Cosplay Story: Fallen Order Purge Trooper

Star Wars day was yesterday and I made a post about putting my favorite Star Wars costumes in one post. My most recent and accomplished cosplay is the Purge Trooper from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. When I was young and fresh into the galaxy far far away, I wasn't a big fan of the Jedi or Sith. Instead, I was far more interested in the large scale battles, specifically, the Clone Wars. Ever since my family got me the complete series of Clone Wars (2003), as well as Battlefront 1 and 2, I fantasized about being a Clone Trooper, parading around in white armor, pacing back and forth with blaster in hand for the Grand Army of the Republic. The challenge was not how I was going to make it, but rather, what should I be?

The comics, toys, television, and video game produced a wide array of clone trooper types that it was difficult to decide for my first build. Clone Commandos, Arc Troopers, 501st legion, Jet Trooper, Clone Trooper Commander, and the obscure Clone Stormtrooper seen in the Nintendo Wii version of the Force Unleashed. Before, I just buy items and attempt to make a costume by memory, but it ends up either too small, too inaccurate, or broken by the time of a convention. There were times where I discouraged myself from dressing up because someone else would have a better costume in tow. So I held off on becoming any trooper until the end of last year.

When the game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order came out, there was a lot of intrigue on the Purge Troopers. They wore similar armor to the Clone Paratroopers seen in Revenge of the Sith and held the DC-15 heavy blaster rifle the clones used, but were classified as non-clone Stormtroopers and sounded nothing like the iconic clone voices of Temuera Morrison and Dee Bradley Baker. This didn't bother me because I found out that they were initially a clone trooper type in the Darth Vader comics. So technically, I dressed up as a Clone Trooper.

Purge Troopers (Left and Right) with Second Sister (Middle)

Before I made any sketches or carved foam into armor, I made the blaster first. Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of being a Purge Trooper. I just wanted to make the blaster and leave it at that. However, I wanted to challenge myself. After years of trial, error, and unused/trashed armor, I had a decent amount of time before a convention to patiently construct a trooper costume.

Dc-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle in progress

After deciding on the Purge Trooper, I obtained photos from the game model and the action figure for reference, sketched blueprints on pieces of computer paper, and bought spray paints and plastic sheets. All that was left was assembling the pieces.

The arms, belt, shoulder, and glove pieces were the easiest to construct. A combination of EVA foam mats, 2mm foam, and 6mm foam helped make the items a right fit for me. The shoulder pads took me a couple of tries, as the first attempt with 6mm foam produced smaller and more curved than the reference model. On the second try, I cut out a piece of EVA foam into an oval shape, and used a heat gun to curve and bend it into shape. This allowed a flat surface to draw and paint the Galactic Empire logo.

The most difficult pieces of the build were the chest, back, torso, and leg armor. My previous builds either came out too short, couldn't fit, or slid down in need of adjustment. Instead of cutting chunks off of foam and eyeballing a perfect fit, I took some scrap foam, wrapped it around me, and used a ruler to jot down precise measurements before cutting further. Fortunately for me, I found a couple of forum posts that guided me through a simplified foam clone trooper armor.

Before painting

The surprising parts of the build were the helmet and the pauldron. The thought that the helmet would be difficult and the pauldron would be simple proved the opposite when put into practice. It took two attempts to make the pauldron and one try for the helmet. When C2E2 was coming up in a couple of days, the helmet was first priority. Instead of cutting curved pieces of foam and hoping they make a dome, I experimented on using a cut out circle of foam and using a heat gun to sink it into a metal bowl. Not only did it save me time to make the helmet but also, the end result was smooth and seamless.

Helmet before and after painting

The last part I debated was the Kama skirt. For those who are unfamiliar, a Kama skirt was used by clone commander and arc troopers as leg protection from shrapnel. I haven't worked with fabric before, so there was a bit of hesitation. After watching cutscenes of Fallen Order, there was a Purge Trooper with no Kama skirt, but after talking with some friends who were Star Wars enthusiasts, they thought the skirt would complete the look.

And here is the end result, finished on the day before C2E2. Although the temperature wasn't right for the black gloss spray paint, the black primer worked well on covering the whole costume. Any unpainted parts were touched up with black acrylic paint, which gave the trooper a grimy and war- torn look. Additionally, I took a shortcut and used black painted shoes as the boots. Another last minute item was the electrostaff. Since cosplay guidelines at conventions wanted no realistic looking gun props and I didn't want to put an orange tip on my blaster rifle, I quickly made a staff out of cardboard tubes, pieces of foam, and silver and black paint. It may not look the right size or shape, but it's accurate enough based on the pictures I saw online.

After painting and electrostaff

Putting on the armor was stress free, though I had my doubts about the leg and body armor. However, when I was walking around the convention, none of my pieces broke. The only issues were that my belly armor need adjustment and the pauldron kept falling down the chest armor. Regardless, a lot of people loved my costume. Some were surprised that I was the only one dressing up as a Purge Trooper and were equally surprised that I made it myself. I couldn't contain my excitement when  attendees dressed as Jedi knew my costume and wanted to pose for pictures. To me, despite the small setbacks, the Purge Trooper armor was worth the time, patience, and practice.

Some photos of me at C2E2 2020 with various Star Wars Cosplayers

Update to now, I have added more details to the pauldron and right bicep armor. Apparently, I missed out on those small boxes that wrapped around those pieces and forgot about it. Better late than never to incorporate them into the costume. To my surprise, the little belts and boxes helped secure my pauldron without sliding down. While the toy model had red highlights on the kama skirt and the video model has it all black, I'm tempted to hide the torn fabric with red pieces. But for now, I'm proud of my accomplishments. Until the next convention, I'll be parading around in my Purge Trooper armor, pacing back and forth with blaster or electrostaff in hand.

Not bad for a first attempt, eh?