Ice Ice Baby!... Its Polar Plunge time!

Seems I forgot to mention my first fund raiser of the year. Im taking to the icy waters again this year for the Nebraska Special Olympics. Be sure to check out and donate to My Polar Plunge page!  I am half way to my goal of $500.  Please consider a donation no matter how small.  Every Little bit helps.

Saturday, 2-16-13, Comes see me and other Star Wars Characters take the plunge into the icy waters of Cunningham Lake, located at 8660 lake Cunningham Road in Omaha! Individual Plunges will start at 11 am and we will be taking photos from 9:30 to 10:30.  Hope to see you there!

Here are some photos from last years plunge.

After Action Report: ACME mini Star Wars Con 6-30-12

Things have been crazy busy around here and I havent had much time for blogging.  I'm going to try and catch everyone up on whats been happening soon.  Let me start with an after action report from the ACME comics Mini Star Wars Convention. Heres some photos with a quick synopsis of the event!  

 Shoot A Trooper was a huge success!

Kids enjoyed The Thermal Detonator Rancor Toss 

 Face Painting was very popular

 Star Wars Trivia tested the knowledge of all the guests

 Kids enjoyed Coloring and were able to get some temporary tatoo's

 We were doing everything for Make-A-Wish!  We raised a little over $360 in the day.  Not to bad considering tickets were 25 cents a piece! 

R2-D2 and R2-TD were on hand 

 Richard LeParmentier - Admiral Motti from the original Star Wars was on signing 

autographs through the day.

 The 501st, Rebel Legion and R2-Builders gave lots of demonstrations through the day. 

The group of volunteers who made the day a smashing success! 

Flashback Friday - ACME Comics Mini Star Wars Con 6-2010

Since we are 22 days away from ACME Comic and Collectibles Star Wars Mini Con where RICHARD LePARMENTIER will be on hand. I thought I'd flash back a few years to the last Star Wars Mini Con I attended also at ACME with DANIEL LOGAN.

TD Stands Guard waiting for the doors to open.

Meeting up With Daniel Logan - Young Boba Fett

Lord Vader was on hand

Kids got to get their face painted

Games, prizes and demonstration filled the parking lot all day.

Flashback Friday - CATCH UP TIME from the last few events

Seems I have been a bit lazy with my blog posts lately. April 26th was the last one and that was when I reported on Huey Lewis and the News of the concert.... (See what I did there... LOL! I crack myself up). I also haven't done a Flashback Friday in forever. This is not as far back as I normally go but still fitting.

Its been a busy few weeks. So busy, I haven't blogged. Meant to a few times but just didnt happen. Lets see... we had Star Wars night with Omaha Royals err Storm Chasers, Free Comic Book Day, The Avengers, and a tiny little bit of R2 work.


May the 4th Be with You - Star Wars Day with the Omaha Storm Chasers. I brushed off the RFT costume and headed out to the Ball Park. After all, How often do you get to go on the field before a baseball game and help Darth Vader throw out the first pitch? I wasn't missing it this year. The troop was fun and relaxed. We got there, threw out the first pitch and than posed for pictures. Pretty relaxed night and always lots of fun. Unfortunately, R2-TD didnt make the trip. He's still down and out getting his system over haul, but more of that in a bit.

Most of the Group who made it out

The Force is strong with this one

Vader always draws the biggest crowd

Luke and Vader play a friendly game of Catch

Free Comic Book Day. I hit 2 of the shops in town and joined in the fun. First I swung by Legend Comics and Coffee to grab my free comic books, check out the sale and to see how the fund raiser for Make-A-Wish Nebraska is going. The store raffled off a issue of Amazing Fantasy 15 which was the very first issue to have Spider Man in it. They also had a dunk tank set up where the you could dunk one of the owners of the store as well as various other happens around the store.

The store was buzzing with excitement of the day

People loading up on the Free Comics

Looks like Dave is about to get wet!

The Lucky winner of the Grand prize for the Nebraska Make a Wish Raffle

I meet up with Beau and Hannah at Legends than we headed out for Lunch after we snagged our free comics.

Lunch with Beau and Hannah

After Lunch it was time to check out Krypton. Adam Baldwin came to town and it was my chance to meet him. I also hung around at the 501st / Rebel legion table for a bit. It was fun to hang out and chat with a few folks I hadn't seen in about a year.

By far the largest crowd I have seen come out to Free Comic Book Day.  The line on the Right is for Free Comics, The line of the left is to Meet Adam Baldwin.

Thumbs up from Adam Baldwin

Finally meeting another of my Big Damn Heroes!  

Local artist Christina Musgrave works on a sketch 

I got to sneak in THE AVENGERS movie. Without giving anything thing away, I'll say it was AWESOME! I've seen it 3 times in 2 weeks. I felt it had everythign a movie needed. It had the right amount of story to action with a bit of comedy to keep things fresh. Can't wait to see what more they do with the story.

Last little thing in there was a build day / armor party with the local 501st. I'm not currently working on any costumes so I worked a little bit on R2. First we trouble shot the Think Geek T-short sound system. Still working on getting that going again. Than I started making R2's feet.

Im trying something different here. Normally a lot of the guys use styrene but it seems to break easy since thats a high impact area when you run into something. Keeping that in mind, I looked for something a little cheaper and less damaging. I decided to give foam board a try. This was a first attempt, Now I know I can get it fairly close to looking the way it should, I can start with a more accurate and detailed foot. More to come on that as I get it done.

MS Walk Omaha, 4-14-12

Next Charity event is off and running... err walking! I'm team captain of "Rebels with a cause" and we are raising money to the MS Society. Members of the Rebel Legion, the 501st Legion and R2-TD will be joining us on April 14, 2012 at the CenturyLink Center Lot D1 at 8:30 a.m. Check-in to pose for pictures before the event. At 9:30 a.m. the Walk Begins.

If you would like to donate to this event or would like to sign up to join these Star Wars fans in fundraising and the walk, information can be found at my page HERE! Thanks!

St. Baldricks - 3/14/2012 - Helping Kids with Cancer

I've mentioned this a few times before. I'm growing my hair out a bit for a cause. I was asked several months ago if would consider not cutting my hair and participating in the St. Baldrick's event for my friend Rob's son Ian up in Sioux Falls, SD.

MY donation Page is here if you would like to donate. R2-TD is planning on making the trip also to join the 501st at the event. Check back here later for a Before and after, as well as a full report of the event.

8th Annual Walk & Roll for Disabilities sponsored by the Meyer Foundation for Disabilities

Being associated with the Star Wars groups, Sometimes I get asked if I would be interested in various charity events and walks. One of those events popped up on Sunday. I was asked if I woud bring R2-TD out to the Westroads Mall for the 8th Annual Walk & Roll for Disabilities sponsored by the Meyer Foundation for Disabilities and troop along side the 501st. The event was a great time and raises funds to support recreational therapy programs for teens and adults with developmental disabilities in the greater Omaha area. This event also helps raise awareness and support for inclusion for people with disabilities. Everything went well and everyone had a great time. Here are some photos from the event.

Members of the Central Garrison of the 501st legion and R2-TD

This little guy was our biggest fan!  He wouldn't change his shirt to the event shirt because he had on Star Wars shirt.  He than had the honor of leading the Star Wars characters around the mall during the walk.  

One of the larger fund raising groups for the day asekd us to come pose with them

Smiles were all the way around

Over all it was a thumbs up type of day

Star Wars Episode 1 in 3-D, 2-10-12, Aksarben Cinema, Omaha NE

Friday Night, R2-TD went out to Movies and joined the 501st Central Garrison and the Rebel Legion Central Base for a troop to see Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. It was a short troop where we posed for photos and met the crowd on the "Red Carpet" before the show.

After the Meet and Greet, we watched the film. This was a special one for me because it was the only movie from the prequels I hadn't trooped among many friends. I was really excited to see the 3-D. The first 20 to 30 minutes were awesome. After that, the effect wore off and wasn't really all that special. I expected more from some of the amazing scenes like the pod race and the epic light saber battle between Darth Maul and the Jedi. Don't get wrong, I'm excited to see the movies again on the big screen and will go see the other 5 regardless. I just hope some improvements in the 3-D technology come first.

After the movie, we all met up for an after troop dinner at "Old Chicago". It was great to see everyone and get the old gang back together again. Many of us have families now and it gets harder and harder to get everyone together.

(All Photos provided by and used with permission from Denman Freeman, Falcon-One-Photo... Thanks Denny!)

Dr. San Guinary's Super Hero Blood Drive - Kypton Comics 1-21-12

Kypton Comics hosted its very first Blood drive with Dr. San Guinary's Super Hero Blood Drive on Saturday January 21st. The day was jammed packed with with fun and excitement. R2-TD as well as members of the Central Garrison of the 501st, the Central Base of the Rebel legion and several other local costumers came out and supported the event. Local character Artist Wayne Sealy was drawing for everyone who stopped by. I'm happy to report, the event which was scheduled to bring in 25 pints of blood, brought in 32 pints! Thanks to everyone who came out to make this event a huge success!