SWC19 SWC22 Costume/cosplay thread

Well I know Anovos became quite the punching line of jokes in the cosplayer community. Part of the reason was they would announce something, take money and then the long wait would begin. Out of the blue Anovos would decide to cancel the item and give the customers store credit. However a lot of the cosplayers didn’t want store credit, they wanted their money back. There was nothing Anovos had that they wanted except for the item they ordered and that Anovos cancelled. The customer themselves didn’t cancel. Some got rude customer service, some spent months trying to resolve the situation, I know some did actually get refunds in the end but Anovos’s reputation was already ruined by then.

The quality, if the item ever arrived, couldn’t be denied but cosplayers started to warn each other and newcomers as much as possible to be wary. A lot of people didn’t want to take the chance of spending that kind of money for nothing and I guess in the end it took its toll. Can’t say I’m surprised. More surprised it took this long actually

 

@Padme501st, I saw online recently something about Disney wanting the 501st to purchase their armor through licensed vendors in the future. Do you know anything about that?

 

What @Obi Anne says is true. We aren’t required to buy our armor or uniforms through Disney approved vendors however all our merch has to go through their people. We have already been limited in the amount of merch we are allowed to make a year and now we are limited in where we can get it. Bad thing is, a lot of garrisons uses vendors who give us great deals but may be lesser known, and we have use them for years. We are expecting a huge price increasing which will limit the amount of merch most members will get as all merch is entirely members founded. All groups are entirely non profit

 

This is BAD for fans! wonder if you make your own armor? do you have to "report in" on your own costumes? This is truly "imperialistic". Does this mean the Garrisons have to submit a "report' on new people joining? I heard Anovos was an armor making-costume making business who is now in trouble with fans, these people are approved by Disney for outfits. How much power does Disney have over the clubs? Do they know how much power fans really have, we are not weak geeks!

 

Well our costumes do have to be approved but they are approved at club level, not Lucasfilm or Disney. That’s why each group has their own regulations and standards. So that isn’t changing. And there is plenty of other (cheaper) vendors making armor, probably just less general public known. The merch that is being regulated is our club shirts, coins, patches, banners etc. So anything that promotes our groups. Which we found dumb because we are essentially promoting Lucasfilm as well as a charity organization.

So anytime you go to a con and see anyone whether 501st, Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, Saber Guild etc and they are wearing a shirt that says one of those club names with their own name and a breast cancer logo, that specific shirt was picked from a vendor who would do decent quality in a bulk quantity where that member was able to pay for the shirt and also make a donation to breast cancer research while also it being like $60 not $100.

Now, with the new rule, those same clubs will have to go through the Lucasfilm/Disney companies who will charge much higher and where not as many members will be able to afford to buy them and/or we won’t be able to use them as ways to raise money for charities. Or if we did, we won’t raise as much money because the cost will eat into the money raised more than in the past.

And even when it’s items that we don’t use for charities like a banner. You go to a con and see a Rebel Legion banner at their booth. Who pays for that? Members. They are non profit. Members have to pitch in money together to get stuff to get the club’s name out so communities will call them to raise money for charities. And when those clubs can’t pick vendors they know (or friends/family that can give them a discount) because they are FORCED to use a pricier vendor that is approved by Lucasfilm/Disney it’s going to put an even bigger strain on members’ finances. Members already spend hundreds, even thousands in costumes to represent Lucasfilm for charities. It’s kind of leaving a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth. Good thing is, most have stuff already, but to recruit new members it makes it rough.

 

Padme, thanks so much for clarifying this! It seems like ,mainly, Disney would like the elimination of the clubs in the name of $$$! I have great respect for the clubs and their efforts. The "Lucasfilm-Disney designation is a courtesy name in which, as I see, is only representing Disney, Do you know how much influence Disney has on Cele.s content, influence with Reed? This is a matter of control-not good. But... We are the fans-beware!

 

Thank you Obi Anne!Disney should not doubt the intelligence of fans. The big clubs are respecting LFL I suppose but what did you mean about restricting the activities and areas of trooping and charity activities? I hope LFL is not bowing to the Disney agenda, The clubs make a lot of adults and children happy in their times of need, all on their own time! I thought LFL, in the past had recognized the efforts. this sounds sort of degrading of the clubs efforts,but by who? both Disney and LFL? Is LFL now a puppet of Disney? The fans are not puppets though.

 

Not to take away from what @Obi Anne may be saying but on the 501st end, we are having to be more selective about what events we dress up at and what we do there because of Lucasfilm telling us. There’s always been proper conduct rules of course, but they have become stricter. For example at a Lucasfilm approved event, troopers do not dance (even if music is playing). It is not trooper behavior. And that really means all of us. And nowadays most of our events except for cons are Lucasfilm approved. So that means like in the past a trooper could have done a silly dance to make kids laugh, nothing inappropriate of course, now we are not allowed. Those are Lucasfilm rules given to our command and then passed down to garrisons. I’m sure Rebel Legion has similar rules coming from Lucasfilm.

Also there seems to be a general consensus among the groups that the whole issue with ReedPop balking at giving each group space for their own events etc at Celebration really came from Lucasfilm themselves no longer wanting to deal with 5 separate groups and instead wanting 1 leadership that encompasses all 5 groups. Which is where a lot of this Galactic Senate stuff the groups are dealing with now is coming into play.

 

I wonder if eventually the costuming standards will be passed down in a similar way as some of these rules are. I'm just beginning to inquire about joining the Rebel Legion and Saber Guild in my area, so it'll be interesting to get involved while all of these changes are taking place.

 

These stricter rules of conduct are very strange, esp. if they were OK in the past! that's why I'm asking about Disney infiltration of the clubs. troops need to be friendly and in the case of 501st, make children smile and feel at ease around them. and esp. if the troops are visiting hospitals where children are already feeling down. dancing troops are fun! What are some of the approved-disapproved events now? Is it really Lucasfilm behind this or Disney?Disney could be using Lucasfilm designate as a cover to make their rules sound"friendly and "official". Has anyone tried to contact LFL about these changes?

 

Lucasfilm contacts command. Command accepts it so we don’t say anything. Honestly Lucasfilm reserves the right to pull all this stuff away so we do our best to not rock the boat. It is their playground after all. We just play in it

 

Yup. Honestly, it's pretty awesome that Lucasfilm didn't shut down these fan groups when they first formed. They certainly could have. I think it's pretty clear the benefits they get with basically free advertising for their brand, but I don't think that was obvious in the beginning. The added restrictions aren't cool, but it is what it is.

 

But, "way back then' George supported the groups and they happily accepted whatever he said. Now, it sounds like someone else is calling the shots, and not a friendly one at that! they want control, they want money, maybe next, a fee for joining a group may be in the plans! back ground checks! a loyalty contract! Disney is pulling the strings sadly to say. I remember when everyone was happy and having fun, When I found the clubs all lined up, it seemed in a row, the joy didn't seem to be there! seemed to be an air of apprehension.

 

You have to remember, Disney isn’t the only different variable. George isn’t over Lucasfilm anymore and I’m not saying this is Kathleen’s doing. We have also lost Mary Franklin to ReedPop as she used to be in charge of marketing and events for Lucasfilm and Steve Sansweet stepped down as head of fan relations in 2011. He was there when these clubs started. There’s many many more people who used to be at Lucasfilm who have now gone and this isn’t Disney’s fault or Kathleen’s, it’s just life. People change careers, people move on, and other people come in and some of the new people may come up with a way to streamline an idea for a reason we don’t know and all we see is the bottom line result.

 

There's no need to worry about stuff that hasn't even been talked about happening.

 

Yes, it is sad that the founders have moved on to other things and that is a part of life, What is Kathleen doing now? I heard Disney blamed her for something,Solo failing to make a gob of money? I did not hear that full story. But, we as fans are not employed by Disney or LFL. it may be up to us to carry the flame into the future.well, the younger fans! It may be up to the fans to never forget, George, the Force, Jedi, Sith, Expanded Universe(I love it!) the original movies. I have had an idea to celebrate Star Wars since we bought our little 6 acres, I clear a space, make it flat, construct a frame,apply lights, as in Rope lights and for Christmas, spell out, "Merry Christmas and May The Force Be with you" in lights so that it can be seen from the air!, another that I've been thinking of is, "It's Star Wars, by George", in lights. that would be pleasant, don't you think?

 

That does sound like a cute idea

 

That does sound nice.

And don't worry about Kathleen being blamed for Solo's box office. Obviously none of us can speak to what is said behind the scenes, but publically at least Bob Iger has taken the hit for that, saying it was his call to keep Solo in May (Kathleen and LFL wanted to delay until December) as he thought Mary Poppins would be more profitable in December. He's openly said he made a mistake. As far as I'm aware no one was unhappy with the actual movie, just disappointed with the box office.

 

I have issues with Alden being cast as Solo and having the Summa-Verminoth in it but good movie over all and surprised it didn't do better.

 

Extremely poor marketing and a poor release date killed Solo, not the quality of the film.

 

Thank you for clarifying this info! and yes, I will try to make the Star Wars sky art!

 

Well with the Celebration announcement I have a lot more motivation to get a Jedi costume in order to be able to join Rebel Legion and/or Saber Guild. I definitely want to get involved and be active in time for Celebration now.

I wonder if the Disney licensed costumes being sold at GE will qualify for approval. I know it's a bit of a shortcut, but who's counting anyway. I also wonder if I can use the same costume to join both groups. That would be quite convenient. I'll inquire to the heads of both groups about those things shortly.

 

I thought you had to make the costumes yourself.in the past, the clubs were very picky about construction.