Greetings All,
There are a lot of big things happening this month. But, before we get into them, lets re-cap some of the things that happened last month.
The San Diego Comic Con is always an extreme fandom event for all super hero, sci-fi and you know it, Star Wars. This means the 501st is always going to be there. I have been told from our LadyInWhite that it was an amazing event to say the least.
In the last newsletter, I stated that the 35th anniversary, ANH Forum skin, was up for all to use. However, there was a slight oversight and the switch was not flipped for all to be able to use. The switch has now been flipped and you are all able to enjoy the theme change to reflect the nostalgia of the very first movie that started this all off. All you will need to do is go to the bottom, left side of your screen, where you will see “Change Theme “ and click on it. A drop down list will appear. The 35th anniversary skin will be the one titled “A_New_Hopeâ€. So enjoy!
Now getting to the month of August. This month is not only a hot one for the temperature, but also for major CONS. For the second time, Orlando, Florida will be hosting the Star Wars Celebration. This year will be the 6th Celebration held in the United States and is the largest turnout for the Legion. I will be there and I look forward to meeting each and everyone of you.
One week after the doors close to Celebration VI, Dragon Con will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. There will be an extreme turnout for the 501st at this event, as well.
Since I am located in the state where the Legion was born, I am extremely proud to know that from the humble beginnings of 501st, we have grown to an international phenomenon that is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. With that in mind, also knowing that this year is the 6th year anniversary for the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment, the 10th anniversary of Attack Of The Clones, and the 35th anniversary of A New Hope. Because of all this, I believe we will be seeing at these major conventions, a deluge of Star Wars fans getting excited at seeing the Legion and wanting to join. I ask that each of you put your best foot forward, take the time and be prepared to answer questions, like: Where do I start? Where do I get a costume? What type of costume do I need? How much will this cost me? Make sure to send them to the proper Detachments so we can aid them in starting off correctly. Instruct them to get in contact with their local 501st. Make sure they understand how important it is to do their research.
This is a big month for the Galaxy far, far away.... I hope everyone has fun, no, wait a minute.... Having fun is actually Order #67.
With Unquestioned Loyalty,
Tom Gardner
TK5940 “RogueTrooperâ€
Executive Officer
With the Expert Infantryman program now on its 6th year we are at 230+ Expert Infantryman. While this would normally bring a tear of joy to my eye, what I think about instead is how we are failing the Legion.
230 EI represents less than 10% of Legion Stormtroopers. By contrast about 1/3 of Legion Sandtroopers are MEPD deployed, which would mean that we'd need to be at 800 Expert Infantryman for the program to be at the same level of success.
One of the tenets of any detachment including ours is to help promote costuming excellence through education, advocation, and just plain ensuring that troopers have all the information they need to go beyond the basics.
I remember when I got my MEPD deployed status it was a real source of pride. It was a lot harder than getting my EI - I had to cut the ab plate and make a different one from scratch (this was in the days of FX), make and swap out the sniper plate, make a backpack (definitely a time suck), get a BFG, etc. A lot of time but it made getting deployed status that much sweeter. Yet I don't see the same drive on TK's to get their EI. Most are a mod or two away and could easily get it if they wanted to, but seem content just to move along.
My dream is for Stormtroopers to be the best looking troopers in the Legion, and the EI program was created specifically to help create a path and incentive for troopers to go beyond the basics and kick it up a notch. Not to get crazy like Centurion, just up a notch to make it better than average. We can be as good as the dirty boys, after all!
It's strange to think of a program with 230 members which is larger by itself than all but a few garrisons as being a failure, but comparing it to MEPD we've really fallen short, and the program has lost steam.
So I'm left wondering - where are all the Experts in Stormtrooper costuming? What do you guys think is missing that's causing such a "meh" from the membership, and what can we do to turn things around again?
With unquestioned loyalty,
Paul "Daetrin" TK-8020
Detachment Founder
This August features one of the most anticipated events for Star Wars fans around the planet - Star Wars Celebration VI. Its focus on all things Star Wars brings out the most amazing talent and craftsmanship in sets, props, costumes, and merchandise, as well as the talent on the screen and behind the scenes that brings this epic mythology to life. As thousands of fans gather to immerse themselves in the experience - the closest thing we can get to being in the Star Wars galaxy itself - the 501st Legion takes on a significant role in providing entertainment and content.
If you didn’t know, perhaps because you live in a cave on the Jungan Wastes of Tatooine, Celebration VI takes place in Orlando, Florida, from August 23-26 at the Orange County Convention Center. Check the link to the official Celebration VI website for tickets, travel, and event information.
The 501st Legion’s schedule of events is a great place to start if you want to be involved in the action, perhaps in your armor or helping on the sidelines. While the exact schedules haven’t been announced for each event yet, it would be good to bookmark it to keep track of the 501st Legion’s events. It also includes links to information and promotions for the Droid Hunt, Shoot-a-Trooper, Bash and Banquet, and other featured events, as well as skits, panels, and 501st Room events. (Rumor has it you can get the scheduling scoop first if you have the mobile app.)
If you haven’t been to the 501st Forums for a while, the FISD thread for Celebration VI contains information for how to sign up to participate or volunteer for events, skits, etc., as well as merchandise, patches, tees, panels, and other planning.
Most importantly, FISD is prominently involved in the entertainment. TKs of all classifications will be trooping and participating, bringing our usual high levels of joy and excitement as prominent and iconic Star Wars characters. Check out some of these specific events on the 501st forums.
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White Armor Troopers- The official panel for white-armored troopers (TK, TB, TS, etc.). FYI, Paul (Daetrin) will be giving the TK presentation with help from Terrell (SuperTrooper) and Tom (RogueTrooper).
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501st Legion Photo - currently listed as Sat. 8/25 at 1:00 pm
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Keep your eyes right here for other FISD-related events and gatherings, including the Dance Flash Mob, Ladies in White lunch, detachment photo time/place, and more!
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Willrow Hood (Ice Cream Maker Guy) Group - not TK-related but organized by our very own Bobojuice (Luis Diaz) and should be a riot!
For those of you going to CVI, I hope to meet you there. Let’s have a safe, fun, and fully hydrated experience, and take lots of video and photos to bring back to our friends and family here at FISD!
With Unquestioned Loyalty,
Ingrid Moon
TK-6818 “LadyInWhiteâ€
Public Relations Officer
Getting Yellow Back to White
Yellow is a color associated with daisies and fear. Neither of these can be considered a trait of the Stormtrooper. Armor is tough but sensitive: certain chemicals and compounds can actually cause more damage or yellowing to occur than what you wish to remove, so be careful. You can always check with your armor-maker for details on how to care for your armor.
That said, if you’ve got some armor getting discolored from age or trooping, here are some tips from troopers on the FISD forums.
Personally I recommend sanding before anything else. Sanding is a special art and requires patience and time to do it right. Take that yellow off by gently wet-sanding your yellowed parts until they get to the desired whiteness and then buff and polish.
What I’ve learned is to sand in one direction, moving from grittier as needed (i.e. 600 grit for scratches) to finer grit (800, 1000, 1500, 2000) progressively. This should remove the yellow and smooth down the armor to a milky flat white. The final step is to use the three Novus products or your preferred polish, buffing the armor to a nice shine. Be careful not to over-sand thin areas as you can weaken the plastic. Also, I’m not sure how sanding affects capped plastic, so check with your armorer if you’re unsure.
Some people have had success using Retr0bright gel mixture. Please read the warning on the web site and use safety precautions. As with almost anything, test on scrap plastic or a corner that is less visible before making any big commitments.
With Unquestioned Loyalty,
Ingrid Moon
TK-6818 “LadyInWhiteâ€
Public Relations Officer
National Symphony Orchestra - Garrison Tyranus
On July 7th, Garrison Tyranus and the Rebel Legion’s Freedom Base trooped a classical music performance called The Music of John Williams, by the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Chorus, at the Wolf Trap Filene Center. 501st Legion and Rebel Legion members joined the orchestra for on-stage performances during the Star Wars segments.
As proof that Bad Guys are indeed popular, check out this rousing reaction to the appearance of Garrison Tyranus’ troopers for “The Imperial March!â€
Full story and a lot of great photos and video links are in the troop report (as well as some trooping safety tips):
With Unquestioned Loyalty,
Ingrid Moon
TK-6818 “LadyInWhiteâ€
Public Relations Officer
Congratulations to Eric Brager (Darth Aloha) TK9674 on being TK of the month!
Eric is the Pacific Outpost web dork and the Chief Tactical Officer for the FISD.
He is one of the guys that works his butt plate off making sure that the WhiteArmor.net site engines are tuned and running at lightspeed. Most of the time you never know that he is doing all that he does (the little FISD shoe elf). He also helps with the newsletter and other graphic design like your EI and Centurion cards. And he does all of this with a tremendous sense of humor!
I know we all appreciate all the many hours that Eric clocks in to keep this site up and running.
Mahalo â nui (Many thanks in Hawaiian) to you Eric for getting up early to make sure the FISD Donuts are made. 
With Unquestioned Loyalty,
Tom Gardner
TK5940 “RogueTrooperâ€
Executive Officer
Our hosting provider has been relentlessly nagging us that our website has been clogging up their server. FISD runs in a shared hosting environment. That means that a bunch of other non 501st websites are also running on this machine. There is a good chance we may need to upgrade our account to a more powerful, and sadly more expensive, option.
Many of you may have noticed that I have been tinkering with various forum features. With much regret I even temporarily "banned" a handful of FISD members last week. I was hoping to troubleshoot how our most loyal (read: addicted) members effect the server. Nothing so far has helped but we are coming to a few different conclusions. First is that our web server is running really well. Second, FISD has seen a noticeable uptick in website traffic starting in April. Third, our hosting provider's web server software is not optimized for our forum software. I expect to start putting features like taptalk back online this week.
While Sherlocking around we managed to collect a few cool tidbits of information about how and how much people use FISD. The headline here is not surpising. We are many and we spend a lot of time on this forum per day. For those of us who need quantative proof, here are the metrics you are looking for.
Let's look at a brief history of new user registrations by month. With the highest number of new user registrations, does anyone know what happened in April and June of this year? Did we get some good press?
This is a summary of website traffic for 2012. Something happened in April and the number of website visits and page hits went through the roof.
Stay tuned for more news of taking our hosting company's name in vain and more optimizing by tinkering. If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to send me a PM anytime.
(Does anyone know what a shoe elf is anymore?)
With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty,
Eric Brager
TK-9674 “DarthAlohaâ€
Chief Tactical Officer
The cross swag has been put on the back burner until after CVI...Hopefully Wyatt (FISD Merch Officer) and the other two Merch Officers from MEPD and Spec Ops can put these items into lightspeed and get them done and into your collections soon.......
We still have 9 EIB Fifth anniversary coins left!!!!! so........ it's best to get one before they are gone, as there are no coin runs on the near horizon!!!
And a galaxy full of other awesome 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment swag can be found here.
Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor
Now with "tip of the week" and other ongoing discussions. If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories!
Twitter: www.twitter.com/@FISD501st
From crazy TK findings to minute-by-minute CVI updates, follow FISD on Twitter!
With Completely, Totally Unquestioned Loyalty,
Ingrid Moon
TK-6818 “LadyInWhiteâ€
Public Relations Officer
On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff.
End Transmission.
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