“Have you heard of the 501st Legion?”

“Have you heard of the 501st Legion?”

I shook my head when Paul asked me. We were engaged at the time and tossing around ideas for our nerdy wedding reception.

“They dress up in Star Wars costumes and do events”

My eyes glazed over at this point. Daydreams of walking into our reception with an army of Stormtroopers flooded the noggin. John Williams’ score would sweep over the room while I got into a lightsaber battle with some rebel scum. C3P0 and R2D2 roam the room serving drinks. Ewoks are in the corner entertaining the kids. I win my saber fight. It would be perfect.

I made our Stormtrooper helmets from cheap toys. Read the DIY here.

In Paul’s defense, he had gone on to talk about the mission of the 501st Legion. How it is made up of volunteers who raise money for charity and help with the Make a Wish Foundation. They live up to their motto of Bad Guys Doing Good.

Paul brought my daydream into reality and we moved forward with requesting Empire characters for our reception. When we got news that our local chapter (the Garrison Titans) had a few Stormtroopers, a tie pilot, and Kylo Ren available we were stoked! Who better to walk us in than Vader’s grandson? We also had Ray which made for a nice little interaction between Kylo and her when she escorted some friends up stage.

Some of the best memories of the reception are thanks to the 501st. From having them escort us into the venue. Seeing them interacting with our guests and taking photos. Hearing about how cool they were from friends months after the event. It made us want to continue being involved with this group somehow.

Kylo’s not happy with the Storm Pooper.

I started doing some research. We went to monthly meet-n-greets and made new friends. I continued to work on my kit.

Months later I finished and was officially accepted into the 501st Legion as a Shoretrooper Captain.

Next time someone asks me if I have heard of the 501st Legion I can reply,
“yes – I’m in it”.