BAZINGA

Oh nice to see someone else from Badlands. Welcome! Where are you located? Bart

Excellent! Congrats on your first troop! The first one you will always remember. Bart

One of my regular trooping buddies, and the only other TK in the city I live in, is female. We have a good time! Bart

I think we need some video of the dancing! Bart

That's very cool! Bart

That's an amazing first troop! Congrats on this one and the many more to come! Bart

Another take on this is to just have each month feature 3 or 4 members in their separate photos. A lot less editing work required. But I would also be fine with a group selecting just 12 photos of 12 members and having that calendar too. Bart

I'd like to buy that if one was ready for 2025. Bart

Happy New Year! Bart

That would be awesome for sure! Hope someday it can happen here! Bart

Merry Christmas everyone! It has been quite the ride for me in this adventure thus far! Bart

Congratulations! Bart

Troop 13 and 14 : Christmas troops December 16 and 17, 2023 in support of the Pattison Children's Hospital. Yet another "bonus" troop for me because it is a three hour drive with usually bad weather but we are still without any snow here and most days above freezing temperatures so away I went! I really hadn't done much in the way of planning for this one as I was sure it would be a bust for me. This will be the last troop of 2023 and we have nothing coming up now for at least a couple months, but you never know when that may change and perhaps make possible another bonus troop for me this winter. I wouldn't have guessed I'd ever manage to get into this armor 14 different times in my first year. I was expecting five at best! This one was in a busy mall and we had just about a non-stop line for photos once things got rolling. They were both half day events but the second day we ran past the time we expected to be finished because there were still so many people in line and we wanted to do our best for the charity. Everyone sucked it up and got it done. Initially I wasn't sure if I would feel okay with breaking character and outfitting myself with a candy cane blaster and Christmas lights, but the cause was worth it and we have so much fun together that in the end I didn't mind. And, it was nice not to haul around a heavy blaster all day and just swing a light candy cane instead. It also made for a great way to poke the other members in the photobooth to see if they would react. There are always stories and my best one this time was a little girl who took my hand and was trying to lead me away. I may still be lost if I hadn't had to get back to work as this was repeated five different times each time she saw me again. There was also a little guy who probably wasn't a year old yet who would not take his eyes off me in the photo area to look at the camera so I had to step out so they could get a good picture with everyone else with him looking at the camera. Usually that age they just scream when they see me! I liked this angle because it klnda looked off-worldly like and because earlier when I was standing there by myself I apparently gave one if the mall security guys a mild heart attack. He was just arriving for his shift and looked up to see a stormtrooper looking down on him. I guess he wasn't expecting that! Always fun to hang out with Obi-wan. He told me he likes interactions with me best because (most times) I play the part to entertain the people: We seem to be not to sure about that Jawa... keeping our distance just to be safe: Our mando family. The kids are in the Galactic Academy and next year dad is working on all new costumes for them: Not very often I get to troop with @wook1138 which is treat. He provided the last round of Q&A for weeks while I was determining if I was going to pull the trigger on buying the armor. Now I just need to get him in his TK armor. I would still love to have more of us in it at the same time: Usually @GilesWoodward and I are never in costume at the same time so it was nice to work the crowd together as we patrolled the area. Once again, when us TKs arrive on the scene we attract the people. We try not to let it go to our heads (at least not too much): At the end of it all this cane just was too short to be of any use to my sore back and legs after standing so much: And that is a wrap for 2023! I learned a ton this past year and not once did it ever get boring wearing that armor. Exact opposite really. I even have the dressing part mostly tweaked now that I am almost able to fully get into it without any help (mostly need a set of eyes for the final check) and the icomm mic gets sitting in the proper position finally. If I could do it all without my glasses I'd slap the hardhat headgear back in for the final comfort fit, but even if it does take me five minutes to screw on that helmet around my glasses it fits darn well when it does get on and I have very good sight lines. Just keep those kids away from the first couple feet in front and it's all good! A number of reels made by one of our members: (1) Facebook (1) Facebook (2) Facebook Bart

Excellent! Appears there were a lot of troops happening this past weekend! Bart

Wow! So many TKs I love it all! Bart

Way-to-go on troop number 1 !! Bart

Congratulations on number 1 !!! Bart

I was going to wait on the fans and icomm but ended up doing it right away and was happy I did. Especially the fans. Bart

Troop 12 : Collectimania in Regina December 3, 2023. Supporting, along with the Grinch, the Carmichael community outreach. This is another "bonus" troop for 2023 thanks to the unusually mild fall we have been experiencing making driving to these much easier. This one was just two hours away and just a one day, afternoon event. Unfortunately neither we, nor the grinch, was put in a traffic area so we didn't see many people at our booth. We also were low in numbers and no handlers so we took turns in both rolls that afternoon. With not much traffic we spent a lot of the time wandering the vendor floor, the lobby and the concession to see what fun we could make for ourselves. Probably the best interaction this time was when a mando and myself attempted to score some free food at the concession from a young guy who was working there. No, we weren't seriously looking for free food, but that's how we attempted to shake him down. His co-workers loved it because this poor guy had no idea what a shakedown even was which made it even better as we tried to imply to him what it was going to take to get us to go away and it just was not clicking. Come to the collecting show and stay for the mania: I don't look very festive with the tree. I can't even wrap my bucket around the idea that Christmas is just three weeks away. I tried to check my armor at the coat check: You can put your hands down. I'm not here to rob you: This dude was trying to steal Christmas so we took action: Hey, that's me! I'm not sure if there will be any more bonus troops for a while now. While there is a Christmas one scheduled in a couple weeks it's the one that is three hours from me and even if there is not much snow now that can change in an instant this time of year. I also anticipate that by February next year I may be in line for the cataract surgery that I need as a result of the retina surgery complications back in January and I think with the timing of that, with both eyes now needing to be done now, plus needing new eye-glasses when it is all over I will be grounded for a month or more unable to even drive. Time will tell. Bart

Congratulations! Bart

Take it easy out there! Need a different boot option for those of us who must deal with winter! Bart

double post

We're quite a bit colder than that most times by the end of November. There is a potential troop next Sunday and while it is indoors there might be an opportunity to be outside for part of it and I'm wondering if I could stand it for any length of time. Bart

How cold is cold? I'm not sure I could handle anything outdoors in winter here. Bart