How a worldwide Star Wars fan group grew out of Columbia, South Carolina
Albin Johnson (helmet off) of Columbia stands next to Star Wars creator George Lucas before the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade with members of Johnson's costuming group, the 501st Legion. Provided
COLUMBIA — During Albin Johnson’s darkest moments in life, Star Wars has been a source of light.
He lost a leg in a wreck. That led him to create a Star Wars stormtrooper costuming group that now has 12,000 members worldwide.
He lost a young daughter to cancer. That led to the construction of a pink droid that solidified his fan group’s mission in aiding children’s charities.
Johnson has turned his love for Star Wars into a powerful force.
Stormtroopers from his massive fan group created 20 years ago in Columbia have raised nearly $3 million over the past five years. They have marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade with Star Wars mastermind George Lucas, appeared at the MTV Movie Awards and, just last week, shared a red carpet with Britain’s Princes William and Harry at the London premiere of "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi."
They have a seal of approval from filmmakers as Lucasfilms' "preferred Imperial costuming group."
"It’s so liberating to get to play out all your bad-guy fantasies," Johnson said. “Stormtroopers are your average guy. He can be anyone."
'My own world'
Johnson’s route to becoming Stormtrooper TK 210 started in 1977 with his father, a former World War II pilot, being intrigued by a movie poster featuring battling spaceships. His father thought it was a war movie and took the family, then living in Charlotte, to see "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope."
Johnson liked the movie because of the white-clad soldiers from the Galactic Empire that served with the movie’s villain, Darth Vader. Stormtroopers are among the first characters seen in the film.
“What were they? Were they men? Were they robots?” Johnson, 48, recalled. “I was trying to work the morality of why they did the things they did."
Johnson’s parents were very religious — they worked for the PTL Club, a Christian television program — and would occasionally throw away his Star Wars toys. A youth minister once told Johnson that Lucas was trying to lure kids into a cult.
He hid some of his Star War memorabilia and tried to read everything he could about the movie.
“I was in my own world,” Johnson said.
Albin Johnson (left) and his wife Kathy pose with R2-D2 and C-3PO during a 2005 Star Wars convention in Indianapolis.
His life changed after losing his left leg following a 1994 auto accident. Johnson was depressed, so a co-worker (and fellow Star Wars fan) at a Columbia Circuit City store encouraged him to buy a $2,000 Stormtrooper costume to wear to a showing for the re-release of "Star Wars: Episode V —The Empire Strikes Back."
"His eyes came alive when we talked about the movie," said Tom Crews, who worked with Johnson at the electronics store.
Few people dressed up in movie costumes to go to a movie in the '90s, especially in Columbia. It was a hit. Johnson bought a Stormtrooper suit for Crews, and they started posting photos of themselves in costumes on online bulletin boards.
They began to make friends with other fans dressing as Stormtroopers. Some were in other states, but they were joined by fans from other countries.
In 1997, Johnson, with Crews' help, created a fictional unit for the Stormtroopers, calling it the 501st Legion because “it rolled off the tongue.”
“We wanted to find people who are really into the movie and people who were really into the costumes,” said Crews, who is known as TK 512 in the legion. “We wanted to create something people wanted to belong to and wanted to grow.”
Since members were so far apart, Johnson adopted military lingo for local groups, known as garrisons, squads and outposts, so members were invested in growing the 501st in their state or country.
He had rules to make sure members dressed — and acted — properly, but he didn’t charge dues or try to make money selling costumes like similar Star Wars fan groups.
“It was not about perfection,” Johnson said. “It was about the relationships.”
The big break
That’s not to say the 501st didn’t struggle. The group’s first attempt at a gathering during a comic convention in 1998 in Atlanta included members who were not interested in dressing up or who preferred partying over marching.
But four years later, the 501st had its breakthrough.
During a Star Wars event in Indianapolis, Johnson was able to assemble 200 troopers to march to the arena. It was impressive and drew applause from fans waiting in line to get in. One problem: they walked across a street where a marathon was taking place. Peripheral vision in the masks is almost nonexistent. They stopped runners during their march.
Inside the arena, the crowds overwhelmed security. Johnson said he assembled his troopers and asked they each stand behind a security person to help usher fans through the event. That got the attention of Lucasfilm, the maker of Star Wars, which thanked the 501st and began a relationship that has helped legitimize the South Carolina-created legion.
Film company officials also recognized how Johnson led his group.
“His order of the day was, ‘Let’s have some fun,’ ’’ said Steve Sansweet, a former fan relations head for Lucasfilm. “He’s a personable guy who had an idea and threw it out there.”
Crews said he and Johnson wondered if Lucasfilm would come after them over copyright issues. Sansweet said filmmakers were leery at first, fearing that one of these rabid fans would rob a convenience store dressed as a Star Wars character.
But Lucasfilm took the 501st and other costume fan groups as a compliment.
“These can be our best emissaries out there," Sansweet said. "People love seeing them in the wild.”
Legion members take pride in making their own costumes or tweaking ones they buy to make them more authentic.
"We're showcasing our art," said Dan Rodriguez, the current 501st leader who lives in Maryland. "We want to look like we came right off the screen."
The pink droid
Just two years after the 501st’s big break, Johnson’s 6-year-old daughter Katie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Katie saw in “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” how the droid R2-D2 watched over Padmé Amidala while she was sleeping and wanted her own nighttime protector.
Johnson worked with friends to have a full-size pink version of R2-D2 at her bedside until her death in 2005. The droid was named R2-KT in her honor and now tours the country for charity events, visits sick children in hospitals and participates in Make-A-Wish events.
“This became a defining aspect of the 501st: We will be as charitable as we can for children,” Crews said.
R2-KT has become the Columbia-created 501st Legion's mascot, joining parades and visiting sick children in hospitals. The pink droid is named after 501st founder Albin Johnson's daughter, Katie, who died from brain cancer in 2005.
Johnson’s strong religious beliefs carried him through his daughter’s illness, said Crews, who now works with Johnson at the state's information technology agency.
Johnson refers to himself as a father of five, which includes Katie.
“He knows death is not death. It’s part of our existence,” Crews said. “You take some heart from that. Al has always found a way to see the brighter side of things no matter the low.”
R2-KT now has its own backstory in the Star Wars legend and the pink droid has appeared in animated Star Wars shows. Filmmakers borrowed the droid for more than a year so R2-KT could appear in the background of some scenes in 2015's “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens.” (The pink droid does not have a cameo in “The Last Jedi.”)
'Power of the internet'
Members of the 501st have become a staples at Star Wars events.
Lucas wanted a group of Stormtroopers when he was grand marshal of the 2007 Rose Parade. Sansweet knew where to find them and recruited the 501st, which got a pep talk from the Star Wars creator ahead of a four-hour march.
“You’re all cannon fodder, none of you will probably make it,” Lucas joked, seeing how Stormtroopers' main role in the films is getting shot and dying. “We will remember you.”
Actor John Boyega, who plays Finn, former Stormtrooper FN 2187, poses with members of the Columbia-created 501st Legion at the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi" in London on Dec. 12. Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP
In the past week, 501st members took part in the premieres of “The Last Jedi” in Los Angeles and London. Their reward: They got to see the movie — and some British royalty.
Johnson stayed home. He is not involved in the legion day-to-day so he can spend more time with his family.
But he still chats with filmmakers, dresses up as TK 210 a few times a year and sends messages to members, who have reached into China and Russia — far from the Columbia electronics store where it all began.
“Even I’m surprised that it started here,” Johnson said. “But that’s the power of the internet.”
By: Andy Shain
Source: The Post & Courier
