The Wampa visits Lucasfilm... sorta

Well, some call it Mecca (according to an AP article) though I would argue that an invite to Skywalker Ranch would be Mecca.. so this is the Medina for Star Wars fans? So on with the story, enough silly muslim comparisons... thanks AP. So while Genna and I were in San Francisco we got the chance to visit Lucasfilm Ltd. in San Francisco. Some of the props on loan for the Wampa Adidas photo shoot were on loan from Lucasfilm and we got to tag along when returning them.

Unfortunately we just missed our contact and we didn't make it further than the lobby, this was still really cool. We got to see the famous Yoda bronze statue which has a twin over at the ranch and inside the lobby is a pair of familiar characters, Boba Fett and Darth Vader, along with shelves of statues and awards won by Lucasfilm over the years. Believe me, once you have been there you want to head back. It was an unfair tease but we did make it closer than many people have done, so I am happy with that.

For the rest of our trip we got to wander around Downtown San Francisco. It is an amazing city, and there is so much to do. I have been to SanFran once before 23 years ago. As a kid it was fun, but I really wanted to re-experience things as an adult. I am amazed on how much we squeezed into a 3 day trip. We found a full size Starkiller in a GameStop and we had to snag a pic. We rode just about every type of public transportation which is lacking back in Florida. If they had a system like this in Tampa Bay, I would use it all the time. Street Cars, Cable Cars, The Bart, Muni Metro, any visitor can get anywhere they want using these. Here in Tampa there is such a whiny attitude between sports teams because of the Bay in between, public transportation like this would squash that argument, but that is a story for another blog...

Oh and food, there is some amazing food around town. For some odd reason we like to hit up Mall food courts when traveling, maybe it's the variety and fimiliar food. While wandering the streets outside our hotel was San Francisco Centre, a 9-floor mall, which had an AMAZING food court. With the Asian and health concious community in San Francisco, there were so many options. We settled on a Thai place that gave us so much food we couldn't finish.

Yep, we did play the tourist and ride the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. I was after one thing, nope not the seafood that the Wharf is famous for, I wanted In-N-Out. On the east coast this is what we hear about all the time the Double-Double Animal Style. Freaking delicious.

In closing... Lucasfilm or not, I want to go back to San Francisco as soon as I can.

Adidas Star Wars Fall/Winter 2011 collection featuring the WAMPA!

The Wampa is featured in the latest promotions for the Adidas Star Wars Fall/Winter collection. We were invited to San Francisco to take part in the 2 day photo shoot that also included a Vader, Hoth Han and a Hoth Luke (seen in the background). When the idea was pitched to Lucasfilm to have a wampa in the photos they originally responded, well there isn't any realistic wampas out there anymore, then the folks at Juice Design presented them my wampa. Lucasfilm loved it and approved the shoot. There is no higher honor for a costumer which many think is an impossible costume to pull off than that right there. Also included in the photo shoot is my handler Genna's Hoth Luke costume and lightsaber. 

So why a wampa in the campaign? Well there is a new Wampa shoe coming out! Here is the official description of the wampa shoes:

CAMPUS 80S WAMPA
Inspired the snow beast from the planet Hoth that almost made Luke Skywalker into a meal. The adidas Campus 80s Wampa dresses up these retro shoes with wampa fur uppers made from horsehair, contrast red stitching, a wampa tongue badge, and a laser cut wampa logo.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/07/dress-like-darth-and-han-with-adidas-star-wars-collection/?pid=2150&pageid=69886

I will continue tomorrow with a post about our trip and visiting Lucasfilm! 

Another great Wampa Cake!

The folks over at TheForce.net had this cake submitted to them for their Yummy Star Wars pics. This cake was for Adam's 11th birthday. I got to say Adam has great taste in Star Wars Characters! Read more about it and check out more pics on the link above.

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!