Coup Imminent

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard always have our collective ear to the ground to detect all the really important news. We hope you all appreciate the sacrifice this entails. At this time of year, there is a constant danger of frostbite - that ground is cold. But we have discovered a threat to the nation and the world itself that needs to shouted from the rooftops!

George Lucas is planning a coup at the Rose Parade!

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Some things you don't plan. Like, training a company of stormtroopers for the Rose Parade. You don't plan that. And then one day the phone rings, and an emissary for George Lucas is on the other end. With a New Year's mission. For you.

You are Anthony Toledo.

"I was not expecting this at all," the 41-year-old Californian said. "It did blow my mind."

Being asked to train 200 civilians to march in Imperial warrior gear in the 118th annual Rose Parade before a million spectators, tens of millions of TV viewers and a grand marshal named Lucas will do that to you.

Come Jan. 1, you will be part of a 30th-anniversary Star Wars blowout in the streets of Pasadena, California. There'll be an Ewoks float. There'll be a planet Naboo float. There'll be a 175-piece college marching band—its players outfit as Imperial officers—blaring "The Imperial March." There'll be Lucas. And there'll be you. And 200 stormtroopers.

Fortunately, you are a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, as well as a former drill instructor. You are prepared.

As much as possible.

"I'm going to be frankly honest with you," Toledo said in a phone interview. "I'm looking at a little bit of chaos. Just a little bit of chaos."

You are expecting chaos, at least at first, because you haven't met your charges yet. And you won't be meeting your charges en masse until four days before the parade.

Not content with being named the grand marshal of the parade, Lucas is also going to seize the whole event with his Imperial Stormtroopers! Obviously he plans on renaming the event after himself. You heard it here first. Note that the marchers are all from the 501st Legion, who call themselves "Vader's Fist". Oh, sure, they pretend to be doing this all for charity. But you'll see.

</humor> Seriously, this is a nice way to honor some folks who do geeky things for a really good cause. Congrats, folks.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » We Told You, Didn’t we? — Monday, 1 January , 2007 @ 3:44 pm