Blue Milk Special

Part 2 of our feature on the 501st Legion continues with our interview of Ray Rogers, Commanding Officer of the Old Line Garrison.

Inside the 501st Legion – Part 2

Q. Not all costumes have to be built from scratch thanks to many who sell specific components, allowing a uniform to be pieced together through purchases. What are some of the pitfalls for someone new to costume making / purchasing?

A. The major pitfall is that it sometimes is very tempting to purchase commercially-produced costumes and replicas because they are available on-the-spot and they are cheap. The problem there is that these are rarely screen-accurate and may require a lot of modification in order to be approved, if they can be approved at all. Take for instance the Rubies Stormtrooper costume you see available every Halloween; it is grossly inaccurate and the helmet just looks awful. There isn’t a single piece of this costume that is suitable for approval. Other setbacks can occur when recruits take to eBay and buy stuff just because the seller says it’s 501st-approved. Anyone can make that claim, but that doesn’t make it true.

Q. Last time, you told us a great beginner level costume for the aspiring 501st recruit is the Imperial Crewman. Let’s get down to some of the nitty gritty. What is the rough price range from the low-end Imperial Crewman, to the high-end Stormtrooper armor?

A. It really depends on how crafty you are. If you can sew, an Imperial Crewman could run you less than $200. If you’re looking at paying others for the work, the Imperial Crewman could run you around $400. But that is not so bad when you’re taking your time and having fun with it over the course of a few months. Stormtroopers are pricey, but again, if you’re getting a fan-made armor kit in the $400-$600 range that you have to trim, fit and finish to your own body-shape, it’s more economical than paying $1000-$1300 for a finished, ready to wear costume from an experienced armorer. The big-money costumes are your Darth Vaders and Boba Fetts. There are a ton of components made with expensive materials and they take a long time and a ton of work to paint, weather and finish. These will run you anywhere from $2000-$5000 depending on whether you’re the one doing the work. That may help people to understand why we’re so protective of our gear, and why we unintentionally look at people like they’re crazy when they ask us, “Can I try-on your helmet?”

Q. A potential new recruit would start out by identifying their region’s garrison using the 501st.com website. The 501st experience appears to rely on its online community built around its many forums. So, after someone signs up to the local garrison’s forum, what sort of questions do they ask?

A. Generally, there’s a great deal of enthusiasm for getting their costume assembled and approved as fast as possible, but what we try to make very apparent to new recruits is that anything worth doing is worth doing right, and that usually takes a lot of time, a lot of research and a good deal of money. As long as one understands this, they begin to have an appreciation for the pride we take in our costumes.

Q. Once the potential recruit has an idea for which costume they want to build and seek to gain approval they can sign up for one of the sub groups, known as a Detachment, that specializes in that type of uniform. What can you tell us about Detachments and putting a costume together?

A. The Detachment Forums are really amazing. They pull together all the experts on a particular costume type and offer invaluable mentoring throughout the process of making a costume. They also are the authority on the standards for that costume, and they offer all the best information on where to go for the components and materials you will need.

BMS: Okay, so the costume gets approved and the recruit becomes an official member…

Ray: Well, when a cadet makes the grade and he becomes an official active member, he’s granted access to the main 501st Legion forum and has access to tons of great resources for costuming. They can participate in online discussions, trade and sell on our forum market and stay up to date on the latest Legion opportunities to troop high-profile national and international events. They also have the ability to purchase and trade 501st Legion merchandise, which is always cool.

Q. There’s nothing quite like a Stormtrooper or Darth Vader in person. But all that armor must get awful hot. What’s it like under that helmet?

A. That’s why we have fans! Our people go to great lengths to install all kinds of cooling fans and electronics in their costumes to help them stay cool, but the elements are always our worst enemy. We always take weather and temperatures into consideration, doing the best to make sure that our members are trooping safely. A number of us have fallen victim to heatstroke at one time or another, but part of preventing injury is educating ourselves on the symptoms and early-warning signs. Cols is also dangerous, but heat is a real and ever-present danger, even in the environments that you wouldn’t expect. It can be the dead of winter outside, but a well-heated building combined with a cumbersome, multi-layered costume can always combine to put a costumer at risk of dehydration and exhaustion.

Q. I mentioned the battle with the Rebellion earlier. Most outsiders seem to view you guys as part of the same organization as the Rebel Legion, and vice versa. For a while, I was under the impression that the two organizations were essentially one. I know many 501st members also cosplay as heroic Star Wars characters as well, which probably added to my early confusion. How does that work out? Do you guys get into imaginary laser battles when you cross paths at conventions?

A. We always like to play-up the rivalry for the fans and get into the parts that we play. As a TIE Fighter Pilot, it’s fun to banter back and forth with the Rebel Pilots and make jokes about our factions. But in reality, the Rebel Legion is our sister-organization, and many of the events that the 501st is requested to attend will also extend an open invitation to the Rebels to field some heroes and protagonist characters as well. We work very well together, and we have always enjoyed our close relationship with them.

Q. What lies ahead for the Old Line Garrison in 2013 and beyond?

A. Oh, man. We have so much talent and enthusiasm in this group. We really would like to continue building rapport and establishing lasting relationships with all of the great charity organizations and all of the great causes that we work toward, both within our area of responsibility and globally as well.

Q. I can guess you have a strong personal investment in the 501st as a Commanding Officer for one of the regional Garrisons. So what does the 501st mean to you, personally?

A. First and foremost, the 501st Legion means FUN! We all enjoy what we do to no end, and as long as it continues to be fun, people will keep doing it and we’ll get tons more people into it. You have to love doing what we do in order to put as much time and work into the costuming aspect as we do, and once you’ve committed to that, the reward is amazing. To put a smile on a sick child’s face, to make a kid’s day by giving him a picture with a Stormtrooper, or to really floor a life-long Star Wars fan with the realism and accuracy of a costume they saw over 30 years ago as a kid on the big-screen… Coolest thing ever.

A big thank you to Ray for his time.

Check out the 501st Legion website.
If you’re in Maryland or DC, check out the Old Line Garrison website or Facebook page.

Happy Birthday, Leanne! Without you there would be less Forciness in the universe. There’d also be less BMS. 😉

Just when you thought we had forgotten the whole Greedo clan Tetsu vendetta gag in BMS, Shadows of the Empire gives us an excuse to keep it alive. And it can go on indefinitely, which is really the essence of the idea. Lando was a part of this scene, but I decided he could be paying the parking meter for the Falcon or something. It just seemed to work better if it was just Leia and Chewbacca in the scene.