From Jyn Erso to Emperor Palpatine, cosplayers at New York Comic-Con shared their love for Star Wars on the convention floor this weekend.
New York Comic-Con 2024 is in full swing and we’ve already spotted a host of Star Wars cosplayers including Padmé Amidalas, stormtroopers, and Dark Side favorites like Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, and the Stranger roaming the convention halls.
Here are just a few of our favorite cosplays and the stories behind their Star Wars journey to NYCC…
Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla
Joy and Raphael, a couple from Florida, brought their shared love of Star Wars Rebels to NYCC as Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus respectively. Though Raphael had seen the animated series before, the two watched it together during an important point in their relationship and got an early head start on their cosplays.
"We started putting together the cosplays before I started watching the show," Joy says laughing. "We thrifted a lot. Sewing stuff, gluing this, cutting that, and then waiting."
The two have been cosplaying as Kanan and Hera for about six months and they've received encouraging reactions each time. "People love it," Raphael says. "It's fun. And I've been building on it every time. It helps with my stress and everything. As we all do, in our normal lives, we need an outlet for something."
Blair has been part of the cosplaying community for over a decade and that love for the craft was clear as she arrived at NYCC dressed as Emperor Palpatine with a full Star Wars squad along for the ride including Darth Vader, a Nightsister, and a Twi’lek.
Growing up, Palpatine was the absolute big bad guy for Blair as she watched Star Wars on laserdisc. “He’s this otherworldly type of character,” Blair says. “He inspired my love of costumes. And I pursued costume design and things like that.”
During the process of making her Palpatine cosplay, one of Blair’s biggest challenges was figuring out how to recreate the character’s face. “On this website that me and my friends usually get zombie makeup from, they had this face sculpt of the prosthetics for the neck and face,” she says. “But they don’t paint it.”
Luckily, Blair had a friend who stepped in to help. “And then I made the costume and the cloak,” Blair says. “It was like a team effort putting it together. And then we have this whole group and it’s so much fun.”
Although Cynthia, a 28-year-old cosplayer from New Jersey, is a newer Star Wars fan, her cosplay closet already sports several galactic entries from previous years at NYCC, including two different versions of Rey. But it was her love for The Mandalorian on display this year as she stepped out as the Armorer.
The biggest challenge was getting all of the individual armor pieces just right. “There’s a little bit of trial and error with 3D printing once it’s printed, and it takes days to print, you’ve got to make sure it fits right,” she says. “And then sanding everything down, there’s a lot of prep work. It took a couple months, but it was worth it.”
Her favorite piece is the helmet. “It was one of the first pieces that I made and it was something I’ve never done before.” she says.
Cynthia is at NYCC with her boyfriend and family who had all coordinated their cosplays as Star Wars characters. She appreciates the time that cosplaying with her family gives her in the lead up to NYCC every year. “It’s just a way for us to bond and we get so excited about it together,” she says with a laugh. “We do it once a year. Lots of trips to the craft store in September and October. You know, [we] just kind of help each other, support each other throughout everything!”
Star Wars has been a big part of Dan’s life since the now 22-year-old was a kid. “My cousin and my best friend as a kid got me into it,” he says. At NYCC, Dan showed off that longtime love for the franchise as Cal Kestis from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — with a full BD-1 prop mounted on his back for good measure.
Dan feels connected to Cal Kestis on several levels. “I found the first game during a particular downtime in my life and it brought me a lot of joy,” he says. “I’ve kinda stuck with the character ever since.”
That resonance with Cal is evident in Dan’s cosplay. Initially fabricated last year for a convention, Dan took on the big challenge of building his BD-1 prop for this year’s NYCC. “BD-1 was this year’s project. The original goal was to make him move as well as making some noise and lights,” Dan says. “We got the lights worked out. The moving? Not so much.”
And while BD-1 appears to be hanging out effortlessly on Dan’s back, that took some unique problem-solving to accomplish. “The biggest part was getting him mounted on my back using a couple of football harnesses under the costume.”
BD-1 is Dan’s favorite part of his Cal Kestis cosplay and it seems to be quite a hit with other attendees as well. “Everybody's a big fan of BD-1. He’s drawing all of the attention.”
Louisa arrived in full Jyn Erso cosplay, kyber pendant and all. As a young Star Wars fan, she loved Princess Leia Organa from the get-go. But Louisa didn’t see herself in the role of princess.
“When me and my brother and all our friends and cousins were playing Star Wars, I played Han Solo and I played Luke Skywalker,” she says. But something really clicked for Louisa when she saw Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. “When Jyn Erso [appeared], I was like ‘That’s it.That’s the one. She gets the job done,’” she says. “She’s just amazing, and I just love the character so much.”
Although Louisa has cosplayed many times before, including as Black Widow and Scarlet Witch from Marvel, Jyn Erso is her first Star Wars cosplay. The process of putting the costume together included a mixed approach. “Some of it was piecemeal, some of it I had to get ordered,” she says, noting that a lot of pieces still needed modifications. “It’s a very simple costume, and yet, why is it so complicated?”
And while there were challenges in putting the cosplay together, including the jacket and vest, Louisa’s favorite detail is her shirt. “My mom helped me make it,” she says. “And she’s like ‘never again.’ But I appreciate it. It’s amazing!”
Like many people, Alex’s love for Star Wars started early when she first watched Star Wars: A New Hope in 5th grade. After that, she was totally hooked. Fast forward to NYCC 2024, and she has debuted her very first Star Wars cosplay — Sabine Wren from Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels.
Alex connects with Sabine’s self expression and ability to stay true to herself. “As a disabled person who’s grown up with that, I’ve often found it hard to express myself in a way that I feel is true to who I am,” she shares. “And so Sabine really embodies that power and that freedom for me.”
Sabine’s artistic expression is reflected in Alex’s armor, which mirrors Sabine’s purple and orange color palette and her signature Starbird symbol from the second season of the animated series. “I really love all of the little details on the paintings,” Alex says. “I mean, Sabine is an artist obviously and her costume just has so many tiny, little details.”
Just like her character, Alex also had to learn something new while working on her cosplay — how to 3D print. “Pretty much all of my armor is 3D printed and I had never used a 3D printer before, so that was a bit of a learning curve.”
Arriving at NYCC all the way from Florida as adult Omega from Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Young is a first time cosplayer in her first Star Wars costume. A casual fan since she was a kid and saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with her dad, Young got more into the Star Wars galaxy and fan community after Season 2 of The Mandalorian came out.
“I found it during the pandemic and saw Star Wars Rebels during a really rough time. That just really gave me so much comfort,” Young shares. Since then, The Bad Batch has become her favorite Star Wars series. “And then The Bad Batch! Always The Bad Batch for me.”
That led to a connection with Omega specifically, who represents hope and not losing kindness to Young. “We need that,” she says. “And also just the ability to explore and then having love and empathy.”
As a first-time cosplayer, one of her biggest challenges was getting the details on Omega’s jacket just right. “These color blocks on the shoulders,” Young points out. “I think I’ve sewed and resewed that probably 20 times. And then I almost sewed through my fingers. I bled for this cosplay.”
But for all of the trouble the color blocks gave her, Young’s work has paid off in both her own happiness with her work and interactions she’s had with other cosplayers. “Everyone who has come up to me has been incredibly kind,” she says. “This is so amazing.”
The High Republic was represented by Claudia who arrived at NYCC ready to lead the Nihil dressed as Marchion Ro. A fan since she was young, Claudia first watched the movies with her dad and even started dressing up as characters early on, including Padmé Amidala for Halloween one year. "Then I got into the books once I got older and The Mandalorian sort of reignited my interest in Star Wars," she says."I started with the Thrawn books and I branched out from there."
Claudia was drawn to Marchion Ro for a few different reasons. "He is so smart," she says. "Like this is the High Republic, this is the height of the Jedi Order, and he has zero Force powers whatsoever, but he is able to outsmart everybody at every turn."
Claudia, who's a seasoned cosplayer and crafter in her own right, is no stranger to working on costumes that have helmets. Having cosplayed Magneto from X-Men before, tackling Marchion Ro's helmet was familiar territory, though it did have its challenges. "It's made out of EVA foam and I've used EVA foam for other helmets," Claudia says. "I wasn't new to the process, but there were a bunch of things. I had to buy this tube and I had to get a light in the middle. So there were a lot of random pieces I had to sort of put on for it."
Attention to detail was a big part of Claudia's process for Marchion Ro, from the control panel to the helmet. "I looked at The High Republic concept art book to figure out exactly how everything looked," she says. "And I'm pretty proud of the fact that I was even able to do the back the way it's shown in the concept art book even though people don't really look at the back of the helmet too much."
