No ass-whoopings so far!
I'm going to write this down here then copy bits of it to my blog later on.... you guys get it first. I hope nobody minds me putting the web address on there... let me know.
Three of us suited up in the parking garage yesterday morning and headed up into the hotel. The reactions were great.... kind of a "Oh no you dih-en!", lots of grins. The girls especially loved us because we were "cute"... but I get that a lot already.
Out to the street for a 4 or 5 block hike south to the mustering point for the parade. I suggested that we take a street parallel to Peachtree to avoid too many people seeing us. It was a good shake-down hike, to see what wanted to fall off. Two guys who were working doing some clean up at a restaurant saw us as we stopped at a crosswalk and one of them yelled to the other "Hey James, is them the boxes you threw in the garbage?"
The next street down a guy whipped his car over to the curb on the other side of the street and jumped out to snap our photos. He didn't get it right the first time so he turned and ran down the sidewalk away from us then turned to get more. Nope, not right yet. He turned, ran, then crossed the street to get over where he could get us as we clumped toward him. At the next corner we turned and saw the crowd and went up to join the Star Wars people.
Upon our arrival several people approached us for photos. Then more people. Then more.
Our group:
My suit:
My friends Alfeo and Elliott had a view of the line of stormtroopers behind me and were getting antsy because the guys in the trooper uniforms looked like they were trying to decide what they thought about us. But then one of the folks walked over and put us in proper place for people who don't belong to any of the organizations (like the 501st).
The parade march was
really fun. REALLY, REALLY FUN. This is a picture a friend sent me from way back in the beginning part of the parade as we got started:
The crowds got bigger and bigger as we approached the convention hotels and whenever people saw us they went nuts. I felt like an astronaut in a ticker tape parade... wearing a cardboard box and sweating my ass off. I'm totally out of shape and started feeling it by the time we got to the top of the hill, thankfully everything else was downhill from there.