Star Wars Celebration according to Genna the Wampa Handler

I am sure you noticed that everything of mine is posted by WampaDude, well in the 501st everyone is referred to either by Handle or by TK Number (mine is 2638). Well in the case of Genna who I have referred to her as "The Wampa Handler", but very soon she will be accepted into the 501st as a Juno Eclipse. Once accepted in she will be known as "Inkstess".

Genna was with me the entire trip to Star Wars Celebration and also has been blogging about her experience from her point of view. Click the photo above with Genna, and the hottest Imperial Officer you will ever see Mrs. Brady herself Adrianne Curry, or go to Inkstress.net. Over on her blog you can read her reviews about CV and learn about her artwork, costume and tattoo designs. Genna can also be followed on twitter at Twitter.com/inkstress and on facebook at Facebook.com/inkstress

Star Wars Celebration V Review: Day 3 - Part 1: The Wampa Squad

While all our fellow Legion members party until the wee hours at the 501st Imperial Bash, we were up till 2:30am making repairs to the Wampa. All of the areas that I rushed to put together at the last minute to have it approved in time seemed to be the weak spots of the costume and the first areas that needed to be repaired. With emergency surgery (sewing) to the legs and feet, sewing together the armpits of the body, re-gluing the straps and the foam of the lower legs, gluing back in some loose teeth and repainting the toe and fingernails the Wampa was ready to make it's longest appearance at SWCV.




This day we had the chance to add 2 more people to our "Wampa Support Crew". Mr Promee from the Bunch of Dorks podcast and his friend Geff who is equally as big of a Fanboy as mMyself and the Genna my Wampa Handler. But before we met up with them we ran into Adrianne Curry again, today she was in her infamous Slave Leia costume, and I couldn't resist posting a pic with her on thi s post.

We learned from our mistakes the first day out and brought the costume in by dolly. I decided that this day I would not make the trek around the convention center in full costume but take it with me to the places I planned on being in costume. But I wouldn't be just dragging it around like the day before I had a better idea. I would be dressed from the waist down. Not only did this make it quicker to get in and out of costume but being up in stilts with giant Wampa legs seemed to get more attention than just the upper body like the day before.

Photo by LeeRoy Holmes

You would be surprised who would stop you and want to talk to you when you are 7 feet in the air. Our first encounter was non other than Seth Green, who was there to promote his Star Wars Robot Chicken 3. He was on his way back from the Main Event with George Lucas and Jon Stewart. He loved the costume and being a fellow short guy thought it was great to see someone his size in such a big costume. But unfortunately he said he was in a hurry to another panel and couldn't get a pic. Could be the Hollywood thing but he was a really cool guy to chat with so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

(proof you don't need to be in full costume to satisfy the fans!)

Our first stop was the Hoth Ice Bar to meet fellow Wampa Jay Bleu. Jay will be featured in a future post. We were up there also to meet the Mandalorian Mercs "Wampa Squad". They asked us to make an appearance with them as they made Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations, an honorary member of the Mercs. For anyone who doesn't know the Mandalorian Mercs are, they are a costuming club that specialize in customized Mandalorian armor made famous by Boba Fett. While waiting for Steve, as if by fate hanging out with the Mercs, Jeremy Bulloch who played Boba Fett came buy on a way to a panel and gave the mercs and myself a nod of appreciation, while he was whisked by with his handlers.

(The Wampa Squad's Amazing Logo)

Then the man of the hour came, Mr. Steve Sansweet. This guy just oozes his love for Star Wars. He complimented everyone on their costumes and was excited when accepting his plaque. He later asked for a big hug from the Wampa and told the crowd watching that it was his favorite creature in Star Wars. Read more about Steve here. The Mercs were awesome folks and if you are a fan of Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Pre Visla, Jodo Kast or just think Mando armor looks badass, I would recommend looking into building some armor and joining up at Mercs.firespray.net . If you want some great tutorials for Mando armor check out TheDentedHelmet.



After the presentation was done, we spent a short amount of time in the Hoth Ice Bar. Because of the padded rug and dark atmosphere it made it a short visit for a guy on stilts. We posed with some fans outside and started to head back to the main entrance for the 501st group photo. While in route we saw a crowd and because I was on stilts I instantly recognized the 3'6" man they were surrounding. It was Warwick Davis, the actor who played 3 characters in Star Wars, Wicket, Wald and Weazle and also well known for his roles as the Leprechaun, Willow and Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies. Again like the other celebs he saw me on the stilts and came to talk to me. I had to tell him "From a fellow short guy up here on stilts, you are an inspiration", which he is. We struck up a conversation about his new book Size Matters Not, which he told everyone that they can get a signed copy from his website WarwickDavis.co.uk.

Next Up... Day 3 - Part 2: The 501st Group Photo

Star Wars Celebration V Review: Day 2 - The Wampa Arives... sort of

So Friday the 13th arrives and boy did it live up to it's reputation. This was the day we were supposed to bring the Wampa out for it's first official Star Wars Celebration moment. Instead it ended in one of the weirdest days I had ever had in any costume.

To start the day we visited the 501st room to see the TK project. These were a collection of Stormtrooper helmets given to artists, celebrities and select 501st members to decorate. At the end of the convention these helmets were auctioned off to earn over $50,000 towards Make-A-Wish Foundation!

We were scheduled to participate in a Hoth walk through and had to get the suit to the 501st room by 1:30. We had to figure out a way to get it there, and our first mistake was thinking that parking in the back parking lot and walking it in was the best way to get it there. The wampa weights over 75lbs with the upper body about 55lbs. It was a half mile walk from the car and with only Genna my Wampa Handler with me, and no wall or ceiling to prop myself, I spent too much of my energy getting dressed and hauling getting the costume in place. We also noticed a problem with one of the feet. It started to show late at the IceBar event but also noticed it at the previous troop at the Storm game. Come to find out one of the snaps on the foot was ripped off, and was dragging along every time I tried to plant my right foot. To add to our folly we also forgot to install my batteries in my fan inside, forgot my headband to absorb the sweat and left the camel pack in the van. Also left in the van wasthe dolly to haul it back. But these are all rookie mistakes that we corrected and it all worked out great for us the next day.

So our Hoth walk through ended up being more of a Hoth pose for fans. Don't get me wrong, just because we didn't walk all the way around didn't mean it was a total failure, the fans ate it up. We were there for about an hour including breaks for myself to get a break and chug a water. With me were a General Veers and some Snowtroopers. Even Chef Vader came along and posed with us!

After we were done we had to figure out how to get it back to the van. I chose to walk the stilts back in my socks, yeah I forgot my shoes at the van too. I loaded up the stilts, got dressed, dumped my head in the cooler of ice water and brought back the dolly. This turned out to be one of the oddest things we saw. As we had the top half of the wampa loaded onto the dolly the fans still wanted to take pics. So we figured out we could just enjoy the rest of the day and drag the wampa along like a fresh kill.

Kids loved the fact that they can pose with it, stick their lightsabers in him and act like they slayed the beast. To solidify the fact that it was Friday the 13th, a Jason Voorhees Snowtrooper came by and posed with his machete and the wampa's decapitated head.

(notice the thumb? That is where I burnt myself good on the first attempt to make repairs!)

That I thought was the highlight of the day until the Golden man himself Anthony Daniels saw the wampa and went off onto one of his signature monologues about the suit and his opinion about wampas. He was after all part of that infamous cut scene. But before I could introduce myself as the wampa's maker he got snagged up by a camera crew. I was able to get a picture with him as he was leaving and he complimented me on the suit.

That 10 minutes made up for all of the troubles we had that day, and I knew I had to go back and repair the hell out of the suit. We missed out on a great party that night with the 501st Imperial Bash, but staying up till 2am sewing, gluing and painting we knew would pay off the next day... and boy did it... Day 3 is coming next!