Ice Cream at Dublin Elementary

by: Tiernan

photo courtesy Tiernan

 Cotton candy, ice cream, popcorn, games, rock climbing wall and bounce houses is the way to get ready for the end of the school year.  Thanks to the PTA at Dublin Elementary School in White Lake, who hosted their annual "Ice Cream Social" fundraiser for kids and their families to enjoy.

The Rebel Legion and 501st were invited to show up at the annual PTA fundraiser including: Jedi, Tusken Raider, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett -- who packed their stuff for the afternoon trip.  Once everyone was suited up and ready to troop, a volunteer agreed to help guide us around and take a few pictures of us.  With this wonderful person at our side, it was time to trek around the party and make some kids and their parents happy and excited.

As the four of us made our way to the gym and playground, immediately people started rushing to us to take pictures, give high-fives or see if the armor was real?  A few of the children were shy at first, but later were brave enough to come visit us.  Otherwise, we could only move about the playground a few feet at a time, only to be crowded around again.  We made three stops along the way, one so that the principle could get a picture to add to his collection of school memorabilia, another inside the gym and the last for our official group picture at the fire truck.

With the eyesight of the Tusken fading quickly, our time there was over and we had to say our thank you and goodbyes for letting us make an appearance.  We packed up our cases and left, but not before having a little bit of ice cream ourselves!

With children spread out, talking shouting, running and eating candy ice cream and sugary sweets, the first thing one thinks of is hyper kids jumping up and down and getting carried away with themselves.  There were what seemed to be hundreds of children playing laughing even screaming and as respectful to a trooper while showing excitement for us Star Wars people.  We even gave a few hugs to those who wanted one. It's been one of the easiest hour-long troops I've been on and even the weather cooperated enough for troopers to be comfortable in. 

Columbus Clippers

by: Cordaroyfog

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Great Lakes Base, Ohio Garrison, and Rancor Clan spent a night at Huntington Ballpark. The Columbus Clippers hosted their second annual "Star Wars Night" -- which drew a season high 11,448 in attendance, for a fun-filled night with jedi, sith, and fireworks!  Making up for last year when Darth Vader intervened, the jedi threw out the first pitch; which got to home plate, on only one bounce.

photo courtesy: Zac Taylor

Throughout the game various jedi, sith, bounty hunters, and more took hundreds of photos with fans, many dressed up themselves as classic characters.  In between the innings, we all participated in many different activities on the field:  a couple of jedi tossed out swag from atop the dugouts, some helped judge the fan costume contest, and others supervised the legendary hotdog race.

The game went into extra innings but everyone stayed for the big fireworks finale.  Although the Clippers ended up losing 2-1 in ten innings, when the lights were shut the real party started.  Throughout the game, the Clippers had sold thousands of toy lightsabers to fans.  Later, as Huntington Park fell into darkness, the lightsabers were ignited in a scene straight out of the Geonosian arena from “Episode II: Attack of the Clones.”

After some friendly -- yet spirited -- lightsaber dueling in the dark, the fireworks died away and the evening came to a close.  The Clippers were gracious hosts, who provided food and water and excellent scheduling and support.  There have already been preliminary talks to expand the event next year, and more then a few fans inquired if we would be back, and when.

Indianapolis 500

by: Lumpy

Memorial Day Weekend, members of the Great Lakes Base joined fellow Rebel Legion and 501st members from around the country to participate in both the opening weekend of the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit at the Indiana State Museum, but also represent the museum in the Indianapolis 500 Parade.

Representing Great Lakes Base included: marcus (Tarfful), Kristilla (Rebel Pilot) and myself (Chewbacca).  Before the museum opened to the public, we got the chance to look around the exhibit hall and checkout the exhibits and displays.  Later, we got suited up for the special midnight exhibit opening -- including a visit to the Millennium Falcon Experience

Once the exhibit hall was closed for the night, we got to stay at the museum to get a bit of sleep -- before getting ready for the parade, bright and early in the morning.  While I don't believe the bus company had Wookiees in mind when they designed the busses.  That was more than made up for when Marcus and I got to ride in style for the parade!!!!  After what can only be described as a "brisk pace" for the parade, we made our way back to the museum for a group photo and some more trooping.

One of the most fun parts for me was going down for a visit during the high school band party.  The museum invited all the bands from the parade to come out and tour the exhibit, so Chewie got a chance to mingle (and maybe have a dance or 2) with the kids.

To top off my stay, the museum folks were nice enough to let me go through the Millennium Falcon Experience and the museum exhibit one more time to allow Chewbacca some extra time in his favorite transport.  Definitely a memorable experience that ranks very high on my list of great events!!!!!

Motor City Comic Con

Motor City Comic Con has become the single largest event of the year on the Great Lakes Base calendar; and there is a reason why.

How my day started should have been a clue this year’s Motor City Comic Con was going to be an adventure -- oversleeping my alarm, and setting a new speed record for shower/dressed and out the door for the “hyperspace jump” along the Ohio Turnpike up to Michigan.  After a smooth ride all the way up to Novi (just outside Detroit) the next big surprise was the line of people already waiting to get inside; a line that wrapped all the way around the convention center! 

One of the reasons for the huge crowds (event my MCCC standards) was some of the names of the guests: including Stan Lee, founder of MARVEL Comics.  The line for Stan Lee took up it’s own section of the MCCC floor.  One of the things, which have made Motor City Comic Con the biggest and the best comic convention, is their lineup of media guests. This year’s Motor City Comic Con autograph row featured an astounding 59 media guest!

Another thing that makes Motor City Comic Con a fan favorite is their ability to bring guests with a Star Wars connection; and as such we always try to make those guest feel particularly welcomed.  This year featured Stacy Haiduk (voice actor from Star Wars: The Old Republic game) and Joe Viskocil (production team on "Star Wars" and "Empire Strike Back").  Lumpy went ahead and organized to have both made official Rebel Legion “Friends of the Rebellion” -- and we sent a welcoming committee of members over to each of their tables to make the presentation; complete with their own GLB t-shirts and award plaque.

Then there are the non-Star Wars guests that we just couldn’t ignore a photo op with.  As some of you may know: both Sam Witwer and Sam Huntington from “Being Human” were inducted as Honorary Members of the Rebel Legion, by Great Lakes Base members at DragonCon; back in 2011.  What you may NOT know is that both guys had fun teasing their co-star Meaghan Rath about the fact that she wasn’t eligible for a Honorary Memberhip or “Friend of the Rebellion” -- because she’s never worked on anything Star Wars related.  So when it was announced that Meaghan was coming to Motor City, as both Witwer and Huntington had done before her -- we decided to (unofficially) adopt her as an “honorary jedi ghost” and presented her with her own GLB t-shirt and one of our exclusive GLB Challenge Coins! (my last one, in fact).  Something she can take back to the set and show off to her co-stars… who’s laughing now boys? ;)

In addition to being the busiest day of the convention weekend, day two of MCCC was also designated “Shadow Squadron Saturday” – marking the first time we had nearly the entire squadron assembled at one place for an event.  Having marched together in the Star Wars character parade through the convention floor, the Shadows went on a recon photo-op over by “the Admiral” -- as in Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama) and his son Bodi Olmos (“Hotdog”) from "Battlestar Galactica."  The Admiral was kind enough to give our squadron an inspection and joined us for some photos.

May the Force be with you... SO SAY WE ALL!

 All this excitement made for a very busy time over at the Star Wars section; where Great Lakes Base, Great Lakes Garrison, R2-Builders and Mando Mercs all had information tables, displays and costumed members available for photos; and OMG did we take a lot of photos!  At times, it was all we could do just to huddle together in small groups to give people a chance to get a picture taken… before they’d shuffle over to the next line waiting for the next photo-op with Star Wars characters.  This was FoogyOne’s first-ever Motor City Comic Con -- and really first comic convention as a costumer -- and my padawan got a “baptism by fire” in the world of comic book conventions.

There is so much more I could tell you, and all this is just from Saturday at Motor City Comic Con.  Hopefully, this give you a better idea why MCCC has become the signature convention of the year for Great Lakes Base -- and why I am already looking forward to Motor City Comic Con 2014.

Make-A-Wish Grand Rapids

by: oldbenkenobi

My wife and I arrived at the annual Make-A-Wish “Wish Ball", held in Grand Rapids, they treated us all to valet parking and a nice spread for dinner.  Shortly after dinner, we went to our dressing room and suited-up -- something like twelve costumers in all, ranging from Darth Vader, Princes Leia, three Jedi and many more.

photo courtesy oldbenkenobi

Soon after we were brought to the ballroom and waited for our “cue” to enter: Star Wars music!  When the music started, we walked in to applause as the program was in progress.  One of our Jedi walked up onto the stage where the four-year-old young man “wish” child was waiting and gave him some “jedi training.”  Minutes later, Vader’s music started and here comes the Sith Lord himself!  The lightsaber battle began, after the young man had won -- thanks in part to his recent training -- Darth Vader bowed downed to him and turned and left; the crowd went crazy and the young man was very happy!  Then we all left the room and were invited back in when the program was done.  Many asked for pictures and thanked us as we roamed around the room.  The young man and his family will be flown to Walt Disney World where he will take their Jedi Training to complete his wish.  

Thank you, Great Lakes Base and Great Lakes Garrison for another successful event!

Packrat Comics

by: Cordaroyfog

"You want to rent a movie?"

May the 4th at Packrat Comics in Hilliard, Ohio was a fantastic success!  We were told by management that their FREE COMIC BOOK DAY events has grown every year and continues to be the premier comic emporium in Columbus.  This was a great joint event between Great Lakes Base, Ohio Garrison and Rancor Clan.  For the majority of the day we had a few Jedi, Boba Fett and Stormtrooper.  In addition to us, there were countless comic characters in attendance, including some we have encountered at other events.  There was a well known Joker -- who won the costume contest, along with a 60's Batman to do battle with him, a hilariously in character (yet family friendly) Deadpool, Wonder Woman, Link, a few Doctor Who, and a “duct tape” Iron Man -- just to name a few.

GLB with Brian O'Halloran

The line was out the door and around the corner all day as Brian O'Halloran, who played Dante in the Kevin Smith classic “Clerks”, was on hand for photos and autographs.  He was the nicest guy ever and took free photos with the Star Wars characters.  I overhead that he had been there all night, the previous night for a meet and greet and they just hung out all night talking.  You really couldn't imagine a nicer guy!

GLB "Mission Report" photos -- Packrat Comics

Later, we got some extra support from members who had been over at Laughing Orge Comics and it really ended a beautiful day.  I forgot to wear sunscreen and didn't anticipate being outside in the parking lot all day -- so I paid for that later, but it was worth it. The 4th was with us indeed.

Holy Toledo Mud Hens!

photo courtesy
Toledo Mud Hens

The Toledo Mud Hens decided to celebrate “May the 4th be with you” (also known as Star Wars Day) and it’s sequel “Revenge of the 5th” by hosting a pair of Star Wars themed baseball games; including the team wearing special “Chewbacca” style baseball jerseys both days.  When news of the Mud Hens’ Star Wars baseball jerseys hit the web, opinions among baseball fans ranged from “awesome” to “wtf?” -- and you thought Star Wars costumers were picky?  The “Chewbacca” jerseys were drawing national attention to this past weekend’s home series at Fifth Third Field, where the Great Lakes Base and Ohio Garrison would be right in the middle of it!

After trooping at various Free Comic Book Day events in the morning, groups from both Rebel Legion and 501st converged on downtown Toledo by mid-afternoon.  Several of us had trooped at a much smaller event with the Mud Hens last year, so we already had a good idea of how the ballpark was setup.  Once we got geared up, we got divided into teams to cover various areas and levels of Fifth Third Field.  As a Jedi, I got assigned to “Team Chewie” -- which let me tell ya, we tease Lumpy about being a “rock star” when he’s wearing his Chewbacca costume.  However, I will be the first to admit that when you’re standing next to a 7ft tall icon of the Star Wars universe, sometimes ya just have to let Mick be Mick -- as Lumpy had a line of fans running all the way down the 3rd Base side of the ballpark. Later, our resident Wookiee took to the field to deliver the game ball to the Mud Hen’s starting pitcher.

Once the game got underway, Teams “Vader” “Chewie” and “Leia” spread out around the ballpark.  There was a photo booth setup behind home plate, but “I don’t think the Empire had wookiees in mind when they designed them, Chewie” -- so we just stepped over to the side and people were coming up for pictures all night.  As the lone Jedi that evening, I spent most of the evening dueling with kids that had lightsabers.  We were not the only ones in Star Wars costumes; many kids came to the game dressed as their favorite characters – including some homemade costumes that even impressed us!  

Unfortunately, “the Force” was not with the Mud Hens... as they lost (in 13 innings) by a score of 2-1.

For the second game in Mud Hens’ “Star Wars” home stand, we may have decided to go a bit off-script and do the things we know work at sporting events that we troop.  “Revenge of the Fifth” also happens to be Cinco de Mayo, so when Darth Vader decided he was going to wear a sombrero… how (exactly) do you tell a Sith Lord he can’t do that?  We spent more time on the concourse with fans, we posed for more pictures then even the night before and watched Leia and Chewie on the "KISS-CAM."  Later between innings, the Mud Hens’ staffers got this idea for us to go onto the field during “Harlem Shake” ... not my idea of a good time, but we survived.

The Mud Hens took a beating from the Knights by a score of 4-1.  Afterwards, we gathered the Great Lakes Base and Ohio Garrison at home plate for a group picture -- which (for the record) is the footage that aired on CNN, ESPN and NBC News’ coverage of the Mud Hens weekend!

Mud Hens marked the completion of a rare accomplishment for any Rebel Legion or 501st member, the “FOUR-PEAT” -- trooping 4 events in less then 36 hours! Three of us managed to pull off a FOUR-PEAT this past weekend, which help make “May the 4 th be with you” weekend something to remember for a long time.