Star Wars: The Last Jedi Premiere

The week of the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was nuts (in a good way). I did four troops between two theaters in three days. Whew!

Thursday, December 14th: Plymouth Grand 15

I love doing events at this theater – the employees are all so incredibly nice! I went as Poe, and brought my BB-8 Hero Droid with me to see how he’d do at events. He was unruly (in true sassy droid fashion) but people seemed to like him.

Costumers: Lindsey Rae, Dylan Scherer, Jeff Allen, Kris Heding, Anna Sawyer, and Jeffrey Knotz.

There was a local reporter there interviewing us and some of the theater staff. Here’s the video clip:

After the troop, we watched the movie and I had ALL OF THE FEELINGS. As you’d expect.

Friday, December 15th: Plymouth Grand 15

We had a huge group for this one, and it was awesome! We had a ton of fun, took some silly photos, and had a great time. (All photos below were taken by Madeline Anderson, and a couple were taken with my phone.)

Costumers: Brian Nguyen, Meg Lehman, Erich Schwab, Eve Zabronsky, Phil Glover, Steve Fuchs, Madeline Anderson, Erich Ludwig, Trevor Bailey, Kris Heding, Mike Giralico, Sara Rae, Jordan West, and Pari Elizabeth.

First Order Colonel and General Hux take a much-needed break to indulge in tasty ICEEs. Unfortunately, Hux got a huge brain freeze. (Costumers: Sara Rae and Kris Heding.)

Join the First Order! We have droids (and we try to steal some from the Resistance.) (Costumers: Jordan West, Kris Heding, and Sara Rae.)

Taking advantage of the lineup of Stormtrooper balloons. (Costumers: Kris Heding and Sara Rae.)

Saturday, December 16th: AMC Southdale

The Boy Scouts of America rented theaters in four locations throughout the Twin Cities on Saturday morning, and a handful of people trooped at each location. We got to see the movie with them after our troop, too.

I brought BB-8 along again, and he was much better behaved than he was on Thursday.

Costumers: Amanda Fineran, Matthew Bastyr, Amber Rae, Erich Schwab, and Kris Heding.

Saturday, December 16th: Plymouth Grand 15

Second troop of the day! I switched to General Hux and we had another great turnout for our troop.

Costumers: Mark Fisher, Jordan West, Henry Fisher, Kris Heding, Katherine Hickman, Amanda Fineran, Nick Hickman, Madeline Anderson, Aaron Weiss, Diana Patraw, and Leonard Patraw.

Rebel scum. (Photo by Katherine Hickman. Costumers: Kris Heding, Nick Hickman, and Amanda Fineran.)

Very funny. (Photo by Katherine Hickman. Costumers: Kris Heding, Nick Hickman, and Amanda Fineran.)

Aaaugh! (Photo by Katherine Hickman. Costumers: Kris Heding, Amanda Fineran, and Nick Hickman.)

General Hux and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. (Photo by Katherine Hickman. Costumers: Jordan West, Kris Heding, and Nick Hickman.)

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Poe Dameron Blue Squadron Helmet

I bought two of the Black Series Poe Dameron helmets – one to leave as-is, and one to repaint to look like his Blue Squadron helmet for my Poe Dameron costume.

Painting took a long time because I had to tape off different areas, paint those, and then tape off others. Since the design for the Black Leader helmet is the exact same as the Blue Squadron helmet (just different colors), I didn’t want to spray paint the whole thing white and then attempt to accurately paint the details on later. So, this is entirely hand-painted, and it took several weeks to complete. I’m really happy with the end result, though!

Halliween @ Hallie Q. Brown Community Center

On October 29th, Costumers for a Cause (the charity organization that includes the Minnesota Force, Minnesota Superheroes United, and The Royal Sisterhood) attended the “Halliween” party at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center. It was a great time!

Photo by Madeline Anderson.

Zoo Boo 2017

Zoo Boo was held for it’s final year the last two weekends of October, and I was able to attend three of the four days. It was so much fun and I’m incredibly sad that they’re no longer going to hold this event every year. It was held at the Como Zoo & Conservatory, and a ton of families came out to it this year.

Zoo Boo 10/22:

Costumers: Ben McConnell, Jason Brezina, Phil Glover, Kris Heding, Aaron Lilyerd, Madeline Anderson, Jim Maahs, Jordan West, Alex Hall, Erich Schwab, Sara Rae, Steve Carter, James Douthitt, Katherine Hickman, and Coley Lind.

These two little girls had the coolest costumes! They wore tutus and Darth Vader and Stormtrooper masks! Costumers: Kris Heding, Jason Brezina, Jim Maahs, and Ben McConnell.

Creeper Hux at your service. Photo by Sara Rae.

Costumers: Ben McConnell, Jason Brezina, Erich Schwab, Steve Carter, Sara Rae, Kris Heding, Katherine Hickman, Alex Hall, Phil Glover, Madeline Anderson, Jordan West, Coley Lind, and James Douthitt.

Costumers: Ben McConnell, Jason Brezina, Erich Schwab, Steve Carter, Sara Rae, Kris Heding, Katherine Hickman, Alex Hall, Phil Glover, Madeline Anderson, Jordan West, Coley Lind, and James Douthitt.

General Hux, Jyn Erso, and Rose Tico having a bit of a break. Costumers: Kris Heding, Sara Rae, and Madeline Anderson.

Zoo Boo 10/28:

Costumers: Nick Hickman, Colleen Dejno, Katherine Hickman, Eve Zabronsky, Karen Madsen, Sara Lilyerd, John Whitt, Amanda Fineran, Tom Chervenak, Erich Schwab, Yancey Thrift, Alex Hall, Lisa Trakas Duffy, Kris Heding, Paul Haga, Phil Glover, Blane Pierson, and Damien Woelful.

Costumers: Paul Haga, Kris Heding, and Blane Pierson. Photo by Shane Lewis.

Costumers: Paul Haga, Kris Heding, and Blane Pierson. Photo by Shane Lewis.

Costumers: Paul Haga, Kris Heding, and Blane Pierson. Photo by Shane Lewis.

Photo by Shane Lewis.

Costumers: Paul Haga and Kris Heding. Photo by Shane Lewis.

Costumers: Paul Haga and Kris Heding. Photo by Shane Lewis.

Photo by Shane Lewis.

Zoo Boo 10/29:

Costumers: Paul Haga, Jason Brezina, Jeremy Horn, Karen Madsen, Amanda Fineran, Phil Glover, Jennifer Schubert, Alex Hall, Kris Heding, Robert Schubert, and Eve Zabronsky.

The Saber Legion’s Battle of Champions II

Time for another night of epic lightsaber battles with The Saber Legion! I had a great time, as usual!

Costumers: Kris Heding, Pari Beth Bailey, Alex Hall, Phil Glover, James Douthitt, and Trevor Bailey. Photo by Pari Bailey.

Checking our datapads for mission updates (?) Costumers: Phil Glover, Kris Heding, and Pari Beth Bailey. Photo by Pari Bailey.

Air Expo 2017

On July 15, 2017, I joined the Minnesota Force for day one of the Air Expo. Pilot characters were requested, so of course the best pilot in the Resistance had to be there!

Costumers, from left to right: Amanda Fineran, Katherine Hickman, Kris Heding, Alex Hall, Lindsey Rae, Phil Glover, Aaron Weiss, Nick Hickman, James Douthitt, and Steve Fuchs.

Our group!

Costumers, from left to right: Lindsey Rae, Kris Heding, Katherine Hickman, Nick Hickman, James Douthitt, Aaron Weiss, and Alex Hall.

The pilot of this plane wanted a photo of us, so we obliged, of course!

One of the coolest things was being able to sit in the cockpit of a couple of older planes. I’ve never sat in the cockpit before, and it was AWESOME.

Costumers: Lindsey Rae and Kris Heding.

Lindsey and I had a blast taking photos inside the cockpits. Maybe we’ll see Rey and Poe co-piloting in “The Last Jedi” or Episode IX? (I hope so, at least.)

It was a really fun event, and seeing all of the cool vintage airplanes was incredible.

CONvergence 2017

CONvergence was AWESOME, as usual. I was really busy this year, and while everything I did was fun, I’m not sure I’ll pack my schedule so tightly next year.

Thursday, I dressed as General Hux. The “Generally Angry” ribbons were a huge hit, and people were very excited to tell me why Kylo Ren is a punk-ass bitch.

Coffee, blacker than Hux’s heart. (Just kidding – I drank it with cream and sugar.)

Thursday night was my first time working in the Mos Icee Cantina party room (hosted by the Minnesota Force). I was in charge of grinding up the ice for sno-cones. I donned a very cute apron, too. It was a lot of fun working in the cantina! We were really busy.

Costumers: Paul Haga and Kris Heding.

Hux is not putting up with Kylo’s crap.

Friday was the “Ladies of Star Wars” panel, which I think went pretty well. We had a full room, which was awesome!

After the panel, I changed into my Poe Dameron costume and headed to the Star Wars meetup. The photo on the left is all three Poe’s that were there (photo by Annalie Munnings Morgan), and the photo on the right was a shot of the Good Guys (photo by Pari Bailey). We had such a huge group, it was nearly impossible to get everyone in the shot.

Costumers: Bri Kerschner and Kris Heding.

My friend Bri debuted her Hera Syndulla costume! It turned out awesome!

Costumers: Kris Heding and Paul Haga.

And I had to try and take out Kylo Ren, of course. (Bless Paul’s heart – he’s always willing to take stupid photos with me.)

I found a tasty beverage in the bar over at the Sheraton.

Saturday was Rebel, Rebel Princess day, and also masquerade day! I woke up early for orientation, and then headed back a couple of hours later for pre-judging. Then it was back to the hotel room for food and a nap.

Masquerade was really fun, even though I was a nervous wreck. Everyone was so awesome and talented! I didn’t win anything, but that’s okay…I had a lot of fun and the experience was awesome. Lots of cool photos were taken of my time on stage, but the above three are my favorites. Top left was taken by Catherine of the Sea Photography, and the other two were taken by Peter Verrant.

After masquerade, it was time to meet up with friends!

Sunday I had planned on dressing up as Scarlet Witch, but I was just too tired, and we needed to get checked out of the hotel. Before I left CONvergence for the weekend, I found out that the Minnesota Force won an award for “Best Use of Theme” in the party room competition for the Mos Icee Cantina! It’s funny, because we’ve had the same “theme” for many years. Still, it’s nice to win something, right?

I had so much fun, and I can’t wait for next year.