Staff Spotlight: The Real-Life Jedi

Ryan’s first experience with Star Wars came on a summer day in either 1978 or 1979 when he and his schoolteacher mother went to a matinee as they regularly did to escape the heat. Little did he know, this afternoon movie would be the catalyst for a lifelong hobby. You see, that day, they went to see Star Wars: A New Hope.
 

“I just remember being really excited about the characters and the whole good-versus-evil theme,” Ryan recalled. “There were a lot of kids my age who were super excited about Star Wars, so if you were ‘in the know’, your political clout was a little better among the other five-year-olds.”

As a farm kid himself, Luke’s story resonated with Ryan. He loved the concept of a farm boy with no known pedigree or way to escape, becoming a star pilot and eventually a Jedi.
 

“When Luke said, ‘Can you alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock?’ that’s exactly how trapped I felt,” Ryan explained. “I couldn’t wait for a life of adventure outside of the farm.”

The idea that anyone, even a naïve farm kid, could become whatever they wanted to be was woven throughout the original trilogy. That message fueled play fights and sparked vivid images of a future far away from the farm for Ryan and his brother.

When we asked Ryan about his favorite episode, the conversation turned to pizza. (Stick with us!) His logic is simple. Even when pizza is bad, it’s still pretty good. While Episode V is his all-time favorite (followed by IV and VI), keeping the franchise alive with newer episodes and spinoffs keeps him entertained. That being said, if he’s going to watch the originals, Ryan will always choose the ‘Despecialized Edition’, the fan-made version based on the original 1999 DVD release, which strips back all the extra stuff, bringing it back to what it looked like in 1977. We knew he was a purist all along.

As a kid, Ryan’s grandmother gifted him his first six action figures in one of his grandfather’s cigar boxes. Since then, he’s collected the remaining 15 to round out the entire collection of 21 original action figures from the first release. All in played-with condition, but just as cherished. But generally, Ryan finds the things he makes himself more meaningful and fun. You read that right. He’s making his own Star Wars collectables. (Here’s where the real-life Jedi stuff comes in!)
 

“There’s a group of stormtroopers, the 501st legion, that all wear screen accurate costumes for fundraisers and children’s hospital visits – I thought it was a cool idea and wanted to participate,” Ryan shared. “As I understand it, George Lucas intentionally held off on granting rights to manufacture high-quality stormtrooper suits in order to preserve the integrity of the 501st legion as a strictly ‘dedicated fan’ organization.”

The solution to Ryan’s problem, like all other 501st legion members, make it himself! If ever you have the pleasure of joining Ryan on a video call, you’ll see that he took it much further than that one costume. He builds his stormtroopers by vacuum-forming from a mold he sculpted, while other characters are 3D printed. On occasion, he’ll buy a kit to pull a mold from so that he can replicate the shape and make some customizations.

Along the way, Ryan’s amassed a shop filled with custom-made equipment for his custom-made costumes and suits. From the first vacuum-forming machine required to make stormtroopers to the CNC router that made mold building easier, the consistent challenge of not having the equipment he needed was solved by first making that set of equipment on his own. While he now has a laser cutter to make some of the process easier, the majority of the tools he uses he built from scratch. 

Every new tool, machine, and upgrade made the costumes more accurate. But what really changed was how the work connected him to people. The tools led to the costumes, the costumes led to the community, and the community led to one of the most unforgettable moments of his life.
 

“I had the incredible experience of attending the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando in 2017. It was shortly after Carrie Fisher passed away, so everyone was very emotional,” Ryan explained. “It was fascinating to see so many fans come together to celebrate their love of the franchise and hear how many were affected in the same way I was growing up.”

We have to say, Ryan’s come a long way from the little boy dreaming of a galaxy far, far away. Luke would be proud.