OSWCC Summer Social

Two and a half (Rebels)

Oftentimes, you will hear representatives from costume groups like Rebel Legion, 501st and others talk publicly about the level of “professionalism” that goes into being part of these Star Wars costuming groups.  Most of this is true “from a certain point of view,” but what about those instances where our greatest strength is the ability to relate personally to the people (sometimes friends) who are inviting us to be part of their event?  Such was the case this past weekend, as The Ohio Star Wars Collector’s Club invited Great Lakes Base, Ohio Garrison, and (local newcomer) R2 Builders to make an appearance at their 2013 Summer Social in Cleveland, Ohio.

photo courtesy OSWCC

Celebrating their 15-year anniversary, The Ohio Star Wars Collector’s Club is one of the most prominent Star Wars collecting clubs in the country.  OSWCC has nearly 300 members - spread over three geographic regions (North, Central, South) - and while they hold regional meetings year-round, once a year they hold one giant summer cookout/swap meet for their members to socialize and share their love of Star Wars collecting.  In addition, OSWCC often has tables/booths next to ours at most of the Ohio comic book conventions -- OSWCC even travels as far as Florida, having a table on the convention floor of Celebration VI!  Many of us from the Star Wars costuming groups (myself included) were or are currently members of OSWCC -- so it’s safe to say both groups have a more personal relationship with each other.

This year, the OSWCC Summer Social was held in the NORTH Region, on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.  The OSWCC Summer Social is part-cookout, part-swap meet – as several members setup tables where you can buy all kinds of both vintage and modern era Star Wars toys and collectibles.  In addition, they hold a charity auction, with items donated by everyone from Dark Horse Comic, Hasbro, all the way up to Lucasfilm itself. As I’ve been saying from the start, these guys have some “street cred” within the Star Wars community.  This year’s auction proceeds went to the American Red Cross.

Ohio Garrison, R2-Builders and Great Lakes Base at
OSWCC Summer Social 2013

After taking some time to get reacquainted with some old friends, grab a bite to eat and do some Star Wars toy shopping of my own, it was time for us to suit up and represent Rebel Legion and 501 st.  One of the nice things about trooping at an OSWCC event is that it gave Troy a chance to throw on his Stormtrooper costume.  Troy is one of our original 501 st members here in the NE region of Ohio, but we haven’t seen much of him recently… so this was a welcomed homecoming of sorts.  That gave us a fairly even turnout: two Rebels and two Imperials -- then the real “star” of the day showed up.  ScottyK has been working on building his own radio controlled R2-D2 with the help of R2-Builders.  The OSWCC event was the maiden voyage for Scotty’s R2 unit, and that little droid even had us veteran Great Lakes Base and Ohio Garrison guys standing around in awe, wanting to get our picture taken with R2… like we were kids once again.

While professionalism is a good quality to have as a member of Great Lakes Base/Rebel Legion, it’s nice to go back a troop a few more “personal” type of events.  Trooping at the OSWCC Summer Social remind me that at the end of the day, we’re just Star Wars fans who get to dress up like life-sized “action figures” in our spare time.