Did you come across a 7-foot-tall Chewbacca at Comic Con in New York? There was a familiar face inside. Adam Savage of “Mythbusters” and Tested fame went incognito on the NYCC floor as the furry fan favorite “Star Wars” character Chewbacca. We watched him get ready and followed him around to see how fans reacted. Following is a transcript of the video.
Adam Savage: Hey I’m Adam Savage from Tested.com, formerly of “Mythbusters.”
I’m here at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York for New York City’s Comic Con.
If you didn’t know this about me, I have a cosplay habit. I go to cons all year round, and I walk in costume.
Last year was my first year at New York City Comic Con, and I made a seven-foot-tall Totoro costume. Today I am doing a brand new thing. I am walking with Chewbacca as a captured prisoner of a First Order stormtrooper, who will be played by Tested.com’s own Norman Chan.
The trick to Chewie is that he’s a little bit tousled. His hair is tousled. And if you tousle it right, he looks right. See? It’s kind of an Empire hairdo.
There are a lot of little things to do to prep for Chewbacca. One: I have to take my glasses off and put in a single contact lens. This is how I’ve learned to see in cosplay. If I put in two contact lenses, I can’t see my phone, and that effectively makes me useless.
I also made some Imperial cuffs out of PVC. One hour build.
I have some tall boots that I wear that make me about 7 inches taller. The shirt here and the pants are Kanekalon artificial hair latch hooked onto webbing. So it’s a very lightweight and breathable costume. And then with the top of Chewbacca’s head rising about 5 inches above mine, I am almost 7-feet tall.
Yes, I do sweat in there.
I am ready to be led around as a prisoner.
I am so energized by what it’s like to walk around. Because when people see a Chewbacca in front of them, they kind of lose their minds. They never thought that they would see a Chewbacca, and many of them just come up and hug you.
Like, Chewie is such an amazing character. He’s my favorite non-human character in film. So I love bringing him around and allowing people to experience a Chewie in the wild.
“Get a picture!”
“Hurry up, he’s a prisoner!”
“Chewie!”
I wanna take pictures with everybody, and when we stop, it’s just not enough time. So we take like 10 or 15, and then we have to keep moving. Otherwise we’re just going to clog up that whole portion of the con.
“Chewbacca!”
“Hey Chewie, can I get a selfie?”
I’m Adam Savage. You guys look amazing. Keep it quiet.
“Later Chewie!”
Dude!
Norman Chan: Oh my god!
Savage: How was … hey look at you sweaty!
I’m replacing a portion of the water I just sweated out. Nathan Fillion told me that in a very hot suit, he’s lost as much as 3 pounds in an hour in water weight alone. And I’m sure I have come close to the same thing.
The second best part about cosplay, aside from walking the floor, is taking the costume off.
Alright, back to the rehearsals for Mummenschanz.
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