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Troop 31 Neptune Festival Parade, Virginia Beach What a great turn out. we had Merch, RL and 501st. 3 mile parade, and then unfortunately a 3 mile walk back.

I've been waiting for this day

This is most definitely a great way to transport and look so imperial. Great thinking and impressive! Thanks for sharing,

Congrats Adam, all done for you sir.

(gahhhhhh!!! the browser just ate my reply... ugh... now for retyping) 9/24/24 - NM Railyard Shows Intergalactic Day 78th TK troop, 33 for the year CREB (ooooo) 5435 - 22nd troop and 7th for the year TK9 Mabel - 3rd troop and 2nd for the year This was a huge troop as you can see from the group photo. Wish I'd found one without the frame but it gets the point across. This was INTERGALACTIC Day at the Railyard Market. My family did it last year and it was fantastic. My wife stayed home with our other two dogs who aren't quite ready for this kind of thing. BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My daughter's new costume - Season 3 Sabine!!! I'm so very proud of this. I painted 95% of it. We did the splatter boots, gloves, and blaster together. The rest was my OCD, airbrush, and spray paints. And this guy... that's me. I did this to my ANH armor. The episode aired roughly 4 days prior to this troop. I did alllll this in that time including amazon delivery waiting for the tape. It's makeup, survey tape and some gold chrome vinyl foil. It's just temporary for this one troop. But WOW was it fun! I loved it. Gonna do it for real ASAP. Are they zombies? Are they just slightly yucky and repaired? All I know is they're called Night Troopers. You may have noticed that Mabel even has a matching and weathered red leash. I modified my trading card holder to have a metal latch to hold her leash end. That lets me drop the leash and pose without having to fiddle around on the floor to get it again. A+ mod. Would recommend for all the service dog troopers. Fire Team Rio Bravo showed up!!! My absolute pride, yall!!! SO much pride! And she loves the kit! It's a comfy bucket and armor. The jawa wasn't very good except for winter trooping and she's rather tall to be Little Leia now. So my daughter is a rebel... I can live with that. A panda squad sighting! They're rare and skittish. Gotta be quiet and snap pix quick. Gotta selfie with the squad! And that's one tired TK9. Time for the shuttle back home.

Whew. 2 more updates and I'll be up to date! 9/16/23 - 2023 Rio Grande Down Syndrome Network Buddy Walk 77th TK troop, 32nd for 2023, 2nd for 9/16. I could have stayed at the Fair and had a 2nd troop of the day for free. No extra driving, dressing, and undressing. But there was a walk for Down Syndrome and one of the walkers trains her service dog in the same class that my daughter and I do. I promised her I'd be there, so... troopers moved out! (Leia trains her service dog with them too) I arrived at this troop about 45 minutes early when there were few cars and setup was still happening. I asked where to go and the organizers were like "anywhere you want. maybe in the front?" So I spent almost an hour out front of the gate, greeting people as they came in. I hung out with Orbit the mascot for the Albuquerque Isotopes. I checked identification. I helped the merch people (by keeping an orderly line). I got footage shot by the local news (which I just remembered... hmmm... I wonder if I can find it). I was all by myself. No handlers. No backup. Just a lone TK with a pretty blaster (pretty heavy at this point) and a few hundred people. And it was MAGIC. Could have gone sideways easily, but it was great. People were happy and I did my little plastic best to help out. Shot when I came inside the gate and discovered troopers were trooping! FRIENDS!!!! They'd even done a group photo... without me. At least they let me reshoot with everyone. The blaster created no end of entertainment. The BlastFX is *loud* and pretty bright and I kept being asked "IS THAT THING LOADED?" so I'd spray the pavement or a nearby trooper and get claps and smiles. It was expensive. It's SO very heavy to carry all day. It's rather delicate. But omg is it fun!!! (no, I am NOT shooting the kid in this photo) One of several billion photos. The event ended with a drone shot and most of the participants on the field for the start of the walk. The rather small red arrow points at our group. My buttplate is facing the drone... alas. This was a LONG day of trooping. I left around 7 in the morning and got home near dinner. My little dog Mabel was *crushed* from my absence. Family missed me too, but Mabel was just heartbroken and spent hours in my lap. Not like regular dog missing a person stuff... more than that. It was the longest I'd been away from her since I started training her to be my service dog a few months prior. I work from home, so I see her all the time. Her reaction made me realize my new obligation to her. By training her to be there for me and do these tasks and navigate stores, etc... I kinda can't leave her behind. Certainly not all day. She's lost without me. It really showed. So, most likely I'll have my TK9 unit at most of the troops I ever do from this point on. It's good training for her, and so very good for my mental state. And kids love her. Expect some dog pix.

9/16/23 - NM State Fair (2nd weekend, Saturday, 1st troop of the day) 76th TK troop, 31st for the year This was the first day of the 2nd and final State Fair weekend. We showed up in great numbers. I think this is everyone in attendance including handlers. I again carried my Leia Leveller. 4 lbs 14 oz. 2.2 kg. For HOURS. Gesturing, raising, lowering, blasting. It was GREAT. The weather was fantastic and we spent a lot of time on the main street among the crowd. Almost everyone was happy and enjoyed seeing our group. And if I say so myself, we looked GOOD. This was most of our time. About 3 hours of crowd work. Posing, moving, hiding in the shade for the black armor folks, repeat. But I did get a few fun pix. Our Tantive IV hallway. This is SO close to my DRG trading card pose and background, but an actual photo vs a photoshop creation. My buddy Joseph was on fire with his camera. Ready to miss some rebels. A "Big" piano was setup on the other side of the room. When I had a chance I'd sneak up on guests and protect them from the noises. Kids MOSTLY loved it. Mostly. As the doctor said, I was still able to play the piano after The Incident. Dear Boss, Sorry I haven't been at my post. I'd very much like to return. Please send a shuttle for pickup. Any moment now. I'm ready. I'll stay at my post. Really. kisses, TK-89400.

Respectfully requesting the little 75 badge.

9/15/23 - Western Heights Science Night 75th TK troop ( ) and the 30th for the year OFFICIAL TROOP SELFIE!!! hahaha This one was a small private school science night. They had some crafts for the littles, some balloon inflation via chemicals for the older kids, a ton of birds and reptiles, and dinner/snacks. And troopers!!! We five made the Empire proud. No handlers were about. We helped each other through the uneven terrain. Mine was the only camera. The critter room was the most fun for me. Lots of antics in here. @elwessbrandon and I interrogating a hostage. He didn't talk. (it's a selfie and I'm so proud of the framing) Diane found another prisoner to interrogate. They got along well, as he really went with the robes. I'm not a huge fan of snakes, but this one was so chill. Literal children were handling him and draping him around their necks... I had to try it. AND THEN HE WENT INSIDE MY BUCKET. Let me just say how I didn't freak out. I assume my very manly TK voice rose in volume 300% and in pitch 500% as I calmly asked them to remove the snake from my glorious plastic visage. After a couple hours, we retired to the lounge for some local cuisine and camaraderie. Excellent troop! Would attend again! Just no snake in the bucket plz.

They're an (unhealthy) addiction, but I love doing them. And at least twice, our official troop group pic has been one of my selfies. No handler means you gotta get creative sometimes. My phone is really geared well for it too. Double tap the power button to enter camera mode without unlocking. Then hit a volume button to take the pic. My gloves work well with the screen, but that volume button is often the MVP.

9/10/23 - NM State Fair 74th TK troop, 29th this year This was, I think, the first year that the New Mexico State Fair asked for the 501st to attend. One of the (many many) expo buildings had a movie theme. There was costume rentals and sales, background/extra sign ups (a ton of stuff is filmed here), a photo booth and old tymie movie exhibit... and us! Saturday was broken into two troop events plus a parade, in which FOUR troopers were allowed to parade. They could only fit four in the truck they had... and that didn't sound like a ton of fun to me, so I skipped. And doggie health issues caused me to miss Saturday entirely. But I got to do Sunday! Which is pictured here. Sunday was, unfortunately, a single event. No double troop action. It was still a blast! It looked kinda like a dewback. I had to pose. I spent most of the day with Lucas (fellow GML) and his son Jacob in the fresh Death Trooper suit. I also carried my beloved LEIA LEVELLER, complete with BlastFX alllllll day. Mom, I think my Barbie had a problem at the factory. Can we return it? At our booth, which I managed to NOT get pix of, we had a beautiful new Tantive IV hallway backdrop. Many selfies were taken. My fav was this one with Lucas, giving me the WTF face whilst selfie-ing in the hallway. It's so very TK. Right before Vader followed and the force-applied neck massages began.

8/18/23 - Star Wars Rendezvous Fan Film Premier 73rd TK troop, 28th for 2023. This troop was in support of a fan film made by a local 501st member. They had a screening of it and a few other short films by local film makers. We TKs showed up to protect the public from that lone Jedi. I highly recommend this if you get the chance. Get up on stage in a large theater. It feels fantastic! @elwessbrandon singing his little black and white heart out. A+ pipes trooper!!! Annnnd that's about it for pix. We didn't really have handlers and we were all busy entertaining the crowd the rest of the time. I only shot a few pix before helping at the velvet rope. I've never said "MOVE ALONG" so many times in one night. And I could say it another few thousand. It was a great event! We even got some coverage by the local news. Good times! The film is on youtube if you'd like to search. A few local Dewback Ridge members are in it. Quite enjoyable. Just wish I had more pix from the event.

Forgive me Vader, for I have sinned. It's been ages since I updated this troop tracker. 8/16/23 - Elijah's Toy Drive 72nd TK troop, 27th for 2023 This was a troop I did in 2022 and was happy to repeat. A toy drive for the organizer's son who died a few years back. That's why we wear the armor, right? Many kids are getting smiles in honor of Elijah. With some of Rio Bravo fire team. We had a good TK showing for this troop. I... I used to be so white. Now I'm a little more movie accurate off-white. However, four of the troopers in this pic have WTF armor, which is incredibly white. I'm not THAT yellow right? I love these. Olaf selfie for my collection And pikachu! I was smiling pretty hard under there. Never trooped with a pika before. Lastly, my buddies Chuck and Randy. Chuck changed out of Boba and into.... THIS for the last half hour of the event. I caught a single photo of Randy's force choke - in my TK with bucket and gloves on! One photo was all that was needed. It was perfect.

Please add me. https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=25887 Thanks.

E11 Well it has arrived. On advice of @justjoseph63 I’ve ordered the E11 from Quest Design. Very cool piece. Is it ready to go as is? Do I need to modify it more? It’s all black. Like everything. Is that okay? Or do I need to paint the shell ejection cover silver or gray. Also the counter is black. No numbers. And there is no spring in the channel. Is all of that required for Centurion or can I slowly add that stuff as I go. I do plan on modifying my airsoft eventually as it’s cool as. But I’m ready to start the application for centurion right away. side note: I have really been enjoying trooping. Been on three so far with another this Saturday. So much fun!

Manvi Viztoria Recio TK-16970 Centurion A4 Chemi https://www.whitearmor.net/eib/certificates/16970-centurion.png

MUCHAS GRACIAS De nada, mi hermano!

Requesting access, please. Thank you! https://www.501st.com/members/searchresults.php?searchfield=39580&criteria=tkid https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=18757

Hi Pedro. Use this link... https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=36317

Requesting access, please enable me. Name: Isidro TK 68007 https://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=30474&costumeID=5 Mexican Garrison Imperial City Squad

Here's the link to the crate with pics and some vids showing the neopixel animations, the display animation, and the decompression effect when opening. https://imgur.com/a/seQbaP6