501st Legion Saves the Day!

Vader warns me of the consequence in taking a bad pic

So about three months ago I was approached by a friend to help out with her pals wedding as her fiance is a huge Star Wars fan.  I gave her a tentative yes, as I kinda wasn't into the idea of walking around a beautiful reception hall dressed as a Stormtrooper.

A few months go by and after getting my homie to agree to join me on the Imperial appearance, I let the soon to be Bride know that we were in to help with her big surprise for her man.

And then 2 weeks ago my pal informed he couldn't make it out as he was on-call for work that weekend..doh!!  With less than a week to figure out how I was going to let Melissa know that we had to cancel-- cause I ain't rolling through any regal event without my Sith Lord-- why not reach out to the 501st Legion and see if they could help. So I did.

In less than a day the local Golden Gate Garrison responds back to me on my issue and with less than 3 days of notice-- they agree to have a Darth Vader attend.  I was still in a state of disbelief and concern that this was really hapenning

It's the big wedding day and I was all pumped to work as a personal guard for one of the 501st's finest -- so I spent a few hours in sprucing up the armor with a good cleaning which was way overdue from trooping at SDCC and Wondercon earlier in the year.  After making all the needed preparations- grabbing some water bottles, verifying I got every piece of the fit, a few towels and so on I made way to meet on location with Brian (SL-2865) of the Legion, the wedding coordinator and the bride.

Brian and I were received and brought to a changing room to get ready for Melissa's special wedding surprise for her husband, Matt.  During that time I got to pick Brian's brain on best approaches to problems I have had with my armor fit and also getting some insider bits of info on new tech in boom mics and other shit that you don't get from your average cosplayer.  Sweet! 

You can tell from Matt's (the groom) huge smile, he was psyched to have Vader in attendance

Gotta say it was sick seeing your average 5'11 guy transform to a menacing 6'5 Darth Vader.  Badass.

Every detail of his fit was on point and I was stunned to hear that he spent over 240+ hours on handcrafting his costume. 

So we were all ready to go, Brian became Darth Vader with his heavy breathing apparatus and all.

Then the door busted open and we see Melissa come in with Matt which wasn't planned-- and he went ape-shit, crazy on seeing that he had a legit ass Darth Vader and Stormtrooper at his wedding.  The look on his face and things that were coming out of his mouth was priceless.  Melissa was nearly in tears and Matt was huggin it out with Vader and me.  This was captured on video and I will post it once I get it from the filmographer. 

After taking hundreds of pictures over the course of an hour or so with many of Melissa & Matt's friends/family and sweating like a mofo more so than any daily cardio that you can partake in-- Brian and I felt Imperial for repping the Empire and ensuring order at this event.

If anything my calling in improving the armor fit with a torso strapping kit and finally installing the voice changer/amp prior to my eventual application to the 501st is more pressing after all of this -- as that feeling you get from seeing how much love you can bring to people is crazy addicting.

Congrats again to the newly married couple and thanks again to TK 8272, SL 2865 and the rest of the 501st for making this all happen.



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big O

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SDCC 2011: Our Top Con Moments

 

We were all walking back from enjoying some QT C&D time together with dinner and drinks on SDCC Sunday night and as we made our final stroll in front of the Convention Center-- laughing, busting eachother out, recalling different solo adventures or shared experiences-- Crystal thought it would be a great idea to drop a co-op post that talks about our fave moment of SDCC.  Wanna hear it?  Here it go...

OMAR:  This is always a tough thang to isolate just one experience in all of the epic craziness that I tend to find myself in at SDCC, but to go out and just pick one...it would have to be my chance encounter with DC Entertainment President- Diane Nelson.  I rarely find myself all tongue tied or dare I say the word star-struck.  And I was a bit of both when Diane gracefully strolled by me to sitdown for one of the DC: New 52 panels.

Diane was super cool when I approached her for a pic together-- she actually came off a bit embarrassed and surprised that I asked which made me even more happy.  We often find ourselves running after the story with the creators but how fucking dope is it to actually get up-close-and personal with the DCE Prez through a whole damn panel?!  Thanks Diane!

CRYSTAL:  I haven't been to Comic-Con in years mainly because I never have the funds in time to score tickets. Thankfully this year I'm part of the Comics & Dakine family and we had a blast so really the entire Con was my favorite! But since I am here to pick just one, I shall.

I'm a little bit of a Mass Effect fanatic and Saturday during the early evening Betty and I were at the BioWare base. There were several highlights within this one stop: I got to talk to BioWare's David Silverman and several others on the BioWare team, I got a sneak peak at Star Wars: The Old Republic, I met the voice actress for Mass Effect's FemShep, Jennifer Hale. The pinnacle though was when suddenly and unexpectedly, Michael Hogan, aka Captain Bailey aka COLONEL TIGH OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA arrived at the party. Hell yes.


TREY:  I experienced a bunch of Comic-Con moments that qualify as awesome (Robert Rodriguez panel, the hilarious "Always Sunny" and "Childrens Hospital" panels), but only two that qualify as my favorites:

1.  On my very first night of Comic-Con, I joined Big O and Betty for an open bar preview of THQ's Darksiders 2. When I arrived, O and Betty were already asserting their questionable influence over Darksiders 2 developer/artistic badass Joe Mad by ordering him beer after beer after beer. This (among other unmentionable things) loosened Joe up for an interview with Betty as well as a walk-through Joe was scheduled to preside over in about 15 minutes. THQ's PR guy wisely came by and pulled Joe from our grasp.

But that's not the best part! That came during Joe's aforementioned walk-through, when he repeatedly dissed our admittedly loud (and possibly rude) booth for not being able to handle our drinks. Whatever, Joe, don't lump me in with those two freaks!

2.  I accompanied Crystal during the Mass Effect "march" (it just went around the block). I couldn't quite get into the chants ("Mass Effect! Mass Effect!" and "Bioware! Bioware!"), but then the march leader said something that struck me as weird - "Safety first! Safety first!" I was pretty sure I just didn't hear the words right, but it sounded like a funny thing to say during a march to promote a video game. So I got behind it 100%, being sure to enunciate: "SAFETY FIRST! SAFETY FIRST!" A few other clowns got behind it, too.

Turns out we were supposed to be saying "Save the Earth!" Close enough.


BETTY:  Whilst attending a 501st costuming panel (Dressing to Serve the Empire), one of the attendees waltzed in late in a complete Cher costume: black thong leotard, fish nets, big curly wig, and a mic. All 6'4 of her.  We were trying not to stare, but she definitely stuck out as a sore thumb. Of course, she plopped down right next to me.

As the FAQ session began, she suddenly stood up and asked the panelists, "How do one go about making and submitting for a Chewbacca costume?" There was silence.

I said, "Please leave the room, rebel scum. You don't belong here." 

She immediately sat down and quizzically looked at me. "I don't understand," she muttered, turning red. "I thought this was a Star Wars panel." I shook my head and responded, "No, this is for the Imperial. I suggest that you leave. Now." Confused, but obedient, she walked swiftly out the door. There were chuckles and applause upon her departure. You just don't mess with the Imperial.




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big O

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