Peregrinus

I'm getting everything staged to start this build, myself. Wanted to offer what I've gleaned from reading the novel, and bounce what I see off you folks. • Phasma's armor differences are hers and hers alone. The altered greaves are because she's taller than standard, and like that. Her helmet is also a one-off, being a prototype design General Hux the elder rejected, but that she preferred. Cardinal is (for his life prior to and through most of the book) a party-line-toeing, perfect-paragon First Order Stormtrooper. He wears the standard approved armor and helmet. Just in red. • Regarding which, I'm going with RustOleum's gloss paint-and-primer "Cardinal Red". The captured Resistance spy spits blood on his boot and notices in passing her blood and the boot are different shades of red. • Even more relevant to the boots... The promo poster cuts off just below the knees. But the agent's spat blood hits "plastoid". Hence, to my mind, armor. So I'm doing my build with Phasma-style three-piece boot armor (in red) over black boots. • He jabs his blaster in the agent's back several times, one-handed. This seems more in keeping with an SE-44C than an F-11. Between that, his training role aboard-ship, events late in the story where he takes a blaster rifle off a rack, and the poster art, I'm going with he has his sidearm, but normally doesn't go around carrying a rifle. And yes, per book description and others' mentions above, the casing is gloss red instead of white. I would have an F-11 as optional, and in standard black-and-white. • Just specifically pointing out that the palms of his gloves are red instead of the standard white, also. • Lastly, the cape. Both book cover and poster show it off the opposite shoulder as Phasma's. I am a little curious at how people are seeing the cape trim. From the instant I picked the book up in the book store the weekend it came out to right now, I see that stripe as a warm medium gray -- not maroon. Oh -- and an additional thing. There are two more images floating around out there so far. One of Phasma and Cardinal in a firefight, and one (posted upthread) a close-up of him holding his helmet under his arm. Both of these are unofficial fan-art. Good, but not to be viewed as reference sources. I had been accumulating to build a heavy-weapons trooper. Then this book came out. I'm glad now that I ran into delays.

Also, remember the ROTJ EE-3 for Boba costumers. Those have twelve lengths of T-track around the barrel. --Jonah

Having just re-read the book, the only description I can find is on pages 15-16: "[...] dark charcoal gray and black. The color was much like their old matte-black Katarn pattern plates, but there the similarity ended; everything about the shape, from helmet to chest plate to greaves, was just that bit different." I am tracking down the cover artist to ask what his guidance/directive was. I also have an e-mail out to Karen to ask what she was going from/envisioned. From the description of the colours, it sounds like the scheme of the Clone Shadow Troopers. In the book, the (surviving, non-deserter) ARC Troopers, Republic Commandos, and regular troops with spec-ops aptitude were organized into the spec-ops arm of the 501st. Makes me wonder what the rest of the newly-christened Imperial Stormtrooper Corps did for spec-ops -- if anything -- if Vader's legion got all of the commando-trained troopers... From the wording -- "just that bit different" -- it seems to me that it's close to what the previous RC armour was, and not what the later Storm Commando armour would be, which is quite different. And "just that bit different" is what I see on the cover (minus the colouring issues), So... *shrug* --Jonah

The majority of my armour, in the midst of final sanding and planishing: This is eventually going to be my "movie-standard" Fenn Shysa -- i.e., using the ESB Boba colours as a starting point, rather than the poorly-coloured Marvel comics (for the one panel he was in with the green armour, in flashback). That way I can obfuscate any mistakes I've made with paint. Sort of a custom, since I'm not doing it accurate to the erroneous comic colours. My second one will be partially blackened, but largely unpainted, and incorporate lessons learned on this one. Yes, I do have a couple of Nerf dart-shooters as weapon bases in my arsenal (along with a bunch of other movie-based blasters), but following the spirit of the amended rule for such -- obliterating all "nerfiness", and altering the lines enough that it takes two-and-a-half glances to realize that's what it used to be. One is a larger, SAW-type blaster intended as a sort of big brother to the original Supertrooper uzi-blaster. The other is a modular carbine intended as a later model from the folks who made the EE-3. There are pieces of a Longshot, a Recon, and a Raider mixed in there, plus a lot of epoxy putty, some wood, PVC pipe, and so forth. For those who decry Nerf guns as weapons bases, how many Original Trilogy blasters were practically unaltered real-world firearms, that many moviegoers spotted as such in an instant? I have very high standards (part of what has taken me so long, in conjunction with finances and resources at only slightly above nil), regardless of film-accurate or idealized or custom. But comparing the practice of custom versions of Star Wars costumes to the practice of making more movie-accurate costumes (to say nothing of the anal-retentive absolute recreation of the actual film props, warts and all) is not even apples and oranges. More like... apples and celery. Maybe the same phylum, but waaaaaaaay different. Moving on... --Jonah

Swell... Guess I'll have to go back and re-read, but that would be one more area where Karen's take clashes with already-established canon (not counting the forced retcons that have happened more recently). At this point, Imperial Stormtroopers are still wearing either the Phase II kit or the so-called "Phase III" gear we see in the early Kashyyyk scenes of TFU. And, as closely as she worked with the RepCom game people to get the look right in her earlier books, I find it odd that her description would clash so wildly with what's on the cover. So, I believe you, but you'll forgive me if I hold off until I've re-verified this myself...? --Jonah

Having not yet played, I will yield to anyone who knows better, but what I had taken away from those shots was an earlier version of the Capitol Guards -- the garrison force on Imperial Center who evolved from the Coruscant Guard (later Coruscant Shocktroopers)... the guys Luke and Lando dressed up as in Shadows of the Empire. Thing to remember, though, is that TFU2 is currently an Infinities story, possibly EU at best, unlike the G-canon that the first game enjoys, so I don't know how much stock I'd put in anything shown in there as far as how it relates to the "prime" SW universe. --Jonah

Having been to CIII in Indy, the area around the convention center is practically shoulder-to-shoulder with good places to eat, but the convention center itself... Some was the staff, certainly, but some also was the building. It was too small for that con, and they've been bigger and bigger since. Something about the place always felt claustrophobic, except for the larger exhibit halls. The lack of windows really got to me. And on the crowd-control side... "bloody shambles" comes to mind. The "fan-club-only" line was a good three-hour wait, cuz two people at a time could get past the pass-checkers at the single set of double doors. Please, no more Indy. Not for a Star Wars Celebration. I am apparantly one of the minority that liked Los Angeles. Yeah, pickings right around the convention center are still sparse, but they're in the midst of urban-renewing the bejeezus out of that area. There was more there in '07 than there had been the last time I was there in '01 -- and I expect there to be more still if we're there in '13 or whatever. All that said, my vote for the next one is for Seattle. Partly to balance out the alternating coast thing, partly because I am (justifiably, I think) proud of our convention center and amenities, and partly because I wouldn't have to get a plane ticket. Increases the options for what LFL brings up to exhibit, as it's a fairly short drive up from San Rafael. --Jonah

Yup. Precision of language is everything. Imperial Commandos are the next stage of evolution from Republic Commandos, and later evolved further into the Storm Commandos. Properly, the terms should not be used interchangably between the different costumes (just as the Shadow Scout is not a Storm Commando and vice versa). If the cover's anything to go by, in the Imperial Commando novel, Darman and Niner are wearing this: My personal take on the guys shown in this thread is that they're where the armour was at a decade and a half later -- just as the Stormtroopers in The Force Unleashed had helmets transitional between Phase II Clonetroopers and the Stormtroopers we all know and love from the Original Trilogy. And, if any weight can still be granted the EU, sometime after Episode IV, (pre-defection) Crix Madine developed them further into the Storm Commandos you referenced above. --Jonah

Oh, absolutely in. Words cannot express how much I would love one of these, Brian. As much as it was Gerge's idea being played out on that cinema screen, it was the results of the work you and Liz and Ralph and John did that burned itself so indelibly in my mind, and elevated what could have been trite to something epic. --Jonah

What is in that last pic? With the blue paint... --Jonah

It's one of the big questions in costuming that each person has to resolve for themselves -- accurate to the real item, or accurate to how it appeared on-screen. Star Trek costuming gives me fits because of that. I try to find a balance between the two, so it looks right(ish) in person, but also right(ish) in photographs. I aim for white-white with my Imperial armour, though. A little more eggshell-y for Republic-era stuff, though -- and less shiny. --Jonah

Yup. --Jonah

Alas, when the writers are against you, you have no chance. --Jonah

Consider yourself noogied. *chuckle* --Jonah

Me, I say "421" after it. And at least I did say what I thought it "stood" for -- an abbreviation of "Tarkin", signifying his personal forces. i.e., It isn't an initial for anything. As for the rest... The thing is, if you join the 501st with, say, a Biker Scout, you don't have a TKID -- you have a TBID. You only get the "TK" if you get a Stormtrooper costume approved. And if you have multiple costumes, you have multiple prefixes, depending on what you're wearing at the moment. I'd personally rather have one prefix, regardless of what costume I'm wearing -- and maybe only have it change if I change Garrisons, or have it set by declaring a preference form some Detachment or other (such as all the Royal Guards or all the Shadow Stormtroopers). *shrug* --Jonah

Problem there is what if someone moves, and their new garrison already has someone with that number? We're okay for the next few years, but then we'll go over 10,000 members and either have to add a digit, or find some way to start a second run of four-digit numbers or something... But yes, I love the idea of the prefix being a garrison identifier. If it could be made to work. --Jonah

Nah. No problems. Just tossing out an alternate viewpoint. Since EU material currently says the 501st are all Jango clones, and Praji and Jir aren't, I posit the boarding party isn't all 501st. I also think that, although 501st are present, other ships from Vader's squadron deployed troops to Cloud City as well. And I know the Hoth assault was 501st. I'm saying that Vader isn't in direct command, despite often leading the troops. Anakin was a General. Vader is higher in the CoC. That's why he has Veers under him to handle the actual minutiæ of running the Legion, while Vader concentrates on the bigger picture. Paul, I imagine if the first digit is a zero, it often (but not always) would get left off for convenience -- especially in less-formal transmissions (such as chewing out a trooper for abandoning his post). That would essentially limit each Legion to ten thousand (ish) Stormtroopers. More like 9,999, if there is no xx-0000. I think adding an "oh" or "double oh" in front of a one- or two-digit number would also be a common occurrance. Here's the list of ID numbers I've found so far: AF-027 Cloud City Garrison AF-119 Cloud City Garrison DV-523 Devastator, Tantive IV boarding party DV-692 Devastator, Tantive IV boarding party KE-829 Death Star NT-311 Devastator, Tantive IV boarding party NT-757 NT-957 Death Star II RGA-972 Hoth assault force ST-103 Tatooine search team, beast-rider ST-4402 Tatooine search team TK-104 Cloud City Garrison TK-119 Death Star TK-420 Death Star TK-421 Death Star TK-577 Devastator, Tantive IV boarding party TK-875 Death Star For my own purposes, I plan to be something like "PL-xxxx (TR/TK/TX/BH/AR/CT)". Since so much is up to interpretation, that's mine. *heh* --Jonah

Depends on how "EU" you want to get. We've gotten prefixes for a lot of Stormtroopers and pilots, thanks to the card games and such. There are other matters, too... From the Beginning™: Current EU fluff says the 501st is the only Stormtrooper Legion still composed entirely of Jango clone-stock. Therefore, the troopers assaulting the Tantive IV weren't 501st. Praji and Jir are most definitely not Kiwis. The card game gives several of those Stormtroopers the prefix "DV". I posited that the two-letter prefix is a lot like the state abbreviations here in the U.S. -- a two-letter code indicating, in this case, the garrison/base for that unit. "DV" I assign to the star destroyer they were aboard -- the Devastator. "TK", in my thesis, is Tarkin's personal garrison that he brought with him to help fill the Death Star's ranks. Two of the pilot callsign prefixes I've seen are "DS" for the Death Star pilots and "EX" for the Executor pilots. I imagine those same prefixes, with the usual 'trooper number pattern after (instead of the differently-configured pilot numbers), would be applied to the 'troopers assigned specifically to the Death Star and Executor. And that the Executor's garrison is the 501st, under the overall command of General Veers (whatever other regular Army forces and Generals are aboard, Veers is in command of the Stormtroopers). This is all regardless of terrain- or environment-specific gear. With the exception of highly-trained corps of Stormtroopers who are in high demand throughout the Empire, most Stormtroopers are cross-trained to operate in a variety of environments and conditions, and have appropriate gear to assist with that. The same troops we saw storming the Rebel Base on Hoth, in cold-weather gear, might be the same troops who locked down Cloud City, in standard kit. I personally don't believe there's a company of desert-terrain Stormtroopers sitting on their butts in the bowels of their star destroyer just in case they run across a desert planet. So, by extension of all of this, everyone in the 501st should have an EX prefix (or it's pre-Executor predacessor), mostly regardless of costume. I think, since that isn't the case, that we should all come up with costume-specific and appropriate callsigns that fit some in-universe system, and the 501st ID we get is just an internal thing for club record-keeping. I've been pondering the problem looming of too many members for the 10,000 slots available in the current scheme. Thanks to the prequel-era EU stuff, we've seen longer ID numbers, of which the familiar four-digit number is the last four. The scheme there is "CC-xx/xx-xxxx". We can speculate to our hearts' content on what it all signifies, but that would free up a lot more slots, if adopted. And if we reverse the order, with the usual "TB", "TX", whatever, coming last, almost like degrees if we have multiple costumes. *heh* Long-winded way of saying, for me, "TK" is an abbreviation denoting Governor Tarkin's personal garrison. --Jonah

Did you ever get that MR CE bucket? --Jonah

I appreciate that. I really do. I'm gonna stick to my guns, though, and get the original boots used in 1976. It's worth it to me. Thank you for the offer. --Jonah

That's been a fairly low priority. My ARC Commander, Royal Guard, Jen's Biker Scout, looking for work, my custom Mando and Fenn Shysa, dealing with girlfriend health issues, and other assorted distractions have kept me from finishing them yet, but I'm in no hurry. They've served as an invaluable reference for correcting some parts of my MR CE -- all the ear mods I've seen have made no mention of the fact that the MR CE ears are too small in diameter. The process continues. --Jonah

I've bene under extreme financial straits for far longer than is comfortable or even tolerable. I've been accumulating materials, parts, supplies, paints, etc., when and where I can. Some things I'll get rolling on in subassemblies -- f'r'instance, I have my TK helmets even though I don't have the rest of the armour yet, so I'm working on them. I'll accumulate until I have enough to finish at least one piece, such as a helmet or a blaster, and stockpile the rest in the meantime. It's slow and frustrating, but the alternative is to not do anything. I'm hoping next year to be able to start saving up and plunking down for the bigger pieces -- armour kits, more accurate fabric for my Royal Guard cape, and the Stormtrooper boots I've sourced aren't a cheap item either. About $200 a pair shipped to the U.S. Worth it to me, though, for the accuracy. My story's a bit like TK_MD's, only with a longer time-scale. Sourced the parts and kits and materials I want from an impressive array of vendors and suppliers, accumulating small stuff, saving up for the big things. I also like to do as much of the work as I can myself, so I prefer parts and kits over finished pieces. Basically, I lack a machine shop or casting/forming equipment, so I'll do almost anything that doesn't involve those techniques -- although sometimes I do take a shortcut, such as ordering a completed neckseal or underbelt from someone on here instead of sewing it myself. --Jonah

No one was watching as Han, Chewie, Ben, and the droids got off the Falcon and up to the docking bay control room. For whatever reason Luke stayed behind. Maybe he was making sure the Stormtroopers and scanner techs were tied up tight and stowed in the smuggling compartments. Maybe it was the plan to get the others in place and then feign the bad transmitter to get the control room officer to open the door. *shrug* Either way, the droids went in after Han and Chewie cleared the room, Luke brought up the rear and closed the door. It's up to you to figure out why the docking bay and the corridors immediately around it were mostly deserted after the ship landed and was given a once over. --Jonah

Absolutely I'll be there. --Jonah

Well... The ears are supposed to be larger diameter, and flatter to the helmet, and other minor cosmetic fixes, but yeah, the MRCE is pretty good. --Jonah