Help me out here! (Reassure me please!)

[langs66]

I at the point of no return all of my armor has been pulled and is ready to ship to me but I am very hesitant to pull the trigger and pay. I was so confident in the beginning of my choice but seeing and talking more it doesn’t seem as active as I thought it would be. My local garrison seems to do their troops so few and far between and most of the events are during the spring/summer. What else does everybody else do with their armor besides putting it on occasionally for a con? Am I just missing something here? I am a huge Star Wars fan and the charity part of the 501^st is the main reason I wanted to start but it seems like that is so few and far between. Please reassure me that my choice is going to be a good one.

 

Sorry if this in the wrong section feel free to move it.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance, Kendall

[tkrestonva[TK]]

It's not just about cons - athough those are always a blast.

 

Different garrisons troop with varying frequency, and tend to emphasize different types of troops. Some garrisons have something happening every weekend, others maybe not - especially if it's a small and/or widely dispersed garrison. Some garrisons do a TON of charity work, others not so much. But if charity is your thing, once you're official most garrisons don't have a problem with you finding and organizing troops, as long as you coordinate it with the garrison. For example, how awesome would it be to represent at a Toys 4 Tots drive as a stormtrooper?!? Or visit hospitalized children who love Star Wars even more than you?

 

Not to mention having a kick-butt costume you can wear at Halloween parties and other masquerade-type events, and fulfulling what is for many of us a life-long dream to be a 'real-life' stormtrooper.

 

From the Legion website: The Central Garrison has about 100 members and covers Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

 

That's a lot of square miles to cover between maybe 100 members. So I can see why it seems you wouldn't get much wear out of if, especially if you are nowhere near a population center. Still, you can create your own trooping opportunties just like other isolated members do.

[TKmAx]

Hi Kendall

 

I had 3 reasons for buying armour

 

1. I love Star Wars and wanted a set of armour after seeing some at an event in the UK in 2006.

 

2. I wanted to troop and play at Star Wars at events such as the one I first saw armour at in 2006

 

3. I wanted to do something charitable and this gave me an oppurtunity to do that whilst having fun

 

Events to attend can be as organised by your local Garrisons, or it may be a friend asks you to do their kids birthday, the choice is yours. Obviously Garrison events have the safety of spotters and numbers.

 

When not in the armour, get yourself a mannequin and display it as it is awesome

 

hope that helps

 

Alan

[gazmosis[501st]]

I wear mine as often as I can...grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, walking the dog, street hockey, "date" nights with the wife......Just kidding!

The MWG in Illinois has enough events to troop twice in a weekend, every weekend. Get some info from your CO, XO or GPRO about setting up your own events. This gives everyone in your Garrison a chance to wear their armor more!!!

[tmorrow182]

After reading all of the responses to this post, I just want you guys to know I'm even more confident and excited about getting my own armor asap! Thanks for the encouragement!

[darksideemt]

Trust us, once you get approved all your concerns and questions will go away. Good luck on your build!

[jnnfr72[TK]]

Hey Kendall!

I had some second guesses before and during my armor buying / building. BUT, now that I have my assembled armor and have been to a few troops, I

am SO GLAD that I decided to go for it. It does seem like you are on your own at first, but once you start actually assembling your armor, you will

most likely be on this website, and you cannot help but get EXCITED from all the support and feedback everybody gives you. You will have a sense of

accomplishment just from assembling your armor, and then when you see all the little kids faces light up on troops, it is an awesome feeling. Heck,

seeing the parents looks are worth it too.... you just know lots of those parents want to do what you are doing, too!

IMHO, you are not losing money, because if you HAD to sell (Lord forbid!!!) there's lots of people that would buy your armor. Yes, you should not buy

assembled armor b/c you'll have to make it fit your body, but people do buy it all the time.

I get excited thinking about all the conventions I can take my armor to, and make a week long vacation out of it... like in Florida, Georgia, maybe San Fran one day??

I'm lucky that Indianapolis has a yearly convention, and I'm only 30 mins away. Although, in my garrison, we have people that drive 2 and 3 hours to get

to a troop. In the early spring the troops are usually inside, like a mall or stadium, but there's cold weather gear you can buy for underneath. [i'm not THAT tough!]

I really hope you can keep working with your garrison to find more troops to go on, and that you all can have some "armor parties" and maybe informal meet and

greets. It's nice to get together with like minded Star Wars fans, from time to time. Keep your spirits up, you are about to embark on a wonderous journey.

There's times you'll get frustrated (I still do with my strapping!! haaa haaa) but then you will have something to gripe about to your TK friends. The fun I've had

as a TK outweighs the doubts and frustrations. And, I agree with what everybody before me has said, too! It's gonna be A W E S O M E ! ! ! !

Edited May 9, 2012 by jnnfr72

[matt black]

About a quarter of the way through my build I had the panic set in of 'what have I gotten myself into. I am in over my head'. Just take your time over every little piece and ask all the questions you need and read lots of build threads.

Like others have said, you will be so happy and proud at the finish.

 

Even without trooping much. It's fun to put on armour for your own ammusement. Or maybe that's just me

[Spectre]

Hey mate believe me the investment is well worth it. I have a 5 hour round trip to get to any troop but even so it is so worth doing. You'll love it one you start.

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

I had buyer's remorse while waiting for my armor, after paying rather, um, quickly. I didn't even know what I was getting into, even though I'd spent about a month trawling this community.

 

When it arrived, life changed. I became obsessed. Doing it yourself (even with zero skills) is an amazing reward. And then every time you try a piece on, you're giddy in heaven. I would wear my TK pretty much every day, even to work; I have tried to convince my husband to tolerate at least one weekly trip to the farmer's market, just to light up people's faces.

 

Fortunately I'm in a garrison with a trillion troops, and I can't do them all due to family and other obligations, and sometimes we drive 3-4 hours to get to them. It's ALWAYS worth it.

 

And lately I've seen a lot of smaller or remote garrisons or groups organizing their own fundraising events - http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19385. Just get your garrison's permission and even invite others to join you. I'm going to see about organizing a "shoot a trooper" at my son's public school Halloween Carnival fundraiser this year, which pays for teachers aides and special programs that always get cut. No matter where you live or what you do, there are always charities around that you can help out in some way... maybe they just don't know this is an option and will do all the organizing themselves!

 

It's kind of addicting.

[Kade[TK]]

If you love Star Wars and you want to be a Stormtrooper you will love it. I, like Spectre, am a part of the Terror Australis Garrison which covers the bulk of Australia. Currently my nearest squad mates are a little over 400 km's away from me but I still make it to troops with them. I also have managed to organise some of my own local troops. When the squad did the Phantom Menace premier and I was unable to attend I emailed my local cinema and said "Hey, want a stormtrooper at the movie?" you should have seen the kids faces pressed up against the glass doors of the cinema when I wandered into the foyer just before opening and now I'm helping one of my mates to build a snowtrooper so soon there will be two of us in town

Edited May 10, 2012 by Kade