Hey, remember when a group of Star Wars fans crashed a gathering of Civil War re-enactors at the Ohio Statehouse last year?
Yep, whether you like it or not, Star Wars is everywhere.
Photo by Dispatch photographer Chris Russell
Andy Renzetti is central Ohio’s go-to guy for Darth Vader appearances. A member of the Ohio Garrison of the 501st Legion (a Star Wars cosplay organization), Renzetti often makes unpaid appearances at sports games and conventions (and he was even asked to appear at the midnight debut of COSI’s “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit a few years ago). He said he’s the “official” Darth Vader for the region more because of the costume’s price ($2,000) than because no one else wants to do it, but the costume can’t be very comfortable.
“When you’re wearing fiberglass, wool and leather, you tend to start sweating pretty quick,” he has said. “And the first thing little boys want to do is punch you in the codpiece.”
Still…how cool does he look?!
Photo by Dispatch photographer Chris Russell
May the fourth be with you!
Check out our slide show of central-Ohio Star Wars fans who have made it into The Dispatch over the years (including Ed and Kari Gillett, shown here in a photo from 1997 — when Ed said he had seen Star Wars 80 times).
AT-AT for America: The Dream: An AT-AT for America
NERDS OF AMERICA:
We were once a country that made things: giantmetal cars, Hoover Dams, non-AutoTuned popular music.
But now we are stuck in an economy in limbo, surrounded by our Internets, our hipsters and our arguing politicians.
Nerds, I have a great idea to make America great…
If Detroit can get a Robocop statue…
(via idlewyld)
A WTF moment if ever we saw one: Re-enactors of civil wars real and imagined have some fun at the Ohio Statehouse to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War Sunday, April 10, 2011.
(Columbus Dispatch photo by Jeff Hinckley)
Update: According to the Ohio Garrison of The 501st Legion, those in Star Wars, Ghostbusters and Pirates of the Caribbean costumes had walked to the Statehouse after spending time at the Columbus Toy Show.
