I'll have to say that as the husband of one of these gorgeous ISO girls and a 501st Member, I know how hard we work at events and how much we appreciate having them around to help us. They work every bit as hard as those of us who dress up as full size action figures to put a smile on the face of a sick kid in the hospital or raising money for one of the many charities we work with. Until you have put on a Vader, Stormtrooper, kashyyyk trooper, Fett or any one of dozens of different costumes and trooped outside when its 115 degrees and receive nothing for it except those smiles you might just want to keep you closed minded thoughts to yourself. I'm fairly sure that the keyboard commando's posting here won't ever understand these ladies who are, as mine is a wife, mother, step mom, professional working in a high pressure business, volunteer, 501st member and a ISO girl find the drive to give so much of their time and energy. They each give far above what the average person could even begin to understand. Thank you ISO girls, your support of we 501st troopers and our real troops fighting overseas and stationed around the world protecting us is very much appreciated.
If some of you read the entire article on Starwars.com (which clearly most of you didn't) you'd see that the ISO girls are more like RSO girls in the comic (supporting not the Evil Empire but the Republic Clones). They also do charity work and send care packages to our real troops overseas:
Sorry to get snippy, but it sure would be nice if people at io9 clicked on a link and read the full story once in awhile instead of just snarking at the photos.
Hi I am one of the ISO girls in the photos above and I want to try clear alittle bit on who we are as some people sound like they maybe still confuse on who we are and what we do. Yes we help raise money for charities and such but this is why we were created. We were created because the girls you see have either a boyfriend or husband in our Garrison who dress up for events but some of these girls don't want to do the same as their men and the women want to look like a girl and still support their men in costumes and be at events. We are not prostitutes or women trolling around for men and or anything like that. I for one is married for almost 14yrs. For me I dress up in the ISO gear or sometimes I go to events in my Imperial Officers since I am a member of the 501st Legion. We support not only our troopers in SW but also our Military Personnel, especially the ones that are deployed. Including one of our own who just went on his 3rd tour over there in Iraq. As the article by Meredith says we do put together care packages and send it over to them. We have done comic cons, some parades and such and have more events planned for this year. Maybe the look we do might not be the liking for some of you as we enjoy the old look and that is fine if you don't but please don't call us names.
@Lauren Graham: Hello Lauren. Terribly sorry we weren't able to police the ugly comments nor approve your own words. Sometimes the stoopditee slips through.
I think most of the io9 crowd supports you, the rest of the ISO, and those brave, sweltering fellows of the 501st.
@ZanipoloLebron: Prostitutes? Wow so you don't actually READ the articles -- you just look at images of girls and make inane comments? Nicely done, moron.
It must take great deal of money and time to support this "lifestyle", of volunteeering. Are most of these people independently wealthy?? If they have to work for aliving..they must have some VERY liberal bosses..
@oldandintheway: It's not a cheap hobby but it's not undoable. Pretty much everyone I know works for a living and instead of having other hobbies that tend to cost a lot of money we just do this one. The suit itself is a bit of an investment but over time? It's not insurmountable.
Hi! Long term cosplayer and costumer here. Managed to get my master costume status in the Costumers Guild two years back.
What's happening is that cosplay as a term is co-opting the word costuming. I've seen a lot of internet writing that says "Battlestar Galcatica cosplay" or Klingon "cosplay." Members of these communities probably wouldn't call themselves cosplayers, but it's becoming a synonymous and interchangeable term.
I am like you guys. I see costuming as a term for dressing up outside of Japanese animation. You are also right about the origin of the term cosplay.
Now, not all cosplayers are poor. The trick is that quality isn't as important to cosplayers in general because they want to dress up first, and spend time on detail second. Again, there are some great cosplayers out there who make very elaborate, beautiful, and well detailed costumes, and do, in fact, win World Con and Costume Con masquerades. I could see where a generalization could be made, but there are notable exceptions.
One also begs the question about hard versus soft costumes. I imagine imperial uniforms that are well executed are as respected in the 501st? I hope they are, and that this isn't a question of materials. There are also cosplayers who vacuum form and transform.
What would I personally like to be known as? A costumer. It's a more versatile term, since I don't concentrate my skills only in anime, and I started a long time ago when costumer covered the field.
Interesting, and I knew that it has been coming more popular with other franchises. The Browncoats for Firefly and the Colonial Fleet for Battlestar Galactica.
One thing that frustrates me, from both sides, is how groups of people can be identified with just a couple of people, and when you have a couple of poor representations, from both sides, the image of the group as a whole is tarnished. I know of a number of cosplayers who really put a lot of attention to detail, and that's just as good in my book as those who just want to be a character. The whole purpose is to have fun, and if you don't need the exact details, that's fine. People need to separate out personalities and not judge.
Yep, there's quite a few fabric costumes within the group, and they are required to have a comparable level of detail when it comes to accuracy. I don't know a whole lot about that side of things though, as I'm really only familiar with Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers.
I tend to go with the term costumer as well - cosplay does have negative connotations, but costumer sounds more professional in a way.
and yet you all made fun of the real-life-superheroes, who patrolled their streets and donated blood and stuff in costume.
The 501st is very cool though.
Star Wars question: has their armor ever done them any good? I mean Storm Troopers are always all armored-up, but still always drop like a stone at the slightest blaster hit.
@blorp: That's actually been answered in a couple of books - pick up the X-Wing series by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston if you get a chance. At one point, its mentioned that TK armor won't take a full laser blast, but it will dissipate the energy, leaving the trooper wounded, but alive.
@blorp: That's interesting. I think anyone in costume is bound to get made fun of, and we certainly get plenty of that all the time. Although, we've had members donate blood in armor before as well...
@Andrew Liptak: wow - you definitely know your Storm Trooper facts. I havent read any SW books, but in the movies the armor just seemed so *ineffectual*. At the risk of further loss of Star Wars cred - what is "TK"? Is that just synonymous with Storm Trooper? (Im guessing bc they have IDs that start TK)
Heh, thanks. I pays to know what you're dressing up as, IMO. There are some good books, and there are some bad ones. Shoot me an e-mail if you want some recommendations.
TK in the 501st is a designation for storm troopers, it comes from TK-421. Sand troopers are TD, Royal Guards are TR, etc.
Hey io9. Can i be a reporter too? I could totally handle doing a report on my local warhammer club. hell they arent even as elitist or obnoxious as the 501st. These guys actually attack competitors in armour making and prohibit members from looking at other methods of construction or even purchasing.
@Matt Osborne: Erm, that's not the case, at all. We don't generally care what the armor is made of - as long as it's movie quality. We've gotten a number of members who have made their own armor, from scratch, and in the five years I've been in the group, I've never seen or heard of any of our members attacking anyone else. Not that that couldn't happen, but there are always a couple of egos in any group, and it's always unfortunate when they are the ones that people remember.
I suspect the members of the 501st are better shots than "real" Stormtroopers. Love the charity aspect of their calling, I guess Imperialisim can be a force for good.
@DeeJayQueue: As the head of the Rebel Legion, I'd just like to say thanks for the props. We often get looked over by folks, and we appreciate the shout out :)
@DangerousDac: I third the motion for Galactic Civil War Reenactments. Next Dragon*con? People could even do it in a real Civil War battleground. I would totally pay to see it.
I've always loved anime cosplay, and I think the cosplayer above looks almost exactly like the character she is playing. Some of the cosplay outfits I've seen are just as elaborate and intense as the Storm Trooper outfits, and they're harder to pull off because you're working from a drawing rather than a real costume that somebody has already built.
I love Storm Troopers, but I don't think their costumes are necessarily any better than good cosplay costumes.
@Annalee Newitz: I agree, and this is a point of contention within the 501st at times. The term cosplay doesn't refer to the quality of the costume or the activities of the costumer outside of pretending to be a character, which is what we as storm troopers, pilots, clones, etc, do each time we put on the armor.
06/26/09
Thank you ISO girls, your support of we 501st troopers and our real troops fighting overseas and stationed around the world protecting us is very much appreciated.
06/26/09
06/26/09
06/25/09
[www.starwars.com]
[www.starwars.com]
Also, the ISO gals offer support for the 501st Legion who do a LOT of great charity work while in costume as stormtroopers:
[www.starwars.com]
Sorry to get snippy, but it sure would be nice if people at io9 clicked on a link and read the full story once in awhile instead of just snarking at the photos.
Dare the dream, I know.
06/25/09
Yes we help raise money for charities and such but this is why we were created.
We were created because the girls you see have either a boyfriend or husband in our Garrison who dress up for events but some of these girls don't want to do the same as their men and the women want to look like a girl and still support their men in costumes and be at events.
We are not prostitutes or women trolling around for men and or anything like that.
I for one is married for almost 14yrs.
For me I dress up in the ISO gear or sometimes I go to events in my Imperial Officers since I am a member of the 501st Legion.
We support not only our troopers in SW but also our Military Personnel, especially the ones that are deployed. Including one of our own who just went on his 3rd tour over there in Iraq.
As the article by Meredith says we do put together care packages and send it over to them.
We have done comic cons, some parades and such and have more events planned for this year.
Maybe the look we do might not be the liking for some of you as we enjoy the old look and that is fine if you don't but please don't call us names.
06/25/09
I think most of the io9 crowd supports you, the rest of the ISO, and those brave, sweltering fellows of the 501st.
Keep up the good work!
06/26/09
In other news, is there going to be a Gilmore Girls movie any time soon?
(sorry, sorry, sorry)
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
06/25/09
01/27/09
01/28/09
01/27/09
What's happening is that cosplay as a term is co-opting the word costuming. I've seen a lot of internet writing that says "Battlestar Galcatica cosplay" or Klingon "cosplay." Members of these communities probably wouldn't call themselves cosplayers, but it's becoming a synonymous and interchangeable term.
I am like you guys. I see costuming as a term for dressing up outside of Japanese animation. You are also right about the origin of the term cosplay.
Now, not all cosplayers are poor. The trick is that quality isn't as important to cosplayers in general because they want to dress up first, and spend time on detail second. Again, there are some great cosplayers out there who make very elaborate, beautiful, and well detailed costumes, and do, in fact, win World Con and Costume Con masquerades. I could see where a generalization could be made, but there are notable exceptions.
One also begs the question about hard versus soft costumes. I imagine imperial uniforms that are well executed are as respected in the 501st? I hope they are, and that this isn't a question of materials. There are also cosplayers who vacuum form and transform.
What would I personally like to be known as? A costumer. It's a more versatile term, since I don't concentrate my skills only in anime, and I started a long time ago when costumer covered the field.
Catherine Schaff-Stump
01/27/09
Interesting, and I knew that it has been coming more popular with other franchises. The Browncoats for Firefly and the Colonial Fleet for Battlestar Galactica.
One thing that frustrates me, from both sides, is how groups of people can be identified with just a couple of people, and when you have a couple of poor representations, from both sides, the image of the group as a whole is tarnished. I know of a number of cosplayers who really put a lot of attention to detail, and that's just as good in my book as those who just want to be a character. The whole purpose is to have fun, and if you don't need the exact details, that's fine. People need to separate out personalities and not judge.
Yep, there's quite a few fabric costumes within the group, and they are required to have a comparable level of detail when it comes to accuracy. I don't know a whole lot about that side of things though, as I'm really only familiar with Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers.
I tend to go with the term costumer as well - cosplay does have negative connotations, but costumer sounds more professional in a way.
01/27/09
The 501st is very cool though.
Star Wars question: has their armor ever done them any good? I mean Storm Troopers are always all armored-up, but still always drop like a stone at the slightest blaster hit.
01/27/09
01/27/09
01/27/09
02/02/09
Heh, thanks. I pays to know what you're dressing up as, IMO. There are some good books, and there are some bad ones. Shoot me an e-mail if you want some recommendations.
TK in the 501st is a designation for storm troopers, it comes from TK-421. Sand troopers are TD, Royal Guards are TR, etc.
01/26/09
How about a real story or something?
01/27/09
01/26/09
01/26/09
01/26/09
At the Halloween Air 'n' Scare at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Dulles, VA they have a great turnout and Some really great pics get taken.
01/26/09
01/27/09
1 storm trooper is just a dork in plastic.. 30 is a platoon!
01/26/09
A) Only own a Trooper Helmet
B) Could not fit into a suit.
C) Do not own said suit.
D) Could not afford the aforementioned suit.
E) Lack the Vacuum Forming machine and skills to make one.
BTW, I second the motion for Galactic Civil War Reenactments, I could probably get in as a Rebel Trooper.
01/26/09
01/26/09
I love Storm Troopers, but I don't think their costumes are necessarily any better than good cosplay costumes.
01/27/09