Here’s one for the ‘quite probably taking fandom phenomenon way too seriously’ bin:
Suppose tomorrow the Bush administration announces plans to deploy thousands of Homeland Security Troops to American cities, to walk the streets armed in the search for un-American, possibly terrorist activities (such as taking photos where there isn’t anything obviously pretty to be taking a photo of, being overly swarthy, videotaping cops and Homeland Security Troops, etc). These guys would only be answerable to the DHS, and they would be recruited from the likes of Blackwater, Wackenhut, and so forth.
Obviously there would be some outrage, yeah? I mean, not as much as there should be, but a lot of folks wouldn’t care for this at all.
Now imagine that these troops are outfitted exactly like Stormtroopers from Star Wars.
All I have to say is that the 501st bothers me a hell of a lot less than the Jediism crowd. Thoughts, true believers? (via)
Excuse me, I have to go find my jaw as I believe it fell off when I read that blog…
Seriously, that is not what the 501st is about. Its about their dedication to recreating the movie. Its about having a group of people to hangout with. And why are Stormtroopers so popular? Because they look like they came from the movie, not like the guy dressed as Obi-Wan who looks nothing like McGregor or Guiness. Even a casual fan is amused by how realistic they look.
Clearly a case of Just Doesn’t Get It.
“What percentage of geeks would declare that this was awesome?”
Uh, well, I would…. :)
But I agree with orangerful, the fact that stormtroopers are “bad guys” doesn’t really make them more popular, it’s just that it’s a lot easier to pull off a spot-on stormtrooper than a spot-on Jedi. The R2 builders are pretty popular too…
Next up: “Are R2 units softening up America for 24/7 surveillance?”
But I suppose he makes a good point about keeping in mind that a lot of the “good guys” of the prequels will ultimately become the “bad guys”……… you can’t just sort of truncate the prequel saga to end when Anakin reports Palpatine to Mace Windu………. but at the same time, the fact that they’ll eventually go bad doesn’t mean they’re bad already, so I think it’s OK to root for Anakin so long as he’s in his right mind.
I love how Civil War-esque the Clone Wars are. Which I guess makes Palpatine Lincoln.
while i know quite a few good people who are in the 501st and know of all the good works they do for their communities, i do wonder what makes a person want to dress up like a fictional evil empire’s elite(?) faceless soldier, named after the elite soldiers of the Third Reich.
what is odd is that i know some people who were general SW fans … and they seemed somewhat different after they decided to get armor and join the 501st. or maybe they just started socializing with their armored brethren more and the general SW fans less.