[02] TK-73692 (MaskedVengeance) Troop Log - [Social Media Consent]

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

 

Well folks, I'm finally upgrading my Kitting-Up Not-A-Troop Log, replacing it with this Field Training Exercise log. Did it really take me nine months after approval to get to my first event? Yup. Had I tried to attend troops during that time? You bet. In each instance—the St. Paddy's Day parade, a minor league hockey game, a Rogue One screening, and Dragon Con—travel arrangements were foiled due to family needs or just pure dumb luck. But that's in the past, so let's do this!

 

This first post will serve as a Table of Contents linking to actual trooping entries.

 

1. 21 October 2023 | Chattanooga Comic Con | Midsouth Garrison, Mos Nooga Squad | ANH-S
2. 11 February 2024 | Atlanta Brick Con | Georgia Garrison | ANH-S (LEGO)

 

Total Count: 2

 

Breakdown

ANH-S: 2

 

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

#1.

Event: Chattanooga Comic Con

Date: Saturday, 21 October, 2023

Host unit: Midsouth Garrison, Mos Nooga Squad

Kit: ANH-Stunt

 

The day started out with my daughter's soccer game followed by our small town's Fall Festival, and due to the presence of bouncy-house inflatables, it looked like I might not event make it to the convention. We made a last-minute decision to bring the entire family so we rushed home, dressed up my 4YO, then made the 30-minute drive into the city. Not only was this my first ever troop, but it was also my first ever convention to attend in general, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. After picking up our badges we found our way to the Legions area, where I met the city's local unit, the Mos Nooga Squad of the Midsouth Garrison (TN), for the first time. Note that I live across the state line in GA and am a member of the Venator Squad of its Garrison. So yes, this first official troop wasn't even with my own Garrison.

 

Making our way to the changing room, my wife helped me kit up (only the third time she'd ever seen me as a TK), and at one point the spitting image (face, hair, glasses, etc.) of Iron Man waddled through the dressing area. Catching sight of my daughter, he exclaimed "Earth is closed," to a young Vader. We should have nabbed a picture with him.

 

 

 

 

After 30-45 minutes of dressing due to disassembled armor for transport, I headed out onto the con floor for Blast-A-Trooper. Apparently there had been a TK there earlier in the day (his FX kit made it onto the news lol), but the squad was short on hard armor, so they were eager to have me. I heckled the nerf shooters with galactic jargon, and probably used "move along" far too many times. Unfortunately, no photos were taken, but since the nerf rounds had rounded tips rather than suction tips, none of them stuck to me anyway. Some kids had a blast.

 

After a bit I decided to walk the con floor to drum up some additional Blast-A-Trooper attention, but was quickly and continually stopped by children and adults alike wanting photos. Apparently my area is short on TKs, with the local squad only have 10 squad members to begin with. The convention hall next door was hosting an IFBB body building competition, and while I was in the corridor one of the contestants exclaimed that getting a photo with me was really why he was there. 

 

 

 

 

While roaming around I ran into Scout @Pugs501, from my actual Squad, in her Jawa, and it was a cool moment of meeting for the first time after interacting online for 2+ years. Needless to say I felt extremely short. Scout also introduced me to Ashe of Bad Ashe Design, and we educated her on the green lenses of TK buckets after I explained that I couldn't tell the color of any of her pins and stickers for sale. I also spotted Jorge's @zv288bot meilooruns, but unfortunately he wasn't going to make the con until the next day, and with his Chopper too! Bummed I missed them.

 

     

 

 

On our way back to the Legion area I called out "Hello there!" to James Arnold Taylor, who immediately ran out from behind his table to engage my daughter. I wonder how often he's heard a "Hello there" from a TK in full kit with voice amp. Haha. Though she's never seen any Star Wars on screen other than Young Jedi Adventures, she held her own in the conversation, and JAT was quite gracious. We ended with me telling him "You can go about your business" to which he responded "Move along, move along." I was giddy.

 

Ironically, we did also find the droid I was looking for, and had to snag a photo. Pic or it didn't happen right? The pesky goldie still seems to be illusive...

 

 

 

Back at the Legion corner I had to get some photos with the hover tank that had previously made an appearance at ICCC Nashville. Apparently the Mercs bought it off the builder, and if I'd have had more time I would have climbed up onto it, and maybe even poked out of the hatch. Next time.

 

 

     

 

 

Finally, before heading home I made one last patrol down the celebrity row and saw that Emily Swallow had nobody in line so I approached and greeted her. Really I just wanted to welcome her to town and thank her, but I was a bit star struck and bumbled through my words. Haha. I even forgot to tell her "This is the way" when ending our conversation. Do I even Star Wars?!?!

 

So in review:

• First official troop
• Blast-A-Trooper
• Escorted mini Vader daughter
• Finally met Scout
• "Hello there" with Obi-Wan (JAT)
• Met Emily Swallow

 

All in all I had a pretty good time. The clubs booth with a bit disorganized, and most members were in racing shirts rather than kits, but perhaps 3:00pm was too late in the day. I'm not sure if I'll go to the next cons in January and February, but I definitely want to get in on some charity action, and some troops with my own Georgia Garrison! But I have one in the books, and I can now fill out my census!

[jsilvius[Staff]]

Congratulations!

Sent from my SM-N981U1 using Tapatalk

[BAZINGA[TK]]

Number one!  Right on!  Congrats! My first was a con too so sort of got thrown into the deep end!  Sounds like you had an awesome time and I love reading the story to go along with the photos!

 

Bart

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Dank farrik that's quite a first troop!!! Could any possible other first event even begin to compare? I seriously doubt it.

 

Congrats on breaking in that armor at long last!

[zv288bot[TK]]

Stay away from my meilooruns!! Sorry I missed you brother! Next time!!

 

 

 

 

[Nairy[Staff]]

Congratulations Caleb! Wow that was a great first troop! And saying hello to people that was very recently in our beloved galaxy far far away must have been so good! Did you meet the arch enemy of troopers: the STAIRS? 

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

7 minutes ago, Nairy said:

Congratulations Caleb! Wow that was a great first troop! And saying hello to people that was very recently in our beloved galaxy far far away must have been so good! Did you meet the arch enemy of troopers: the STAIRS? 

The con actually hosted quite a few Star Wars voice actors (Anna Graves and Vanessa Marshall in addition to James Arnold Taylor), which was surprising for a city the size as mine, and a convention that's not even the largest of the year. But I totally bumbled it with Emily Swallow. Haha.

 

And no, no stairs that day, but I had already navigated some earlier in the week and did quite fine. I think my height is beneficial in such cases.

[Sly11[Admin]]

Congratulations Caleb, you will never forget your first troop.

Here's to many, many more.

[Morgi[Staff]]

 

You did it!!  

 

Congratulations on your first troop, Caleb! That one looks fantastic 

 

 

I really hope I'll get to troop with you soon.

 

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

#2.

Event: Atlanta Brick Con

Date: Sunday, 11 February, 2024

Host unit: Georgia Garrison

Kit: ANH-Stunt (LEGO)

 

I recently doubled my official troop count at a LEGO convention in Atlanta, and I'm finally recording it here on the last day of the month (thank you leap year for the bonus day). This was an exciting event for me not only because it was a crossover of two hobbies, but it also represented my first official troop with my own garrison. I live a couple hours away from the heart of our trooping action, so I began the morning with a two hour solo drive down to Atlanta. I had convinced my closest squad member (an hour from me) to join me on the troop and we met there.

 

After months of anticipation, and assembly as I'll later explain, I was super excited to finally troop with my garrison and show off the AMAZING blaster that @revlimiter had printed. Needless to say I think it was quite a crowd-pleaser, though twice I got asked "Does that make your aim better?"  Based on the comments, kids only recognized the blaster from recent Star Wars LEGO video games, not the original 20-year-old sets, but I'm sure the many adults present felt the nostalgia.

 

It turns out that this troop was more of a photo op for us Legion members there, rather than a traditional con with a table and personal fan interactions. We were situated in a corner of the con floor dedicated to Star Wars MOCs (My Own Creation), and essentially had a line non-stop for the two hours I was there. When I first arrived we had a Vader and Jedi, but then us Devin and I took over with TK duty. Check us out!

 

 

TK-47501 & TK-73692 | Photo by James Clarke @thereallucasmccoy

 

Also, lefty grip. 

 

While at our post we came across two princesses, but unfortunately they were not the one we were looking for. Seems they were from a different star system.

 

TK-73692 & TK-47501 with @thepartypalacealabama | Photo by @bricksnaps / @thebeautifulbrick

 

 

If you hadn't already noticed, in addition to the LEGO style blaster I carried, I had made some modifications to my actual armor loadout. After all, when in LEGO Rome, you play the part! What started off as originally just constructing a LEGO thermal detonator morphed into a larger belt project. I was extremely happy with the final result, with a nearly 1:1 scale LEGO replica of the normal plastic belt parts! In fact, I daresay did such a good job at the reproduction that NOT A SINGLE PERSON mentioned the LEGO parts I was wearing for the entirety of the troop (other than my garrison mates who knew my plans in advance). They were booty blinded by the blaster I guess, and didn't even notice the RS style creamy white LEGO plastic against my cooler white ATA armor. Haha. In the future I'll post a separate thread to document the full extend of this LEGO belt build, but for now here is a peak. The TD has 20mm "end caps" (yay CRL) and proper dimensions over all, other than the fact that is the smaller 2" North American variant rather than the more screen accurate 68mm version. Don't worry, a larger version is in the works. 

 

 

     

 

 

At the conclusion of the photo session, I made a quick round on the con floor in civilian cloths (actually my HKG Star Destroyer racing shirt!), and snapped a few photos. This Death Star hanger was particularly impressive, and I'm bummed I didn't immediately notice all the intricate scenes shown on the outside due to my rush to get home. Otherwise I would have taken additional close-up images. My favorite is what appears to be a unit of TKs taking instructions with modeling of ANH TKs on the TV.

 

 

 

 

Of course, there were many MANY other MOCs, and I recorded a few Disney ones to show my daughters. Star Wars > other IPs.

 

          

 

 

Overall I think it was a successful troop, and I learned a lessons and have a few kit adjustments to make. I experienced some feedback with my voice system which I hadn't in the past, so I need to better dial in the volume, and perhaps add some insulation in my chest piece above my speaker (that I wear with a GoPro chest harness). I also had a shoulder bell-bicep snap failure, which is one of the only two places I have single snaps on my kit. Seems I'll be implementing at least some version of Adam's shoulder snaps solution. He goes hard with them! 

 

All-in-all, a fun troop, and one that I will plan to attend annually despite being posted at a photo booth the entire time. I'll likely modify my belt to have some exposed studs to make the LEGO fun more obvious, and perhaps even add some lettering. L E G O  T K the cartridges? Who knows, perhaps I'll continue to add LEGO armor parts to my armor and become a true LEGO TK.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

But now you have that glorious belt forever and can swap out bricks as needed. Exposed studs next time maybe? Followed by minifigs in a full on (vertical) battle!  Maybe a nice vintage Lego Town scene with the old pine trees and rainbow colored bricks. The possibilities are endless.

 

Congrats on troop 2!!! That Lego blaster really went to its best home.

[BAZINGA[TK]]

I live a three hours away from my main garrison group as well so I know the feeling of having to travel for everything. There is one local event in my city and the rest are a minimum two hour drive.  This past year I could carpool with the only other TK in my city but she is moving away this year so it's just going to be me here.

 

Bart

[dblcross[TK]]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:33 PM, MaskedVengeance said:

1. 11 February 2024 | Atlanta Brick Con | Georgia Garrison | ANH-S (LEGO)

 

And I was in Atlanta working then!