Atavistic

Lightsaber has arrived... check. Belt has arrived... check. Fabric has arrived... check. My wife and I have been working on my hood/mask for nearly a week now, inching forward bit by bit to make sure things are developing solidly and securely. The hood/mask is nearing completion and I thought that I'd post some progression photos of our work to see where things are going. The crown and mask attached with epoxy putty... Test fitting the hood... Working on the shape... Gluing the edges in place... Results of the gluing... Checking the profile... Filling in the "cat ears"... The last photo was taken tonight. Tomorrow we'll trim up some of the fabric edges and clean things up a bit. My sister in-law will come over next Wednesday with her sewing machine and we'll take care of the skirts in short order. My wife and I will work with the cloak's knot to get rid of its tag ends and then we'll make sure that the cloak drapes correctly. We've already worked on the cloak's drape but will look it over again once the hood is complete.

I really like how this has turned out. Particularly the slight folds in the inner triangles of the hood. Those are a great touch! The first picture is quite dramatic and I like it! This is one of the better Nhiluses that I've seen.

Things are still moving forward on my Nihilus. We finally got the crown attached to the mask with epoxy putty last night and it's holding strong. Tonight we may have a go at attaching the hood to the mask and crown. We'll at least do a test fitting in order to see how we'll go about getting things to look correct. I've ordered the material for my skirts and I'm awaiting its delivery. Unfortunately, I can buy the material cheaper in the U.S. than I can locally and so I'm having it shipped in. It may take up to two weeks to get here. My Nihilus belt arrived last week and that's resting in the back room. Getting the hood to wear correctly seems to be the biggest remaining challenge and the skirts ought to be pretty easy for my wife to sort out.

Welcome to the shadowy world that is Darth Nihilus. You mentioned the CoTF Nihilus costume that regularly rests on eBay. Something to note about it is that if you want voluminous and gathered skirts you won't get enough fabric with that costume. I bought that costume and while I'm happy with the inner tunic, the outer tunic, and the cloak my wife and I are redoing the skirts and the obi. For me, the waist measurement of the skirts needs to be tripled in order to create the proper gathers for the CoTF Nihilus. The skirts that come with the costume come pretty close to your actual waist size and you can't get gathers out of that. On the eBay costume, if you go that route, I suggest doing all of the weathering yourself. That way you have complete control over how the weathering is done. My outer tunic had the weathering started and there was a bit more to it than I would have preferred. Fortunately, I made the weathering work and improved it with a pair of scissors, a cheese grater, sandpaper, and a dish scrubber. The downside, though, is that my skirts and cloak will need a similar degree of weathering in order to look consistent. It's not bad, I just like having complete control over it. The eBay costume will likely be made of black gabardine. It's a suiting fabric made of a wool and polyester blend. You'll be wearing layers of it so expect things to heat up. I can't completely comment on the amount of heat the costume generates as it still felt like summer here when I initially tried the costume on. It might by lovely in the winter but I don't know yet. The black gabardine, being partially synthetic, will respond to an iron. The polyester will melt slightly under the heat of an iron and you'll get a very smooth fabric. I suggest not ironing the costume. The weight of the gabardine keeps the costume pretty wrinkle-free. The eBay costume doesn't come with any Velcro closures so you'll have to add them to the obi, the outer tunic (if you want Velcro to hold it closed), and the inner skirt. The skirts of this costume are separate pieces, unlike the costume standard's suggestion that the outer skirt can be attached to the inner tunic. The inner skirt is intended to be closed with Velcro and the outer skirt is meant to tie on like an apron. The seller of the eBay costume is a nice young woman and she was always willing to chat with me and explain the details of the costume. So I have no complaints about her. The details I've written above come from my observations and experiences with this costume. I am replacing the skirts, which is pretty easy to do, though the fabric will cost me $104.00 (black gabardine is $13.00 a meter here and I need eight meters of the stuff). I want the look of a folded inner tunic and so I've bought a dickey made in black gabardine from someone else to wear between the inner and outer tunics. The eBay costume inner tunic wears like a long-sleeve pullover shirt and doesn't have the look of an Asian tunic (with one side folding closed over the other). Hopefully this longer-than-expected post provides you with ample information if you decide to go the eBay route. Welcome to the boards and good luck with your costume.

Accuracy aside, it's a cool bust. I saw a picture of this a while back and it would be cool to own. As has been noted before, there isn't a lot of Darth Nihilus stuff available.

After a month and a half of waiting for it to be crafted and shipped, my Darth Nihilus lightsaber has finally arrived. I'm putting up a few pictures so that its details can be seen... The lightsaber has light but no sound, which makes it remarkably lightweight. The activation button is inside of the hilt (you reach inside the open pommel to activate the light). The blade is held in by a set screw, making it unobtrusive. Though I may swap it out for a thumbscrew for ease of use. My Darth Nihilus costume is well on its way but is held up until I pick up some two-part epoxy putty next week to connect my crown permanently to my mask. I've got to finish my skirts and attach my cloak/hood to my crown (provided by Scottrooper). I intend to use Velcro to hold the hood in place so that I can remove if I ever need to.

Fortunately, it looks pretty easy for you to tidy it up. I think Nihilus can get away with crossing the outer tunic a bit higher to get rid of that loose look. Or you pull the front bottom of the outer tunic down a bit more to pull it closer to your body. I do this with Jedi robes all the time. I agree that the tunic hem needs fraying too. It's so pristine. You can make a new belt if you want to give it a go or you can purchase a Darth Nihilus belt if you're not feeling particularly crafty. I bought mine here... http://www.corellianimports.com/darth-nihilus-belt.html. I couldn't be stuffed making it myself.

Great review, Scott. It's always good to see another Nihilus. I agree that you may want a bit more weathering on the hems of your skirts and cloak. That cloak drapes wonderfully! Your belt looks like a black prequel trilogy belt. I see a buckle and there shouldn't be one. That was the first thing I noticed. And yes, the tunics are a bit loose but they're easy to pull in tighter.

Thanks for the reply, Pam. On the artwork it looks like it could go either way. I can see right over left and left over right. Though I may be seeing the outer tunic draped over the inner tunic with this. There's a bit of opacity that makes it confusing but the bottom if the outer tunic does suggest right over left.

As I review the CoTF Nihilus standards I see that they call for the right side of the tunics to be worn over the left side, despite the picture of the primary model. Looking at the artwork, though, it appears to be the other way around... the left side is worn over the right. Am I correct in this observation?

Thanks for the info, Pam. Less than $60.00 including shipping isn't bad at all. I'll look around to see if I can find it cheaper than the $120 that Light Speed Imports wants for their Nihilus belt.

When I stumbled across that belt for sale it caught my attention. I'm disabled and so making things on my own is not usually an option for me. That's why I usually buy bits or have them made for me.

As I was looking around at pictures of Darth Nihilus for reference I came across this web page... http://www.corellianimports.com/darth-nihilus-belt.html The belt looks decent but I wonder if it's acceptable. The CoTF standards state: Belt: * The belt should be made of black leather with two layers. The bottom layer should be approximately 2 inches wide, and the narrow layer on top is approximately 1/2 inch wide. This look is similar to the Jedi belts from the Prequels. * The rivets on the belt should be black and unobtrusive. The belt offered on this page has the following specs: Width: Main belt~ 2-1/2", cinch strap~ 3/4" This is larger than the standards for the CoTF Nihilus. The CoTF standards also state that the smaller belt be held in place by unobtrusive black rivets. The smaller belt here is held in place by 8 FIRE BLACKENED studs. This is another deviation from the CoTF standards. Are these differences enough to make this belt unacceptable? Buying the belt pre-made like this is a huge convenience for those of us that aren't very handy. But it would be a total waste of time and money if the belt is unacceptable. Thoughts?

I think that those black lines ought to be alright but it's good to hear other opinions. I've been looking at the gauntlet portion of these gloves... They aren't very different from the Leather Mystic gauntlets. The angle and amount of flare is pretty similar. The difference is that the gauntlet portion of the Damascus gloves is longer than the Leather Mystic ones. The additional length, though, does create a larger flare at the gloves' opening. According to the Nihilus Costume Standards: "Gloves / Gauntlets: * Black gloves with a long enough shaft to reach at least halfway up the forearm. * The gloves should not have a large flare at the opening. * The gloves should not have any straps, buckles, snaps, or extra decoration." The additional length on the Damascus gloves looks as though it does, in fact, reach close to halfway up the forearm. With other gloves I've seen I wonder if they're long enough to reach that half-way point or if there's some flexibility with the length. Thank you for your response, Pam. I appreciate it. As much as I like the Damascus gloves, I think that I'll go with the Leather Mystic ones just to be on the safe side.

I like the Damascus gloves though I wonder about the three lines of stitching on the back of the hands. I wonder if they would be considered decorative and therefor unacceptable for Darth Nihilus gloves. I was considering buying these for use with my Santa Claus suits as well (getting two different uses out of the same pair of gloves would be cool). I like the three lines of stitching on the back of the hands but I wouldn't be happy if I bought them and then found out that they were unacceptable.