Happy May 4th to all who celebrate. On top of the excellent news that our princess Carrie Fisher is finally getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, you also get to delight in this abridged list of some cool Star Wars-themed builds we liked the look of.
Yoda Twitter streamer
We don’t know how we missed this from TeCoEd (aka teacher Dan Aldred) back in 2018, but we’re willing to time-travel in order to experience the brilliance that is Yoda the Twitter manager. It’s a Lego alarm clock with a Raspberry Pi Zero W stuffed inside and a Pimoroni inky pHAT displaying tweets that mention your handle or include the hashtag #StarWars.
Check out Dan’s YouTube video or read his Hackster article for more information on this build.
Star Wars arcade machine
This time last year, The MagPi featured this brilliant three-quarter-size Star Wars-themed arcade machine. Maker James Milroy wanted to build a replica, or as close to one as he could reasonably manage, of the Atari Star Wars arcade cabinet. This magnificent beast was actually a compromise: what James really wanted to build was an entire Atari Star Wars Cockpit, because that’s what he played on in the eighties, but sadly his adult house doesn’t have enough room to for him to realise his childhood fantasy.
A Raspberry Pi 3B+ together with a Pimoroni Picade X HAT supports the gameplay. You can download The MagPi #105 for free and head to page 16 to read the full article detailing the build process.
Homemade lightsabers
We popped over to SiliCon in San José, California last summer. When we told our Maker in Residence we were going, his mind immediately and correctly went to costume props. Specifically Star Wars props.
An RP2040-powered Adafruit Prop-Maker FeatherWing is hiding inside the 3D-printed handle to power the LEDs inside the tube. Here’s a nice blog about the whole affair.
Cosplay hero
Before you go, I must draw your attention to the finest Star Wars cosplay I have ever seen. This is the first instance I remember and I’ve seen people replicate the idea many times since. The tweet below mentions a Rowan Underwood on imgur as the originator of the image, but I can’t say for sure who the ghostly person in the photo is.
I am desperate, and I mean desperate, to hear all of your cosplay ideas in the comments. If resources and skills were limitless, what would you like to build for yourself to wear? And those of you lacking god-level sewing and/or soldering skills shouldn’t feel disheartened, given that the sublimely low-tech example above was crowned the G.O.A.T.
