[53] TK-17032's Troop Log

[Wompet[TK]]

25. Star Wars Library Visit, 4 May 2023

Second May the Fourth troop, an annual event at the Greece Public Library.

 

 

After troop shenanigans:

[Doggydoc[Staff]]

Congrats on 25 Gary

[Wompet[TK]]

26. Western New York Toy Show, 27 May 2023

With @Manbehindthemask, @tdurden and @Tk86669 (wearing black for some reason).

 

The folks running the booth that you can just barely see in the bottom left corner came up to @Manbehindthemask, @Tk86669 and me and said "You came to our son's (point at son in his 20s) birthday party years ago!" and pulled up the picture on the son's phone. We all took a look, and once we recognized who was who (it was a 17-year-old photo) told them "Those three people are upstairs at our booth right now."  Our booth folks were happy to see these people after so many years, and finally get a copy of that photo. 

 

@tdurden and I were done patrolling by the end of the afternoon ... and he still had another troop to go to.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by Wompet

[Wompet[TK]]

27. Intergalacticon, 2 June 2023

Day 1 of this premiere event (premiere as in first-time occurrence)

Before I do anything else, I want to thank the members of the Canadian Garrison and Fortresse Imperiale who came down and helped up out.  Without you we would not have had the manpower to do what we did.  And Vindicator Squad's props and backgrounds were a major draw.  Thanks again guys.

There were a lot of photos taken each day, so I'm going to try and limit myself, I promise.

The Death Star wall and 501st table were ours (Droid Builders and astromechs too), but all the other props were courtesy of the Canadian Garrison.

All those bags on the table - those were for guests who were already 501st Honorary Members, and the guest we inducted during the con.

 

Before things started up, Kevin Thompson came over and tried out the speeder bike.  He then told us how he performed some of the stunts while in an Ewok suit.

 

C. Andrew Nelson stopped by each day for photos.  I'm still a little disappointed that I couldn't find my copy of Dark Forces for him to sign ...

 

Somehow I ended up being the target most of weekend, but the kids enjoyed it.

(And the Ewoks really enjoyed it.)

 

I don't know what I did, honest!

 

For your use for any upcoming movies and shows:

Myself, @Manbehindthemask, and @tdurden

 

And I'm missing the first group photo of the day, so here's the one with just best costumes 

This is where my poor memory for names will get me in trouble ... I'm going to have look the Canadians up ...

Edited June 8, 2023 by Wompet

[Wompet[TK]]

28. Intergalacticon, 3 June 2023

Day 2 (less pictures this time, I promise)

 

No "trooping" group photo this time, but we do have group photos with:

Tracee Cocco and Gigi Edgley (I'm the TK she's hanging on to)

 

Timothy Zahn:

 

Hononary Member Inductee Ailsa Berk:

 

... and Honorary Member Inductee Trevor Butterfield:

 

I don't know who this TK is, but he's doing a lousy job keeping those Ewoks away from Vader:

 

 

[Wompet[TK]]

29. Intergalaticon, 4 June 2023

Day 3

 

Less pictures this time, because I don't have copies yet.

This was a busy day, not so much because of the public, but because we inducted the following Honory Members:

Mark Austin, Willie Coppen, Joe Gibson, Mike Hendry, Andy Herd, John Simpkin, Kendra Wall-Dahl, Paul Weston, Brian Wheeler, and

Warren Proulx:

Who, when I was talking to him at the end of the day, let something slip about stormtroopers in Ahsoka, but:

 

And not Stormtrooper-related, but some of you may remember that @tdurden made a fan-film where he performed a Shakespeare soliloquy.  Well, it happens that C. Andrew Nelson used that same speech as a warm-up exercise when he did live theater.  So, hopefully here is a clip of two Vaders doing Shakespeare:

http://photo.garrisonexcelsior.com/photo/#!Albums/album_4576656e7473/album_4576656e74732f323032333036303220496e74657267616c61637469636f6e/album_4576656e74732f323032333036303220496e74657267616c61637469636f6e2f4461792033/video_4576656e74732f323032333036303220496e74657267616c61637469636f6e2f4461792033_32303233303630345f3131353330302e6d7034

[BAZINGA[TK]]

I'm not getting any sound so not sure if it is on this end or otherwise.  Bart

[Wompet[TK]]

30. Webster/Rochester Library Summer Reading Kick-Off, 21 June 2023

We also had an AT-AT Driver and Emo Kylo Ren, but that picture hasn't been shared yet.

Hopefully this works:

Video from Garrison Excelsior's Facebook

[Wompet[TK]]

31. Nickel City Comic Con, 30 June 2023

This con is practically in my backyard, but this is the first year that I've attended in any capacity.

A  picture with a fellow TK, honest:

This is TK-71600.  He didn't wear white that weekend, just his Groot, Mighty Thor, and a couple of Lego Batmans (Batmen?), but he did stop by to have some fun with us 

 

[Wompet[TK]]

32. Nickel City Comic Con, 1 July 2023

Day 2.

@Mordenkainen44 and me with IG-11:

Someone gave this to me as I was walking by:

[Wompet[TK]]

33. Flower City Comic Con, 17 September 2023

 

Morning group shot:

 

Afternoon group shot:

 

Not too many good pictures (I missed it when we suddenly had two Vaders staring at each other), but -

I made a friend 

[Wompet[TK]]

34. Hamilton Comic Con, 24 September 2023

34 troops as a TK, and Troop #50 overall!

 

Between scheduling conflicts and COVID, it's been four years since I got to troop this con, but the wait was worth it.

Pictures are going a little out order, but you'll see why.

Made a quick trip across the border to the Canadian Warplane Heritage museum, where the con is held.

 

Towards the end of the day, con guest Dmitrious Bistrevsky (who played Darth Vader in Kenobi) stopped by.  He had some fun with the Blast-a-Trooper (one-handed, dual-wielding, dual-wielding and joined by the Galactic Academy members ...), got a couple of patches from the Canadian Garrison, and took pictures with us.  I don't have a copy of the "normal" group photo, but here's the one he requested:

"Okay, everyone on this side is being Force-pushed, and everyone on this side is being Force-choked!"

That's me up on my tiptoes being Force-choked 

 

He followed this with "You know how Yoda trained Luke to do handstands and use the Force?"

So he proceeded to do a handstand, then handstand splits, culminating with:

 

Now the regular con pics:

Obligatory Blast-a-Trooper (with good grouping):

 

This individual complimented our mutual color scheme:

 

With a fellow Disney employee:

 

The Canadians have really nice speeder bikes:

 

Group photos inside the de Havilland Canada DHC-5A Buffalo transport plane:

TKs only:

[BAZINGA[TK]]

Super cool photos! Glad you had a good time in Canada!

 

Bart

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Those pix in the plane!!!

[Wompet[TK]]

35. Al Sigi Community Walkabout, 22 October 2023

 

[Wompet[TK]]

36. The Strong National Museum of Play - In Another Galaxy, 5 November 2023

Our biggest troop of the year, with members of 4 (or was it 5) other Garrisons joining us.  I commuted back and forth each day, so I missed the after hours shenanigans, but we all had a lot of fun during the troop too.

Group shot for the beginning of Day 2 (Day 1 I wore my Death Watch and Snowie):

Day 2 was also the 501st Troops for one of our Tie Pilots and our resident R2, so:

Pilots and Droids only!

Backstage photobombing:

Obligatory Blast-a-Trooper shot:

 

A couple of bonus pictures from Day 1:

[Wompet[TK]]

37. Maker Faire Rochester, 17 November 2023

 

An enjoyable annual troop, although I do prefer Day 2 (general public) to Day 1 (school field trip day), which this was.

Pre-troop pictures as this was @andyman97's first troop as a TK:

 

Group shoots, but something's a little different:

 

 

@Manbehindthemask on important guard duty:

 

[BAZINGA[TK]]

Were you getting grilled in that photo booth area by the young guy?

 

Bart

[Wompet[TK]]

21 hours ago, BAZINGA said:

Were you getting grilled in that photo booth area by the young guy?

 

Bart

No, he was one of the more polite ones, actually.

[Wompet[TK]]

38. Best Buddies Friendship Walk; 27 April 2024

 

My first time doing this troop (actually, this might have been everyone's first time doing this troop ...)

 

The music during the Walk itself was "walk" themed, so ...https://imgur.com/3y5MfaO

 

I met a very friendly Wookiee:

 

Post-troop photo of @tdurden, @Manbehindthemask, and myself (with the reflections of Joe and James the handler):

Edited April 28 by Wompet

[Wompet[TK]]

39. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra - Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert; 27 April 2024

A New Hope was cancelled due to Covid, and for Empire they used non-LFL approved costumers (small whoops on their part) but a few of us were on hand for last night's concert.

 

 

No other pictures - the BPO had sold out of tickets, Kleinhans Music Hall was at capacity, and we spent the two hours before the concert and all of intermission taking pictures with the concertgoers.

[Wompet[TK]]

40. May the 4th Be With You Library Event; 4 May 2024

 

This was my emergency backup May the 4th troop - we originally had three troops scheduled locally, which became two due to a scheduling conflict, which became one because it was decided to use non-Star Wars characters  for their Star Wars day (), and the last one became an issue with the weather  ...

So I travelled down to Starkiller Garrison and joined them the Erie Main Library.

 

Edited May 10 by Wompet
More photos! :)

[Wompet[TK]]

41. FLX Pop-Up Expo; 5 May 2024

 

This was a last minute troop, with confirmation coming in the night before.

What was originally going to be a private autograph signing became a very small comic show with half a dozen vendors and us.

We agreed to the invite because the guest of honor was Robin Guiver, who was a puppeteer in each of the Sequel movies, among other things.

Things were very slow, and very relaxed, so we spent most of the time socializing with everyone there and talking with Robin about puppeteering, costume-making and droids.

[Wompet[TK]]

42. Niagara Falls Comic Con; 8 June 2024

 

Another Canadian troop that's practically in my backyard that I made it to for the first time this year.

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating - the Canadian Garrison has some really nice props:

One of my three (or was it four) shifts at Blast-a-Trooper:

 

And I met Roxy!

... who just wanted some scritches

[Wompet[TK]]

43. Niagara Falls Comic Con, 9 June 2024

 

Still waiting on getting copies of the group shoot and being the target for the celebrities, but here are Femi Taylor and Paul Blake: