The premise is they are 2 troopers based out of Mos Eisley. They’ll encounter some familiar circumstances (such as the first comic below) but they’ll also be running into plenty of new characters and situations. Don’t count on a consistent time line either. Some things may happen “during” ANH (A New Hope), some things after, some things before. Though I’ll try to as much as possible my goals isn’t going to be sticking to canon storyline… just about having fun. Of course the title of the strip is my new “catch phrase” I’ve been using on here and other places, “Think Dirty.” I like it for a number of reasons, not the least of which the initials are “TD” – which is the designation for sandtroopers.

So, without further adieu here’s the first strip.

I’ve got quite a few ideas for future strips too… but if you have any ideas shoot them over to me or post them on here.

Hope you enjoy it and maybe get a chuckle out of it too!

P.S. As the strips go on I’m curious to see if anyone can guess who the two main TDs are based on. I won’t give clues here, but there will be (and already are) plenty of clues in the strip itself!

Dear Mr. Lucas,
There are reports that you’re going to be producing a live action Star Wars shows in the next couple of years.  This is incredibly exciting for me as not only a life-long Star Wars fan, but as a member of the 501st Legion because it’s said that the show is going to take place between Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV – A New Hope… in other words the glory days of the Empire.

If this is true it means lots of stormtroopers… not clone troopers (which are cool in their own right) but the good, “old fashioned,” tried and true stormtroopers I grew up loving, wanting to be, and now am one of!

My hope is that you will use this series to show more than just the “rebellions” side of things.  Show some of the stormtrooper’s point of view.  Being out in the galaxy, fighting for a cause they truly believe in, following orders that are sometimes hard to understand, but always unswerving in their loyalty… or at least torn about it when they’re not.

If you do this there’s one actor that I believe you should do all you can to get to play the part of one of these stormtroopers… Kevin McKidd!

Mr. McKidd has already played Legion member Lucius Vorenus (of Caesar’s 13th Legion) in HBO’s ROME and his acting in that — not to mention other roles I’ve loved him in such as Topsy Turvey and now Grey’s Anatomy — is exactly what could send a live action Star Wars drama through the stratosphere!

I hope that you’ll consider both focusing on a few stormtroopers — maybe even a squad — and that you’ll especially consider using Kevin McKidd as one of those!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
Noel

I realized / remembered (after looking him up on Wikipedia) that I should’ve spoken some Arabic to him.  I didn’t even think of that at the time.

I usually don’t post when and where we’re going to be, but since this is a nation wide thing I thought I’d post it on here.  Also, I can’t guarantee that there will be stormtroopers at every location listed on the Toys R Us website… but there’s a good chance there will be!

I noticed that we haven’t updated on the blog in a while.  From the looks of it, you’d think that all we’ve been doing is running around town doing community events in Noel’s Stormtrooper armor.

If that’s what you think, you’re exactly right!

All kidding aside, this (the whole Stormtrooper thing) has been such a blessing to us as a couple and new members of our community.  Noel gets to do one of his greatest loves – dressing up – and I get to do one of mine – watching him play:).  Really, I love it but I also love the things we get to experience as a result of being part of this group.

As for other news, Noel and I have the first round of company here at the house this week.  From there, the revolving door on the guest room will not stop until the end of June!  We love living in a home where people can come and have plenty of room.  Loft living sure didn’t lend itself to that!

Speaking of lofts, Noel and I were waxing nostalgic the other day when we saw this picture of our most favorite loft we ever lived in (we lived in 3, so, yes – we had a favorite).  So I’ll leave you with this fun pic! Have a wonderful weekend!

There were a reported 19,000 walkers who raised almost $540,000, and it was great to be involved in such a worthy cause! While Marko (TK-7172) was the the only one of us who wore his helmet the entire time (great job Marko!) , we all walked the whole 5 miles in full armor.

When we crossed the finish line together you would’ve thought we were real celebrities the way everyone cheered and took our pictures. It was great fun

Thanks to Andre for the last 9 pictures.

Our “docent” would knock on the door of the child’s room, tell them there were some Star Wars characters here to see them, then, if the they wanted, we would go in and say “hi.” Sometimes the kids had “contact restrictions” in which case we’d wave from the door. Of course some of the kids, or the kids’ parents, didn’t want us to come in for whatever reason, but for the most part everyone wanted to see us.

In fact, the first wing we went through was pretty quick… 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing. We would wave, say “hi”, and move along, move along. But the 2nd wing we went through was a Star Wars fan club! Children had Star Wars books, parents had Star Wars tattoos, one young man (probably 15) had a poster of himself someone had made for “Episode VII”. So, needless to say, we spent much more time in that wing taking pictures and just interacting with everyone.

It was as great of an experience as I’d have hoped it would be. The kids (and parents) were all so excited to see us. “You’re the real deal,” one parent said. “You’ve met the Stormtroopers,” another told his son. It was sad in many ways to be there, but the smiles and laughter of the kids made it much easier. What a great first troop!

First I had to “shim” my calf pieces with something besides vinyl fabric… just for my own tastes. I did that last night.

Today I started out by tightening up my right upper leg. It was a little loose on the bottom and looked more like a “tube” than a “cone”. That was easy. Then I went onto the left leg. It too needed to be tightened a bit a the bottom so that the “sniper plate” (that little square that is in front of the left knee) wouldn’t slide behind the upper thigh piece when I walked… which it was doing. Tightening it worked well, but, when I walked for a while I had to be careful not to bend my knee too much because the sniper plate could and would still slip behind the thigh.

I cut a corner piece off of white plastic storage bin (the same material I used to shim my calf pieces) and hot glued it just behind the sniper plate and the top of the calf piece. Now the plate stuck out a bit… perfect! But, when I walked around for just a few minutes my calf piece would “slide” around to the inside of my leg… allowing the sniper plate to get behind the thigh piece again. So I cut a small piece of Velcro and attached it to the top of my boot and the inside of the left calf.

Now it doesn’t rotate and all is well