Budget Boba Costume "Base" - AliExpress/eBay vs Rubie's Supreme

[Bob A Feet]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a Hasbro EE-3 and a Black Series helmet, so I guess my build has officially begun.

Luckily I should have until Halloween 2021 (at the earliest) to finish this. I'm looking for 501st or anything, just a budget Halloween-level costume that'll go well with the helmet quality-wise.

I realize acquiring individual pieces can be time consuming and costly, so I've been contemplating getting a costume and modifying it from there.

I'm sure you've seen these before:

AliExpress Boba Fett Costume / eBay Boba Fett Costume for ~$150
Rubie's Supreme Edition Boba Fett Costume for ~$700 to $1,000

Now, I think the Rubie's isn't worth anywhere near $700+, so my question is what price do you think these are worth? I found one locally that was used once. Not sure if it includes the helmet and jetpack.

The AliExpress/eBay one looks decent IMO, but I'd probably have to redo the yellow shoulder pieces, gauntlets, and knee guards. I'd also have to make a jetpack for it. Has anyone purchased this?

Thanks!

 

[DrToothache]

As a recent buyer of the eBay costume from china - I would hands down go with that one. Their recommended size actually fit very well with little modification (I am 5'9" and bought their medium size). The one great thing about their costume is that the jumpsuit is pretty high quality, and a lot less "halloween quality" if you know what I mean. The rubies costume jumpsuit is made out of that halloween costume foam that all other cheap costumes are made of, unacceptable for the price tag.

The ~$150 was well worth the price just for the jumpsuit and the flight vest. The jumpsuit also has the shorter set of sleeves where you can route the tubing for the gauntlets. It also comes with a decent leather belt with functional pouches, and very good looking cloth side pockets for the belt. The armor / plates are not that great as they are just thin rubber, but overall not bad, and most people plan to make their own armor plates anyway. The rubies costume looks like crap in most reviews as it only seems to be available in a few set sizes whereas this costume has like 7 different sizes to pick from and is very form fitting.

I still have to mess around with it some more, but I would much rather buy this again than the $999 rubies costums, not only because of the price but because this is a better starting platform. You could put that $850 that you save towards sintra, a high quality jetpack kit, a gauntlet kit etc. and just slowly improve the costume.

Just a note - I have never owned the rubies costume. From what I have read and seen on youtube though, the extra money that one would cost would be best spent elsewhere.

I can post some pictures of what it looks like assembled if it would help you make a decision.

 

[Bob A Feet]

Thanks for the detailed reply DrToothache!!!

I have a couple questions about the AliExpress / eBay costume.

The chest "armor" pieces, are they removable? They almost look sewn on in the pics.

The back piece, is it a flexible material or hard? Thinking about if I can mount a jetpack to it.

Lastly, is the fit right for Boba? The legs on the AliExpress one look tight, but that might be due to the strap things on the ankles and knee pieces.

Yeah, if you have pics on hand that'll be helpful!

 

[DrToothache]

Thanks for the detailed reply DrToothache!!!

I have a couple questions about the AliExpress / eBay costume.

The chest "armor" pieces, are they removable? They almost look sewn on in the pics.

The back piece, is it a flexible material or hard? Thinking about if I can mount a jetpack to it.

Lastly, is the fit right for Boba? The legs on the AliExpress one look tight, but that might be due to the strap things on the ankles and knee pieces.

Yeah, if you have pics on hand that'll be helpful!

Luckily I just wore the costume to a Halloween party yesterday, so I have some pics to show you. To answer your questions first though:

The chest armor pieces are unfortunately sewed onto the flight jacket, however the thread they are sewn on with is very thin and would come off easily. The back piece is really flexible, but typically you would mount the jet pack to a harness so it should still work. You would just need to cut the slits in the back armor piece since this costume is just a solid back plate. The back plate is attached via velcro though.

The fit is right for Boba in my opinion. For some reason they advertise this costume with a really skinny mannequin making it look tight. Check out the photos though and decide for yourself!

Some other things I forgot to mention:

• One odd thing about this costume is they have both the cape and the wookie scalps on the left shoulder, instead of having the cape on the left shoulder and the wookie braids on the right shoulder. It could be easily switched though, since the wookie braids are only held in with a thin sewn thread. The cape attaches via velcro.
• All pouches are fully functional as well.
• I will say that the leather ammo belt is rather flimsy. I ended up buying a different leather belt on amazon. The bathroom selfie picture is the only pic where I am wearing the belt that came with the costume.
• The cod piece is decent, and is shaped well. It is bent in a way that makes it look more like armor. Although mine bent inward when I sat down for a while, and unfortunately you can see that in most of the pics. but I was able to bend it back in place later. I also had to add some adhesive velcro to it to make it tighter on me. The mirror selfie is what is looks like when bent correctly.
• The flight suit is actually a jacket and pants. For me this is more ideal because it is easier to adjust there the legs / pouches sit by just pulling the pants up (it does have belt loops). I just tucked in the jacket, and with the belts on you can't even tell.

For reference I am 5'9" and about 170lb, I went with the medium and I find that it fits fairly well. Although I do wish that the front cargo pockets would sit a little higher (they sit closer to the cod piece in reference picks). I would probably fit better with the medium top and small for the pants, but I am not sure if they would split sizes like that. I also attached a photo with my cut EVA foam armor from the provided templates, and laid them on top of the armor that came with this suit. They seem to be pretty accurate in size, although not exact. The shoulder plates are small. The gauntlets in these photo's are also placeholder gauntlets that I made until I purchase a kit. The ones that came with the costume are just leather wraps. The "rope belt" is also a placeholder item that I bought from a military surplus store. I will post a picture of the included rope belt and leather gauntlets later. The blaster is a painted Rubies EE-3. The helmet is the Hasbro black series.

 

[DrToothache]

Here are some more close-ups of some of the components. I included both leather ammo belts in the photo (the one purchased on amazon and the one that came with the costume).

 

[Bob A Feet]

Thanks for the pics DrToothache!

The more I look at this, it seems like a perfect starting point for a costume for me, especially for the price.

I have 1 last question:

On the main vest, how are the green and yellow armor pieces attached? Like, are they sewn on or is there velcro or something? I noticed the zipper is in the back, so I'm guessing there must be a way to remove the back piece at least.

Thanks!

 

[DrToothache]

No problem! I hadn't found any detailed reviews of this particular suit so I am just trying to help. I actually wrote a really detailed response to your questions from your second comment with several photos of the costume assembled at a halloween party, but that comment is awaiting moderator approval for some reason (So I don't think you are able to see it yet). So stay tuned for that if you want to see it assembled and see more questions answered. I don't want to double post it and get in trouble lol.

As far as the main vest, all of the armor pieces are sewn on except for the back armor which is held on by velcro.

 

[DrToothache]

The comment looks like it was approved if you want to scroll up and see some photos with the costume on.

 

[Bob A Feet]

Thank you so much DrToothache!!!

What's funny is I'm approximately 5'8" and 165lbs, so I think a Medium will fit me as well!

It looks like AliExpress is going to have a sale on 11/11, so I'm going to buy one of these then. Thanks again! Your pics and insights are really giving me confidence in my future purchase

 

[Bob A Feet]

Just wanted to give everyone a small update.

I ordered the least expensive Boba Fett costume on AliExpress on 11/11, and in less than 2 weeks my package arrived, but it was the wrong costume completely

Luckily I got a full refund, so I ordered another Boba Fett costume from AE on 11/27; I've updated the link in my original post.

$135.52 for me after coupons and all that. It looks like this seller frequently has it on sale for $139.30. I went with this seller (CostumeBuy) since they've had 16 Boba Fett costume orders and 6 reviews, a few of which even have pictures of the costume. I also messaged them to confirm they have the Boba Fett costume in stock. And after comparing the prices of all ~25 sellers of the Boba Fett costume on AE, theirs was actually pretty good (5th cheapest I think).

TL;DR go with my updated link if you want to buy a Boba Fett costume like this one on AE; I'll update everyone once it arrives

 

[CrAzY LoGaN]

looking forward to your update on this mate

 

[Bob A Feet]

looking forward to your update on this mate

Thanks! As a small update, the costume I ordered on 11/27 arrived on 12/15.

For the price it's great, but there seems to be a bit of excess thread on some of the parts. I cut the excess on the belt and it looks pretty good. Gonna go through the other pieces now that the holidays are over.

After that I'll start looking at which pieces I need to build / replace.

 

[spicy fett]

I would love to see pictures when this comes in lol I almost got it a few months back then I fell into the I wanna go all out hole and after 1800 dollars in I’m super curious to see what this one looks like

 

[spicy fett]

Oh wow I don’t know how I missed the pictures lol it actually doesn’t look all that bad for the price at all

 

[CrAzY LoGaN]

thanks for the update .
I'm going to get the same one and replace parts bit by bit .
I have the chest armour ,back ,shoulders and a set of gauntlets to build .
need the cod and knees now

 

[Bob A Feet]

thanks for the update .
I'm going to get the same one and replace parts bit by bit .
I have the chest armour ,back ,shoulders and a set of gauntlets to build .
need the cod and knees now

This is my plan too.

Looking at the AliExpress costume, my plan is to replace or build the following, likely in this order:

1) Knee and shoulder armor (yellow). The shoulder ones are OK-ish but a little small. The knee ones are what you'd see on a child's Halloween costume.
2) Gauntlets (red). Not a terrible placeholder from a distance but a lot of detail is lost. Plus, no wrist rocket.
3) Build a jetpack. It won't be 100% accurate, but it's such a great piece that should be added.
4) Redo the green armor bits, time permitting.
5) Move the wookie braids to the correct side.

I found a lot of great Stickied threads here with templates and tutorials that I'll be sure to read soon. Aside from the main green armor pieces, is there anything I might need to adjust the scale of for my body?

DrToothache you mentioned redoing the (green) armor pieces, did you scale them? You're about the same height and weight as me, so I'm curious if you had to adjust anything. If I end up redoing any of those pieces, it would be cool to keep the scale original.

I'll probably have more questions soon.

 

[Canarylorian]

Hi guys!

Thanks for the infos and pictures. I just ordered the same costume from Ali Express and I am really looking fotward to get it asap. I am so excited! Since childhood I am a Boba fanatic and the Mando show gave me the last push to start my own costume project. I found this post and... for the price it looks amazing.
I already got the Black Series helmet. I bought some tactical helmet pads to make it more confortable (see pics) and I also ordered a pair of boots. They do not have the same colour or the spikes but they I think they look great.
As soon as I get the costume I will upload some pics of the whole thing.
I will need the blaster and eventually built the jetpack although I am not very good building things hahaha.

Please keep posting your customization updates.

 

[Canarylorian]

Ali Express Boba boots are here. I think these are based on the preproduction version. They are not very "canon" but I think they look kind of "cowboy comic style".

 

[Canarylorian]

Okey guys. I just got the Aliexpress costume and I love it. I havent finished the gauntlets yet but I already have the 3d prints. They still need to be painted.

I agree with you all that it is a good base for developing a "proper" amateur Boba. Cheap and fun!
Will post some pics soon!

 

[Bob A Feet]

Thanks for the replies Canarylorian! Sounds like you and I are doing more or less the same thing, lol

I've been working on my EE-3; just waiting for the weather to be good before I put some paint on.

I also picked up some 3mm thick sintra to do the shoulder and knee armor pieces. Going to try and 3D print the knee darts, gauntlets, and shin tools.

I think I'm going to stick with the AliExpress armor pieces for now, but I'd like to add the chest display if I can. I ordered the parts and will play around with it once those arrive.

The shoulder pieces don't look to bad to do, but I'm confused on how to assemble the knee template. I also need to start searching for ROTJ spray paint colors.