Coming up this week we'll meet the North East Legion - a group of Star Wars cosplayers who put their high-quality replica costumes to good use by helping raise money for charities across the region.
00:00In the bustling tapestry of Britain, where centuries-old traditions blend seamlessly with modern life,
00:05there exists individuals who march to the beat of their own drum.
00:10Meet the inventors, the dreamers and the eccentrics, whose daily lives are anything but conventional,
00:15as we showcase the vibrant eccentricity that colours the landscape of British culture.
00:21Unconventional Brits invites you to step into the worlds of local legends,
00:25celebrating the delightful diversity that makes Britain truly extraordinary.
00:30Coming up this week, a group of Star Wars cosplayers who raise eyebrows and a lot of money for charity.
00:43I guess you've got one of the most difficult costumes to wear.
00:47No, I'll be honest, it's dead easy. I can sit down. It's not like a Stormtrooper where they're all stiff.
00:51This is quite loose. It's comfortable.
00:53Oh, so is this one better than the normal Stormtrooper?
00:55Much better.
00:57This one looks cooler as well.
00:58That's what I think as well.
01:00Return of the Jedi is a better film as well.
01:02Well, controversial.
01:04Myself, I'm not a big gigantic nerd whatsoever.
01:08I'm probably the person in the group that knows the least amount of Star Wars.
01:14So when they're talking, I was like, a lot of it does go over my head.
01:18But you just sort of learn little things and stuff like that.
01:20You start appreciating costumes as you're getting along and things like that.
01:24My name's Nigel Dukes and we're at the Gated International Stadium for Nerdfest 2025.
01:30I'm part of the North East Legion.
01:32Some people would say leader, but I'm mainly just an organiser.
01:35So we help charities and events with Star Wars characters.
01:39I joined the North East Legion a few...
01:52I can't remember how long it was, but it was a few weeks ago.
01:56And I've been trying my best to get down to events.
01:58So this is my first event with them.
02:00Cosplaying when I was a kid, really.
02:02I loved to dress up as characters like Star Wars, Marvel, Game of Thrones, that sort of thing.
02:06But Star Wars has mostly just been my passion, really.
02:10And yeah, so I've been cosplaying for years now.
02:13I've always loved costumes.
02:15I've always loved dressing up.
02:16That was a bit weird, but I thought, I love Star Wars.
02:19But put the two together, why not do it?
02:22I've been costuming...
02:24Oh.
02:26Close to seven years, but we were with the North East Legion for five and a half years.
02:29Hi, I'm Den Hewitt.
02:30Here today is Han Solo from The Force Awakens.
02:33I was at Kinran with Steve, who's part of the group, and he tried to persuade me to join the Legion.
02:39I'd done a bit of costuming before, and obviously from an acting background,
02:43so I've got a lot of costumes and props myself, and Star Wars fans.
02:47And I started doing a bit of Star Wars stuff before I joined the Legion.
02:52I've actually been in two Star Wars films.
02:55I was a Navy trooper in Rogue One, and I was a member of the Resistance on Prince of Theia's ship in The Last Jedi.
03:06Brilliant fun, brilliant fun.
03:08Like you say, if you're a Star Wars fan, to be in a Star Wars film, it's great.
03:13So I spent about 20, 30 days working on The Last Jedi, about five on Rogue One, Pinewood.
03:19It's all very hush-hush.
03:21Even when we were walking from the changing area to the studio, they put cloaks on us,
03:26so in case there were drones above, couldn't spot the costumes.
03:29We help Cash for Kids, who is today, mind.
03:33Cash for Kids, it's actually Michael's charity, the organiser.
03:37We love just to help a charity, doesn't matter if it's big, small.
03:43I mean, the stuff we've got coming up, like NSPCC.
03:46We've helped the Sunderland Empire Foundation recently as well.
03:51Tickle Pink, Mario Curie.
03:53On our doorstep's a local charity, a way out to local charity in Teesside, and that's about it.
04:01But we do do a lot of charity work.
04:04It's a nice surprise just to bring a bit of sort of something that's not expected to a shopping centre.
04:10Because, I mean, obviously people are there to do the shopping, and then when they see, you know, a few stormtroopers,
04:15they sort of take them by a surprise, which is really nice.
04:17I think the supermarkets are great, because people aren't expecting to bum into stormtroopers and Darth Vader while they're doing the weekly shop.
04:23At a Comic-Con, you expect to see Star Wars, where we become a little bit of the norm.
04:28So when you do a supermarket, it's a little bit out of the ordinary, and yeah, the response is great.
04:32We see the kids, the adults see Star Wars shops and think, oh my God, we need to go and get a photograph.
04:37And people just, they put money in the bucket and have a photograph, yeah.
04:41But definitely draws attention to us.
04:42Today we're going to be inducting Brian, Hugh and Nick, who are guests at the show.
04:46They've obviously been involved in Star Wars, and it's always nice to thank them for their contribution to Star Wars,
04:52by inducting them into the Legion.
04:55Obviously, it's just a plaque, but it's a little bit of a thank you for it.
05:03We try and do them every time there's a Star Wars guest at a show that we're at.
05:06And our best one is Giancarlo Esposito, who played Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian.
05:14He was at a show that we were at, and we hurriedly got a plaque together, and it was nice.
05:20You know, as I said, everybody's always gracious about it, so it's just nice to thank you for being part of the story.
05:27Just a little acknowledgement from the North East Legion for your contribution to the Star Wars universe.
05:32Would you like to induct you into the North East Legion, if that's OK?
05:35All right, welcome.
05:36Excellent.
05:37So, to make sure you're in the area, you don't mind carrying a bucket for us.
05:40That'd be great.
05:42So, there you go.
05:45Not much.
05:46I'm taking that much.
05:49So, there is yours, sir.
05:54That's yours for the...
05:55All right, give them all a big round of applause there for that one.
06:02So, about four years ago,
06:05I was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
06:07And my life took a little bit of a turn.
06:10And so, what I'd done was, I wanted to do Star Wars things,
06:15since I'd been interested since I was a kid.
06:16And I'd just found a goodbye share accident, came across them, went to the accruing event, introduced myself.
06:26Hence, eight costumes later, and quite a bit of money later.
06:29So, two years ago, I joined them.
06:34And so, it's good for me health and everything, because it makes us feel happy.
06:38It makes us feel I'm doing something worthwhile with it as well.
06:42And I just love wearing Star Wars costume.
06:46It's just so much fun.
06:48You can't have any more fun.
06:49Unless you're wearing a Sand Trooper, or Tiki, or Storm Trooper.
06:52It's very difficult to breathe in it.
06:55But the smile on your face underneath is incredible.
06:58You just, since when you put it on to when you take it off, you've just got this huge smile all day long.
07:04Just knowing that you're doing it a little bit good for people.
07:06But I'm also doing it for me health as well, basically.
07:09At first, it was that.
07:11And it just happens that this group, the Northeast Legion, actually do charity event.
07:16It's the vast, the high percentage of charity events we do.
07:20We do everywhere from the Metro Centre up to the Star Wars Galactic theme bar up in Hartlepool, things like that.
07:29As far as Cramlington, we cover the entire Northeast.
07:32We've got so many characters in the group as well.
07:34And it's just so, so every time you do a troop, you just find out different things.
07:41I hired the group to an event that I was hosting, and got to know Nigel through that.
07:46And I thought, you know, just the work to do for charity, I'm going to get myself a costume and get right involved.
07:50Northeast Legion, this will be coming up to our seventh year.
07:54Yeah, seventh year in July.
07:56We'd noticed that there was a lot of groups outside the area coming in to do events.
08:01And there was nothing sort of Northeast based.
08:05I'm quite happy just to take a bit more of a backseat of it nowadays.
08:09My name's James Coxon.
08:12I'm a local member.
08:13I live in South Shields.
08:15I used to do quite a lot of reenactment, Romans, English Civil War.
08:19But the travelling became crazy, and I couldn't afford to do the travelling.
08:28So I thought, Star Wars, and I've always enjoyed it.
08:32I wanted to see it when it first came out in 1977.
08:34I must have been in the Odeon in Newcastle, I think.
08:37But I came out, and I thought, oh, it was magic.
08:41Because it didn't treat science fiction as, like, the films of the period, the 50s and that.
08:50It was quite, it was always monsters, and they were always the bad guys.
08:54And the change, the change, where there was people who looked like monsters, but there were the good guys.
08:59I'm sort of taking a bit of a step back nowadays, because I'm 69 this year.
09:05So it's a case of just easing back, because I find it hard to be on my feet all day nowadays.
09:11Generally speaking, wearing costume longer and helmet,
09:18because every time they probably stopped building, there was a helmet in the off.
09:22But we made a three-hour stint without taking a helmet up,
09:28and we've sort of got a sort of, not particularly hard and fast rule,
09:32but it's, you don't take your helmet off, because it sort of ruins the illusion.
09:40It wouldn't be unheard of to take your helmet off and then tip the sweat out.
09:46I've just been actually selling off a lot of my costumes,
09:49but I only had really one.
09:51But the black flight suit, you can get about four different costumes, I would admit.
09:56The Thai pilot, the reserve pilot.
09:59I have many outfits, but my favourite is Obi-Wan Kenobi, episode three.
10:03Oh, and they come from many places now.
10:05Of course, with the advent of 3D printing, they can come off a print bed,
10:09but now it's sort of hand-sewn, handmade.
10:13Stuff does come from makers, obviously from America and the UK,
10:17but there's a lot of handmade stuff, which is really nice to see.
10:22And here is an ISB officer from Andor, the Andor series.
10:26It's the Imperial Security Bureau, so even the Imperial Army don't like us.
10:30But they're bad guys. HR, I suppose.
10:32And my favourite one is the one that you see me in now, my Jedi cosplay.
10:36I actually got this from America, I got it from Galaxy S.
10:39It cost a pretty penny more than that, it was worth it.
10:41You got a good Darth Vader, about 5k.
10:45You got a good Boba Fett, about 5k as well.
10:47Er, yeah. I didn't tell my partner how much it cost, but it was plenty.
10:52Unfortunately, I've got a great thing for buying a costume.
10:56It might look fantastic on somebody else.
10:58As soon as I put it on, it doesn't look as good, and we'll have a good laugh together.
11:02So they're my new group of friends, basically.
11:05With our group we do, we get together at Christmas,
11:08and there's quite a lot on social media.
11:10But yeah, everyone's really great and supportive.
11:13They help you with your costumes, and all just a good crack.
11:15I quite like, you know, the social side of it.
11:19I've made a lot of friends over the years,
11:22and I'm pretty well known in the group now,
11:26and sort of like one of the originals of the North East Legion.
11:31Everyone likes Star Wars, and everyone's here for the right reasons.
11:36Next week, we'll meet a resourceful artist
11:38who makes portraits of her models using their own make-up as paint.
11:42Some of my portraits smell, actually.
11:46Yes, some people have brought perfume.
11:48Some people have brought perfume.
11:48I'm pretty good at it.
11:49Some people have brought perfume in our make-up as paint.
