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game on at msi
Chicago, IL
March 4, 2006
Suited Up at the Museum
The last time I had been to Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry was
last year, when members of the Midwest Garrison took part in the
Industrial Light & Magic event. This time I was going to be a member of
the Midwest Garrison, and was going to be a sandtrooper for the Imperial
army! I had been looking forward to this day for quite a long period of
time. That event last year was the one that really made it sink in my head
that I wanted to purchase armor for myself. But instead of buying it
myself, Carrie had gotten it for me as a gift to celebrate our five-year
wedding anniversary. Being able to participate with the Garrison at the
museum was going to be a memorable moment for me.
It was Saturday morning, which meant it was the day to head down to
Chicago to participate in their Game On event. I got my armor all packed
nicely in my storage container, brought it and my BFG upstairs, and loaded
it into my Forester. I was ready to rock and roll! The only bad part is
that I was going to have to drive to downtown Chicago, which would take
about 45 minutes to an hour. The drive actually only took me about forty
minutes, so that wasn’t all that bad. Plus, it was a piece of cake getting
there, as I only had to hop on Illinois 55 which takes you to Lakeshore
Drive and then to the museum.
It was then almost 10:00am and other MWG members started showing up one
right after another. Our numbers were growing by the minute, and when
there were about six or seven of us we decided to start moving inside to
get ourselves ready for the mission. Once inside the building, we had to
sign in at the security desk, acquire a Visitors Pass sticker, and were
then on our way to the “Coal Miner Diner” to start suiting up in our
armor. It was less than one hour until show time.
The museum employee who had been coordinating this for us walked into
the room where we were getting ourselves ready and said, “Okay everyone,
we’re heading out in less than ten minutes.” Good thing I had everything
all ready to go, but getting suited up this time wasn’t the easiest thing
in the world. I was having problems keeping my shoulder straps in place,
as the glue from the Velcro wasn’t sticking too well to the ab plate.
Seeing as I didn’t have much time to think about fixing it, I just slapped
some duck tape on it and it was going to hopefully hold up for the
afternoon.
The last thing I needed to decide on was what color pauldron I was
going to wear with my armor. I brought both my black and gray ones with
me, and decided to go with the gray one. I have all four colors (black,
gray, orange and white) and I have never worn the orange one while
trooping with the MWG, and that’s because every sandtrooper seems to wear
an orange pauldron. By choosing to wear another color other than orange, I
feel that I will stand out a little bit more than those who are wearing
orange. My favorite one to wear is probably the white one, with the gray
one following closely behind in second place.
We started lining up to head on out to the lobby area, and of course
the sandtroopers were asked to cover the rear of the line. Darth Vader and
Princess Leia were the first to head out, with Jedi and Sith closely
behind, followed by stormtroopers, scout troopers the lone TIE pilot and
sandtroopers (hopefully I didn’t miss anyone). Every time we have to march
out at the beginning of the event, I always get this huge rush of
adrenaline in me, as it makes me feel like I’m truly a sandtrooper in real
life getting ready to go out to battle.
While walking down the hallway everyone stopped to check us out. Some
looked confused as if they didn’t know who we were, but for the most part
I think most of the people knew we were at least from the Star Wars films.
The flashes from cameras started going off, people started rushing up to
see us up close, and you could just hear people talking about us. It was
such a great feeling to be a part of something so special, to be able to
truly be part of the Star Wars universe.
 We
got down to the lobby and were going to be “hanging out” for at least a
couple hours, if not more. It was time to start mingling with the crowds
of people. People from all areas on that level approached us asking for
pictures, and you could tell that people were very much interested in
learning more about us. Some wanted to know if there was a Star Wars
attraction at the MSI, but we had to explain to them that we were there
for the Game On experience. But we all know that WE were really the main
attraction at the museum that day. More people kept coming up to us while
we were stationed in the lobby, and before I knew it the two or three
hours had past and it was time to move up to the rotunda. The same deal
went on in the rotunda that was going on down in the lobby: hang out with
the visitors and take pictures with them. We were there for another hour
or two, and then it was time to call it a day.
The one thing I noticed differently about this event from the ILM event
from last year, was that we couldn’t walk freely around the building to do
other photo shoots. The last time members from the MWG could go wherever
they wanted to, but I believe I heard someone say that we couldn’t do that
anymore because of legal reasons. I was really hoping to have pictures of
me taken in the submarine, in that one airplane on the uppermost level,
and at other exciting areas in the building. Unfortunately that wouldn’t
happen.
Many enjoyed our presence, few were turned off by us being there, but
all in all I think everyone (members from the MWG and those visiting the
MSI) had a great time that day. Until next time, this mission is over.
Photo Gallery
To see the photo gallery containing 72 photos click
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