Tag: travel

Galactic Style Guide – Duffel Bags

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! While the Galactic Starcruiser may no longer be taking on passengers and has instead been gathering dust for the last year, there’s never a bad time to do a little research and try to improve your ‘Star Wars eye’. Following up on our last entry, this month we’re looking at a specific type of soft, in-universe luggage, duffel bags!
Just a quick FYI/programming note before we begin: this entry is fairly quick and dirty, but there’s a good reason: my wife and I bought a house last month, and real life takes priority over hobbies, naturally! We’ve made lots of progress, but we’re still knee-deep in renovations and expect to be well into the New Year, but hopefully things go smoothly and I can get back to more regular and in-depth posting before too long. With that said, let’s get started!

Dark Horse’s Republic #80 (2005) with art by Doug Wheatley features padawan Noirah Na in the aftermath of Order 66, lugging around a large duffel bag as a backpack. Plus, for those following along after our last entry, a suitcase! What d’you know: it checks all of our boxes (interesting shape, logo and text free, muted color, and pre-Rollaboard design)!

keep reading for more examples!

Galactic Style Guide – Luggage

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! While the Galactic Starcruiser may no longer be taking on passengers and has instead been gathering dust for the last year, I’m long overdue to examine examples of in-universe LUGGAGE! Back in its heyday, many Starcruiser passengers considered a themed suitcase essential for voyage immersion, but most of the ones I saw went pretty far off the mark from what we actually see onscreen…but there’s never a bad time to do a little research and try to improve your authentic ‘Star Wars eye’!
(But first, a quick FYI/programming note before we begin: this entry and next month’s are fairly quick and dirty, but there’s a good reason: my wife and I just bought a house, and naturally, real life takes priority over hobbies! I fully expect to be knee-deep in renovations well into the New Year, but hopefully things go smoothly and I can get back to more regular and in-depth posting before too long. With that said, let’s get started!

There aren’t many (if any?) examples of what we would recognize as luggage in the Original Trilogy. Luke has his blue backpack and a couple of trunks on Dagobah, but that’s about it – most everyone travels extremely light otherwise! It’s not until Episode I that we get a good look inside a ship’s cargo hold to see what traveling gear looks like in-universe.

The scene in which Padme cleans R2-D2 gives us our best look:

What does in-universe luggage have in common?

Galactic Style Guide – Tents and Shelters

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! While the Style Guide has traditionally been concerned with topics of clothing and personal adornment, one’s outer persona can also include GEAR. Well, summer has arrived and after spending half of last year in a tent with my wife on the Appalachian Trail, I had two questions on my mind:
1) what kinds of shelters might adventurers in the Galaxy Far, Far Away use to protect themselves from the elements? And 2) are there any tents readily available in 2022 that might approximate these galactic styles?
The answer may surprise you!
While this topic might not be much use to readers planning a visit to the Galactic Starcruiser or their local fan convention, it’s important to remember that ‘doing (in the reenacting/living history sense) Star Wars‘ can (and probably should) take more authentic forms, and that if you want to venture into the outlands or create an in-universe encampment—like say, for an upcoming GFFA airsoft event?—having a good shelter can really come in handy.

While tents seen in earlier Star Wars materials (or only described in text) tend towards the unrealistic (at least by current capabilities)*, many shelters from visual media are actually fairly mundane, which is great for those wishing to create a reenacting encampment, or undertake an in-universe backpacking trip! *for a perfect example of this, see Mace Windu’s “wallet tent” in the novel Shatterpoint, which packed down to the size of a pocket yet could automatically unfold into a two-person shelter

Military command tents: Jedi Vs. Sith; To the Vanishing Point.
Readily-available Star Wars tents after the jump

Programming Update: we’re back!

Hello there! After six months in the woods, I’m happy to announce that our 2021 Appalachian Trail southbound thruhike is successfully completed! Believe me when I say that it was one helluva adventure (and a pretty sweet honeymoon, to boot)! Now that we’re back in civilization I’m very much looking forward to getting back to active blogging here at Star Wars Living History…2022 is shaping up to be a big year with big things in the works!

the trail’s southern terminus at Springer Mountain, Georgia is wayyyyy more anticlimactic than Katahdin in Maine

A thruhike by the numbers:
Total length: 2193.1 miles
Total days: 182 (7 June to 5 December)
Zeroes (non-hiking days): 22 (+4 for a wedding off-trail)
Hostels visited: 24
Days hiked in the rain: 29
Night hikes: 27
Longest day: 23.7 miles
Average distance hiked per day: 12.9 miles
Weight lost: ~10 lbs
My pack (HMG 3400 Windrider) base weight: 20 lbs +-2
My pack loaded for a five-day section: 32 lbs+-1
Packets of ramen and/or tuna eaten: too damn many
Pints of ice cream eaten: not nearly enough!

If you’d like to see more pictures from our adventure, I did my best to keep up my Instagram from the trail (though I now realize it’s mostly landscapes, sunsets, and amphibians)…my photogenic wife’s IG gives a much better impression of the journey! If you’re thinking about planning your own thruhike or long-distance trip, I’m always happy to talk shop and answer any questions you might have. When there’s nothing to do but hike and think, I spent a good chunk of the last six months in a Star Wars-y headspace, and hopefully, at least a couple of the insights I had during my time on the AT will work their way into some future posts here! If there’s a topic you’d like to see discussed, please drop a comment down below!

Programming Announcement

Hello readers! I wanted to give a heads-up that the next few months will see a slight change in the posts being published here at the Star Wars Living History blog. At the time this post goes live, my wife and I are on our way to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, and as of 7 June 2021 will be southbound on the Appalachian Trail, hiking 2,200 miles to Springer Mountain, Georgia…which will make it very difficult to keep up with writing and maintaining a blog! (I’ll be checking in along the trail on my facebook page and my Instagram feed, so be sure to ‘Follow’ for those who want to keep tabs on our progress vicariously!)

However, this shouldn’t mean a lack of content for our readers and subscribers: In addition to some guest pieces contributed by members of the SWLH facebook community, I’ve scheduled new installments of the Galactic Style Guide to continue to drop on the last Saturday of the month, with other articles rolling out on a bi-monthly instead of weekly basis. In other words, excepting August (AUREBESH MONTH!!!), expect two posts per month instead of four.

While I wish our hike could be done with more GFFA style, old-school canvas backpacks are heavy and don’t hold nearly enough stuff for a thru-hiker, while most modern ultralight gear is way too colorful to match the galactic aesthetic. But we will see. I’ve been kicking ideas around with a couple of high-caliber galactic ‘reenactors’ about the possibility of organizing a Star Wars ‘ruck’ hike. I would love to do a true long-distance trek using Star Wars gear, or for more of a challenge, with my Middle-earth kit (all organic, handmade, and essentially Iron Age), but I figure I should get thru-hike #1 under my belt first 🙂
Nonetheless, as you can see above, I’ve still tried to inject at least a little GFFA style into my daily hiking outfit: Alderaanian fleet trooper with Donovian Rainman footwear, and I’ll be rocking a moisture farmer bucket hat for at least the first leg of our journey!
I even made a point of choosing a shirt without proper buttons 😉

Wish us luck, MTFBWY, and I’ll see you (Force willing) in December!

Project: Spacer’s Duffel (part 2)

It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in on this project, which was stuck on the back burner for much of last year but has been moving forwards slowly but surely. Inspired by a description of typical spacers traveling the spacelanes with a sturdy duffel bag (FFG Edge of the Empire: Enter the Unknown p.53), my goal is to create an in-universe ‘steamer trunk’ covered with souvenirs of galactic travel for use with my New Republic Archeological Corps impression.

Before getting too carried away with the weathering and distressing, I wanted to first add a few in-universe patches! A brief browse through Etsy or facebook’s SW Patch Collectors group will reveal a mind-boggling number and variety of Star Wars-themed embroidery, but somewhat unsurprisingly the vast majority are not suitable for living history purposes: face characters, divergent stylistic interpretations, pop culture mashups, event commemoratives, and general ‘novelty’ designs (i.e. things that make me ask, “WHYYYY?”) abound. If that group is any indication, lots of folks want patches that let others know they are a Star Wars Fan, but not so many are interested in authentically inhabiting the Star Wars setting…disappointing. However, a few daring individuals have been producing patches that actually reflect an in-universe style!

More patches (and where you can get your own) below!

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 Empire – Enter 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)”

NRAC: Building the Outer Persona – Tracker Vest

Yet again, keeping up a flow of regular postings becomes difficult due to various project delays and bottlenecks, but rest assured, I have not been idle in the hiatus! I have two 3D printed commissions on their way, picked up a new skill that I can use to create ‘primitive’ cultural artifacts, and I spent a large chunk of my Spring Break hard at work on a new vest for my archeologist impression, and I am very pleased with the results.
AKT-TUV Continue reading “NRAC: Building the Outer Persona – Tracker Vest”

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!)”

Step 2 – Connect!

Once you’ve decided to begin your journey, the next step is to Connect (with other people who are interested in what you’re interested in).

This one is easy! There are plenty of places to find people who like Star Wars—everything from message boards, charity societies (501st or Rebel Legion), subreddits (/r/StarWars, /r/StarWarsShips, /r/MawInstallation), to countless facebook groups. There are also plenty of places to find people who like to wear funny clothes and go for walks in the woods.
While there is certainly plenty of overlap between the two interests, as I explained earlier, it simply seems no one has ever tried to join them together in a serious manner. Shall the twain ever meet? I would like to think so, and this blog is meant to show that it’s possible. If social media is more your style, swing on over to join the SWLH facebook group!

It’s often very helpful in historic reenacting circles for a newcomer to link up with a more-experienced Mentor figure to show them the ropes and help them grow, and the same goes for GFFA living history as well. Our facebook group now includes a Mentorship feature to help you do just that. If you’ve managed to find your way here, WELCOME! Leave a comment and say hello!