Yeah, it doesn’t sound quite as good as “I was a teenage werewolf” but it was a lot of fun.  A short while back cable network Spike TV had the exclusive rights to air the Star Wars saga.  They came up with some great promotional ideas too.  Maybe you saw some of the billboards and bus ads.  My fave was the one that had an image of armored vader (I hate that I have to specify ARMORED there) with the caption “A guy can only be called ‘Annie’ so many times before he snaps.”  Awesome.

They also made a series of four television ads.  There was Vader playing golf, an angry Ewok in the park, Boba Fett at a business conference, and this one, Tusken Raiders at the office.

Out of the four spots, the Boba and the Tuskens were played by 501st members, myself included.  I’m the main Tusken getting chewed out in the spot.  Lucasfilm contacted our 501st garrison asking for these particular costumes and I answered the call.  There was an approval process with them and we were on our way.  The date for the shoot jumped around a bit as these things are want to do but I was able to wrangle my schedule to be a part of it.

The Tusken shoot was short but Boba really got a long workout.  His day was quite lengthy.  The best part happened when crew members started pulling out cameras and asking for photos with all of us.  Pretty soon it was as busy as any 501st trooping event!

I’ve since modified my prequel Tusken costume a bit but I’m proud to have this version recorded for posterity.

It’s most likely the last Master Replicas Star Wars product to hit the market and it’s also one of the most affordable. This stormtrooper helmet, dubbed by some the CE, is a UK exclusive but there are plenty of folks bringing them over to this side of the pond. Originally a Play.com exclusive, you can now find these on Ebay as well as sites like redfordfilms. Is it worth the hundred-or-so dollars it’s going for? Well it depends. Check out my review.

In this tutorial, I explain how I don my Star Wars stormtrooper armor and fight for the forces of the dark side. My armor is what is commonly referred to as “FX” armor. It originated as a fan sculpt, so it’s not all that accurate, but it’s a good size for us larger troopers. I’m 6′-3″ and 220 lbs. so I don’t think I’ll be able to squeeze into the more accurate TE2, AP, or TM suits, even though I own a TM helmet that I bust out from time to time. The original stormtroopers were purportedly around 5′-11″ and 165 lbs. or so. Of course they made up for their stature with giant seventies fros. Check it out in the book “The Making of Star Wars.”

I should also note that while the assembly method presented in the video works very well for me, there are about as many ways to dress a stormtrooper as there are troopers to be dressed. Online tutorials (like this one) have helped spread the info, but when it comes down to it you just have to do what you can to make your armor fit your body.

In the future, we plan to do several armor mod tutorials including one specifically for sandtroopers, the dirty brethren of the 501st legion. Until then, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the video!