For members of the 501st and Rebel Legions, membership means celebrating Star Wars and contributing to local community and charitable causes. Virtually every week somewhere in the world, an event featuring members dressed as characters from the Galactic Empire or the Old Republic or the Rebel Alliance may be found helping out their neighbors and bringing smiles to everyone they encounter.
No Comments » | 
Tags: Charity, Costumes, R2-D2 Builders, The 501st Legion, The Rebel Legion
Fans and Community | 
Permalink
As many fans of the Star Wars universe know, 501st and Rebel Legion members across the globe dedicate time and effort year-round in support of local community and charitable organizations to help raise funds and bring smiles to Star Wars fans of all ages. And with spring just around the corner, that means “con season” is back! Officially kicking things off for everyone on the West Coast, Comic-Con International presented WonderCon 2013 with three days of convention fun.
4 Comments » | Tags: Celebrities, clone wars, Comic-Con, Conventions, Costumes, Rebel Legion, The 501st Legion, WonderCon
Collecting, Events, Fans and Community | Permalink
Sometimes it take a near-disaster as well as happy news to remind us what has made — and keeps — Star Wars so strong and such an important part of the lives of so many of us around the world. When it all happens in the space of just seven days, it’s like a bright neon sign flashing the word COMMUNITY.
Let me tell you about my week. About an hour into a guided tour of Rancho Obi-Wan on Monday for eight adults and two children, my friend and museum general manager Anne Neumann appeared at the top of the stairs with as serious a look as I’ve ever seen on her face. “Steve, there’s a major problem in the garage. Come now!” she spit out breathlessly, then turned and left. I couldn’t imagine what was up, only remembering that the garage was filled with scores of cardboard boxes filled with thousands of books and magazines that might — or might not — be duplicates of what we had in the collection. There were also cardboard store displays and more boxes filled with old and new collectibles that were awaiting integration into the museum.
2 Comments » | Tags: Rancho Obi-Wan, Steve Sansweet, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
I’m a little late on this but March had me thinking about Women’s History Month and what it means to Star Wars fans. Just consider the huge shift in sci-fi fan (I hesitate to use the term “geek” but that’s what I’m really thinking) demographics that’s taken place since Star Wars came out. In middle school it was unthinkable to imagine a girl liking Star Wars and the only girl you could identify with the saga was Princess Leia, and she was pretty lonely in that cast of all men. Nowadays you can’t throw a dead mynock in the Star Wars universe without hitting a strong female character on either the light or dark side. And women not only embrace Star Wars and other fandom genres today but they’re dictating a lot of the way such entertainment is written and consumed.
Five figures out of 92 and all of the same girl. Not very girl-friendly back in the day.
17 Comments » | Tags: Fangirls, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
Love is in the air and Valentine’s Day is here again. Aside from the irrational fear we might one day accidentally kiss our sister, Star Wars fans are full of romance just like anyone else! In fact, we’re coming into a golden age for fans. A love of Star Wars crosses every demographic boundary and thanks to powerful female characters in the saga, more and more women are proudly displaying their inner Jedi. As a result, it’s no surprise that fan clubs are becoming the new melting pot where eligible singles meet and make a love connection!
Looks like she got her man
5 Comments » | Tags: The 501st Legion, Valentine's Day
Fans and Community | Permalink
The recent holidays brought back some very special Star Wars memories to me. It was only six years ago on a cold New Year’s morning that over 200 armored men and women were gathered outside a hotel in Pasadena, clustered in squads that waited anxiously as large tour buses came and went like Imperial shuttles to take them away for a very special mission. That was the year George Lucas was named grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade. And he had made it clear from the very start what he wanted as grand marshal. He wanted Imperial Stormtroopers to march with him in the parade. A LOT of Stormtroopers.
9 Comments » | Tags: rose parade, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
Santa Trooper of the Redback Garrison
There’s something about this time of year that brings out the kid in all of us (which is great, because a guy in Stormtrooper armor isn’t fooling anyone the other eleven months of the year). The holidays are a silly time — one for crazy sweaters, sing-songy music, and wishlists of toys (figurative or literal). But it’s also a time of child-like wonder: seeing the world through new eyes, allowing ourselves to ponder the innocence that mankind is capable of, and being moved by the traditions that came before us. The trick is remembering we can learn a lot from kids. Judge them by their size, do not!
Fifteen years ago, the Ghost of Christmas Past paid me a visit. It told me the Star Wars trilogy was returning to the big screen and just like that my childhood flashed before my eyes. Suddenly I was back to being that eight-year-old waking up Christmas morning to find a Millennium Falcon playset. And as fast as you can say Tiny Tim I was buying my first set of armor with the crazy idea of being a kid again.
4 Comments » | Tags: Holidays, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
Someone pinch me. I need a confirmation that I’m awake, because recently I read that new Star Wars films are in the works. I don’t remember finding an old lamp and rubbing it, and I don’t think my prayers from when I was 12 years old count, so I’m not sure how exactly my wish got granted for an extension on the single greatest saga ever. But here it is!
19 Comments » | Tags: episode vii, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
One day something unexpected happened. I got an email from a bloke in Canada named Scott McArthur. He said he’d seen my web page and loved it. In fact, he had a Stormtrooper costume of his own! A picture was attached, showing Scott in gleaming white TK armor standing next to a picturesque shore with a sunset behind him. I almost fell out of my chair. Not only was there another crazy armored fan out there, but he’d found my page. And his picture was awesome! Much better than Tom and me hanging around a Suncoast Video store.
6 Comments » | Tags: the 501st leg, The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
By the end of 1997 our adventures as Stormtroopers in a little one-tauntaun-town felt like they’d hit their high-water mark. The theatrical re-releases were done and gone, Star Wars merchandising was fading from store shelves, and events where a grown man in armor made sense were getting scarce. Like a watering hole in the desert, any sustaining power of the saga that kept Tom and me armoring up was drying up and leaving us feeling alone and awkwardly out of place.
So the armor went into storage. The helmet got put on display. The black unitard I put into hiding: I didn’t want to be accused of a secret love for interpretive dance.
1 Comment » | Tags: The 501st Legion
Fans and Community | Permalink
