Whedonesque : Comments on 12163 : The 76th Independent Battalion to march on Dragon*con..

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

January 03 2007

The 76th Independent Battalion to march on Dragon*con.. Formed as a Browncoat version of the massive 501st Legion, they will be marching at Dragon*Con 2007 in full costume.

Now along with a large groups of Stormtroopers passing by, you'll see a large group of Browncoats! More information as well as descriptions and pictures of their uniforms can be found on their site.

Kaele | Firefly&Serenity | 19:43 CET | 38 comments total | tags: firefly&serenity fandom&fun

This effort was formed by some of the devoted Browncoats over at fireflyfans.net -

Tristan has worked very, very hard on the uniforms. They look amazing.

I believe it started as a list of those who were planning to attend D*C, and evolved into their own batallion.

mavourneen | January 03, 20:08 CET

Yay, Tristan! \o/
This very talented man has done a helluva job.
Good on ya, mate.

Hell's Kitten | January 03, 20:26 CET

Ah... Sir Tristan is indeed a man of many talents... this is an awesome idea and the vision has been caught by many - but defintely the driving force is Tristan!

I, personally, cannot wait to fly from Australia in order to march with the 76th!!

Go get 'em Qing ren!!

lady magdalena | January 03, 20:33 CET

Represent! ;-)

billz | January 04, 00:16 CET

Oh, that is way too awesome. I want pics! Lots and lots of pics!

LiLi | January 04, 00:42 CET

Just a quick word of warning:
Please make sure that you are willing to commit to the uniform requirements before sending off your application. All of the uniform needs are listed on their website.

Kaele | January 04, 02:18 CET

Looks like we ARE rising again : )

browncoatrising | January 04, 03:27 CET

Stormtroopers vs. Browncoats laser tag. Come on, people! One fandom to rule the con...

BrightShiner | January 04, 03:30 CET

I've already enlisted, and looking forward to getting my uniform in order.

We'll see if I can make it to DragonCon though.

Zeppo | January 04, 03:37 CET

And, as a word of fair warning, this is drawing negative attention elsewhere. Offerred so nobody will be surprised if anything is mentioned.

DaddyCatALSO | January 04, 04:21 CET

What kind of negative attention and where?

Zeppo | January 04, 04:42 CET

Oh brother. I think this whole march is pretty fucking cool. Negative? Negative?

*Seethes at mean-spirited jealous fanboys*

Ignore it, Browncoats. Have a frickin' blast. Take lotsa pictures, cuz I'm imagining a righteous wallpaper!

Willowy | January 04, 06:21 CET

Zeppo-It's here and I wouldn't call it negative attention, so much as just one person's opinion, serious or not.

menomegirl | January 04, 06:36 CET

The 501st and the 76th Independants, at the same Con...how can there not be a painball challenge?!? In full armour and gear and everything!

White Knight | January 04, 06:48 CET

Hmm...Browncoat vs. Stormtrooper lasertag/paintball/whatever, eh? Oh...we would so rule! Hell, even the greenest of our bunch are probably better shots than the best of the 501st's bunch. Law of diminshed returns and all that;)

BEB

BlueEyedBrigadier | January 04, 06:58 CET

The only negative response this battalion should attract is from the Alliance - it is formed by passionate fans, well organised despite it's incredible rate of growth in just a few weeks, and is totally in the spirit of the browncoats... while I have not read anything negative to date, I am sure it was well meant - we will spread the word to all the 'verse... and, yes - we will hold the line!

lady magdalena | January 04, 07:41 CET

First mention on Whedonesque! Doubt it'll be the last time either.

Nicodemus | January 04, 09:44 CET

hmm, I read the rant linked by menome girl... and well, ok, if I can't say something nice, I won't say anything at all, but it seems that person has a huge chip on their shoulder. Live and let live??? They have my pity and sympathies for holding in all that hositility. Can't be healthy.

Anyways this is cool, great for you! I hope people who participate in this have a lot of fun!

[ edited by kurya on 2007-01-04 08:06 ]

kurya | January 04, 09:59 CET

I can't seem to get to rants. I keep getting a blank Whedonesque page.

Zeppo | January 04, 10:47 CET

Hellmouth Central's style is very in your face which I like most of the time. The general gist of the argument is that the Firefly fandom is now exactly the same as the Trek and Star Wars ones and Nathan Fillion is the new James Marsters in terms of Whedonverse fandom popularity.

Simon | January 04, 11:59 CET

As an able minion of QuoterGal, I have learned to remember when I read some quote that is just hi-larious or otherwise worth remembering. So that brings me to linking to this hi-larious Storm-Trooper-related con report on Fireflyfans.net of when Nathan posed with the Storm Troopers (don't know if it was the 501st Legion or not) at the London Comic and Movie Convention last July. BTW, the content of the quote is kind of naughty, so be warned. ;-)

Later on the Stormtroopers came and asked if we wanted photo's with them before they left, so my sister and I posed with them and got pictures to give to our boss as he likes things like that for brochures (as a side note, a lot of people took photos of us with the stormtroopers, and if you did and should be reading this could you mail them to me??), and Richie said he'd go get Nathan as he would want photo's too. So he {Nathan} came out and gave Richie his camera and got on his knees and posed; whilst down there he turned and looked at them all and said 'I am not giving you guys head..'

The actual picture of Nathan kneeling before said Storm Troopers while not giving head is on that linked page. It's in the midst of a long con report from a poster named Cinderella, dated Friday July 7 @ 14:36 (and trust me, this page is very long; I had read the London con reports back in July, but I only found it again tonight by Googling "London Nathan giving head" {without any quote marks}, which of course could have led to very bad results, lmao!). :-)

My mentor, QG, I dedicate this feat of remembering a quote to you! ;-)

billz | January 04, 12:33 CET

wow... billz.. Um... nice quote....

LMAO that is just too funny, and plain wrong. Thank you for finding it and sharing it.

And in terms of their "argument", well I guess it kind of got lost in the "coolness" and insults hurtled at "losers", who they are better than(I could respond about that but I won't). I guess I just don't respond positively to such negativity and rudeness(as opposed to in your face...) but of course I am the target of their vitriol. I always wanted to use that word, vitriol.

kurya | January 04, 18:25 CET

Good use of vitriol, the word, not the actual being mean, kurya! Me? I'm in favor of ignoring the people who are so snarky and so into their own snark that they will never be open-minded. Also, I'm sure you can see why this particular quote stuck in my mind all these months -- very, very wrong, it is! ;-)

billz | January 04, 22:05 CET

I think the thing the webmaster of Hellmouth Central forgets is that it isn't *HIS* fandom. It's the people's fandom. If people want to dress up and march, they can do it. I wouldn't. But who the hell am I to judge? People thinking they own, control or are Grand Master And Judge of fandoms confuse me. If you don't like Firefly, don't watch. If you don't like dressing up, don't.

In reality, the argument holds no grounds anyway. People have been dressing as Buffy characters since the dawn of the show. There's another topic on this very website today with people dressed as Buffy, doing a singalong to the episode.

gossi | January 05, 00:01 CET

Well to take that further gossi, how many people dress up for Rocky Horror Picture show, and get all fanatical about it? And thanx to billz that quote will stick in my "head" for years! *Ba Da Ba Clang*

[ edited by kurya on 2007-01-04 22:22 ]

kurya | January 05, 00:22 CET

Found the Hellmouth Central rant.

Hellmouth Central

Wait a cotton picking minute here! Whedon fans were COOL?!?

Dang. Now I've got to quit. I don't join fandom to be cool.

Kaele | January 05, 02:18 CET

"we used to be the COOL ONES"

*dies laughing*

Fandom's never cool. At its best it's hot and bothered.

Caroline | January 05, 03:03 CET

Has he never seen pictures of fans at cons or shindigs before? There's always a sea of Jayne hats and browncoats. I have a Jayne hat, I love my Jayne hat...but I never categorize it as "cool".

I've joined the 76th, mostly because I think it's a fun idea, and hell, I was going to make a Browncoat uniform anyway. Will I march at DragonCon? I have no idea.

I agree with gossi - whoever said it was that guy's fandom anyway? We, as fans of Whedon's works, have just as much right to wear 'verse costumes, as he does to not.

And for the record, I WAS one of the people who watched Firefly when it originally aired.

[ edited by Caroline on 2007-01-05 08:56 ]

Zeppo | January 05, 04:34 CET

For the record, I'd never even heard of Firefly until I saw the trailer for Serenity. Regardless, I don't think that makes me any less of a fan.

I will be wearing my 76th stuff with pride at D*C, and think that any means of promoting the 'verse is a good thing.

Nicodemus | January 05, 04:47 CET

I watched some of the episodes(it didn't help they showed them all over the place) while it aired. I even saw the original pilot when it was on, and was thoroughly confused, but figured it must have been a repeat. I didn't go online so I had no idea about the cancelation etc. And in the next year, I didn't really notice it was on. It was only until 1.5 years ago I became a fan.

Anyways...as Caroline said, I didn't know fandoms were "cool". And I don't mind being not cool... less pressure, and wouldn't want to be associated with those "cool" types anyways... ha! I was snobby in return!

[ edited by kurya on 2007-01-05 03:52 ]

kurya | January 05, 05:51 CET

Zeppo, I edited your post to delete the ad hominem. Your post works fine without it.

Caroline | January 05, 10:57 CET

Ah, billz, thank you so much, but if I ever was a quote-mentor, I believe it's fair to say that now the "minion" has outgrown the "teacher."

Nice quoting, my brutha. Apposite, amusing, accurate - the three "A's" of quoting.

You have now learned all I can teach you, Grasshopper.

Here are some Quoting-quotes to arm you for the journey...

"I have suffered a great deal from writers who have quoted this or that sentence of mine either out of its context or in juxtaposition to some incongruous matter which quite distorted my meaning, or destroyed it altogether." - Alfred North Whitehead

"I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there, but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book and ransack every page." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Collecting quotations is an insidious, even embarrassing habit, like ragpicking or hoarding rocks or trying on other people's laundry. I got into it originally while trying to break an addiction to candy. I kicked candy and now seem to be stuck with quotations, which are attacking my brain instead of my teeth." - Robert Byrne, The Other 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

"The art of quotation requires more delicacy in the practice than those conceive who can see nothing more in a quotation than an extract." - Benjamin Disraeli

"I must claim the quoter's privilege of giving only as much of the text as will suit my purpose, said Tan-Chun. If I told you how it went on, I should end up by contradicting myself!" - Xueqin Cao

"How do people go to sleep? I'm afraid I've lost the knack. I might try busting myself smartly over the temple with the nightlight. I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things." -- Dorothy Parker, "The Little Hours"

"All maxims have their antagonist maxims; proverbs should be sold in pairs, a single one being but a half truth." - William Mathews

"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive." - Mark Twain, "Following the Equator"

"Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations." - Orson Welles

"The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him." - Robert Benchley

"Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated." - Ambrose Bierce

QuoterGal | January 05, 11:04 CET

"The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him." - Robert Benchley

Great quote, QuoterGal.

The author of Hellmouth Central might be the 'Cool' fan that makes fun of others, but I don't see that kind of attitude in the Browncoats that I've met. I have met wonderful people that are intelligent, caring, and tolerant. I am planning on going to D*C, my first con, and I am looking forward to marching with the 76th.

The people on the 76th site do have lives, family, and friends. It's a shame that there is always someone around that wants to rain on someone's parade, but we're just going to have fun.

VerseExplorer | January 05, 11:54 CET

Caroline, I honestly have no idea what you did to my post...I can't remember how it's different from what I wrote :)

Nico - I didn't mean to imply that because I saw Firefly when it first aired, that makes me more of a fan. Most of my friends are fans, and I know I'm the only one who watched it when it was first on.

My intent, was to show that even those of us who got in on the groundfloor of Firefly fandom, can get excited by this kind of fan activity. He seems to be making the argument that it's only the people who have recently come to the 'Verse, mostly due to the film, that are "ruining" the fandom for the original fans. Which is total B.S.

Zeppo | January 05, 12:48 CET

Zeppo, my comment wasn't aimed at you, but at the ranter, who seems to think that people like me belong in a lesser caste of fans.

Nicodemus | January 05, 14:10 CET

Zeppo, you wrote 'this guy's an idiot'.

Caroline | January 05, 17:12 CET

QG, if I succeed, it is only because I walk in the footsteps of giants (and have Google)! Thanks so much for the quotes on quoting; I particularly liked this one: I kicked candy and now seem to be stuck with quotations, which are attacking my brain instead of my teeth. ;-)

billz | January 05, 17:19 CET

Oh right, guess I did :)

Zeppo | January 06, 00:19 CET

You need to log in to be able to post comments.
About membership.

« Older Wash on the Great White Way. | And don't forget about K. Todd.... Newer »