“By wearing the helmet and following the Mandalorian rule to never take off my helmet in public”, Sophomore Ethan Mendiola said about his creative costume that will help him stay safe from COVID Halloween. He had planned to make a Mandalorian, a character with a full suit of armor and a helmet from the Disney Plus original show “The Mandalorian”, cosplay all along, the convenience of safety was just an added bonus, the helmet can provide a easy way for him to wear a mask under it while it not taking away from his costume.
Mendiola has been in the business of creating a variety of things based on the shows and movies he loves to watch. Most of his work involves customizing Lego figures to accurately portray the character in the movies and TV shows. He’s also worked on cosplay items such as Iron Man gauntlets that even light up. This fall, he decided to take inspiration from the Disney Plus original show “The Mandalorian.” He’s been worked on it for three months.
“Trying to make the shoulders out of cardboard has been a pain, and trying to get the rest of the suit hasn’t been that easy. Making the two gauntlets and gloves took me about 4 weeks in total to get them just about right,” Mendiola said. “I had collected boxes and had bought new scissors and 
rulers over the summer,” Mendiola said.
He not only works very hard but very smart as well. It’s not just anybody that can create all the things that Mendiola does. It takes a lot of work but he is able to come out with some pretty stunning things. Like his countless collection of detailed custom Lego mini-figures.
There are several ideas like Mendiola’s incorporated COVID safety into Halloween costumes this year. The easiest one was to paint or make a mask that goes on theme with the costume. For example, a skeleton mask for a skeleton costume, or plain white mask to match a plain white ghost. However for sophomore Ethan Morales, incorporating a mask with his costume was a lot easier.
“I was going to wear it whether it[the COVID safety] was a bonus or not,” Morales said.
Morales’ costume idea was a character named Kakashi from “Naruto,” since that’s his favorite character. The character, wears a mask already. This means that Morales has to make no changes to his costume to stay safe during Halloween.
Let’s just hope that masks will be optional next year.