Becoming Sidious

 Here is the fantastic webisode that was also on the Episode 3 DVD, goes behind the scenes with Ian McDiarmid with the prosthetic applications and the saber fights. Also it does reinforce my fun argument that Palpatine is the best villain in the Saga, George says it himself "Now you created the Arch Villain of ALL TIME". Ya hear that? Suck it Vader!!!!!

The Latest Sith Lord in the 501st! I have been approved!

Yes folks, my latest costume was approved this week, and this has been one of my dream costumes since joining the 501st. I am now SL-2638, representing the Sith Lord Emperor Palpatine. The biggest bad guy in the entire Star Wars Saga. (well not including Jar Jar Binks, but that would be a topic that would fill an entire post.) I am a big fan of good ol' Palpy. It all started as a kid when I got one of these in the mail.

Kenner made Palpatine one of their mail away figures. To a 9yo kid this was one of those things that blew your mind. I got this guy and he is special, he was the one that was Darth Vader's boss! Sure we saw the monkey faced version of him in Empire, but once Jedi came out that was it, he was the real bad guy. Watching Vader act like his lapdog and unable to resist, he really scared the crap out of kids. But why would I want to scare kids..... oh, well because it is fun. With a face like this, you do get double takes from the little kids.

 But that really isn't what we are supposed to do in the 501st. So what approach do you take when playing the character. Some folks stick with the stoic approach. The senator that rose to power to control the entire galaxy without whining about his dead family (take that Anakin!). Sure that is a good approach, but after watching the movies as many times as I have I see another character. A cocky smartass that is drunk with power. Just watch as he snubs and toys with the Jedi in the prequels, watch as he mocks Luke and belittles Vader all in one breath. And being the smartass that I am, I have a lot of fun playing with the kids, and nobody helped that character develop into a fun one to play to the kids than Robot Chicken.



Seth Green and his bunch saw Palpatine the same way I did. I personally think Palpy stole the show in all 3 of their Star Wars episodes. With him, I knew I would have to talk to people in this costume, and well I don't have the accent of the great Ian McDiarmid, I would have to find a voice for the character. It only took one time for someone to walk up to me and give me the "My Lord" from the clip above to know thats what I have to do. The first troop I did in the prosthetics, I couldn't shut up. I had kids surrounding me asking me questions like I was the Dark Lord of the Sith wondering who trained me, why did I chose Darth Maul, Dooku and Vader. I was having a blast. By adding a little bit of Robot Chicken Palpy, my vast knowledge of Star Wars, and coming off listening to the Darth Plagueis novel, I had all the answers which actually had the parents starting to ask questions. It is fun having Darth Maul at the troops being able to try to recruit new young apprentices  getting down to their level and saying "oh that guy gets cut in half" or pointing to Vader and giggling and saying "Ohhh I miss Padme". Oh and the laugh, boy is that fun. So expect to see more of Palpatine around the Tampa Bay area, Star Wars Celebration VI and maybe even marching in Star Wars Weekends Parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios!

Megacon 2012 - Wampaless, but not void of Awesomeness!

Trooping with the Dark Lord (yep, that's me on the left)

Megacon is the biggest Florida con for the 501st (well that is when Lucasfilm isn't bringing Celebration to the same building 2 times in a row... woohoo!)  So for the Florida Garrison we use this event as our big showcase. But I had one goal in mind and that was to meet David Prowse, Darth Vader himself. For those who haven't been following it, David and Lucasfilm have been fueding, and his health hasn't been the best. But when it comes to being a fan, you can't pick sides, and I wanted to take advantage of the chance to meet him when I could. Not only did I get a great pic with him, I also got to participate in a ceremony in Stormtrooper Armor from one of the local costuming groups dubbing him Lord. This is one of those "once in a lifetime" moments for me. But at the same time, being in the 501st, this is almost getting to be the norm. While in costume now, I have been able to troop with David Prowse, Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), meet Warwick Davis (Wicket)  and open Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios with George Lucas.. not a bad resume, to start!

One of the other things I got to do was take out my work in progress, Palpatine, while I was still waiting for the mask, Tim who does our maul INSISTED I walk with him around the convention with it. So here are some pics taken by Nathan Carter.

The 501st expanded their booth this year and there were tons of helmets and costumes on display, and included the Shoot The Trooper for charity again. There were some lesser quality stormtrooper helmets around too, but as you can see above, the rest of the costume made up for that.

We also gathered for our annual group photo, can you tell Phantom Menace is in theaters this year? The first 2 years trooping I saw no Darth Mauls, now we have 3 in the state! Plus now we have a Tarfful, which is the first of many wookies to come... Don't be surprised if you see a Attichicuk (Itchy) build thread coming up on this blog soon!

And how can I have a post from Megacon without the 501st dinner, good times as usual. 

Want to see more pics... click here to check out the full gallery. 

Next costume in the making: Emperor Palpatine - Part 1

As soon as I was accepted into the 501st I knew the next costume I wanted to do was Emperor Palpatine, he is after all the biggest villain of the Saga, and with Darth Vader at nearly every troop, why not include his boss too. The Stormtrooper and Wampa are fun, but there is a sense of comfort knowing all you have to do is slip on some robes and some prosthetics and you will be ready. Not to mention being told that I am too short for a stormtrooper, or going home with ice packs and hurting.  But for the longest time the only way to get approved is to have glue on prosthetics... that is until the Mr. Bungle mask came along. Check this thing out it is amazing!




I had to place an order for that mask, it was the missing piece of starting the costume. I soon afterwards started work on the robes, while they still need a little tweaking and another round of dye to get them darker, I am happy with the over all look. Below is a photo from the Phantom Menace 3D movie troop. Since I don't have the mask yet, I opted for the Pre-Scarring TMP version of Darth Sidious since I would be trooping with our new Darth Maul, Tim. He pulls it off better than I have ever seen.

Also completed so far is the Cane and Broach, and even my own solution to force lightning! But why post everything at once! Consider that a little teaser for Part 2 once the mask comes in.

2012... this year should be fun

Like last year I started the year with a State of the Wampa address. So this year should be no different. First of all I would like to recap last year as one hell of a year. We started the year launching the new Disney Dream cruise ship. Took the Wampa to two conventions including Megacon and Motor City Comic Con up in Michigan. Then the Wampa was chosen to be part of the Star Wars Adidas Campaign! So to say 2011 was the year of the Wampa is an understatement in my opinion. But it wasn't all the Wampa, 2011 also brought in a pair of Stormtroopers.Genna and I both built ANH Stormtroopers, a Stunt and a Hero build. I got to participate in my first Star Wars Weekends at Disney. I also was able to be part of a Kelby Training video with Doug Sonders with the Stormtrooper and Daisy Duke with the General Lee.

Also for 2011 our Squad with the 501st grew and met some really great new friends that are begging to help work on the Wampa. We established Wampa Workshops with Brian, Tim, Genna and Mark and it feels good to have some extra help and opinions when it comes to the suit. Along with the Wampa Workshops comes the Sith Lord Workshops. Tim finished up his Darth Maul in the last few weeks, and now I am finally working on Palpatine. As for the 2012 plans for the Wampa, don't expect retirement anytime soon. I will be taking it out for the opening Weekend for Phantom Menace in 3D, but it will be back to the workshop after that. With all that travel in 2011 comes wear and tear and 2012 will bring much needed repair & improvement time. So this year, I am skipping Megacon to ensure a fully working Wampa at Star Wars Celebration VI, which is returning to Orlando Florida August 23-26. I plan on bringing the Wampa out again, have it on display some of the days, and wear it on Saturday. I will be repairing the arms and making them more articulated, as well as possibly a new head sculpt! So, there is a short set of plans for 2012... and I leave you with one more little hint on a costume. Expect a big surprise with this costume at C6!