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

Busy weekend when you don't pay attention to a long Friday evening troop at the end of one month and an early morning troop the next morning for a new month on the calendar...

Friday night I left work early to do the Cincinnati Reds Star Wars night, this is a big one.  35 people including 3 handlers and it filled up months ago in about 45 minutes.  I just barely made it.

We split into groups, this group ended up on the field.  SWMBO was their handler (I wandered off with 4 other stormtroopers and an Imperial Officer acting as handler).  She said the security guard was freaking out because "they aren't on the list to go on field!", and she was like "It's Star Wars night, it'll be fine, I'll wait with you".  That C3PO is fully 3D printed, and chromed himself.  We met in the parking lot before many had arrived, this was a bad-ass costume.

The wookie?  That's all person.  No padding, no stilts.  He's 7'2" and fully proportioned.  He also met me in the parking lot and I wish someone had a camera to film me looking up at him, he didn't seem to stop.  I joked "you're obviously a jawa right?"

Spent 5 hours in costume on my feet (can't sit down), finally home like 1130pm, then have to be up at 6am for SICSA Lift Your Leg! 5/10k to benefit the animals.  I wouldn't have changed a thing...

This was my plan to get all the dogs to come to me, but didn't work.  I did manage to pet quite a few wandering around the event, one jumped up to me and thankfully didn't scratch the armour.  I hung around after the costume part with SWMBO and got to meet a few more.  Also donated a few cases of water they were distributing for tornado victims.

We work closely with the Rebel Legion and Mandalorian Merc's for events, so we usually have a few rebels and such.  As a stormtrooper I try to give my friend Andrew a little crap when I can, he takes it in  stride and usually reciprocates when possible.  After this event I went to Dayton Pride with SWMBO & the kiddo for a few hours.  I am feeling it today...

Quiet on the trooping front the last few weekends, we had a social get-together Saturday.  Funny thing, it was organized by the member that got hit with the tornadoes.  We checked to see if she was still into this and she was like "Yes! We need something fun".  It was supposed to be at a park but with the E36 M3ty weather we expected she ended up moving it to the trailer she's renting from a friend while they repair her house.  Ended up being a better spot anyway, more room, and no tracking through rain to use a restroom!

I found out late Friday I'm going to be on the local Fox45 morning show Tuesday morning to promote an event next weekend!  Geekfest at Boonshoft Museum is Friday and Saturday, I'm working Saturday, and they wanted 4 characters for the morning bit around 8:45am.  I can go in late, and the studio is right by the exit I get on I-75 anyway, sweet.

So if you can watch Dayton's channel 45 Tuesday morning...  Trying to find a way for my mom to watch live, or record it for her somehow.

This morning started early, I had to be at Fox45 studio by 730ish to get suited up for the morning show.  I got there and waited with two other guys, the fourth showed up just after and they took us back to some dressing rooms.  Me and the other stormtrooper took one, the Royal Guard and wookie took the other.  When we were ready they came and took us to the studio, which I thought would be much larger really.

We did the promo with the lady from Boonshoft Museum, and they went to commercials.  We thought we were done, but as we were walking off a stage crew lady sent the wookie to go berkeley with the weatherman doing his last update, and tapped my shoulder asking if I wanted to go.  You bet!

I didn't have the voice electronics on so I let the wookie win!  Eventually the weatherguy turned to me so I hammed it up as much as I could without speaking.  It was still fun.

They invited us back up to close out the show, and then took this group photo.  We had quite a few staff members come in and take photos.  I had a lot of fun doing this troop, the actual Geekfest is this Friday and Saturday at Boonshoft Museum in Dayton if anyone's interested.  (I'm on the left)

Video of part of the segment

And now for the weather on Tattooine.....sunny today, 100 mph dust storm tonight...

And we have video:

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Yesterday was Geekfest 2019 at the museum.  Friday night was an adult thing, yesterday was a family/kid oriented event including a costume contest.

We had our own room that included a person from a local college that built an R2D2, like the top opened up and a projector that ran the old Help Me Obi Wan clip.  Of course I found out he's in the R2 builders club as well.  His students were building their own BB8 as a class project.  We were also in a room that had a large globe that they could project planets onto from 4 sides, for this event it was all Star Wars planets...

I finally found the droid I've been looking for since 19freaking77!

There were plenty of other vendors and exhibits.  Someone had a Delorean time machine out front.  We had to go check it out of course.

(I'm on the left)

Made for a long-ish day (suited up around 9:45am and stopped at 2:45pm to finally eat and sit down).  By the time I was going to suit back up it was winding down so I just did booth duty in the 501st "racing shirt".

Next event is July 3rd, the Weird Al concert!!

In between all the troops and such, I've been working on another costume.  I wanted something simple, comfy, something I COULD SIT DOWN IN.  Something after being in the TK for 2-3-4 hrs I could change into at an all-day event and still be in costume.  I saw another member earlier this year with a scanning crew costume and thought "comfy, simple, light grey vs black in the sun..."

Just got the approval Sunday night.  IC-40418 is the designation (you keep the same number in the 501st, the prefix changes per costume added).  Pretty simple, relatively cheap (probably still ~$400 though total).  Flightsuit, belt, boots, hat, compad on the sleeve, patches on the shoulders (which I had to move up slightly for approval, picky bastards).  I've already ordered two metal boxes that go on the belt, not needed for basic approval but I think it's too plain without.

Just in time for a 4th of July parade in Centerville, which apparently is attended by like 10k people, they stake out their spots starting last Friday.  With logistics of getting there, no real changing area, SWMBO parking the Crosstrek somewhere at the end after dropping me off & possibly taking awhile to find me again in the heat, I decided let's debut this costume.  I can wear shorts and a tshirt underneath, bring my Sketchers, and be ready to go.

It's been a busy two days, finally catching up on stuff.....  But Wednesday night?  It was time:

Our changing room was that semi trailer you see behind us.  Using shop lights since no one could figure out the interior lights until the end of the evening.  We got there around 530pm and weren't expected to go on until at least 930pm.  Which gave us time to practice the dance routine multiple times, harder than we expected it to be really.  At least I knew "The Saga Begins" well enough to know the music cues and lyrics.  (I'm waving.)  We also had to decide the lineup, w/ Vader in the middle.

Ready to go out.  I ended up next to Vader to his left, and multiple people told me chances were good Al would come over to me and lay his head on my shoulder, and sing to me (he does it every performance and usually my spot).  I was quite hopeful!

The big event!  I'm on the right of Vader here.  The whole time I'm thinking "E36 M3 do I remember the routine???"!  But I did it, and had the biggest freaking smile on my face the whole time.  The crowd went nuts when we walked out, so many people.  And so many cameras and lights in my face...  AND YES, HE CAME OVER TO ME AND SANG TO ME WITH HIS HEAD ON MY SHOULDER!  If I thought he could hear me (no electronics on) I would his whispered "I love you".

Afterwards he was going to do a group photo and individuals with each of us.  I wanted to stay suited up but they told us the trailer needed to be emptied/loaded ASAP after the show so we all changed quickly.  The manager hustled him through like ok next ok next, but Al was very gracious and friendly the whole time.

I really should have told him I loved him at this point.  This will possibly be the best experience I'll have in the 501st.  I love the hospital troops (another in a few weeks), the cons are alway fun with the kids, but I've been an Al fan since 1985.  Everybody congratulated me on the solo experience, we joked there might be Al sweat on my shoulder bell.  Sure enough, we saw a bead of sweat under those shop lights!  Might have to frame that thing.

Almost forgot, a video that popped up on one of my groups:

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The morning after the big concert, it was time for the July 4th parade in Centerville (why do I keep signing up for early morning troops after late night troops??).  This band of nerds lined up in the heat and humidity to walk about a mile or so through Centerville.  I went with the scanning crew costume, no changing room, no way of knowing how long till SWMBO found me at the end to change again, etc.  Did I mention it was hot?

I can never resist the urge to photobomb someone.  Even without a helmet.  Mom in white shirt is laughing her ass off.  It was a good parade, large turnout, we made the local news, and kids/parents were into us.  But the costume is kinda plain in my opinion, the old folks like me know it but the kids are like some general Star Wars guy...  The belt boxes shipped today at least, it'll be a little more detailed for next weekend.  But it's definitely a fall-back costume for after a long day in the TK.

Next Sunday is the big parade to celebrate 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 at West Auglaize Street--Auglaize County Fairgrounds.

Sunday was a parade in Wapakoneta (Armstrong's home town) for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and moon landing.  It was also my first chance to drive in a parade with the 501st.  I had to make the Crosstrek worthy...

Recently added the bottom light bar, Saturday added the roof light bar.  Found flashing LEDs on Amazon for $30 that I put alligator clips on the wires and clipped straight to the battery before the parade started.  Clip-on 'murican flag left over from the fly-by-night dealership I bought the white xB from.  One of our members rode in the back with a camera and handed out water as needed.

This was my view 85% of the time so I didn't leave anyone behind (we added a second van for the heat so he brought up the rear and I lead the way).  We did have one member in a Death Star gunner costume (all black with black helmet) jump in and cool off near the end, that had to be a brutal costume in the heat.  Didn't help that he was dancing to the tunes (I cranked up theme music)...

Another good chance to wear the grey scanning crew costume since I could sit down.  And with the doors closed I could stay in my Sketchers (hence my kneeling for the group photo).  That was a fun parade, but man was it hot.

Thursday is my 3rd hospital troop!

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Education/Family-Day/

This Saturday at WPAFB in Dayton is a special family day event with a lot going on, including us!  If you have some spare time...

My 3rd visit to Dayton Children's Hospital was last night.  We did an hour of room to room visits, and 1/2 way through we split into two groups to cover more ground, then eventually met back up near the end.

One room we went into: "Wow (child's name), that's the biggest smile I've seen on you in a long time!" - nurse to the room of people.

I'm glad I wear a helmet for these.......

Awesome.

If I was ever in a hospital visiting really sick kids, I’d need a helmet too.  Those visits would be hard.

Yesterday was a busy day.  The morning was a troop at a local toy and comic show in Fairborn I signed up for way back in December!  They included a Blast a Trooper though, so I helped raise about $150 by being shot with a Nerf gun for $1 for 5 shots...  It went to Make A Wish, so it's cool.  MOST of the shots hit the armor (but two hit my pecs just outside the chest plate, and some little girl was aiming right for the helmet!)

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About 12pm me and a few others changed clothes and headed over to the WPAFB museum for their 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.  I had to park way out in the grass, which made for a fun haul of the costume bin in the heat.  Right as I got to the door I could hear a noise and saw a fire dept pickup truck roll by, there was a fire alarm!  They made us go back across the lot a certain distance, where we waited for 20-30 minutes.

Eventually they sounded the all clear, but then ~1k people lined up for the security check to get back in...  Eventually we got the idea to jump the line, since we were volunteers today as well as the staff, and the staff thankfully agreed.  Poor Dale in his mudtrooper costume looked like he was going to die, that probably swayed their opinion.

By this time I was very tired and very sweaty, and decided this was a good time to use the scanning crew costume.  It made for a good photo op with a cargo plane.

Here's about 1/2 the gang, we had about 30 total through the day (a few left at noon to come to the toy show).  I've lived here 8 years and never been inside the museum, only outside during a car rally to get the name off a plane once.  I'm definitely coming back as a civilian one of these weekends.  (I missed Vader squeezing through JFK's AF-1)

Yesterday was a big day.  Celina Lake Festival, we had a meet n greet in the afternoon at the park/festival itself and then the big parade in the evening.  The Rotary club (not Mazda-related) had this train that had an engine and 3 big cars that held about 80 people that rode us from the changing area to the meet, then back to the changing area, then again with us during the parade.

They also had $1 donation train rides during the meet n greet people could ride the train around town with us, the looks on the pedestrians and drivers in town was priceless.

After a dinner break they took us by train to the parade itself.  At first that thing was moving, this out of shape 'trooper was breathing hard in the helmet and the sun trying to keep up.  Thankfully they slowed down after awhile so we could mingle with the crowd and cheese it up.

Got there around 130pm, finally left around 830pm with the 1.5hr drive home.  Got to meet some new friends, SWMBO was there the whole time to help, and I think we finally talked her into a Qi'ra costume to become a member. 

Yesterday was the Optimist Kids Day at the Park in Kettering OH.  Something especially for kids, which was a little bummer because my ICOMM battery died last weekend and even through Amazon Prime and TK Products they still didn't get it to me within the 5 days I had before the event.  But I plugged the mic straight into the amp and at least had something.

Tried my hand at the ring toss.  Are you surprised I missed?

These pumps were hooked up to balloons we had to pop.  I lost the first round but won the second.  Yes I beat a little girl.  For the Empire.

But we spent a good 3 hours or so hanging out and getting a LOT of photos with the kids and parents.  The club was very grateful we came out, I even helped manage parking traffic for a little while.  Even if all I did was wave people through and tell them "move along move along".

Next Sunday is a car show troop for a fallen soldier in Lebanon OH if anyone's interested.

https://backtheheroesrumble.com/

Car show in Lebanon OH Sunday Aug 11th, I'll be there with the 501st and the Crosstrek.  Come say hi, get a photo and a trading card.

Car show troop...a chance to combine two of my favorite things.

We suited up in a very VERY large open room that was more like a giant shelter, but we had a broom closet on the end to change into our underwear at least.  And TK's typically need help with a few items, the middle guy asked me for help just as I was going to ask him, and the first guy joked he was thinking the same.  I thought we needed a photo.  One made this into a meme, we could have gone Human Centipede I suppose.

It gave me a chance to put the Crosstrek on display, they put me next to the big military vehicle on an end row.  Added the flag, had the flashing LEDs in the grille running, the logo is a magnet I can remove.  Meant to leave trading cards on the windshield but forgot.  (It was kinda hot out there.)

I found a Mustang for my uncle.  I don't follow them or anything, but I've heard about Lebanon Ford and their performance upgrades.  I posed in front first for a photo, and as I was walking away the owner stopped me and offered to let me get inside.  I was like "sitting in this suit really isn't an option, but I can get in the doorway".

Lots of photos with the kids, and adults alike.  Car owners asking for photos with their cars.  But this right here, this is why we do this.  He came running up to me, I saw him coming towards me but as they get right up to me the line of sight goes away.  I assumed he was just going to fist-bump or say hi.  Then I felt the hug.  I'm trying to find him with my hand in this photo, a second later I was hugging him back.  Made for a good day. 

"I can't see a thing in this helmet..." 

Rodan said:

"I can't see a thing in this helmet..." 

Sometimes the handler has to tap us on the shoulder and point down, "there's a youngling trying to say hi!"

This evening was a short one, no pun intended.  Cub Scout Troop 316 in the rolling hills and corn fields of West Liberty OH had a popcorn selling event kick-off, and one of the prizes for selling the most is a trip to see the new Star Wars movie in December.  An old car friend I'm still friends with on Facebook asked me about having us there as a surprise.

1.25 hours to get there, major bypass around a closed overpass that wasn't on Google Maps through a number of small county roads, but I finally made it.

We managed to surprise them by parking and changing at the upper level from where they were.  The faces that lit up when we walked into the room were priceless.  Short troop, maybe 45 minutes in costume, free dinner afterwards.  Not a bad Sunday evening.

Today was the Kettering Holiday at Home parade.  The last two years I've walked it with the Humane Society and my dog, but they didn't say anything until the last minute.  And by then the 501st Legion had posted an event a few weeks ago.

I went with the scanning crew for this one for logistics, no place to change, or store the bin, decent walk to our location, possible issues getting back to car, etc.  Plus the last two years it's been insanely hot.  This year was actually pretty decent.

This is another crazy busy month, I have 9-10 scheduled already and a backup for the next hospital troop in a few weeks.  We have a Cincinnati Symphony event this coming weekend, and the Comic Expo is in a few weeks.  I just bought mine and SWMBO's tickets tonight, Sat & Sun, got a hotel by the Convention Center so I don't have to drive back and forth.  Saturday is my one year anniversary with the 501st Legion, and it looks like my mom will visit on Sunday and finally see me in costume.  This is going to be a good month...

I'll be here Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati if anyone's interested:

Cincy Symphony Empire Strikes Back