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8/13/2019 501st Newsletter Issue 1 Preview

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Steve Sansweet

Interview

K ids of t he 5 01st

Albin Johnson

“Our Beloved Founder”

New England Garrison

Takes Over

Museum of Science



Sympathy for FX 4

by Brian

New England GarrisonTakes Over Museum of Science 5

by Lori Sartre

501st Interviewwith Steve 8

by Kev

Albin Johnson“Our Beloved Founder” 10

by Wendy Wassmer TR/DZ/SL/TS-3845

Kids of the 501st 13

by?

Megacon ‘06 14

by Shertek

The Empire Strikes North 16

by Monica Bradbury

Half A World Away 16

by ?

The Midwest GarrisonGoes Cosmic Bowling 18

by Mary Walton BH-5202

Weather Report 18

by Steve Brejnak TK465 “Tigga”

Garrison Tyranus News 19 by Lori Frye

The New England Garrison 19

by SL-7768

It’s Been a Super-busy Yearfor the Badlands Garrison! 20

by ?

SouthernCalifornia Garrison

21

by Yvette

photo by SL-1877 David Byrne (UKG)



Editor-in-Chief

Kevin “TX-1422” Christley

Managing Editor

Jacques Languedoc (ala Shertek)

Executive Editor

Dean ‘Tuskentrooper’ Plantemura

Contributing Editor

MattyDog

Layout & Design Chief

Richard Silva (aka Lor)

Legion Editorial Assistant

TrooperKev

Support Crew

Art Dept

Chuck Flynn - TK-1427Diana - ID-1774Tim - DZ-8487The VTwins

Piero - BH/TS-1338 &Giancarlo - SL/TB-1340

Staff Writers

Brian Sasaki, - TD-2802ID-1714Lori Frye - TS-0729Marc Martinez - TK-4246

Stefan Cembolista - TK-978TK-7335Wendy Wassmer - TR-3845

Proof-reading/Copy Check

Marc Martinez - TK-4246Regina Layug - ID-1870Roger Noe - TK-2048Sara - TK546

Reviewers - Product reviews(501st/commercial/etc.)

Eric Meadows - TK-1265ID-1714TK-7335

Editor’s Desk Welcome to the premiere issue of “Static Burst”, the official 501st Legion Quarterly Newsletter! The

team has been working hard for the last few months putting this issue together for you, showcasing thevery best of the 501st Legion.

Last month we held a contest to name this newsletter. What we initially thought would be a short listof cool names quickly exploded with immense creativity from the Legion! 300+ name submissions later,we finally had our name... Static Burst, as submitted by fellow trooper Brian Sasaki.

A newsletter is only as good as the people who contribute to it, so I’d l ike to take a brief moment andthank a few dedicated troopers who’ve helped push this project along...

First of all, our illustrious LXO - Edward Karl for trusting in the initial idea and championing it for-ward. Without him, the newsletter would continue to be a good idea that went unrealized.

Managing Editor Jacques Languedoc (ala Shertek) for helping manage the staff, decision-maker onwhat goes in and what stays out, his valuable inputs and opinions, Jack of all trades, and for keepingme sane throughout the process - all while working as Legion PRO and PR DVD project lead!

Executive Editor Dean ‘Tuskentrooper’ Plantemura for bringing his professional talents of puttingtogether numerous ‘zines such as ours and helping kick it up a notch.

Contributing Editor - MattyDog for working hard collecting all the story contributions from the Legion.

Layout & Design Chief Richard Silva (aka Lor) for his immense patience with all of us and puttingtogether one slick newsletter. Richard is in charge of overall layout and design of the newsletter andcoordinating with the Art Dept (Volunteer Artists within Legion) to ensure newsletter looks professional.

And of course, the fantastic “Static Burst” support crew: as seen in the mast head, in the next panel

Thanks once again to the team for doing such a great job on this first of many “Static Bursts”. I hope you enjoy it as much as we had putting it together for you!

Kevin “ TX-1422” Christley

Static Burst Editor in Chief



Sympathy for FX by Brian

Inaccurate, oversized, bobble-headed. These are the barbs themuch-maligned FX lid has suffered.Much of it earned on its owncanonical demerits however. In anincreasingly ANH-helmed legionmade possible through greateravailability and lower costs, the FXhelmet, still the dominant lid of the501st is slowly being nudged outthe airlock. TKs and TDs alike areclamoring the best for their timeand investment in order to troopas the best dead-on canon posterboys (and girls) for the Star Warsuniverse.

But let us not forget that for manyof us the FX holds sentimental valueas our intro to SW costuming. Afterall, years ago when Rubies or DPwere the only versions accessible tothe incipient TK wanna-be, the FXevolved from its GF iteration in ahighly modified debut and stormedon the scene like doorcrashers ona consular ship at Yavin. Yeah theywere big, about 10% so but gone

was the latex and pinheadedness.In go the fans, voiceamps andmikes. To the uninitiated masseswe were stormtroopers straight outof the movie; kids would hug yourshinarmor, teenage boys could ill-conceal their giddiness bubbling upfrom their blasé angst; ladies wouldactually stop and flirt – without everseeing your mug.

Then there are those of us in the

know. Even the newbies soon catchon. The emperor has no clothes!And we’re not talking about aformer chancellor from Nabooeither. A veritable alphabet soup ofbuckets were out there and throughgarrison word of mouth and theweb, each claimed to be the clos-est, accurate available. SDS, RT,AA, Movie FX, TE to name a few.Forgive the newbie then for being

overwhelmed. He was soon underwhelmed by his FX despite its largersize and symmetry; he sensed thesmugness from the ANH-haves to-wards the have-nots on the boards.

Poor, pitiful FX. It doesn’t matterthat it was your first love; it doesn’tmatter that it helped you get that

highly coveted legion id numberand face in the members gallery;it doesn’t matter that for the tallertrooper, it was proportional to yourheight. And it doesn’t matter thatthe public could give a rip aboutthe cosmetic differences: IT JUSTISN’T ACCURATE!!

So we’ve come not to bury FXbut to praise and remember it. Iteducated us as a foil to the betterlids nowadays cracking out of themolds. Some of us will ebay themin a parsec without any regrets.Let some other sap figure it out forhimself we reason as we check ourPaypal credit statement.

For all those diehards contentwith their FX, you are the lucky few.You’ve managed to keep out of thegreat Saarlac moneypit to your non-anally retentive credit. Not neces-sarily through sloth or indigencehave you decided to keep it butperhaps for a higher calling. Youwisely realize a child’s smile in ahospital ward, or a baby boomer’swhoop of approval at a parade isequally bestowed to FX and ANHalike.

In the end, positive public reac-tion in its unblemished innocence of

FX’s inaccuracies reminds us of themagic that captivated us in the firstplace about a time long ago in agalaxy far, far away.



New England

Garrison

Takes Over

Museum of

Science by Lori Sartre —ID-1123

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since1977. I can’t remember a timewhen I wasn’t into Star Wars. Myfather would ask me “Why do youwaste your time on a stupid movie?What is the point? What will it everdo for you?”

Well, in 2005, my passion forStar Wars paid off.

I work as a graphic designer atthe Museum of Science in Boston.In 2002, it was announced to themuseum staff that we would beproducing a Star Wars exhibit thatwould open in 2005. I had beenat the Museum for about 7 yearsat that point and I was more thanready to move on to a new post.But when the announcement wasmade, I knew I had to stick it out forat least another 3 years. There wasno way I was going to let an op-portunity to work on an actual StarWars project slip away.

It was pretty well known in theMuseum that I was a huge StarWars fan. All you had to do waswalk by my desk and it was prettyevident. In 1998 I help create Star-WarsChicks.com and sold SWCshirts to my coworkers to raisemoney for Breast Cancer research.

I had my picture taken by one ofBoston’s main newspapers rightin my office. I had Star Wars stuffdisplayed all around my work area.I belonged to the country’s largestStar Wars costuming group; the501st Stormtrooper Legion. I woremy fandom proudly.

In the summer of 2003, my bosscalled me into his office and said “Ihave good news, and I have great

news…but you have to promise youwon’t go into labor when I tell you.”I was 6 months pregnant at thetime. I promised to do my best andhe said, “The good news is, you’vebeen asked to be on the planningteam for the Star Wars exhibit.”

I took a deep breath and tried toremain calm.

“The great news is that you’vebeen asked to go on a business tripto Skywalker Ranch.”

I didn’t go into labor, but I didsqueal.

As a member of the planningteam, I would be representing my

department; Publications and Inter-nal Marketing. But I knew that I wasbeing asked to be part of the teambecause I knew the subject matterbetter than just about anyone in theMuseum. I knew the fans. I knewwhat they would want to see. TheMuseum wanted me to be involved

because I WAS a fan. But, I wasconcerned about what Lucasfilm Ltdwould think about having a “fan”on the team. Were they awarethat a “fan” was being invited onto their property? I may be a StarWars fan, but I am also an adultand a professional, and I was de-termined to remain so, through thewhole project. I was going to keepmy “fan-girl” persona reined in.

The trip to Skywalker Ranchwas amazing. I had dreamed thatI would get a chance to go to theRanch one day, but I truly neverthought it would become a reality.I got to tour the Main House. Standin front of the Skywalker Ranch firetruck. I was brought into the propwarehouse where actual costumeshung a rack and hundreds of movieprops just sat on rows of metalshelves…all right out in the open. I

even walked passed The Man Him-self, George Lucas in the hall wayas we left the dining hall after lunchThrough all this I maintained myprofessional image and managed tokeep all my squealing internal.

On the second day of my visit Iwas in a meeting when my carefullyconstructed disguised would be tornaway. Our LFL point person poppedin a DVD to show us some footage

of an opening in Japan for a StarWars exhibit. She talked about howthe Japanese are big fans of themovies and how they went all outfor the opening of their exhibit. Thenit happened. There on the screenwas a group of Stormtroopers standing there in all their white gloryand our LFL rep said “Those guysare from the 501st . They are agreat group and we love them. You

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should definitely try and get them atsome of your opening events.”

There were about 12 of us fromthe Museum at this meeting. Elevenpairs of eyes turned to me and thenour team leader said “Lori, that’s your group, isn’t it?”

My cover was blown. I thought Iwould be hauled out of the room bysecret sevice looking men, hidingbehind hidden panels and dumpedon the. But I wasn’t. I even got togo to dinner with Rob Colman andLorne Peterson from ILM and returnback to the Ranch the following dayfor another meeting.

During the whole visit, all our LFLcontacts spoke very highly of the

501st group and I couldn’t havebeen more proud to be part of suchan amazing organization.

Over the next 2 1/2 years it waspretty much Star Wars 24 hours aday. My position on the Star Warsteam morphed into three roles:Lead Graphic Designer, MuseumStar Wars Guru, and StormtrooperCoordinator.

As Lead Designer I created theexhibit logo and the look for all themarketing materials. I created mul-tiple invites, press kit folder, exhibitposter and exhibit guide. I evendesigned a collectible MillenniumFalcon pin that you got when youtook a trip in the full scale Millen-nium Falcon cockpit (which is thecoolest thing ever).

I was dubbed the Star Wars

Guru because I would regularlyfield phone calls and emails ask-ing me such things like “Do TuskenRaiders and Jawas get along?”, “Ifwe had to cut out an exhibit compo-nent, should it be the Wookiees or Jabba’s Palace model?”, “Can youteach me how to speak like Yoda?”,“Can you teach the Museum’s presi-dent how to act like a Jedi?” Thequestions were endless, and when

I thought I had heard the craziestquestion I’d ever be asked, some-one would come up with an evencrazier one.

My favorite role on this project,however, was Stormtrooper Coor-dinator. As soon as Lucasfilm spokethe name 501st, my phone wouldn’tstop ringing. I quickly set up a meet-ing with Museum event coordina-tors, put together some promotionalmaterial, and set up a system forrequesting Star Wars characters.I knew how great the 501st was,and I was excited to get the chanceto help my own group, the NewEngland Garrison, be involved withan “official” Lucasfim project.

Our first event was a year be-fore the exhibit even opened. Wehad about a half dozen charactersattend the Museum’s annual Educa-tors Night event. The Museum was

prototyping some of their exhibitcomponents for the Star Warsexhibit and was hoping our groupcould draw attention to their activity.

The Museum staff was blownaway. You can tell someone howamazing the costumes are, but untilthey see them for themselves, theyjust can’t really understand. Forweeks after the event I had peoplecoming up to me telling me how

awesome our group was and howthey couldn’t wait to have them atmore events.

Over the next several months theNEG did several small events tobuild excitement for the upcomingexhibit. In the summer, several ofour Troops road the local bus andtrain system to pass out flyers an-nouncing ticket sales for the exhibit.And we attended concerts held bylocal radio stations.

I even hooked up with our localRebel Legion group and got theirmembers involved. The Museum’smarketing department arranged tohave Star Wars characters throwout the first pitch at a Red Soxgame. The Museum bought itselfit’s own Chewbacca costume anda Museum employee dawned it,but the Princess Leia and Han Solowere from our local group.

Star Wars: Where Science MeetsImagination opened in Boston inOctober of 2005. The NEG partici-pated in every opening event thatwas held; Press Preview, Staff Pre-view, Members’ Preview, Members’Halloween Party, special donorpreviews. But the highlight was theGala Opening, with a very specialguest…George Lucas.

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Along with being the LeadGraphic Designer, Star Wars Guru,and Stormtrooper Coordinator, Ialso consulted on the Gala plan-ning committee. Back in Februaryof 2005, the committee decidedthey wanted to extend an invita-tion to George Lucas to attend

the Gala. I was asked to create aspecial invite. I put the one-of-a-kindinvite together over a weekendand it was one of my most stress-ful projects I have ever done. Thewhole time I kept thinking “GeorgeLucas is going to actually hold thisin his hands. What if he thinks itlooks like crap and decides not tocome?” We mailed out the inviteand months passed without a word.It wasn’t until a month after Star

Wars: Revenge of the Sith opened,that we got word that George hadaccepted our invite. I was bothexcited AND relieved.

Once it was known the Georgewould attend, the Gala planningwent into full gear. I attended all themeeting and would consult on theirideas. They wanted to make surethey stayed true to the subject matter.I was even invited to spend an after-

noon with the committee membersand watch A New Hope and answertheir questions about the movies.

One of the main things that thecommittee wanted was as manyStar Wars characters as they couldget. I had given my garrison theheads up that a large event was go-ing to take place on opening week-end, but I had to keep George’sappearance a secret until LFL said

it was okay to make the announce-ment. It wasn’t until mid-summerthat I was allowed to say anything.It was one of the hardest secrets Iever had to keep.

The New England Garrison is agood size group, but we knew wecouldn’t get the numbers that theMuseum wanted. We put a call outto the rest of the Legion asking for

volunteers to travel up to Bostonfor this event. We got people fromFlorida, Ohio, Midwest, and NewYork. We were so excited to beable to host so many of our Legionbrothers and sisters.

We ended up with about 80costumed characters between the

501st and Rebel Legion. The nightwas extravagant and our role in itwas like a play. The Museum need-ed to transport 700 guests from theMuseum of Science to a separatelocation for the dinner portion ofthe night. A storyline was createdwhere the Imperial forces took overthe Museum and threatened to ar-rest all guests if they did not leaveat once. We had about 25 Storm-

troopers march through the Museumand move people to the main doorsof the Museum where buses await-ed to take them to dinner. We hadone Stormtrooper ride with everybus and when they got to the diningtent, they took up guard duty alonga long tunnel that led into the tent.It was truly amazing. We had 700people moved out of the museum inless than 20 minutes. The group didan amazing job.

I, myself, only got to witness aportion of it, however, becauseonce the first warning was madeof the take over, I had to run upto our dressing room and become“Cinderella”…I had actually beeninvited to the “ball.” And not onlywas I going to the ball, I had aspecial invitation to sit at the sametable as George Lucas.

I dressed in 10 minutes and randown to the lobby in time to catchone of the last buses to the tent. Iwas even escorted to the bus by ourGarrison CO. It was like a fairy tale.

The night was amazing. I sat inthe seat that was directly acrossfrom George, though it was a fairlylarge table. I did get to speak tohim briefly, thank him for comingand shake his hand. I had hoped

for more, but he was the “mainevent” and everyone wanted timeto shake his hand as well. But eventhought the time was short, I canat least cross that one item off my“Things To Do In My Life” list: MeetGeorge Lucas – check!

When dinner was over I boarded

a bus back to the Museum with myhusband who had been dressed asan officer and coordinating all theStormtroopers at the tent. A Galaguest boarded the bus after us andcame over to my husband andsaid “I just wanted to thank you forbeing here. You and your peoplemade this event.”

That was the sentiment that wasstated over and over to me fordays, months after the Gala andevery other event that the New Eng-land Garrison and our sister groupshave attended. We’ve attendedwell over 20 events and activitiesfor the Museum of Science and ateveryone…we MADE the event.

Anyone can have a Star Warsevent where they show a Star Warsmovie, or put up Star Wars inspireddecorations, but having living,breathing, Stormtroopers, Sith Lord,and aliens brings it to a wholeother level.

I’ve had a lot of amazing ex-periences while being involved inthe creation of Star Wars: WhereScience Meets Imagination, but myfondest memory was when I got offthe bus after dinner was over and Ientered the main lobby of the Mu-

seum of Science. Standing there allin a line, was more than a dozenassorted Star Wars characters allthanking me for coming and wish-ing me a good night. It was one ofthe most amazing sights I had everseen. I want you all to know…YOUMADE MY NIGHT – Thank You.



501st Interview

with Steve by Kevin Christley

Unforgettable. That’s what mostStar Wars fans think of Steve San-

sweet when they meet him for thefirst time. If you want the low-downon anything Lucasfilm, Steve’s oftenthe one to know it! Born in Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, Steve attendedTemple University where he gradu- ated with honors, then worked as aprize-winning journalist for severalprominent U.S. newspapers (including the Wall Street Journal)before landing a job withLucasfilm back in

1996. His previousboss, WSJ’s PaulSteiger was askedif Steve’s job movebothered him and hesaid “Yeah, it did”...But only becauseSteve got to act on hisdreams! And Steve’snever looked back!

If you haven’t seen him

during one of his manypersonal appearances atconventions, chances areyou’ve seen him on QVC as co- host of the Star Wars Collections.Or perhaps read one of his manyarticles for the Star Wars In- sider. Either way, once you’vemet him, you’re hooked.

Steve Sansweet is the Direc- tor of Content Management

& head of Fan Relationsfor Lucasfilm Ltd. Hishome in SonomaCounty, Califor- nia, otherwiseknown as RanchoObi-Wan, housesthe largest privately- owned Star Warsmemorabilia collections inthe world. You can check

out his full biography on StarWars.com: http://www.starwars.com/bio/ stevesansweet.html

Is there an interesting storyabout how you got startedworking for LFL?

I had written several books on

Star Wars through Lucasfilm sincethe early ’90s. One day in 1995 Igot a call from Lynne Hale, directorof communications, to ask if I mightrecommend someone for a one-yearjob to go around the country andtells fans what was up with the Star

Wars Special Editions.To make a long

story short, Iwas at a

place

in

my career at the Wall Street Journal—even though I loved myjob—where it was time to do some-thing different. I took a gamblethat a low-paying one-year job atLucasfilm might turn into a fulltimesecond career in Marketing. And tomy delight—it has!

You’ve written or co-writteneleven Star Wars booksso far. Are there any morebooks in the works?

On my to-do list are five morebooks over the next four years—notthat they all will necessarily findan interested publisher. But I cantell you now that a contract hasbeen signed for a new Star WarsEncyclopedia to come out in a few

years, and I’ll be working on asecond book at the same time—justas I worked on the new Star WarsPoster Book and Star Wars Chron-icles: The Prequels together. Moredetails to come later. Hmm. It justoccurred to me that the 501st will

be mentioned in the newEncyclopedia!

What future LFLproject are you

most lookingforward to?

There’s a lot onour plate. Besides theanimated and live-ac-

tion Star Wars series laterthis decade, we hope to have

word about one more film in adifferent trilogy before too

long. There’s a good possi-bility of a Celebration IV,

maybe some additionalvideo releases…anda ton of other cool stuff

that’s too early to talkabout.



Lucasfilm recently movedtheir headquarters off theRanch. How are the new digsat the Presidio?

The offices are great! And it’struly a magnificent setting, a sort ofpark inside the National Park that’sopen to the public. Amazing views

too!The 501st Legion has always

had a great working relationshipwith both LFL and children’s chari-ties. What impact do you feel the501st has made and how can weimprove that relationship?

The 501st started up just aroundthe time I was joining Lucasfilm,so I feel a special kinship with the

Legion. I’ve worked for many yearswith members of the 501st all overthe world to make sure there wasa good level of understanding onboth sides of what works and whatdoesn’t, where the stress points are,etc. I think the impact was clearlast year in how much we turned tothe 501st garrisons worldwide tohelp us and our partners in launch-ing Episode III, and in the Legion’sname being adopted as part of the

Star Wars mythos. For the future,one thing that comes to mind is theneed to make sure there’s a goodlevel of communications so thatnobody is surprised, and there arevery few unexpected occurrences.

You do a lot of Conappearances... So we have toask... What’s your favoriteyearly Con and why?

Besides Celebration (which isn’t yearly) it has to be San DiegoComic-Con International. That’s aconvention I’ve been going to onmy own for more than 20 yearsand there’s nothing else like it forsheer size and activity. You neverknow what you’re going to comeacross in the massive dealer’sroom. And it took on a whole otherdimension when I started goingthere in my Lucasfilm capacity. My

second favorite is Dragon*Con.Those who have been there knowthat it’s just one big party!

Damien Metz (the 501stmember who creates theHonorary Membershipplaques) tells me that youhave a ‘green’ version of

George Lucas’s plaque withyour name on it... Whygreen?

After I saw a photo of the beauti-ful plaque that Damien made, andwhich was presented to GeorgeLucas when he became an honor-ary member of the 501st, I toldDamien how much I admired it.Being something of a wise-guy (aswell as an all-around nice guy),

Damien twisted that into my alleged“jealousy” of George’s plaque. Sohe found some neon-green acrylicand made a “Green with Envy” ver-sion of the original!

Your Rancho Obi-Wan ishome to the most impressiveprivately-owned Star Warscollection in the world. Whatgot you started collecting?

I’ve been a collector all my

life—bottle caps, matchbook cov-ers, baseball cards, space-relatedplastic model kits. The year beforeStar Wars opened I started to col-lect space toys, and then was soblown away by my trip to a far-away galaxy, that I started buyingevery single Star Wars item I couldfind. Next thing I knew I had toadd a floor onto my house in L.A.Then another floor. Then a storagelocker. Then four more. It just sort ofhappened!

And who gets the collectionin your will?

Hadn’t you heard the newsgrouprumor from years back? When I diemy body is going to be laid out inthe middle of the museum…whichwill then be imploded around me

Of all the Star Wars films,which is your all-timefavorite and why?

I guess The Empire Strikes Back isstill my favorite because of its darktone and unresolved questions. But was truly blown away by the origi-nal Star Wars and Revenge of theSith was amazing. It’s pretty closeamong those three.

Do you have a favorite

character in the films?

Yes, although is has changedover the years. At first it was Luke,because I was also going on ajourney of discovery about the timethe movie came out. But as time haspassed, I relate more to Obi-Wan,especially in his role as mentor.That’s a role that I’ve personallyenjoyed in my career and in my lifein general.

And finally, anything you’dlike to say in closing to the501st Legion?

Only that the best is yet to come!And I mean that both for Star Warsand the 501st. Wait until I tell youabout our plan to…. Oops! Can’tgo there yet. Better stay tuned!

My special thanks to Steve forgranting us the time for this interview and I hope you all enjoyedit. No major spoilers, but readinginto it a bit, you’ll see the 501st isn’tquite done yet!



Albin Johnson

“Our Beloved

Founder” by Wendy Wassmer TR/DZ/SL/TS-3845

Back in 1997, Albin Johnson(TK-210) and Tom Crews (TK-512)started what has now become thelargest Star Wars fan based costuming club, The 501st Legion. Through- out the past nine years, Albin hasbeen the driving force of the legion.Even through the most troubling oftimes for Albin, he has always beenthere to show the membership atlarge the true meaning of leadershipand commitment. From it’s begin-

nings in Columbia, South Carolinato now an international organization, with over 3,000 members atthis time, from our connections andwork with Lucas Film Limited to theinclusion of The 501st Legion intothe canon world of Star Wars, Albin Johnson has taken great strides andmade it look effortless.

For those of you who are new tothe legion or not familiar with our

founder and former Legion Com- manding Officer or the beginningsof the Legion itself, here are a fewwords from the man himself…

What prompted you to startthe 501st Legion?

In 1997 the re-releases of theoriginal Star Wars Trilogy werecoming out. A buddy of mine, TomCrews, and I talked all the time

about how much we loved themovies and especially the storm-troopers. We cooked up an idea toget some actual trooper armor andfound some very expensive stuff onthe internet. Well, after attendingthe premieres of ESB and ROTJ, wenoticed a huge reaction from thecrowds that only got bigger whenthere were two of us appearing. Iposted some pics on a website titled

Detention Block 2551 and before you know it people started mailingpictures in for me to add to the web-site. Before long I thought it wouldbe neat to feature all the pictures ina gallery arrangement as if dis-playing the roster of some fictionalmilitary unit in the Empire. I thought

back to the old photo album my dadhad from WWII when he was a pi-lot and the rows of pictures of pilotsin their cool uniforms. I thought itwould be cool to recreate somethingwith that spirit. So I came up with aback-story detailing how this spe-cial unit served Vader directly (fansrecall Vader always seems to havea host of troopers on-call anywherehe goes), created a unit number andmotto to go with it “Fighting 501st”,

and away we went. It grew expo-nentially overnight and the restis history.

Where did you findyour first set ofarmor?

My buddy,Tom Crews, andI went lookingand found anobscure listing onthe internet for thesale of an estatewhich included aset of stormtrooperarmor. The list-ing was bogus, ofcourse, and servedas an advert forsomeone who’d hand-crafted a couple suitsthat he wanted to sell. I

think the shop-front wascalled Dogstar Collect-ibles, but it’s long since dis-appeared. The original setof armor was disgust-ingly expen-sive (no onemade the stuffback then)and made ofstyrene, but it

was very original and still made abig splash in ‘97.

Did you belong to any otherSW fan clubs before creatingthe 501st?

Nope. I was always intimidatedabout joining most clubs because

they always seemed so exclusive. Itried doing SCA when I was a kid,but again it just seemed steeped inpolitics and cliques. I never reallygot into conventions either becausethere was never a welcoming at-mosphere to them - you were eitherthere with friends or you felt like anoutsider.



What has been your biggesthurdle in starting the legion?

The biggest challenge in creat-ing the Legion was always keepingteamwork alive. The momentum cre-ated by the movies was very helpfuland everyone has had enoughvolunteer spirit to keep things going

strong, but inevitably differencesin opinion and strategy have splitgroups into smaller and smallergroups. So the big hurdle is keep-ing everyone together, making themsee the big picture. But I’m told weare doing a lot better than mostclubs. It’s not a fatal problem, butI’d like to see more teamwork.

What has been your proudestmoment in the legion to

date?

There have been so many proudmoments. First there was inductionof celebrities as Honorary Members-so many of them were worthy ofbeing a pinnacle to our success.Then Mr. Zahn featured us in oneof his novels, which means it hadto be approved of by Lucasfilm andpossibly even Mr. Lucas himself.What an honor! And there’s the

ongoing partnership between Lucas-film and the 501st, allowing us tobe key players in promotions andevents including the Celebrationconventions. Lately there’s been ourroles as characters in Battlefront II- an incredible homage to our club!And last year Mr. Lucas himselfwas gracious enough to accept anHonorary Membership in the 501stLegion, which just blew our minds.But personally speaking I’d say myproudest moment was when mydaughter Katie was ill with a braintumor and the entire Legion pulledtogether to support her and makeour family feel loved. The love,financial support, and courage theylent us was staggering. For me, thatwas what the club was all about.

Where do you see the legionin five years from now? Tenyears from now?

Obviously the ending of thefeature-length films in the prequelsposes challenges for us in termsof momentum. There won’t be thehuge cultural and promotional up-

swelling that we can ride. But StarWars is far from fading from thecollective imagination. There arealready plans for new products andshows. So in five years we mightsee a drop in membership (or not)and in ten maybe more so. I takea conservative(but not pessimistic)stance: in time there may be drop-out but I think the spirit of the 501stis sound enough to carry it for years to come. People who join theclub just to wear plastic get tiredof it quickly. But people who find afamily here keep coming back, andwe plan on being a family for along, long time.

What were your thoughtswhen LFL first contacted the501st?

At first I was anxious about it. If you really think about it, our little

operation infringes on intellec-tual property that Lucasfilm wouldnaturally want to protect. So in theearly days I was eager to get withMr. Steve Sansweet and build arelationship. Our first conversationswere about just where the 501stcould fit in and I am sure he waskeen to know what our agendawas. But he is a genuinely pleasantman and very generous and waskind enough to take us at our wordand help us develop. It is alwaysexciting hearing from Lucasfilm - it’slike the

mothership calling. I feel astrong sense of pride and duty torepresenting Lucasfilm in whatevercapacity they require us and amgrateful they allow us to do so.

Which Star Wars celebritygave you the biggest thrill tomeet?

Myself personally, I’d have tosay Peter Diamond, the stunt co-ordinator for the first trilogy. He’dplayed stormtroopers, TuskenRaiders, biker scouts, you name it.

He knew what it was like to be astormtrooper before anyone hadever heard of the character. He wasextremely grateful to be asked to bean Honorary Member, I rememberhim tearing up when we presentedhim the award. I wish he had livedlonger so I could get to know himbetter. But I’m glad we could meet,even briefly, and show him howmuch we appreciated him blazingthe trail for the rest of us ‘plasticpeople’.

Do you have any fun orinteresting Star Warscelebrity stories?

One of my favorite involved PeterMayhew. Tom Crews and I werestill getting used to our new armorin 1997 when Peter was scheduledto come to our town of Columbia,SC and do a small sci-fi convention

there. A local comic shop ownertook it upon himself to alter Peter’sitinerary and have him deliveredto his shop for autographs. Tomand I found out and made surewe were there. After all, this wasChewbacca, here in our little town.Little did we know that Peter hadno idea about the stop and wasvery tired. So it was a big surprise(and hassle) for him to be droppedoff at this shop and assaulted bya pack of rabid fans. Tom and Idid our best to help, funneling thecrowd into a manageable line andescorting Peter to the back of thestore. Peter was kind enough tosit and chat with every single fan,even though he was exhausted.The funny part was an hour later,when Peter was getting antsy andremarked on the troopers standingguard over him. I must have been



creaking, shifting my weight fromone foot to the other as I stood, be-cause Peter grumbled “These storm-troopers are noisy, aren’t they? I’mgoing to crush them if they don’t bequiet.” The crowd laughed. Insidemy helmet, my eyes widened atthe thought of Chewbacca pulling

my arms out of their sockets. Later,Peter posed for a picture with us bytowering over us and palming ourhelmets with his hands. It was prettyintimidating!

Why did you call this club the501st Legion anyway?

Just because. I have a whole listof bogus answers. “To commemo-rate the 501st Paratroop InfantryRegiment in the D-Day invasion,

because 5:01 is my favorite time ofday (quitting time), because I likedthe button-fly jeans...etc.” Truth is,I wanted a number for a military-sounding unit and it needed to bea big number (the Empire’s big, itshould have lots of units). I wanteda motto for the unit, somethingthat sounded tough in a non-spe-cific way. “The Fighting (fill in theblank)” sounded good. That left

four hundred or five hundred ashaving an alliterative ring to it ifadded to the word ‘fighting’. SoI chose five hundred and addedthe one because it made it seemmore realistic than a round 500.And yes, I knew of the military unit,but did not seek to dishonor it bycopying it. Instead, I left it to be anice nod to the unit by sharing theirname. I hope we’ve done that.

Ok now just between usfriends, what’s the big secreteveryone is buzzing about?

Ha! Okay, you’ve got me. I’vebeen tapped to direct Episode3.5: working title is “Send in theClones”. Two and a half hours ofstormtroopers tracking down andwiping out Jedi. Pretty moving stuff.

Can we expect anythingspecial for the 10th yearsanniversary of the legionnext year?

Holy crap! Has it been 10 yearsalready? Yes, I guess so. I don’tknow we’ll have to see what hap-pens.

Any general advice forsomeone wanting to join theLegion?

Turn 18, put together a qualitycostume, then try to join. I can’tstress that enough. I’d also stresshow important a sense of team-

work and service is.This club is a beau-tiful thing, herefor fun and forservice. I wouldhope everyonecan do both and

workfor the

better-mentof theclub. Butthe key isto be cool

to one another.Everyone here is a friend.

Do you have any closingwords for the members ofthe Legion?

Yeah, where’s my royalty check?Seriously, though, I am proud ofeach and every member and I wishI could troop with everyone all overthe world. That’d be my wish. If

anyone ever needs anything, I’mhere to listen. Long live the Empire!

With the recent announcement ofhis wife, Kathy Johnson (TK-1079),expecting twins in the Fall, lifeseems to be getting busy yet againfor the Johnson Family and so at thistime I would like to personally thank

Albin Johnson for taking the time todo this interview.

So now my fellow troopers, it’stime to but on our buckets, do whatwe do best and make Albin proudonce again for creating the 501stLegion.

photo by SL-1877 David Byrne (UKG)



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The Empire

Strikes North by Monica Bradbury

Alaska is moving to a darkerplace than the north side of aTanana Valley hill in January. That’sbecause the Aurora Borealis Alas-kan Outpost has recently becomeAlaska’s first member of the nation-al 501st Legion, or Vader’s Fist, acostume and fan club dedicated tothe bad guys in the Star Wars films.

Started in 1997 by Albin John-son of Columbia, South Carolina,Vader’s Fist strives for accurateportrayal of Star Wars costumes,especially those from the dark side.But the more than 3,000 membersdon’t get all dressed up and havenowhere to go. The 501st’s motto is“Bad guys doing good things.” Thefan club volunteers for organiza-tions such as the Ronald McDonald

House, Toys for Tots andthe Make-A-Wish Foundation.

So far, the Alaskan Outposthasn’t been involved with any char-ity events; it’s still in a six-monthprobationary period. But they didhave a booth at the recent Senshi-Con anime event at UAA. Three ofthe four current members - RebeccaLewis, Joe Kerley and Gary Fife- donned Tusken Raider, ShockTrooper and Death Star Troopercostumes respectively, while lur-ing new members to the dark sideby showing videos of some of theLegion’s events. “Everyone said that

seeing us there made the conven-tion real,” Lewis said via email.“We got lots of interest.”

Lewis, a married mother of two,moved to Anchorage from Idahoabout six months ago. She par-ticipated in 501st charity events inthe Lower 48 and wanted to stayinvolved from Alaska. Lewis contact-ed Miranda Wilson of Juneau, theoutpost’s fourth member, just prior

to her move north and they put theAlaskan Outpost together, websiteand all (www.akoutpost.com).

Squads and outposts usuallybelong to a garrison, or geographi-cal group. But because Alaska is sofar away from the rest, our outpostsits all by its lonesome on the Outer

Rim, like a present-day Tatooine. Sofar, there haven’t been any prob-lems with the Alaskan Outpost’sdistance from their robed and uni-formed brethren. It’s just costs moreto have their light sabers shipped.

Half a World

Away by ?

On Saturday, 14 January 2006,volunteers from the Philippine Out-post of the 501st Legion of Storm-troopers, Star Wars Philippines fanclub and the Philippine Outpostof the Rebel Legion assisted inbringing smiles to over 100 under-privileged children of Holy FamilyParish community at the San Isidro

community in Makati city, MetroManila for their post holiday char-ity event organized by the “Half AWorld Away Foundation”.

The party started with break-fast for the children while beingtreated to a private viewing of StarWars: A New Hope. When thehalf a world away organizers gavethe signal, members of the 501stLegion, the Rebel Legion and StarWars Philippines fan club, com-ing out of nowhere, surprised the



crowds by marching in costume,much to the delight of the children(& the not so young alike).

“*chk* it was like a tidal wave

of kids *chk*,” said one storm-trooper.

“*chk* they smothered me withhugs and were pulling at my arms*chk*,” he continued,

“*chk* it was like I was back onEndor *chk*.”

The event continued with aspecial photo session with thecostumed characters. Each childwas given the chance to have theirpicture taken while the others tookturns on being taught about properdental hygiene by volunteers of theMakati Dental Society, and the restof the children participated in thearts and crafts sessions. The photos

gathered were printed and framedby the organizers and given to thechildren as part of their souvenirs.

Half A World Away is a non-prof-

it charity project based in Canadawith volunteers in North America,the Middle East and the Philippinesto enrich the quality of life of thosewho are underprivileged in the Phil-ippines, particularly the children,by providing emotional support,as well as material and monetarydonations.

As members of the 501st legion,we in the Philippine outpost are justas delighted to have taken part inthis meaningful charity event andwe are looking forward to partici-pate in other similar opportunitiesto come.



The Midwest

Garrison Goes

Cosmic Bowling by Mary Walton BH-5202

Members of the Midwest Gar-rison found themselves quite busyin 2005. With events ranging fromnew DVD and Book releases tobirthday parties and weddings,there was a multitude of things todo! So, after getting through theholiday season and having thingswind down, members decided a

night of cosmic bowling was justthe thing to get through the winterblahs. Meeting together on Jan.7th, MWG members and familyfrom as far north as Sheboygan,WI to as far south as Normal, ILgathered for a night of fun. Heldin North Aurora at the AMF ValleyLanes, over 20 members plus familywere able to make it out for thisevent.

One of the memorable highlightsof the evening was seeing TK523bowl five strikes in a row, while inhis Tusken Raider outfit! However,TK6254 took home the night’s highscore with a 180, although he didhave the advantage of bowlingwith no armor. TK265, one of thefounding members of the MWG,will perhaps be most the most vividmemory for all in attendance that

saw him strutting around in his cos-tume! He is great to troop and bowlwith, both, in and out of costume.

What really made the eveningspecial was members getting a

chance to get to know each otherwhile catching up with each otheroff the boards. And since it was nota formal event, there was an auraof amusement and silliness that sur-rounded the group. New memberslike TK6442 showed up as wellas some of the MWG’s foundingfathers TK604, TK826 and TK895.Good times were had by all spend-ing time with good people. I wouldsay that TK7503 summed it up wellwhen he posted, “I’m really bruisedup as well. The right thigh piecebroke the skin on the back of myknee when I fell. Plus various otherpinches and bruises. But it was wellworth it. I had a great time.”

Weather Report by Steve Brejnak TK465 “ Tigga

Weather today:

Partly Sunny and dry with a lowof 38 and high of 50

Rebel report:

Saw some guy in a daygloworange jumpsuit poking around theshuttle pad. Jeez you should haveseen the guy…he had porckchopsideburns…I mean com’n whogrows facial hair like that thesedays. So when I asked him whathe was doing he told me he wasin maintenance so I went back tobreakfast and didn’t give it anotherthought.

Hot Air Report:

The base commander called meon the phone. He was screamingat me from the top of his lungs butI couldn’t quite make out what hewas saying on account the noiseof a shuttle taking off was loudenough to split an eardrum. Thephone went dead shortly after thatvolley of blaster fire came downfrom overhead. I suppose he’ll callback if it was important. To be hon-est it was more of a nuisance thananything…it interrupted me eatingmy bowl of fruity pebbles, which Imight add, is rather difficult whilewearing your helmet…trust me.Other than that things have beenpretty quiet around here.

-Transmission ended



Garrison Tyranus

News by Lori Frye

It’s been pretty quiet so far thisquarter. Our last major GT event

was a Toys for Tots troop at the ToysR Us in Fredericksburg, VA on De-cember 10, 2005. Eleven garrisonmembers attended, and we wereable to raise $1500 in donationsover the course of the day.

We attended the Farpoint Con-vention in Hunt Valley, MD theweekend of 2/17/06-2/19/06.We collaborated on a 501st fanclub table with Old Line Garrison,

and had a chance to socialize withmembers of the Carolina Garrisonand Northeast Remnant as well.501st members participated in theopening skit for the masqueradecompetition, and a masqueradeentry of members from Old LineGarrison and Garrison Tyranus tookfirst place in the Science Fictioncategory.

Photos are available from either

event if you need them; just let meknow and I’ll get them from our gar-rison photographers.

Here is a listing of our upcomingevents:

3/4/06: Fight Multiple SclerosisBowlathon, AMF Hanover Lanes,Hanover County, VA

4/21/06-4/23/06: Ravencon,Richmond, VA

7/7/06-7/9/06: Shore LeaveConvention, Hunt Valley Marriott,Hunt Valley, MD

Please let me know if you needadditional material, and I can send you details on the MS Bowlathonafter it occurs (since it’s before ourpublication date).

On Sunday, the 19th of March,

The New England

Garrison by SL-7768

The New England Garrison,for the second year in a row, had

the opportunity to participate inthe South Boston St. Patrick’s DayParade. This year marks the 105thannual celebration of this longserving tradition. The first knownparade took place in 1804 and theparade in its current form was firstintroduced in 1901. The paraderoute is a 3.2-mile jaunt throughthe side streets of Southie, start-ing at Gillette Park and ending upon Southampton St in Andrews’s

Square. It is the second largest St.Patrick’s Day Parade in the countryboasting an average of 850,000spectators along the route.

The NEG conquered the Streetsof Boston by first meeting togetheron Boston Wharf Road. The totalnumber of participants this yearswelled to well over 20 troops,including a few visitors from neigh-boring garrisons. We had two

vehicles that completed the troopspresence in the parade. The ve-hicles also provided transport to thestaging area. Nothing tops blackvehicles loaded to overflowingcapacity with the Empire cruisingdown the streets of Boston.

Once shuttled to the startingpoint, the real festivities began. Aswe waited our turn to be placedinto the parade we had the op-portunity to meet and great withseveral fans. Many smiling facesposed for pictures with their be-loved heroes of the Empire.

The start of the parade was anexperience that one would have ahard time forgetting. If you have nohad the opportunity to participatein a parade of this magnitude itcan be hard to imagine the rush ofadrenaline and surge of pride thatswells through you.

As I stood on the bed of the pickup truck flanked by my ever-faith-ful Royal Guard, I had the specialopportunity to survey all my troopsmarching to the sound of the Impe-rial March. It was an awesomesight to witness the crowd’s reac-tion as we entered the parade androunded the first corner. One couldnotice the deafening increased re-action as the Empire made its pres-ence known. Screams of “you guysrock”, “we love the Empire” we buta few of the chants that could be

heard. Then came the entrance ofthe Dark Lord himself. In all my life,I have never felt the power of thedark side like I did that day. Oneraise of the fist, clenched in thatever-popular authoritative gesture,got another huge boost in thecrowd’s excitement.

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The continued positive responsewe received was so overwhelmingthat members of the Boston Fire De-partment decided it may be worththeir while to walk along side of thetroops. At one point three jumpedonto the back of the pickup to get apicture and had to be asked to step

down after stealing Lord Vader’sthunder for a good solid half mile.

Over all the experience was onethat I’m sure none of us will forget.The smiles, the high fives, childrenasking for autographs and screamsof “Luke, I am your father” and“you were the chosen one” willecho in the reflective consciousnessof this Dark Lord for some time.

It’s Been a

Super-Busy Year

for the Badlands

Garrison!We’ve grown by leaps and

bounds in the past year, and we

proudly became a Garrison inOctober of 2005! We’re proud thatwe’ve grown so fast and garneredso many great new 501st members!

Event-wise, we’ve been busybusy busy! With over 35 events inthe past year, Badlands has been aVERY active Garrison.

Some highlights:

March ‘05 marked one of ourfirst Jail-N-Bail scenarios. Badlandswas asked to kidnap a pastor at acharity fundraiser, and hold him for“ransom”. The crowd was awedand delighted with the events of thenight! One of our shortest appear-ances, but it was certainly fun!

In April, the Southern AlbertaInstitute of Technology (SAIT) asked

us to appear at their annual “RobotWars” competition. Sounds justlike it is. Competitors build ëbots tosmack the heck out of one another.How can Imperials not have funwhen things are getting destroyed?

Naturally, the premiere of ROTSwas a big event for everyone in

the Legion. Badlands gathered it’smembers in both major Albertacities, and turned out in force. Wewere featured in several newspa-pers and garnered plenty of televi-sion coverage as well. Badlanderswere present throughout the open-ing weekend, and we got a lot ofattention. One of our Vaders (SL-0627) got an extensive interviewin the Calgary Herald, and was

dubbed “Calgary’s Darth Vader.”In a companion-piece, several

of our members were interviewedby the same paper for their StarWars themed rooms or homes. Thearticle, “Otherworldly Spaces”, fea-tured a fantastic full-color, half-pagephoto of our own BH-8021 withhis amazing collection and livingroom!

In June, we hosted “Badlands inthe Badlands”, which we hope willbecome an annual event. Nearly allBadlanders traveled to Drumheller,Alberta. A quiet little town locatedin the...you guessed it... Badlandsof Alberta. Members assembledfor a local fundraiser to help theDrumheller hospital gather funds

for a new MRI machine. Much funwas had, although we discoveredthat the sun in the badlands getspretty hot! From there, the troopsembarked out into the wildernessfor a professional photo shoot. Theresults are spectacular! After that...well, we won’t get into details, oth-

er than the discovery that absintheis an incredibly EVIL concoction, asseveral of our troopers found out.

Both Edmonton and Calgaryhave annual “fairs”, which arehuge events known world-wide.(The “Calgary Stampede” andEdmonton’s “Klondike Days”.)Badlands Garrison appeared atboth events, although as we aren’teven remotely western or histori-

cally themed, we were in the “pre”parades. Our resolute troopers gotup at ungodly hours to entertain thetens of thousands of people liningthe parade routes, before the mainparades began. What a great timewe had! I’m not certain when Irecall quite so many photos beingtaken of us.

Naturally, Halloween is always abusy time for the Legion. So it was

with Badlands. We visited our Leg-islature grounds in Edmonton for ahuge outdoor event, and visited theScience Center in Calgary, wherethe staff took over 3000 instantphotos of us with kids to give thekids a free souvenir for the day.

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This is a caption for the above pictur



Plus, Badlands is extremely proudat all the activity we’ve done forfund-raisers, charities and aware-ness-walks. We participated inwalks for MS, Aids, Lupus andmore. Our members helped raisemoney for the Red Cross to help withrelief for New Orleans. We attend-

ed the opening of a new sports-parkdesigned for special-needs children.Plus we made charity appearancesand/or helped raise monies for Ron-ald McDonald House, the SPCA, theSalvation Army and several otherworthy groups. Add to all that a fewvisits to our local Children’s Hospi-tals, at which we’ve been warmlywelcomed.

(More photos from these events

can be seen at our home on theweb, www.badlands.ca)

Badlands plans to be just asactive in the coming year, if notmore so! We continue to grow andprosper, and make kids of all agessmile. In the end, that’s the mostimportant mission we have.

Southern

California

Garrison by Yvette

The past six months have cer-tainly been active for the SouthernCalifornia Garrison. We have beenfortunate to have the opportunityto participate with various groups

in the community. Some of theseevents have become an annualtradition and some have invited usback for multiple visits in a veryshort period of time. We’ve donesome of these events in conjunctionwith our local sister Star Wars fanclubs too. Members of the SCGhave donned their armor in supportof READ Orange County (a groupthat provides adult literacy ser-

vices), American Cancer Society’sRelay for Life, International ChildAbuse Network, Advanced Re-sources for Abused Kids (supportsabused children and their familiesthrough tutoring, mentor programsand special group events), andAbility First (an organization that

empowers adults with disabili-ties). Photos can be found underour photo gallery at http://www.southerncaliforniagarrison.com. Aslideshow of pictures from one ofREAD events can be found on theirwebsite at http://www.readoc.org.

There were still other events forgood causes worthy of a little moredescription. In October, the garri-son helped raise $3,262 for Ameri-

can Red Cross Hurricane KatrinaRelief by participating in Norco’sBrunswick Classic Lanes “Star WarsStrike Force Bowling League” Char-ity Drive ($1,631 was raised thatevening, and Brunswick matchedthe donation dollar for dollar). InDecember, SCG members helpedraise $385 for City of Hope andhelped collect well over 100 toysfor Toys for Tots thanks to the greatsupportive hosts at Frank & Sons

Collectible show. In February, SCGwas invited to participate in Tri-CityHospital Foundation’s “2006 MardiGras Charity Ball and PageantMasquerade in a Galaxy Far, FarAway.” It was quite the event com-plete with an indoor parade, troop-ers tossing beads a plenty, and par-tying it up with guests. The hospitalfoundation raised over $1,000,000for the North San Diego CountyChild Study Center. This event waswritten up in the San Diego Union-Tribune: http://www.signonsandi-ego.com/uniontrib/20060210/news_1c10stiff.html.

Though not charitable in nature,there have been other great op-portunities for the SCG. Throughoutthe winter, garrison members hada strong showing in FIDM’S Dress-ing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star

Wars. The garrison and sister fanclubs participated in the opening ofthe show, closing of the show, andat some fan days. FIDM has evengraciously invited us back for afew more of their events this spring.The garrison helped promote ROTSDVD release and Battlefront II at

a local Fall Out Boy concert. Wewere lucky to shoot some foot-age on two different occasionsfor G4TV’s “Attack of the Show.”One video shoot was in promo-tion of Battlefront II and the otherresulted in a fun little video thatcan be seen at http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/blog/AOTB/post/522635/The_Empire_Wants_You.html. We had the opportunitytwice this season to mingle with

guests at the home games of theLong Beach Ice Dogs (professionalice hockey team). We helped sup-port Urban Medium’s and Spider’s“Heavy Ammunition Project” (anunderground urban art and musiccollaboration). Their work is heavilyinfluenced by Star Wars and youcan see it at http://www.urbanme-dium.com and http://www.heavy-ammunition.com. Plus, the SanDiego Squadron helped Del Reybooks and Timothy Zahn himself inpromoting “Outbound Flight.”

What do we have coming upnext? The massive Comic Con inSan Diego and its Droid Hunt,World Con, and much more! Every-one is invited to visit our messageboards and join in on these greatupcoming events!

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