Last week, Mason got an e-mail from his grandma informing him of a Star Wars event taking place at the mall. The e-mail was titled “Star Wars: In Concert to take over Penn Square Mall this Saturday!” and the first line read “Limited photo opportunities will be available with members of the 501st Legion in Star Wars costumes.”

For those of you who don’t know, the 501st Legion is a world-wide group of Star Wars enthusiasts who make and wear authentic-looking costumes from the movies and often show up for charity appearances or other events. If you happened to catch the 200+ Stormtroopers in the 2007 Rose Bowl Parade, you’ve seen the 501st Legion.

I, Dad, and Mason (wearing his Lego Star Wars t-shirt) made it to the mall around 3pm and set out in search of the troops. Since the 501st was set to “take over the mall” we didn’t think it would be too hard to find them. After ten minutes of walking, I finally found the guy in costume in the middle of the mall. Yeah. THE guy.

And, it was a Snowtrooper. A Snowtrooper, in August. What was he defending, Darth Vader’s refrigerator?

We did eventually spot two other Stormtroopers, on break. One was wearing the bottom half of his costume; the other, just the black leggings.

Mason enjoyed seeing the Snowtrooper and all and his costume was really good, but let’s just say the event was “less impressive than anticipated.” Despite the low Imperial turnout, Mason, Dad and I had a good afternoon hanging out together. Dad enjoyed seeing the new Lego store at the mall and everybody was stuffed after we left Freddy’s Frozen Custard.