izzi

Exactly. We were originally the home for ALL EU troopers, and only EU troopers. Our first face character didn't come around until General Weir appeared in the comics, because of his armor being a shadow scout variant. We also didn't have anything outside of the EU until the new trilogy happened, and it was determined that some of the screen costumes would be best served by our detachment.

Hey fellow troopers, Some of you may know me, to others I'm probably a new face. Work, school and kids have kept me busy the last few years. Thankfully, the awesome members from the past and present command check in on me. Mark actually asked me to take a look and share my thoughts and some IA/Spec Ops history, as he knows in putting the finish on an Engineer to get back in the trooping game since my school is wrapping up this spring. This is going to be a bit long-winded, so the TL;DR of it is: You're entitled to your own opinion, only read this if you want a peek behind the 501st curtain. I was XO when the IA units were in development. I was over the development of the CRLs and the contact who "negotiated" directly with the LMOs for its approval. Sebastian was the main mover and shaker for the units as a whole, and Blackwatch spearheaded the Engineer like someone lit his rear plastoid plate on fire. There is quite a bit of work when it comes to NEW costume approval. There's a ton of back and forth discussion, not only about what its chosen, but also why things are chosen. Concessions are usually made on all sides until the base if what is acceptable is created and the first costume is approved. Talking about the units themselves: IA troopers and engineers aren't "just grunts" as I've heard them called in some posts. These costumes are of troopers who are sent into hostile territory on the frontier of the Empire in order to build fortifications to allow for an Imperial foothold on planets that were most likely not even in Alliance territory. The engineers most notably are a special force who understands how to build and maintain specialized equipment in unforgiving environments for this purpose. As for the costumes, as I understand it, the IA costumes were presented to one or two other detachments and turned down. Now this isn't always due detachments not liking the costume, often it's because when limited source material is viewed, detachments merely don't want to spend time and resources on "unapprovable" costumes. As I said above, approving a costume class is more than "Here's a picture. Looks good. Approved." Especially when sources deal with art that may change from panel to panel or artist to artist, and not just film captures and detailed computer models that stay more or less consistent. This isn't a downfall of other detachments, however we're lucky that it's a strength of Spec Ops. Spec Ops started with comics, RPG supplements and low resolution video game captures. We aren’t a detachment that says “You have your sources of what you want, now replicate it” we instead have always gone “If that’s what you want to build, let’s find what you need to get it approved.” That is the reason why Spec Ops has such a diverse and large roster. Here’s my thoughts: I’ve been slowly building an Engineer hopefully I’ll join their ranks soon. Do I feel they fit in Spec Ops? Absolutely! Do I feel they could fit in their own detachment? Absolutely! Do I think they’re a good fit for the IOC? No. The ACD would be a closer detachment costume-wise than IOC, but I still think it would be a mistake. Here the IA costumes have experienced staff supporting them, that will help support addition to the costume class. A staff that has helped build and has already navigated the pitfalls of IA costumes. Is there much more that they can accomplish as their own detachment? Not really. As for moving to another detachment, well it’s always more attractive to “welcome” other costumes when all the hard work is already completed. Welcoming and supporting a costume class are two different things. When your current Detachment has a huge success rate in getting a costume going, it doesn't make sense to jump. Also, jumping to another Det would probably destroy the option of breaking off as its own detachment later if that's what was desired. IA Prefix - That talk was had with the LMOs at the time of creation, but it was basically said that all the prefixes are actually making things too confusing, as there are getting to be too many in the Legion. However now that the roster has grown, it may be worth revisiting. If there is something more that IA members feel like they need, maybe bring it up to the Det Command staff and they can see how it can be accommodated? I really don’t think a sub-detachment is the answer, but maybe giving IA members duties over the corresponding CRLs, Merchandise, forum moderation, is really what is needed. My very long thoughts on the matter.

Sorry, I was talking about in game reference shots for the straight on back detail. I should have been more specific.

Are there any straight on back shots?Right now we only have angled shots to show the bank details.

I've been in the middle of moving. I'll look over this on the weekend.

Topic has been locked and is under review by the CRL Team.

Yeah, I was able to order fine.

Too bad. Might be your location doesn't allow it. If you know your US size, maybe I could grab some for you and ship them. Not sure of the price would be worth it after shipping though.

@Wraith gave me a hand-me-down hat! So now I'm sitting at $13.00 + Free hat.

Looks like that might work. We'll take another look at it when you can suit up but because it goes with the shape of the hand to leave even spacing behind the knuckles, that might do well.

Put your hand inside a glove and take a picture so we can see what it looks like.

Just saw this question. Honestly these boots seem a bit too short. The commuter boots above were chosen because they actually stand a bit high for an ankle boot. When my boots come in, I'll take the exact height measurement for reference in finding other brands. Right now payless does have them on sale from size 6 up to 14.

Just a bump. Have you been approved yet?

Apparently WTF does have these in stock at the moment. If you ordered some and haven't received them, I'd suggest shooting them an email to see if they can get you sorted out.

Hey all! Finally had a little bit of funds to get a soft armor project going. Over the years I've realized where at first having a helmet was nice as I was super shy and wanted the safety of being behind a mask, now I've grown into being more interactive and wanted to engage more on a personal level with the attendees while still staying "in character." This has unfortunately been discouraging as I only have fully armored characters at the moment, and I have skipped events because I didn't want to be behind a mask. For the new build I've chosen the <a href="http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TX_imperial_army_engineer"> Imperial Army Engineer</a> . It's a comfy costume, relatively cheap (Around $200) and it's Spec Ops. For those of you who don't know me, Spec Ops has been my home for the last 10 years. I've had the honor of serving as XO, DL, CotG, and through all my trials in life, I've had people I've met through Spec Ops giving me a call just to check in and see if there's anything they can do. It really is a family to me so I'm excited to promote my home Detachment with the new costume. I'll also keep a record of costs and where I bought the items for it, so anyone looking to build can have a pretty good estimate on pricing out the uniform. So far I just have this: <img src="https://i.imgur.com/p4bLc1P.jpg" alt="Gloves & Pacthes"/> Gloves - I purchased from ebay for just over $3. It varies by $0.20 or so depending on the seller. They aren't real leather, and you just need to cut off the strap, and sharpie the white stitching black if you feel like it. ( <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leather-Gloves-Full-Finger-Mens-Motorcycle-Driving-Winter-Warm-Touch-Screen-RF/172992796307?hash=item28472c9693:m:mu9OBKb885IdR5K8LD5OXEQ:rk:15:pf:0">Leather Touch Gloves</a> Patches - Those I got from Walt's Trooper Factory. They were out for awhile, but now they have them back in stock. (<a href="http://waltstrooperfactory.com/imperial-army-shoulder-patch/">Imperial Army Shoulder Patch</a>) Total Cost so far: $13.00 More items shall arrive shortly. I have the jumpsuit, boots, belt and a couple pouches on order.

I have some garrison members looking into this costume, so heading WTF is shipping again means I can point them in that direction.

Just go to payless.com and search "commuter boot" they should pop up.

If we go back to the source material, The rank of General (4 red/4 blue) and Commander (3 red/3 blue) are both established ranks in the universe. However, I'm having a hard time finding additional references for the 5 red/5 blue so I believe that one may have been an oversight. So unless we can find additional sources the 5R/5B should probably be dropped. However, Spec Ops loves it's options, and many officer uniforms have rank options available as well, so I believe we should leave both the established General and Commander ranks in the CRL and let people choose.

The "arrow head" shape occasionally seen usually lines up with the folds in the arms of the jumpsuit. Most likely it means the the design is printed so it would look warped as the cloth moved. As far as the upper rocker tab goes. It's not seen on all of the units, so it should be an optional component. Most likely it's a rank or specialty indicator.

Hey ya! Send me a picture of those boots in black. We need to update the level 2 engineer as well, I just need a good picture.

I know there are quite a few people looking for the Hunters Bay Commuter Boots for their build. Just found that Payless is having a 40% off sale on their shoes, so you can currently get them for $30. Thought I'd pass that along to everyone. https://www.payless.com/mens-hunters-bay-commuter-zip-fleece-boot/73627.html

Just getting back on track from my time away for the job transition. I have a few thoughts that I will type up later have the review the reference material again. One item I would like to note is the bicep color requirement for level two. put the colors up as (Most accurate color is:_____) under the level 1 requirements I think would be best. Requiring those exact brands of color for level 2 is inconsistent with the rest of our level two requirements in our current CRLs, and another brand, or custom mix that accomplishes the color match should be allowed. Think of it as saying "Leather soviet officer boot or reproduction." -iz

Hopping in here: First thing to point out, both Rebels and Solo costumes really can't be used to support the removal of the antenna ring. Solo is a different unit all together and though it looks similar, from working on the CRL the differences are actually pretty vast from the later rebellion era costumes. Rebels, on the other hand, though it is stylized being one reason, you also have to look at the rank bars. All those wearing the bar are higher ranking officers and are there to oversee, not to be giving commands in the field. This would explain why they don't have mics, antenna, etc. Sometimes you have to go back to the source material that inspired the artwork as well: We can all agree that it is modeled after General Veers's armor in ESB with a few artistic changes. This view of veers is also pretty much the same angle as the characters in the reference material. If you were to look at this you see the bottom of the rangefinder, but you do not have the "ring" in view. However, we do know that it's there. Since one of the referencess is a younger Veers, and the armor has all the distinguishing features of this same armor, it has been concluded and agreed upon by the LMOs working with Spec Ops, that the unseen armor details in these references would match the ESB Veers armor. -iz

Post progress pics, my friend! Can't wait!

I'm getting things settled with life, so I'll be poking in more often now. I'll read into things a bit more throughly later, but as far as the shovel goes it should be on every pack. The picture below actually demonstrates it being on both the pack with the large lower detonator and the one with the string charges. We can safely assume that the picture which shows a trooper without in on his pack from a rear angle is due to the fact he's carrying it in front of him. This is supported by the further panels showing them digging to plant the charges. I'll look into the pouch setups, this will most likely be like the other IA units, where you have types of pouches to choice from and just have to hit a set number to be worn. -iz