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TeaJay
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Posts posted by TeaJay
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7 hours ago, TanRu said:
Thanks for the tip! This is before I put the shoulder pads in. I think it looks much better that way and that's how we measured the cape.
Good stuff! Things will come together quickly and before you know it you'll be submitting for approval!
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Looking good. Outside of getting the skirt and cape hemmed up, if you can bring the outer tunic up a little closer towards your collar bone/neck, the cape may sit higher on your shoulders reducing some of the droop... but it may slip down depending on chest padding, general fit, etc. as you move... not a game breaker but may augment the look of the shoulders of the cape.
Looking forward to the progress photos!
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The goal is to not have it overly loose and baggy. It doesnt have to be skin tight like a lycra bodysuit.
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Looking forward to the initial fitting photos.
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2 minutes ago, TanRu said:
@TeaJayarrived safely! Just grabbed it off the porch. I'm on my way out the door so I will inventory tomorrow or Sunday, but it sure looks securely packed! Thanks again.
Sound good. Yea, I made sure to thoroughly pack the mask in bubble wrap and the cover the fabric in plastic just in case USPS decided to drop the box into a puddle. All should be good. I threw in a garrison sticker and a couple cards as well. Enjoy!
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@TanRuthe package is out for delivery!
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2 hours ago, TanRu said:
Oh, those look good as long as the zippers are OK. Are zippers OK? They are mentioned in the CotF CRL but not mentioned one way or the other for KOTOR.
Excellent question about the zippers! That is where I think the text description of the KOTOR II Nihilus could be augmented. There are plenty of other costume CRLs that allow for zippers on boots as long as they are inconspicuous (at a level 1 tier approval). Inconspicuous usually meaning zippers match the color of boot and they are on the inner portion of the leg. Which these funtasma boots meet... but final say would be with Nina and LMOs.
Since there are not multiple approval levels to Nihilus, Nina may have a strong opinion on boots. Depending on how smooth your TIE boots look texture wise, I could see her also being ok with those... but these funtasma boots should probably get her thumbs up.
Thoughts @DarthValkyria?
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2 minutes ago, TanRu said:
Good point about walking around. I can wear my TIE pilot boots or buy a second pair.
Honestly the TIE boots would be enough to cover the long stride situation I mentioned. Nina's call though. You could also look into getting a cheap pair of black Funtasma boots after Halloween, lots of those brick and mortar Halloween shops will liquidate a lot of their shoe inventory after Oct 31st.
Or maybe an online sale somewhere, here are the boots I'm referring to: https://www.amazon.com/Funtasma-Pleaser-Mens-Halloween-Captain/dp/B001AH60TC
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5 hours ago, TanRu said:
Hi everyone - since I bought @TeaJay's KOTOR Nihilus I figured I'd introduce myself. I've been a member of the 501st Legion since 2016, and between the 501st and the RL I've got roughly 10 costumes. (Favorite to wear: TIE Pilot. Favorite for fan reactions: ESB Boba Fett.) As I mentioned in the other thread, I've been thinking about a Nihilus costume for a while, so I couldn't resist when this came up.
I'm hoping that with some minor alterations for height I will be able to get this costume approved. I do have some questions, since the CRL is in the "Requires Legion Approval" category. @DarthValkyria, if you'd prefer that I ask these questions in PM or other format, just let me know.
1) the CRL just says "plain black boots". The photo shows tall boots. Would shorter "Chelsea" type boots be ok, since all that should be showing is the toes? OK if they have those stretchy side panels so you can slide them on?
2) Obviously Nihilus needs a saber! "The hilt resembles one of the Knights of the Old Republic II single bladed lightsaber hilts." Any more detailed guidance on this? Resembles it in what way?
3) Once I've got boots and alterations done, what's the approval process, how do I get it in front of the LMO? Do I submit to my GML, and he runs it up the chain, or something else?
Thanks very much. Looking forward to working with everyone to get this approved.
Nina will definitely be the one to make the call on many of your questions. In my personal opinion, I'd recommend something without the elastic stretch side panels commonly found on chelsea boots. When you take a longer stride walking, people will likely see more than just the toe of your boot. It is Nina and the LMO crew's final say, but I'd recommend a boot that has a smooth solid black appearance at least up to your ankle.
The recent saber photo that you posted looks even better than sources I've found in the past, bummer that they are on an unknown hiatus.
When we originally submitted photos, I made sure Nina had access to photos, but I originally went through my GML who worked with NIna and the LMO staff for approvals.
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1 hour ago, Negotiatormustard said:
To be honest I rock a pair of black chelseas with my Nihilus, you really can't see them but for approval you may need some cheap cosplay boots (maybe from amazon or ebay). Just as a side note this isn't an approved costume, I coul make the needed changes to maker it approvable however I am only interested in having a KOTOR 2 version.
OXworks on facebook makes the saber hilt accurate to the game (I am not sure if they do installed tho)
And I am also interested in the 3rd question as my local garrison is not too fond of me and neither I am of them
This is a very different style from the in-game KOTOR II model of Nihilus. You have multiple elements from the COTF version. Many significant changes are needed for this to be approvable as KOTOR II version. I'm guessing this is more for cosplay and not your planned KOTOR II version you're working on.
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11 hours ago, TanRu said:
I bought it! Been thinking about Nihilus for a while, so I couldn’t pass this up. Stand by for many questions!
Looking forward to the questions, I'll try to keep an eye out! Once it arrives, give it a try on with the boots you plan to wear. My recommendations for hemming the skirt and cape up would be to wear your boots with the costume and mark the fabric just so the cape hovers right at floor level and the skirt just rests on the tops of your boots. There will be wiggle room for each starting with getting a good hem location that will adjust for your height within about 1 or 2 inches; my point is to leave a little excess and you can always pull the skirt up closer to your belly button or the cape deeper (farther forward into your outer tunic)... just in case you gain a bit of weight or decide to wear layers of clothing underneath for those colder troops.
You'll see that the cape is attached to the outer tunic via keeper style lapel pins that use a small hex wrench to unlock. They look similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Lapel-Pin-Locking-Backs-Keepers/dp/B007IU94Z2 -- I was trying to hunt down the hex wrench to toss into the box for you but I have not been able to find it, but its a standard size tiny wrench.
These locks can been opened so that you can remove and adjust the position of the cape relative to your needs for the outer tunic and then re-fasten them where you need it allowing the costume sizing to be pretty versatile.
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5 hours ago, DarthValkyria said:
As an option: We've utilized a previous pair of glasses to have the lenses removed and attached to the mask semi-permanently. If you want to sell, that is obviously your prerogative, but there are options!
That's not a bad idea, I do appreciate the suggestion, Nina, but for now I will still offer this up for sale. I may be selling other helmeted costumes that are too tight fitting for glasses and focus on costumes with less face coverings.
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Hi all that have been following this thread over the years. I've decided to sell this costume due to having to wear glasses nowadays and I do not have any interest in wearing contacts, so wearing such a snug fit mask is a challenge.
Here's a link to the sale thread:
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1 hour ago, Negotiatormustard said:
So any fabric recommendations?
To be honest, I haven't been to a fabric store in about 2 years. So I would have to dig around at some point. I would imagine possibly a non textured, flat black quilting cotton may work... but I would really have to see and touch options in person.
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1 hour ago, DarthValkyria said:
That might have too much texture to the knit for what is referenced in game.
That is a very good point actually. The texture should be very flat and simple, but with at least some weight to the cowl area of the hood so that it collects properly around the neck and chest. I had to add in lots of pins and sewing to get my cowl to fold to mimic as seen in-game below.
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22 minutes ago, DarthValkyria said:
We need a completed costume to work off of for any changes (can't change text without accompanying photos to match), so when we have a completed costume from head to toe, we can get this going.
The in-game model is what my costume was based off of, mask and all. The only two differences for this KOTOR 2 version is the slight variations in the mask from the box art vs in-game model.
There's plenty of references for this character, at least in my opinion, from the screenshots in my posts from a few years ago. If needed, people could load up the 3d model assets from the game and view them that way...
I did a lot of pixel counting to figure out obi width based on environment height, character model height, etc. Those were updated in cm on the CRL.
I still come back to what specifically needs updated to satisfy fully completing it? It would be nice to have two versions to toggle like you will see with some of the Imp Officer uniforms that have slight variations...
One with the in-game mask and one with a correct box-art mask.
It would be great to see someone make this costume with a heavy cotton that hangs significantly rather than polyester that you see even with my current CRL photos that were updated a couple years ago.
As you can see I'm completely fine with getting super critical with even my costume. I do think the level of detail in my build is not what most folks pay attention to and likely should be required to do..down to the pleating and bunching of shoulder fabric (forcing it from drooping onto biceps), the skirt, etc.
Again, would be great to have an alternate model with that specific correct box-art mask. Maybe even updated photos from me at some point, as I feel like my recent photo, I seemed to have filled out the costume a bit better than when I helped with CRL photos a few years ago.
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I think the big thing for the current CRL is that the mask that is attempting to mimic the box-art here:
https://databank.501st.com/databank/File:Nihilus_KOTORII_mask.png
Needs an updated photo to lower the tops of the red markings to be parallel with the silver center. The red mask details need to be parallel with line C.. and maybe reducing the brow intensity on the box-art CRL mask. Unfortunately, I do not have a version of this specific mask. I figured you'd at least need that addressed before the CRL could be deemed fully completed.
Here's the references.
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I slightly adjusted the fit of my hood/cowl so that I could hide an aker speaker below my neck so that the voice sound effects come from my mask area. Other than that, the costume is the same from when we updated it a few years ago. I am willing to help with writing anything that you feel has information gaps. What are you looking for to finalize the CRL to change from gray to green? Is it specific variance between the box art and the in-game model?
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After building this years ago. I finally got the opportunity to wear it to an event. I'm happy with how things turned out with getting the electronics wired up and hidden in the costume for his voice. Gotta love the arms crossed power stance 😂
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Hey cadet! I'm a bit late to the conversation, but as others are mentioning many costumes aren't going to be approvable out of the box. Approval is based on the accuracy of how the costume looks and fits your body.
In my opinion the cape and skirt need to come up a few inches as they have a decent bit of gathering at your feet. I also think that the stock WA KOTOR II mask needs modified a little to meet the in-game model's mask (documented in my link below). Your chest/torso doesn't seem to have any "armored" padding under your tunic.
One common concern is the length of the gloves, which it looks like you've got the correct length for. That looks great.
I also completed a KOTOR II Nihlius a little over a year ago, however I had made significant changes to my stock WA KOTOR (version 1), Rob now sells a version 2 that has some improvements since the CRL revisions from when I worked with Nina on updating photos, etc.
Take a look at my build thread where I compare the in-game model to the base (v1) of WA's kit and the modification I had done to get it approvable.
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On 2/27/2020 at 8:05 PM, DarthValkyria said:
Almost ready to post updates!
Exciting! I can't wait!
16 hours ago, Gomcse said:This is an interesting costume to me because there aren't really perfect screen caps available and I think you have put together the best sources in this thread. The screen caps that exist show the low res that we have to work with, and reveal the inconsistencies the game designers programmed into the game.
The Wicked Armor outfit is the best commercially available -- on ebay there are copycats who use the WA photos illegally -- and I believe the WA can and should be approved right out of the box if you have the proper gloves and boots. As an approved Vader, the thought of an approvable costume out of the box for under $500 is astounding.
What you have created here, in my opinion, is what it will take to get to Level III approval. You will have the most accurate interpretation of the KOTOR II in existence.
Local GML's can't approve the KOTOR II, and the CRL is still incomplete. While I see where you are going with this, I hope the CRL doesn't force mods to the mask and pleats for basic approval. Your mods and work on this is AMAZING, but doesn't it really create the standard for Level II and Level III?
I've spoken to Rob and Melanie at WA and finally decided on COTF Darth Nihilus after they offered to make one (the web site shows them as sold out). There are more approved COTF DN's out there, and they only require local GML approval because the CRL is defined.
You are doing groundbreaking work with KOTOR II. Keep it up! I'm following with extreme interest because my wife may end up with a KOTOR II from WA.
Thanks for doing the deep dive on this. Everyone is better off because of your efforts.
Dave
Thank you for the compliments.
With regard to the in-game model of Nihilus, it definitely screams early 2000's era of cloth movement and texture modeling techniques where the entire 3D object model is "skinned" to a skeleton and animated frame by frame depending on what animation is being executed. As opposed to current games with defined objects on a model that can dynamically move based on the simulated physics determined by the objects characteristics (cloth, hair, chains, ropes, etc.).
I could see where things like the way the cowl lays/droops below the neck being a higher tiered approval option, but I feel like the look of the mask and the crinkling of the shoulders of the cape should probably be standard in the upcoming CRL changes. That's all up to Nina and the Legion crew to decide, though.
Just my personal opinion based on being able to find the consistent in-game source material, but the pleating on the skirt is also quite visible as well. But how far does one go with a video game character model from the early 2000's vs an on-screen, tangible costume such as a TK from ANH for a CRL, I get it. I definitely see both sides.
Honestly, the modifications to the WA KOTOR II mask was very straight forward. I used a dremel with a 1/8" cut diameter ball burr bit to take sections off and apoxie sculpt to build sections up, then just paint it. I'm confident that you could take on that challenge; especially with the experience of a ROTS Vader.
Again, thank you for the kind words and if you have any questions about the way I made modifications to the WA KOTOR II Nihilus, feel free to message me or send me link to a build thread here, etc.
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Awesome. You'll be well on your way. Rob and his wife are great to work with and pretty fast at responding to messages. You should be in good hands. Enjoy the COTF build!
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On 2/13/2020 at 3:47 PM, Gomcse said:
Hm. Okay. I have a message out to Wicked. Their site description seems to follow the CRL but you never know. I wish they participated in the forum so we could get them to a definite standard. It would probably be good for business too. Does anyone on the forum own one of these? I've checked through search but I'm new to this Detachment and might have missed something.
Hi Gomcse!
I purchased the KOTOR version of Nihilus from Wicked Armor, but ended up making a handful of modifications to it to be more like the in-game model. I saw that you already replied to my build/comparison thread. Hopefully that thread will be of use for anything that you plan on tackling --
The major modifications were the mask, cowl, and cape, which I cover in the above thread. I'm willing to provide any of the tips that I've learned from the build as well as any source images that you may need. Unfortunately, Nihilus isn't in many scenes within the game.
I've provided updated images to Nina and her crew along with a few text tweaks for them to consider while they are revamping/completing the CRL for the KOTOR II Nihilus. Since elections just wrapped up, I've confirmed with Nina that there was a brief slowdown due to the leadership transitions at the legion level. I'd imagine in the coming weeks you will see updated CRL images and minor tweaks here and there to the text.
For gloves I went to an Etsy vendor, GamesPro, which no longer has a shop. The key is to find leather gloves that stop just short of your elbows.
For boots, I picked up Funtasma black boots (https://www.amazon.com/Funtasma-Pleaser-Mens-Halloween-Captain/dp/B001AH60TC). I could have gone a bit higher end, but since barely any of the boot shows below the skirt, I didn't sweat it.
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Hi All! My KOTOR II Nihlius was recently approved. I just recently joined the detachment only Facebook group. Could one of the admins update my user role to detachment member on the forum, please? Thank you!
https://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=20740&costumeID=107
I posted here as well, just in case, back on the 8th...
KOTOR II - Nihilus Build and Game vs Current (09/2019) CRL Comparison
in Darth Nihilus
Posted · Edited by TeaJay
Mask looks great to the box art source; here's a cleaned up version of the box art:
Rob has done an excellent job with his latest version of this mask. Great work @WickedArmor!!!
I do think that mask should be used in the CRL denoted as the box art version; giving the CRL both options.
@Negotiatormustard, I saw your build thread post, looks like things are coming together!