Nefthys

From what I can tell, your costume is looking great. The photos are a little hard to see all the details, but you are certainly on the right track. Keep up the excellent work! Cheers, Nef

Yes, you can re-use your mask and boots. The gloves however are longer on the KOTOR version (up to the elbow) so your COTF gloves may be too short to use. Cheers, Nef

Some of you may, or may not, be aware that last week was GISHWHES. It is an international scavenger hunt that takes place all over the world with thousands of participants. If you are curious to know more, check out their website: https://www.gishwhes.com/ This year we decided to try and put together a 501st team. We named our team The Empire and tried to keep as many of our tasks Star Wars themed as possible. It was an amazing week of craziness and a ton of fun! I thought I would share just a few of the silly things we had to do with everyone. Task #3: IMAGE. It's "me time." Spoil, pamper and be decadent to yourself like you never have before. Oh, and P.S., you’re dressed as a Stormtrooper. http://i.imgur.com/gEZns1E.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fjtVI5X.jpg Item #22: VIDEO (20 seconds). Because of our subversive influence, most governments have declared GISHWHES to be a national security threat. Have a uniformed officer explain to a unit of servicemen how to neutralize a hostile GISHER. Item #70: VIDEO. You know how at Starbucks they ask your name and write it on the cup so that when your latte is done, they can say, “Misha, skinny decaf grande latte - extra foam, extra hot, lightly sweet!” When they ask for your name, give the most ridiculous name you can think of when you order your Starbucks beverage. The video is of the barrista announcing your drink and your absurd name. Item #92: IMAGE. Forgive someone with whom you have been holding a grudge against. http://i.imgur.com/OTCFTsx.jpg Item #113: VIDEO. Pressure wash something you really shouldn't pressure wash. Item #120. IMAGE. Feed your demons. You are not permitted to submit an image of you eating desert. http://i.imgur.com/o0yFKWu.jpg Item #133. IMAGE. Draw a New-Yorker-style cartoon for the caption "I told them he was half-elephant!" http://i.imgur.com/PdmGiRH.jpg?2 Item #141: IMAGE. A museum-quality installation exhibition of the dishware in your cupboard. Artist Statement is NOT optional. http://i.imgur.com/RX4tAwW.jpg Item #164:164. Your friend is in bed, not feeling well. Feed them a big bowl of warm (not hot) chicken noodle soup. One caveat: instead of feeding them with a spoon, use a leaf-blower. Item #170: IMAGE. Trolling for fish is when you drag your line slowly through the water hoping to fool a fish into snatching your bait. On your favorite social media site, create a new user. Your profile avatar will be a photo or drawing of Orlando Jones. Your user name will be evocative of "Orlando Jones." Now, masquerading as Orlando Jones, troll for--and hook--at least 400 followers. http://i.imgur.com/nGVwLrX.png Last one that is mainly Star Wars themed. A huge Thank You to John Jackson Miller for helping us with this task! Item #177: VIDEO. A NYT best-selling author or Tony-award winning actor or actress doing a dramatic reading of a section of this: http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/right_of_way.htm I am really looking forward to doing it again next year! Cheers, Deez

Those look like they would work!

Myself and a few other Nihilus costumers I know have gone through this website to get gloves; http://www.leatherglovesonline.com/np/s ... r=gauntlet They have very good products. Cheers, Nef

The gauntlet part might be a bit too short. They should reach at least half way up your forearm. Not all the way to the elbow though. Cheers, Nef

You can certainly post up an interest thread with the images you have. Looking forward to seeing how the mask turns out once casted! Cheers, Nef

Yup, I make kids cry all the time, which I still feel a bit bad about. You kinda get used to it and can start to predict the kids you think will cry and learn to avoid them. Nihilus is a pretty creepy looking character, so it comes with the territory. Glad you have been able to get out to some troops!

Weapons are not needed for 501st approval. Just the costume. But it is always nice to get an accurate weapon to accompany the costume if you desire. I don't have a 100% accurate Nihilus lightsaber, but I can still troop with it. It will depend on the rules of your local garrison on what they will and will not allow. As for materials, with something from a comic book you are open to a fair bit of interpretation. It is best to do research on the types of materials used in the movies, or any real life reference you can get to match to the feel of the Star Wars universe. Also an understanding of symbolism in history can come into play. For example, purple dye was the colour of royalty and used on only the best fabrics. For his purple robes I would go with something more luxurious, like silk. There are also nicer synthetics if you are on a budget. Looking at the images you want a fabric with nice drape, not stiff, that will fold and hang nicely. For the armour pieces, it is up to you what you want to go with. In the end you want it to look as accurate as possible to the reference images. Keep in mind the longevity and durability you want in your costume. Going with materials that are sturdier means it will last longer and be less likely to break. I like to use Sintra a fair bit in my costumes because it is cheap, durable, and fairly easy to work with. For more detailed pieces, like the gold medallion I would use something like Worbla, or even Sculpy. Worbla can be molded into more detailed shapes over foam and is fairly durable. Sculpy is much easier to work with, but is heavier and rather fragile. You can use a thermoplast as well, but they can be quite pricey, but are great to work with. You can also sculpt smaller more detailed pieces out of clay and then make a mold. From there you can cast them in resin. This is much more costly, but it means you can make multiple pieces. It also looks like he is wearing some sort of scale mail skirting in this image: http://www.theflagshipeclipse.com/galle ... omic01.jpg For that you can use metal, or a plastic painted to look like metal. You could even use leather dyed purple, as long as it is a consistent look throughout the costume, such as matching it to what is on his knees. In the end use what you are comfortable with that can achieve the most accurate look. Cheers, Nef

That is a fine looking Nihilus! Glad to have you join the ranks! Cheers, Nef

Congratulations! Always nice to have another Canadian Nihilus amoung our ranks! Cheers, Nef

The new cowl is fantastic! Really love how it turned out. From the look of things I would say your a ready to submit for approval from what I can see in the photographs. Cheers, Nef

This is beyond amazing! I laughed for a good 10 minutes.

Thanks for the promotion! I'm one of the members of Moonbase Creations, so if anyone has questions about the masks we make, feel free to PM me. We will also have a Nihilus mask coming out soon. We are just getting through a busy convention stretch right now.

A lot of people use a TK chest plate. You could check out the FISD forums to see if anyone has an old TK chest plate kicking around that they are willing to part with. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/ Cheers, Nef

Looking good so far! Just remember that the shirt will need to tuck into the skirt and the seam be hidden by the thin belt and you'll be fine. Cheers, Nef

You can buy belt blanks that are pretty much ready to go from Tandy. Just need to pick a buckle to go with it. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en-ca ... 8-186.aspx Then you can buy the smaller thin leather strip to glue down on top of the belt blank. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en-ca ... 3-190.aspx Then you can dye them with the same black dye at the same time so you don't have to worry about the black's being slightly different. All you need to do in terms of "leather work" is punch the holes for the studs and put them in. As well as the holes for the belt buckle once it is sized to you. This is what I did for my Nihilus belt and it worked out great! That picture is fantastic! Cheers, Nef

That is an excellent looking mask! You don't have to have the cheek bones on the mask for approval if you aren't a fan of them. I don't have them on mine either. It comes down to how picky and accurate you want to be in the end for your costume. Cheek bones are on the COTF Nihilus, and the smoother mask is the KOTOR version. Cheers, Nef

That would work, and the more gathered fabric you have, the better your Nihilus will look. He has a lot of fabric folds in his costume, so it is good to try and match it. My outer skirting is 5 meters long so that I have a lot of gathering in my robes. Cheers, Nef

Looking good! Just a couple things to point out, for the KOTOR version you will need some sort of under armour or padding on the chest. Also be mindful the cloak should go over the shoulders, and not hang down. I'm guessing it's the wind, but in some of your shots the cloak is hanging mid-way down your upper arm. Might want to just pin it up in place if it keeps sliding down your arm. Cheers, Nef

You can hide a lot under that cloak. I have a pouch attached to the back of my belt so I can carry around my wallet and cell phone. I also have a lightsaber holder back there too for when I don't feel like carrying my lightsaber around and no one can see it. Useful having a billowy cloak! Cheers, Nef

As a lady Nihilus, I wear a sports bra and it's fine with just that. There are so many layers of fabric, and you really have no "figure" so to speak, so no one can tell I'm female. What will give it away will be your walk and how you stand. Practice in front of a mirror "manly" stances and walking. It's pretty hilarious when first trying it out, but it will help when out in public. When we are at a troop and just standing around, you can tell pretty easily who the female stormtroopers are just by how they stand. Cheers, Nef

I would say yes it is ready to cast!

The first thing to always take into account with the KOTOR Nihilus is that most reference is taken off of his in game model. The trouble with this, it that there were a lot of corners cut in his model to keep the poly count down, as it is a massive game. Most of the characters have odd things going on in their outfits when looking at the game models. That is just how game creation is. Games have to be below a certain size in terms of memory, and so lower poly counts help with this. With this in mind, while it is good to stay as close to his design as possible, somethings will always look a little different in real life. An example of this is the eyes on his mask. Looking at the game model, they aren't rounded out on the bottom, they are actually sharp angles. However, when sculptures make his mask, they make the eyes rounded because we know that is how they are meant to be. So always approach a KOTOR Nihilus with a little bit of an open mind on how he should look. Yes, you can have them as one piece, and many have done that. The thing to keep in mind when doing this is that the top part of the tunic is somewhat tight across the chest, then as you get to the waist there is a lot of extra fabric. This look can be hard to pull off with one long robe, which is why a lot of Nihilus cosplayers do the 2 piece. So you didn't actually ask a question in here, but I am going to assume you are checking if the cheek bones on the KOTOR mask are alright? For approval into the 501st, yes you can have the cheek bones. For mine I just sorta played around with different techniques till I got it to work. It's hard to use a standard pattern as it will depend on how it will fit around the crown and "cat ears". I did a lot of hand stitching on this part of my costume to get everything to sit just right. I've seen people use Eva foam and make their own, I've also seen people use the Stormtrooper breast plate underneath. Another Nihilus I know just used 3 layers of quilters cotton batting for his chest... but that is a very warm option, hehehe. What ever gets the correct shape under the fabric will work. Eva foam at least has some bend, and so will be more comfortable to wear. It can be 2 pieces sewn together. You want it to be super full, so this means you will probably have to sew 2 or even 3 pieces together. If it is full and flowy enough then you won't notice the seams where the pieces join. Hope that helps! Cheers, Nef

That is looking pretty awesome!