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A Few Good Humanoids
A talk with Albin Johnson, co-founder of the Fighting
501st Legion
RTOF: How did the 501st begin?
What was your inspiration?
ALBIN: Well, there really weren't any
other guys to begin with except my buddy Tom Crews. Basically
we started talking one day about how cool it would be to own
an actual wear-able suit of stormtrooper armor. We got worked
up over it so badly that one day Tom found an obscure listing
in a newsgroup online and we tracked it down and bought 2
suits in time to appear at the premieres of the Star
Wars Special Edition movies. We were a huge hit and had a
great time and eventually I showed off the pics on my website.
Scott MacArthur from Winnipeg, Canada found the page and
e-mailed me a cool pic of him in his armor standing next to a
lake at sunset. The photo was titled "Trooper MacArthur
patrols vacation planet Risa" or something. I liked it so much
I asked him if we could post it. When he agreed, I stared a
site called Detention Block 2551. Gradually I collected two or
three photos here and there and we started building us a
little group.
Inspiration #1: I remember as a kid flipping through the
pages of my dad's old Army-Air Corps flight school graduation
book from WWII and seeing picture after picture of cocky young
bucks with their leather jackets, flight goggles, and a
devil-may-care look in their eyes. I was in awe of my dad, one
of these pilots in the ranks of some proud fighting force. I
thought we could capture that same feeling with the
stormtroopers -- here are these guys motivated to lay down
their lives without question. Something had
to hype them up to do that. I loved the idea of being
something bigger than oneself, some corps that stood for
something and inspired others. I remember in the 2nd grade I
tried to organize a standing army from my classmates -- I
spent hours drawing up command structures, drafting enlistment
papers, working the kids for their support. I even had Susan
Blankenship agree to be our nurse. So one day I got sent to
the principal's office because they started finding all these
enlistment papers on the kids in school. They must have
thought I was some kind of nut....
I'd say that if anyone was instrumental in the beginning it
was people like Doug Barrett, Steve Hamedl, Jeff Young, Mat
Clayson, Mike Van Zweiten, and the like who simply added their
enthusiasm to the project and gave me enough support to keep
the idea running until I hit on the 'virtual military unit'
idea. Alan Isom was the one who I consulted on the hierarchy
and mechanics of the group. Once we went to DragonCon 1998 we
had enough of a face-to-face meeting to encourage me to really
kick it into high gear.
Inspiration #2: I had never been to a science fiction
convention before DragonCon 1998, just comic conventions. I
suspected from seeing all the stuff about Trekkies that they
must have a pretty tight and organized group. That prompted
two feelings in me: one, wouldn't it be cool to be a part of a
big family of fans like that at a convention, and two: why
wasn't Star Wars done it when it's obviously a
much cooler genre?
So those were the dormant seeds in my mind. They fueled the
project, but only after I'd stumbled onto the idea of creating
an online gallery of pictures for fellow stormtrooper armor
enthusiasts. It started out a dog-and-pony show with fellow
hobbyists. Then it became a network of friends. Before long
the group was begging for some identity. The rest just
followed from some half-baked ideas floating around in my
head. :)
So, okay, I'll take sole credit for starting the group. For
two years it existed only on my Geocities website and in my
fevered cheerleading sessions on the email group. I wanted a
nice round number for the unit, so the 500-range sounded good.
I figured throwing in the '1' made it seem just a little bit
more authentic. I cringed at first, because 501's were jeans,
but I really wanted something that rolled off the tongue along
with a descriptive word and 'Fighting 501st' just
sounded too good. We started out as a Squad and Scott
MacArthur designed a logo from a crude vector drawn image of a
stormtrooper upper torso. I blew the image up onto a 2' x 2'
sign that came straight from my pocket, tried to pump up the
members to meet me at DragonCon 1998, and sat in the lobby of
the Hyatt holding my pitiful sign waiting for everyone to show
up. Sean Burgess, Mike Van Zweiten, Mike Glover, Shannon
Wendlick, Steve Hamedl, Alan Isom, and Steve's cousin Gina
were the only ones there. Jeff Allen and his brother brought
their crew to the Star Wars costume contest that
Saturday night and we all shared a collective chuckle at the
sight of so many stormtroopers in one room. Then Bob Bean
strolled in as Darth Vader and we all realized how good it all
looked. We were pumped. Aside from the movies, we'd
never seen such a sight and surely not in
person! Along came a cute girl named Cheralyn dressed as
ANH Leia and we were asked if we'd escort her in to the
contest room. We did so in the only way the eight of us could
-- single-file rows on either side of her. The crowd just
about [expletive deleted] themselves as the scene from the
Tantive IV came marching into sight, Cheralyn blushing as we
all marched like we were 10 feet tall. It was truly the
beginning....
RTOF: How fast did it grow?
ALBIN: We reached a hundred members within
the first year and a half (circa 1999). By 2000 we had around
300. When the Phantom Menace came out we topped out at 800
members. And by the time Ep2 was coming up in 2002 membership
soared to 1500 members. We now have 2000+ members in our
database.
RTOF: What kind of publicity have you
received?
ALBIN: We've had articles in the
Washington Post, Star Wars Insider, and the Star
Wars fanzine Bantha Tracks, but there are numerous local
papers and television news programs as well as local radio in
LA, NY and Atlanta that I know of. Our involvement in
Celebration 2 in Indianapolis got us featured on E!
Entertainment news and other high-profile TV spots. We
presented the Star Wars car for NASCAR last year and
that was picked up by TV stations all over the country. I was
also interviewed by a Japanese radio program. And last fall
you might have seen us on the MTV special featuring kids and
their parents who embarrass them -- our spot featured a
Star Wars nut who dragged his son to Celebration 2
where he proceeded to don the trooper armor and become one of
us! Pretty cool.
RTOF: How has publicity affected the club?
ALBIN: The publicity we've received has
excited the members and given them a sense of positive
feedback for all their hard work, just as it has for me. It
shows we've arrived as a fixture in the Star Wars fan
community and that's what we want. We've also seen an
incredible surge in membership following publicity, especially
following the release of the two prequels.
RTOF: Has the publicity affected you?
ALBIN: The publicity hasn't really
affected me in any personal way. If anything, though, it has
offered some positive feedback that what we're doing is
effective and that we're getting some attention at last. I
resent a few of the local papers for misquoting me and framing
us as a bunch of geeks. I am learning a lot about the dangers
of giving interviews (like this one! :) A lot of the press can
be very sensationalistic and that's a shame. I've learned a
lot about how the press can distort the truth sometimes.
RTOF: How did charity works become a part
of the 501st?
ALBIN: Star Wars has a magic and a
spirit about it that is very evocative of the human condition.
I think it is no coincidence that our members, as Star
Wars fans, also happen to be very sensitive to the needs
of the community, especially those of children. It all began
with members being invited to children's birthday parties and
soon extended into other areas. As a club, we're always
looking to justify our existence above and beyond just
standing around looking cool -- we want to be involved in our
communities. Several imaginative members started putting out
the call for volunteers and soon it became the status quo to
troop for charities.
RTOF: What types of charity works has the
501st been involved with?
ALBIN: Toys-for-Tots, Make-a-Wish
Foundation, Candle Lighter's Foundation to name a few. (See a
partial list at the end of the interview.)
RTOF: How do adults react to the
501st when they see you at events? Children?
ALBIN: Most adults of my generation, those
who grew up with Star Wars, instantly recognize the
costumes and their inner child takes over. They get very
excited to see us. Older adults think of us as just harmless
power rangers and tolerate us as long as we're entertaining to
the kids. The kids are our biggest fans, and we love that.
They squeal with excitement wherever we appear. They want to
hold our blasters, they collect autographs of all our
troopers' TK numbers, they ask us to take their friends
prisoner. It's great.
RTOF: The 501st originated with
troopers but now encompasses all manner of Imperials and
bounty hunters. What was the decision behind that?
ALBIN: Well, I started out as a big
stormtrooper fan. When the website went up, more and more
stormtroopers appeared and that was our focus. But variety is
the spice of life, as they say. Lucas had imagined a whole
host of variations on the theme and our members took to it.
First came the desert troopers and they looked great with
their field packs and pauldrons. Then the TIE pilots showed up
once in a while and no one could deny the appeal of a black
trooper in flight gear at events - it was different. It wasn't
long before we realized we had the potential for a massive
theme - the entire Imperial military. But who could deny the
Bounty Hunters and the denizens of the Empire such as Jawas
and Tusken Raiders? The identity of our club was centered
around an imaginary military unit, so the natural borders were
extended as far as we could justify and that excluded 'good
guy' costumes. Thankfully, the Rebel Legion was formed to
provide a home for Rebel scum :)
RTOF: How has the 501st changed
your life?
ALBIN: The most profound effect the
501st has had on me personally has been to
demonstrate how much people can accomplish when they work
together. I am totally blown away by the runaway success of
this club and the effect it's had on peoples' lives. Ordinary
people who stand ten feet tall in their armor and make a real
difference in the lives of Star Wars fans all over the
world. It's beautiful.
On a more mundane note, the club has really kept me busy.
Scary busy. I answer hundreds of emails from all over the
world every week, take calls from Garrison Commanders and
Squad Leaders, produce promotional materials, and help work on
the administrative functions of the club on a daily basis. It
really hit home when I picked up the phone one day and it was
Anthony Daniels! You know your club has arrived when C-3P0's
voice greets you on the phone.
RTOF: What's the coolest thing that's
happened to you because of the 501st?
ALBIN: Meeting the celebrities from the
Star Wars films, inducting them as Honorary Members and
taking many of them out to dinner. We try and do that at every
event. For me, it's saying thank you to people who helped make
my childhood a happy and imaginative one.
RTOF: What's the worst?
ALBIN: Being called a number of things by
bystanders who don't get what we're about. We've been called
neo-nazi fascists who hide behind our helmets and celebrate
the de-personalization of people. We were even compared to the
KKK for our white uniforms and masks. That kind of cynicism
and ignorance just makes you shake your head.
RTOF: What's the most difficult challenge
you face with the 501st?
ALBIN: The sheer act of mobilizing
volunteers and convincing them to sweat and toil in public for
the entertainment of the masses would seem to be the biggest
challenge, but it's not. Our members are all hardcore fans and
very eager to work. The biggest challenge is to open doors
where we can make a difference. Many children's hospitals and
charities at first don't understand who we are and what we can
contribute to the community. But we're quickly proving our
worth by brightening every corner of the galaxy. Our portfolio
of recommendation letters is growing every month!
RTOF: What's the enduring appeal of the
501st?
ALBIN: The initial appeal is the magical
world of Star Wars, obviously. Our costumes are
professional-grade and when people wear them they feel the
connection to that universe. But as one settles into the
hobby, the thing that keeps our members around long after the
plastic loses its initial appeal is the incredible sense of
fraternity and shared community we all feel. Life-long
friendships are forged in this club and there's no denying
it's a tight family now. A member of the 501st can
go anywhere in the world to a Star Wars convention and
almost be guaranteed that they'll have brothers and sisters
there ready to welcome them and make them feel at home. It's a
beautiful thing.
For more information on the 501st
The Fighting 501st Legion
of Stormtroopers
REVELATIONS would like to especially thank members of the
following garrisons for their support
Garrison Tyrannus
Garrison
Carida
Empire City
Garrison
Carolina
Garrison
Just a few of the many hospitals and facilities visited by
members of the 501st:
- Silver Lining Foundation Ranch, Children's Cancer Unit -
Aspen, CO
- St. Christopher's Hospital for Children - Philadelphia,
PA
- Eggleston Children's Hospital - Atlanta, GA
- Duke Children's Hospital - Durham, NC
- James W. Riley Children's Hospital - Indianapolis, IN
- Shriner's Hospital - Philadelphia, PA
- St. Christopher Childrens Hospital - Philadelphia, PA
- Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA
- Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
- Children's Hospital - Orange County, CA
- Children's Hospital - San Diego, CA
- Ronald McDonald House - Cinnaminson, NJ
Some of the many charities and events supported by members
of the 501st:
- Charity Premiere of Episode II - Boston, MA; San
Francisco, CA; New York, NY; Toronto, Canada; Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia and the after party at Dave &
Busters w/ Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch and
Kenny Baker
- Children's Aid Society Pre-Showing Event of Ep2, Harlem,
NY - May 2002
- Children's Aid Society Pre-Screening Charity Event of
Ep2 for Kids and Families of 9/11 at the Tribeca Film
Festival, Manhattan, NY - May 2002
- The national Toys for Tots Drive, most notably Atlanta,
GA - Dec 2000, 2001; Tucson, AZ - Dec 2001; Lowell, MA - Dec
2001
- Local toy and coat drives, including Seattle, WA - Dec
2001; Sacramento, CA - Dec 2001
- Salvation Army bell ringers, Lakewood, CO & Seattle,
WA - Dec 2001
- ASK Picnic (Association for the Support of Children with
Cancer), Richmond, VA - 2001, 2002
- September 11th Disaster Relief Fund - collectively
donated $3000
- 2002 MS Walk for the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, Georgia
- City of Hope's Pediatric Cancer Survivors Picnic,
Southern California - June 2000, 2001, 2002
- Anime Expo's Fundraising Booth for City of Hope's
Children's Center, Southern California - June 2001, 2002
- Toronto Beaches Easter Parade - Toronto, Canada - April
2000, 2001
- Benefit Dinner for Matty Lindburgh, Wyoming RI - May
2002
- NY Parks Department Annual Children's Halloween Costume
Party @ Central Park, Manhattan, NY - October 1999
- St.Vincent's Hospital Star Wars Party for
Starlight Children's Fdn., Manhattan, NY - April 2000
- Youth Basketball League for disabled children, charity
event, Brooklyn, NY - December 2000
- Star Wars NYC Charity Dinner with Jeremy Bulloch
@ Mars 2112, Manhattan, NY - October 2001
- Star Wars NYC Charity Dinner w/Peter Mayhew and
Richard LeParmentier @ Mars 2112, Manhattan, NY - November
2001
- Brooklyn Museum of Art "Brooklyn Ball 2002" Charity
Gala, Brooklyn, NY - April 2002
- NASDAQ Opening For the Children's Aid Society,
Manhattan, NY - May 2002
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