Why do we do this? New beginnings. Please read me!

When I opened my e-mail today there was yet another piece of mail from locokarma, the future squad leader of our local Arkansas 501st Group.

I know that he posted an open letter "olive branch" of peace between Star Wars fans here in Arkansas. There have been some misunderstandings in the past but,
most of those have been resolved to a satisfactory degree. I know from the 501st site that there is no intention or desire to push us, as a Fan Force, out of
the picture of costuming in our state.

We're a small, spread-out state with a fairly decent core group of costumers. While we are shifting our focus towards more fan-forcey stuff...we are not going
to go out of the costume business as not everyone wants to join the 501st or Rebel Legion. I have been assured and given the green light to invite the Fan Force
to any 501st event that doesn't have some kind of Canon restrictions (for example the Rose Bowl Parade)...

I want each of you to know that if I had to choose between any of the groups I belong to then I'm going to to choose the Fan Force, but I don't see that being
a problem. As locokarma said in his open letter...if you have a problem with a 501st member being rude or anything else to you...let either locokarma or myself
know. If you have a problem with a member of Rebel Legion, let me know.

With all of that being said...I'm posting a copy of a letter written by a member of the 501st (with permission): those of you who are 501st have already seen it
but, I would like everyone to read this and think about what it says... It's not about which group is getting credit for the event or what kind of media comes out
or how many times you get your photo in the newspaper... We need to get past any differences we have with each other and realize the difference we make when we don't
even know we're doing it.

Star Wars has something to do with everything....and that is making kids smile (and a lot of adults enjoy us as well) You never know how your going to impact
somebody's life just by being somewhere in your costume and we need to all be more aware of that.

To those of us out there who don't costume: As you read this...think about how you might want to get into it, if only once and a while. I'm not trying to force costuming on anyone... I just want everyone to realize This is why we do this....

Hey, troops,

Recently, I encountered something that truly made me realize one of the main reasons I--and probably many others of you as well--really enjoy doing what we do. I thought it was a great story, and wanted to share it with the Legion; I know most of us have had similiar experiences at one point or another in our trooping careers, but it still makes you feel good to hear something like this!

Last weekend, I attended MarsCon, a small relax-a-con in Williamsburg VA, with members of Garrison Tyranus and the Tidewater Alliance. One of the things we did at the con was test-run a scaled-down version of the Droid Hunt. MarsCon did a great job promoting the Hunt on their website/program, so much so that (in spite of bad weather keeping attenedance down), we had people lined up at our table ready for badges and eager to play, even before the official hand-out time began. One of these participants was a young man who looked to be about 8 or so--he was so excited he could hardly keep still, and was telling everyone who would listen about how much he loved Star Wars and how he couldn't wait to "play" with "real" stormtroopers. He also mentioned that he hoped he'd win the prize (I had gotten a Titanium Die-Cast Spiderman figure), so that he could give it to his brother who loved Spiderman.

The Hunt began, and this young man was our most enthusiastic player, clearly having the time of his life. Whenever our troopers "found" his Droid Badge, he'd be back at the table to get another so he could continue playing. He also would come running in to tell us where we could find other players who had badges, and we affectionately nicknamed him our "Bothan spy." Our troopers participating in th

One thing, above all others mentioned, about doing the costuming makes it enjoyable for me (beyond just that I am a Star Wars geek, of course) and that's the following:

Seeing the eyes of a room full of children light up at the Garland County Library a little over a year ago (closer to a year and a half now, I suppose) when the first trooper(s) and eventually Darth Vader walked in was something just too amazing. They were thrilled and some were practically bouncing out of their chairs with excitement. Seeing how much fun they had at seeing their "heroes" or iconic villains famous from their favorite movies was just too cool. I took a ton of pictures of that event for the group and I got more than a few of those children. They were just enamored with what they saw.

That is the primary reason I finally went ahead and indulged my geeky interests {in costuming} and did it. And that's why I am interested, and yes a little excited too, in doing it again/more in the future.

I agree. We should all come together instead of falling apart. Any how,we all have one thing in common:



WE ALL LOVE STAR WARS!!!!!!!!!!!

Nuff Said!

Exactly.