BH Profile meet current and future 501st BH's

This week we spotlight:

Garrison Carida Cadet and

future Bounty Hunter

Mike Bryant (in his own words)

Tell us a little about yourself?

     "I am a 37 year old husband and father of two great kids. I have been a Fan of star wars since the begininng even though I was only 4 years old at the time. The Story and the characters have alway struck a deep chord in my life and Boba Fett has always been my favorite, ever since the mail away figure offer, even though I didn't get one with the firing rocket. "

When did you first hear about the 501st?
     "I have known about the 501st for several years, because I am a fan, and who hasn't heard of the 501st? I never thought about joining before this year because I knew that to join you had to have a costume. I have never been an artist or the least bit mechanically inclined. I had trouble even completing the most basic assignments in my high school art and shop classes. So needless to say I never thought that I would be able to build my own costume.

When did you change your mind?     "Back in February I was surfing the web one day, and of course was looking at Star Wars related sites and stumbled on to the site for my local garrison, Garrison Carida. I was reading the site and noticed the posts for their academy program. I immediately sent an e-mail to the GML with the application. I layed out my personal limitiations regarding artistic and mechanical non-talent, and he assured me that my advisor would help me through the process, and that lack of those talents really did not effect the process enough to keep me out of membership. He asked what Costume I was interested in making and I told him Boba Fett, He cautioned me right away that it was the hardest costume to complete in the legion and definitely the most time consuming and possibly most expensive. I thought "Of course it is", but knew that what ever costume I chose to do I would never be completely satisfied until I had a Fett, So I stuck to my guns and jumped in with both feet."

So the Garrison provided you with a mentor...what was that experience like?
     "The GML, Rob Thomas, set me up with a great advisor, Mark Santucci, who immediately set me up with several possible suppliers of parts for the suit. He layed out the process for me and gave me thoughts and suggestion on how to do it with my budget in mind. One of the first tips he gave me was checking out The bounty Hunter's Guild site [a wise and powerful mentor is he...] to see the requirements for the costume. While I was checking out the Guild site I stumbled across Wolfie's Build thread (BHG Detachement's Executive Officer) which was for a ROTJ Fett which was the exact suit I wanted to build. She had her process documented so well that I started to feel like 'Hey maybe I could do this!' "

What other resources did you use?
     "My advisor also suggested I check out the Dented Helmet (Forum community for costumers), and I did and joined up. I posted a thread indicating I was a Noob and needed help, and within the first few hours I had welcome posts from several members. Without a doubt one of the most helpful people I have met has been Fettdad on TDH. He is such a great guy and knows so many people that he has been able to steer me in the direction of where to go to for parts, and supplies."

What was the easiest part of the process thus far?

     "Probably the part of the process that turned out to be easier than I thought it would be is the painting. Coming from the stand point of someone who couldn't even finger paint a nice looking picture, the idea that I would be able to accurately re-create a prop quality suit to the standards of the 501st was intimidating to say the least. I read over several threads on TDH of other members painting experiences, but in the end followed Stormtrooperguy's rattle can tutorial. I certainly don't think that I am on par with some of the great artistis that are out there, but I was extremely happy with the result I was able to achieve considering my lack of talent!"



What's been the most challenging?     "The part of the process that has deifnitely been harder than I thought is waiting to be complete and approved. I have had the opportunity to help squire a couple of events with my garrison and have also attended a couple of Con's where they were making appearances as well as go to Star Wars in concert, where they were out in force. It is so amazing to see them in action and how they are continuing to inspire whole new generations of star wars fans including my own kids. These kids are the future of star wars and the best way to ensure that we continue to see the saga develop and grow is to increase the fan base to keep Lucasfilm pumping out the material."

Any final thoughts?
     "I am so proud and honored to have an opportunity to help promote and increase intrest in the Saga, and Hopefully I will Have the opportunity to inspire new fans the way others have inspired me over the years.  May the force be with you!"

ROTJ Boba Fett portrayed by Mike Bryant and his 2 clones...

501st Garrison Carida: Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia (US)
The Dented Helmet: Home of Boba Fett