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Star Wars Fun Fact
Did you know? There are 236 costumes for which there are approved standards. Get one right, and you too can become a member of the Rebel Legion!
Life on “Tweet”-ooine
Imperial troops escort their prisoner to a local law enforcement transport. #MWGPicOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/n9wytqZlYN
— Midwest Garrison (@501MWG) August 7, 2014
Star Wars Swag Bag
WIN THIS PRINT! Just go to our Facebook Page. Share the post with this image with your friends, and you’ll be eligible to win the 11×17 unframed Boba Fett art print, courtesy of Rob Taylor of Herofied Art! (Here are the amazing details about this print.)
The small print: The giveaway is only open to US Facebook users. This giveaway is not associated with or endorsed by Facebook. You must share this post on your own Timeline by Friday 8/22/14 at 11:59pm ET to be eligible to win. Do it!
Trivia Time!
Yesterday’s answer: Princess Leia
Today’s question: Who did Luke find hiding behind a landspeeder in Uncle Owen’s garage?
Force Feature: The Rebel Legion: The Real Good Guys
Yesterday we explored a bit of the history of the 501st Legion, and just as you’d expect from the Star Wars universe, whenever there’s an Imperial presence, a rebellion rises to meet it.
So it was that in January 2000, the Rebel Legion was born. As you might guess, they focus on the “good guy” costumes, supporting both the standards of authentic costuming and also to do it in support of a few great causes.
And when I started thinking about this and looking more deeply into the 501st, I thought to myself, “Hmmm, they have all those costuming options in the 501st, because of all the different types of Stormtroopers, and the Imperial officers and so forth. The Rebel Legion can’t have nearly as many costume options. I mean, X-wing/Y-wing/A-wing/B-wing pilots, Snowspeeder pilots maybe – it looks the same as an X-wing flight suit to a novice like me – the Rebel Commandos from Endor, and the personnel on Hoth.
Oh, how mistaken I was!
One of the things I’d been stuck on was the whole uniform thing. The Empire has uniforms down pat. Well, it’s an army and a navy, what would you expect? But some Rebels don’t wear uniforms. Actually, the big four rarely wear uniforms! Luke gets into a flight suit now and then, but you can’t call Han’s camouflage trenchcoat a uniform. Leia’s Hoth jacket is kinda uniform-y. And yet, they’re Rebels wearing costumes, so they’re eligible.
Crazy stat: In the costuming guide, Luke has 12 different costume options to choose from! I think we were all so used to him wearing the same thing for practically all of Star Wars that he couldn’t have had that many outfit changes!
The Rebel Legion’s costumes fall into Jedi, dignitaries, officers, pilots, troopers, allies, clone troopers (yes, they lay a claim on them, because they were “the good guys” at one time), and fringe characters. Like Wookies. I’m not sure I’d call that “fringe,” but what the heck, not many people can pull off a Wookie costume.
The other thing I hadn’t reckoned with is the fact that, in the movies, 99% of the Imperials and Sith are human (Darth Maul being the lone exception). Every other alien that works for the Rebels can be part of the costuming fun! The “allies” section includes some of those aliens, like Ewoks and C-3PO, but it also includes Wampas, Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Twi-leks, and more.
With nearly 5,000 members across 5 continents, I gotta say I’m happy with the fact there are so many of them! Way back in an earlier episode, I talked about the Star Wars: The Old Republic massive multiplayer online video game, and how the number of people participating as bad guys was so much higher than the number of good guys. Kinda like the movies themselves, too, I guess! But the Rebel Legion is not that far off from their partners in the 501st, and they’ve just gone through a killer website update earlier this year.
They, too, work to raise funds for charitable organizations, with more than 30 listed on their website, everything from Make-A-Wish to the Jimmy Fund, from the Red Cross to the Special Olympics.
So the next time you see a Jedi or a Rebel dignitary hanging out, show ‘em some love for what they’re doing to bring a little love and happiness into the world.