501St legion

So You Want To Join The Empire: Chest Protection

The last couple of weeks, I’ve discussed some of the preparations for getting stormtrooper armor up and running: measuring, accuracy, and the differences between films. This week, let’s get to putting something together. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve trimmed down a kit to individual armor components, then sanded them down. The refinement process…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 23

A Girl Was Bullied For Liking Star Wars, And Was Helped In The Best Way

Layla was being teased at school in Virginia for wearing an R2-D2 jacket and Guardians of the Galaxy shirt. After hearing about this, the local chapter of the 501st Legion, Garrison Tyranus, decided to step in and help out by issuing her a set of Stormtrooper armor. This has happened a couple of times over…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 22

So You Want To Join The Empire: Movie-Accurate Troopers

We skipped a week with this column, but this week, I want to talk about the variations in the stormtrooper costume. Not all stormtroopers are the same, and between each film, there’s minor differences that need to be taken into consideration when building your costume. I’m just thinking about Stormtroopers this week, but there’s other…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 16

So You Want To Join The Empire: The Finer Details

Last week in this series, I took a look at how you take a rough kit of plastic and bring it down to a workable pile of plastic. Rough cutting brings the vacuuformed parts into recognizable shapes, and gets you closer to the part where you begin to assemble the suit as a whole. Before…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 2

So You Want To Join The Empire: Measure Twice, Cut Once

Last week, I started a series that will look at how one goes about building a set of stormtrooper armor. At that point, I hadn’t actually gotten around to doing anything: I had a box full of rough-cast plastic parts. This week, we’re doing something with that box of plastic: cutting and trimming. https://gizmodo.com/so-you-want-to-join-the-empire-building-stormtrooper-a-1718805318 When…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jul 26

So You Want To Join The Empire: Building Stormtrooper Armor

One of my clearest memories of Star Wars was immediately after the film ended: I drove home with my dad, and thought of how cool it would be to be one of the guys in the cool white armor. Never mind that they were the bad guys – they just looked awesome. Fast-forward several years,…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jul 18

Sick Teenager Becomes A TIE Pilot In The Best Way Possible

Get your tissues out: in December 2013, Matthew Tillyer came down with severe case of pneumonia, paralyzing him from the neck down, confining him to a wheelchair. When he attended Star Wars Celebration this past spring, members of the 501st Legion took notice, and pitched in to help. When Tillyer and his family attended Star…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jun 28

Read Up On The History Of The Rebel Legion Costuming Group

You might have heard of the 501st Legion, but did you know they have a sister group which focuses entirely on the ‘Good Guys’ of Star Wars? The Rebel Legion celebrates 15 years of costuming this year, and over on the official Star Wars site, Donna Keeley, the commanding officer of the group, starts off…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jun 27

This 500-pound Darth Vader cake could feed the entire Death Star

Have you ever wondered what Darth Vader would look like if he hailed from Candyland? After building a 300-pound, Imperial-stormtrooper-shaped pastry earlier this year, the bakers at Amanda Oakleaf Cakes upped the ante and recreated Anakin Skywalker out of gâteau. This Sith dessert was served last weekend at the 501st Legion Banquet for Star Wars…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Aug 28

Meet Roxy the Rancor, the 501st Legion’s life-sized Star Wars sculpture

Star Wars Celebration VI, when thousands of people will descend upon Orlando to show off their love of all things Star Wars, is just a few weeks away, and we’re getting a few teases about the amazing projects folks have in store. Among them is this life-sized foam Rancor sponsored by the 501st Legion. Slave…

io9 Lauren Davis Aug 4

Avatar + Star Wars = oh, sweet jeebus, no

Quite a few artists have contributed to the 501st TK Helmet Project — which raises funds for the Make A Wish foundation — but Denise Vasquez’s Na’vi creation combines two things that maybe didn’t need combining. (Via Twitter)

io9 Marc Bernardin Jun 14

For The Clones: The Empire’s Imperial Service Organization

Even the Empire’s hard-fighting Stormtroopers need a little leggy encouragement from time to time. Meet the Empire’s version of the USO, the ISO: Imperial Service Organization. The Imperial Service Organization is a social network of volunteers pledging their support to the Stormtroopers, which spends a great deal of time assisting the 501st Legion. This charitable…

io9 Meredith Woerner Jun 25

What a Stormtrooper Is Made Of

Over 4,000 people around the world are part of the 501st Legion, a group of costumed stormtroopers who attend conventions and charity events en masse. What inspires them to do it? In 1997, two Star Wars fans, Albin Johnson and Tom Crews, donned their new sets of white stormtrooper armor and set off for the…

io9 AndrewLiptak Jan 26

Are Stormtroopers Making America Safe For Fascists?

They were the result of cloning a bounty hunter to create a mindless, obedient army beloved by millions… But is there a hidden dark side to the soldiers of the dark side? One blogger feels that there’s something very wrong indeed about America’s unspoken love of the Stormtrooper. Dave Lartigue, of the Dave Ex Machina…

io9 Graeme McMillan Jul 13

So You Want To Join The Empire: Chest Protection

A Girl Was Bullied For Liking Star Wars, And Was Helped In The Best Way

So You Want To Join The Empire: Movie-Accurate Troopers

So You Want To Join The Empire: The Finer Details

So You Want To Join The Empire: Measure Twice, Cut Once

So You Want To Join The Empire: Building Stormtrooper Armor

Sick Teenager Becomes A TIE Pilot In The Best Way Possible

Read Up On The History Of The Rebel Legion Costuming Group

This 500-pound Darth Vader cake could feed the entire Death Star

Meet Roxy the Rancor, the 501st Legion’s life-sized Star Wars sculpture

Avatar + Star Wars = oh, sweet jeebus, no

For The Clones: The Empire’s Imperial Service Organization

What a Stormtrooper Is Made Of

Are Stormtroopers Making America Safe For Fascists?

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