Frequently Asked Questions

The 501st Legion is a worldwide group of fans who love to create 100% screen accurate costumes of the bad guys from the Star Wars  universe. We attend events across the globe helping to promote the love of Star Wars and also to raise funds for those in need.

Swedish Garrison is the local subdivision of the 501st Legion in Sweden. We have 129 troopers spread across the country from Malmö in the south to Piteå in the north.

We would be honoured if you would join us!

There are only two requirements for joining us:

1. You must be at least 18 years of age
2. You must have an approved costume

That's it!

If you are under 18 then it is still possible to attend events with us. You still require an approved costume and you must have a parent/guardian who is with you at all times during the event.

If you are over 18 but do not yet have a costume or maybe do not plan to have one, you can join us as an Event Supporter. These fantastic people help us get into our costumes, work in our stand and generally make sure that we can do what we do best, troop!

This is probably the question we get asked the most often. Although there are costumes available from shops and places like Amazon, they are mostly aimed at people going to a Halloween party or just having some fun. To join the 501st Legion and Swedish Garrison you will need something a bit more special.

Step one is to decide which of the many available costumes you would like to aim for. Some are more widely available, some are more expensive. Some allow you to become one of a number of troopers standing  in the background, others allow you to become a specific hero character such as Darth Vader or Boba Fett. Some are more complex costumes, others are less comfortable. Spend a good amount of time doing research into the costumes before you decide which one you want to get. Join the Swedish Garrison forum and the forums for your preferred costume's detachment. Search around there, it is very likely that your question has been asked and answered already. If not then post your question. The members are a helpful bunch and will always try to point you in the right direction so that you do not make any expensive mistakes.

It's worth remembering that costuming is an addictive hobby. Once you get one costume, you will almost certainly want more. So, if your favourite costume seems a bit scary and hard to make, start with something simpler. You can always move to the harder one later on.

When you have picked your costume, find a supplier. There are many reliable makers out there but, unfortunately, there are just as many who will promise a lot and deliver very little (or even nothing). Before sending any money, make sure that the supplier is trustworthy. This is best done by asking questions on forums, do not just ask the seller! Remember that most suppliers do this as a hobby and they have real life jobs too. Make sure you ask about delivery times to avoid disappointment.

Some suppliers can offer ready-built costumes. If you go that route, make sure that the measurements you send are super-accurate. Most people will buy a kit that they build themselves. You will then get a big brown box (BBB) with loads of parts and probably very few instructions. There are loads of guides online. Forums are very useful but there are also tonnes of videos on YouTube so you can actually see what is being done. Better yet, ask when local troopers will be having an armour party. That way you can get help and avoid a lot of mistakes. You also start to get to know the people you will be hanging out with once you join us.

You can also build a costume from scratch yourself. 3D printing and pepakura have lowered the threshold for making your own costumes. Buy the 3D models for a costume get printing. If someone in your family is good with a sewing machine then start with something like an Imperial Officer or a TIE Pilot Reserve rather than a stormtrooper. Cardboard, modelling foam and many other materials are also available.

Assuming you live in Sweden and you have a costume, the application process is as follows:

• Decide what you would like your TK-ID to be. This number will be your identifier within the Legion. As we have a large number of members, many ID’s are already taken. You can see a full list of which ID’s are currently available here. Choose several in case your first choice is taken while your application is being processed.
• Take good photos of your costume. They do not have to be taken by a professional photographer (though that it of course okay). A modern smart phone camera is perfectly fine but follow these guidelines:
  • If possible take the photos outside in daylight. If daylight is not an option (eg in Sweden during the winter) then use as good lighting as possible. Try to avoid hard spotlights that create glare on your costume.
  • Take the photos against a plain background but, for example, stormtroopers should not have a plain white background and Darth Vader should not have all black. It just makes it hard to see the costume.
  • Use as high a resolution as you can. The more detail we can see, the easier it is to get you approved fast.
  • As a minimum, take photos from the front, back and sides with your arms raised to shoulder level. This is so that we can see all the details of your costume.
  • If there is some part of your costume that is very detailed/important, make sure you take close-up shots of that piece.
  • Take at least one photo from straight ahead showing from your chest upwards in front while standing at attention with your helmet on and off (if applicable). Take at least one photo in an action pose that looks good for your character.
  • Do not alter the photo in any way using Photoshop or similar. If you want to help our admins out by removing the background then that is great but send in both the original and the edited pictures!
  • Sometimes less is more but, in this case, more is definitely more!
• Next, fill in the 501st Legion application form online.
• Wait for a reply. Most often you will get feedback about what alterations you need to make to your costume for it to be up to standard. Most people do not get it 100% right first time but usually they are pretty close.
• Make the required changes and send in updated photos.
• Wait again. In the meantime, make sure that you have an account set up on our forum.
• Once you are approved, request member level access to the forum.
• Sign up for a troop and start having fun!

If you live outside Sweden, contact your local garrison.

You will have a lot of fun, make new friends and make other people really happy!

What you do at an event depends on the event itself but most often we:

• Patrol the event taking photos with the guests.
• Work in the Swedish Garrison stand (both in and out of costume).
• Hold presentations about the Legion and Garrison.
• Talk to people who are interested in us and maybe want to join.
• Entertain people.
• Show our support for various causes.

Most people under the age of 18 are still growing so we do not recommend buying a brand new 501st Legion standard costume because they are expensive and you will probably grow out of it pretty quickly. However, there are still options out here for you.

• Go for a lower quality costume: There are costumes available from shops and websites that while being of a lower accuracy are also considerably cheaper. Why not buy one of those, modify it a bit to make it more accurate and then invest in a more accurate costume later?
• Buy second hand: Members often sell old costumes to help pay for new ones. You can pick up a nice bargain especially if you tell them that it is your first costume and that you want to join Swedish Garrison as soon as you can. It is important to remember that just because a costume has been approved for someone else does not mean it will be approved for you. The standards change all the time and people's bodies are different shapes and sizes. A bit of modification can solve most problems but it might be worth asking for a test fit before you buy.
• Build it yourself: 3D printing and pepakura have lowered the threshold for making your own costumes. Buy the 3D models for a costume and then print it out in a slightly smaller size. As you grow you can print larger ones and sell off your smaller ones. If someone in your family is good with a sewing machine then start with something like an Imperial Officer or a TIE Pilot Reserve rather than a stormtrooper. Cardboard, modelling foam and many other materials are also available.
• If you want to go all out for a 501st Legion standard costume, then do it. Just make sure to talk to the maker to be sure it will be suitable for your size.

The 501st Legion and Swedish Garrison are focused on the bad guy costumes. There are other costuming groups for other types of costumes.

• Rebels: The Rebel Legion and Nordic Base are the rebel equivalent of the 501st Legion and Swedish Garrison
• Mandalorians: The Mandalorian Mercs and Gaht Cabur Clan are the Mandalorian equivalent of the 501st Legion and Swedish Garrison
• Non-Star Wars costumes: For costuming in all other genres in Sweden, please contact Nordic Reel Icons.

If you have built a Star Wars droid then please contact R2 Builders: Sweden.

There are many other amazing costuming groups out there but these are the ones who Swedish Garrison co-operates with at events.

There are some overlaps and it is not unusual for people to have joined more than one club with the same costume, for example, clonetrooper costumes are acceptable in both the 501st Legion and the Rebel Legion. Sometimes the requirements are different for the same costume in different clubs.

Event Supporters are people who do not yet have a costume but who want to help Swedish Garrison at events. Becoming an Event Supporter is pretty simple. Just follow these five steps:

• Come and say "Hi" to us at an event or talk to one of our registered members so that we get to know you first
• Create an account on our forum
• Request Supporter access on the forum
• Wait for a member who knows you to sponsor your application and for the forum admins to give you the correct access level
• Sign up for an event, help out and have fun!

The easiest way to request an appearance is via our contact form. When we receive the request it will be passed to a local trooper who will then contact you to discuss the options available.

We are able to tailor the event to your needs. Everything from a single trooper coming to a birthday party and looking cool for the kids up to a large group at a corporate event with our full photostand. We usually ask for a donation to our charity collection. The amount we ask for is based on the size of the event.

We do not charge a fee for appearing at events but we do request the ability to generate money for charity. That can either be a donation from the event organisers or by having a stand where people can pay to have their photograph taken with us. This is how we have earned our nickname, The Bad Guys Doing Good.

Please note that the members of the garrison receive none of the money that is donated to us.

The 501st Legion and Swedish Garrison are, at their core, volunteer charity groups and we often collect money for a local charity at our events.

The members of the garrison receive nothing for their attendance, rather it usually costs us money for travel, parking etc. Having said that, we do have certain internal expenses involved in running our events and those have to be covered before we make charity donations. Our goal is to minimise our expenses and maximise donations.

From the money that we collect we deduct the expenses for the event, such as printer ink, paper etc. We then deduct a further 10% to help us maintain /replace our stand equipment and to further improve it so that the guests at future events have an even better time. All remaining money is then rounded up to an even amount and that is what we donate to charity.

For example, at Sci-Fi World 2020 in Gothenburg we collected a total of 23,210 SEK. We had expense of 1,445 SEK for printer paper and ink leaving 21,765 SEK. From that we deducted 10% or 2,177 SEK to maintain/develop our equipment and stand leaving 19,589 SEK to be donated. This was rounded up to 20,000 SEK which was sent to Drottning Silvias Barnsjukhus in Gothenburg.

If you have any questions about how our charity donations work or a donation from a specific event, please contact DS/SL/TD 5573 who handles all our donations.

In short, no, we are not part of Lucasfilm Ltd. We are, however, their preferred Imperial costuming group and often work with them at events. Lucasfilm also used our members as extras when they need large numbers of troopers such as in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Yes. Very!

"I can't see a thing in this helmet" (Luke Skywalker, A New Hope)

While it may be an exaggeration to say you see nothing in a stormtrooper, tusken raider or Mandalorian helmet, the truth is that our vision is highly limited. Most troopers cannot see small children if they are less than about 1.5 metres in front of them. It makes things a bit awkward and it's very easy to trip over things that you simply didn't see!