Post by torsoboy on Apr 17, 2009 16:03:32 GMT -5
Ol’ Blue Star’s Marines
So I’ve had my idea for this costume floating around on my harddrive for a while now, and I’ve recently had the opportunity to acquire the needed parts. I’ve begun construction on the soft goods, but not enough of it is complete to warrant a full picture post. Get your reading glasses out, though, this one is a doozy.
Historical Background
If you collect Star Wars action figures, you are probably familiar with the 1970s Turkish “knockoff” Snowtrooper figure. The package is labeled as “Uzay Blue Stars,” and the figure is a blue Snowtrooper figure with yellow accents and a white blaster rifle. My sources on this are not consistent, so forgive me if the accuracy of this figure background is shaky to those of you in the know. But here’s how I’ve come to know the figure: George Lucas had a knack for international licensing, and when ANH came out, a Turkish toy manufacturer was one of the lucky recipients to receive the license to produce on of the international variants for ANH figures. Evidence for this includes properly identified characters from the US ANH figure series with prop figure colorations. Presumably they wanted to produce the ESB figures, so they had molds made, ready, and waiting for the ESB license approval. It either never came, or perhaps came late, so instead of scrapping the Snowtrooper molds, they produced the figures with different coloration and a new package identification and logo. Presumably. Now the figure is one of the most sought-after figures of the original line, and recently sold for over $2500 on Ebay. The way I see it, despite is licence-less creation, coloration differences, and utter lack of a connection to Star Wars canon or the Expanded Universe, the figure is directly connected to the Star Wars figure line and is less of a knock-off than most people suggest. You can see where I’m going with this – I’m going to try to fit it in with the rest of Star Wars, in the very least in my own little fan EU.
Initial Logic
Episode III showed us the Galactic Marines, the obvious design predecessor to the Snowtrooper. StarWars.com databank entries and all other supporting text sources tell us that they did not serve as Cold Assault troopers. Instead, they worked in “inclement weather” and otherwise hazardous combat conditions, in addition to ship-to-ship naval combat aboard star cruisers. So despite the obvious visual design connection, the sources say they were not Snowtroopers. However, the Episode III comic books and the recent Clone Wars animated TV show give us the Cold Assault Troopers, whose coloration and armor more directly draws from ESB Snowtrooper designs, and the CA Troopers are direct predecessors to the ESB Snowtroopers in function as well.
If the EIII comics and Clone Wars Cold Assault troopers are the direct in-universe predecessors to the ESB Snowtroopers, and the EIII Galactic Marines share the same uniform as the same era’s Cold Assault troopers, there must be an OT equivalent to the Galactic Marines. Unless, of course, the Empire fazed them out in favor of a more unified military structure, which is not entirely unthinkable. But given the EU’s relentless sub-categorization for the Empire’s military structure, it’s also not unthinkable that the Galactic Marines lived in, perhaps in a re-imagined state, but lived on nonetheless.
My Fan Back Story
The Galactic Empire has seen the destruction of its second Death Star and the death of its Emperor. Sector governors fight to maintain control of their slices of the galaxy. Enter General “Blue Star” Uzay. An eccentric Imperial Army officer with a taste for playing by a different set of rules, Uzay gained his nickname after his first major military conquest, organizing and overseeing the seizing of two planets and three moons in a star system orbiting around a locally-famous blue star. Since then, he’s had numerous victories in systems orbiting blue stars, which only fueled his ego (and his nickname) and his lust for personal glory. Requiring faster strike teams than the typical Stormtrooper battalions, Uzay resurrected the Galactic Marine unit profile and created his own division of Marines. Because he was the unit’s founder, he wanted to make a visual statement to his enemies by having his troops’ armor changed from the standard white to blue. His statement was bold and powerful. It was not Imperial law he was enforcing, it was his own. Thus the Blue Stars were born.
Costume Research
So I’m big into “modern super hero movie reinterpretations.” Take Spider-Man for example. In the comics and cartoons, he’s traditionally a vibrant red and blue. But in the movies, they toned his colors down a bit, allowing for a more moody color scheme while accommodating the raised webbing details by not making the colors too “poppy.” Same thing with Superman. The recent movie’s costume was darker, moodier. It’s not necessarily a way of making the character seem “darker,” though. The way I see it, the color scheme of the character’s costume comes secondary or tertiary to his or her actual role, so push it toward the back a little (darken it down) to bring out more of the character. Also, darker tends to be more “serious” than brighter. Darker colors are associated with the solemn, somber moods, during which no one is thinking bright, happy thoughts. While not necessarily “sad,” darker colors do suggest a certain seriousness.
For my Blue Stars costume, I’m darkening down the colors. The original figure was one solid color of blue. I’m separating the blues. I’m making the cloth components a darker, more subdued blue than the armor. The armor will be a darker blue as well, but it will certainly pop out over the color of the cloth. If any of you know any little tiny tidbit about my costume rep, you’ll know that I like my costumes dirty and busted up, so I’m going moderate to heavy on the weathering. My paint will be layered to better accommodate battle damage. I’m also going to be adding more details than the ESB Snowtroopers. Not so much that it greatly deviates from the design, but just something to “up the ante” from regular Snowies.
I can’t really talk too much about what the costume will have on it, though, because I don’t have the armor parts yet. I only have the upper half of the trench coat finished, and my armor supplier has yet to ship me the armor parts. However, I do have some concept art to show you as a preview.
So I’ve had my idea for this costume floating around on my harddrive for a while now, and I’ve recently had the opportunity to acquire the needed parts. I’ve begun construction on the soft goods, but not enough of it is complete to warrant a full picture post. Get your reading glasses out, though, this one is a doozy.
Historical Background
If you collect Star Wars action figures, you are probably familiar with the 1970s Turkish “knockoff” Snowtrooper figure. The package is labeled as “Uzay Blue Stars,” and the figure is a blue Snowtrooper figure with yellow accents and a white blaster rifle. My sources on this are not consistent, so forgive me if the accuracy of this figure background is shaky to those of you in the know. But here’s how I’ve come to know the figure: George Lucas had a knack for international licensing, and when ANH came out, a Turkish toy manufacturer was one of the lucky recipients to receive the license to produce on of the international variants for ANH figures. Evidence for this includes properly identified characters from the US ANH figure series with prop figure colorations. Presumably they wanted to produce the ESB figures, so they had molds made, ready, and waiting for the ESB license approval. It either never came, or perhaps came late, so instead of scrapping the Snowtrooper molds, they produced the figures with different coloration and a new package identification and logo. Presumably. Now the figure is one of the most sought-after figures of the original line, and recently sold for over $2500 on Ebay. The way I see it, despite is licence-less creation, coloration differences, and utter lack of a connection to Star Wars canon or the Expanded Universe, the figure is directly connected to the Star Wars figure line and is less of a knock-off than most people suggest. You can see where I’m going with this – I’m going to try to fit it in with the rest of Star Wars, in the very least in my own little fan EU.
Initial Logic
Episode III showed us the Galactic Marines, the obvious design predecessor to the Snowtrooper. StarWars.com databank entries and all other supporting text sources tell us that they did not serve as Cold Assault troopers. Instead, they worked in “inclement weather” and otherwise hazardous combat conditions, in addition to ship-to-ship naval combat aboard star cruisers. So despite the obvious visual design connection, the sources say they were not Snowtroopers. However, the Episode III comic books and the recent Clone Wars animated TV show give us the Cold Assault Troopers, whose coloration and armor more directly draws from ESB Snowtrooper designs, and the CA Troopers are direct predecessors to the ESB Snowtroopers in function as well.
If the EIII comics and Clone Wars Cold Assault troopers are the direct in-universe predecessors to the ESB Snowtroopers, and the EIII Galactic Marines share the same uniform as the same era’s Cold Assault troopers, there must be an OT equivalent to the Galactic Marines. Unless, of course, the Empire fazed them out in favor of a more unified military structure, which is not entirely unthinkable. But given the EU’s relentless sub-categorization for the Empire’s military structure, it’s also not unthinkable that the Galactic Marines lived in, perhaps in a re-imagined state, but lived on nonetheless.
My Fan Back Story
The Galactic Empire has seen the destruction of its second Death Star and the death of its Emperor. Sector governors fight to maintain control of their slices of the galaxy. Enter General “Blue Star” Uzay. An eccentric Imperial Army officer with a taste for playing by a different set of rules, Uzay gained his nickname after his first major military conquest, organizing and overseeing the seizing of two planets and three moons in a star system orbiting around a locally-famous blue star. Since then, he’s had numerous victories in systems orbiting blue stars, which only fueled his ego (and his nickname) and his lust for personal glory. Requiring faster strike teams than the typical Stormtrooper battalions, Uzay resurrected the Galactic Marine unit profile and created his own division of Marines. Because he was the unit’s founder, he wanted to make a visual statement to his enemies by having his troops’ armor changed from the standard white to blue. His statement was bold and powerful. It was not Imperial law he was enforcing, it was his own. Thus the Blue Stars were born.
Costume Research
So I’m big into “modern super hero movie reinterpretations.” Take Spider-Man for example. In the comics and cartoons, he’s traditionally a vibrant red and blue. But in the movies, they toned his colors down a bit, allowing for a more moody color scheme while accommodating the raised webbing details by not making the colors too “poppy.” Same thing with Superman. The recent movie’s costume was darker, moodier. It’s not necessarily a way of making the character seem “darker,” though. The way I see it, the color scheme of the character’s costume comes secondary or tertiary to his or her actual role, so push it toward the back a little (darken it down) to bring out more of the character. Also, darker tends to be more “serious” than brighter. Darker colors are associated with the solemn, somber moods, during which no one is thinking bright, happy thoughts. While not necessarily “sad,” darker colors do suggest a certain seriousness.
For my Blue Stars costume, I’m darkening down the colors. The original figure was one solid color of blue. I’m separating the blues. I’m making the cloth components a darker, more subdued blue than the armor. The armor will be a darker blue as well, but it will certainly pop out over the color of the cloth. If any of you know any little tiny tidbit about my costume rep, you’ll know that I like my costumes dirty and busted up, so I’m going moderate to heavy on the weathering. My paint will be layered to better accommodate battle damage. I’m also going to be adding more details than the ESB Snowtroopers. Not so much that it greatly deviates from the design, but just something to “up the ante” from regular Snowies.
I can’t really talk too much about what the costume will have on it, though, because I don’t have the armor parts yet. I only have the upper half of the trench coat finished, and my armor supplier has yet to ship me the armor parts. However, I do have some concept art to show you as a preview.
