How many Mandalorian mercenaries can you fit in the Anaheim Convention Center? Looks like all of them. With close to a hundred of them in the shot above alone, Mandalorian mercenaries (or Mandos for short) make up the majority of our second batch of Star Wars Celebration 15 cosplay photos, courtesy of the fine folks working on the cosplay documentary No Disintegrations.
And why not? It’s the most customisable of Star Wars costumes — as long as you’ve got the signature t-shaped viewport and a little armour, the sky’s the limit. They’re the My Little Ponies of Star Wars.
Coming in a close second are the Clone Troopers, who add a burst of fruit-juicy flavour to the standard white to make that armour their own.
I’d love a set of trooper armour myself, but given my height, girth and ever-growing beard, I’d most likely end up as another old guy in a beige robe. I’m pretty ok with that.
Enjoy the rest of the shots below, including a nice bunch from the event’s official costume contest.
Comments
10 responses to “So Many Mandalorian Mercs At Star Wars Celebration 2015”
Ha fat aussie vader
The force is strong
… around his waistband
A bit sad, my mind went straight to “That’s not what a female wookie looks like!”
“the my little ponies of star wars”
wut
I just hate the Mando Mercs. They just further dilute a heavily diluted brand with their kinda-like-Boba-Fett looks, confusing kids and others.
Dilute a diluted brand? how? Confusing kids and other, um ok kids SOMETIMES call them boba but if “others” get confused that’s their own problem.
You are just being negative for no reason, I hate people that have no real reason to hate.
No. It’s just a reason you disagree with. It’s being critical for reasonable reasons… that you disagree with.
Hey, stop your kid bashing. Those kids shouldn’t be subjected to confusing crap because they haven’t watched The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as many times as you have.
OK. What about other reasons such as that most of them look crap with the inconsistency created by using used skater knee pads or anything else just to finish their look? As much as the 501st can be appear to be snobbish with their costuming specifications, at least they have some level of standards.
It’s so awesome how you’re bashing a huge group of Star Wars fans who not only love costuming, but also raise tens of thousands of dollars a year to help various charities and make visits to children’s hospitals and fund raising events and much more. Thank you for being so thoughtful. Also, the mercs do have a thorough application process and pages of guidelines. “skater knee-pads” are not acceptable. A lot of the costumers you see in the top photo on this page are not members of the Mercs. It is a mixed group.
you obviously dont understand mando culture or what the mercs do. if you read a little, they do have standards just like the 501st. where they differ is in the ideal of being mando, and that is individuality inside of a warrior culture. helmets are iconic, armor is similar yet distunguished by specialization. maybe learn a little about what mando culture was all about and you will understand.
as far as confusing kids, well, this is fandom. no one seems to mind when a sexy female version of some character is WAY off base but the fact remains that those cosplays could “confuse” kids who havent read those particular comics/stories.
does a spartan mando fit? no. cool idea and the guy did a great job with his cosplay but that would never be approved by the mercs. same with the wolverine mando. awesome cosplay and great costume….. highly doubtful that would ever pass for mercs application.
btw…. there are 501st approved costumes that lots of ppl dont know about either… .such as the cuis clones. they weilded lightsabers. how confusing would that be to a kid who knows nothing about the EU? yet it is still canon and accepted under 501st standards.
before you bash anyones cosplay, take the time to learn a little bit about it. you might find it interests you. besides, cosplay is all about being who YOU want to be, not what everyone else thinks you should be…. we get enough of that IRL.
AMEN! As a member of 501st, it drives me nuts when I go to an event and the “Bland ol’ Mercs” are there. You think they would get tired of people walking up to them and saying, “Who are you supposed to be?”, but alas — no, they think that people should be enamored with their ‘backstory’, when in reality — nobody gives a ________. We did an event last week and I was in my ESB Boba Fett, we had a Scout Trooper, a couple of Stormtroopers, Vader, a couple of Jedi, a couple of R2 units… and about 6 guys with their idiotic mando outfits.
The average person that likes Star Wars and attend events where we troop, care about characters that are in the movies (Vader, Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, R2-D2, etc.), so “Revan”… who cares. “Dark Jedi’s”… who cares. ANY Mando that isn’t Boba Fett… who cares.
Since the people who put their time and money towards making these costumes obviously care enough to do it, then why not let them have their fun? The Star Wars universe is so huge and unique and colourful, it’s great that people find spaces to create their own characters within it (just like plenty of people make their own original Jedi characters and such.) Plus I reckon they look awesome in a huge group like this one.
so if a character isnt on screen its not important? even the 501st has many available “other” characters from various star wars sources. i guess you dont agree that your own organization is right then and it seems that your only definition of a “proper” star wars cosplay involves characters on screen…. the star wars universe is way bigger than that.
and btw…. mandalorian is a state of mind, and a pretty darn good one. you should read up a bit. you might actually like it.
Wait, how is that ‘their problem’?! Why, because they don’t engorge like a tick on all things Star Wars so they know the stupid minutia about why some guy is wandering around in a Boba Fett helmet painted purple with his made up story about being a Mando Shaman High Priest?