What made you want to do a TK?

[jmgordon7]

My friend has a brother and boyfriend that are stomtroopers, and she told me about the 501st about a year ago. I was 17 at the time, so I couldn't join. Stormtroopers have always been my favorite figures of the Star Wars universe, and hopefully I'll be able to afford to make the armor soon. I can't imagine being able to troop as a stormtrooper (they look badass), and give back to the community and attend all the conventions and events. It sounds like a blast.

[Smitty]

TK's are mean and clean no other reasons are needed and they help kids to boot. Plus I wanna play in the local costume events. Definitely going to a bar in mine next Halloween. Its a redneck joint so I could prolly get cleared ahead of time for the blaster. There's a sign out front that says please unload all guns before entering building. Just kidding.

[dougefresh]

I saw Star Wars when I was 4 years old, and I kid you not, I walked out of the theatre knowing every character's name, and reciting lengthy chunks of dialogue verbatim.

My parents wigged out.

They used to have me play show pony for their friends at parties and soccer games, having me rattle off all the exchanges between Han and Luke, giving quotes from Darth Vader, etc.

Apparently, having a skinny, 50-pound 4-year-old tell you that their Big Wheel can make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs was pretty entertaining to adults.

 

From there, my obsession just snowballed.

I collected the toys, saw all the movies a million times, and spent countless hours and hours playing Star Wars with my friends... probably just like a lot of you guys.

 

I distinctly remember having heated, drawn-out debates with my buddies at school about how much cooler I thought the Stromtroopers were than all the regular favorites; Boba Fett, Chewbacca, et al. I'd get genuinely fired about it. I remember being absolutely furious on many ocassions; burning with fervant, blinding, little-kid indignation every time some smart=a$$ busted out, "Oh yeah? Well if they're so awesome, wiseguy, how come they die so easy?"

 

Man, that one always burned me.

(And still does a little, to tell you the truth. )

 

Anyway, when it came time to pick toys, I jumped for the stormtrooper every time.

(Okay-- maybe a Biker Scout every once in awhile, but don't tell anybody. )

 

When I got a little older, I really started getting into art, and the TK allure just got that much stronger.

I used to drive my Mom nuts everytime we went to the Mall. I would ditch her and my sister and go hide in B. Dalton bookstore for hours, ducking behind the bookcases to look at Ralph McQuarrie's TK drawings while they went into conniptions looking for me. Something about his paintings and drawings really resonated with me in general, but the image of the TK hit home extra hard. I can't explain it, but from the moment they breached the Tantive IV, the icon was seered into my brain. And to this day, I argue that the Stormtrooper and Vader are certainly the two most powerful pieces of Design EVER in cinema. More than Kubrick's 2001, more than Bela Lugosi as Dracula, more than Lon Chaney as Frakenstein, whatever.

 

I'd argue that the influence on pop-culture made by Star Wars is on par with anything in the last 50-years-- Warhol, The Beatles, you name it. And I'm completely genuine in that belief.

 

I mean, just about everyone I know in my generation can identify the lightsaber or Darth Vader by sound *alone*. That's insane! Maybe it's superficial, or ridiculous, but that kind of mass cultural recognition is a pretty profound phenomenon.

 

And maybe it's cheesy, and makes me a total wacko, but that's the only word I can use to describe what Star Wars meant to me; it had a *profound* influence on just about my entire childhood, if for no other other reason than the hours and hours of sheer joy I had pretending I was a Trooper, or Han Solo, or Luke.

 

As lame as it may be to cite a movie as a life-shaping experience, I really do feel that way, if I'm honest with myself.

 

I think Star Wars inspired me to be creative.

Which in turn, inspired me to play in a band for 10 years.

Which later inspired me to get my degree in English Writing, which later inspired me to switch gears and start a career in graphic design.

Which ultimately put a little money in my pocket....

 

And this Halloween, the company I work for co-sponsored a charity costume party for Make-A-Wish.

And the theme was "Hooray for Hollywood", and we had to pick a movie to dress up as.

 

Without thinking, all 13 of us yelled, "Star Wars!"

And just like when I was little, I scrambled to blurt out, "I get to be a Stormtrooper" before anyone else.

 

I'm 32 years old now, and it shocked me to hear myself being that excited about it.

I just had to laugh.

Nothing had changed.

Nothin'!

 

I got an FX kit off eBay, and when the parcel showed up at my house, and I saw that helmet in the box, I got the same thrill that I did when I was 4 years old.

It was an absolutely hilarious, surreal, embarrassing, wonderful experience.

 

Here I was, a supposedly grown man, completely FREAKING OUT that I finally had a chance to do something I've wanted to do ever since I was a little kid.

 

I dunno... I just thought it was so cool that no matter how old I've gotten, and how jaded, cynical, whatever-- that I was still capable of that kind of crazy, innocent, completely un-self-aware joy. Just for a minute, I got to be that goofy little kid in the theatre, bouncing up and down, going ape-sh*t about a bunch of white plastic.

 

Sorry for being so overwrought and long-winded about it.... the moment just got away from me, I guess.

Which I suppose, is kind of the point.

[kiyotei[TK]]

I was in 6th grade when ANH hit the theaters and I was blown away. I never had any SW toys, mom thought I was too old for them. Over the years I would occasionally check the internet for a trooper suit. This past year I came across the 501st and the armor. Finally I could justify the price of armor. My dad loves Darth Vader so I may talk him into buying one and I could build it for him. Would be cool.