The Force Is Strong With This One

For almost a year I have been resigned to the fact that the only way Luke was ever going to meet a Stormtrooper in real life was to take him to Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios at Disney. That would cost me about twelve million dollars and be outside, in Florida, in July. Wow, could that be any less appealing? But by divine intervention I saw a story in an online paper about an exhibit at a Tampa museum that was going to provide the opportunity to meet Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and other members of the Imperial Guard. This was one of the luckiest discoveries I have made in recent memory. So on Saturday I went with Luke and my Dad over to the Tampa Bay History Center to meet these characters. Was it awesome? Amazing? Worth every penny??!! See for yourself!


There was an actual parade of the characters that came down the street where the history center was, but we chose to just hang out and wait for everyone to get to the museum. Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Imperial Guard Members, some Jedi and even R2D2 made their appearance! They did a little show for about 10 minutes in the lobby and then everyone got to go in.





Stormtroopers were falling from the sky, El Guapo!


As a side note: We were not allowed to use the flash on our cameras inside the exhibit, which made my little camera have to work all that much harder. Some of the pics are a little hard to make out, but it wasn't my fault. It was the Dark Side.


Luke started out this experience like he does all social experiences; scared to death and shy as the day is long. He was a little afraid of Darth Vader- several times he asked me if he was "using his real force" today. Dad was fearless, but come on! Vader doesn't take no crap from no one!



Luke started to loosen up a little bit. This picture sums up his whole life, I think. Wanting to do something so badly, but just needing a little courage :)


But after another 20 minutes Luke started to really get the hang of things. That's when things got FUN!

You know when you take a bunch of pictures and you are hoping for that one money shot, a picture that will become a classic? THIS is the one for me. I LOVE IT!









You know what? Stormtroopers are actually really nice! (Although, you did not hear that from me). In fact, Luke was so warmed up and feeling their love that he even got to hold some of their guns!











Of course he got to hold a REAL light saber too!



Dad asked to hold a gun and got completely rejected! Burn!





Jawa power!


You gotta admit those light sabers are awesome...


At the beginning Luke would not even go near R2! By the end, they were BFFs! Or BDFs.... Best Droids Forever!


Interesting fact: Luke owns a Stormtrooper action figure that looks just like this guy- covered in dirt and full of battle scars. I thought Luke totally ruined it by playing with it too much. I couldn't understand what he did to it! Turns out, it came that way! Luke is off the hook.


I had to go back and get my picture with the big guy himself. He was a little intimidating...





Of course there was an actual exhibit going on, so here is Luke and his orange flight suit.


And here I am in front of Captain Jean Luc Picard's suit from Star Trek: The Next Generation. And does it make me the biggest nerd on the planet that I instantly knew based on it's design this was his suit from season one? HECK. YES.




Look, it's The Holy Grail of Star Wars! Luke's original light saber from the original movie and the fake hand they used in The Empire Strikes Back when it gets cut off. Amazing!



Finally, I must include a picture of Luke and Dad in front of THE MOST GIANT ELEVATOR IN ALL THE WORLD!!! Look at the size of this thing! You could drive a tank in there! It was massive. And to be honest, it was probably one of the more interesting things regularly in that museum :)