Diamonds in the Rough – Colin “OddViking” Adams (part 1)

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This is actually the first half of a two-parter, because our subject has gone so totally above and beyond and built an incredible kit with tons of details that spreading it out over two months is the only way to really do it justice!

If you’ve spent any time exploring Star Wars content on Instagram in the last several years, chances are you’ve seen Colin Adams’ incredible work before. As a professional graphic designer/illustrator, Colin has a very large bag of tools to draw from, and puts them all to good use with a number of impressive cosplays and kits, each fully-detailed and seamlessly dropped into immersive settings with the magic of Photoshop. At the beginning of this year, when I saw Colin was starting a custom Mandalorian build, I knew the final result would be amazing. As we’ve discussed previously in our First Steps series, one of the keys to successfully creating an effective GFFA character is to dedicate time at the beginning of the process to doing your research and really nailing down what the ‘outer persona’ should look like.

Colin did just this, and said his initial inspiration was to design a custom ‘post-Imperial period’ Mandalorian akin to those seen in the background on The Mandalorian at various times:

Colin wanted this kit to be a “fairly common-looking ‘standard Mandalorian'” which wouldn’t stand out among those onscreen, so he wisely adopted a “no wild adornments” rule and stuck with a subdued color palette.

While he didn’t create a detailed backstory or ‘inner persona’ for this kit—keeping it more as a pure Impression—Colin imagines this Mandalorian as a more technically-inclined mercenary. This is evidenced by the leather datapad holster on his thigh (crafted previously for a trip to visit Galaxy’s Edge West and which he says “feels more like his sidearm than the blaster”), and a handy ‘data spike’ at his belt.

As Colin said, “I figure he’s the one that tosses the tracker as a ship starts to take off, or is the one in the squad that they always call up to the front to bypass a door.” To further sell this idea of a ‘tech Mando’, Colin worked with Jason of Wampa’s Workshop and James at Jettisonable to design and incorporate a pair of screens into his forearm armor, which would display a variety of technical sensors at his disposal.
Since a good Mandalorian is never without their weapons, Colin decided to balance his tech side with a “fairly over-powered” specialized weapon (the Imp rocket launcher (from EA!Battlefront 2) to help him stand out in a group among all the blaster and vibroblade guys: this is someone who uses whatever tools he can to get the best result – “and a rocket is often the tool nobody else thought to pack”!

Colin already had a few accessories built that he could incorporate like a datapad, data spike, and Death Trooper grenade, plus an SE-14R pistol and the bazooka, but the rest was more open to pick-and-choose.
The design process really began when maker DiscountMando sent Colin files for some knee armor he had designed and wanted Colin to test out. Once he had printed them in resin, Colin realized it would become the start of a whole set of armor, so the first step was to decide on a color scheme.

After sketching up a design of his initial ideas, Colin started coloring parts in layers in Photoshop so he could adjust and try out various combinations: as he says, “I always prefer when a Mandalorian (or any costume) sticks to about three colors, and while many custom Mandalorians go with bright colors, the canon ones are almost always more muted colors.”

This mockup proved helpful for seeing everything all together. Colin was attracted to the idea of white armor (as he says, “it’s the opposite of camouflage or black for stealth: a warrior so good they don’t mind if their enemy can see them”), which is so ingrained in Star Wars‘ visual language – and which also acts as an ideal canvas for all kinds of weathering effects! Plus, a white armor set would be different enough that it would hopefully help avoid getting him confused with the more iconic Boba Fett or Din Djarin.
While he initially thought the flightsuit would be more of a beige or cinnamon color, this didn’t look right with the white plates, and when he tried a more chocolate-y brown, it increased the contrast and everything started to click.

Colin knew he wanted to use one secondary color in his armor to feature on one shoulder pauldron; this would be a rust-red primer, which paired with white “is such a common combination in the Star Wars aesthetic”. His third armor color would be gray, but to keep it a bit more earthy, Colin went with a warmer gray-brown (Rustoleum London Gray).

When the time came to start sourcing parts, Colin got his main pieces from other makers: a discounted, resin-cast Din helmet from AlphaIgnition, a resin chest from CaptainNater, and a right Death Trooper shoulder from 850 Armor Works.
Because he was starting with a standard helmet, to further distance his design from that of The Mandalorian, Colin added a few parts to modify it. These included a new back vent, cheek inserts, and a detail for behind the ‘ears’ (all designed and resin-printed himself, naturally), as well as a strip of aluminum (milled by a friend) to cover the helmet’s crest. This last addition featured a ‘dashed rectangle motif’ which he would also include on several pieces like shins and hand plates – simple repeating geometric designs like this “show up all over Star Wars” (i.e. the ‘bloodstripes’ on Han Solo’s pants). The end result of these thoughtful modifications is that of a familiar, unmistakenly-Mandalorian silhouette, but one whose details show that it to be a ‘cousin’ to the more familiar on-screen examples:

We’ll continue our interview with Colin next month, but until then, you can see more of his insane craftsmanship and attention to detail (and why wouldn’t you, really?) on Instagram and on YouTube, where he shares his crafting know-how in several excellent video tutorials.

I’m always on the lookout for future interviewees, so if you know of a high-quality SW costumer you would like to nominate for this series, please get in touch or come discuss with us at the Star Wars Living History facebook community.

(Special thanks to our monthly supporters P.D. and R.F.! Writing this site takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading, have learned something from this post, or will use Colin’s kit as inspiration for your own outfit, please consider supporting my work via ko-fi, or with a small donation below! Thank you!