Project: Spacer’s Duffel (part 1)

While doing research for my vest project this spring, I came across the following passage:

“Most sentients who make their livings as common crew aboard large civilian vessels tend to be lifelong transients, wandering from ship to ship and world to world in search of employment. A spacer might serve on dozens of ships during his career and travel untold millions of light-years, his only home the crew berths of cargo ships and the hostels, bars, and entertainment districts of spaceports. Such beings tend to travel light, carrying their entire lives with them from job to job in large cylinder-shaped bags colloquially known as spacer’s duffels. Roughly half the size of a grown human and featuring one large compartment, a sturdy zipper, and a single shoulder strap, spacer’s duffels have become a symbol of the free-and-easy life of the common spacer. Made by many different textile and storage-technology companies, these bags are as essential a piece of kit to the survival of a spacer as his certificates and his spacesuit. Among ship captains and recruiting agents, one of the most common sights in the spacelanes is a grizzled spacer with a hopeful look on his face, approaching with his duffel slung over his shoulder to inquire about work.” FFG, Edge of the EmpireEnter the Unknown, 53.

As soon as I read it, this M1943 duffel bag I inherited many years ago (and which has been kicking around the back of my closet for quite a while) immediately came to mind. I thought it would be a nice challenge—to take an Earth-specific piece of gear and try to make it better fit the Star Wars aesthetic!

Continue reading “Project: Spacer’s Duffel (part 1)”

Artifact ID: Galen Erso water test kit

Galen-Erso-11182016
(Credit for successful identification of this prop goes to Replica Prop Forum member ‘Saranac’.)

This ‘water tester’—which I guess fits in with the Erso character’s disguise as a ‘dirt farmer’?—is comprised simply of two items, one of which we have seen already! Continue reading “Artifact ID: Galen Erso water test kit”

Marking a milestone

It’s hard to believe, but this week marks this blog’s second anniversary, which means I’ve somehow been rolling out research, how-tos, analyses, and projects for the last two full years – all part of my continuing efforts to make the Galaxy Far, Far Away a legitimate setting for ‘historic’ reenacting.
Many thanks to those of you who have stopped by, liked posts, made great comments, subscribed to the blog, and even joined the conversations over on the SWLH facebook group!

If you’re just joining us, please check out the FIRST STEPS page to see just what Star Wars living history is all about, then leave a comment and introduce yourself below. Here’s to many more years of galactic ‘historic interpretation’ and ‘reenacting’ to come! May the Force be with you!

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Artifact ID: Lyra Erso communicator

As explained in my earlier post of 24 June, I’m approaching the artifacts of Rogue One at arm’s length and with a grain of salt, under the understanding that the film is a materially-correct but narratively inaccurate holodrama. In this post, we’re looking at the belt communicator of the character ‘Lyra Erso’.
(Credit for successful detective work and identification goes to Rebel Legion forum member ‘the.rebel.agent’.)   What did it start its life as?

R1 lyraComm

Continue reading “Artifact ID: Lyra Erso communicator”

Galaxy’s Edge merch: ‘Resistance MRE’

resistanceMREContinuing our look at merchandise available at Disney Galaxy’s Edge, up next is the ‘Resistance MRE’. This sells at GE for $25, and is the one item I’ve actually been able to check out in person (shout-out to Seth for picking one up for me–thanks, pal!)
star-wars5-movie-screencaps.com-5547If this seems unfamiliar, it’s probably because it has nothing to do with the Sequel Trilogy ‘Resistance’–that’s just another attempt by Disney to impose ‘their’ setting as the dominant one. This should more accurately be called a Rebel Alliance ration kit!, and is based on the one Luke Skywalker brings with him when he first travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Continue reading “Galaxy’s Edge merch: ‘Resistance MRE’”

Artifact ID: G3 cleaning kit

Our Rogue One identification series continues, with a very useful–and very accessible–piece of German hardware that you can use to diversify your Star Wars-reenacting ‘hard kit’.R1 G3box
Credit for this goes to German contributor ‘T.K.’, whose eagle eyes were able to identify the gray-and-yellow box on the shoulder of ‘Cassian Andor’ as a familiar bit of Deutschland militaria.
Continue reading “Artifact ID: G3 cleaning kit”

Galaxy’s Edge merch: Jedi Food Capsules

An online friend of mine, whose living history efforts I’ve helped mentor, lives in California and took a trip to the Galaxy’s Edge park recently, and was kind enough to ask if I would be interested in any of their merch.
While I am not really interested in post-Disney Star Wars, I have been using Youtube to vicariously check out the new park since its opening…because as someone (with a minimal budget) and an interest in GFFA full-immersion interactions with the public, I’m always curious to see how things get done with a Disney-sized budget behind them.
Since I was already going to discuss the one item S.K. picked up for me (much appreciated, brother!), I figured I could also springboard and offer a few comments on the other merchandise I’ve seen offered for sale at Galaxy’s Edge, as the various items might pertain to our efforts here.

Let’s start with the Jedi food capsules ($20, set of 6):
Jedi-capsules-SWGEIf you’re interested in portraying an Old Republic/Prequel-era Jedi, the Jedi food capsules are a key item to decorate your utility belt; per in-universe lore, these would’ve contained survival rations for Jedi to use on their missions. But are these replicas worth purchasing? Continue reading “Galaxy’s Edge merch: Jedi Food Capsules”

Artifact ID: Paterson Trident

Before we take a dive into the props of Rouge One, I first wanted to share this Classic Trilogy gem of an artifact.
The Patterson Trident is truly a relic from a bygone age. Slide viewers, amiright? Obsolete though it might be, by playing a part in the most influential film of the last 40 years, the Trident has enjoyed a second life by being a hot commodity among dedicated prop-replicators.
trident3Don’t recognize it? One lonely Trident may not look like much, but what if it’s joined by five friends and some assorted greeblies? Continue reading “Artifact ID: Paterson Trident”

The ethical dilemma of rationalizing DisneyCanon with the EU

As always, apologies for the recent delay in posting…real life takes priority from time to time. I try to post a decent variety of content—see the CATEGORIES menu over there >>>>> —and when it comes to ‘Artifact ID’ series, I’m afraid I’ve hit a bit of a bottleneck. You see, I have several identified artifacts queued up and ready to share, but there’s a problem – they’re all from Rogue One Colon A Star Wars Story…and as you may have noticed if you’ve been following along, I’m not really a consumer of post-Disney Star Wars content.
With that in mind, I’d like to take a break from our regularly scheduled content to share my thought process and try and get to the bottom of this recent quandary.
Continue reading “The ethical dilemma of rationalizing DisneyCanon with the EU”

Project: The Jedi Path – an exercise in distressing

One of my eventual goals for my NRAC impression is to attend an event and publicly ‘interpret’ a collection of in-universe artifacts from the Star Wars galaxy in first-person. While I’m always on the lookout for such items, it is especially fun when one comes along that seems tailor-made for this purpose.
TJP_before-after2 Continue reading “Project: The Jedi Path – an exercise in distressing”