501st Legion
The 501st Legion is an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of Imperial stormtrooper armor, Sith Lords, clone troopers, bounty hunters, and other villains from the Star Wars universe. The 501st Legion, called by its nickname Vader's Fist, is made up entirely of volunteers.
Formed in South Carolina by residents Albin Johnson and Tom Crews in August 1997, the Legion now has over 14,000 active members worldwide, with over 26,000 approved costumes. The Legion is active on 6 continents, with local units known as "Garrisons" and "Outposts" in over 60 countries.
Legion members make appearances at casual, promotional, and charitable events, often at the request of Lucasfilm's Fan Events department. Although not officially affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or Lucasfilm LLC., the 501st Legion is Lucasfilm's preferred Imperial costuming organization, and its members were featured as extras in the official series The Mandalorian.
Origins
In 1997, Albin Johnson set up a GeoCities website called "Detention Block 2551" as a place to post photos of himself and his friend Tom Crews in their homemade Stormtrooper costumes. Arnie DeHerrera started "Stormtrooperland" at the same time in 1997 and started email conversation with Johnson and Crews. Shortly after that, Scott McArthur of Canada became involved and developed the original logo with the words, "The Fighting 501st!" as its catch phrase with a stormtrooper helmet with red eyes in front of a purple Imperial logo. This evolved quickly into the current red, black, and white logo with the phrase, "Vader's Fist" to express the force with which the 501st led. Within weeks of launching the sites, Albin was fielding email requests from people across the country and around the world looking to be featured on his website in their own homemade Stormtrooper armor. The Legion ranks swelled, and regional subdivisions called Garrisons, Squads, and Outposts were created to facilitate the organization of events and appearances on a local level.While the Legion was initially based only on the white-armored stormtroopers stationed aboard the Death Star, as the group expanded, it grew to encompass every other canon trooper variation, and other villains from the Star Wars saga, such as Sith Lords and bounty hunters. Custom creations are generally not eligible for membership, and all applicants are reviewed by their local units and Legion Membership Officers prior to approval into the member database.
Early events attended by the Legion were mostly science-fiction and comic book conventions or related to the release of the Star Wars movies in theaters and on video. But members were looking for more frequent reasons to meet up with their new-found Legion friends and show off their costumes together. The Legion expanded into a charitable organization.
A decade after Johnson and Crews founded the Legion, on January 1, 2007, two hundred members of the Legion marched in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, with George Lucas himself as the grand marshal. At this watershed moment for the club, Lucas and Johnson discussed the future of the rapidly growing Legion, and an unofficial partnership was born. Lucasfilm would grant the Legion a limited use of their copyrighted characters, as long as members of the 501st promised never to use their costumes for personal profit and that they represent the franchise in a positive and respectful manner.
The 501st Legion name
Johnson and Tom chose the club's name in 1997 to represent a fictional unit of Imperial stormtroopers. He wanted to ground the group in a "realistic" world and to pay homage to the fighting units of true military heroes, like his World War II airman father.In 2004, author Timothy Zahn, with Lucasfilm's approval, honored the costuming group by incorporating the 501st Legion Elite Stormtrooper Unit into his Star Wars novel Survivor's Quest. Several other authors have since followed suit and solidified the Legion's name in the official Star Wars universe. In 2005, the 501st Legion finally hit "mainstream" Star Wars canon with its inclusion in the novelization of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The blue clone troopers led into the Jedi Temple by Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith are officially designated as the 501st Legion, with the nickname "Vader's Fist" because of his exclusive use of the unit. Although not mentioned in the film itself, all of the licensed support material and merchandising for the film make this reference, including Hasbro's 501st Legion action figures, the DK Publishing Star Wars Visual Dictionary books, and the Star Wars: Battlefront II game. The story-driven campaign mode of Battlefront II even expanded the role of the 501st Legion to the main fighting force in almost every battle in the "Clone Wars" and "Galactic Civil War" eras of Star Wars, from the Battle of Geonosis to the Battle of Hoth.
When the Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film and television series were released in 2008, the 501st Legion was given the charismatic clone Captain Rex, a popular character, to lead them into battle.
The 501st name continued to appear in various Star Wars expanded universe media until its suspension and rebranding to Star Wars Legends in 2014.
Mission statement
The 501st Legion is an all-volunteer organization formed for the purpose of bringing together costume enthusiasts from around the world under a collective identity. The 501st Legion seeks to promote interest in Star Wars through the building and wearing of high quality costumes, to facilitate the use of these costumes for Star Wars-related events, and to contribute to the local community through costumed charity and volunteer work.Membership
Membership requirements for applicants include being at least 18 years of age and have a documented ownership of at least one qualifying high-quality costume of a Star Wars villain. To maintain membership they must troop at least one local unit or Legion-level event per year and abide by the 501st Legion Code of Conduct.The Legion's costuming standards are listed online in the 501st Legion Costume Reference Library. All costumes must meet the base requirements listed there in order to be considered for approval.
Legion identification numbers
Members of the 501st Legion refer to themselves by a letter-number combination, such as TK-899, TR-3774, or DZ-40201. This tradition originates from a line in Star Wars, "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?". The founder of the 501st Legion, Albin Johnson, decided that "Desert Troopers would be labeled "TD" and came from specialized training schools for their missions, Snowtroopers would be "TS", Biker Scouts would "TB." as each group of costumes carries a specific letter designation.Members of the Legion are issued with individual identification numbers upon joining. It becomes their number for life, and will never be given to anyone else, even after they die. Because of that, many members pick a number that has a significant meaning to them.
Combining a costume code with a member's identification number creates a unique in-universe designation for each Legion member and each one of their costumes. Member 8968 might be known as TK-8968, IG-8968, or TB-8968, depending on whether they are wearing a Stormtrooper, Imperial Gunner, or Biker Scout costume at the time.
The Galactic Academy
For Star Wars costumers who are under 18 years of age, the 501st Legion has partnered with its sister club, the Rebel Legion, to form a joint group for children called the Galactic Academy. The Galactic Academy deals with both "bad guy" and "good guy" costumes, has no member age requirement, and has no strict costume standards. It provides a safe environment for children of different age groups who share a love of Star Wars and costuming to connect with one another online.Organization
The Legion helps members to connect with fellow Star Wars costumers through two organizational networks: one based on geographical location and one based on costume types.Local units
As a worldwide organization that fields dozens of appearance requests daily, the Legion has set up local units to better handle tasks like event coordination, promotion, recruitment, and discipline.There are three kinds of local units.
- Garrisons are the largest type of local unit. One must have at least 25 active members, but there is no upward limit to how many members can belong to a garrison. There are 76 Garrisons worldwide, the largest of which is the German Garrison, with over 1000 members.
- * Squads are subdivisions of Garrisons, established to better serve members in distinct regions within a Garrison's territory. Squads are formed of at least 10 members of a Garrison, residing within a reasonably close, clearly defined geographic region. There is no requirement for a Garrison to have any squads, and many do not. Other Garrisons, especially those that cover large geographic areas, have several Squads to better serve their members. There are 78 squads amongst the Legion's Garrisons.
- ** Outposts are the smallest Legion unit, and one can have as few as one Legion member. They are most often established when a new member joins the Legion and lives in an area that lies outside the borders of an existing Garrison. There are 30 Outposts in the Legion worldwide.
Detachments
There are sixteen Legion costume Detachments. Each is dedicated to researching, constructing, and promoting a distinct group of costumes in the 501st. The Legion's costume references are stored on the Detachment websites, and their message boards contain tutorials on how to build the costumes that they have domain over.
- Armored Cavalry Detachment: AT-AT Drivers, AT-ST Drivers and Armor Assault Commanders
- Blizzard Force: Snowtroopers, Galactic Marines, Snow Scouts, Wampas
- Bounty Hunters Guild: Bounty Hunters
- Clone Trooper Detachment: Clone Troopers from Episodes II and III, and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series
- First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment: Stormtroopers
- Flagship Eclipse Detachment: Expanded Universe Characters
- Imperial Gunnery Corps: Imperial Gunners
- Imperial Officer Corps: Imperial Officers, Imperial Crew, and Imperial Navy/Death Star Troopers
- Jolly Roger Squadron: T.I.E. Fighter Pilots
- Krayt Clan: Tusken Raiders, Jawas, Gamorrean Guards, and several denizens of Jabba's palace
- Mos Eisley Police Department: Sandtroopers
- Pathfinders Detachment: Biker Scouts, Kashyyyk Clone Scout Troopers, Shore Troopers
- Sith Lord Detachment: The Film-Canon Sith Lords: Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, Darth Tyranus and Kylo Ren
- Sovereign Protectors: Emperor's Royal Guards
- Spec Ops Detachment: Expanded Universe Characters
- Underworld Detachment: Pirates, Gangsters, Henchmen, Thieves, Smugglers, Thugs, Scum and Villiany