The Force is strong in the Foothills.
Diamond Valley’s Deez Lees and C. Stephen Campbell are two collectors spreading positivity in the community through their love for Star Wars. They’re longtime members of the 501st Legion, an international Star Wars organization dedicated to suiting up as iconic characters at charitable events.
“I get to give back to the community and I get to help people with Star Wars and with these costumes,” says Lees, an assortment of costumes and collectibles on display beside her. “It's an amazing way to do volunteer work, combining your passions that way.”
When it comes to dressing up as Star Wars characters, there’s no shortage of costumes for the two to choose from: they’ve got it all, from the original trilogy’s unmistakable Imperial stormtroopers to real-life recreations of clone trooper armour from the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
“Once you put that costume on and you're that character, you just feel like a totally different person,” says Lees, donning her Mandalorian helmet to demonstrate. Her voice through the iconic helmet is crystal clear, without the same robotic-sounding filter that Boba Fett or Din Djarin would speak with in the shows, but the care she put into designing it is evident in its immaculate detail. It looks like it’s been pulled right from a Lucasfilm set.
Making the armour is an art, she explains. It takes a great deal of skill and an attention to detail that comes only from being a diehard Star Wars fan.
"Nowadays, 3D printing is really big. A lot of people do that, but our costumes, we put a lot of them together before that kind of became the norm,” she says.
“You have to trim it all down, size it to yourself, paint it all up, add all the greeblies,” she continues, comparing the costume-making process to putting together old-school car kits, “only people-sized.”
Lees makes it look easy. She’s got over half a dozen helmets on display beside her, and they all look like they belong on the silver screen.
She’s an accomplished costume designer, but she didn’t enter the group with the remarkable skills she has today.
“When I started, I couldn't have ever hoped to build a stormtrooper,” she says with two of her stormtrooper helmets on display behind her.
“Now I've built a stormtrooper, I've built a clone, I've built a Mandalorian, and I'm building three more clones right now… I've learned those skills over the years of being in the club.”
Love for Star Wars started early
Lees joined the 501st Legion in 2012, but her love for Star Wars goes back to her early childhood.
“We went on Star Tours and my mind was blown as a kid,” she says, reminiscing on the iconic Disneyland attraction transporting guests to a galaxy far, far away from 1987 to 2010.
Lees hadn’t heard of the films before then. With such an unforgettable introduction to the Star Wars universe, she was quick to become a fan.
“The moment we got home from that vacation, my dad went to Blockbuster, rented the Star Wars movies and I have been hooked ever since.”
She's keen on spreading her passion for Star Wars through her in-costume appearances at various events in the community.
“You see everyone's jaws just drop like, ‘Whoa, Star Wars.’ Children run up to you for photos, dads and moms run up for you for photos because they're also fans.
“That sensation, that shock and awe factor when you're in the costume is incredible, and you can't experience that until you're in a costume and you do it.”
Her impressive collection of costumes isn’t just limited to the 501st: she’s involved in numerous other Star Wars community groups.
“The 501st Legion is sort of the bad guys doing good,” Lees explains. “Rebel Legion are all the good guys, the Mando Mercs of course are the Mandalorians.”
She names more groups she’s part of, including the Dark Side-themed Dark Empire and the Saber Guild. She’s got costumes for all the groups: a rebel alliance trooper, a Jawa, expanded universe video game Knights of the Old Republic II villain Darth Nihilus, the list goes on.
The biggest by far, though, is the 501st.
Founded in 1997, the group now has over 14,000 members in over 75 garrisons across 60 countries.
“It's a global organization and you're instantly part of the family,” says Lees, who is part of Western Canada’s Badlands Garrison. Thanks to her involvement in the organization, she and Campbell have travelled the world, met more Star Wars actors than they can recall at red carpet events, and mingled with high-ranking Lucasfilm executives.
“My husband (Campbell) went to Iceland for a week and the CEO of the Icelandic Garrison just picked him up, drove him around the island for a day and showed him all this really cool stuff… it’s really nice, you've got a global family when you join the Legion,” she says.
The gig certainly has a lot of exclusive perks, but that’s not why she does it.
“The charity aspect, the volunteer aspect is incredible,” she says. “Just being able to give back to the community through your passion is great fun.”
Charitable causes
The 501st is well-known for its support of charitable causes. Whether members are at a hospital or community fundraiser, they always bring good vibes and a sense of wonder that are hard to match.
Through the group, Lees found the opportunity to inspire a new hope among the community in her own unique way: disability representation.
“I broke my back last year in a horse riding accident,” she shares.
She’s recovering and in better shape now, but due to permanent damage from the accident, she’s unable to stand for long periods of time.
“I am a part-time wheelchair user because I cannot walk or stand for long periods of time,” she continues.
“Of course, with this activity, you're standing and walking for long periods of time, so I was like, ‘Oh, I'm going to have to be in a wheelchair if I want to do troops, if I want to do charity events, if I want to do conventions.’”
As Lees notes, there aren’t many Star Wars characters with disabilities.
“My clone is my most passionate costume. It's the one I love the most. It's the one I enjoy wearing the most, but a fully-armoured clone sitting in a wheelchair is not a thing. It's never been done.”
The 501st has members in wheelchairs, which they can get around with specific costumes, but that wasn’t the solution Lees was looking for.
“Me being very, very stubborn, I was just like, ‘Well, why don't we make a clone for my wheelchair?’”
And that’s what she did, with the help of fellow 501st members worldwide.
“Everybody was unbelievably helpful. People were sending me extra parts of clone kits and stuff like that, which I thought was absolutely amazing, from all over the world so that we could start modifying and building this clone for my wheelchair.”
The first-of-its-kind accessible armour has been a hit with the community.
“I think representation is really important. What's come out of this is that kids can see themselves in us as well,” she says.
“We do a lot of troops at the Children's Hospital, kids’ charities like Kids Cancer or Make-A-Wish, and for the kids to see one of their characters in a wheelchair, when they're in a wheelchair, it's amazing,” she continues. “I've had kids in a wheelchair skip Vader and Boba Fett, the favourites, and beeline it to me just because I'm in the wheelchair and they want a photo with me.”
It’s a testament to the good that these Star Wars collectors can bring to communities across the world.
“We're founded on this idea that anyone can join the Legion,” says Lees. “It doesn't matter if you're able-bodied or not. We'll work around the medical constraints to make sure that you can come and troop and you can do this charity work.”
Keep an eye out for the bad guys doing good in the community. They’re there not only to make events feel like a galaxy far, far away, but to inspire love through their own love for Star Wars.
