Trooping Weekend

This weekend was a busy one for 501st activities in Vermont. We were able to do two troops up here, one in Northfield, and the other in St. Albans – a Relay for Life and the Vermont Maple Festival, respectively.

The Relay for Life was a new experience for me. I’ve done a couple walks for Autism in armor, but not one of these, and it was an interesting experience, and far more somber than the Autism walks. One of my fellow VT guys, Mike, was in charge of this one, and with another trooper coming up from New Hampshire as a Jawa/Jedi, we composed a small team that made a number of laps around Norwich University’s Shapiro Field House. While there, we also participated in a couple wiffleball games (Ironically, Justin, our Jawa, was the best hitter out of the three of us). Justin also participated in a short dance competition, which made Mike and I wish that we’d brought along a video camera. The last part of the event (before we left, anyway) was a walk around the track in rememberance of everyone who had passed away due to Cancer, and for those who were suffering from it right now. I thought back to the recent news of an uncle on my Mother’s side of the family, who is currently suffering from lung cancer. It was a somber moment, and an emotional one for a number of people in the group. We walked in silence between us, our armor creaking with each step. We retreated to where we stored our gear, changed and left shortly thereafter, and headed to my apartment, where we got dinner and talked for a couple hours before turning in for the night.

We got up around 8:30 in the morning and got ready for the day. Our next troop of the weekend was the Vermont Maple Festival, up in St. Albans. This was a troop that I did last year, with a Vermont member, Jerry, and had a lot of fun while doing so, and I was excited to be trooping with a larger group, expecting a total of seven people (4 Stormtroopers, 2 wranglers and a Jawa), but unfortunately, one of our guys couldn’t make it. Nonwithstanding, we made quite the impression again this time around, posing for hundreds of pictures from the people attending, and made a lot of kids day. We ran across a couple of people who had seen us this year, and one kid was armed with a lightsaber. We only trooped for a couple of hours before returning to our cars for a final picture. It was fantastic to troop with Jerry again, and I think that before long, we’ll have a strong and active Vermont group.

Finally, we went to lunch, and from there, Mike, Stephen, Hayes and I went to a rented barn where we worked on a short viral film that we had been planning for a little while on our forums, entitled Target Practice. This was my first oppertunity to perform as a stormtrooper in front of a camera and green screen, and the end result should be funny. We’ve also shot a couple of short teasers, one each for me and Mike, which will hopefully be online soon.

Here’s pictures from the Relay for Life, Maplefest and the Video shoot.

Lazer Tag Video

Remember that Lazer Tag event? This is what happened:

Arlington Patriot’s Day Parade Pictures

This past weekend was the Arlington Patriot’s Day parade. I haven’t had time to write up a proper mission report, but click on the picture for a lot more.

Mission Report: Lazer Gate Charity Night

Last night, the 501st New England Garrison and Lazer Gate of Fall River, MA, held a large charity event in which patrons could battle Imperial Storm Troopers in Laser Tag. In all, we raised over $2000 in charity for the Jimmy Fund, and sold out the venue for almost the entire evening.

This was an event in which a lot of planning and preperation was put into. Many thanks to Adam, Eric and Dion for their hard work getting everything together. We have been planning this for a long time. Back in February, we filmed a teaser spot that aired on Youtube and at the venue, and there was a lot of interest going into it. I believe that we also had radio spots to boot.

There was even a bit of a storyline – players were trying to retrieve the plans for the Death Star, and ran into Imperial Stormtroopers. We were postitioned on the second floor of the playing area, and came in at certain times, etc.

I wasn’t intially going to go down for this, but once I saw just how much interest there was in the event, and what it was going to entail, Mike and I were both very interested, and drove down on Friday Afternoon. We ended up running a little late with a stop to remove all of my car’s tires to scrape out the mud that had accumulated, causing the car to really vibrate and rattle – there was no way we were going to endure that for four hours. Once down in Boston, we ran into traffic on I-93, and anded up in Fall River by 5:30.

There, we suited up and got ready for the games. Each trooper was outfitted with a vest, and we deployed to the top floor, and waited. Over the next four or so hours, we ran around the place, shooting and getting shot at by the players. As to be expected, it’s hard to see out of a Storm Trooper helmet to begin with, and with the place being incredibly dark, it was difficult to see anything. I was further hampered by my lack of glasses, so I ended up shooting at anything that moved, and soon got the hang of how to play the game.

It was an incredibly fun evening – I had to take a break for a game because I was overheating (running around builds up a sweat) but we were back into the game shortly thereafter, and we got a ton of excellent reviews from the players and staff of the place. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it again in the future.

Mike and I left straight off, and ended up back in Vermont by 3:30 in the morning, exhausted. But, satisfied that we’d accomplished another fantastic troop, helping to fight cancer by shooting kids with lasers. Hm…

Northeast Wars

I didn’t get around to posting up anything about this short troop a couple weekends ago. April 3rd through the 5th was Quarterstaff Game’s annual convention, held this year in Essex Vermont. The 501st was invited, and this year, I was once again solo-trooping it.

It was a very, very low-key event this time around. I took over a table and displayed my Clone Trooper helmet and some fliers that I had, but that was about it. Because this was a gaming con, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do, but it was good to touch base with people, and to tell people about the 501st Legion. Hopefully, we’ll get some more troopers out next year!

Fanboys DVD information

From the official site:

The Fanboys DVD comes loaded with Special Features including:

• Deleted Scenes
• Commentary with the Cast and Crew
• The Truth about Fanboys
• Star Wars Parallel
• Four Fanboys and One Fangirl
• The Choreography
• Disturbances in the Force: A Series of Webisodes

Comes out May 19th, on the 10th anniversary of The Phantom Menace.

HM Aaron Allston hospitalized

I heard that Aaron Allston cancelled a book appearance, but the details that are coming out are pretty grim:

Yesterday, Del Rey author Aaron Allston underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Aaron was on tour, promoting his latest book Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast when he suffered a heartattack and was admitted to a hospital in Texas. He is currently in intensive care, but stable. Our thoughts are with him.

Aaron’s family has set up a blood donation sponsorship. If anyone in the Dallas area would like to donate blood, you can go to the National Blood Exchange or Carter BloodCare. Say that you are donating blood for Aaron Allston, patient of Carter Blood Care in Bedford, TX, and give his sponsor number: SPON 047786.

Please send any well-wishes to:

Aaron Allston
c/o Del Rey Books
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

But please DO NOT send any perishable items or flowers, as Aaron will not be able to receive anything this week.

~ http://www.suvudu.com/2009/04/a-message-about-author-aaron-allston.html

Allston is one of my favorite Star Wars authors out there – he wrote the fantastic Wraith Squadron books, and he’s a regular fan of the 501st. I’ve met him once, at C3, and he was a really nice bloke. Hopefully he’ll recover in good time.

Follow the 501st on Twitter

I use this sporadically, but for all those twit-savy people out there, feel free to follow the 501st Legion:

http://twitter.com/501stLegion