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Star Wars Fun Fact
Did you know? The 501st Legion, which didn’t exist in the original movies, was officially brought into Star Wars canon with Timpthy Zahn’s novel Survivor’s Quest in 2004. And, though not named in the movie, the clone troopers that went into the Jedi temple with the newly christened Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith were members of the 501st!
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— Star Wars Joke-A-Day (@StarWarsJokes) August 8, 2014
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Trivia Time!
Yesterday’s answer: Darth Vader
Today’s question: Who told Han, “Put that thing away or you’re going to get us all killed!”?
Force Feature: Ode to the 501st Legion: Fearless Imperial Crusaders
If you haven’t heard of the 501st Legion before, you’re in for a treat. And if you have, you may not know some of the history behind it, so there’ll be a treat here for you, too.
The 501st is the “World’s Definitive Imperial Costuming Organization,” and if you’ve ever seen Stormtroopers on parade, at conventions, in hospitals and at fundraising events, you’ve seen the 501st. They exist to promote interest in Star Wars, to contribute to their communities via fundraising and charity work, and to facilitate the use of costumes. As they put it, “Some fans are content to collect action figures…other fans want to be action figures.”
I had my first encounter with the 501st without actually realizing it. It was the Granite State Comic Con (GraniteCon for short), and got a photo with my then three-year-old son with Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper, and a member of the Emperor’s Royal Guard. This was back in 2006, and they were just THERE, super-fans of Star Wars, and my son and I were just blown-away delighted.
It’s a similar experience to what happened when Albin Johnson first put on a Stormtrooper costume back in 1997. He was psyched for the Special Edition release of The Empire Strikes Back, and to celebrate, he asked the manager of the local movie theater if he could show up in costume. Here’s how Albin describes it, from his post on the Birth of the 501st Legion at StarWars.com:
Only two weeks earlier I’d found an item impossible to find at the time: a full set of Stormtrooper armor. Star Wars was coming back in full fever and I was recovering from losing my leg in a car accident. So my impulse buy came from both a renewed fandom and a need to get back into the world after a year in a wheelchair. I figured if I can’t look normal walking around with a metal leg, what could it hurt to walk around as a Stormtrooper?
Naturally, moviegoers were shocked and delighted to meet a real-life Stormtrooper. There were even more excited when Albin’s friend Tom joined the fun for the Return of the Jedi re-release. Two Stormtroopers! And not only was it exciting, they actually commanded the respect you’d accord Stormtroopers if they were real…as opposed to when people were a little too casual when Albin was by himself.
From these humble beginnings, the 501st has grown to nearly 7,000 active members on five continents. I got to spend a brief bit of time with the members who showed up for Boston Comic Con last week, including Phil Maiewski, the XO of the New England Garrison and a contributor/co-host of the Order 66 Podcast. I can’t even begin to explain the sheer delight people got from being around members in full costume, like they’d stepped off the set of the movie. And me, too. Forget all the movie and TV stars at the event, my biggest thrill was the pic my younger son snapped of me with a Biker Scout.
In partnership with their counterparts from Alderaan Base, the Rebel Legion costuming group for New England, they also set up a life-sized garbage smasher scene for attendees to crawl into, and a life-sized action figure card to pose against, all in the name of raising funds for Shriners Hospital for Children. That’s one of 40 organizations listed on their website, 501st.com, for which they’ve raised funds, and there’s bound to be many more at the local level they’ve done good work for, too.
I can’t say enough about how awesome these men and women are. Putting their fandom to work for charitable causes is such a brilliant and beautiful thing to do, and I wanted to take an episode here to celebrate them and the good work they do.