1066 pics, 878.95 MB (zipped)

I will post the Hope and Return pictures once I have them taken. Also, I am finalizing the build information for the hard parts. Look for those soon, too!

Also, if you would like similar pictures for any of the characters in the Cinematic Trailers, don't be afraid to ask. I have taken such pics for the Sith Acolytes (in armor), Satele Shan, Republic Soldiers (soft uniform), Republic Troopers (hard armor), Eleena Daru, Shock Troops (the Sith Stormtroopers), and the Battle Droids.

 

Update:

The second of the three picture sets are up, this time from the Hope Cinematic Trailer. These show a clearer view of the Malgus costume than the Deceived Cinematic Trailer, but lack the Breath Mask. Even so, the majority of the detail in this trailer is on the gauntlets and the lightsaber. However, it also shows how the neck piece looks without the breath mask.

Here is the link to download the Hope Cinematic Trailer pictures of Darth Malgus. I have removed all pictures not actually showing his armor as well as some that are too unclear or distant to see him clearly. On top of that, I have trimmed some of the less ?actiony? shots down to a handful (from several dozen) to save space.

Hope.rar - 842 pics, 869.07 MB (zipped)

I will post the Return pictures by the end of the week, if everything goes well. Additionally, I will start taking pictures for the other costumes and posting them to my megaupload page.

On top of that, I might have an idea how to do the breath mask so it stays up. I will be screwing it in place in my jaw! No, just kidding. I will look into actually attaching it to the bald cap. It will require a more expensive and thicker variant of bald cap, but it looks like it might be hopeful. Either that or I will have to try running a latex strap under the bald cap (which would be a pain in putting it on. With attaching it to the bald cap, I would only have to spirit gum it down in the front, at least.

If you would like screenshots like those above for other characters, please let me know. I can do them for any of following characters:

Armored Jedi (includes facial shots for Satele?s Zabrak master and Ven Zallow)
Darth Malgus? Pureblood Sith master
Eleena Daru (Darth Malgus? Blue Twi?lek slave/wife)
Republic Soldiers (Jedi Temple security force)
Republic Trooper (Armored troops)
*Satele Shan (female Jedi)*
Shae Vizsla (female bounty hunter)
Sith Acolyte
Sith Shocktrooper
Smuggler/Gunslinger

*italics* indicated that the pictures are already taken and ready for posting. Send me a PM and I will PM you the link.

 

Update:

The final picture set is up from the Return Cinematic Trailer. This set has a little more detail in the movement and the reactions of the fabric (you can see it bunched at his hip a couple of times).

Here is the link to download the Return Cinematic Trailer pictures of Darth Malgus. I have removed all pictures not actually showing his armor as well as some that are too unclear or distant to see him clearly. On top of that, I have trimmed some of the less ?actiony? shots down to a handful (from several dozen) to save space.

Now, to starting drafting parts out?

Return.rar - 966 pics, 722.57 MB (zipped)

If you would like screenshots like those above for other characters, please let me know. I can do them for any of following characters:

Armored Jedi (includes facial shots for Satele?s Zabrak master and Ven Zallow)
Darth Malgus? Pureblood Sith master
Eleena Daru (Darth Malgus? Blue Twi?lek slave/wife)
Republic Soldiers (Jedi Temple security force)
Republic Trooper (Armored troops)
*Satele Shan (female Jedi)*
Shae Vizsla (female bounty hunter)
Sith Acolyte
Sith Shocktrooper
Smuggler/Gunslinger

*italics* indicated that the pictures are already taken and ready for posting. Send me a PM and I will PM you the link.

 

Well, I have been spending my time... um... researching, yeah, researching the costume from in the beta. However, with the recent updates, it is like playing a PS3 game on an Atari.

So, I am back into planning for this. It is looking like the midnight release will be 22nd of November. I am wary about this date, but it is what I was told from Gamestop. So, I have to get my nose to the grindstone. Not just on this costume, but also on the Sith Acolyte and Jedi Armor for two of my Garrisonmates. So, look for my coming on the third day... wait, wrong genre. I mean, look for more pics and stuff SOON?.

 

Oooohoooh ooh, I doubt you can speak of it, but any info on Shae from within the beta? I spotted Satele in the chose your fate trailer, so I know she is in game but I am very excited to read between your words that Malgus is and so hopefully Shae too.

Oh and if I was aiming for getting mine done by release that would be the end of next year for my country.... sigh. So I am aiming for end of October for the majority of it (I think I use my initials mdb on the Flagship forums, hello again )

And research is very important of course.

 

I'm not in now, but you do see Shae Vizsla in the game. Her armor looks very similar to the CGI rendering, but simplified, much like the Malgus armor.

 

Yay! Thank you!

I doubt we will meet up with our costumes but you never know...

 

I'm trying to set up a SWTOR costume shot with Dallas Dickinson at Celebration VI, so we might just meet.

 

It is now official, right out of the Ronto's mouth! The date for the release is now the date I have to finish this project by...

[image=http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/612/datez.png]

Now to contact Gamestop and set up a troop at the release, possible a midnight release.