Viewing Single Post From: Galactic Alliance Guard

Viewing Single Post From: Galactic Alliance Guard
Ceric Neesh	Jul 30 2007, 05:50 PM
Member Posts: 25 Group: Members Member #54 Joined: November 24, 2005	Well, I've just asked the people in the Karen Traviss Yahoo Group for any reference stuff that they've got for me from the books and all, and I'm fairly sure that Karen'll post something, since she loves to see costumes of characters she's written about. Basically, what I've gathered so far is that they wear black military fatigues, which I've already got on order for my Mando anyway, and are armed with a blaster rifle (which I've envisioned as being rather sleek and concealable, instead of your standard bulky blaster) and a stun baton. They wear black helmets with visors, though they are semi-open faced. My current plans for it have me using black cargo pants (near identical to military BDUs, but a lot cheaper and a long-sleeved black t-shirt for the main part. Over the t-shirt, I'm wearing this paintball chest protector, with the logo removed. It looks really body-armor-ish, but without being too restricting. The blaster rifle is a modified pressure washer rifle that's got two different attachments, so it can either be a sniper rifle or a carbine. I'm planning on adding a scope and "power pack" to it, but it'll remain relatively clean to go with the look I'm going for . For my neck, I'm wearing a plain black t-shirt (tag removed) around my neck, with the sleeves tied so that I can pull it over my head and have only my eyes showing. I'm using a paintball mask visor for the visor in the helmet (modified skateboarding helmet that's looking more like the AT-ST driver helmets, but with easily identifiable differences), and I've also come up with the idea of having an alternate, full-face version, since some of the Guard would want to be even less identifiable than what the visor gives them. So I'm using this for the full-face version, with some slight modifications to remove the sculpted ridges on the sides and such. If the visors aren't dark enough, I'll just tint them darker. I'm making the stun baton and a comlink out of an old fishing rod handle and the first foot and a half or so of the rod (the rest is broken and missing). The handle's long enough that the bottom of it will become my comlink, and the top of it will become my stun baton, probably with some sort of sink fixture on the bottom of it to cap off the cut where I seperated it from the comlink part. All of this is attaching to a military surplus pistol belt that's decorated with a bunch of other law enforcment and military pouches (all black), some of which carry other stuff, like my keys or wallet or MACE (Yes, I carry mace with me. It never hurts to be at least slightly protected), and I'm also waiting for a holster for my airsoft DC-15s that I made. I'll have pics up eventually, my brother's on a mission trip and has my camera with him. I think my favorite thing about the DCs (I made two, one for this costume, one for my non-existent RC, and I'll probably do a third soon for my Mando) is that I had started with a clear plastic airsoft gun instead of a black one, so I managed to open the case up and install a bright blue LED that's hooked up to what was formerly the clip (it'll still work, but the "clip" that I use has been modified and now holds a nice, tall stack of button cell batteries that I use to power the LED. When one runs out, I just pull the clip out, the old battery just falls out, and the next one pops into position from inside it. And yes, I do pick up the used batteries, or switch it over a garbage can.), so that it glows like the game ones do. The one for this outfit looks really beat up, but otherwise in good condition, as you'd expect a relic of over 50 years of life to look (Little homage to Shan's fondness for old tech from the Wess'Har Wars novels: If it does the job, why upgrade?). Once again, nonstandard equipment, but then again, why wouldn't a special forces agent carry more than the standard, if he's allowed and it's not extra trouble for him? I'm gonna get gloves eventually, but they've never actually been stated as wearing them (though I'd think that they do, for the most part), and if Karen tells me that I need them, I'll just use my friend's fingerless gloves (they're sniper-style. Lets you have free fingertips for typing, delicate adjustments, etc. while still protecting your hand. Elbow and knee pads are also being considered. A couple other things that I'm thinking about adding are a pair of handcuffs that look like a couple of incarnations of stun cuffs that I've seen, and a radio headset, complete with the coil wire, over-ear earpiece, and tiny little boom mike, all connected to a small two-way radio on my belt that'll actually work. I'm planning on equipping any costume I do with it, and having the handler(s) working an event also have another radio, set to the same channel, so that if we need them, we can let them know. In addition, I'm working on a hardware version of Jacen's saber, and if my girlfriend will let me, I'm thinking about growing my hair out a bit to better match Jacen's and shaving, and then swapping the helmet for a cloak. Currently, there's no visual refernce at all, but I might be able to get Karen's help with that, either with a through enough description that I'd be allowed to troop in it, or by "convincing" someone at LF or wherever to produce a couple of canon images of them. Any ideas on how to improve on it? P.S.= Sorry for such a long post.


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