Costuming: A Bucket List

This week, I thought we’d take a bit of a detour from the general Geekery (h/t to Pure Geekery for the term “Geekery”), to go back to my desire to costume. I’ve talked about plans, which have fallen through. I have posted about completed costumes, like my A-Wing Pilot, and I have posted about semi-completed costumes, like my Fallout Jumpsuit (that has been getting a lot of traffic lately, due to Fallout 4). Today, I want to talk about a bucket list. You see, I’ve talked in the past about what I want to get done in a certain year, or by a certain convention. This time, I want to go a little broader. I am talking about what I want to have in my costume closet. Items that, admittedly, will get worn once a year, if they are lucky, but I still would love to have. These are costumes I’ve wanted for some time, not more recent desires like the N7 Armor or the Fallout 3 Lonesome Wanderer, and they can be broken down into three properties.

Star Trek

Yes, Star Trek. Give me one of almost everything. When I say “almost”, I mean, we’re going to skip Star Trek The Motion Picture, as well as a lot of the variants, dress uniforms, and extras. This leaves us with the following costumes that I must have in my closet, along with their matching communicators and phasers, in order of how much I long for them.

• “Monster Maroons” (Star Trek The Wrath of Khan through Undiscovered Country) – Everybody’s favorite uniform. This is on almost every Trekkie’s bucket list. I just want the standard uniform, not any away team jacket, or vest combo (Think Scotty, or Kirk in Generations).
• Star Trek: First Contact – Yeah, it was used in other films, and Deep Space Nine later in the series, but this one was awesome. It took the look of the Deep Space Nine and Voyager uniform, and makes them look a lot more, well, awesome. Once again, let’s go with mustard… gold.. whatever you call that undershirt color.
• Star Trek: Enterprise – Oh, heck yeah! Say what you will about the series, this jumpsuit was sweet! Plus, it had pockets. That’s right, a Star Trek costume that included pockets! Dang straight, when I make this, those pockets will be usable. Also, let’s throw on the red stripes, keep the theme going strong through all of these.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (Later seasons) – No, I don’t want a collar-less onesie, I want a nice, two-piece tunic and pants set, this time in the mustard yellow. Why? I’m stuck on security/engineering.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/Voyager – Because, why not? They look fairly comfy. Once again, lets go with the security/engineering uniform.
• Original Series Red Shirt – So far, from my viewing of the original episodes, the red shirts are not the first ones to die. Give me a good red shirt, some flared pants, boots, and a bottle of something green, and I’ll be rocking the Scotty look.
• Star Trek/Star Trek Into Darkness – They are just close enough to the Original Series uniforms that I want them. I want a red shirt, so I can walk around calling people “cupcake”.

All right, so after the Star Trek wardrobe, we’re up to seven (7) costumes. That’s full costumes, not individual pieces, insignia, badges, and props. So, where do we go from here? Let’s look at another “star” property…

Star Wars

Pilots. For me, the Star Wars movie series is all about the pilots. It really doesn’t matter to me whether or not they are Rebel or Imperial, I like them all. Looking at this list, I’m starting to think I need to make a full-head cast, and start learning how to sculpt helmets to cast out of fiberglass for all of these.

• X-Wing Pilot – I used to have this, about thirteen (13) years ago. I need to recreate it, using the more accurate references that have come out in said thirteen (13) years. Or, I can order one for a grand and change.
• Poe Dameron – Okay, maybe not this character, necessarily, but this style of Episode 7 X-Wing Pilot. This needs to be had by December 2015 for the Episode 7 premier.
• Y-Wing Pilot – Not from A New Hope! They just looked like the X-Wing pilots. Nope, Return of the Jedi, one of the many types they introduced for the movie. Yeah, I’m just a sucker for jumpsuits and helmets.
• B-Wing Pilot – See Y-Wing Pilot, above. I’ll have orange, green, grey, and now red.
• Naboo Starfighter Pilot – Yeah, some people think Episode One should be cast back into the pits of hell from whence it came, but I find many redeeming factors to it. Many new and unique lightsabers, the blasters used by the Naboo guard, and the Naboo Starfighter Pilots. I have a long-held love for the X-Wing orange, but these need to be made.
• Clone Pilot – The clones from Episode 3 had a great costume for their fighter pilots. I might not have the face look, but I’d still love to put this costume together.
• TIE Fighter Pilot – Just so, sometimes, I can hang out with the peeps from the 501st. For a bunch of bucketheads, they’re some good people.

Whew! I’m glad this is a “Lifetime” list! Adding these seven (7) pilot costumes to my seven (7) Star Trek costumes, and we are up to fourteen (14) outfits that, in some cases, are fairly difficult to put together! I think the head injury I suffered back in 1993 is really starting to affect my brain! However, that’s not all! I have one more on my list! This one is my ultimate bucket list costume, because of its sheer badassness and look. Which one could it be?

Aliens

Colonial Marine – That’s right, folks! “State of the badass art!” This costume has been on my bucket list since the late 90’s, and I’m thinking it’s time to start trying to squirrel away some money to make this happen. While it’s last on my list, it’s first in my heart, and every time I see the gentleman from Louisville with the awesome Hicks outfit show up at Indy Pop Con, I think this is something that needs to be done.

Fifteen (15) costumes. This is fifteen (15) must own costumes that I need to have. Okay, need might be a strong word, but they are costumes that I’ve desired to have in my costuming arsenal since I first saw them on screen. You know, one thing I like about writing about stuff like this is, my brain is now starting to figure out how I can start pulling this off. It’s time to start trolling the web for reference pictures, putting together binders of parts I need, and generally start getting this done.

Just not tonight, because I really need to do dishes and sleep.

Tony