This article will be spoiler free. I promise.
Like the force I myself have been dormant for what seems like a long time. There have been many that felt a disturbance wanting to know where I’d gone, why wasn’t I around, and what had happened. The truth of the matter is when you invest so much time into something like this that you truly love there are times when your personal life overwhelms you and you get a little burnt out. I hate to admit that my personal life burnt me out on my GWW life, but it happened.
From a little before October until now i have had a crazy busy life! Getting married, going on a honeymoon, buying a house, a car, and starting a new job can make for very little free time. I was dedicating several days a week and constantly doing this or that with the GWW Crew and I loved it, but what I needed was to focus on my new family life and new job. I stopped doing podcasts, writing articles and I stop replying to messages I had vanished just like the Jedi. But After seeing The Force Awakens last night I found myself again. It all started what seems like a long time ago in our galaxy right here in Henderson Kentucky.
With The Force Awakens coming out in December I was very excited I knew I was going to have to go opening night. I just started a new job and it was really taking all of my free time away from me. I had to invest that time in order to make myself successful. Thankfully I met a coworker that has become a good friend and I found out that he is a huge Star Wars fan and a nerd just like me. We got to talking about the movie and he went ahead and ordered us tickets so we could go see it. Needless to say we were both very excited. My new friend got me so pumped that I jumped right back into my old ways, I started searching through all of the Cosplay forums, groups, and pages. Then I found the Replica Stormtrooper Helmets page and decided I needed to order some first order storm trooper helmet kits and finish them to wear to opening night. My friend, Ivan, loved the idea and wanted a helmet himself! Not only was I getting to make something for me that I have always wanted but now I was making something for a friend that I knew he would cherish for a very long time. That was the reason why I started doing Cosplay and prop building in the first place.
I ended up ordering the helmet kits and as soon as I got them, I started going to work. I had to hand sand each one, cut out the eyes, hand form all the lenses and tape off all the detail. It took hours upon hours and several weeks. I literally finished The last two helmets the day before we were supposed to go and see the movie! There’s nothing like a little procrastination and I am the king.
I will not ruin anything about this movie but I will say that it was everything I could’ve ever hoped and dreamed for. Several of the actors had mentioned how “nothing has changed but everything’s changed” and I would have to totally agree with that statement. Star Wars The Force Awakens was such an incredible movie it literally gave me such joy it’s hard to express in words.
All of it’s true it’s real the light side, the Dark side of the force. It is in all of us. I had lost touch with that special thing inside of me that made me part of who I was. With J.J. Abrams help and The Force Awakens they showed me my way back to the geek side.
I will be doing a full write up of the storm trooper helmet build and you can expect to see it in the next few days. Enjoy the movie, share it with someone you care about, don’t spoil it for others, and may the force be with you, always.