SOUTH PARIS — Desirae and Mia saw dad Donovan Travers cutting up PVC pipe, heating it in the oven and molding the hot plastic parts to his body for a Boba Fett-like costume, and they wanted in.
Desirae is 7, Mia 4. They’re about the most adorable “Star Wars” mercenaries on this side of the galaxy.
“Honestly, one of the best things is that when we’re all in (costume), we’ll walk around and get stopped every two minutes because somebody needs a picture of the family of Mandalorians,” said Donovan, 29.
A lifelong “Star Wars” fan, he was inspired to start costuming after meeting his first Mandalorian Mercs (mercenaries) at a “Star Wars Reads” event at the Lewiston Public Library two years ago.
Smaller than the 501st and Rebel Legion, the worldwide Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club has a slightly different take on fandom: Costumes don’t have to be movie-accurate. There’s room to customize and let your inner Fett come out, within reason.
That’s the part that appealed to him.
“I had never built anything before I built these,” said Donovan, who works at Tambrands in maintenance and machine repair. After raiding his father’s scrap pile and finding templates online, “most of it I built out of junk.”
That includes the light-up jet pack. The helmets. The girls’ faux-fur “kama” or half-skirts.
“They decided they wanted to be beast tamers so they needed fur trophies,” he said.
The Wampa Clan, which covers Maine, has 11 active members, plus Desirae, Mia and mom Katrina, 25, who costumes and makes a mean Wampa cupcake.
They had an event every other weekend this summer, a mix of library appearances, parades and conventions. Like the other groups, the Mandalorian Mercs are also involved in charity work, raising money for the club’s charity, Little Warrior International.
“It’s a lot of events we wouldn’t otherwise know about or be invited to, which makes it nice. It gives (the girls) some experience they wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Katrina said. “They get along quite well with all of the Mercs.”
Donovan, who keeps his very first “Star Wars” toy in one of his costume pockets (Boba Fett, a Mandalorian, fittingly enough), said he considers Mandalorians neither good guys like the Rebels nor bad guys like the 501st. In the movies, they’re for hire, come what may.
“If they pay us, they pay us, that’s how it works,” he said.
Donovan will be with other Mercs in costume on opening night for “Star Wars” at the Bangor Mall Cinemas.
His take on the new movie: Everyone should probably relax. It’s going to be fun.
“A lot of the people who dislike the second trilogy forget that the second trilogy was for a different generation,” he said. “The true ‘Star Wars’ fans are going to love it either way.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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