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In Memoriam From the DL From the XO From the PRO Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper Kylo Ren and the First Order Stormtrooper Darth Maul Makeup Memoirs Notable Troops Just for Fun Advanced Tactics Awards and Sith Spotlight Swag Alert Follow FISD Star Garrison member Zac Sotman (TD-6753) passed away Thursday night (10-29-15). Some of you may remember him when he trooped in Austin, TX at Panera Bread where he managed the store, or from other troops in the area. Some may remember him from when he lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and trooped since at least 2006. Remember when you troop with the 501st, you never march alone. Rest In Peace brother. Zac Sotman served the MEPD with honor and integrity. He will be greatly missed. Please keep his family in your prayers. Buckets off troopers. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Clint TK-16311 "cm325i" FISD Imperial Propaganda Department Aloha kakou, In case you have not heard, there is a new Star Wars movie coming up in about two weeks. The rumors are true. Will you go see it? I am on the fence about it. And by on the fence I mean seeing it twice the first night in two different locations. For me it does not seem real. Even with the 30-inch First Order Stormtrooper in my foyer greeting me with blaster drawn I might be in denial. It is part Episode I PTSD and part being exhausted from excitement and anticipation. I know I am no alone in this convoluted emotional muddle. This newsletter is special to me because I have a foot in both camps. I spend time in both detachment forums with an approved Return of the Jedi Vader as well as my A New Hope Stunt TK. Both forums have radically different cultures and forum tone from another. Regardless of how both detachments go about helping people the intent is the same. The Sith Lord Detachment (SLD) and the 1st Imperial Stormtroooper Detachment (FISD) both care passionately about making sure members look their best. No one on either forum wants to see someone unnecessarily spend money on something they will end up regretting. We both preach research research research to buy once. It would be easy to use this space to dwell on the subjects of our recent spate of forum melodrama here on the FISD and on the Legion level. I am doing my best to take the high road in these situation. I encourage everyone to do the same. We effortlessly to let our strong opinions fly out of our fingertips until our own blind hyperbole incites more unnecessarily strong opinions. This behavior is counterproductive to FISD’s mission, which is to help people buy and build the best Stormtrooper armor they can. If you find yourself with a strong opinion about a hot button topic, please take a moment and ask yourself if it is helpful to others. Reflect on why you are posting it. If it is for the sole purpose of reading your own opinions on the forum or if it is to state some overly politicized stance, then do not post it. If you cannot stop yourself from posting please know that I prefer to see over used Fry memes, cats dressed as Vader, and other attempts to make people smile. More fluffy bunnies, puppies, and imperial rainbows please. Maybe everyone can post a knock knock joke instead? Knock Knock Who's there? Little Yoda lady. Little Yoda Lady who? I didn't know you could yodel! With that out of the way have you seen Clint (camprandall) and Q’s (gmrhodes13) recent creations?! I am typing this with a bandaid on my thumb after a utility knife went through my thumb trimming shin armor. That is what happens when I try to do simple tasks with ABS. These two nutballs have created two TFA weapons out of household items and thin air. You can see Clint’s Heavy Gunner Canon build photos below. Once the movie is released I intend to push to get this TK’s CRL approved in the Legion. Also check out Q’s Riot Trooper Baton with lightsaber sounds. Pretty darn clever no? His thread also includes a little video of it in action. TKSonic is making the shield to go along with the the baton. I would post a photo of it but I am waiting for one of a completed shield. There is another topic that has been overlooked in this newsletter that pertains to both of our detachments. That is Costume Reference Library (CRL) creation. If our current LMO has his way all new costumes to the Legion will have a CRL before they are approved. Recent changes to the Legion operating protocol puts the CRL on us on the detachment removing a lot of randomly wielded power to the Legion Membership Officer (LMO). The next step for changing the ops protocol is to really put the screws to the detachments and force us do the CRL heavy lifting before a costume is approved. If this actually happens we should see the end of new empty white boxes in our CRL lists. Both SLD and FISD have been on the forefront of this new detachment centric movement. The Kylo Ren CRL and the new TFA TK CRL were both written by their detachment’s communities with transparency and openness. A mockup of the Ralph MacQuarrie concept Vader CRL is underway on SLD, mostly for fun. If I could look into my Sithy crystal ball for 2016 I would put money on a Rebels Vader happening within the next year. On FISD we will soon see the development of Captain Phasma, Battlefront Shock Trooper, and Clint’s Heavy Gunner. My hope is that this new methodology will be come the paradigm across the legion sooner than later. We will not have another newsletter until after the premier of the Force Awakens. Until then please be safe and enjoy yourselves during the week where the Legion’s world stops for a few days. Happy TFA my fellow Siths and Troopers. With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty, Eric Brager TK-9674 "Darth Aloha" FISD Detachment Leader So I was thinking about it the other day, and I’ve decided I don’t really want to carry my blaster any more. I thought I would share my reasons, since we’re all pretty similar. Perhaps you can benefit from my thinking. Firstly, I find the blaster, when holstered, really breaks up my otherwise rather svelte form. I know it’s all kinds of vain, but let’s be honest, they make us look pretty hippy. Secondly, it’s heavy. Who needs it, amiright? Have you seen those noisy crickets the scouts carry? That little pee shooter fits in their ankle holster. Seems to me it’ll kill someone just as dead, at a fraction the weight. I say we do a “work-to-rule” kinda thing until the size of the E11 comes down. It’s 2015, I just bought a cell phone so thin, I cut myself shaving with it. What do we want? Smaller blasters! When do we want them? A long time ago! On another note, and I don’t wanna be that guy, but when Vader asks us to miss all the time, then sends us out with these heavy-an impolite person blasters, I kinda feel like he’s taking the piss. “Here you go trooper *kuuuu kaaaaaah giggle*. Feel the weight of that Imperial issue *kuuuu kaaaah snicker*. Now aim it in the air and shoot at the ceiling and stuff *tee hee kuuuuu kaaaaah*.” It’s not that I’ll disobey orders. I’ll still let the rebel scum go, but instead of embarrassingly shooting in the air, I’ll be all like, “Oops, looks like I forgot my blaster. Perhaps you should move along.” I don’t know about you guys, but I'm going to try it for a bit and see. It’ll likely make little difference, one way or the other, but may as well try it for a change. Happy holidays to you all, and enjoy The Force Awakens!!! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Danny TK-66668 "MechaPumpkin" FISD Executive Officer Calling all Imperial Citizens who like to take part in the Imperial Propaganda Machine (IPM)! One of the IPM's duties is to inform the masses of our latest news and to remind that the Emperor's will is supreme. This is done by releasing our newsletters. We are looking for loyal citizens who would be willing to contribute to our future newsletters both column writers and graphic artists! Please send any of the staff members a PM if you're interested! Greetings fellow Stormtroopers, Sith Lords, Cadets, and Imperial Citizens. Just a quick word to kick of this newsletter: As you have read this is a Special Edition Newsletter! And this time it's a cross over newsletter with the Sith Lord Detachment (SLD). The IPM (or Imperial Propaganda Machine) has collaborated with the PRO of the SLD, Matt, to bring this to you. Matt is also a member here at FISD and we are proud to be working with him. We will be introducing the A New Hope TK armor to our Sith Lords and in return we will be introduced to the different parts of Darth Vader's armor. And in parallel we will be showcasing what members of the FISD and SLD have worked on for The Force Awakens Stormtrooper and Kylo Ren. We have much more to show you and we hope you will enjoy this Sith Edition Newsletter! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer FISD Achievement Award Troopers Helping Troopers. How many times per day do we see those words here at FISD? There are countless singular examples of it here daily. They come in many forms, encouraging others to keep on building when it gets overwhelming, congratulating individuals on achieving EIB and or Centurion, or even supplying advice to new forum members when it comes to considerations to look at before choosing armor. As previously mentioned, examples abound. Still, it is rare that any one member does something that has a legitimately tremendous impact on the TK community at large – but it happens. Recently, one member did something that can be described in exactly that way. With a new movie imminent, there are bound to be many new costumes and props that enter our universe. Naturally our world is a-flutter with detail debates, and photo analysis while everyone attempts to learn what is right and accurate so that the costumes and props can be accurately reproduced. At the height of these discussions Germain Graziano, TK-14492 of the French Garrison (FISD’s own “The5thHorseman”), taught himself to use 3D rendering and print software in order to complete a personal project to bring a very accurate printable representation of the F-11D, complete with some functioning parts, and ready for electronics installation with very little modification. As if being able to have a near-screen accurate blaster months before the movie even premiered was not enough, Germain made the files available for everyone to have and print - for free. This undertaking that he poured himself into is the epitome of Troopers Helping Troopers, and it is these actions that have earned Germain the FISD Achievement Award. You can see this announcement and the other award winners here, in the Achievement Award thread. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tim TK-51878 "Dark CMF" FISD Amabassador When I think Star Wars I think of space and lasers, good vs. evil, tyranny and freedom, spaceships, heroes, lightsabers, Darth Vader and Stormtroopers. Not necessarily in that order. But we can’t deny the icons that Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper have become today. Even people who have not seen Star Wars recognize the all too familiar imposing figure clad in black and a swishing cape surrounded by loyal unquestioning soldiers in white, shining armor. Sure we have seen them before but have we seen what’s under the hood? How all the pieces of the costume fit together to make such icons? In this article we will get to see how the costume is put on. This is a newsletter for costumers after all. Darth Vader First parts on: leather undersuit, boots, shins, and cod. Next on: Inner cape and belt. Next to last: Face mask and chest armor (over mask) Finally the cape and dome. Stormtrooper The undersuit and neck seal goes on first of course! After that the thighs are attached to the belt and put on first and then followed by the shoes and shins. The chest and abdomen plates along with the back pieces (called the back and kidney plate) are then put on and hung loosely on the shoulders. There are different ways the armor can be strapped but we won't go into that detail for now. The belt then goes on tightening and holding the top half of the armor together. After that the shoulder bells are attached to the shoulder straps of the armor. Bicep and forearm pieces go next followed by the gloves and helmet. And finally the thermal detonator/canister is hooked onto the back of the belt. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Matt and Evan SL-8596 SLD PRO and TK-24127 FISD PRO For my next section the Kylo research by asking our 2 Kylo experts on the SLD how they got started: From Dawn Bright SL-13377 My name is Dawn Bright (SL-13377) I am proud member of the 501st Southern California Garrison. I am a seamstress by hobby and I love putting together Legion 1st ( 1st in the Legion) costumes and assisting my fellow costumers with their creations. I am proud to say that I have five completed Legion 1sts between the 501 and Rebel Legion. When I saw Kylo Rens "leaked" image November of 2014. I knew that was going to be a costume I would be making. When I arrived at C7 (Celebration Anaheim) I had one thing in mind. Get up the stairs and see that costume in person (On display at the Force Awakens Costume Room). I stood in line for almost and hour and was able to take hundreds of photos Thursday at Celebration Anaheim. Click on the link below for more detailed photos: Kylo Ren Costume The costume in person was in shambles from being incorrectly placed on the dummy. They even had the back of the door to the costume unlocked. This is where I got shots of the boots, midcoat and both sides of the pleated tunic peeking from inside the armpit. Seeing the costume in person allowed me to analyze the threads and fibers of each piece and match them with the plaque which was on display. Initially after getting home on the 21st of April I did a quick write up on the Sithlord forums (you'll need to sign up to be a member to view the thread: http://forum.501stsi...pic=9148&page=1) and headed to the fabric district. April 21st in the rain on my sons birthday I trenched the Los Angeles fabric district. After searching for hours, showing hundreds of fabric vendors close ups I found a bolt of fabric with a 2x2 weave that would be accurate enough for my liking on the surcoat. It still wasn't perfect but it was the closest thing I'd ever seen. I took it (and the rest of my fabric home and begin my intense research and break down of Kylos costume. One of the best ways we originally stated gathering information on parts for Kylo Ren was a board on the Sithlord forums "Kylo Ren research and Development". I started there in the early days of the build and we helped each other pick apart the sections. I began sewing quickly, hoping I would be able to finish and have a quality costume worthy of Legion approval. It felt like every time I "finished" the costume something new would pop up. The vanity fair video and article showed us many in-depth details we had originally missed. That's when I met Luke Daley (BH 21313) from the UK Garrison and his research on the basket weave surcoat (as well as a number of the other fabrics). He had found a custom material maker in the UK to begin producing the surcoat material in bulk. Fortunately by the time he was ready to start taking orders, we knew how much material would be needed. I had already completed tutorials and write up and was able to assist with how much material would be needed per coat and cape. Yet again I started my costume over with the surcoat when I received my batch of Luke's perfect 2x2 basket weave material. But I still had a problem, how do I coat it? I took dozens of scraps before I found a suitable coating. Something that shines that doesn't crinkle when dry and is still flexible. The costume has been a labor of love for me as it has for many others, from the pleated sleeves right down to the pleated boots. I have never felt such a strong connection to a character I know nothing about.... I proudly sweat through all five layers of my waxed and resined Kylo Ren costume. There has been an awakening.. From Luke Daley BH-21313 I started my Kylo Ren journey similarly to many others by knowing nothing, and then there was that first trailer within 88 seconds my mind was blown and who the hell was that guy with the weird lightsaber.. I tuned in along with millions of others to the constant stream of videos and photos from Anaheim when I first caught a glimpse of the Kylo Ren Costume at this point I knew it was going to be a costume I wanted to have. First things first I got some super high res shots from the constant stream of content online and designed the Kylo Ren Buckle, everyone asked me how I stumbled upon the dimensions I started the way i always do with a photo by scaling the photo of the costume to Adam Driver’s height the belt measurement came out to just over 5 inches I standardised that down to 5 inches for simplicity and A-typically most leather workers are cutting in whole inches and it lined up by the time you accounted for the boot heels and helmet It didn’t take me too long but I wanted it to be an open job so I took comments from members of the RPF and refined my design within a few days I had the final design nailed I printed it and tested the Scale out i was very happy with the part so I had a master printed at shapeways and began to cast buckles for myself and the community I even gave the files away because we’re all in this together and if it feels good to share! I’ll be honest after i finished that part I turned my gaze to other parts on the costume, the belt, the fabric the helmet what more could I learn from these pictures My next project was to begin the Saber Clip project that is still on going from the side shot we had i created a 3d model just to help people try and track down the real part but after no result I made it a finished functioning clip i discovered it’s a fantastic design and as we see in trailer one it is used to great dramatic effect since he can just slam down on the sabre and withdraw it vs the almost cumbersome covertec clip method, with every new photo i get i revise the design I've now reached my 5th revision and it’s looking better than ever i’m even having it made at a machine shop each clip consists of no less than 34 parts including mounting hardware.. Somewhere among this I kept hearing the crazy notion on how hard this fabric was to find and I mean hard like you aren’t going to find it in a year of searching, within the space of 2 months I learnt more about fabric construction and weaves than I did in my entire life until that point, I began to consider what if I got this custom made.. That consideration evolved into a now staggering 800 meter order of fabric for various Kylo’s globally it involved about 3 draft revisions with a mill I worked with and various diagrams and specifications on the fabric to get it just right, the coating is another topic still being looked into by many but we now have a solid fabric to work on! Aside from all of this I’ve had my hand in specing leather and designs to make seamless closures as well as even discovering a flaw on the Anaheim display (the buckle is upside down) i had this confirmed by a Lucas Film representative when i asked which felt like a great detail to find. I also made the huge dive into designing helmets i’ve never made 3d item’s so large so it was a challenge i enjoyed for sure after some 105 hours of design i had it done (at least for version 1.0) i also decided to give this away for free too because i just want people to have access to stuff that might not get. I've also been constantly scrubbing information on the costume having late night skype conversations to help people and discuss costume points as and when it came in and running a group on facebook that now exceeds 1000 members of absolute kylo fanatics, I have to give those guys credit also for supporting my work and keeping up the spirit of openness and exchange within the community, they have been the BEST people to work among. On FISD’s side we have had brilliant individuals who worked on the First Order Stormtrooper (FOTK for short). In the previous newsletter we featured Germain’s 3D files for the FOTK blaster (F-11 blaster). You can access his 3D files here and they are free to use. Germain has generously allowed these files to be 3D printed for yourself and friends. They can also be recasted for 501st Garrison members only. However please note that these should never be recasted for sale. Greg’s Hand Sculpted Helmet We start with Greg who started his helmet from a Pepakura file. Using bondo the shape of the Stormtrooper helmet was sculpted. Making the mold… Helmet! Jim’s Old School Sculpting of Stormtrooper Helmet and Armor We also have Jim who scratch built the First Order Stormtrooper helmet and armor. Jim’s templates were based on photos taken at Celebration Anaheim. He then based his sculpt on the size and dimensions of an Original Trilogy Stormtrooper helmet. XPS foam was used in the initial sculpt. Clay was then sculpted over the foam master. The same foam and clay process was done for the armor (the original stormtrooper helmet looks pretty good on the new armor as well!). Flexible fiberglass is used to make the armor kit. Clint’s Heavy Gunner Canon Build Finally we’d like to feature some pictures from Clint’s Heavy Gunner build. This bad BFG was scratch built using a harmony of everyday materials (pipes, primer, bondo, and wood) with 3D printing. Wood was used to make the overall frame of the gun. 3D printing was used on some parts. Pipes and bondo for the scope then painted over. Here's the completed canon! First Order Heavy Gunner! Each build had tons more pictures and details but we can't fit all of them into this Newsletter! If any of you are aspiring prop makers or just in awe of what these three talented individuals have done click on the links below to see the full build process: Greg’s Hand Sculpted Helmet Jim’s Old School Sculpting of Stormtrooper Helmet and Armor Clint’s Heavy Gunner Canon Build With Unquestioned Loyalty, Matt and Evan SL-8596 SLD PRO and TK-24127 FISD PRO The SLD's How to: Applying Darth Maul Make-up by SL-6097(also TK-6097) Pre makeup: shave head and face, trim eye brows. Take shower and wash head, neck, and face thoroughly to remove oils. Applying horns: using pros-aid, or whatever high quality prosthetic adhesive you choose, (this tutorial is specific to pros-aid) apply to horns and let dry clear. Then once it is dry clear, apply a second coat. Once that coat is dried clear then wipe the surface of your skin where the horn will go with rubbing alcohol and apply horn. Hold the horn in place for 10 seconds and then it is good to go. (I would love to be specific on where to apply the horns but it is slightly different from person to person, use a screen accurate picture as reference) Contacts: I usually do this right after applying horns because you have a high chance of messing up your makeup if you do it after. Applying makeup: now this is the tricky part, everyone does this a little different, but having good Ray Park reference pictures is key for everyone. Also paint varies, but most guys I know use either Reel Creations (which is what I use) or Ben Nye paint key is to use something alcohol activated so you will sweat through it and always use the same brand for everything so the colors match up. This is how I do it; first of all I use an air brush and air brush specific paint from reel creations, first for the large red area on the face and then the large black area on the head and neck. I use a big baby bottle cap to cover my horns while spraying around them. Then on to the detail. I use the reel creations color pots and hand paint all the detail. There is a specific formula to how I do it so that my fave looks more like Ray Parks, but everyone's face is different so you just have to practice and get to know your face, and better yet, get to know Rays face. Once you are done with the fine detail, spray on sealer if you wish, this holds the paint on better and it won't rub off when your suit rubs it. Teeth: using coffee stain or light brown and black tooth enamel, apply the brown color first to all teeth that show when you scowl. Completely cover the teeth. Once the brown is dry then go through with the black and only put it in between your teeth and put a couple dots here and there at the end of the teeth to make them look rotting. Once you are done with that, make sure you stick in your screen accurate ear stud and start revealing yourself to the Jedi You are done. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Matt SL-8596 "thechosenhitman" SLD Public Relations Officer This edition of Memoirs comes from three Stormtroopers and is centered on a Troop that took place just about a month ago – 7 November, 2015. Daniel Nickeson (TK-7586, ZacMuleer) the Garrison Events Coordinator for Star Garrison, and Andrew Repasky (TK-24218, Fuumantroop) and Bob Martin (TK-82954, BobMerge) of the South Texas Squad, Star Garrison. Each of these troopers were involved in a recent Star Wars centered, globally significant event. #ForceForDaniel recently was a very highly circulated hashtag, being heavily campaigned for by no less than John Boyega and Mark Hamill. The Story of Daniel Fleetwood was one that we are all likely familiar with, and were all very likely touched and moved by in a very personal way. If you’re not familiar with the story, then I invite you to read the following accounts of the troop for Daniel, and then do a quick internet search to become familiar with his story. Nearly every time we put on our shiny white armor, we have an impact on people’s lives – many times, we will never know this. Once in a while, a person or a troop have an impact on our lives, and these moments are the stuff memoirs are made of. Daniel Nickeson: As we all know, being members of the 501st, our facebook feeds tend to catch Star Wars stories early in their cycle. I was immediately drawn to the story of Daniel Fleetwood, and his call to Disney and JJ Abrams to see The Force Awakens early - the exact plot of Fanboys, a movie very close to my heart about a group of friends' love of Star Wars and each other. In addition to the early stories about the Fleetwoods, we received a message from Joshua Rhoads, a friend of the Fleetwood family and 501st member with more information about the severity of Daniel's diagnosis and how he was working to do what he could to help the family - and more importantly - that the Fleetwoods resided near Houston, TX. We began discussions almost immediately amongst the Star Garrison leadership to coordinate a troop, while we attempted contact with Ashley Fleetwood. With the story gaining traction and news and blog sites all over the world starting to reach out to her, I was frankly amazed and relieved when I was able to reach her. She was so incredibly kind and thoughtful and generous with her time. We expressed interest in visiting Daniel as soon as he and the family would be willing: after all, we didn't want to take too much time away from his family. Ashley was so excited for Daniel to meet our troopers; something she knew would give him a huge boost of joy. She wanted to make sure he knew of the troop to give him something to look forward to. While I asked if we should limit the number of troopers (knowing we were trooping in the residence and not wanting to overcrowd the family or Daniel), she initially said that maybe 8 troopers should attend. A moment later, she came back and said, "Scratch that. Daniel is so excited to see you that he wants as many as can make it." Within days, we had a dozen troopers from all over Texas willing to stand by Daniel, hoping to bring a smile to his face and more attention to the #ForceForDaniel campaign. Little did we know that Disney, Lucasfilm, and the Bad Robot company were granting Daniel's wish, showing him The Force Awakens at his home. There was no objection among the leadership to grant Daniel immediate Honorary Membership into Star Garrison. We were able to contact Damien Metz and get plaques and name tags made and shipped, and put out the call for our members to send in donations for the traditional "swag bags" that go out to honorary members. Except more than the usual swag came in - including a full metal DL-44 blaster - showing again how the Fleetwoods story had touched the lives of 501st members around the world. When the news story came down the wire that Daniel's wish had been granted, we also heard that his condition had taken a turn for the worse. We limited the number of troopers and time out of respect for the Fleetwood family, but were encouraged by Ashley - Daniel definitely was looking forward to our visit. He wanted to meet the troopers of the 501st. Sometimes, as troopers, we forget that there are fans out there that love Star Wars as much as we do, but just don't get into costuming or prop replicas. So when they see us, they aren't just seeing other fans, but the entities they love. The day of the troop came, and you could see the love and awe that Daniel felt in the photos and videos of the visit. Any troopers who could not make it to the troop personally posted videos to the Fleetwood's facebook walls to welcome him to the garrison and congratulate him on his honorary garrison membership. Ashley was so grateful afterward. She noted that Daniel gets tired easily, especially when excited, and after the troop he slept most of the next day. Which she was grateful for, because when he was sleeping, he wasn't in pain. She thanked us for giving him that. We heard he passed a few days after the troop. Compared to screening an unreleased movie, coordinating the troop in a short amount of time is a piece of cake. Everyone in Star Garrison wanted to help the #ForceForDaniel campaign in some way, and many altered their schedule in order to be a part of it. He brought us all together in a way few have, and we were honored to be a part of it. We are honored to have Daniel as an honorary member of Star Garrison. Once a trooper, always a trooper. Now, a collaborative Memoir from Andrew and Bob: Only days before our arrival to boost everyone's spirits, Daniel Fleetwood and his wife, Ashley, were given the chance to see "The Force Awakens" before the release date in December. This gift, directly from J.J. Abrams, Disney, and Lucasfilm, was granted to Daniel due to a simple hashtag that took the internet by storm, #ForceForDaniel. This seemingly acute movement, started by his wife Ashley, began on social media and was implemented, with force, due to Daniels ongoing battle with spindle cell sarcoma. This rare form of cancer, which effects connective tissue, began to worsen, and would ultimately claim his life, but not before the power of the internet made its presence felt. The day started off as any other day before a troop. Some people I knew were scheduled to be there, and some were there I hadn’t met before. We all had our directions to Daniel’s house with the loose plans that we would be changing in the street or in our cars for our surprise appearance. His story had globally inspired tens of thousands with his (and wife Ashley’s) fight with cancer and his unparalleled love of Star Wars. As we all began to arrive, we were greeted with warm faces by excited family and friends. Since it was raining, they had us all pile into a front room so we could get suited up. They tried to cover doorways with blankets to hide us until we were all ready. Our secret was kept until Daniel caught a glimpse of a Tusken Raider through the doorway (way to go DZ-24241!). We then, one by one, marched into the living room where Daniel and his wife were. Though it was difficult, Daniel stood up almost instantly as we entered the room. His face was full of excitement; he couldn’t decide who to look at first. Daniel shook hands with a Sith Lord (Darth Nihilus), got photos with a Shadow Stormtrooper, and Ashely was handed a bag full of goodies like t-shirts and stickers. A fellow member donated an all metal DL-44 blaster and Brandon Crismon(TK-32917) presented it to him. Daniel was bursting with excitement, he must have said “Wow” about 5 times and then turned to his wife Ashley to say, “but I don’t have anything to give them!” We all felt that genuine appreciation and we, in the South Texas Squad, were absolutely honored to be there. Marshall Conover(TK-7932) stepped up to present him with his Star Garrison Honorary Member Certificate, his official name tag, and an engraved Plexiglas plaque commemorating his membership. As Marshall tried to read the certificate out loud, he choked up a bit, as I am sure any of us would have. I think everyone with buckets were glad to have them on. We all got to thank Daniel for sharing his inspiring story with the world, and it was so rewarding to see the smile on his face, even if it was only for a couple of moments. This is what trooping is all about. After we had all removed armor and uniforms, we headed outside to load up vehicles. Marshall stayed behind and was talking with Daniel’s father in the doorway. Daniel’s father was attempting to pay us for our visit with Daniel, and just would not take no for an answer. Marshall wanted no part of it, but eventually agreed to take it with the excuse that we would use it for lunch. Once we were all out of earshot, the easy decision was made to donate the money right back to the Go Fund Me account that Ashley had set up to help cover the medical expenses for Daniel. It was only three days after our visit that Daniel passed away. It was amazing how little time we spent with both Daniel and Ashley and how connected we all felt afterwards. The love of a movie franchise, along with something as small as a simple hashtag, touched the hearts of tens of thousands across the globe. Forever in our memories, until we meet again Daniel, thank you for sharing your time with us in the 501st Legion. Buckets off. On Wednesday, November 4th Daniel received a phone call from JJ Abrams, informing him that representatives would be at his house the next day to allow him to see an unedited version of The Force Awakens. The Troopers of Star Garrison (and members of the RL’s Kessel Base) visited with Daniel on Saturday, November 7th. It was early in the morning on Tuesday, November 10th that Ashley announced to the world that Daniel had passed via a Facebook post that read: "Daniel put up an amazing fight to the very end," she wrote. "He is now one with God and with the force. He passed in his sleep and in peace. He will always be my idol and my hero...Rest in peace my love. This was the last selfie we ever took together.‪#‎forcefordaniel" Daniel Fleetwood was 32 years old. Thank you, Daniel and Ashley, for sharing your story with the world, and thanks to Dan, Andrew, and Bob for sharing their Memoir. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tim TK-51878 "Dark CMF" FISD Amabassador http://whitearmor.net/images/newsletter2015/notabletroops.png On October 17, members of the Wisconsin & Midwest Garrisons, along with The Knights of the Howling Moon from Nar Shaddaa Base of the Rebel Legion, came together at Discovery World Sci Fi Day to raise money for Make-a-Wish by performing 4 saber demonstrations. Admission for each show cost $2 & each show had a full house with the final show having people stand on the steps & sitting on the floor in front of the first row of seats. Following each performance was a short introduction of us, info on both legions followed by a Q & A. At the end of the day over $2000 was raised for Make-a-Wish which includes a custom made saber that was constructed by the bases sabersmith. Pictured Above: Jason Stoxen, John Hartley, Dan Christy (TK-10408), Melanie Thompson, Matt Frysztak (SL-8596) & Nick Klein. Video of the show can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dhCsPMrZb0 The Empire Has Taken Over Changi Airport! I went to Changi Airport, Singapore in November and found myself jaw-dropped in front of a life-sized X-Wing Starfighter. I’ve never seen one that size before and just to see it there made Star Wars suddenly all so real to me. The Star Wars themed All Nippon Airways (Japan) jet landed in Singapore that same day and the passengers were greeted by a reception of Stormtroopers and Rebel Pilots. Probably the only day I get to see the Empire and Rebellion working together. The passengers were then brought to the X-Wing where they awaited for Changi Airport to officially launch their Star Wars celebration. Other bystanders in the airport were drawn in by the event as well as it was out in the open. The MC made his introductions and greeted all the guests and soon after that the Rebel fanfare was played out loud and we saw a squad of Rebel Pilots flocking in the X-Wing waving at the crowd and then proceeding to do some check-ups on the X-Wing. And then suddenly March on the Jedi Temple song was played and 10 Imperial Stormtroopers came marching in from the floor above and stormed (forgive that pun) the landing bay and a battle between the Pilots and Stormtroopers ensued. Another 10 Stormtroopers came by later to barricade the landing bay. Probably releasing all that pent up tension when they were “working together” earlier that morning. The battle ended (probably because the crows was begging for photos) and they soon had to work together again and pose for photos. After a while the music stopped and Duel of the Fates was queued in. No Darth Maul wasn’t there but two Imperial Pilots showed up and all the Stormtroopers fell in line. 20 Stormtroopers led by the Imperial Pilot duo started to march to another part of the airport. A little kid dressed as Darth Vader rushed to the front to lead the way. I bet it was one of the best days of his life. Along the way they had to cross a big glass bridge which swayed and shook a little (due to a larger than expected turnout of the public) causing the airport security to temporarily cordon off the area to allow the Empire to finish crossing the bridge. I’m sure the Empire wanted to take credit for it. #ImperialMight after all. After marching farther the Empire reached its destination. The largest TIE Fighter I’ve ever seen (outside the movie of course). They posed in Imperial fashion around the TIE Fighter for the public and press to get as many photos as they liked. The MC then announced the event has ended and that the public was free to take photos with the Stormtroopers and Pilots. It was all in all a surreal and amazing day for me. One that I won’t forget anytime soon. I am so much more excited to watch the movie (500 times!) in the coming weeks. *Photos belong to various individuals and were collected and used with permission. Blue Milk Special is a non-profit and donation-based web-comic strip series by Rod and Leanne that parodies Star Wars starting from A New Hope. They are now halfway through ROTJ. They are also honourary members of the Legion and are very familiar with it; even immortalizing a few of the Legion members in their web-comics as characters. We will be posting more Blue Milk Special over the coming newsletters so here's a taste! *All Blue Milk Special strips are posted with permission. You can visit their website here: http://www.bluemilkspecial.com/ With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer Sith Spotlight: Congratulations goes out to Ronald Lares (Darth Benz) SL-5928 of Empire City Garrison for being the FIRST Darth Vader to complete 200 troops in the Sith Lord Detachments Great Jedi Purge program. His 200th troop was at FARE Walk @ Eisenhower Park, NY on 10/24/2015! His very first entry in the Jedi Purge was way back on 2/16/2011 at I-Con 30 at Stony Brook NY. Event: 200 Event Name: FARE Walk Location: Eisenhower Park, NY Date:10/24/2015 The Jedi Purge Program awards 1 "kill" for each troop in your approved Sith Lord costume. Each member must have their own thread and provide 1 photo of them in character for it to count in the program. Currently patches/sticker for each of the 10 levels is in development. This month the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment would like to congratulate: Expert Infantry Badge Award: Stein Ryther "Ryth_" TK-78346 Kris Yalung "VenicioKristylz" TK-70714 Richard Smits "VulpX" TK-19979 Stuart McLean "Disco" TK-90373 Justin Havins "Mordsith" TK-99421 Brandon Miller "Khazid" TK-19725 José María López Caballero "Chemalakita" TK-25377 Steve Davie "stvd201" TK-42200 Brian Hall "Bulldog44" TK-42114 James Suerdieck "JDTrooper" TK-11075 Chris Ward "CWard" TK-81477 Centurion Award: Dan Nickeson "ZacMuleer" TK-7586 Mark Templeton "sylverbard" TK-69323 Richard Smits "VulpX" TK-19979 Stein Ryther "Ryth_" TK-78346 Justin Havins "Mordsith" TK-99421 Stuart McLean "Disco" TK-90373 Bradley Davies "68Brick" TK-21814 Shane Anglin "TK-61214" TK-61214 Lucho Quiroz Saravia "luchoimperial" TK-10953 José María López Caballero "Chemalakita" TK-TK-25377 Brian Hall "Bulldog44" TK-42114 Stand tall and be proud of what you have achieved troopers. You will now be deployed into the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Advanced Tactics Roster. Make us proud troopers! The FISD is always looking for new applicants for our Advanced Tactics program so please do not hesitate to apply if you meet the standards! Our Deployment Officer and armorers are here to help and guide you through to success! Feel like your armor is up to standards and worth of recognition? Apply for the Expert Infantry Badge Program now! Want to go the extra mile, raise the standards of Stormtrooper armor, and be the envy of your peers? Apply for the Centurion Program now! Note: Applicants need to be EIB approved before applying for Centurion. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer Coin Giveaway! Open to non 501st members only. Keep your eye on the forums some time this weekend (12/5 and 12/6) because we will be giving away one of our new First Order FISD challenge coins. One entry per person when it happens. Stay tuned! Many thanks to Wyatt (TK4205) our Merch officer for coming up with this fun idea. http://whitearmor.net/images/newsletter2015/followfisd.png If you would like to find out more about the Sith Lord Detachment: http://www.501stsithlords.com/ Don't forget we're on Facebook and Twitter! Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories! Twitter: www.twitter.com/FISD501st or @FISD501st follow FISD on Twitter! Instagram: www.instagram.com/501stfisd With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff and the Imperial Propaganda Department, <End Transmission>

From the DL In Memoriam Legion News Around the Detachment Notable Troops Just for Fun Memoirs of a Stormtrooper Advanced Tactics Awards Follow FISD Aloha kakou, It has been far too long since you have heard from me in a newsletter. For that I aplogize. Darth Life has had me in an unending force choke of late. There is a lot going on around FISD in spite of my silence. Consider this newsletter entry my Gratitude Edition (possibly also the "I love you man" edition.) Read on to find out why. First Order Stormtrooper CRL The biggest news of the month is the initial completion of the First Order Stormtrooper from the Force Awakens (TFA) Costume Reference Library (CRL.) The CRL is now green on the 501st Legion main site and now people who own the costume may be approved members of the Legion. New costume additions are rare in the Legion these days. It is also unusual to add a costume for a movie that has yet to be released. What is even more rare is that the CRL was created collaboratively with transparency right here on FISD. Anyone who cared to was able to provide input on every detail of the text. This is the very first pass at the CRL and there will be corrections and additions as more people are approved locally. Thank you FISD for your help realizing this CRL. FISD Achievement Award In First Order TK related news I am proud to announce that Clint Randall (Camprandall/TK-61281) is the most recent recipient of the FISD Achievment Award. It has been some time since we handed one of these out that you may not know what it is. The little gray ribbon next to some member's names is given to non staff members to recognize outstanding achievement or meritorious service to FISD. At some point during the development of the First Order Stormtrooper CRL I realized I did not have the wherewithal to finish what we had started. I contacted Clint and asked if he would lead the charge. And lead he did. If it were not for his diligence, dedication and perseverance the CRL would not be green today. As the first wave of TFA TKs were building their kits in secret a private forum was opened for everyone to post build photos and ask questions before Celebration 7. Clint was the binding force during the arduous and quick build. He pioneered building techniques, kept us organized, and cheered us on. While that all did not occur on FISD Clint embodied the true spirit of Troopers Helping Troopers. He continues his thankless work here on FISD with his build thread and helping other TFA troopers get up and running. Please stop by Clint's TFA build thread and thank him for his dedication to FISD and to the Legion. Unsung Heros of FISD In giving out an Achievment Award I began thinking about all the troopers that allow FISD to be community that it is. There is a lot that goes on without too many people knowing. Some are staff members and others are FISD addicts you know and love. All mostly go unnoticed. The first on my list is Bluehickey. Few know it but Ryan is the guy who photoshops nearly every single EIB action photo into the trading card style image on the EIB page. When an EIB is granted our DO posts the photo in a thread in the FISD PR area. Ryan quietly comes along and photoshops them to be uploaded to the server. He has been doing this off and on for years and has been a member of FISD since April of 2009. Next is NoVATie our Membership Officer. Here is another trooper who does his duty without much notereity or fuss. A.C. handles all incoming requests for accses to 501st or TK only areas of the forums. He also helps in keeping track of all of our Attaches around the world and answers emails from users having trouble logging in. The duties he performs are done tirelessly and happily with dedication beyond most. The guy seems to log in just about every day and does his thing and has for years. I have not done as many merchendise runs as I promised I would during my campaign but this summer two troopers have sucked up more personal time than they signed up for to do so. Both Clint (a different one)/cm325i and Tim/DarkCMF were both pulled into the merch vortex full force with patches and racing shirts repsectively. While Tim has yet to feel the full pain of a giant shirt order, Clint has been captain post office for patches. I will not be able to express my gratitude full until I meet both of them in person but I still give them my endless thanks for picking up my merch slack this year. The unoffical FISD welcoming committee needs a mention too. These are the troopers for years have posted in nearly every introduction thread and typically answer the same newbie quesion over and over again. I apologize if I leave anyone out but many thanks to Glen/gmrhodes13 (who has declined many staff postions because he is too humble and busy), Eric/Tolo, Tony/ukswrath, and Andrew/Sly11. No one asked them to be the welcome wagon but here they are every day doing it regardless. Our quiet helpful resident arbiter of accuracy is Germain/The5thHorseman who is ever helpful and vastly knowledgeable on all things TK. One of my favorite things about Germain beyond his dedication to Troopers Helping Troopers, is his willingness to admit he is wrong or does not know something. If you are in the midst of a TK build I guarantee Germain has read your build thread and likely commented on it. Our New Web Server As I am sure everyone is aware we moved our web server to a different host. Starting around the time of Celebration 7 all the way to now we have seen an increase in web traffic due to the impending release of The Force Awakens and related activity. It was time for more computing horsepower at a reasonable rate. The move of data went very well but I managed to forget one small step pertaining to domain name services. For about a week this caused two thirds of our users to not be able to reach the server. The site was up and chugging along but most people could not reach it. I consider that a ridiculous amount of time to have a site unreachable and I thank everyone for their patience and keeping their cool. I was surprised I did not get any hate email while it was occurring. The new server is much speedier and even the most casual of users will notice an improvement. While the forum search still cannot find it's butt plate with both hands, at least it returns the wrong results faster now. One of the nice things about the new server is that we are automatically backed up safely and securely. My thanks go to Mathias/Locitus for helping me with the server move. When he isn't being terse on FISD, he is (and has been for years) my unix helpdesk support, collaborator, troubleshooter, technical moral support and all around server nerd. I could not do this detachment web hosting thing without him. Very soon I will be passing the hat to help pay for this year's hosting cost. Please give whatever you can. Maybe this year I'll get around to giving out those supporter badges that I neglected to do last year. Cleaning up the Legacy Female TK CRL On my todo list is tidying up the Legacy Female Stormtrooper CRL. There are a handful of wording problems that need to be addressed after the initial release of the CRL. Bzb/Bobby has been been amazingly helpful and insistent in the CRL cleanup. All the mods have been approved by the LMO. I only need to make the edits. Once I add the blasters and other details to the TFA TK CRL I will move on to the Legacy trooper CRL editing. Here is a short, incomplete and off the top of my head list of pending changes: Clarify the number range of tube stripes. Remove the need for belt boxes to be functional and attached with clips. Add the word "approximately" to any measurement. Remove some of the OT thermal detonator wording. Remove the seamless requirements on parts for later use in L2. Blaster Reference Madness Are you building an accurate E-11 blaster? If so please head right to the FISD E-11 Blaster Reference thread. Months ago I was approached by a handful of blaster nutballs about setting aside a corner of FISD to cover all things E-11. I agreed and they worked off the forum for a while and I had even forgotten about the request. Then one day they said they were ready to start posting. The group created their own FISD user and image hosting so no one user owned the content. I gave them a private area on FISD to start posting the content. My eyes literally went wide when I saw what they had done. Five members from around the world came together and defined the word collaboration to produce the most detailed series of HOWTOs complete with linked table of contents in the first post...33 chapters of blaster building madness. Even if you do not care about blasters please look at the level of care and detail these dudes created. This effort is a model for many things that include how to write and format tutorials, what real collaboration looks like, and Troopers Helping Troopers. Congrats Bulldog44 (Brian), Dark CMF (Tim), Sith Lord (Ian), T-Jay (Tino), Usaeatt2 (Aaron) on job well done. Changes to the Legion Operating Protocols A small but important change to the Legion's Operating Protocols have been made recently. It concerns how CRLs are changed and effects every detachment in the Legion. Does anyone remember my FISD CRL Change Policy I was so proud of? While still relevant it is slightly made irrelevant by this change that our current LMO wrote and proposed. Here is the section: What does this mean for the detachments? We are in charge of our own CRLs not the LMO. It also means that the LMO is the approver for the changes we propose and cannot just make changes to our CRL arbitrarily. This also states that the members of each detachment should ask their members about the changes to be made. The most fun of all is that DLs may edit the work in progress CRLs directly on the 501st site once the LMO approves of the changes. The DL - LMO relationship has finally been defined with neither party having full autonomy to do as they please. I am pleased by these changes as it means that we have a framework to get along with every LMO that comes along. FISD Gets a New XO After some discussion with our current XO, Squeaky, we have decided to swap him out for another Canadian Garrison TK. Like me, Squeaky has been wrapped up in life outside of the forums this year. His heart is always in the right place and has made his mark as XO. What FISD needs right now is at least one of the officers to be fully engaged in the goings ons. I think of the XO as more of a Chief Operating Officer of a corporation who deals with the day to day runnings of the company. That leaves the CEO or DL to deal with higher level stuff or to spend too much time traveling internationally for his work. With both Squeaky and I off living our non FISD lives I felt we needed someone to dive in with enthusiasm. Squeaky thankfully will remain on staff and help out as he can. Meet Mechapumpkin our new XO. Danny has the time, skills, and talents for the job. He is an active member of the Canadian Garrison and is deeply passionate about the Legion. Danny has hosted many armor parties at his house to get new recruits as much help as possible. To get to know Danny and his style check out his AP build thread. Danny and I are just now starting to work on a list of his tasks and goals. I have no doubt that you will know his intentions to effect change around our forums sooner than later. Danny and Darth Aloha, your FISD XO and DL. With Unquestioned Loyalty and Aloha, Eric Brager TK-9674 "Darth Aloha" Detachment Leader Hiroyuki Hayashida TK-2006 of the Japanese Garrison A Japanese Garrison member by name of Takefumi Tenshima wrote this about the sudden passing of Hiroyuki Hayashida: I've heard a sudden news that old retired JG member Hiroyuki Hayashida (TK2006) passed away yesterday(Aug 3). He had been a well known 3DCG artist, he participated a lot of works of TVCMs, movies and video games. The most popular work is Final Fantasy the movie. 11 years passed since he retired 501st activity, now only a few people know about he was the 501st. But still I remember he enjoyed building TK armor and trooping. I wish I could see him until the eternal separation... Hiroyuki-san, enjoy trooping in heaven, your TKID is eternal. I won't forget you. - Takefumi Tenshima Dianna Ronald of the Canadian Garrison was sick for a few years and recently passed away. The IPM contacted Dianna's son James to write about her: I know the 501st is a tight and ever growing family which is powered by the never ending kindness of all of its members. So I know a great number of you were hit really hard with the passing of my mother. When she first discovered the 501 she was an enthusiastic participant and loved going to the different events and connecting with the Star Wars fans. There was one little boy who followed her, who would insist his parents take him to see her at different events, and would wait however long it took just to talk with her. She made people feel special. Dianna was a very kind and light hearted person. Always jumping at the opportunity to make jokes and be herself. One of the places she could most be herself was the 501st. It was very important to her. She had a place to express her passions with other people. It was most important to her over the past few years when she couldn't get out and socialize in person. This collective experience changed her life and was a beacon in her final days. When you are as sick as she was for as long as she was the world can seem super small and by being able to still connect with you all through the internet made it seem a bit bigger. She was always proud to tell people about the wonderful charitable work the 501st does. So I'd like to thank all of you for being so important in her life and making her an important part of yours. You all do amazing work never stop doing it. - James Dan Bergeron SL-3967 of the Wisconsin Garrison On the 21st of August, 2015 Dan Bergeron (SL 3967) of the 501st Wisconsin Garrison passed away. Ever since his first convention, Dan wanted to become a Stormtrooper. That dream was realized with the support of his friends in the 501st Legion. Dan delighted most in having his family join in him in costuming and helping others realize their costume goals. Dan is survived by his beloved children Paige and Brandon. To his wife and soulmate Julia, Dan will forever be her “Sith in Shining Armor.” It is with great pride that we enter them into the Hall of Eternal Legionaries. Buckets off troopers. Kevin Doyle's wife Eileen had two battles with cancer and after losing to the second one Kevin decided to honor Eileen by walking the West Coast of California from San Francisco to San Diego on June 6th 2015 in Stormtrooper armor to raise the funds to create a nonprofit foundation Eileen's Little Angels that will help children battling cancer. The following was taken from Kevin's 501 Mile Walk Facebook Page (https://www.facebook...o?tab=page_info): My name is Kevin and this is a story about my wife Eileen. Eileen Shige Doyle was so full of life and energy and she always had things to do and places to go and people to see...she was always putting her family and friends first. In High School she was so passionate about gymnastics and drumline and boy did she love to dance. At the end of the day it was all about her relationships...the kind of friendships that stay with you for a lifetime. After high school it was her new born son Jaymes and he put the wind into her sails and at times it was not an easy life but for Eileen it remained a fairytale life...she had such a strong spirit. And it was this strength that carried her through her battle with cancer, a battle that robber her of a year of her life. For twelve months she called Abbott Northwestern Hospital her home, suffering through days of treatment that nearly killed her only to repeat it over and over until she had finally beat it. Eileen continued on with hope, and family as she lived each day never looking back, living in the moment with a new life in front of her. Moving forward several years...Jaymes now a young man and on his own, Eileen and I were introduced by mutual friends and in 2010 on a beautiful October afternoon we were married in our back yard garden in East Bethel, Minnesota but our fairytale life was torn apart in October of 2011 when Eileen was diagnosed with cancer once again, so for thirteen months our hope and faith was challenged but on November 7th of 2012 Eileen lost her battle with cancer. From that day forward the sun does not rise for me, everyday is November the 7th, my candle has burned out. Eileen was the most amazing person I ever knew, she was so beautiful, so thoughtful and she was loved by everyone who knew her. Eileen was the center of so many lives just as she was in my life but while our time together here on earth was so very short my devotion to her is life long and I can't imagine my life without her. So I honor her with every breath I take and I keep her spirit close to my heart as I continue on. One of the things that Eileen and I loved to do each and every day was to draw, we would sit side by side and draw for hours on end, she was such a talented and wonderfully creative person, drawing so many adorable characters and each reflecting her unique personality. Eileen was so popular at the Comic Book Shows...appearing as a guest artists, her fans were of all ages and would surround her table with smiles on their face and full of conversation. But most importantly...they were all her friends. And now, with Eileen no longer with us to share her inspiration and kindness I still attend the comic book shows, but not so much for myself but rather more to honor Eileen and the art she created and to keep her presence at the shows. Her fans still stop by to enjoy her artwork but because I do not have her original work available...I have recreated her characters in new artwork. It is in her spirit that I have created several items featuring her artwork which I will share with children battling cancer and it is for this reason I am walking the West Coast of California from San Francisco to San Diego come June 6th in my Stormtrooper armor to raise the funds needed to not only create these things but to also create a nonprofit foundation in her honor...Eileen's Little Angels. My walk will begin from the world famous Star Wars museum...Rancho Obi-Wan in Petaluma, California just north of San Francisco and finish up in San Diego at Comic Con on July 9th. Eileen and I both shared a passion for Star Wars and are members of the world wide costuming organization the 501st Legion and as a member I regularly participate in charitable events, fund raising and various walks. This time I will be walking in Eileen's memory. With the money raised I will be able to create such things as a coloring book, bandana's, a blanket and plush toys...all featuring Eileen's artwork. It is my hope that this walk will help me to heal and give my life purpose by sharing Eileen's spirit through her artwork with children battling cancer and put a little sunshine into their lives. Thank you so much for taking the time to read Eileen's story and for helping me to keep her spirit alive. To donate please use this link. https://www.crowdris...ser/kevindoyle2 All my best, ~Kevin Doyle Tune in to the 93X Half-Assed Morning Show (93.7 FM KXXR) on Friday, September 18, 2015 at 8:30am to hear Kevin live for his Minnesota-exclusive post-walk interview! Please give him all your support troopers! Toronto FanExpo 2015 Another FanExpo has come and gone for Toronto and as always, it leaves us with fantastic memories and new friendships. Sorry, I had to do a sappy line. The incredible 4-day event takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. The MTCC consists of 2 buildings, North and South, with a combined floorspace of over 600,000 sq ft. And that floorspace gets utterly packed to the tits with people. As you'll see in the photo below there are a significant amount of escalators, "eleventeen" as our DL once put it. I have not yet found the event attendance for this year. Last year we reached 127,995 attendees. This year, we had almost 100 members attend between the 501st, Rebel Legion, and Droid Builders. The Canadian Garrison happily hosted multiple Garrisons: Garrison Excelsior, Capital City Garrison, Forteresse Impériale Squad (Canadian Garrison), Old Line Garrison, and New England Garrison. Each one of these Garrisons were represented last year and most returned from previous years. It’s exciting that that these nerds keep coming back for more. Booth Sections This year our booth footprint was 20’x50’. We may or may not have extended a little further :| We built on last year’s successful design, reusing existing sets and props. The idea behind our booth build is that it is made up of modular (10’x10’ sections) which allows us to swap entire sections or single panels in and out for near-endless set-up possibilities and the ability to conform to the different spaces we get at events. The Tantive/Death Star/Red Control Room were built last year over approximately 2 months. The Garrison pooled together funds and mad-skills to make it happen. The Emperor’s throne was built last year but given a facelift this year with new upholstery and a modular 10’x10’ window (with a great view into utter blackness). The window took about 2 weeks to complete and was built by our master builder, Ken. Tantive IV Door - This section we use for Blast a Trooper which is always an enormous draw for fans. Watching the kids, young and old, get so much joy and satisfaction from covering our ever-patient troops with little foam darts is fantastic. Being the trooper on the range is one of my favorite booth duties because I love taunting and playing with the kids. It’s even better when we have double troopers on the range and you can play off each other, trying to convince the kids to hit your partner instead. Tantive IV Hallway - This section is where we housed our raffle table to one side while the rest was open for droids and costume characters to interact and take photos with the public. Red Control Room - This is our dedicated Information Center. Staffed with Legion members to answer questions (including where the washrooms are). We have multiple touch screen information kiosks containing information on the 501st, Rebel Legion, and Droid Builder groups and their costume CRLs. Death Star Throne Room - Here we have the Emperor's throne prop for photo ops. People can make a donation and get a photo of their sith-wannabe selves. This area is staffed with a handler and costumers. Endor - A full scale speeder bike prop, a ½ scale AT-ST, and an 18’ forest mural background. We used this section for people to donate and get a photo op on the bike. This was a huge hit. We also had a high powered floor fan in front of the bike. It looked extra-badass having people's hair blow in the wind. The bike was built by Ken in about 2 months. There was also a mounted video screen showing the proper way to mount the bike for people to watch as they waited in line. This video was created by one of our members, Paul Jursa, and it captures some of the booth setup and goings on at the event. There are some really neat candid moments shown as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5vGm_6guOc Money Raised for Make a Wish So here’s the important part because aside from the comradery we nerd-folk get from dressing up together and having a blast at conventions, we also have a purpose. It is with a significant amount of pride in my 501st brothers and sisters hard work and dedication that I can announce our total funds raised over the 4 days for Make-a-Wish Canada. Well done troops! Marches The Saturday TK march has been a FanExpo tradition since 2011. Last year additional marches were formed on the other days of the event. I wasn’t present for the marches, except the TK march or the panels so I went with the difficult task of outsourcing people’s opinions. The authors of the following sections are as noted below. Friday Tattoine March (by Michelle D - Canadian Garrison) On day 2, the Denizens of the Empire invaded Fan Expo for a Tatooine March. As the Canadian Garrison’s roster of Tuskens and Sandtroopers has grown, this has become a Fan Expo Friday tradition — with our numbers made greater by friends from Garrison Excelsior, New England Garrison and Capital City Garrison. The march was a milestone for two Canadian Garrison members: our regular handler Glenna Williams (DZ 19722) notched her first-ever troop as a member, and Derek Wong (TB 1605) took his Tusken out for the first time. This year’s march was the biggest yet. Four Sandtroopers (TD 7174, TK 9464, SL 3090, TD 10300), eight Tuskens (DZ 7436, DZ 9572, DZ 9215, TB 1605, DZ 19722, TK 17011, SL 9223, CC 3720) and Boba Fett (BH 6036) snaked their way through the crowd in single file, joined by five Jawas — children of Canadian Garrison XO TK 25267, and TD- 7174 and DZ-7436. TK March (by Danny/MechaPumpkin - Canadian Garrison) Saturday September 5th, FanExpo, high noon . . . A stirring begins in the area directly in front of the 501st booth. A TK emerges, then another, and another. 29 TKs in all assembled for the white march that afternoon, and boy was it shiny. Just prior to this, Darth Slolee (Brian Slowleigh) had taken a small contingent of troopers along the planned route. Dominic Sinopoli, Lobo Morse, Ryan Casey and myself. We briefly walked the North building, where the 501st booth was located, and out the doors into the 30C/86F heat. Along Front Street we marched, down between the buildings of the convention and into an elevator. From there we went down 2 flights of escalators and into the South building. On this lap, we stopped at a few booths. Saying hello to friends of the Legion, and providing photo ops for their patrons and surrounding con goers. We harassed a few gamers playing the Battlefront demo. Standing behind them until they noticed. "Hey, are they?" "Yeah, they're shooting Stormtroopers!" "Bro! You shootin' troopers bro?!?!". Back through the food area we went, up the escalators and back to our booth where the assembly took place. 29 shiny Stormtroopers and handlers then marched that route at a steady clip. Darth Slolee’s shouts of, "MAKE WAY FOR THE EMPIRE!" could be heard through the hall and above the din of con chatter. Ken Stremlaw, along with other handlers in Imperial uniforms, helped keep the civilians in check, and the troopers on target. We filled the escalators from top to bottom. We filled the rows from end to end. A minority were put off, and vocal about it, but even they couldn’t hide their awe at our numbers. The sweet outweighed the sour and the march was a huge success. We stopped for a thorough inspection, which we passed with flying colours (FISD rules!) and then back to the North building we trooped! Inspection Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usM-5tENm2o Out of armour, a day later, I was stopped and interviewed for a local TV station. When asked what my favourite part of the con was, I informed him (full disclosure) I was a member of the Legion, and that for me it was the march. The interviewer smiled and said, “That’s what a lot of people said”. I smiled back. It was a record setting march for the Canadian Garrison, and my humble privilege to have been among them. Sunday Tie Pilot Fly-by (by Tom K - Garrison Excelsior) Fan Expo Toronto , was the setting for Fan Expo's 1st ever Tie Pilot Fly-by. The Mission was to tour the North Building of the Toronto Metro Convention Center during the last day of the 4-day Fan Expo Comicon. A group of 9 Tie Pilots gathered in front of the magnificent expo booth created by members of the 501st Canadian Garrison. This group consisted of: three 181st Pilots: Husband & Wife Pilots Luc (TI-18610), Teresa (TI-12787), and myself, Tom (TI-9767) Count Aztec. I took this opportunity to celebrate the premiere of my newly Legion approved 181st Pilot costume as well as my 300th troop as a tie pilot. There were also four standard tie pilots: Roy (TI-829) the Canadian Garrison CO, Charles (TI-25267) Clamps the Canadian Garrison XO, Ken (TI-9418) Ponyboy, and Paul (TI-34624) Butters. There were two reserve pilots: Husband & Wife Pilots David (TI-9215) and Kimberly (TI-9572) Ramsey. Led by Brian (SL-4338), we departed the 501st booth at 12:30pm and proceeded through the North Building for approximately 30 minutes, making stops for photo-ops, and ending the fly-by back at the 501st Booth. Panels Kids Hour (by Andrew M - Canadian Garrison) The Star Wars Kid’s Hour is a panel that is run by the Canadian Base/Canadian Garrison/R2 Builders at Fan Expo Canada. This year, our goal was to make each session informative, interactive, and engaging for the kids in the audience. We ran three sessions this year, one per day on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. In the first session, we taught the kids how to draw Jedi Master Yoda using techniques employed by artists and animators. The second session focused on our droids and how we build them. The kids also participated in a craft in which they built their own droids. The final session included some Star Wars trivia and a lightsaber building craft. Costume, Mask, and Prop Panel (by David R/TrooperPX - Garrison Excelsior) This panel had approximately 200-300 in attendance and included costumed Characters: Steve “Squeaky” - TK, Keith P - Biker Scout, and Kimberly Ramsay – Sand Trooper. The panel moderator was Roy (CG CO), and the Panelists were 501st members: Jordan, Doug “Bobafuss”, and David Ramsay. After Roy welcomed the room and introduced the panelists, Jordan walked us through his recent Chewbacca project. He explained how for him, he wanted to build the head using the same construction techniques as the original. Having spent years gathering reference and behind the scenes images, the head was built in separate, serviceable and replicable elements. The skull understructure includes a movable jaw and upper lip, using casts coming from the film-used teeth. The “skin” and fur is removable so it gives an accurate look and feel to the persona. Roy continued by fielding questions about sculpting and fabricating armor. Differences between plastics were explained, and the vacuform process to pull armor and helmet pieces. He briefly touched on how helmets such as the Clone and Boba Fett helmets are made from resin. The discussion then went to Doug, who discussed the different fabrics used in various costumes. He explained the differences between the way fabric looks versus hangs. You can get fabric that may look correct but does not drape and wear the same way. He gave examples of how most of the costumes use natural fibers such as wool, linen, silk, etc. and how cotton/poly blends, while cheaper, will not look quite right. He continued about making accurate patterns, or correcting purchased patterns, to make garments from scratch, over modifying a store-bought item. After another brief question and answer period, David discussed the use of found-objects in the Star Wars universe. He noted the origin of the term “greeblie” and produced several examples. He displayed a vibroaxe and pointed out the found-objects used. Using the Sand Trooper costumer, he pointed out the various Tupperware and other found-objects on the TD backpack. He concluded his exploration with the evolution of the bee-stinger part used on the Sand Trooper backpack. With each video format improvement (VHS to DVD to BluRay), the MEPD (Mos Eisley Police Department, Detachment for TDs) was able to improve the details over the years. Then how in 2014, the original part was finally identified, and the process for making their own version available to their members. The panel concluded and the guests were welcomed up to have a closer look at the props that had been on display, and to ask the panelists questions one-on-one. Toronto Star Wars Unboxing event and TFA Promos (by Krista C/KME1682 - New England Garrison) In the star system that is the Toronto Fan Expo, our cadre of TFA troopers and assistants celebrated Force Friday through a TV spot and product unveiling. In many respects, the local TV spots were like any other troop. There was delight, awe and appreciation for life-size walking action figures. There were questions about costume tailoring, how to join the Legion and convivial discussion about Star Wars. I greatly enjoyed the theatrics of our weather newscaster, who creatively shared info about Star Wars merchandise, the 501st and Star Wars in general. I felt especially welcomed as one of the four TFA TKs. Local garrison members, Phil and Clamps made an extra effort to put together a TFA blaster so that I wouldn’t be an “odd one out” or excluded from the event if the TV station wanted symmetry. It was such a generous and kind effort. The Legion excels at direct, interactive fan experiences, which the First Order quickly brought to those in line as Hasbro unveiled their Force Friday booth. We met and had pictures special guests such as Elsa, Wonder Woman, (Clone) Cody and a few Jedi all under 10 years old. We shared mutual appreciation for costuming fandom with exuberant adult attendees. All in all this was one of my two favourite experiences regarding FanExpo Force Friday, which is engagement of diverse fandom who enjoy being a part of that galaxy far, far away. The second was the comradery with my fellow troopers and assistants. It was very similar to my experience working among the Alpha 75 builders, which became my favourite experience of Celebration. There was synergistic, collective energy to support a common goal. During FanExpo this common goal, to costume with excellence, echoed beyond Force Friday. As I reflect on my experience as a TFA (FO) TK, I think in many ways this reverberation continues on FISD as troopers help troopers to build to the best of their ability, to learn and hone skills to better their ability and to generally support this pursuit of collective excellence. I enjoy being a part of the supportive work on FISD, and was very glad to have trooped FanExpo with my TFA TK buddies in the Canadian Garrison! Celebrity Visits to the 501st Booth Our booth even attracts the eye of celebrities from time to time. Last year we had visits from Nathon FIllion, Garrick Hagon (Biggs), and LeAnna Vamp. This year we were visited by Steve Blum, the voice of Star Wars Rebels ‘Zeb’ and also Rick Mercer, a Canadian comedian, television personality, and political satirist. Zeb Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlVhQd3kGP8 There is a running joke in our Garrison with one of the members, Ponyboy, who makes the same face in all his pictures. We call this the "Pony-face". After having Steve visit our booth we now have the "Zeb-face". First Time Out in a New Chewie (Sean S - Canadian Garrison) Long time Vader (SL-8350) here, newly born Chewbacca (neither of which are white I know but Private Pickles asked for this write up). After years of discussion with our wizard-like GML, a brief mention to him that I wasn't going to DragonCon this year because of the exchange rate (Thanks Obama) led to him declaring..."well, we have 4 weeks to FanExpo, lets go for it". Not thinking it was possible we dove in head first.... namely he cast my head. It should be noted that he works in the film business as a makeup artist so this stuff is second nature to him. After that it was a dizzy few weeks of after hour clandestine meetings, scotch, measurements in odd places, express mail orders, emptied bank accounts, hairs everywhere and a continual "we're not gonna make it" feeling in my gut. But, and as they've shown many a time before, our Garrison (and as I'm sure many of you have experienced with your Garrisons) has some really amazing members with a wide variety of skills, people with big hearts who were glad to help. Whether it was with electronics, scratch-building or sewing, they came through selflessly. To all of them, once again, thank you. Chewie 1.0 debuted at Fan Expo. Donning my sexy unitard (stay back ladies), strapping a big speaker to my chest for the bass-heavy wookiee roars, slathering my eyes in black makeup (which I could never really get rid of giving me a Jack Sparrow like look all weekend) and then finally getting into the fur, I made it out to the floor. Man, people F'n LOVE Chewbacca. I couldn't go anywhere without high fives, people warbling wookiee roars at me (best part...roaring back...loudly) and constants yells of "CHEWIE". My only regret is that we never got to recreate the infamous ANH chase through the Deathstar. Namely, our resident Luke, Leia, Han and I were to run (ok..trot) a few minutes ahead of our famous Saturday TK march (30 strong this year), constantly looking behind us like we we're being pursued. It would have been a lovely "in-joke" for the fans. Regardless, it was a good debut, and the best part as always, were the smiles on the kids (and many adults) faces. Even better though then all of that, our Garrison raised 21K this year for make-A-Wish Canada, a new record for us and one I was glad to be part of. Group Photo And finally the group photo. Again taken by our amazing photographer Slam (You may recognize his handiwork from the official C7 FISD photos or the fantastic C6 group photo). With Unquestioned Loyalty, Andrea Loar TK-6093 "Pickles" Imperial Attache & Canadian Garrison PR Minion http://whitearmor.net/images/newsletter2015/notabletroops.png Imperials and rebels from the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia all showed up at Hong Kong Disneyland to march at the Star Wars Fan Parade organized by Disney Asia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=81&v=9fx3ZAAazT0 The Great Lakes Garrison, Great Lakes Base, and the Midwest R2 Builders attended Maker Faire Detroit held at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. This was a special troop for me because it was my first! After a year of building and waiting and then building some more I finally got to show my armor to someone other than my family. The Maker Faire is a place where people can show what they are making, and share some of what they are learning. For the Faire we displayed some of the props and costumes we all make and manned the booth to explain to attendees how we created our costumes and weapons. One of the more popular areas of the display was the Jawa Junk yard. The turnout from the group was great with sixty members in attendance. We also had a nice contingent of TK's including fellow FISD members, R4ZORBL4DE, Devilmann, and TKed. It was awesome meeting these guys along with the rest of the garrison in person. On Saturday we did a march around the Museum followed by a TK photo session. The highlight of the weekend came on Saturday when we had a visit from a young boy who was blind. His father asked if he could feel one of the helmets because he was a huge Star Wars fan. We took the boy behind the tables and let him feel many of the items on display. He got a visit from R2 and loved the droid. We also asked him to wait a few minutes while we tried to find a special guest for him. After a little wait Darth Vader himself came out to pay the boy a visit. He was so happy to see the Dark lord and had a smile from ear to ear. It was that moment that made all the hard work and frustration I went through building my armor worth it. I can't wait to get back out there again! Posted by Zarlon (Kyle) With Unquestioned Loyalty, Glen Rhodes TK-85421 "gmrhodes13" Imperial Propaganda Department We are one step closer to hyperspace travel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXqQjpQLjk All Nippon Airways (ANA) in association with Disney is planning to release Star Wars themed flights. Regular service starts in mid-October and to celebrate the ANA STAR WARS Project they announced a Fan Appreciation Flight event on October 17th at Haneda Airport where passengers, which required to board wearing Star Wars costumes, will be the first to experience the R2-D2 ANA JET. 〈Event Details〉 Scheduled Date: October 17, 2015 Number of Guests: 89 Destination: From Haneda to Haneda Flight Duration: Approximately 2~3 hours (tentative) Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a special photo session and exclusive experiences offered only on this flight. Want to be a lucky flight member? Follow the link below to find out how to join! =========================================================================================== All Nippon Airways have also released two more flights with their routes as follows: ① BB-8™ ANA JET (Boeing 777-300 / International routes) Here comes the new character "BB-8" from the latest "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" as the new aircraft's painting. ② STAR WARS™ ANA JET (Boeing 767-300 / Domestic routes) A lovely combination to have both "BB-8" & "R2-D2" on both sides of the jet. ③ R2-D2™ ANA JET will start to fly around the world from October 18 on NH116 (Tokyo Haneda - Vancouver). Other destinations included USA (Seattle, San Jose etc), Europe (Munich, Paris, Brussels etc.), Australia (Sydney) & China (Beijing etc.) " Look out for Stormtroopers in this commercial! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r_wl6QhTKE&feature=youtu.be With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer This month's Memoir comes to us from Star Garrison member Steve Page (FISD name: YouCantBe Sidious). As much as we may collectively hate to admit to adulting, when it comes down to it, Steve is the master. In short, he is a very, very busy guy. When I say busy, let me clue you in a little bit as I know he's also the type of guy that won't toot his own horn (although he may play his own guitar). Steve works for a law firm in Dallas by day. He's also married to his lovely wife Cheri - by day and night. Steve and Cheri recently (August 24th) welcomed their first child, Jude, into their family. Oh, yeah... Jude is already an approved Galactic Academy Cadet (Kylo Ren) - so parenting done ever so right by Steve and Cheri. In addition to that full slate, by night, Steve serves as the singer/guitarist/keyboardist for Dallas area Rock/Metal band RIVETHEAD! (check them out at www.rivetheadonline.com - If you're into loud, fast, heavy music, you are in for a treat!) When Steve isn't taking care of law firm business, daddy or husband duties, rocking everyone in earshot, he's also a very active and involved member of the Star Garrison's North Texas Squad. Steve manages to squeeze in troops every month in either his TK, Death Trooper, a newly approved TB, or a very impressive Tarfful and at the same time serves as a mentor for new recruits and an ambassador for Star Wars in every possible way. A few months back, Steve and a few other TKs from the Star Garrison had the opportunity to be cast in an LFL event here in Texas that may seem a bit familiar to you as you read through his "Memoir of a Stormtrooper." We’re not just Stormtroopers… We play them on TV! So, you join the 501st. You’ve got some beautiful white shiny armor, and you troop, troop, and you troop. For those of us old enough to see the first movie when it came out (Uxbridge Odeon for me in England), getting to wear this armor is something I never thought could happen, but, it did. Fast forward a few too many lights years… As members of the 501st, we get some call-ups from Lucas Film every now and then. If you are really lucky, like Eric Richardson, Luis Garibay, Scott Harrelson, and myself (Steve Page), you may get an opportunity to be in a TV spot or some featured advertising. That chance came in April of 2015. We all submitted our approval photos, and by luck, our squad leaders and Rachel Bartlett (Lucas Film) chose us to participate in the shooting of a new TV spot for All Nipon Airways (ANA Airlines). After being selected, travel plans were put together very quickly by Lucas Film, ANA, and Mt. Melvil, LLC, the production company. Hotels rooms were booked, flights were booked, and we all had the time away from work approved. On the 20th of April, 2015, Luis, Eric, and I were flown into El Paso to meet with our driver, Jennifer Lucero, a film student, who picked us up in a rental minivan. We began our road trip to Big Bend, Texas, where the filming would take place early the next morning. Scott was already in the area on a trip, so he met us later at the hotel. If you had filmed the ride for a reality show, it would have been worthy of a watch. The conversation was great, we had lots of laughs, and it was a great chance to get to know some 501st TKs and our driver. Absolutely great people, all in all. El Paso to Big Bend, TX is roughly a 4-5 hour drive. We arrived late (somewhere around 9PM, if I recall correctly) to the Lajitas Hotel in Big Bend, TX, and immediately met with Miki Murata (Mt. Melvin) and Rachel (LFL). We went over the times we would need to be ready, and a good bit of what we should expect. Then, it was off to bed. They were picking us up around 3AM for an hour drive or so to the location. I don’t know if anyone got any sleep. How could you? You were about to be a Stormtrooper in a television commercial!!! My alarm went off around 2AM or so. I jumped up, took a quick shower, got in my compression gear and TK headed to the lobby of the hotel. Eric, Scott, Luis, Rachel, and I were picked up by a bigger van. We had an hour’s ride with a Lucas Film employee. Are you kidding? We asked her question after question. Poor Rachel. She was fantastic. Our first stop, was at catering. There was a full crew, trailers for gear, trailers for toilets, and tons of food. This was an awesome setup. We were on a proper production set! After food, we were taken a few blocks down the road. It was cold out. It was dark. The Texas skies were full of stars, like you never get to see in the city. It was beautiful. We had a tent to use to get into out TKs. We got our gear on, and walked past the crew, who you could tell were all huge Star Wars fans. Having four Stormtroopers walk out in the middle of nowhere in full gear must have looked wicked! We were lined up in a staggered position for the shoot. First I was in front. “Woah! I’m in front!” Then, a hand on my shoulder walked me to 2nd place. “Nice, I’m 2nd!” Nope, then I got moved to 3rd, and then 4th. Haha! It didn’t matter. We were on camera. We were in our kits. We were shooting a TV spot as Stormtroopers! We had our places. We had our directions from the Assistant Director. They would call out, “action” and we would all turn our heads and look up as if we saw a plane. Luis was in front. He actually had to take a step and look up, while the rest of us basically turned and looked up a bit. The ad was going to show a plane flying by, and we were looking up at it, but as allies to the plane, so no holding weapons or anything like that. We did this over and over and over. When we took a break, they even covered us with blankets. We had assistants! This was all done with a huge light on us, which was about 25 yards away, until the sun started coming up. The huge artificial light was taken down. It was time to shoot for real. “Wait!”, said the Assistant Director, “Whose truck is that in the back of my shot?”. The catering truck was now in the back of the shot. We were starting to get daylight. The shot was about to be ruined. The bit we were filming was dependent on just the slightest of natural morning light to illuminate us against a wash of beautiful Big Bend, Texas stars. Finally, they radioed the truck and got it to move. The roads around us were blocked off by state police for miles. We started back in on the repetition, but this time it was for real. “Action!” – there we were looking up, “OK, hold!” – we are still looking up. They were taking stills for the advertising campaign. “OK reset”…”Action”… You know, over and over again. So there we are, standing there on camera. We are Stormtroopers. We are about to be on TV. This kept going through my head. THIS IS AWESOME!!! As quick as it started. It was over. We walked back to our tent and dressed down to normal clothes. On the drive back, we again, had a great conversation with Rachel. We hit the hotel, had breakfast (again, ha), and then began our drive back to El Paso. It was a whirlwind of a couple of days. Everyone was great to us. The TV spot is now up. The billboard style walls are up in Japan. While the TFA’s have their Alpha 75, please say hello to the ANA 4! See you at a troop soon! Steve Page, TK9727, TB9727 – TK, TB, Death Trooper, and sometimes a wookiee! So this month’s Memoir was a bit picture heavy, but I felt that the pictures truly helped to illustrate a lot of the points that Steve was sharing in his write-up. It isn’t often that we get a peek behind the curtain for an event unless we’re a part of it, and since opportunities like this one are not everyday occurrences for us, I’d like to thank Steve for sharing it. Speaking of sharing… Do you have an awesome story that you’d love to share with the Detachment? We’re always happy to accept submissions for Memoirs of a Stormtrooper, so if you’ve got a story that’s just begging to be told, send me a PM with the title “Memoir” or something like that, and we’ll talk. Thank you! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tim TK-51878 "DarkCMF" FISD Amabassador This month the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment would like to congratulate: Expert Infantry Badge Award: John Kenyon "Altair" TK-11157 Ryan Casey "Racasey06" TK-51978 Torben Rasmussen "Guffe10" TK-21271 Jordi Bastida "cuacpato" TK-24419 Phil Hogg "Fidgell" TK-42174 Josh "Kredal" TK-44678 Christoph Karn "K@nne" TK-31713 Dan Dalessio "LaserBrain99" TK-14421 Michael Martin "Skypig" TK-91101 David "Nacho" TK-46700 Johan Warden "yoshix" TK-42131 Sascha Raabe "Darth Raveen" TK-14469 José Gustavo "gusynet" TK-24976 Felix Premm "KaitoTrooper" TK-16084 Carlos Quezada "Carlos_Centurion_Tk" TK-52713 Pete "WhiteRoseSwampy" TK-17606 Jaydon "Teekay YYC" TK-74614 Centurion Award: Stephane Verreault "Somatophylax" TK-15359 Kyle Fisher "Zarlon" TK-26113 John Kenyon "Altair" TK-11157 Phil Hogg "Fidgell" TK-42174 Russell Rucker "russellr2d2" TK-20017 Jordi Bastida "cuacpato" TK-24419 Andres Gonzalez "anderche" TK-50541 Christoph Karn "K@nne" TK-31713 Tomas Martin "jariche" TK-61164 Oscar Suarez "0skar" TK-60571 Josh "Kredal" TK-44678 Tim Magoolaghan "JoblessPunk" TK-31689 José Gustavo "gusynet" TK-24976 Carlos Quezada "Carlos_Centurion_Tk" TK-52713 Pete "WhiteRoseSwampy" TK-17606 Edwin Fabian "edwinfabian" TK-30000 Stand tall and be proud of what you have achieved troopers. You will now be deployed into the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Advanced Tactics Roster. Make us proud troopers! The FISD is always looking for new applicants for our Advanced Tactics program so please do not hesitate to apply if you meet the standards! Our Deployment Officer and armorers are here to help and guide you through to success! Feel like your armor is up to standards and worth of recognition? Apply for the Expert Infantry Badge Program now! Want to go the extra mile, raise the standards of Stormtrooper armor, and be the envy of your peers? Apply for the Centurion Program now! Note: Applicants need to be EIB approved before applying for Centurion. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter! Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories! Twitter: www.twitter.com/FISD501st or @FISD501st follow FISD on Twitter! Instagram: www.instagram.com/501stfisd With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff and the Imperial Propaganda Department, <End Transmission>

In Memoriam From the PRO Around the Detachment Notable Troops Celebrity Q&A with Brian Muir Memoirs of a Stormtrooper FISD Website What's Up Advanced Tactics Awards Follow FISD The 70th Explorers Garrison lost a valued member on July 12, 2015. Charlie "SnoopyTrooper" Brown was a long-time member of the 501st Legion, since 2008, and has been involved in hundreds of events since joining us. He showed great courage despite his personal illness, and continued trooping until his last few months with us. His loyalty, devotion, and friendship will always be remembered. Here's to you, TK-5648, who joins the ranks of our Eternal Legionnaires. Buckets off to a steadfast friend and valued member of the Legion family. It is with great pride that we enter Charlie Brown into the Hall of Eternal Legionaries. Buckets off troopers. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Clint TK-16311 "cm325i" FISD Imperial Propaganda Department Hi all! For this month's newsletter the Imperial Propaganda Machine (IPM) has packed in a Brian Muir Edition Newsletter for you loyal Imperial Citizens. In this issue the IPM has managed to contact sculptor Brian Muir to share with us his experiences sculpting iconic figures like Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper. The Canadian Garrison has also sent out an invitation for a massive Stormtrooper convention meetup. This newsletter also features a trooper testimony on how meeting young cancer survivors can change one's outlook on life. We've also put up a teaser for an E-11 Blaster build reference guide that is soon to launch! We would also like to thank Clint TK-16311 for producing the awesome special edition banner for this issue. We hope you enjoy this special edition as much as we have enjoyed making it! Update on Roger Christian's Black Angel Concept art of Black Angel by Martina Pilcerova Remember when we did a Q&A with Roger Christian and discussed his film Black Angel which accompanied the screening of Empire Strikes Back? Well as of 17th July 146% of the original target was funded for the re-release of the film. Looks like things are going well and more goodies are annouced as the funding gets higher. Excerpt of Black Angel from website: 35 years ago, Star Wars Set Designer Roger Christian came to George Lucas with a script called Black Angel. Lucas commissioned it on the spot. That 25 minute short, made with a tiny budget and an even smaller crew, played in front of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back screenings in England, Scotland and Australia. It went on to inspire a host of fantasy cinema classics, from Star Wars itself to John Boorman's Excalibur. And then it was lost. Having been to a fantastic reception, we’re bringing Black Angel back as a feature film. Think Game of Thrones meets Valhalla Rising, Excalibur meets Lord of the Rings. A powerful tale of ancient Celtic magic and Nordic Paganism, it’ll be gritty, dirty and heroic – everything great fantasy should be. To find out more about this film and see updates from Roger Christian, visit this link: https://www.indiegog...ure-film#/story With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer Hi Troopers, greetings from the Canadian Garrison! This year is going to be an exciting one for all of us who love STAR WARS! Not only are we getting a new season of Rebels, we get to see the next chapter in the story that happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away! Oh, and I’d like to take this opportunity to bring up another exciting event. FAN EXPO! Fan Expo Canada is an annual comic convention that occurs in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It’s more than a comic book convention; it’s a celebration of all kinds of things; Sci-fi, horror, anime, gaming, and cosplay all come together for four days in the third largest fan celebration in North America. Over 120,000 people attend the con that takes place across TWO full sized convention hall sized buildings. This fantastic event happens September 3rd through 6th. We’d love to have as many Troopers join us as possible, and we’re after TKs in a BIG way. The Stormtrooper March on Saturday is the thing to behold, and we’d like to see as many TKs as possible. From YouTube, here is a great snapshot of the 501st Experience. Oh, and I forgot to mention the cost…for only $25.00CAD and a commitment to “work†two hours per day of attendance at the 501st booth, you get a pass for all four days of the event. Have questions? We have answers! Nothing would make us happier than to have to ask to get additional passes from the event staff! Let us know if you can make the trip. Thanks, Roy Mitchell - Commanding Officer, Canadian Garrison Charles “Clamps†Bowes – Executive Officer, Canadian Garrison With Unquestioned Loyalty, Andrea Loar TK-6093 "Pickles" Imperial Attache & Canadian Garrison PR Minion This month's Troop of the Month goes to Montreal Comic Con 2015. Thank you to Pickles (Andrea) for the initial post, Spycee (Alex) for additional photos and Tolo (Eric) for the group shot. $4229 was raised for Make-A-Wish, well done troopers! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Glen Rhodes TK-85421 "gmrhodes13" Imperial Attache http://whitearmor.net/images/newsletter2015/celebrityqa.png Citizens and denizens of the Empire, in this issue we have been given the honour to interview the man who brought to life the likes of Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper from the concept drawings of Ralph McQuarrie. His name is Brian Muir. He was tasked to sculpt the mask, helmet and armour pieces of Darth Vader, the Stormtrooper armour, Death Star Droid and more. Brian's works were not exclusive exclusive to Star Wars; Brian also sculpted the Space Jockey in Alien and multiple sculptures and backdrops in James Bond films, Harry Potter, Gaurdians of the Galaxy and many more! Going back to Star Wars, let's find out what went through his mind during the creation of the movie we've come to know and love so much! http://www.brianmuirvadersculptor.com/uploads/1/8/5/7/1857711/1325852564.jpg Early prototype Stormtrooper for test shots. IPM: How did you get into sculpting? Brian: I found I had a flair for art at school. Then I was lucky enough to be offered a 4 year sculpting apprenticeship at Elstree Studios ( then ABPC Studios). IPM: How were you first contacted to work for Star Wars? And at a time where nobody knew how big a hit Star Wars would be what were your first impressions on this space movie? Brian: I received a phone call at the beginning of January 1976 from my old mentor, Arthur Healey. He asked me if I would like a start on a sci-fi film to sculpt some strange futuristic characters. My first impressions, which were also many of the crew, were that it wouldn't be very successful. As it turns out we couldn't have been more wrong. We were astounded when we saw the finished film at the crew showing and showed our appreciation with a standing ovation. IPM: You had to bring to life McQuarrie's concept sketches into something wearable and used practically on set. Could you talk us through your thoughts and intentions as you were fleshing out the likes of Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, CZ3 and Death Star Droid. http://www.brianmuirvadersculptor.com/uploads/1/8/5/7/1857711/6898924.jpg?295 CZ3 in Sandcrawler Brian: I used Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings for Darth Vader's body armour. But the mask and helmet design evolved from discussions with George Lucas, John Barry and John Mollo. I was given a small lined drawing of the mask and helmet at a three quarter angle. Being told the character was a villain I knew he had to look menacing. My job as a sculptor was to make the design work in 3D from the 2D drawing. The main aim was how it all looked aesthetically rather than built for comfort. The Stormtrooper armour was sculpted to look as though it was a suit of armour. But it was modelled in sections so that it was practical for extras of varying sizes to wear. As 50 suits were required it was decided to use vacuum forming to produce the suits in the allotted timeframe. The Death Star droid was one of my favourite sculpts and although he only appears briefly on screen it seems many fans also like the character. IPM: When compared to the concept drawings, Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper armour look slightly different. Were these designs decisions or practical reasons? Brian: Yes I think the changes to the design of Darth Vader's mask and helmet were to suit the powerful presence required of this villainous dominant character. With the Stormtrooper the main changes were made for practical purposes. IPM: Did you work closely with George Lucas or did he give you free reign on sculpting the moulds? Brian: No although George Lucas gave the final approval, I worked closely with the production designer, John Barry. Just to clarify a point - I sculpted the armour in clay which was then moulded and cast in plaster. I carved the plaster to sharpen the details. It was then remoulded and cast in fibreglass which were used as the moulds for vacuum forming. IPM: Liz Moore sculpted the Stormtrooper helmet. Did you work with her as well? And what are your impressions on her interpretation of the concept drawings into the moulds? Brian: Yes I worked with Liz for the month of January 1976 until she left the film. My impressions are that she did a very professional job in the clay sculpt and made the helmet the iconic piece it is today. IPM: You also had to sculpt parts of C3P0 and get them to correct size they were sculpted on Anthony Daniels. Was it more difficult or any different sculpting on a human being compared to what you were used to? Brian: It was very unusual, in fact unique, to sculpt directly onto a human being. All of C3P0 was sculpted onto the plaster cast made of Anthony Daniels by Liz Moore. At a very late stage, after Liz had left the film, it was arranged for me to sculpt the details of the hands directly on the back of Anthony Daniel's hands. IPM: You were contracted to work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well. Only if you're allowed to mention, what did you work on in the film. If not what are your thoughts on all the sets and props given that they moved back to more practical and physical objects in the film just like the Original Trilogy? Brian: Unfortunately, due to contractual restrictions, I can't talk about the work I did on the new film. But I'm sure the fans are going to be very pleased that they have gone back to the more realistic visuals of built sets and props. I feel sure the film will be a huge success. IPM: What are your thoughts on the new The Force Awakens Stormtroopers? Do you consider it a sensible evolution from your iconic design and a worthy successor to the Stormtroopers of 30 years ago? Or is the new design way off base? Brian: It's early days to have strong opinions and preferences. I will reserve judgement until I see them in action on the big screen. But obviously the original Stormtrooper is always going to be close to my heart for so many reasons. IPM: Since you are the "Creator", would you ever consider working with someone to develop your own line of armour based off your ANH sculpts? Brian: I am already endorsing RS Prop Master's armour that is directly from my original ANH sculpt, which fans are excited to own. The FISD greatly appreciates Brian for sharing his experience with us and we look forward to meeting him in conventions and seeing his upcoming works in Star Wars: The Force Awakens! With Unquestioned Loyalty, The Imperial Propaganda Machine For this month's edition of Memoirs, I am stepping up and sharing with all of you what I imagine will be one of the most emotionally charged Troops that I will ever be a part of. I can't say for certain though because, well...Read on, you'll see. Memoirs of a Stormtrooper Dark CMF - Dallas/Fort Worth CureSearch Walk April 25, 2015, Texas Motor Speedway I learned about the 501st a long time before I joined, as I˜m sure many of you did also. We all have our reasons for joining. Naturally, a love of Star Wars or at the very least a love of the Imperial costumes seen in Star Wars is more than likely on everyone's list. For me, a major part of the appeal and what ultimately convinced me to go down this road were the pictures that I'd constantly see of Troopers interacting with children, particularly those with illnesses or disabilities, and the sheer joy that those children experienced during those moments. From the moment I started on my TK journey. I'd hoped that one day, I would have one of those moments. Let's face it, every day of every troop is different, and you never know what's going to happen when you put on your armor, and head out to meet the Empire's adoring citizens. On the morning of Saturday, April 25th, like every other Troop I've attended, I had no idea what was in store for me, but I wouldn't trade that day for anything. The event was the Dallas/Fort Worth CureSearch Walk, an event that raised $45,527 for children's cancer funding, and took place at the Texas Motor Speedway. When the event began, it was much like any other. Music playing, people taking pictures with us. A group of people were being led in warm-ups which included dancing, was joined by a TI (TIE Pilot) and a TK. It was a tremendous scene and all in attendance were having a great time. Then, then came the moments that typically cause Troopers to remark "I was glad I was wearing a helmet." Believe me; I was glad to be wearing my helmet. The official program began with an introduction to the event lineup for the day, followed by a bit of information about the CureSearch Walk program. Immediately following that introduction, family members and friends of children who had lost their battles with cancer during the previous year made their way to the stage and the area in front of it to release balloons in memory of those precious children. The number of balloons was simply staggering to see, and to hear one of the mothers get up, and with a beaming smile, thank everyone for attending after a moment of silence was heart-breaking. The event, however, was not going to linger on the losses, as the next group called to the stage was nearly as large as the group of family and friends who had just been there. This group was children who had beaten their various cancers and were in remission. There were boys and girls of all races and ethnicities, ranging in age from probably four years old to early teens. Each of these amazing children was presented with a golden medal that read simply "Hero." If the moment of silence for the lost children was deafening, the round of applause for these children is perhaps best described as Earth-shattering. TK-76626 (Left), and TK-51878 (Right) of the Star Garrison, at the Texas Motor Speedway shortly after completing the CureSearch Walk. Shortly after that, everyone gathered up in groups of people wearing different colored t-shirts (depicting which child's "team" they were a part of) in preparation for the walk. When the walk began, the Imperial delegation lined both sides of the start line, and high-fived everyone as they began their (approximately) 2.5 mile walk. At this point in time, we had the option of leaving for the day, or taking part in the walk. Both myself (TK-51878) and TK-76626 (Darth Dadio) chose to take part in the walk. We were joined by two Cadets who were attending their first event as handlers. During the walk, we had several great interactions with many children, holding hands with two young girls (probably about five years old each) for about a quarter mile while we walked, many high-fives, and photos taken with the walkers, and a lot of "thank yous" from participants. With about a quarter of a mile to go, we had nearly caught up to a group of young walkers wearing the bright yellow shirts of Team Olivia. As we closed to within about 90 feet of them, three little girls with their faces painted (about 7 years old, I'd say) saw us, turned around, and ran towards us. I happened to be a few steps out in front, so they approached me first. As they approached, one of them asked "Can we have a hug?" I immediately saw the sun glinting off of a small golden medal hanging from her neck. There was no way that she wasn't getting that hug, if it meant breaking some part of my armor in the process. I thought quickly that I should kneel on my right (non-sniper plate) knee, to hopefully minimize any possible damage, and stepped forward with my left leg so that I could get my right knee to the ground, and it worked. All three of them ran right to me, and the one in the middle asked if I liked their masks. I told them that they were the coolest masks I'd ever seen. The one on my left (wearing the medal) said that my mask was the coolest mask she'd ever seen. I told her that her medal was the best thing that I'd ever seen at which point in time, the girl to my right finally spoke. She rather quietly said "I gave her my medal, because when I was sick she was still one of my friends, so she is my hero." It was at that moment that I choked back a few tears and said "didn't you ask for a hug?" At that point in time John Simpson (one of the first-time handlers) managed to capture a photo that was shared by the FISD and the 501st Legion on their Facebook pages. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia survivor Olivia (yellow shirt on the left) and friends pause during the CureSearch Walk for a quick TK Hug. You never know what is going to happen when you put on your armor and go out into the public eye, but I'm willing to bet that for every photo you've seen of a Trooper interacting with a child, there is a story very similar to this one to be shared. Always be ready for a significant emotional event to happen for you when you attend a charity based event Troopers. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tim Waychoff TK-51878 (Dark CMF) FISD Ambassador While perusing the FISD forums some of you more observant readers may have noticed a “Temporary Forum†that is visible, but inaccessible in the Weapons Locker section. That thread will become accessible to you soon. What it contains is a reference file which is the result of a global collaboration by several FISD members to compile a Reference thread for use by all prospective ANH E-11 builders. Keep your eyes open for it as it will go live in the very near future, and the FISD E-11 Reference Team hopes that it fulfills your blaster building needs. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tim Waychoff TK-51878 (Dark CMF) FISD Ambassador This month the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment would like to congratulate: Expert Infantry Badge Award: Markus Warda "Captain_Wordo" TK-28873 Mathias Müller "Clint666" TK-27577 Todd Murray "devilmaan" TK-92912 Oscar Suarez "0skar" TK-60571 Tomas Martin "jariche" TK-61164 Andres Gonzalez "anderche" TK-50541 Todd Weishaar "iceman25c" TK-22237 Lucho Quiroz Saravia "Luchoimperial" TK-10953 Tim Magoolaghan "JoblessPunk" TK-31689 Christopher Hills "Chills" TK-51114 Kyle Fisher "Zarlon" TK-26113 Russell Rucker "russellr2d2" TK-20017 Stephane Verreault "Somatophylax" TK-15359 Centurion Award: Danny Steinberg "MechaPumpkin" TK-66668 Joseph Pedigo "justjoseph63" TK-10963 Ben Rigas "bearings" TK-65535 Rid Irnaldi "riddeth" TK-14014 Markus Warda "Captain_Wordo" TK-28873 Kyle Morrow "Stormy1992" TK-33092 Todd Weishaar "iceman25c" TK-22237 Alex "Spycee" TK-42178 Christopher Hills "Chills" TK-51114 Stand tall and be proud of what you have achieved troopers. You will now be deployed into the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Advanced Tactics Roster. Make us proud troopers! The FISD is always looking for new applicants for our Advanced Tactics program so please do not hesitate to apply if you meet the standards! Our Deployment Officer and armorers are here to help and guide you through to success! Feel like your armor is up to standards and worth of recognition? Apply for the Expert Infantry Badge Program now! Want to go the extra mile, raise the standards of Stormtrooper armor, and be the envy of your peers? Apply for the Centurion Program now! Note: Applicants need to be EIB approved before applying for Centurion. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter! Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories! Twitter: www.twitter.com/FISD501st or @FISD501st follow FISD on Twitter! Instagram: www.instagram.com/501stfisd With Unquestioned Loyalty, Evan Loh TK-24127 "evan_loh" FISD Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff and the Imperial Propaganda Department, <End Transmission>

From the DL Around the Detachment Expert Infantry is Easy FISD Website Update EIB Statistics Trooper of the Month Troop of the Month Greetings Troops, This has been an exciting month for the Legion, with Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida, the 15th anniversary Imperial dinner and bash, Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA., and then the announcement for Celebration Europe II in Germany for this coming July, and in 2014, the return to Orlando, Florida for Celebration VII. It was great to be able to meet, face to face, with all of the TKs. By the turnout at Celebration VI, it was easy to see how the numbers are growing with the EI and Centurions and how everyone is taking pride in the Stormtrooper. I was truly proud to see this because the Stormtrooper has been kind of an underdog when it comes to costuming excellence. So a big salute to all of you for going that "extra mile." Also, I would like to convey a special thanks to Brian Muir and his wife Lindsay for taking the time to be a part of the TK photo shoot. Brian conveyed to me later that it was an honor for him to be a part of that and to thank all of you. Just a side note about the FISD brochures: we had 2,500 of them printed for CVI and by the last day, when I was helping break down the 501st room, there were less than a quarter of the 2,500 brochures left. I was informed that it was the number one hand out at the information desk in the 501st room. Will be making this brochure in a PDF form so anyone wanting to have it professionally printed or be able to do it on their home PC can do so. I also want to take the time to say how proud I was of and to thank the staff members that were at CVI (Ingrid, Brian Robinson, Terrell, Luis and Paul) for their unquestioned loyalty and dedication, and tireless efforts in getting the word out to everyone they came in contact with about whitearmor.net. If I could give you all a bonus, I would. I believe that the White Armor panel that was held on Sunday at CVI was a success and wanted thank Paul, Brian, Ingrid, and the TK models: Tim, Nicky, Diana. There were only a few chairs that were empty, which meant a lot of people were truly interested in becoming 501st. I hope that we do this for CVII, because I am already jotting down ideas for it. I would like to announce that we have four new staff members that will help moderate sections of the White Armor forum. The FISD is a very large site that requires a lot of help to ensure that it is on track. The title for the new moderators is "Imperial Sentry." This team is headed up by Bobojuice and Matt Black. So please give a warm welcome to the newest members of the FISD staff: Mark (Captsafe66) Matthew (samskara) Tim (TrooperTim) Joey (TK-2126_MD) We will be looking to add a couple of more people to this new team. In other news: The phase III, TK CRL is being worked on and we have a Trooper, as I write this, working on the model. Plus, the other TK CRLs with better verbiage in the updates should be coming out very soon. It has been an arduous task, but it is something that was not taken lightly nor could it be done correctly in a short span of time. There is a lot of work to do before the end of the year and we will be seeing an influx of new members wanting to join the TK ranks. I ask all of you to give them a warm welcome and a hand in finding their way to becoming a Stormtrooper, as our unwritten motto states, "Troopers helping Troopers." So, everyone to your post! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tom Gardner TK5940 “RogueTrooper†Executive Officer This month saw a rise in reported field training exercises, which gives a strong boost to the FISD community. Thanks for posting, and keep 'em coming. The staff has been busy with CVI prep and other business, and appreciates those who held down the fort in our absence. We had a staff meeting in person on Sunday morning (8/26) with Luis, Paul, Tom, Terrell, Brian, and Ingrid and tried to skype in to the others but couldn't make the connection happen. In any case, it was a decent breakfast and a good opportunity to meet f2f. We had a great representation at the White Armor panel, Troop-athlon, and the Shoot-a-Trooper charity booth supporting the Peter Mayhew Foundation. Thanks to all the troopers who gave their time to help out with these important events. Public Relations - our online communities are becoming quite active. Share your missions, unique finds, and tips with other troopers and the world at large. Tom estimates we gave out over 1250 FISD brochures at CVI. These will be available for download/print on the forums soon for general distribution. FISD Briefing August Centurion Awards: 12 (total 54) August Expert Infantry Awards: 17 (total 250) August Fire Team Tally: 1 new, 8 total Newest Fire Teams: Texas Imperial Rangers Fire Team August Attache Tally: 6 new Newest Attaches: Nassik (Shawn, Terror Australis), Bigironvault (Keith, Canadian), Seantrooper (Sean, Redback), Dr.Senf (Sven, German), Faie (Jose, Spanish), Solcar23 (Carlos, Midwest) What's an Attache? Someone in your garrison who represents FISD with the friendly "Troopers Helping Troopers" spirit! A special shout-out to all the garrisons that send their prospective members to FISD. Being active one's garrison is important, but a good partnership with the detachments makes all the difference in costuming excellence, getting help, and the 501st community as a whole. New members in August: 190 (total 5712) Active members in forums: 433 Reported Field Exercises: 15 Field Exercises: Traverse City Beach Bums, Rogers Cup Troop, Neighborhood Walk, G-Force Test, Easter Egg Hunt, Great Lakes Loons Game, Wizard World, "Something's Missing," "Got my kids," Silver Snail Comic Shop Moving Day, GenCon, FanExpo, and Star Wars Celebration VI. One last shout-out to Jacob "Jabob" French, TK 6283, best known for his TrooperTrek across Australia. He joined us in the FISD photo session at Celebration VI and we are proud to stand behind and beside him in our group photo. Number of Twitter Followers as of 8/31: 435 - over 100 new followers! Number of Facebook Followers as of 8/31: 1356 - over 50 new followers! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer FISD Armor Mythbusters Tackles the Expert Infantryman! We've responded to posts, chatted with you at cons, and talked to you all in person. While the Emperor is quite pleased with the results of number of good looking EI TK's in the Legion, he has felt a disturbance in the Force. Yes, there is much mis-information among the ranks on what Expert Infantryman and Centurion programs mean, and what the qualifications are. In this column, we aim to dispel those myths... Myth #1: My GML says my suit is not good enough for EI and said not to bother applying. Fact: Your GML may not always have the latest information, so as a cross check, do come to FISD and check out the latest CRLs. I met two great looking troopers at Celebration who could easily be EI and was surprised when I heard this comment. When in doubt, always feel free to post pictures of you in your suit and let FISD help validate your kit. Myth #2: I have FX armor and it can't go EI. Fact: The EI standards were written so that any maker of armor can go EI. It takes about $50 and an afternoon to convert an out-of-the-box FX suit to Expert Standards. Making it Centurion takes a little more work, but it's not that costly and certainly others have done this. There is even a good tutorial available that walks you through this step by step. Myth #3: I'm a girl, girls can't go EI. Fact: They certainly can, and Centurion on top of it. There are already both EI and Centurions in the Legion who are female. There are several great threads that can walk you through this step by step. Myth #4: It's not worth it, I'm close enough. Fact: Possible, but that's also like saying you don't need a degree when you're 3 credits shy of graduating. Getting your Expert Infantryman not only qualifies you for some cool swag (gold coins, certificate, patches) but also your achievement is commemorated on the rolls of EI. Part of being a stormtrooper is uniformity, and having the little details right makes everyone look good, including you. TK's are the backbone of the Legion, so stand proud, trooper! Myth #5: I'm too fat for EI. Fact: Not true. The standards allow you to shim the side gaps which is a super easy mod to do with a little velcro and $5 of spare ABS. If you're gap is pretty close, it need not be perfectly closed either and there is allowance for a small gap which is okay. Myth #6: The EI standards are uber accurate. I don't want to be a snob. Fact: Not true! The EI program was created to create a path and recognition program for those that want to take their costume one step higher than base CRL standards. It's not intended to be hard, expensive, or ultra accurate. Think of it as just pimping out your suit a bit. There you have it - some common myths debunked. As it turns out, going EI has never been easier and inexpensive as it is today, and costs nothing extra to do for new builds. Still have questions? Send them our way and we'll include them next month on FISD Armor Mythbusters! With unquestioned loyalty, Paul "Daetrin" TK-8020 Detachment Founder 2012 will henceforth be known as the "Year of the Web Server Hopping." For those who have not been following along the FISD forums moved off a shared hosting server along with most of the other 501st detachments. The account on the shared server was overburdened. We, along with the Imperial Officers, Mos Eisely Police Department, and the Sith Lord Detachment, pulled the ripcord and migrated over to our own hosting account. A few months went by and for some unknown reason FISD and MEPD started using more server resources. Our hosting provider was very patient and allowed us try everything we could to tame the forum software. At long last Daetrin and I cried "Uncle!" and migrated the website to a different server where we do not have to compete with any other web sites but our own. As of the writing of this newsletter the FISD forum is running slightly faster than it was on the other server. Many mahalos to all the TKs I banned or otherwise hassled while trying to find the source of the bandwidth spike. Remember last month when I said that I could not figure out why we had an increase in traffic this year? It turns out I was absolutely wrong. Brent PM'd us and pointed out that when we migrated the first time I changed the forum's URL from forum.whitearmor.net to www.whitearmor.net/forum. Of course there were more visitors suddenly because I wasn't taking into account the logs from forum.whitearmor.net. When you add the two stats together everything checks out. Duh me. We still do not know why the forum software did what it did, but for the moment we are good to go. The FISD forums have not been running Google Analytics for very long. Eventually I will post visitors trends over time. For those of you who like to nerd out on such things, the image below are the traffic patterns from August. You can see that nearly 80% of our traffic are return visitors. Seeing as we get a fair amount of traffic that number represents a huge amount of unquestioned loyalty and questionable amounts of white plastic addiction. If anyone has any questions about the web server and it's visitors please let me know. With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty, Eric Brager TK-9674 “DarthAloha†Chief Tactical Officer It seems clear that many people wanted to achieve EIB and Centurion status prior to Celebration VI and Dragon*Con. It may also have been a kick in the pants after Paul "Daetrin" Hoeffer's article in the August newsletter comparing our low percentage of achievement awards with MEPD's higher rate. Whatever the reason, obtaining EIB or Centurion status is not as challenging as many people believe. So bust out the tools and make a few adjustments - and join the race to 300! To prove a point, you will find some amazing photos here of the FISD presence at CVI (about 150 TKs) including a huge group of EI and Centurion troopers. (Thanks to Christian and all the folks who have been posting the photos. We are in the process of obtaining the official ones.) With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer and Mathias Rodstedt TK-2959 "Locitus" Deployment Officer Trooper of the month for August 2012 goes to Solcar23 (Carlos Mendoza TK-5924). Carlos managed to receive his 501st basic approval then submit and achieve Expert Infantry and Centurion within a 24 hour period. I suspect that it might have happened within the same day if our Deployment Officer did not live in Europe. The interweb paint was still wet on his red centurion badge on his posts when Carlos raised his hand and said "Hey! I want to help other TKs look their best." He is our newest FISD attaché roaming the streets of Chitown handing out split rivets like the first taste of a drug. Carlos' achievement is a solid example of building your TK with an eye to Centurion right from the start. New recruits should use this as a model during the planning stages of becoming a Stormtrooper. It may seem like a lot of points but they are all easy while you are building. It is a little known fact (to those of you who did not stalk his Facebook page performing research for this award) that not only is Carlos a music educator, he was the fifth Beatle. Aloha and congratulations, Carlos. With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty, Eric Brager TK-9674 “DarthAloha†Chief Tactical Officer The month of August resulted in 15 field training exercises reported. While most of them were public events, not specific to charities (our favorite kind of troop), we did end up with some amazing stories and photos of troopers having a lot of fun. If you haven't seen them yet or need a little inspiration, check out all the great stories in the Field Training Exercises area of the FISD forums. Roger's Cup One not to be missed is the Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto featuring the Executor's own Imperial tennis champion. Wizard World Probably overshadowed by CVI but very popular is Wizard World, in which Trooper of the Month, Carlos TK-5924, debuted his Shiny White Centurion. Indiana State Fair Indiana State Fair was another gem... sporting FISD Attache Mark "captsafe66" Ryner in his newly minted Officer uniform (don't know what he was thinking... it's hotter than a TK in there!). http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa459/captsafe66/553511_4371892265836_879091494_n.jpg There are so many great troops we simply couldn't pick just one. So read about them all and post your own troops. We love to live vicariously through our troopers around the world! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer 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 merch findings to minute-by-minute Death Star climate control updates, follow FISD on Twitter! With Completely, Totally Unquestioned Loyalty and Job Satisfaction, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission. http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff468/ZeroRoom1/First%20Imperial%20Stormtrooper%20Department/Newsletter/Newsletter%20Common/underbanner2012.png This post has been promoted to an article

From the Detachment Leader Around the Detachment Tip of the Month Katie's Story Deathtrooper Season TK Jack-o-lantern Stencils Trooper of the Month Troop of the Month Greetings My Fellow Troopers, I first want to truly thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for your support and your vote. I would like to thank you for believing in and allowing the staff and myself to continue on with the projects that we had planned for this year to help make the FISD better. I am honored to accept the office of Detachment Leader of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. Last Saturday when the voting polls were closed and the results were posted, a good friend of mine told me that it was a landslide and that I should do some chest thumping and a victory dance. I told my good friend, that is not me. This not a victory for me, but rather a victory for the whitearmor.net and the TK community. I am but a humble servant and am happy to continue serving the TK community. The members of the FISD are not merely members to me, but you are my brothers and sisters and I always look out for and do the best I can for my family. I look forward to serving all of the members of the FISD and being the best Detachment Leader I can be. I do have visions and plans that the staff and I will be working to implement to create a better forum, with better information, for those TK enthusiast that are striving to either build their first Stormtrooper costume or seeking ways to better or upgrade their Stormtrooper costume. Staff Changes: At this time, I would like to announce the appointment of the new Executive Officer of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. This person has years of Legion and costuming experience, with first hand knowledge of the CRL's and is well versed in the Legion Charter. He has worked in front of and behind the scenes for years within the 501st. In my opinion, he is going to bring a lot to the staff and to our community. It give me great pleasure to welcome Brian Anderson TK7602 (Stormtrooperguy) as the new Executive Officer of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. Please give Brian a warm welcome to his new position. Due to "real life" obligations, Luis Diaz, TK7164 (bobojuice) has asked to step down from the Provost Marshall position. Luis has done a great job and we wish him the very best and ask that he not be a stranger on the boards. At this time, I would like to announce the appointment of the new Provost Marshall, Mark Ryner, TK4584 (captsafe66). Mark has experience as being his Garrison's COG and he is already been an Imperial Sentry. I feel very confident that he will do a great job in the position of Provost Marshall. Lets all give Mark a warm welcome to his new position We have also added a few new members to the Imperial Propaganda Machine (extended staff). They are: Jennifer Riddle TK-9496 (jnnfr72), Andrea Loar TK-6093 (Andrea11), and Derek A Dougherty, TK27555 (Dougherty.D). All three of these people have stepped up to become one of the extended staff to help to make the FISD a better place for the community, so let's give it up for Jenny, Andrea, and Derek. Detachment Polls I wanted to remind everyone that the voting/polling for the proposed amendments to the Centurion requirements are now open. Voting remains open for 2 weeks (until the 18th) . Please do not forget to be a part of this. Just remember, your vote counts!! Here are the list of polls: General Changes Drop Box Details Torso Changes Leg Changes New Numbers, New TKs Moving on, I would like to bring up that we, the Legion, have run out of 4 digit ID numbers. It was formerly announced at C6, during the 501st 15th Anniversary Imperial dinner, that we were now into the 5 digit numbers for the ID's. A few weeks ago, I was helping a recruit for my Garrison complete his application for the 501st. He pulled out a list of all the 5 digit numbers that he was pondering over and trying to choose which one he wanted to be his permament 501st ID. I kind of laughed and said I wish I had all these options when I was applying. It was truly slim pickings to try and find some number that I felt connected to, now just look at all of these fresh, new numbers. I wanted to show all of you our newest TK brothers,and sisters with their 5 digit ID's: TK10000 Aleksandra DÄ…bkowska-----..------ Polish Garrison TK10002 Gordon McGuire------------..--------United Kingdom Garrison TK10004 David B Gray----------------.---------Mountain Garrison TK10006 Andrew J Leeson-----------..-..------United Kingdom Garrison TK10007 Paulo Siqueira----------------------- Brazilian Division Garrison TK10011 Daryl Kling-----------------.---..-------Dune Sea Garrison TK10020 Jack Smith-------------------------..---Brazilian Division Garrison TK10021 Brent Parsons------------------.------Golden Gate Garrison TK10023 Rob Tomlin---------------------.-------Star Garrison TK11011 Gonzalo Ortega--------------.--------Spanish Garrison TK10100 Rafal M Kraska---------------.--------Polish Garrison TK11285 Tyler Timpany------------------.------Canadian Garrison TK12421 Kevin M Feber------------------------Great Lakes Garrison TK11308 Mariano Santafosta------------------Spanish Garrison TK19334 Alex R Bevan---------------------.----United Kingdom Garrison TK11990 William L Rasco-----------------------Garrison Carida TK25267 Charles B Bowes---------------------Canadian Garrison TK26354 Steven J Stubbs----------------------Southern California Garrison TK26800 Julio Rey de Perea Campos-----...Spanish Garrison TK27555 Derek A Dougherty------------------Southern California Garrison TK32380 James P Brace-----------.------------Bloodfin Garrison TK42111 John B Cambra--------.--------------Golden Gate Garrison TK42166 Jason Winiata-----------.-------------Outpost 42 Garrison TK42170 Brian Jepson--------------------------Star Garrison TK45540 Sophie E Bowman-------------------Terror Australis Garrison TK49438 Valere Fourbisseu-------------------FanWars Garrison TK50100 Garry P Shing------------------------Terror Australis Garrison TK50101 Dennis Dombrowski---------..-------German Garrison TK50148 Damian StefaÅ„ski-------------.-------Polish Garrison TK50166 Andrew T Rochelle-----------.-------Carolina Garrison TK54321 Nicky Mezzina----------------.----.----Nordic Garrison TK64830 Mortier Bernard---------------.-------FanWars Garrison TK72812 Andrew C Donaldson---------.------Star Garrison TK74745 Brandon Cockrell---------------.-----Rancor Raiders Garrison TK90005 Francisco Izaguirre------------.------Spanish Garrison TK90475 Douglas Koverman----------.--------Ohio Garrison TK92901 William C Adamson------------.------Garrison Tyranus TK98530 Alejandro Carbonell Olivares---.---Spanish Garrison Katie's Story Last but not least, for those that are following the Katie Goldman story about her wanting to become a TK because of the 501st (more about this in an article in this Newsletter), I would like to thank the members of the Midwest Garrison, Brian C Troyan TK8968 (Fleetfang), Javier Esqueda TK265 (TK265), Steve W Gaza TK4034 (gazmosis), and Adriane Bean TK 4541 (Beans) for stepping up and offering to build the TK suit for Katie. I would also like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the FISD members that donated to the Katie Goldman Fund and also those who have donated some of the accessory items that Katie will need with her Stormtrooper. I have given each and everyone of you a "Supporter Ribbon" for your efforts and will be making a thread, with a formal list of donors, so that all can see what a great group of people, with big and giving hearts, that we have in the FISD community. (More on that below.) Closing Also congratulations to Javier and his wife for their newest edition to the Esqueda family. They now have a son, Ben, who is now about a week old!!!! Congratulations you two on your little clone!!! We all know the end of this month has one of the biggest costuming days of the year. I wish you all a very safe and happy Halloween. By the way, just remember to save me some candy!! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tom Gardner TK5940 "RogueTrooper" Detachment Leader Greetings, Earth-deployed troopers. We weathered an emergency election this month with two great candidates. Congratulations to Tom Gardner, former XO, for being elected DL of FISD, and our respects to Matt Sparling, who made a good run. Tom will see us through to the main elections in February. Just over 200 voters cast their vote in this election. Thank you all for your participation! Just to give you a heads up for future elections in all detachments, you will need to be officially affiliated with your detachment (in this case, FISD) to vote at the detachment level. You do this by editing your Detachment affiliation in your profile... in the Membership DB section of the 501st forums. Be prepared! September Centurion Awards: 3 (total 57) September Expert Infantry Awards: 11 (total 261) September Fire Team Tally: 1 new (9 total) Newest Fire Teams: Tantive IV Boarding Party, Toronto September Attache Tally: 2 new, 2 revived Newest Attaches: TK6375 (Neil, Outpost 42 Garrison), thechosenhitman (Matt, Bloodfin Garrison); Returning: pandatrooper (Terry, Badlands Garrison), naatsirhc (Christaan, Southern California Garrison/Inland Empire Squad) What's an Attache? Someone in your garrison who represents FISD with the friendly "Troopers Helping Troopers" spirit! TWO GREAT NEW RESOURCES! Centurion Visual Checklist EIB Visual Checklist New members in September: 173 Active members in forums: 470 Reported Field Exercises: 29 ! Field Exercises: Check here for the full list! This month saw reported field training exercises nearly double from last month. Thanks for posting, and keep 'em coming. When the rest of us can't troop, we live vicariously through you. Even if you do nothing else on the forums, share your troops! Number of Twitter Followers as of 9/30: 462 Number of Facebook Followers as of 9/30: 1421 Our Facebook page has been getting more active, with Tips of the Week, news, jokes, and other questions and issues. I'd like to see more upgrade and new build photos and questions there, and more troopers helping troopers. If you're already a friend, thanks! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer Painting with Color If you're going to upgrade your bucket, you might as well upgrade your ab buttons as well. For a very screen accurate look, or just for fun, you can paint your details rather than use decals. Here's your guide to getting the paint colors just right. Vocoder, ear stripes/outline: #21 Humbrol Black #1147 Model Master Gloss Black Ab buttons, tube stripes: #14 Humbrol French Blue #2715 Model Master French Blue Ab buttons alternative (darker): #4867 Model Master Blue Angel Blue Buttons, teeth, ears: #5 Humbrol Dark Admiral Grey #1138 Testors Gray Some helpful threads: Pandatrooper's helmet tutorial is also an excellent resource for trimming, building, and painting your new bucket (or fixing an older one). Matt black posted a guide to get hand painted helmet details using decals as a guide. Daetrin's thread on creating a paint mask for curves like the vocoder and ab buttons is also an oldie but goodie. As always, if you have questions or need more help, visit the Armory for answers galore! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer The Detachment Comes Together for a Cause FISD, have you seen the thread for Katie Goldman in the Announcements section? This is a great cause where you can make a difference and show your community spirit for a young girl. Recently, our DL was contacted by Dean Plantamura who works in the Legion PR staff, and he said the following: “Katie Goldman, the young fan from Chicago that was bullied about being a girl who liked Star Wars. The 501st gave her so much support as a young girl fan, that Katie has decided to suit up as a Stormtrooper this year and her mom (author/blogger Carrie Goldman) has reached out to us for help! Of course, we want her to have only the best armor.†From RougeTrooper, Tom Gardner: "Out of all the other Star Wars characters, It made me feel very proud to know that Katie wants to be a Stormtrooper. I want to make sure that Katie gets the best armor that she can. I told Dean that a good set of armor, even a kids kit, is not cheap." Tom has undertaken the task of finding good quality kid-sized armor for Katie, and is taking donations in return for some community perks. Special thanks go to the Midwest Garrison. They have backed Katie and her mother from the start, and will continue to see this project through to the end and beyond. I’ve seen a tremendous amount of kindness from the FISD for Katie. All of the Troopers and 501st members who have encouraging comments, made donations, and offered their skills and talents to our new recruit are receiving as much joy in the giving as Katie is in the receiving. Katie has offers of a modified fan kit from Evilboy ~ Jonathan Wolk, kids sized boots from Adriana Bean ~ TK 4541, hand guards from our dearest Queen Karen ~ Sonnenschein, a custom sized canvas belt from Robert ~ TKittell, and a custom sized neck seal from Kathy ~ CiderQueen. Last but certainly not least, the MIDWEST GARRISON members including: Javier ~ TK265, Fleetfang ~ Brian, Adriane ~ TK 4541, Steve ~ TK4034, to name just a few, have offered armor assembly and the strapping system. Katie’s journey may have started with struggles and strife, but through her perseverance and with an outpouring from the 501st, she has transformed into an ambassador for all kids who feel picked on and bullied. Katie donates the toys and clothes she receives, and promotes kindness and tolerance while making friends with other kids like her. I was not surprised that she picked the Stormtrooper as her Star Wars identity. While Stormtrooper armor can appear intimidating, one soon finds out that Stormtroopers are a bunch of friendly, outgoing men and women who love giving back to the community. Although the Midwest Garrison has the honor of assembling Katie’s armor, we can all participate in showing this youngster what it means to be a Trooper. In my opinion, we’re the most awesome group of fun, giving, dedicated and caring people around. There is still a need for donations, so check out Katie’s thread in the Announcements section and show your unquestioned loyalty. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Jennifer Riddle TK-9496 "jnnfr72" Imperial Propaganda Machine Halloween - Season of the Deathtrooper! Here in the USA, Halloween is the time for spooky things: Haunted houses, scary movies, graveyards and all things creepy! What better time to break out your favorite Halloween costume: The Death Trooper! Originally introduced in 2009 by author Joe Schreiber, the Death Trooper is the result of your classic "government project gone wrong" zombie story -- set on a Star Destroyer! To date there are only 2 Death Troopers in the Legion: Marty Miller (TK-1524 of Garrison Carida) and Brian Anderson (TK-7602 of the New England Garrison). We'd love to see more, so here are some tips on getting your Death Trooper approved: No wet blood! There was a lot of controversy and debate about whether these costumes should be eligible for 501st membership. One of the compromises we made was that they should be gross, but not gory! If you are dripping with blood, you won't be approved! Cracks, holes and torn faces are awesome, but keep in mind that if you have any exposed flesh, it's got to be zombified! Check out Marty Miller's amazing work for an example of how it's done. Remember that the base of the suit still has to be a Legion approvable TK! This costume isn't an excuse to drag out your old Marco Enterprises suit and call it a zombie! We'd LOVE to see some EIB level builds! Don't go overboard! Look at the Gentle Giant bust, the Galaxies model, the Celebration VI exclusive maquette -- they are yellowed and cracked, but they aren't a complete disaster. Don't punch 501 holes through the armor and cut half the chest off! As a bonus tip, here's a way to have the "torn out face" look without having to wear a full face mask under your helmet! Find a nice looking zombie mask (now is the best time of year for that!), and cut the lower face out. Attach that to the inside of your helmet and you have something that looks cool and can be slipped on and off easily! Once you get your Death Trooper approved, it's time to have fun: Find a local zombie walk, visit a horror con, or take a trip to your local haunted house. Yes, some people will be scared, but that's the point, isn't it? And you never know... sometimes the kids actually LOVE these guys!! That photo is from my first official troop in the DT armor. The little girl in the picture followed me around all day and took dozens of photos with me. Her mom said I was her favorite part of the convention! Don't mind the shoulder falling off... like I said, that was my first troop! Off to eat some Rebels, Brian Anderson TK-7602 "Stormtrooperguy" Detachment Executive Officer HAPPY HALLOWEEN! No front porch or doorstep - or office party - would be complete without the TK-o-lantern. Download and use these templates for a unique pumpkin treat! TK pumpkin templates for download. Click here to download the PDFs. With Unquestioned Loyalty, 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Staff Congratulations to Charles "Clamps" Bowes for earning Trooper of the Month. Clamps deftly went from EIB to Centurion via his humble and thoughtful build threads. He typifies "Troopers Helping Troopers" on FISD and within our Tantive IV Boarding Party fire team. Charles is one of those troopers that comes along and once you meet him you won’t forget him. He’s genuinely positive, upbeat and friendly. He applies that attitude to everything he does. When building his TK – he put in a tremendous amount of care and effort into it. The result of which is a beautiful Centurion level TK. He now uses that energy and enthusiasm not only to keep trying to perfect his costume but to help others with their builds. Charles is always there to share his experiences and knowledge and he even goes so far as to offer other local TKs a chance to get in on an order to save on shipping whenever he buys something. I had been working on my build a month or so ahead of Charles and one thing I told him was to make sure he had enough clamps! He went a tiny bit overboard with his use of clamps which earned him the nickname of “Clampsâ€. Overall he is a stand up guy, a real joy to be around and a great friend! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Andrea Loar TK-6093 "Andrea11" Imperial Propaganda Machine I have mentioned in past newsletters that there are no hard and fast rules about which 501st outing wins FISD Troop of the Month. This month boomshakra's report about the September 15's Purple Stride 5k in Austin fulfills many of the unspoken requirements for a charity event capturing the award. Good looking TKs, a great cause, a fun event, nice photography, and most importantly making us laugh. Congrats to the troopers of the South Texas Squad - Scorpion Riders for helping raise money for pancreatic cancer. Check out Jason's report for more photos of what looks like a super fun day. Nicely done troopers! Hand plate high five Come together... right now... (that clone should have taken off his boots) 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 merch findings to Jedi Mind Trick Avoidance Training, follow FISD on Twitter! With Complete, Total Unquestioned Loyalty and Job Satisfaction, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission. This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article

From the Detachment Leader Foundations of TK Costuming Excellence FISD: Taking Celebration VI by Storm Tip of the Month Troop of The Month TK of The Month FISD Website What's Up Swag Report 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 “RogueTrooper†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. 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). 501st Legion Photo - currently listed as Sat. 8/25 at 1:00 pm 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! 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 “LadyInWhite†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 “LadyInWhite†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. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7529055668_b7e9e21ee3_c.jpg As proof that Bad Guys are indeed popular, check out this rousing reaction to the appearance of Garrison Tyranus’ troopers for “The Imperial March!†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 “LadyInWhite†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 “RogueTrooper†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 “DarthAloha†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. http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff468/ZeroRoom1/First%20Imperial%20Stormtrooper%20Department/Newsletter/Newsletter%20Common/underbanner2012.png 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 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission. This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article

Important Special Announcement from the FISD Imperial Propaganda Dept. In this special newsletter you will find two important sections. Please read the section that relates to your situation. 1. If you ARE going to Celebration Vi 2. If you are NOT going to Celebration Vi Here is some important information you may want to know about. 501st PHOTO The 501st massive group photo is scheduled for: - SAT. 8/25, 1:00 pm, ATRIUM FISD / STORMTROOPER PHOTO You won't want to miss this!!! The FISD group photos will follow immediately, and we may have to find our own space to accommodate our large group. So be sure to hang out after the main 501st photo to find out where we're going. Also includes separate EIB/Centurion photo, staff, lady TKs, and more! VOLUNTEER Volunteer at one of the many booths, like the trash compactor. 501st Forum Thread Sign-up Doc Many skits still need TKs and other costumes. Find the individual threads on the 501st.com forums > Celebration VI section and sign up! SPREAD THE WORD Grab some FISD Brochures from Ingrid (LadyinWhite) or Tom (RogueTrooper) to be prepared if anyone asks how to become a stormtrooper. Help them find their way to whitearmor.net before they go astray. Join us at the White Armor panel to help hand out brochures if you can SUN, 8/26, 12:30 pm, Fan Stage W311 SHARE STUFF If you find something interesting that you think your fellow TKs will like, take photos! Tweet photos using hashtags #FISD and #StarWarsCVI be sure to include @FISD501st Post photos & commentary to FaceBook's FISD pageor post to your own page and share with the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment MEET-UPS THURSDAY Ladies in White Breakfast - 9:00 am, Café Gauguin at the Rosen Center Hotel Special TK Marriage Proposal - 5:00 pm, Emperor's Throne Room (come in costume!) 501st Pool-side Meet & Greet - 8:00 pm, Rosen Center Pool FRIDAY Banquet Consolidation Dinner (for those who don't have tix) - 6:00 pm, meet in Rosen Center Hotel Lobby (we will probably cab or carpool somewhere) We will miss you!!! But you can still follow the action and adventure on Twitter and Facebook. TWITTER Follow @FISD501st and the hashtag #FISD You can also follow #stormtrooper, #501st, #StarWarsCVI, @SW_Celebration and @501stLegion ... and more ... If you find other cool things to share with the group, be sure to add the #FISD tag so we can all catch it too! FACEBOOK Don't forget to comment and share! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission.