Learning what you need to do to join the 501st Legion can be daunting at first, however, our friendly costuming community is available to provide guidance along the way.
When you sign up to the forums, we recommend that you:
Please take some time to read over our Forum Rules. These make our boards and our trooping enjoyable for all!
Visit our Recruitment Office and let us know who you are, where you're from, what kind of costume you're after and some other fun facts about yourself.
Start researching your costume in the Costumes & Props section of the forums. There you'll find information about:
Commonly referred to as the CRL, the Costume Reference Library details the specific requirements needed for each costume to be approved by the 501st Legion.
Detachments provide specialised support information, reference material and guidance on specific types of costumes.
Each detachment has its own forum which that provides access to people with in-depth knowledge about particular costumes where you can get advice and direction.
Refer to the detatchments list to locate the one your costume belongs to.
Once you get your armour and begin your building your costume, start a build thread on the Southern Cross Garrison forum as well as the detachment forum your costume belongs to. This will ensure that you can get comments and tips from experienced members which will help you in your project.
Starting construction on your costume can be intimidating, especially if it's your first. Becoming active with your local 501st community provides access to a wealth of experience and knowledge from fellow costume builders.
Create a build thread on the forums as soon as you know what you want to build (before the various parts of your costume arrive). This will become your central place to ask for advice and tips centred around your build.
Once you've started a build thread, your forum access will be upgraded to cadet, providing you with access to additional information on the forums.
Attending armour parties, informal get-togethers where members and cadets work on costumes, are a great opportunity to meet your local 501st members in person and get hands-on advice about your build and what it's like to be part of the organisation.
These can be great opportunities to learn how to assemble various parts of your armour and learn the best tools and techniques for construction.
Once your costume is complete, submit your application form with the 501st Legion. Submissions will also need to be accompanied by pictures of your costume, emailed to gml@501scg.org.
You can email full size/hi-res photos of your costume or provide a link to an online photo sharing account such as Imgur, Photobucket or Flickr. Approval photos must meet the image requirements when submitting your images for approval.
You must be 18 years or older to join the 501st Legion.