SCI FI PI

There comes a time in every Sci Fi Fan's life when they take stock, have a look around at themselves, at Sci Fi, and decide just how far they are willing to go. Sometimes, the result is the purchase of a box set. Other times, a collectible figure or movie prop. And at other times, the choice between fandom and lifestyle becomes no choice at all.

The members of the 501st have made that choice - but it's not a selfish one, where they dissolve into their own fantasy. Quite the opposite in fact - it's something they are that's bigger than them - a benefit to the community at large, a celebration of the imagination, and (it seems) a heck of a lot of fun.

What, pray tell, is the fighting 501st?





Here's what they have to say for themselves:
"Since 1997, the 501st Legion has spread the magic of the Star Wars genre through its authentic-looking costumes, and has become the leading force in fan-based charity events. The 501st, also known as “Vader’s Fist,” is truly dedicated to brightening the lives and prides itself on relationships with notable beneficiaries such as the Ronald McDonald House, Toys for Tots, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation."

If you've ever seen those pictures of lots and lots (and lots) of Stormtroopers at conventions, marches, openings and charity events - now you know what to call them. Every single continent on Earth is home to them, as well as other variants from 'the Dark Side' from the entirety of the Star Wars universe. Organised into detachments and garrisons with colourful insignia, they are, oddly enough, dedicated to good, not evil.

We spoke with TK 210, Albin Johnson, the founder of the 501st, and still its worldwide leader.





What do you do as the leader of the 501st? What does your average week involve?
Average week is answering a lot of emails, talking on the phone like this with regional leaders and sometimes talking to companies that we are trying to secure sponsorship with – whether it's charities or maybe corporate sponsors. And this is all of course what I do in my free time – it's not what I do for a living. Really a lot of it is trying to maintain contact with the members because, being an internet-based club, it's really hard to feel the same level of immediate cooperation or kinship that you have in a larger fraternity where you have a lot of face-time.

But while we depend on the individual person to engender that kind of fraternity, it's hard on a worldwide level to do that regularly. So I spend a lot of time talking or emailing – trying to keep that going – and let me tell you, it can be very busy!





You have thousands of members across the globe – over 3,000 storm troopers and over 6,000 costumed crusaders.
Right, right. The storm troopers were only the beginning and people soon wanted to diversify into all the "bad guy" costumes of the Star Wars universe. But, yeah, it's worldwide. I was fielding a call at lunch today from the head of our Malaysian unit, Peter Lai, so we're constantly working to keep the world small so we can keep everybody feeling close. There is a lot of people and that's a good thing! I like a big party, don't you? It's nice doing local events but I always consider myself the guy keeping the chips and drinks going at the party so we can continue to have fun. So far so good.


Have you had much exposure or contact with the Australian members or, should I say, detachments and garrisons?
Yeah, absolutely. I wish I could say I visited personally but most of my contact face-to-face has been at the bigger conventions in California or the recent one in Japan. We currently have about 111 members in Australia and about a fourth of that in New Zealand. Most of my contact with our Aussies and Kiwis are usually over the phone and, like I said, it's a nice treat once in a while to finally get to see them face-to-face. But of course it's difficult to do. We always try to maintain at least email or phone contact with them.





One of the motivations to dress up is charity work. Which charities are you working with at the moment?
I've always tried to engender a sense of self reliance among the Units. It's a good thing because in the end people will work harder for their local community than any sort of concept of a worldwide organisation. Because of that each Unit has their own charity they tend to favour. As a club, Make-A-Wish Foundation tends to be one of our biggest partners. We dovetail nicely with their mission. We are invited all the time to "Wishes" that are hosted worldwide.

When I was in Japan, Make-A-Wish was the charity we were working with and last week I was in Phoenix, Arizona at the Make-A-Wish worldwide conference and got to meet the two international CEOs of Make-A-Wish and personally thank them for letting us work with them. So that message has been carried through pretty consistently across all the different Units who work with that charity but of course you have local charities a lot of people will partner with.





Helping out kids is not something you would ordinarily see a storm trooper do. In the film Heart of an Empire, we see that kids are thrilled by the characters and respond in surprising ways. What are some of the things kids have said to you?
Yeah, you're absolutely right. We are the last people you'd think kids would want to cuddle up to. But, it's true, these kids'll really crack you up. I'll tell you one of the funniest things that happened to me actually involved my wife who is a storm trooper as well. She wears it quite well. I've had a couple of guys not know she was a girl in the armour and were questioning her sexuality when watching her. When they found out it was a girl they were very relieved. We've been to many events with her in the armour and, even with the helmet on, there was a small child who insisted that she wanted to be hugged by the storm trooper and picked up and carried around. My wife happened to be the only one out of the entire room she zero-ed in on every time. How she knew that she gave off that "Mommy vibe" I don't know.

The kid was saying, "I love my trooper" and they don't know how to say "trooper" so sometimes they say "tooper". It's like "This is my tooper" and "I love my tooper" and that sort of thing. You hear that a lot. And for some big, tough guys who think they're a big deal in the armour can really ... it can surprise them how much these children will touch them and we've heard from more than one guy, "It's a good thing we have helmets on so kids can't see us tearing up". It is quite touching.





As you are aware, there is another organisation called The Rebel Legion who are trying to follow in your footsteps and be the rebel scum that they are. Have you had any interaction with The Rebel Legion at conventions and/or other events?

You have to have the yin with the yang and we try at every event to have The Rebel Legion there for two reasons. First of all, they are the heroes. There are kids who are going to want to see Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca and Han Solo. But also because this isn't about drawing up sides. It's about including as many people as possible. Star Wars fans are so misunderstood. Especially ones as outgoing as costumers. There is a real solidarity felt in that club, so whenever we can we try to welcome them aboard and in most cases people have a membership in both clubs so it's not really an issue.





This is an interesting point. It does take a certain kind of person to dress up and go outside and say "This is who I am" and they are probably far braver than the rest of those who don't! What do you think is that little step between someone who is a Star Wars fan and someone who is proudly out there wearing their costume?
Ummm... sanity. Ha ha ha. There really is a marked difference in the personality and what you want to get out of the Star Wars experience. Most of the people in our group are in the same generation – 38-year-olds who grew up as children collecting the toys – and I think for most people wanting to do the costumes they fully digested the collecting experience and the viewing experience. They want to wear that skin and feel like they own a piece of that universe, without sounding a little outlandish. These are people who have a costuming background and are comfortable with it or, like myself, it was something brand new but I felt comfortable because of that safety net the helmet and the mask allows you to have. Of course, not all costumes have that. You'll find that most of the people who start in the 501st desperately want to feel a piece of that experience and they're willing to do it as long as they have that safety net to begin with.

I'll also point out that this hobby really does attract very outgoing people, very imaginative people. The outgoing part is sort of contradictory to the stereotype would be. You would think most people who are Star Wars fans live in their mother's basement and would not be incredibly sociable. I think the club has actually accelerated people's attraction to the costuming because now, as was intended, you have a sort of fraternity where people as a secondary market want to get involved and be a part of that. As my wife jokes about the fan community: if all the geeks of Star Wars were in a high school, the storm troopers would be the football players and we are envied by the rest of the fan community because we get to do all the cool stuff, we look cool, we get all the attention, we get all the girls, right and... um... I really think there is a clique value to being part of that group. And that is really the whole reason I started the club.

I hated going to conventions and not knowing anybody and I thought, like the Masons, how cool would it be to be half way around the world and bump into someone from your club and instantly have something to talk about and never meet a stranger. I think that's a big draw now. It wasn't at the beginning and now it's a big draw to be a family, have a home.





You obviously need specialists to make the mouldings on the costumes. How much does it cost? Do you need several versions of the costume to keep you going?
Well, if we're talking about just the white TK armour – we call it TK because that's what it was called back in '77 in the original movie – let's just limit the question to just that for the sake of time. Buying the costume can be anywhere from US$500 to $1,500 depending on which maker or how much detail is put into it. And then of course you have to buy the shoes and underbody suit which could be an extra US$100 or $200 dollars. You could end up spending – and I'm not talking the cost of moulds and the cost of building the vacuum-form machines and cutting and assembling the kits – but if you're just buying the costume you could end up spending US$700 to $2,000 depending on how much time and money you want to put into it.

Normally you can get everything in one kit except for the gloves, the undersuit and the shoes. You'll find people in the trade comparing the different moulds because different people have a different take on how they sculpt the armour from the movies. You have everything from armour effects , which is the less expensive armour and probably the least accurate but very serviceable and very good looking, that most people in our group wear. But then you have the higher end, select armour makers that make it a lot more accurate and a lot more time goes into the making. Just depends on what flavour you want to go with.





Are there any more expensive costumes than those of the Stormtroopers?
Definitely Darth Vader. You really are hitting the upper echelon when you have a Vader costume. I've never owned one just because at 5'8" it's ridiculous for me to wear one. He he. No matter how big the stilts were. But if you have a Vader in any local unit, that brings a huge prestige value to your group. So you'll have guys put literally thousands of dollars into these costumes to get them perfect and painted and crafted just right. I would say that is probably the most expensive and popular costume we have in the club.


Watching the film Heart of an Empire I was fascinated by how many trials and tribulations that you had been through. Was watching the film very difficult for you? Or did you see it more as a celebration of your life?
I obviously felt it was ultimately a celebration. My ultimate test was whether or not it did Katie's memory some dignity. If I felt like it was exploited – and you've got to remember that I really didn't know what the end product would look like – I trusted Jay but Jay was careful to distance our friendship once the project began for sake of objectivity. My primary misgiving with watching the film was how self conscious I felt. I don't really consider myself some sort of inspirational leader or anything but that is apparently how I'm seen. And that serves the club well. I'm happy to operate in that fashion but any time I see something that focuses on me I get self conscious because I want to it be more about the club, the people.

You know how it is, a lot of cults or followings or groups are – cult's a strong word – I would say any fraternity of sorts tends to fall under its own weight when it becomes about one person. I don't like to make a big deal about myself and I wish the film had focused more on "characters" but I understand why he did what he did. He needed a protagonist to relate to. My personal opinion is that I'm not very impressed with the story of Albin Johnson but I am impressed by the film and I'm impressed by what Katie did. I mean, seven years old and having to deal with cancer. She's my hero and I'm glad they were able to show that.





People who haven't seen the movie wouldn't know that you are one of the only storm troopers with one leg. Have you ever done any Terminator 2 jokes on people?
Yeah, having an artificial leg has been a challenge but it has been a lot of laughs too. Not only have I done a lot of sight gags with sticking my leg into a dewback's mouth – if you don't know, a dewback is the lizard that the storm troopers rode on. Or having different creatures amputate me while in costume and having some fun over that. But it's also a lot of laughs when you're talking to attractive women, especially the stars from the Star Wars movies like Amy Allen.

You'll be in a bar or pub and pull out a knife and jab it into your foot. It makes for quite a little intro to these people. We just like to have a gag with them once in a while. I've always been real comfortable about it and that puts other people at ease. There are a lot of things in life we want to paint as tragedy but if you hold them close enough and make something out of it ... it's better to have a positive attitude about it.


The documentary, Heart of and Empire, about Albin and the 501st, is out now on DVD.





Click here to find out about your local Dark Side contingent at Terror Australis Garrison they've got Infernus Australis in South Australia, Southern Star Squad in NSW and ACT and the Redback Squad in Queensland.





Click here to fill out the application form to join to join 'Vader's Fist' - the fighting 501st!.