Craptions - July 30th

This just came across the NEG boards:

- Time to listen to some Dropkick Murphys, drink 37 pints, and get revenge on those f**ing tiny bear things.
- WHY AREN'T YOU WEARING GREEN? EVERYONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE WEARING GREEN? GO HOME "NOW" AND PUT SOME GREEN ON? MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!!!
- "Thhhe rebel plansh are not in the main computer... We're gonna need to check out thish other pub, I mean computer..hic!"
- Go ahead jawa. I f**king DARE you to type something funny about me.
- Ironically this picture was taken before Happy Hour
- Open the pub doors! Open the pub doors!
- How the f**k did these guys get costumes that are so awesome when they couldn't even afford clovers that aren't just paper cut-outs?!
- The empire's covert invasion of planet Ireland went off without a hitch. If you wear green, hand out free brews and carry a gun, no one asks any questions.
- Something, anything had to be done to improve the storm troopers aim. Thats when Lord Vader had his wildest Idea. ..... Lucky Charms
- You should see how they celebrate 420
- "Hey! Hey Storm Trooper, say 'all your base are belong to us'!"
The photographer was subsequently shot.
- Troopers!! To the PUB!!

The rest are here: http://www.cracked.com/craptions/craption/933

The trooper pictured? That's me.

Welcome to the Dark Side

This article just came in from Tulsa World:

Welcome to the Darth side

by: MIKE AVERILL World Scene Writer
7/31/2008 12:00 AM

Why would Sam Bell choose the Dark Side? "Ask anybody who the best villain is. Even people who don't know 'Star Wars' know who Darth Vader is," Bell said.

Sam Bell always loved the Storm Troopers in the "Star Wars" films. Growing up, he watched the movies and played with the toys. "Now," he said, "I'm my own action figure."

Bell is the head of the Oklahoma Fire Team of the Star Garrison, part of the 501st Legion, or Vader's Fist — an organization whose members dress in costume as members of the Empire. Bell and other members of the 501st Legion will be decked out this weekend at DefCon 7.

"The conventions are for fun," he said. "If I can make one kid smile, I don't care how much I spend on armor. That's all I care about."

Members of the 501st Legion will check for admission badges at the entrance to the convention and will also have an information booth.

"And we want to make sure that no rebels are acting up," he joked.

Bell purchased most of his outfit on eBay and assembled it with hot glue, foam and Velcro. His blaster is hand-made through resin casting. He said his outfit cost about $600, but some people spend up to $1,200.

"I saved up my money and bought everything piece by piece," he said.

The 30-piece uniform is lightweight plastic.

"The disco boots are the heaviest part of the outfit," Bell said.

He declared that the 501st Legion is George Lucas' preferred group.

"We pride ourselves in being as close to the movies as possible. We're not extremely strict, but we are portraying people's childhoods and hopes."

So why does Bell align himself with the Dark Side instead of siding with the Rebel Alliance as a member of the Rebel Legion?

"First, it's simply cooler," he said. "Second, I've always been attracted to the shiny armor."

And there's the fact that the Storm Troopers are led by one of the best villains, Darth Vader.

"Ask anybody who the best villain is. Even people who don't know 'Star Wars' know who Darth Vader is," Bell said.

Bell's been a "Star Wars" fan since his father took him to see "Return of the Jedi" at a drive-in theater.

" 'Jedi' was the first movie I'd seen. I remember loving seeing things that I never could imagine were possible. The biker scouts zipping through the forest hooked me."

He also enjoys the Star Wars films because they have a story that other movies try to live up to.

"It shows humanity at its best," he said. "There's turmoil and overcoming that turmoil and delving back into it. And I'm simply just a geek."



About the 501st Legion


The Oklahoma Fire Team has nine members, one short of being a squad, and the Star Garrison — which encompasses Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma — has 170.

The goals of the 501st Legion are to celebrate the “Star Wars” movies through the wearing of costumes, to promote the quality and improvement of costumes and props, and to contribute to the local community through charity and volunteer work, its Web site says.

The 501st Legion has more than 4,000 members around the world, even in Antarctica.

For more information on the Star Garrison and how to join, go online to tulsaworld.com/stargarrison or e-mail info@stargarrison.com

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?articleID=20080731_17_D1_hAbout389210

Pictures from Toys R Us

Now that the weekend is now over, we've gotten all of our pictures in from the Williston event. Here's some of the highlights:

Pictures from Weird A!

Finally, we've gotten our pictures from the Weird Al concert:

Hanging out prior to the show:

Practicing our dance moves:


Dion and TK having fun:


Me:


Group shot:


On Stage!


On Stage:





Final group shot:


Full event report here. No sign of the video yet, but hopefully, that'll be coming.

Armor Pictures

I took some pictures of my progress last night:

Snaps:

Snaps attached:

Gluing forearms:

Gluing sniper plate:

Gluing snaps to thigh:

I ran into a couple of problems - the first thigh part is still too narrow, and the snaps aren't holding, so I took a piece of plastic from the sign and attached snaps, and it fits much better now.
Still having some problems with getting the snaps to actually hold to the plastic. Hopefully, I'll have everything done by this week.

New Cover for Order 66

DelRey has changed the cover for Karen Traviss's upcoming novel Order 66:

I'm not sure that I like the change. At all. The other one was so much better, fit the Star Wars universe well. This one reminds me of something on a children's book or something. Bleh. I'm sure the book itself will be good though. This book is being released on September 16th as a hardcover. Preorder here.

Fun triumphs at BabelCon 3

I believe that this was the Mississippi Outpost:

Fun triumphs at BabelCon 3

Phenix Crowley, dressed as a ‘Star Wars’ stormtrooper, leads Ali Harcrom, dressed as Spiderman, back to the children’s area Saturday afternoon during BabelCon, at the Holiday Inn Select in Baton Rouge. Organizers say BabelCon is a conference that uses science fiction to generate interest in science and history.

By MARK H. HUNTER
Good triumphed over evil Saturday morning when Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, flashing their blue lightsabers, rescued a hostage from Darth Vader and a squad of Imperial storm troopers.

And that was only the beginning of BabelCon 3, an eclectic convention of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and science fiction/fantasy fans meeting again today at the Holiday Inn Select, 4728 Constitution Ave.

Named after a “Star Trek” television episode about a diplomatic gathering on planet Babel, the convention has mushroomed from a single celebrity visitor and dozens of fans three years ago to a half-dozen celebrities and an estimated 1,000 or so fans this year.

The hostage, BabelCon 3 chairman Andrew Myers, was introducing celebrity host Bob May, the human inside the Robot in the 1950s TV series “Lost in Space,” to about 75 fans when a dozen pirates swarmed the center aisle of the “Imperial Senate Chambers” meeting room.

Their seizure of Myers lasted only a minute or two until Vader, played by Gary Breaux, and his storm troopers of the “501st Legion” overpowered the pirates.

Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Wayne Dupree and Tommy Chaisson of the Red Stick Rebellion Star Wars Collectors Club, quickly defeated Vader’s squad. They released Myers to Queen Anne of the Society for Creative Anachronism and members of her court, who then knighted Myers and officially opened the event.

“This was the best opening of any ‘con’ I’ve seen, and I’ve been to a lot of them,” said Linda Anderson, an avowed “Trekker” who sat in the second row.

A librarian in real life, Anderson hosts science fiction and fantasy book clubs in the Jefferson Parish Public Library system. “Science fiction fans are the best — you know that ‘fan’ is short for ‘fanatic’ and we are fanatics!”

May, who attends conventions all over the world and was the lone celebrity at BabelCon 1, said the Baton Rouge meeting is one of his favorites. “Coming here is like seeing friends and family,” May said. “I adore these people.”

Josh Sonnier, 19, and Alex Louviere, 18, both from Jennings, were sitting on the front row and barely avoided several lightsaber blows during the hostage rescue.

“We’re fans — we came here on a whim,” said Sonnier. “We’ll be here Sunday, too.”

“I almost got hit by Vader’s sword,” added Louviere. “I’ve been to some comic cons, and this is just as good.”

Richard Hatch, who played Captain Apollo in the original “Battlestar Galactica” TV show, was happily signing autographed photos for a cluster of fans. Hatch has a recurring role as Tom Zarek in the current remake of "Battlestar Galactica."

Source

Mission Report: Wareham Borders Opening

My latest troop this past weekend was the grand opening in of a Borders concept store in Wareham, MA. All together, we had four TKs, a scout, a Republic Commando, a Vader, an officer, a Tusken Raider and a Rebel Pilot come out to attend the event, where we were on hand for pictures. Prior to the event, I went out and picked up new under armor. The Weird Al concert showed a need for new stuff, a new shirt (all black this time) and new pants that would fit better under the legs. The event was fun, pretty easy. Basically, all that we really did was walk around the store, meet kids and posed for pictures. I ended up losing my sniper plate a couple of times, but was able to keep everything else together, which was nice, for once. It was a low-key event, but a fun turnout, and we had fun afterward with dinner and a screening of The Dark Knight. Fun event, the highlight of an otherwise crappy weekend.

501st Caught on Camera

The latest pictures from flickr featuring the 501st:

Garrison Carida at a Relay for Life:




A Dewback created by members of the Japanese Outpost:

TK at Disney:

Unknown Garrison, event: festival fantazie

(I LOVE this picture, the way it's structure)

Unknown garrison, Forgotten Realms:



Great Lakes Garrison Trooper:


Old Line Garrison w/ Weird Al:


Garrison Carida, unknown parade:


More from Star Wars Weekends:


Chinese trooper?

Tie Pilot:

Garrison Excelsior w/ Weird Al:

UK Troopers having fun:


Troopers from Wizard World:

More next week!

501st Caught on Camera

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done this - things have been incredibly busy lately!


I need to showcase the Montpelier parade first with us and the fantastic walker:

Me!

Other 4th of July parades:





Camp Pendelton Family Day:



Dune Sea Garrison Event:




Biker Scout:

Terror Australis Garrison at GenCon Oz:


Clone at Japan Expo:

More 4th of July:

Star Wars Weekend wrapup:




Random Scout:
This one's titled The Jedi Killed Oscar:

Random TK:
UK TK:

More next week. Weird Al pictures!