Costume Archives: Tiika Ruslin (modern era beast master) RETIRED

Yes, I know it's misspelled. Shush. :P Made for me by the awesome Samantha: http://partnaznkrime.deviantart.com/

This kit was probably one of the more fun kits I've done so far. I estimate it probably took me about a week or two of collecting materials and work time to get it finished since I was aiming for a Halloween debut. Tiika was never worn to any conventions, I really did just make it all only to wear it to hand out candy.

Helmet was Kora's old V1 helmet. I lopped off the lower back to install the suede cloth and added the horns. Undersuit was another two piece set up. No vest, just the cheapo corset I added leather to. Cape and kama pieces were made from leather skirts I found at Goodwill (bearing in mind that at the Goodwills back home I could find leather skirts for $3-$5 rather than the $15-$20 I see on this coast). Rabbit hide was purchased at D*Con 2009. Belts and the wedge heeled suede boots were also Goodwill finds. Staff was PVC with some spare studs and leather glued on (this is the Staff of Doom, FYI ;) ).

Costume Archives: Kora Solusar, V2 (Red kit) RETIRED

This was pretty much a one time kit that I had intended to use more. The truth is simply that I have so many other mando kits I want to make that I opted to retire this kit after its first use. Currently all the plates are dismantled, and the helmet is possible going to be used for one of my brother's kits.

This kit was made and worn in 2009, debuting at AdventureCon. It was my first scratchbuilt kit, and I'm still quite proud of a lot of it. Between the test shots at my house and the actual convention, I changed the gauntlets, and if I had kept it, I was going to construct new shins and knees for it. This kit was also my first time using a two piece undersuit, and it pretty much convinced me that I can't go back to a one piece. ^-^ Helmet is still a Rubies 2 piece Jango with an airsoft mask front added as a rebreather with a rangefinder top and phone antenna as a long range comm unit on the back.

Kama and loincloth were made from a leather skirt I found at Goodwill (these became the kama and loincloth you can see on my V1.3 kit). Girthbelt was two men's Merona brand belts shortened, whipstitched together, and dyed. Cape was some micro-suede material from Joann's.

Costume Archives: Kora Solusar, V1 (Purple kit)

My very first costume, not counting the mishmash of stuff I would throw together for ren fairs. Started it sometime around June or July 2008, finished about a week before D*Con. This kit has had several upgrades through the years, and there are still some changes I plan to make for it eventually.

V1 – 2008, D*Con

This version is very much a rush job, I admit. The chest plates are a Cyanide kit, and I didn't realize that I really needed to trim them down. I am proud of the insane amount of shaping my dad did on the backplate though to make it fit me better. This was at the time that unmodded sports gear was still allowed for the Mercs, but I had always intended for those to be temporary anyway.

V1.2 – 2009

By now I'd done some touch ups and modifications to move it closer to what I had originally envisioned. As you can see, I've switched the tattered loin cloth out for a purple loin cloth and kama (I decided to add a kama as I don't really like how my butt looked XD). The shins are new, made from scratch, and I made a new segmented collar plate. All the Cyanide plates have been trimmed down and formed slightly closer to my body. My old gun was switched out for a slightly modded Nerf Recon.

Not instantly noticable, I'd also switched to a two piece undersuit (black collar shirt and black “dress” pants) and switched out my old boots for the ones I have here. I added the scarf and a cape in place of my backplate (which was in the process of being phased out for a segmented idea so I hadn't wanted to put any velcro on for it).

V1.3 – 2010

Disaster struck during this time. As I'd moved out to the West Coast, my mom had shipped me my armor. In transit, one of the chest plates snapped completely in half. So I had to set about remaking the entire set of armor as I also didn't have an airbrush to re-do any painting. There is so much with this particular version that I'm actually not happy with (for one thing, I didn't have the money to make or get a new vest so I had to make all the new armor fit onto the spacing for my old armor). As much as I'd waited for that Commando helmet, too, I'm thinking I'm going to go back to a standard helmet for it. Still not happy with the cape (though I now have the lower back plate on, it's just not visible in any of these pictures).

In addition to completely new and from scratch chest plates, I also added new gauntlets, hand armor, throat armor and a set of Galactic Marine knees from redkraytdragon (which I quite purposely am wearing upside down).