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Bay Area Cop Makes Darth Vader Wheelchair Costume For 12-Year-Old

STOCKTON (CBS13) — At Comic-Con this weekend in Stockton a dream came true for a local boy with a love for Star Wars.

He was surprised with an elaborate costume for his wheelchair and was transformed into his favorite character, Darth Vader.

It was the moment 12-year-old Xavier Valero had been waiting for… joining the Dark Side.

(source: Dan Parsons & Lee Koshe)

Valero has muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound.

"Oh, he's a big fan, yeah," said Erica Espino, Xavier's Mom said. "I think it's because [Darth Vader's] undefeated so he thinks he's undefeated."

The construction of the costume alone is worthy of a trilogy.

"This project is something that I made time for because I wanted to showcase it here locally, at a big event with Cosplayers who are going to appreciate and love what it is," said costume designer Cory Hunt.

Piece by piece, Bay Area police officer Cory Hunt and a team of around 15 volunteers with the Magic Wheelchair Organization assembled the "Advanced TIE-fighter" that stretches more than six feet long and five feet wide.

Hunt describes the costume as a hexagon split in half which creates a wing shape on each side.

"We have a flight stick, like the actual control sticks that Darth Vader had, but we have a google app on there that is targeting an x-wing in the middle, and if you push it, it scores hots on the x-wing if it's centered right," Hunt said.

The designers even attached four speakers on the costume for sound effects. The speakers can play the Star Wars theme song, TIE-fighter sounds, laser blasts, and more.

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