Home Made Star Wars Costumes Admiral Ackbar
Costume Pictures: Admiral on the bridge Ackbar the tactician Ackbar Ackbar digging for answers Ackbar's to do list: 1. Blow up Death Star 2. Party with annoying Ewoks!		Reference Pictures: Admiral Ackbar with closeup of Admiral tag Ackbar on the bridge Ackbar in the comfy seat

Materials needed:
Don Post Admiral Ackbar mask and hands (check out GalaxyTrading)
Belt and holster - White 2" canvas strip, white velcro, pop rivets, cardboard
Shirt - White long sleeve shirt.
Uniform jerkin - White felt, hot glue.
Pants - White sweat pants.
Admiral insignia - cardboard, plastic laminating sheet, bitmap of insignia, glue stick, hot glue.

I made a small alteration on the Ackbar mask. I added a little piece of sheet metal to the inside of the mouth to clip it together. This prevents the Admiral's mouth from gaping open.

The Ackbar hands can be improved simply by stuffing a rolled-up sock in the forearm of each one. This will give the costume the "Popeye arm" appearance that was intended.

The uniform jerkin rounds out the costume. It is similar to the Imperial Officer jerkin but it is rectangle shaped, not tapered. The head hole is larger to accomodate Ackbar's neck and there is a raised collar. The two halves of the jerkin are made from two 15" x 30" felt squares. The collar is a strip of white felt 28" long and about 6"wide. Fold the collar over on itself several times and hot glue it in place. You will have to do some estimating on the size of the neck hole in the jerkin - it needsto be wide enough to accomodate the mask's neck but not so wide that your white shirt shows underneath.

The Admiral insignia is in a bitmap file. Open the file in your favorite graphics program (I use Microsoft Publisher) and enlarge the image so that the Admiral chest tag is 2" (5 cm) wide. Print it out. Cut out the insignia and use the glue stick to glue it to cardboard. Cover it with the plastic laminating sheet and cut out the insignia. Hot glue it to the uniform jerkin.

The belt is similar to the belts in the basics section except this time I pop-riveted the velcro to the belt and the belt buckle.

Index | Links | The Basics

Admiral Ackbar is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He first appeared in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, in which he was portrayed by Timothy M. Rose. He later became a supporting character in the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" of novels, video games, and comic books.

Contents

* 1 Character overview

* 2 Background

o 2.1 History

* 3 Pop culture

* 4 External links

Character overview

Ackbar is of the aquatic race Mon Calamari. He was perhaps the finest military commander in the service of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic. He led the attack on the second Death Star at Endor from the flagship Mon Calamari Cruiser, Home One. However, unlike many career officers he was unable to properly play the political game, relying on his trusted friend Mon Mothma to cover him. When Mon Mothma retired from political service, Ackbar found severe difficulties in facing the political realities of high command (though he did have an ally in Leia Organa-Solo).

Background

History

For a time, Ackbar was enslaved to Grand Moff Tarkin, where it appears that he learned much about the art and skill of command. Rebel forces later rescued him and he swiftly rose through the ranks, designing the Alliance B-Wing starfighter along the way. In terms of tactics, he is most well-known for his audacious, close-range assaults first seen at the Battle of Endor, including the "Ackbar Slash". He fought numerous campaigns against the Galactic Empire, and numerous splinter warlord groups. During Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, Borsk Fey'lya accused Ackbar of treason, citing bank account increases prior to the battle of Sluis Van. However, the money was placed in there by Imperial Intelligence, and Ackbar was soon exonerated. He retired some time after a truce was signed with the Imperial Remnant, when Leia resigned and Fey'lya was elected Chief of State.

In The New Jedi Order, Ackbar was described as being frail and of a pale blue complexion, brought on by old age. Towards the end of the war, he stayed in his home on Mon Calamari recuperating. Although he was still fully cognizant, he was attended to by Winter. When the Yuuzhan Vong invasion came, he pulled himself out of retirement to plan a trap against those forces in the Deep Core. He did, however, come up with the battle plan that would lead to the New Republic victory at Ebaq 9. That plan succeeded and restored morale after the many losses in the invasion. However, this exertion proved taxing for the aging Admiral, and would soon be fatal. He died of natural causes only days before the resolution of the conflict. The funeral was a sad occasion for his home world, with many guests attending.

Pop culture

Admiral Ackbar is a well-known Internet meme, usually spouting his famous quote, "It's a trap!!" This is usually in reference to a pornographic image of a woman suspected of being a transvestite or crossdresser.

Admiral Ackbar also appears in the Robot Chicken Star Wars special, crying out "It's a trap!" when rescuing children from a brand of cereal inferior to his own "Admiral Ackbar Cereal" (with marshmallows, imitation crab meat, and brine shrimp).