This Saturday I'll be helping as a handler for our Columbus friends at the Clippers Star Wars night game. In case anyone is interested in attending...
Star Wars Night ft themed post-game FIREWORKS!!!
This Saturday I'll be helping as a handler for our Columbus friends at the Clippers Star Wars night game. In case anyone is interested in attending...
Star Wars Night ft themed post-game FIREWORKS!!!
Saturday was a busy day, but ended with a drive to Columbus to help with the Clippers Star Wars night. They ended up having like 8-10 people drop out, so I could have probably skipped it in hindsight. But it was fun, got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a long time.
I ended up with all "Good Guys" in my group of 5-6 characters and I took us out on the field for the warm-up time, on top of 3rd base dugout for a "softie ball toss" with foam baseballs to throw out to kids in the stands. And a trip to the announcing booth to hang out for a bit. I ended up getting home at 1030pm and could have been worse with two concerts and a graduation in the area.
Yesterday was the Dayton Pride parade, and I had been focusing a lot of energy into making sure it went well for weeks. Being in charge of the Dayton area stuff, requesting the parade entry myself, coordinating with our Rebel Legion CO to help, getting info to pass along including route and timing, etc. We left at 9am to go to the garage I picked to make sure we had a spot where ~10 cars could park together to get ready.
I went with the Pink Shorts Boom Mic guy again since we had ~10 other regular characters. I added the lekku headpiece again for some extra flair but waited until almost ready to put it on. I had to walk to the registration to get us signed in early, so I walked ~6 blocks alone in downtown Dayton wearing pink terrycloth shorts, boots, rainbow suspenders and a pink headband by myself. I have no shame.
I added the GoPro again to try to get some video of the crowd, I loved going over to the sides and putting my hand to my ear and egging people on. Usually they'd start cheering and screaming especially when they saw the camera. My video editor is acting up, probably just grab some stills for now.
The star of the show was our Pride Mando though, came over from Columbus, 3D printed everything. He was definitely a hit. It was good to have a Dayton parade without gunfire so we broke the streak... Especially considering the political climate, I had a few friends concerned about us.
I made a 3min video from the 18 minutes before my old GoPro Hero2 overheated. Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 kept crashing on me but something called ClipChamp worked nicely.
Saturday was the Dayton Dragons Star Wars night & although we had fun, it wasn't high on the list of well-run events for baseball. No food, no bottled water, no schedule for us to participate in goings-on during the game. They were 45 minutes late getting us into the dressing area (after bugging the guy at the VIP tent 4 times and one of my crew calling someone on his cellphone that he knows personally, twice). And I heard so many people comment they didn't know we were going to be there...
But 20ish of us had fun, I had 3-4 handlers working with me so we could split up a bit. This was the second year, not sure I'll go back for another event if they don't fix some things first. (We also had to share our room once again with some kind of kid thing for the first part with a divider between us. At least this year they took away the tables.)
Yesterday was the July 4th parade in Centerville OH. Much smaller group this year for whatever reason (last few years have been 15-20 or more). We had room for two trucks so I drove the Crosstrek up front and another member used his pickup to carry the two Wookies in the back. Vader walked it, and that's a warm costume...
Without walking handlers we didn't get many photos, but at least one media person caught photos of us going by. Trying to find the video when it's available. Our coordinator tells us we're popular. :)
Busy weekend made for 3 events in 5 days. The parade on Tuesday, then Friday was the Florence Y'alls baseball game (yes, that is the minor league team name in Florence KY) and Saturday was another after-hours event at the Air Force Museum.
Friday I decided to go with Count Dooku, they don't seem to have that character in the NKY area (maybe KY at all). This was part of Bluegrass Garrison and my first time trooping with them, I've been meaning to for years. Friday I was off and SWMBO said she could leave early so we made it happen. Their stadium is a bit less epic than the Dayton Dragons or Columbus Clippers, not much overhead coverage. We stayed in the shade.
Saturday evening was the Spies and Superheroes event at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, much shorter drive. I was in charge again so I left at 4pm and got home almost 11pm. Their AC has been having issues and it was WARM, especially hangar 2 where most of the activities were. I wore the stormtrooper because it seems like it's been awhile and it's popular. You can see we had quite the assortment even with a few last-minute dropouts.
They had a shopvac-powered ping pong ball gun set up, and you had to get like 12 balls in the target. Me and the lady orange pilot gave it a go, the stormtrooper stereotype is intact (she won). These after-hours events keep the attendance low (like 400-500 vs 2000+) so we had plenty of time and room to run around for photos for ourselves, vs standing in hangar 4 for 2-3hrs while everyone lines up for us.
Next event, for me anyway, is Gem City Comicon July 22-23 and we're planning a setup for the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. I bought a 8x14' backdrop of Endor, some grass carpet, and others are making cases, helmet drum kit, etc. Should be a good weekend.
Gem City Comicon this weekend at Dayton Convention Center, if anyone wants to say hello?
Busy weekend! Friday setup ended about 8pm because we went all-out for a booth space this year. I wanted to do a RotJ 40th anniversary theme and it worked well. Bought a new 14x10' backdrop, two rolls of grass carpet, someone built the helmet drum set, another donated military-style cases... Not bad at all.
And my friend Taylor wore her Ewok costume for a little while Saturday. My only request was to get a photo of her beating the E36 M3 out of me in either the stormtrooper or AT-ST driver, didn't care which. I wore the stormtrooper Saturday so that was the winner. Of course I had just finished 2 hours of helping take photos (on my feet) so I didn't stay in it long. After 1-2hrs I was done, got some lunch and spent some time playing with the mouse droid in a big open area.
Sunday I only took the AT-ST driver with me, fits in 2 small bags and I needed to be able to pack up A LOT of crap from Friday at the end so I needed as small as possible. Both days were slow, especially Sunday. The Dayton Air Show was the same weekend and with good weather probably stole some of our visitors. We still had plenty of fun, I met face-face with the director of the Dayton Symphony and we're going to get their October performance scheduled! So that should be fun, symphony playing A New Hope with the movie in the background.
I got home about 6pm, unloaded everything into the garage and collapsed. Still need to unpack it, I took today off to recoup and that's next on my agenda. There's 3 days of E36 M3 coming up this weekend and I can't get motivated to do any of it. Will likely skip it for a need break.
Saturday morning I had time for a quick troop. Local library had a weekly Story Time for kids with guest speakers and we were this week. I wore the stormtrooper, my friend wore his TIE pilot so he could remove the helmet to tell stories and I just looked pretty in the background. Occasionally making jokes like when he read "Is Darth Vader afraid of anything?" I commented I was afraid of Ewoks. I think the parents got the joke more than the kids.
Pretty good turnout, at one point I counted ~15 kids. I did a library thing earlier this year and they had like 2. I asked the lady in charge who else has been there, she said police, fire fighters, Dr, a local sports guy, so I guess we're in good company.
Saturday night was concert time! Galactic Empire was in Cincinnati & I've been following them for 3-4 years. I said if they ever came within 2hrs I was going. SWMBO made it a birthday gift and included the VIP meet the band & extra swag.
We ran into some people that have been to our events and talked to them for awhile, and I was wearing a 501st Legion shirt so I got to share the joys with a few people.
Nerd level up, achieved.
Busy weekend last weekend.
Monday was the annual Holiday at Home parade in Kettering OH Labor Day morning. Once again we lined up at 830-9am and waited, waited, waited... I drove the Crosstrek this year like the 4th of July parade, but still wore the AT-ST driver costume.
It was in the lower 90s and humid, but I left the AC off because I had the windows down for the music I was blaring & figured I could hit the AC button if someone was ready to drop and jumped in. We also had a crew cab truck at the back with doors open if someone really needed to hop in. But everyone survived, although it was another small turnout (10) vs typical 15 or more.
Tuesday I had a chance to visit Dayton Children's hospital again finally, they made the start time 4pm so I could leave early. Only had two others this time, one left work early and the other retired. I wore my stormtrooper because 1) it's a classic and 2) I am hiding my face in case it gets dusty in there.......
Sierra here and another lady led us around 4 floors for 1.5hrs and I was reminded why I started this craziness 5 years ago. One room we were going into I heard her say "Oh Mikey is still here!", apparently the last group got to meet him and he's a big fan. We went in and this young man maybe 13-14 held up his hand. I thought he wanted to shake, no, he grabbed mine and started pulling me towards him. I swear if my foot had been rotated slightly I would have tumbled into his bed!
This month and next there are quite a few to choose from, I'll be picking and choosing as we go. Denture surgery October 11th will likely put a damper on October troops.
This thread makes me smile Jerry!
This week I went with a simple 5K for Alopecia (disease that causes hair loss), the weather was much nicer than last weekend and the troop was in danger of getting canceled for lack of sign-ups. Early this past week it only had one and he was known for backing out (guess what, he did). But a couple more jumped in to keep it going (we need at least 2 for safety) and it worked out.
I needed a Rebel Legion troop for this year so I went with the fleet trooper, I could dress in it before I even left the house, because this was going to be a parking lot change anyway. Just swapped out my Sketchers when I parked, even drove the BRZ. I almost drove the 944 but didn't know the parking situation, sometimes these end in grass/dirt/mud fields.
I finally got around to having a new artwork (& decal) made. Same person that did the last couple, from our Garrison.
The inspiration.
The photo (from a troop last year).
And the final result. I love having Grand Meowf Tarkin and Maz Cat-ana in it to tie in with Chewie in my stormtrooper art. Decals will be here in time for the Cincinnati Comic Expo in a few weeks.
Popping in just to say that I appreciate you for doing all of this and documenting in this thread.
In reply to mtn :
Thanks! Sometimes I wonder if anyone is still reading this silliness...
Yesterday was a fun troop. WACO 100th Anniversary Fly-In to Troy OH at the WACO aircraft museum. I quickly learned these planes go back to 1923, and yesterday I saw almost 50 of them in a field. Plus they were doing take offs and landings about 100' away, that was kinda cool.
I saw most of them were mid 1940's and owners from all over the country, some here in Ohio. SWMBO works with the main guy in charge of the event, and I learned yesterday he and his wife recently got their pilot licenses. I originally had about 6-8 people signed up, but they dropped little by little and thankfully Vader and the biker scout stayed in. (Vader is a new dad plus ER Dr, had a crazy week but saw we were losing troopers and stuck it out.)
The weather was perfect, probably 55-60F when we started at 10am, bit of a breeze. But after about two hrs our Vader said he was feeling a bit dizzy. Luckily we weren't out in the field, we were by the museum. He steadied himself on a golf cart (can't sit down), SWMBO had just brought back waters, and we decided some food would probably help. I couldn't hear the beginning, it happened fast, but quickly saw what was happening. I said if we're done, we're done.
But he got some water, ate a sandwich and cookie, and was feeling better. We ended up doing another hour. He was sorry he had to take his helmet off, but his safety is more important than kids seeing his face. He probably didn't hydrate enough before and had been up late with new kiddo and work. These costumes can take it out of you if you aren't careful.
This coming weekend is the Cincinnati Comic Expo Friday - Sunday. It's our "big deal", and Duke Energy Center is doing major remodeling shortly after, we know the next 2 years of Expo will be in Sharonville and MUCH smaller. So this could be a big one knowing 2025 will be the next regular one. Myself I decided to take Count Dooku (and pajama Dooku) and keep it light. If you're there, look for us.
We decided not to go back Sunday, but Friday and Saturday were busy enough. We got to the hotel Thursday night as usual, Friday around 12pm we were able to get in as exhibitors/volunteers even if we had to buy our own passes. We volunteer at the Star Wars Village with multiple displays but we aren't full-fledged exhibitors. The staff varied from giving us grief to "whatever just go" depending on who we met.
I decided to Dooku all weekend, keep it simple. Friday was pretty Sith Lord heavy and made for some good photos. Not sure who the Sith Leia is above, but she fit right in. (Apparently a member that moved to TX for the military is friends with her and shared the same photos.)
Saturday I decided to try without glasses for a change, that was disorienting but it worked as long as I didn't have to read ANYTHING at all. Can't seem to find any photos at the moment. But after trooping a few hours I changed into Pajama Dooku for comfort, and that was amazing. While I was in the dressing area (behind that curtain) someone said the voice actor for Obi Wan in the Clone Wars cartoon (holding my friend's pauldron) wanted a photo with us. I had just bought that Obi Wan light saber (yeah, stay tuned) so that's what I carried out.
Saturday afternoon we did an Imperial March through the convention and the coordinator had me up front with Vader. There's a photo without glasses! This is at the end. They later did a prisoner run from Andor and I think they had 6-7 people, it was fun to watch "One Way Out!"
Thursday night we decided to just eat at the hotel (Hyatt downtown) and while we were waiting there was this older gent, with a few people around him. English accent, an entorage, the mgr talking about charging the food to the con... SWMBO looked at me saying he's probably someone important. I agreed but couldn't place him. Later that night I got curious and looked up the big names for the con. Scroll, scroll, Julian Glover. Hmm looks possible, she said find a recent photo. Yup, that was him. I would have at least said hello, tried to shake hands.
Last year I met the AT-ST driver actor. I guess the Hyatt gets all the stars. The next two years we may not even be at the Expo. Convention center getting major remodel, the show is moving to Sharonville and even with their recent work it's MUCH smaller. The Expo has donated our space every year because of all the work we put into the big props and the charity work, but if they're hurting for space, I could see us getting dropped. Probably a table at the most.
Still following along, unfortunately have not been able to get out to any events you have been at yet.
In reply to Jerry :
When we were loading out on Sunday and getting everything put away at Matt and Chuck's, the space available at the Sharonville convention center was a topic of conversation. From what I was hearing, it sounds like they may only have room for the big space chair thing. It'll probably come down to whatever one or two displays they think will garner the most donations for the Autism Center.
In reply to wae :
I had heard rumors they were planning to auction off the throne after this year? I had just bought the 944 and figured even in pieces, it wouldn't fit in my Crosstrek. My guess is one display piece and a single table for Star Wars, vs each group like before. I'll still do a day but won't be buying the 3 day VIP anymore.
In reply to Jerry :
Yeah, it's really only two pieces: the chair and the not-as-heavy-as-you'd-think-it-is base. The chair was built with zero consideration on how or where to grasp it to pick it up and is just stupidly heavy. Unless there's some super-secret way of taking it apart and reassembling it that they've been hiding from me all these years, there's no way it would fit in the Crosstrek. I didn't hear anything about getting rid of anything (other than some of the games that were built for the ill-fated geek prom last year that didn't wind up being part of Burning Mando '22), but I'm just the truck driver, so...
Yesterday was the first of many Halloween troops. This one was a trunk or treat type event in Huber Heights, their second year and they were thrilled to have us return. Even if my group of 15 dwindled to the 5 you see here, including SWMBO who signed up last minute to get an official troop in for the year (she mostly does handling but you need to troop in costume at least once/year).
We have plenty more this month, especially the 21st for some reason, almost as popular as May the Fourth. Of course my denture surgery is day after tomorrow and no idea if I'll be up to any of them. Next weekend both days is the Dayton Symphony doing A New Hope to the movie showing, an event I've worked since April to get and had to talk to multiple people. I'm hoping I can just put on my stormtrooper and not talk to anyone. See how I feel this weekend.
Well, I felt ok Sunday morning so I did it. Dayton Philharmonic Symphony doing A New Hope, and I still made it. I worked too hard to get this damn event, and I even charged up the voice electronics. I will say, even though it was only about an hour and indoors/not much walking, I was beat afterwards. I'm definitely still recovering. People joked that I was a bad-ass stormtrooper and someone else gave me the Iron Man award. I think it was worth it.
Next weekend is two events, Ghostly Night Out in Brookville, which is always a fun large public event, and Troops and Treats at the Airforce Museum. I have plans to do both, but based on yesterday, I may be a handler for one or both. We'll see how I'm doing by Saturday.
I did both events yesterday and I am beat. But much fun was had. First up was the Troops or Treats at the NMUSAF in Dayton, I was mostly a handler but had some fun with the inflatable Grogu we found at Target back in September. For a $40 goof I was pretty popular with the kids! I had a lot of requests for photos, even had kids prefer me to Vader a couple times. I got there at 830am to make things were ready and stayed until about 130pm, almost the full event.
Then at 5pm was the Ghostly Night Out in Brookville. One of our members lives up there and has made this a tradition, including a potluck dinner before. I wasn't sure I'd make this one, post-surgery and possibly not being able to eat anything. But she made sure there was food for me, and the people make it worthwhile.
Being a handler gave me time to play with photos when we weren't busy. I ended up staying later than I expected, and our member sent me home with a tray of beef & noodles, and mashed potatoes, and 3 jars of canned apple sauce. I love this group...
Thankfully next weekend is actually pretty bare, yesterday we had like 8-9 events around Ohio, next weekend I think 2 in northern Ohio. Time for some rest.
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