Tag: experimental archeology

Project: Naboo pistol retool

Near the end of last year, while scrolling through some Star Wars groups on facebook I came across someone showing off a bunch of white and fluorescent orange plastic blaster props made by Rubies. While otherwise just another pointless ‘hey look the stuff i ordered got delivered’ post, one of them was something I had no idea even existed in a mass-produced form—the Merr-Sonn Q2 hold-out pistol. (Fun fact: supposedly this blaster was designed by George Lucas himself, and was prototyped from sketch to prop in just one day). While it wasn’t made by them, as a pre-teen in 1999 such a weapon is permanently associated in my mind with Padme Amidala and the planet Naboo, especially given its decidedly un-militaristic Art Deco styling. Seeing that such a replica existed (and was readily affordable!), I realized that including a Q2 in one of my Naboo-based impressions would be a great way to better connect kit and homeworld—especially since those ‘outer personas’ diverge from what most people think of when they picture Naboo style (the typical ‘Renaissance’ style is really a nobility thing).

Since this model blaster is only ever wielded onscreen by Padme or her handmaidens, I had always assumed it was a specially-made pistol just for Royal use. However, skimming through some RPG materials I came across the Q2 included in a listing of common blasters of the Galaxy, where it was listed as acceptable for use in the pre-Empire, Imperial, and New Republic periods—perfect for any of my needs!

this was much more than just a paintjob!

Searching for Rebel trooper helmet variations

Almost as soon as I finished my ‘fleet trooper’ helmet back in 2017, I started planning a ‘donut’ helmet build, which I hoped would remedy all the complaints I had of the ‘swoop’ helmet: it would be smaller, more mobile, quieter, and much better at blending in with woodland scenery. However, on the off chance that I ever feel like busting out my ol’ swoop again, I’ve still kept my eyes open for examples of documented swoop helmet variations that might be a little more woodland guerilla-friendly. Sure, it would be easy to say, ‘Ehh, I’m sure a Rebel cell somewhere must have painted their helmets to blend in better, just make something up!’ But for accurate reenacting and living history, the bar is a little higher, and we can’t settle for fan creations on DeviantArt—we need examples from the visual record! Therefore, I wanted to share the examples of non-standard Rebel ‘swoop’ helmets that I’ve been able to dig up in hopes that they might be of use to someone else in the same boat. Enjoy!

These swoop-less helmets (art by Brian Schonburg) appear in Rules of Engagement, the Rebel SpecForces Handbook (1997).

seven more examples after the jump!

Back to Basics-What and Why?

While I started this blog back in 2017, I spent the first few weeks detailing the basic ideas behind the ‘Advanced Costumed Arts’ of reenacting and living history. Over the intervening three+ years this blog has been plugging away merrily, and those early posts—while still collected at the ^FIRST STEPS page^—are effectively buried for those who might find their way here and don’t want to endlessly scroll or use the search bar or Categories >>. Therefore, I wanted to put together a miniseries to lay out the underlying foundations for what it is we aspire to do here, why we do living history specifically, and how You can do it too!

WHAT are reenacting and living history?
(For a short but very complete general introduction to these activities, I recommend downloading F.L. Watkins’ The Reenactor’s Encyclopedia, from which I’ll be quoting here and there.) At their most basic, both reenacting and living history are activities in which participants seek to learn about and experience life in a non-contemporary time period. These activities usually involve the participant assembling a ‘kit’ (what you’ll often see referred to here as ‘the outer persona’) of “possessions…that might have been owned by his impression”; this should start with clothing, and then might extend to include tools, food, camp gear, sundries, and weapons.

what do reenacting and living history look like?

Thoughts on ‘The Believer’

Welcome back to my commentary series on Season 2 of The Mandalorian; for this installment we’re breaking down Chapter 15 ‘The Believer’. Aside from the first episode, I haven’t been too especially fond of any of this season’s installments; after the on-rails themepark ride of ‘The Siege’, the poor direction of ‘The Jedi’, and the mindless action of ‘The Tragedy’, I had low hopes for the next episode. As we will see, having lowered expectations meant I was able to be pleasantly surprised.

The episode opens with a scruffy-looking Mayfeld on a New Republic prison work detail, where he’s busting up wrecked TIEs. Right off the bat, I’m onboard, because while Star Wars might refer to prisons from time to time, we almost never get to actually see people in prison, much less doing menial labor – it’s a nice bit of worldbuilding. (Off the top of my head, all I can think of is the Jedi Knight novella which saw Alphonso Obata incarcerated by the NR on Milagro, jackhammering a city glassed by orbital bombardment).

In this opening we see Boba has repainted his armor, and it looks…Not At All Star Wars-y. While one could easily make the argument that ‘Everything was new once’, seeing him with a refreshed paintjob and how weird it looks really underlines how key the ‘Used Universe’ look is to the Galaxy Far Far Away. If you, dear reader, have just finished assembling and painting your own Star Wars kit, don’t stop now!  It may feel wrong to intentionally ‘mess up’ something you’ve spent a lot of time and effort on, but if you really want to do right by the aesthetic, you need to bite the bullet and do some weathering and aging to really sell the look.

Also, is this the first time we’ve seen a light-up identification doodad? I can guess what all the fancy propmakers and Batuu-bounders will be upgrading to this winter…

Continue reading “Thoughts on ‘The Believer’”

Recipe: Yoda Stew

(as made BY Yoda, not WITH Yoda!)

This has been shared all over in the last 34 years, but I thought it would be fun to include here as there are so few edible connections to make with the GFFA.
While I wish this was the actual recipe that was served on-set in Yoda’s house (any leads would be amazing!), we’ll have to make do. The recipe originates with the 1983 adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back made by National Public Radio, who solicited gourmet chef Craig Claiborne to come up with something to approximate Yoda’s ‘rootleaf’ stew of the film.

The finished product might look like something made out of swamp-sourced ingredients, but it tastes very much like a modern Indian dish!
Continue reading “Recipe: Yoda Stew”

Building the Outer Persona: an authentic Gaderffii

Back in the beginning of the year, when I was only doing an AgriCorps Jedi impression, I started thinking about what it might look like to do a living history ‘display’ in the GFFA. For actual historic periods, displays at events often take the form of a collection of soldier’s gear laid out for the public:
VnamLHDisplay
In my mind’s eye, I thought it might be interesting, starting out, to simply have a collection of in-universe ‘artifacts’ for the public to examine, which could function as potential ‘engagement hooks’ for interpretation. Continue reading “Building the Outer Persona: an authentic Gaderffii”

Experimental Archeology: Rebel style!

After finishing the retool of my DH-17, I realized that I needed a way to carry the blaster on my person during workshops or presentations (because it’s part of a kit instead of a costume prop, I need be able to do more than stand around, look pretty, and get photographed—I need my hands when I’m teaching!) Continue reading “Experimental Archeology: Rebel style!”

Step 6 – Try Not (Do it!)

By now you’ve picked a persona, done your research, and started putting together a basic ‘kit’. It’s finally time to get out there! If you want a taste of a scene, grab your gear and reenact it!

It continues to astound me when I see online cosplayers/costumers show off their new duds, which remain pressed and spotlessly clean in perpetuity! If you’re going to go through the effort of putting together, say, a screen-accurate Obi-Wan Kenobi Padawan outfit (as seen in The Phantom Menace), you should probably also go through the effort of wading into a freshwater lake and doing at least a few breast-strokes.
lakewade Continue reading “Step 6 – Try Not (Do it!)”