San Fran, CA USPS R2D2

USPS Celebrates Star Wars Anniversary, Droid Style


uspsjedimaster.com

R2-D2 Mailboxes Confirm Rumors

 

I believe I know where one will be unveiled VERY soon. But I don't know if we are cleared to reveal the info to the general public just yet...

(Matt, can you find out if we can announce it to Fan Force members in general?)

- Kathy

 

From what I was told, I believe we can post it after it happens "officially".

 

I just saw a snippet on the news about the mailboxes and they said the stamps will come out Mar. 28.

 

Hum, I just want to make sure our members don't miss out on something if they can be there to show support for little r2. If we can't talk about it here, at least a confidential notice to our members (similar to how GGG announces things)???

- Kathy

 

In that case, let's just ask:

Is anyone available to come to Union Square tomorrow from about 5:45 am - 7 am?

If so, call me.

 

I need to join one of these cryptic, special, secret societies you guys belong to (ie. the "Rabel Legion" or the "501st"). I feel so out of the loop sometimes. Living in wonder at that which you know and I don't. HAHA. Showing up at one of the coldest moments of the day in downtown SF I will gladly skip tho.

 

Well, it all started two days ago when James Wigdel from the USPS contacted me via Kathy about this event. I then called Bob Lai from GGG about it, and he called James.

Dale and I got to the Union Square Garage at about 5:30 am and Harry Yung was already changing. There were a couple of news vans already parked by the square. About ten minutes later, Kathy showed up. Originally, Dale was going to be Luke, but he realized he forgot parts of his boots. Luckily, I brought my TIE pilot costume as a back-up. James met us at the garage and thanked us for coming on such short notice.

The four of us walked up to the mailbox that was to be unveiled at Post & Powell Sts. Josh met us at the corner, and we were surprised to see Ed, Karen, and Sarah there as well. There were a couple of reporters from KTVU & NBC11 and KGO radio. The NBC11 reporter even recognized me from the Chabot Center exhibit from 1999! Someone from Lucasfilm or the Letterman Institute I believe was there as well.

While the cameras were waiting to go live, we took photos, and did some interviews. As the cameras rolled, Kathy was filmed placing a letter inside the R2 mailbox, recreating the famous pose of Princess Leia recording her plea for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Some of us stayed a little longer for a few more live feeds, and then it was over. We were thanked again by James and we left.

A big thanks to those GGG/SFFF/RL members who came out for this last-minute event, and at such an early call:

Ed Karl - Stormtrooper
Karen Louie - Photographer
Sarah Pugliaresi - Stormtrooper
Joshua Schisser - Imperial Officer
Kathy Skirmont - Princess Leia
Dale Tolosa - TIE Fighter Pilot
Harry Yung - Stormtrooper

Matt Tolosa - Luke Skywalker/Team Leader


So keep your VCR's and Tivo's on for the news today on KTVU and NBC11. I believe there may be coverage on their websites as well. As for the R2-D2 mailboxes, they will be about 40 throughout the Bay Area for about 3 weeks.

For more information on the R2 mailboxes go to:

www.uspsjedimaster.com


As a special thank you, the USPS will be giving all who participated a special gift!

 

Thanks for taking charge and coordinating this event Matt! I was also very impressed with the number of 501st members who were able to come out for the event. It just wouldn't have been the same without Stormtroopers!

I must say, I'm happy that our web site seems to work for these Star Wars related events. Matt and I were the first contacts for this due to our contact info being up at SFFanForce.com. Yippy! Thanks to everyone again who helped chip in to renew our domain name and get an ad free web host.

Mirtha - if you are out there - the first piece of mail put into R2 this morning was your envelope with the SFFF business cards! I'm sure GGG will have photos up soon so we can show you your christening letter. So, in a way you got to be part of the event too! I knew there was a reason I was forgetting to mail your letter

Um, I guess we may need to edit it to say I was Trash Compactor Leia. For the first time EVER one of my buns started to unravel. Totally sucks Then again, this is the first time that I ever had to get up at 2:30 in the morning to do my hair for this costume. *shrug* Something was bound to malfunction.

I had 3 stations set to record the morning and noon news. I *think* NBC and Channel 2 were 2 of those 3. I'll probably be able to burn DVDs for anyone who'd like one.

 

Um, I never noticed your buns were lopsided, Kathy. I'm sure they'll also be showing the news footage on the evening news too, as well as on their websites.

 

Dude, you are supposed to tell me these things! Not pretend you don't notice. I could have fixed it. Where are my handmaidens when I need them? Oh right, Leia doesn't have handmaidens. Just a scoundrel, walking carpet and farm boy!

 

Ah! Matt - your interview made it on to NBC! I'll see if I have energy to burn it before we go out tonight. Dale - a shot of you w/o your bucket on made it in too Gah - my goofy interview made it on as well. I'm not the eloquent SW fan.

- Kay Dee

 

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This is soooo coool. I may be tempted to ahem...borrow one

 

A friend of mine in Texas just sent me a picto my phone they took with thier phone of an R2 mail box. I guess they are out now?

 

Not sure where the rest are in the city and Bay Area, but I saw another one at 4th & Howard, by Metreon, besides the one at Post & Powell, which we unveiled this morning. Let's have our own "droid hunt" and snap pics around the Bay Area over the next 3 weeks!


Here's news from the unveiling in SoCal:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/The_501st_Welcomes_R2D2_To_The_Neighborhood_104306.asp

 

My friend took a pic of the one on Post and Powell...it's so cool looking! I have class right up the street from there, so I think I'll be getting a few photos, too

 

Some other locations in the Bay Area:

http://www.goldengategarrison.com/gallery/r2d2mailbox/sfexaminer?full=1

 

I don't think we ever posted a link to the GGG photos (I think they must have been put up later yesterday afternoon)

http://www.goldengategarrison.com/gallery/r2d2mailbox/sfexaminer?full=1

They have one video clip up. Maybe if I can get password access from Lou, I can go ahead and upload the clips I have onto our You Tube site?

- Kathy

 

Just what I was thinking, Kathy. Then the link could be sent to Mary, 501st, TF.N and RL too. Maybe send a DVD to James at USPS as well?

 

Oh, cool! I'm surprised but glad that Santa Cruz got one as well. I'd don't know how soon I can do it, but I'll try to snap a picture of the one over there at some point. I will also try to track down the one by eBay headquarters here in San Jose.

Huh. One of the articles says that that "Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and a storm trooper were on hand today at the Fairmont San Jose hotel". I wonder who this was?

 

Huh, I don't know of anyone from the San Jose besides you and I who dress as Leia! I wonder if East Bay Fan Force was contacted? If I were in charge of organizing something in San Jose, I'd only be able to think of contacting the SF Fan Force, Golden Gate Garrison (which were already contacted for the SF event) and East Bay Star Wars club (and I actually can't even find a bit of contact info for that club on their web site!)

Wonder if they just got costumes from a costume shop and had their own postal employees there? That would kind of be a shame if local fans weren't utilized?

 

I'd have a half dozen things to say here, but I won't. This is a public forum after all. Besides, they already did their fair share of talking smack already at WonderCon.

 

Don't you mean "he"?

 

I almost wonder if they just kind of worded the article incorrectly at that News site (Regarding the San Jose location). I just finished dubbing a bunch of stuff onto DVD and I can't tell you how many times they started out with "Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Stormtroopers were on hand..." I think they just used that quote and it was really referring to US in San Francisco! Let's put it this way, if a GGG stormtrooper was on hand in San Jose, I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it at the GGG boards.

Nope, I really don't think East Bay was involved. And I actually kind of don't think that the San Jose location had Luke, Leia and a stormtrooper on hand as we did in San Francisco!