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FAQ for Stormtroopers

Page history last edited by Garand 13 years, 9 months ago

The Costume

Is it hot in there?

Yes, very.

How much did that cost?

A lot.

Can I buy that from you for $100?

Hahaha, no.

Is it hard to walk in those things?

Not if you built it right.

Can you sit down in them?

Some can, if they built their armor right. Some of our armorers have a better idea of what they're doing than others. There are actually some members that can sit cross-legged in armor. It's not terribly common though.

How do you go to the bathroom?

Depends on the armor. Most normal stormtroopers have a front flap at their crotch in case of emergencies. We also know the easiest/quickest ways in and out of them if it really comes down to it. But most of our troops know that the important lesson is to go before you put it on.

Does it hurt if you get punched in the chest/head/other physical trauma?

Sometimes. You've seen Return of the Jedi, you know how little good Stormtrooper armor does against teddy bears. A human with a good punch probably does more damage than that. It's just generally uncool.

Can you see anything in those helmets?

Usually we can see fine, especially Scout troopers. The bigger issue for the standard trooper is that they can't move their heads around as well. On top of that, we can't hear a thing in there.

Where can I get some armor?

Dig around online. Finding and assembling your armor is part of the challenge of getting your membership. You'll want to start at the 501st Legion Home Page, though.

Events

Does Lucasfilm pay you to do that?

No, we can't accept payment for legal reasons. This is a strictly volunteer, strictly self-funded hobby.

Can I hire you for a birthday party?

Well first, we can't accept payment for our services for legal reasons. When we do an event for a store, they will often compensate with a donation to charity in our name. Second, while you're welcome to submit a request on our website, most troops don't do birthday parties. You may luck out and get interest from a couple of newer troopers who don't know better yet.

Why not?

There are several long and painful stories about that. The most commonly told is the one where the parents surprised the kid with Darth Vader and some stormtroopers, and the dad thought it'd be funny to tell the kid they were sending him off with the Imperials for being a bad boy. The dad then had to chase the poor kid for two blocks or so to catch him.

What events will you be at?

Scifi conventions are often a safe bet if you want to find us, but if you mean smaller events like book signings and whatnot, it can be harder to tell. If you check the 501st Legion site you can find one of your local groups (called Garrisons in our lingo), and sometimes a Garrison will list their upcoming public events on their website.

How can I get you guys out to my event?

On the 501st Legion site there's an event request form. We don't make promises: it will depend on member interest and availability, but we'll see what we can do.

The Zen of Trooping

Why do you do that?

There are a lot of reasons. Some members are just big fans of costuming. Some are just big fans of Star Wars. Some enjoy the amount of charity work we do and wanted to be involved. Some members wanted to have a connection to Lucasfilm, and some wanted our member only merchandise. And some just joined because we throw some great private parties.

No really, why do you do it?

Because goofing off in armor with good friends is a million laughs.

Should I join you?

We can't answer that. You must do what you feel is right, of course. It's a difficult hobby to be a slave to. You have to put in a lot of effort to get armor together (to be perfectly honest, the difficulty there is a nice way of building strong bonds between members and tends to keep out some of the folks who have a bad attitude about the whole thing), and it's expensive. Once you join, you get to spend the occasional weekend sweating your butt off in an uncomfortable outfit while kids whack you with plastic lightsabres and answering inane questions like "is it hot in there?" It's just plain not easy.