Creators Log - CyberPunk 2077 Aldecaldo Nomad
A fun cosplay I did from one of my favorite games.
Welcome to Creators Log - a log of the who, why, and how behind my cosplays. For this entry, I look at a cosplay from one of my favorite games - CyberPunk 2077.
******SPOILER WARNING******* - CYBERPUNK 2077 PLOT SPOILERS BELOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
Cosplaying as an Aldecaldo Nomad
The Character
In the world of CyberPunk 2077, the Aldecaldos are a band of nomads that gamers encounter during the main story. Nomads are broken off into different packs with the Aldecaldos being the oldest in the game lore. If gamers start CyberPunk 2077 with the nomad life path, they start the game outside of Night City as a disgraced and ousted member of Bakkers family of the Snake Nation nomad pack.
The nomads live outside of city limits and bounce from area to area. They are known for being very mechanically sound and work as a family to ensure the entire camp has all the needed resources for survival.
Gamers encounter Panam Palmer, a member of the Adelcaldos, and end up working with her and other members of the Aldecaldo family throughout the game. Panam becomes a romanceable character and one of the endings sees the main character V team up with the Aldecaldos in an attempt to save V from the relic malfunction in his brain.
There are many Aldecaldos in the family, and V only gets to know a select few. This opened up many options for a character.
The Inspiration
The goal for the cosplay was to look like I could be part of the Aldecaldo camp outside of Night City. In some ways, I wanted to channel my interpretation of V if V fully embraced the Alecaldo lifestyle (which occurs in one of the ending options of the game).
I was drawn to the Aldecaldo life path as they had a strong sense of family and community involvement. The betterment of the community over the individual is a prevalent theme for the Aldecaldos, and Nomads overall. Coming from a big Irish/Italian family, this theme stuck with me. I learned more about the characters through side quests and by taking the Aldecaldo ending, and felt a strong connection to the characters.
I also liked how they went against the grain. They didn’t accept the corporate-controlled world of Night City and forged their own path. They have a rebellious feel to them that connected with me instantly.
The Process
The true Aldecaldo jacket is a unique leather jacket. As much as I would have loved to have had that jacket, it was well above my crafting skill level, and budget to buy a pre-made one.
I looked at a lot of reference photos to decide what clothing I wanted to go with. The Aldecaldos are passionate about their cars so I wanted to incorporate that into the cosplay. That was why I chose the seatbelt I did. The pants also had seatbelt like accessories that were similar to what some characters wear in the game.
As for the cybernetic implants, I used this helpful YouTube video.
For the back patch, I cut up an Adelcaldo t-shirt and glued it to the back of the vest for a back patch effect. Here is the full materials list with links. The rest of the patches were made from vector files that were posted to Reddit. I may add more down the line, but I am happy with what I have on there now.
The first Aldecaldo wordmark patch was stiched on a white background by mistake so I improvised and fabric glued it to the pants to add some character to them.
Cutoff black denim vest (Amazon)
Aldecaldo t-shirt (cut up for back patch, TeePublic)
CyberPunk Samurai undershirt (TeePublic)
Belt (Amazon)
Pants (Upstreamers)
Bullet necklace (for if I want to go for a full V feel, Etsy)
Prop pistol (Designed by 3D)
Facepaint (Amazon)
The End Result and Photoshoot
A very comfortable cosplay that could blend into Night City. More upgrades are possible and will probably be done down the line.
Sepra Photography shot this at Anime Magic 2024 which was the first con I wore the cosplay to. We shot in the area surrounding the convention center such as the parking garages and nearby underpass of I-90. It captured the grit and grime that a mercenary in Night City would be seen hanging around in. A lot of shots highlighted the emblems on the vest which I was thrilled about. The editing gave the photos a futurist cyberpunk feel that matches the feel of the game.
I hope you enjoyed the version of “Creators Log”. Thanks for reading and happy creating! Be sure to connect with me at all my links here!