A different build... "TK421 why aren't you at your post?" Documenting my build for the Empire!

Semi-famous.  I remember the photographer knew who the pink shorts guys were.

Saturday (& part of Friday eve) was a small 1st year comic con in Lewisburg OH.  For a small event and small town, they did a good job.  I brought the stormtrooper and managed about 4hrs before I changed and hung out with the group.  Good start to my vacation! 

(Also found out my new costume is finally being approved, that I started back in October.  Should hear something official today.  My friend (the blue guard) is a GML and in charge of costumes, he said "oh expect an email later tonight...")

It's been in the works since October but Count Dooku is ready to defeat the Republic.

First adventure with hair dye, in a few years I may not need it.

I am always a fan for Star Wars. 

Very nice!

Reminds me that one of these days I need to finish my Vader saber project....

This weekend is the Gem City Comicon at the convention center in downtown Dayton, I'll be there both days in various costumes.  Saturday evening is the Dayton Dragons baseball game and our first time there.

Come to either to see some cool nerds in neat costumes, and if I pass out from the heat at the baseball game in black clothes and a heavy wool cape...

What an incredibly fun and exhausting weekend...  Friday night I got off work early to take Chewie to my friend's for the weekend, then straight over to the convention center to set up our booth.  SWMBO borrowed the Crosstrek and met a friend up in Tipp City to get that cool background (it barely fit the car).  I loaded up the GONK droid and we spent a couple hours with friends setting everything up.  We had a huge space and we used almost all of it.

Blast A Trooper (with Nerf guns), photo ops like this, a huge table/booth display, a "wanted" poster frame for use in Bounty Hunt (we give you a tag and for $5 to charity we come find you in the convention), and someone made a working IG-11 droid that was all 3D printed.

I wore my stormtrooper for a bit for photos then did Blast A Trooper for 2 hrs.  I'm done doing that I think, no matter how many times we say "no head shots" that's where they aim (we're concerned about visors getting popped out).  Bounty Hunt is more fun and you get to move around, vs stuck in one spot for the whole time.

Then it was time to debut Count Dooku (after a quick lunch).  It seemed to be a hit, and I get to play with a light saber now!  I had many photos taken until it was time to head to the ball game.  I drove over to the stadium and walked from the parking spot in it, minus the cape.  It was very warm and humid, but no face covering helmet so maybe it was better?

I only got called Obi Wan three times.  New hashtag #notobiwan.  (All the TIE pilots get called Vader, Shaak Ti got called Ahsoka all night.)  I lasted until the 4th inning after this TV spot and said I'm done, it was 830ish by then and I had been running since 8am.  Got home, showered the hair dye out, drank a breakfast drink and fell asleep.

Sunday was another day of fun.  Got to spend more time with my good friends, more photos, and the only $$ I spent was a LEGO set of Bad Batch figures for $14.  Plus some food and parking, but I found $10 on the floor so bonus!  It was meant to be a relaxed day but fate had other ideas:

I did not plan to wear Count Dooku on Sunday, it was going to be a relaxed day. But I got a phone call Saturday at the game after I had already changed that a young man specifically asked if Dooku would pose with him.

I found out he was going to be at the con on Sunday, and told him I would dress for a photo. It was late in the afternoon but he came with his dad and brother in costume. I changed into my costume and waited for them to come back, probably an hour.

My feet hurt, my back was killing me. But I waited for the family, got some photos with other people, and was ready when they came back.  This is the kind of thing we live for.

Finally at 4pm it was time to tear all this down and pack.  I got lucky and someone else grabbed that giant background, but I had left the stormtrooper bin on Saturday and now had to get it, the lightsaber case (a large golf club case) and the GONK plus rolling cart into the Crosstrek.  It took some Tetris but it barely fit.  Stopped for some groceries on the way home because I'm crazy, unloaded everything then went back to get my dog.

Then of course I had to post my PR Officer posts for today and tomorrow, but at least I had lots of content.  I should have taken a vacation day today but did not, luckily my job takes very little brainpower.  Time to rest?  Right, I have troops coming up Thursday and the next two Saturdays.  :)

Jerry this is so cool. 

In reply to DrMikeCSI :

Thanks!  Tomorrow I have a short troop at a hospital for the first time since 2019.  Some kind of celebration for families and patients at the local children's hospital.  It's 12-2pm but bosses are cool with this stuff.

Yesterday was in Cincinnati, today was the Liberty Township branch, for a Friends and Families event for the kids.  They got goodie bags and treats, and plenty of photos with us!  We haven't done anything hospital related since 2019 so I jumped on the LT event (I work 6 miles away).  The 12-2pm made it difficult but 7 of us stepped up today, and 6 yesterday.

I think the hospital staff was almost as happy to see us, which is typical.  Bonus for me, a friend works here and ran down when she saw I had posted a pre-troop selfie in our changing room.

Today was the first week of Space Celebration at the Air Force museum in Dayton OH.  I went to the local Cars and Coffee in the morning, and decided to be a handler for the afternoon.  I think we had 20-30 signed up over the course of the day and they were spread out all over.  I followed a few different groups here and there to be support, and take photos using spectator's phones when needed.

Our local event coordinator/squad leader always signs up as "handler/jawa" and always ends up as a handler.  I asked if she wanted to costume up, she said she was bringing her bin just in case.  I said go for it, I've costumed enough the last week & don't mind helping occasionally.

We had 3 different Vaders over the day, and a friend that got approved as Count Dooku from Ft Wayne joined us with his wife (we met them last year in IN).  I had to get a photo.

I took a few challenge coins with me & ended up trading for some cool stuff, and got to hang out with some cool people for 4-5 hours.  One of my lady Jedi friends brought an extra set of lekku, the twin appendages on the heads of Twileks, and my friend Nick tried it on.  He ended being gifted them, they were old and latex, she didn't want them anymore.  I ended up trying on the current set she uses, and I'm tempted to buy a set for fun.

If you missed us, we'll be back next Saturday...

Yesterday was another event with Space Celebration at the Air Force museum in Dayton OH.  I was there all day this time, oof.  I costumed up in the morning, wore the rebel fleet trooper for the first time in a year.  It was much warmer and more people this week, my costume was a bit less stuff than some people but a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, and vest was still toasty.

I did about 3-4 hours in that, then SWMBO left at the half-way point.  We split the days into two since the event was 9-5pm.  I slightly regret volunteering to do all day.  Grabbed a quick lunch at the food court, all the way back in hanger 1 (dressing room is at the very end of hanger 4), and came back to help as a handler.

One reason I wore the RFT was my friend Dan was going to be the morning Vader & I wanted a couple photos.  There's a larger version I'm going to try Photoshopping out the chair I'm standing on.  When we did this, he told me he would hold his hand out and for me to pull it to my neck, he has a hard time judging depth.

I puled his hand up to my neck and said "choke me daddy!".  You've never heard Darth Vader laugh so much in canon.

Had a little fun in Photoshop.

Today was a shorter day.  I was asked to be the POC (point of contact) for a troop in Mason OH so with 5-6 other costumed troopers I just went with being a handler in plain clothes again.  We've done this one the last 2 years and the weather this year was amazing, like low 60s to start with.  Although standing in the sun for 3 hours it did get a little warm.

BB4K Bubble Blast for Kids 4K walk/run with multiple bubble machines, but a much smaller crowd this year.  Kind of surprised with the good weather and mostly post-Covid/outdoors, but still enough people to make it fun.  A few of the guys had some fun in a bubble pit, wish I had worn my regular stormtrooper and pretend we had a before/after cleaning.

Well E36 M3, here we go again.  Someone on a replica/prop forum group on Facebook posted a snowtrooper costume for sale about a week ago.  I was curious so I asked for the basic sizing and location (they get posts from all over the world).  He said he was in Middletown OH.  Well E36 M3...

I ended up talking to him and meeting him after the BB4K troop on the way home.  For $600 including the bin (about $100 these days) it seemed like a deal, even if I have to replace something.  The Canadian Mukluks fit so that was a big plus, the armor all seemed legit.  The helmet needs some work, not sure about the soft parts.  He was a bigger guy.

This weekend I'll lay everything out and sanitize, it's been in his basement for 3-4 years.  It's been airing out in my covered back patio.

Empire Strikes Back is still my favorite movie and a snowie sounded fun, but they are quite warm and I didn't think I'd wear it more than a couple times a year.  Think Xmas holiday parades and the like.  But for a really cheap $ and already built, I was interested.  Plus other members said he fell on hard times after his mom died 2017 and he needed the $$, so I felt like I was helping out as well.

I've been slowly going through the costume, figuring out what works and what needs addressing.  Right now the main thing is the duster/coat itself is not correct as it stands, plus needs a big trim.  It's simple fleece and my friend that helped me finish Count Dooku offered to fix it after Comic Expo later this month (she has 5 costumes she's trying to figure out herself and decided college courses would be fun to mix in.)

Yesterday was a wedding, we don't do many anymore but this is a former member from TX and they made a donation to the local Autism Society.  Another member found a 3D file for bow ties but his printer died, so I made us look fancy.

The wedding went well, although the 'trooper second from right had costume issues and dropped out.  Luckily we had a sandtrooper that was extra and filled his spot.  Bride and groom, officiant and photographer knew about us, surprise to everyone else.  I love the reactions when we are a surprise.

In about an hour I need to leave for the annual Holiday at Home parade in Kettering.  I'm taking the AT-ST driver and will just go scanning screw if the rain comes back.  I've done this parade 2-3 times with the 501st and as many with the Humane Society before that, this is the first year it won't be hot humid and sunny.

I ended up driving the Crosstrek in the parade at the last minute.  We only had one truck and 14-16 people to get back to the starting area, so I drove but wore the AT-ST helmet anyway.  Luckily I still had a flashdrive full of Star Wars music so I blasted that.  The rain stayed away, the sun peeked out a little to make it hot off and on but still better than previous years.

Thankfully the flashing LEDs in the grill still worked.  And the two jawas took turns sitting in the back waving and taking photos.  Marion's Pizza once again capped our HHaH parade experience.

New trading cards for Count Dooku arrived Friday, just in time for Cincinnati Comic Expo next weekend.

I'll be there all 3 days Fri-Sun, Duke Energy Center if you're interested.  Between this costume, the AT-ST driver (scanning crew included) and some Pink Shorts Guy fun, I'm likely not taking the big stormtrooper bin.  Much less E36 M3 to pack and transport through downtown Cincy from the Hyatt.

Today is the 4th anniversary of joining the 501st Legion.  Forgot the jawa costume in the photo.  I think I've made life-long friends here and wish I had done this years ago.

Jerry said:

I'll be there all 3 days Fri-Sun, Duke Energy Center if you're interested.  Between this costume, the AT-ST driver (scanning crew included) and some Pink Shorts Guy fun, I'm likely not taking the big stormtrooper bin.  Much less E36 M3 to pack and transport through downtown Cincy from the Hyatt.

Speaking of the Expo, I hauled down most of the setup tonight!

In reply to wae :

I recognize that stuff.  Will be playing with it this weekend (that's what she said).  I remember when I was working on the stormtrooper in 2018 seeing that speederbike in Chuck's garage like woah!  Hope I get my annual photo with your wife.

Expo photos coming but the best story of the weekend was Saturday afternoon.

I was helping at our table and a young fan came over asking about our costumes. Then he said "I don't know if he's here, but at a hotel across the street there's a Star Wars car! It has lots of Star Wars decorations and everything!" I played along "oh really? Was it white? With a big light bar?" He's like yeah it was cool!

They had parked my Crosstrek in the valet area in front like advertising or something.

What a weekend...  I'm still tired.

We went down Thursday evening, I had dropped Chewie off at a friend's Wednesday after work so we got out of here much earlier this year, on the road by 6pm.  I didn't take the stormtrooper this year and thought we had much less to pack.  Hmm.

That's just the stuff for the Expo, our hotel stuff is upstairs (she had 3-4 bags of her own plus my bag I lived out of for 4 days.)

Friday we got in early when the guard outside asked if we were volunteers/staff.  These 501st "racing shirts" are wonderful, we were whisked inside and even security saw my shirt and didn't make me touch all that crap in the photo.  We were escorted in like royalty, which while we are kinda volunteers working the Star Wars Fan Zone all weekend we paid for weekend tickets.  I'll take it.

Friday we decided to relax and not costume.  Helped out with our table, helped some of the other booths and photo op's, and did some shopping.  Yeah, I put a hurt on the wallet this year compared to last year.  Afterwards we went to dinner and had some friends that joined us.  While we were waiting someone rolled up an ederly gent behind us in a wheelchair, I turned around and recognized Robert Watts.  One of the AT-ST drivers in Return of the Jedi but also various other producer and director credits.

I had planned to get an autograph in my AT-ST the next day, and told him so.  He replied that "was lovely" in a very soft British accent, and what a remarkable org the 501st was.  If they had sat us at a low table I was going to offer him the choice but we ended up with a high table and chairs.

He autographed a trading card someone had sent me from when he was made an honorary member.  He loved seeing the card and remembering his time in the movie.

Saturday was a crazy busy day and super crowded.  I did the pink shorts boom mic guy again for the Imperial March in the afternoon, but added some Twilek lekku head noodles from a friend.  I also mounted a GoPro on the boom mic but haven't checked that yet.

We bailed around 5-530 Saturday and had dinner, then back to the room to crash and relax.  Sunday we were back early and since I missed doing Dooku yesterday I planned to fix that today.

I spent quite a few hours in it, and had plenty of photos.  We started wandering and found my friends in Vader and the Emperor so we made a traveling group of Sith Lords.  I am loving this costume, it's fairly comfy, I can sit down, and I get to play with a light saber.

But the big deal for Sunday was Count Hefner (or Hugh Dooku?).  Shortly after getting Dooku approved, the idea for pajama Dooku from the Clone Wars animated show was discussed. We thought he seemed like Hugh Heffner for Star Wars. Then the idea of bunnies and bunny ears was considered. We talked to a few friends and made it work:

Yeah, the life of a 501st Legion member can be rough.  (Yes, Leia is a good friend of mine...)

In reply to Jerry :

I continue to love this thread!!