Frequently Asked Questions

So, you want to "Join the Cause!"? You're here because "We're the good guys". Or maybe it is just because you want to be able to SIT DOWN in your costume... we are sure you have a lot of questions and if the following doesn't help answer them, feel free to out to your prospective local Commanding Officer! You can find your local chapter of the Rebel Legion on the Bases/Outposts page.

Another great resource for asking questions and inquiring about your perspective costume is to contact one of the Rebel Legion Detachments. You can find them listed on the Detachments page.

Membership Questions

The Rebel Legion is an inclusive, equal-opportunity club. To join you must be at least 18 years of age and must legally be considered an adult where you live. Due to legal liability issues, the Rebel Legion cannot accept minors as members. For more information on this policy, please consult our Age Requirements F.A.Q. You must also own at least one movie-quality costume depicting a "good guy" from the Star Wars films or Expanded Universe.

For a more detailed explanation of Legion membership requirements, please refer to Article I of the Rebel Legion Club Charter. For more information on what constitutes a "professional-quality" costume, read through Article II of the Rebel Legion Club Charter and the list of Costuming Standards.

Unfortunately, there are no high-quality, commercially available costumes licensed by Lucasfilm, and store-bought Halloween costumes are not generally accepted. All members construct their own costumes, usually with the assistance of more experienced members. (The new Museum Replicas may be an exception, if altered to properly fit you) If you are interested in making a costume, we recommend you consult these resources:

Costume and Prop Making subforum
Rebel Legion Tutorials subforum

The best way to get involved is to contact your local Base or Outpost and see if you can help out as a "handler" at an event. This way you can get to know the local members and learn more about the costumes.

First, DO NOT PANIC! Read over the rejection message. It should contain information on how to improve your costume to Legion standards. You are also encouraged to appeal the decision to the Legion Membership Officer(LMO) via Email: [email protected]. You may do so by replying to the rejection e-mail. Please do so in a professional manner. It can be upsetting to hear you didn't quite make it, but we are here to help you! We WILL do what we can to get you up to standards as quickly as possible, but if you resort to behavior against our code of conduct, you may end up banned before you even had a chance.

Members of the 501st Legion are issued unique multi-digit ID numbers, such as TK-0421. When our club was officially founded in 2000, we did have ID numbers, but dropped them in early 2002. Members felt that ID numbers were more appropriate for the 501st because they represented faceless, nameless shock troops while the Rebels were a group of individuals with names and faces. The issue has come up several times over the years, and the membership has always voted against the idea.

Some detachments, such as Rebel Legion Starfighter Command, do issue three-digit ID numbers to members of individual Squadrons.

General Questions

The Rebel Legion does not generally appear at private parties except for those involving children afflicted with life-threatening or chronic diseases or for members' personal friends. We prefer to appear at public events as opposed to private (non charity) related events. It is at the discression of individual bases and membership to decide if the proposed party is something they wish to do. We do not carry insurance like party costume companies so the safety of members and their VERY expensive costumes in the hands of many many children on sugar rushes is of the most importance. A donation to charity in our name for the appearance may sway some members.

Due to legal issues, the Rebel Legion cannot authorize, support, or be involved with any type of saber training classes. The Rebel Legion cannot allow any LFL or Rebel Legion trademarks, logos, phrases, monikers, etc to be involved with any variation of saber training classes. Members will be brought up on charges if they use LFL or Rebel Legion trademarks, logos, phrases, monikers, etc in conjunction with a saber training class. We highly recommend members consider the possible legal ramifications of liability before planning, arranging or conducting any saber training sessions on their own, independent of The Rebel Legion.

No. Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its licensee partners. For this reason we only produce a limited range of apparel and paraphernalia to be sold to our members only and at cost. No profit is made. This is solely to promote our club at conventions and to give gifts to the celebrities and company representatives who are fans of the club. All material is scrutinized and approved by Legion command and many of it is submitted to Lucasfilm representatives for their feedback prior to creation.

Membership has its privileges. Its a private members forum. Because of our relationship with Lucasfilm, our dealings are not for the public. Some people who costume offer services but currently those are member to member transactions. Post your progress pictures in the costuming threads and get to know some people there. Help will be offered to you via PM. We are not craigslist, ebay, or a site where people come to make profit off our members. Please respect that. Those who need help will find it if they take the time to look and ask questions in other areas of the forum.

Age Requirements

Because minors are not legally responsible for themselves, any minor members of the Rebel Legion would become the club's and its officers' legal responsibility at any events where their parents are not present.

In 2002, several lawyers were consulted on this matter and we were advised to bar members because we do not have the liability insurance, financial resources, or legal standing to help our club officers and members defend themselves in a lawsuit. Should we lose, any officers or members named as defendants could lose their personal savings, retirement, cars, or even their homes, and find themselves thousands or even millions of dollars in debt. Even if we were the victors in such a lawsuit, the costs involved in defending ourselves would financially devastate all involved.

Since this is just a fun hobby, this is not a risk that our members or officers are willing to take.

The lawyers that were consulted explained that liability simply cannot be waived by a parent or anyone else. A minor cannot sign anything and be liable for themselves, either. Your parents or guardians would not be legally obliged to honor any promissory note they may have signed. If you were injured at an event, you're medical insurance would attempt to recoup their expenses by suing us, regardless of your parents' decision.

Permission slips do not actually protect schools or anyone else from being sued by parents. They inform the parent/guardian of the nature of the off-campus activity and ask the parent to allow their child to participate. This can assist the school in their defense in the event of a lawsuit, but does not prevent them from being sued in the first place, nor does it prevent them from losing. Schools have lost lawsuits even when the parent signed a permission slip.

Despite what you say now, you may decide to throw caution to the wind, figuring "nothing will happen" and go to an event anyway. There is also no way to know if you are sincere about this promise. Society is full of gold diggers and freeloaders looking to exploit the court system and get rich quick at other people's expense. In any case, we would still be legally liable for anything that happened to you.

Many volunteer organizations allow minors to join their clubs despite the risks. The Rebel Legion and numerous other private social costume clubs all accepted minors before adopting the current age restrictions.

The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) accepts minors and they do have liability insurance, but they charge annual membership fees to pay for said insurance as well as incorporation fees, running a business office to receive legal notices, legal retainers, and so on. In the SCA, all members must sign waivers and insurance certificates must be pulled for every event, every time, and the SCA still gets sued anyway.

Other clubs use permission slips, erroneously believing that they are protecting themselves from being sued. Some simply don't take the risk seriously, figuring that nothing will happen. Most simply do not realize that they are risking all of their personal assets by allowing minors to join.

Some have proposed that we allow minors into a special "Junior League" or that minors be given a special rank such as "Cadet." Unfortunately, this is about as effective as a Superman T-shirt is against a hail of bullets from a minigun. Legally, we either allow minors to join or we don't. There is no middle ground.

If we were lucky, calling minors by a different name would simply be ignored, but it's possible that the judge or jury would view this as an attempt to exploit a loophole. Judges and juries are not so befuddled by technicalities that they cannot use their common sense. Often, people who try to exploit loop holes are punished worse for doing so.

Please have your parents check out the Galactic Academy for an alternative for minors. It was founded by Albin Johnson of the 501st to provide a safe website for children who costume. It is NOT officially a part of the 501st or Rebel Legion, but a great stepping stool for young costumers.

Note: Some bases allow members to bring their children to troops after signing a waiver and this is up to the base commander and event coordinators. Members, please note, if you bring your child to an event they and their behavior are your responsibility and anything they do could reflect back on your membership. Many members children troop just fine along side their parents at INFORMAL troops and this is perfectly acceptable. However, they cannot become official members until they are 18 years old. Anything that may happen to them at the event is not the responsibility of the Rebel Legion or its members and officers.

JOIN THE CAUSE!

WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS.

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