Jacob Degan

[Jacob Degan]

Greetings, fellow Jedi! I hail from Texas, and am (*still*) working on finishing my engineering degree at Texas A&M University. I am also a Senior Airman in the United States Air Force Reserves. My biggest hobbies include Star Wars and Stargate, and as of last year, going on road trips and attending conventions.

I had always liked the Star Wars movies, but that's about as far as it went until the first time I played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. After experiencing the galaxy far, far away first hand and realizing how much more to that galaxy there was, I became a fanatic and have been gobbling up EU material with hearty enthusiasm ever since. My favourite Star Wars books thus far have been anything written by Timothy Zahn, the Rogue and Wraith Squadron books, and the Darth Bane trilogy.

I am probably rather unique to the Jedi Assembly, insofar as my choice of Jedi robes goes. If I am not mistaken, I am the only one of us to wear robes in the style of those seen in the popular game Knights of the Old Republic. (KotOR represent!!) I have been looking at joining the Rebel Legion and possibly the 501st, but was introduced to the Jedi Assembly by Lolana Menara Ketalli (Belle LaDean).

[Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar]

Welcome! I saw your threads and was really impressed! I have seen that style in the games, and liked them. I hope we can get some other game-style costumers as well, especially now with the KOTOR MMORPG coming up!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

[Kryy Jacobi]

Welcome, Jacob! Very nice KOTOR-style robes.

We are glad to have you here.

What conventions have you attended? And will you be going to CV?

And what is your engineering specialty? My father-in-law was an electrical engineer (GA Tech) and helped "electrify" parts of the rural South and Midwest back in the 50's and 60's.

[Jacob Degan]

I'm glad you like them! They're not even fully complete yet - there's another layer of clothing I don't yet have made, which will be visible in between the inner tunic and outer robe. I also want to upgrade the belt to something more screenshot-accurate, and am making a prop based on one of the headgear accessories equipable in the game.

Well, once or twice I attended AggieCon, which is held at my university and is the oldest and largest student-run science fiction convention in the United States. (Wasn't able to make it this year, sadly.) But that was all I knew of conventions until some friends took me to A-Kon in Dallas last year. Even though I don't watch anime I had a grand time, and upon returning home I proceeded to seek out other conventions. Later that year I attended BabelCon in Baton Rouge, Dragon*Con in Atlanta (best Labor Day weekend EVAR!!), and Star Wars Fan Days in north Dallas.

I will most definitely be attending Celebration V! I already have my 4-day ticket and hotel reservation. Now that I have the resources to get me there (I didn't for IV), I wouldn't miss it for anything short of a wedding or a funeral!

I am majoring in mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology. That's cool about your father-in-law.

[Jan-Qui Coran]

bows

Greetings Jacob & welcome to The Jedi Assembly.
Sounds like an interesting costume. Is there a link here to see it?
I've been gone for a few days at a convention & just got back.
As far as CV goes, you sound like me . I got started with C3.

[acalsohei]

Welcome to TJA, and glad to hear that you'll be at CV-it'll be great to meet you.

[JediKai]

Welcome to the Assembly.

[Jarren Landcaster]

Hello and welcome. Im glad to see that there's someone else in here as big of a KOTOR fan as I am. I,too, was wanting to get me robes like the game, but obviously cannot sew. Instead I just went and have gotten a saber hilt like the jedi on the new TOR game trailor. Glad to have a new member to the Southern Order.

[Shoshana Win]

Welcome Jacob!

You'll love CV, I have been to CII, CIII, and CIV, and they were a blast. Looking forward to meeting you there!

[Solinbeb Newau]

Welcome to the Order.

[Jacob Degan]

I have made several upgrades to my KotOR robes since being accepted into the Jedi Assembly (and will be scrambling to add several more before Celebration V). You can follow my progress on the costume in this album:

picasaweb.google.com/102994480010947501013/KotORJediRobes?feat=directlink

Here's a sample:



Furthermore, I have really exciting news! I was selected out of who knows how many hundreds of applicants to be one of only 75 contestants in the Thursday costume contest at Celebration V! If you're attending CV and want to come cheer for a fellow member of TJA, it will be on August 12, from 4 to 6 PM on the Celebration Stage! Naturally, this puts even more pressure on me to finish those remaining upgrades before I leave for Orlando!

Also, I've been working on a second Jedi costume - Zayne Carrick's padawan outfit, from the KotOR comics. My seamstress friend finished her part in it over the weekend, so now it's up to me to do the leatherwork and accessories. But with the basic foundation of the costume finished, I was finally able to take pictures in it!







And here's a reference photo for comparison:



As you can see, there's a lot of work to do on the belt still, and I need to add leather to the shoulders and modify the kneepads. I also need to make a bunch of pouches, but I doubt if I'll get to those before Celebration V. Obviously my hair is far too short for Zayne (thanks to being in the Air Force Reserves), so I'll be wearing a wig with the final costume. I'm hoping that I can have this costume completely finished, pouches and all, before Dragon*Con, but pouches or not I'll still be wearing it as my alternate costume at CV.

[Nova Darklighter]

Hi Jacob, I really like that costume, but I think I like the Padawan even more! I plan to be a DCON, plese look me up there. I'm usually around the SW trak room or the costuming panels.

[Jon-Mar Teric]

KOTOR and KOTOR2 were both phenomenal games. After Baldur's Gate, I didn't think Bioware could do better... but then they did Star Wars! Excellent set of stories, good continuity... like moving through the Sith Academy on Korriban in the first one, exploring the Shyrak caves, and then in 2, you return to the ruins there and see the bodies of Sith in the cave - probably the same ones you explored with before. I like the redemption story told there as well as the Exile in the second one.

The costume looks awesome... I see a lot of potential there because you really do have so many different options for outfitting your character, it means you have more choices for costuming as well! Good luck in the contest!!!

Mark

[Nova Darklighter]

Very exciting for you about the costume, I'll have to be there "In Sprit" to cheer you on.

[Ky-Wan Zann]

Nice I saw ya a few times at C5. I was wearing the black tabbards with the brown tunics