Disney's Star Wars Weekends - Part 1: In The Park

This year I was able to experience Disney's Star Wars Weekends not only as a 501st member, but also for the first time as a park guest. Which is where I will start. This year I had a couple tickets left over to take my son, Gavin with me. We got there early enough to get fast passes to meet Jake Lloyd who over the past has gained a stubborn reputation but I found him a really cool guy. He chatted with Gavin about being nearly his age when filming Phantom Menace and asked if he ever thought about being in a movie. Then he saw my 501st shirt and laughed, telling me that he had friends in the Rebel Legion and in the Mandalorian Mercs, but thought we were a little too snooty with costumes. I had to reply take it up with Lucasfilm, they want us to be as screen accurate as possible.

If there is one thing that SWW is well known for is their Swag! They have huge store set up named the Darth's Mall where many exclusive items are sold plus some really cool Star Wars items like the Wampa hat below and a whole store set up inside for Her Universe. There was also copies and original fine art on sale, and yes one with a Wampa.

Another benefit of showing up early is being able to participate in the Jedi Training Academy, where they teach you the ways and moves of being a Jedi and they bring out Darth Vader and a second badie, this time Darth Maul, sometimes Asajj Ventress to test out their skills. Gavin got to challenge Darth Maul, but later said he could take them and their moves are too slow! Got to love the confidence of a 7yo.

Also we got to watch the parade from the crowd this time, and getting to hear and watch the fans from the sidelines is a totally different experience than being in the parade. When marching especially in bad guy armor, you have to be very stiff and militaristic. This time I got to cheer on the bad guys and boo the rebels! Where normally I hear the opposite. Disney really lets everyone know through their shows and employees that they are always rooting for the good guys and the bad guys, just like many Disney villains are just that bad guys. So through the day I enjoyed poking fun at any employee that gave a fun  little mocking jab in return at my 501st shirt calling me a Empire Sympathiser.

As for all the extra goodies and shows that they had in the park, I really wanted to attend some of the Q&As but my son being 7 didn't quite get the concept of sitting and listen to someone talk. So I let him do what he wanted to and ride rides and go see other features like one of his favorite spots in the park, the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream exhibit. I think it is really cool that he enjoys museum type exhibits and loves history. 

We ended the day watching the Hyperspace Hoopla which is the big show at the end of the day, the hoopla is the dance battle between good and bad and it is crowd voting on who wins, when we were there the Empire won, which was awesome. My son loved Palpatine and the punching bag. 

Part 2 coming later this week.. 

Creating Original Star Wars Armor with Andrew Ainsworth

"One day a good friend of mine had an enquiry for a futuristic military character. He was a scenic artist and he had no concept of how to achieve armies of slick, three dimensional characters. He was, however, an excellent artist with an enviable outlook on life and with a common passion for motor cars. When he asked me if I could make him something workable, I didn't think twice..."
Andrew Ainsworth talking about how he became involved in making the original props for ANH.

This is a quote from Andrew Ainsworth, who in 1976 with his friend Nick Pemberton were hired to create some of the most iconic characters ever to grace the silver screen. The Imperial Stormtroopers. Along with stormtroopers he also created many other helmets seen in these videos. He was able to use parts like a US army helmet and some floating pieces to make many different helmets such as the Jawbone (Death Star Gunner), the Cheese Grater (Imperial Navy) and various Rebel helmets. Got to love his names for them. Watch the video above to see how he came up with some of these helmets.



His Vacuum Forming techniques for armor has become a staple in the 501st these days, including my stormtrooper armor. It is lightweight and easy to build and wear. Other options for armor, especially helmets are resin and fiberglass. While those are heavier, they are much more durable. Vacuum forming is even the technique used by our own Darth Maul to make the stencils for his face paint. We used a pull off of a lifecast created right here at the Wampa Pen Workshop. While we use the at home oven technique, his set up is something prop builders drool about.




in 2004, Andrew claims to come across some of the original molds and was selling the copies. Sure enough Lucasfilm sued in 2006 for copyright infringement. US courts ruled in Lucasfilm's favor starting a legal war back and forth between countries. But the latest ruling in 2011, the British Supreme Court ruled that the Stormtrooper helmet was an industrial prop, and not a copyrighted sculpture,This shortened the copyright protection in the UK to 15 years from the date of first being marketed. Since this ruling, Andrew to start producing props again. But with the heat with Lucasfilm and the US rulings, my guess is this is why his site will not sell the Stormtooper parts to the US.

Check out more about the armor and history over at http://originalstormtrooper.com/

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. 

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!

I'm Luke Skywalker.. I'm Here to rescue you!

So the process in ordering parts for my TK armor has begun, and my coping mechanism for my height is to emulate the shortest Stormtrooper there was. Everyone's hero, Luke Skywalker. I know it's a bold move, and the more expensive route. But I think if I want to walk around confident in armor, than I need to do it the right way.

(Hero on the left, stunt on the right)

To most people there Stormtroopers look all the same, but there is a big difference between the armor in all 3 movies, and there were even 2 sets of armor in A New Hope (ANH). In the first movie there was the Stunt troopers and the Hero troopers made famous by the armor Luke and Han wore. Most of the noticable differences were in the helmet. The stunt armor was made from a grayish plastic and painted white, the lenses in the eyes were flat, They had 8 teeth cut out in the frown and the ears had 4 bumps. The hero helmet on the other hand was made for close-ups and was made from white plastic, Luke and Han had smoke gray bubble lenses, only 6 teeth were cut out of the frown which made the mouth appear smaller, and the ears had 3 bumps. There are other subtle differences like the amount of rivits/screws and hand plates but I can't give away all the secrets,  go learn about them over at WhiteArmor.net if you want to learn it all!

But when it comes to Luke's armor there is another big difference from the rest. Sure they had to cut his armor shorter in the chest and the back to make up for his height, but the big difference was his belt. We all remember one of the most memorable scenes of Star Wars (yeah, I am dropping the whole New hope baloney, this is what it was called when I became a fan!) It was Luke and Leia's swing to freedom. Luke would never of been able to do that if the ONLY stormtrooper with a grappling hook didn't check up on the falcon.

So with this addition, plus the others mentioned above I am building Lukes armor. I am awaiting shipping on all of these changes and the armor itself. Once I start building I will follow up here on MyWampa. Thanks for reading and hope to see all of you at an event sometime soon in my new armor (and the Wampa too)!

Oh yeah, parts are already arriving! I got my belt and shoes already. Who knows maybe we will have armor ready by Megacon.... then again I really don't want to rush it.

Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper? BS!!

We have all heard that famous line given by Princess Leia, and it has become a go to insult for all of us short guys out there wearing armor at conventions. So why in the hell would I want to be a stormtrooper?

An odd situation when your other costume is over 8 foot tall, why would you want to dress in armor that is made for someone that is 6-8 inches taller than you? Well it comes down to honor and pride. Yes I have made the first steps into becoming a Stormtrooper, or a TK as we know it in the 501st. I have officially started on my second 501st costume. Last week I put a downpayment on a set of AP armor and purchased the shoes. The week before I worked on modding a Hasbro E-11 blaster to look like the real thing.

Forgive me if I am a bit of a broken record but with the anouncement of the purchase I will give my reason why again. In the 6 months of trooping with the Wampa, I have seen a lot of wear and tear and for a costume that big and that memorable for so many people I want to now reserve it for the most important events. By doing so I would either have to limit myself to only a few troops a year or conventions or I could make a second costume.

While trooping I have met some great friends out there and I have asked many questions like the obvious what should i do next. Sure I had my concerns about my height and other costumes could have fit my size better but the one thing I have got the most was do what is important to you.

I wavered between Emperor Palpatine and various armor sets like an AT-AT Pilot, a TIE Pilot, Animated Clones even the badass Shadow Scout but everything kept pointing back to the classic Stormtrooper.

It was a series of events that led me to this, first of all the history of the 501st begins with their founder Albin Johnson and his Stormtrooper, this was the go to costume from the beginning of the organization over 10 years ago. Second came from reading the boards when I first joined, there was a chance to be on stage with "Weird Al" Yankovic during his songs Yoda and the Saga Begins. This was an amazing opportunity that I had to pass because they wanted TKs and the Wampa is just too big.

 

 Third was meeting our buddy HYPER at Celebration V. His only set of armor is a TK but he customizes it and makes it his own, with his Beach Trooper and his Luchador Trooper. He ended up on stage introducing George Lucas for the Main Event.

Next came the announcement of the Disney Holiday Parade, they wanted only clean TKs, and if we want to do Disney Star Wars Weekends you need a non-EU costume that can march in a parade and although the Wampa is from Empire, it is not very friendly to marching in parades... are you seeing the pattern here?

Fritz in his TK armor

But the moment of truth came from trooping with Fritz, a fellow short guy like myself who was trooping in the Pinellas Park holiday parade as a TK. When seeing him in armor, I knew that I had no more excuses. I had to do a TK. So here I am about to be another guy mocked for being too short to be a Stormtrooper, but will love every second of it. I will post progress pics up as soon as I get my armor in!

Amazing new entry for the 501st TK Project

This TK Demon Helmet has been created by Melita Curphy from MissMonster.com

The horns/teeth, etc are hand sculpted from epoxy clay. The helmet was painted with acrylic with several layers of wet/dry applications...no airbrushing. The forehead eye has been painted with flourescent orange and will glow in certain light. The mohawk is made from high quality National Fiber Technology hair that i hand dyed.

Come see this and many more TK helmets at Celebration V where they will be auctioned off to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Pre-Order Now - Zombie Stormtrooper Bust

Entertainment Earth is now taking pre-orders for the Zombie Stormtrooper from Deathtroopers. This thing is awesome, I want one!