Kylo Ren Full Cosplay Build

T

TheAutoTech

Active Member
Hey all. I'm new to the RPF and have been cosplaying for quite a few years now but just recently started to go bigger online with it. I'm at a point where I'm more into building up the quality of my cosplays rather than just quantity. Years ago I built a full Jedi Knight cosplay and it was decent, but not as good as I wanted it to be. I want to build a quality cosplay from each of my interests (movies, video games, comic world, etc.) So, being a huge Star Wars fan I've decided to scrap the Jedi Knight cosplay as it requires a ton of rebuilding (basically from scratch) and build a character I've been very interested in since the trailers emerged for TFA - Kylo Ren. I've already got an extremely well done Link from the Legend of Zelda, a very nicely done business suit Tony Stark, and a Green Lantern that just needs a few small tweaks so I've worked in quite a few different areas of fabric and prop design. I am not one to cheap out on something if it's worth the money or if it's easier to pay someone to build a part rather than hunt down the fabric, learn how to work with it, etc. as I have kids, a full time job, and a girlfriend in my life as well. So, with that being said let's get started!

I decided the best place to start would be the icon helmet. I did a ton of reading on here and other sites as well. Most suggested either going with the Anovos helmet or the Black Series helmet and modifying it. For me the Anovos is much more than I'd like to spend on a single piece, and after looking at the Black Series helmet decided it's an excellent piece that can easily be modified to work even better. I myself wish to leave the voice changer setup in it, so I will not be sealing the halves, battery pack, or buttons. I do plan to modify the visor as well as padding the inside of the helmet for a better fit, but honestly I'm very well impressed how good it was out of the box.

As far as the lightsaber goes I'm thinking of picking up the Force FX one and modifying it. Most of the other sabers I've seen are pretty decent, but they either don't quite look the part or don't have sound/light functionality. Is there any other sabers or places I should be looking at that would work better than modifying a Force FX setup?

Thanks for all your help guys!
 
Also, if I can get 501st approved that would be great as that means it's top quality, but if some features will keep it from being 501st approved then that's ok as well. :)
 
So, I started looking at the neck seal as well. As far as I can tell creativeartshop on etsy has the perfect one. It can be made in real leather with the appropriate pleats and sizing to be 501st certified and its reasonably priced. This is probsbly the route I will go for mine.
 
Update! Ordered the neck seal in full leather from Creative Art Shop. After extensive looking around online and at pictures of the suit as well as reading through the 501st guidelines it appears to be the best option, 2nd best being pleather. I've seen fabric, vinyl, wool, etc. ones and although the shape matches, the look of the material just never seems right. Also, I decided to go with the Endorfinders gloves as well. Once again after extensive looking around online and at pictures of the suit along with the 501st guidelines they match the real thing perfectly. I've seen some cheaper gloves that although the stitching is close usually the gloves aren't real leather and therefore don't match up the best. I've found leather ones but the stitching then isn't correct. The Endorfinders ones are the best of both worlds. If there's one thing I've found during costuming it's that there's no good substitute for real leather items made by a craftsmen. Leather just has that look and feel that can't be well replicated.
 
I've been looking closely into the belt as well. It seems like PH Props has done a fantastic job on it and it seems to match perfectly to the movie suit. The buckle and lightsaber clip are perfect and being full leather with the correct striping is amazing. This is most likely the route I will go as well. My only gripe is that I would love if I could get a functioning clip to attach the lightsaber to the belt, but at this point if I'm using the Force FX saber I'd have to build detachable blades into it too. I know JJ Industries is working on the functioning clip but it still seems the verdict is out at this point on it.
 
My saber clip from JJ is on the way, but there should be others on here who have theirs now. Someone might be able to give you some idea of how it holds up.

Considering the effort put into the research and design of the clip I'm going to assume it's going to do the job well. That's why I didn't hesitate to order one in the first run :)
 
finlex said:
My saber clip from JJ is on the way, but there should be others on here who have theirs now. Someone might be able to give you some idea of how it holds up.

Considering the effort put into the research and design of the clip I'm going to assume it's going to do the job well. That's why I didn't hesitate to order one in the first run :)
Click to expand...

Yes, I read through his thread on here and it looks awesome! Last I knew he was revising it again and it wasn't technically for sale at this point in time. The one from PH Props has the belt piece that looks amazing, but it doesn't have the lightsaber attachment sadly. I sent PH Props a message on Etsy to ask if they would be doing a matching lightsaber attachment for their clip but haven't heard anything back yet. I'm assuming it's the same dimensions though as JJ's.

In other news I got a message back from Katja as well and am starting to get all the details gathered there. From what I understand her listing comes with the under tunic, mid coat, outer robe, and the cape/cowl/hood assembly which takes care of everything besides the neck seal, gloves, boots, pants, belt assembly, and helmet. Can anyone confirm this?

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I think at this point I'll be going with black waxed denim jeans in my normal fit. They seem to fit the bill correctly and have the proper shine and looseness that appears in the photos.
 
Been going back and forth with Katja getting this all set up. Has anyone here had her do the belt as well? Her Etsy listing includes it, but my plan was to get the belt assembly (belt, buckle, and lightsaber clip) from PH Props. Otherwise Katja does the under tunic, mid coat, outer robe, and the cape/hood/cowl pieces. PH Props also got back to me and said he should be re-listing the belts again later this week, so hopefully I can get in on that as well. I'll be looking around at different places for the black waxed denim jeans as well.
 
The catalog for Imperial Boots just popped back up. I'll be putting my order in once it's available! Looking at a size 10.5.
 
So at this point I've got the neck seal and gloves on the way and the helmet in hand.

PH Props got back to me saying he would recommend going the route of JJ Industries for a functioning clip as he doesn't have any plans right now to build a functioning one. I will be most likely ordering the PH Props belt minus the saber clip and going with JJ Industries for the clip. PH Props just relisted the belt this morning, so that should be ordered sometime today as well.

Imperial Boots will be taking orders for the next wave in a day or so, so I'll be hopping in on that for the K.Boots.

Waiting on Katja to get back to me concerning removal of the belt from the costume build as I won't need it.

Currently researching where I want to get the jeans from and working on what lightsaber I want to go with.
 
Just finished ordering the PH Props belt and buckle in medium and untrimmed. Going this route makes sure I'll have enough wiggle room with the layered costume and can trim it to fit perfectly. Normally I wear a 32" waist and the medium covers 32" - 36" so I should be good. I ordered it without the lightsaber clip as I plan on picking that up from JJ as soon as I get contact him. So, that's at least another piece ordered!

Update ---

Just put in my order for the JJ Industries saber clip. Found in the project run subforum he had recently opened up another wave of them being made so I went and submitted my order. Gonna be a lot of wait time on all these pieces, but I've got about 3 months before the con I plan on wearing it at which should be plenty of time. :)
 
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Just put my order in today for the K.Boots from Imperial Boots in size 10.5 US. From what I can tell at this point I should have all the pieces sometime by the end of March which gives me about a month to make sure it's all ready to go for Wizard World Des Moines!

So far I've got on order:

CreativeArtShop's geniune leather neck seal in size 37cm (expected around end of March)
Endorfinders Gloves V2 in medium Run #5 (expected around end of March)
PHProps belt and buckle in medium (no clip) (expected around middle of March)
JJ Industries functional light saber clip Run #3 (expected around middle of March)
Imperial Boots K.Boots Version 5 in US 10.5 (expected around end of March)
Akademiks Men's Robertson black waxed denim jeans 32W X 32L (expected on 2/22)
KatjaVonDesigns surcoat, midcoat, robe, and cape/cowl/hood in custom measurements with Tier 3 501st Certification specs (no belt) (expected end of March)

I've already got the Black Series helmet in my possession and will be starting to modify it soon. I ended up going with black waxed denim jeans in relaxed-straight fit in my normal size. After looking at the pictures they look exactly like the visual dictionary. I ended up going with a cheaper pair from Amazon as I don't feel it's necessary to spend 70+ dollars for pants people will barely see, plus we don't even know exactly what they look like since there's no pictures of Kylo without all his gear. I just sent payment and my measurements in to KatjaVonDesigns as well for all the soft parts minus the belt. All that's left at this point is the light saber!
 
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So, I've been seeing that some people are recommending wearing a balaclava under the helmet. Is there a reason for this? I know I'll have the neck seal that will cover the way up to underneath the helmet and I haven't seen any pictures yet referencing that Kylo Ren is wearing one. It seems like the only time I've seen someone using one was without the proper neck seal.
 
Alright, from what I've read/seen there is no need for a balaclava and the reason most people were using one was because they didn't have the proper neck seal. If I remember correctly from the movie when Kylo Ren removed his helmet there was no removal of anything that was on underneath the helmet either.
 
So at this point while I'm waiting for the rest of the parts to get here I'm going to start modding the helmet and figuring out where I want to get the lightsaber from. It seems like I've got all the other pieces ordered and on the way!
 
So, with the neck seal and boots in shipping it looks like the end of March is still a decent time frame to have everything. The belt and buckle should be shipping out within 10-12 days so that should be on track for mid-March. The saber clips are being finished up at the end up next week and shipped out so that should be here around the end of March. The pants arrived early last week so I've got those and the helmet on hand now. I'm waiting to hear back from Endorfinders about when the gloves may be here. I was told the soft parts from Katja should be here by the end of March as well! All that's left is to figure out what lightsaber I want to run. Still leaning towards the Force FX and modifying but some of the ones from Saberforge and Ultrasabers are looking decent too.
 
Balaclava is used to cover your face because the helmet does not sit low enough to cover your neck. Thats why kylos neck seal goes up to his chin. The balaclava is not used for 501st crl.
 
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