Volunteer characters appear at charity events and children’s hospitals
By Scott Atkinson
MLive.com
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — They’ve been blown to smithereens on two Death Stars and may be the worst marksmen in the universe.
But for Mike Andrews and some other local “Star Wars” enthusiasts, nothing is cooler than being a stormtrooper.
“They’re not really the bad guys,” said Andrews, a Clio teacher. “They’re just doing what they’re told.”
Andrews — recently the proud owner of a new stormtrooper outfit — is looking to become one of about 6,000 “Star Wars” enthusiasts who make up the Great Lakes Garrison of the 501st Legion, dressing up as various characters for appearances at comic and movie conventions, charity events and children’s hospitals.
The 501st Legion (there aren’t 500 preceding legions — they just like the name) is a worldwide organization dedicated to promoting interest in ‘Star Wars,’ promoting costuming, and serving the community. Recently, legion members appeared at Barnes & Noble in Flint Township for a “Star Wars Reads” day, for example.
Just because they play bad guys, however, doesn’t mean they don’t have good hearts.
John Leopold, deputy public relations officer for the Great Lakes Garrison, estimates that its members have helped raise about $12 million for charity last year.
Still, the driving force behind what they do comes down to one thing: The chance to be a “Star Wars” character.
Like Andrews, Leopold has an authentic stormtrooper get-up and says the characters are the most popular outfit in the legion.
“They’re iconic,” said Leopold, 39, of Goodrich. “They just have that timeless look. It’s the man in uniform is what it boils down to. When you see a group of them together, they have that unity. They look like an army.”
He doesn’t always dress like a stormtrooper, however. He also has the outfit of General Madine and the outfit for an AT-ST driver — the guys who control the two-legged laser-firing contraptions in “Return of the Jedi.”
Sometimes it’s fun to mix it up, he said — plus, visibility is limited with a stormtrooper helmet. If there are lots of stairs where he’s going, he’ll sometimes opt for one of his alternative characters.
And not just anyone can join the 501s Legion — or at least, not just any costume.
Members of the legion special order their parts from professionals and often do much of the work themselves. Leopold said he doesn’t think there’s anyone in the legion with a store-bought costume.
“They just don’t look authentic,” he said.
And not everyone dresses up like the bad guys. There’s also the Rebel Legion, similar to the 501st, but made up of the good guys. Leopold said there’s not bad blood between the two.
Some people are members of both. Andrews said he’s thinking about making himself a Han Solo outfit for Halloween this year and becoming one of the Rebels. It would be less expensive, he
said, and besides, he already has Solo’s iconic blaster.
So where does this devotion come from?
For Andrews, 29, of Flint, it all started in the fourth grade, when he saw the characters at a comic book convention and, as he put it, “fell in love.”
Over the years he’s amassed about $13,000 worth of “Star Wars” toys and memorabilia. He said he even takes jobs roofing houses in the summer for extra money to buy “Star Wars” gear.
When still a student, he would skip class to see the new “Star Wars” movies the day they were released. Now a teacher, he said he might let a student slide for the same reason, so long as they made up the work.
He was at the 2012 Detroit ComicCon when he saw the 501st Legion, which he’d heard of before. It was the same summer he was planning on going to the Detroit Tigers Fantasy Camp--a costly endeavor family members talked him out of.
“I was like, all right, I’ll get the thing I really wanted to get, I’ll get a stormtrooper outfit,” he said.
He said he bought his outfit from an official “Star Wars” site, but to become a full member, aspiring Legionaires often have to make adjustments to their outfits — sometimes several times —before they’re deemed authentic. The colors might not be just right, or they might not fit just the right way.
Leopold’s story of joining the group was similar.
He too grew up buying toys, and was at a comic book convention about ten years ago when he saw some members of the legion.
He said he’d heard of them before, and always thought about joining and was finally at a point in his life when he had the time and money and do it. He joined shortly after the convention.
“My life’s totally changed ever since then. I’ve done over 300 events,"he said. “The galaxy far, far away is just so full of wonderful imagination.”
