Nordsken, Skellefteå May 5-7 2016

On Wednesday I sat off for the northernmost troop that I've done so far. Me and small Group from Nordic Garrison, Nordic Base and Swedish R2-builders met up at Arlanda Airport and flew up to Skellefteå.

We arrived at the hotel, set up our stand and started trooping.

Arty Anna showing up part of our stand

The gang was super group of people, and we had so much fun. I also really liked the event. It took place in a convention hall connected to the city library. It started out as a gaming convention, but now it really was an open forum for all kinds of "nerd" culture. There was a LAN going on, there were boardgame tournaments, in the library you had comics and artists, we were there, there was a cosplay contest, role playing and an SCA group as well. There were a lot of people, but it didn't feel crowded so you could walk around and talk with everyone.

Me, Dawn (our newest jedi) and Arty Anna with R2.

I only brought my X-wing pilot, it has been approved now. It had the thing I wanted in a comfy con costume, of course there are some adjustments that I need to make but overall there were no problems walking around in the whole day.

We had a great time after the con as well, going out eating and talking. On Friday I wore my Rebel Cheerleader, and I don't know what it is. When I get the pom poms in my hands I just can't help just jumping around and goofing with them.

The atrium in the hotell was a great photo location

The guest of honor during the con was Jeremy Bulloch. He is probably my favorite actor of those going around the Star Wars con circus. He's so friendly and nice. He was a bit surprised when I didn't want a Boba Fett - autograph though, but instead had him sign the cover for the DVD of the old TV-series Aristocrats (one of my favorite 18th century series).

The Nordic Legions together with Jeremy Bulloch

They also had a cosplay contest. I really like that it was a contest for all levels of cosplayers. The winner got a golden ticket to the Swedish cosplay championships, but it was great to seem them all, and it really showed that cosplay is for everyone, not just the experts.

In the break of the contest they called me up on stage so that I could talk about Star Wars costuming and what the Nordic Legions do.

From our stand at the floor we also had a good view that everyday there was something called Jedi Academy.

I thought it was something close to the Jedi Academy, where they train with lightsabers and then meet a Sith Lord, but it was actually a full mini LARP. The children didn't just have to practice with lightsabres, they also had to save a rebel pilot and find plans to the Death Star. That took place in a small cantina that they had built up in a closed room. One of the days I took the chance to take part in it, so I sat down in the cantina as a pilot with a broken space ship that needed to find spare parts. I basically just sat in the cantina with a mug of something to drink and looked mysterious.

As I said the Legions weren't the only ones dressed out. I saw this woman the first day, so I had to run after her to talk about 16th century costuming. We sat down for a nice chat, and it was great to see how she had made her dress, and of course to feel it. You can find her at Fru Kålugs medeltid

I finish off with one of my favorite photos from the weekend, it's Stein A from Norway standing in the background.

At the end of Saturday we packed up our stand, were driven to the bus station where we boarded a bus to Bastuträsk.

Photo: Henrik Pilerud

In Bastuträsk we boarded the nighttrain down to Stockholm. The train arrived in Stockholm 6:30, and then I just had to wait until 8:30 to get the first train inland towards Dalarna. So 15 hours after having left Skellefteå I arrived home in Falun.

This definitely goes up as one of my favorite troops, I really like the profile of the event and there were hardly any problems. I'm hoping that we will get back there next year.


And the total amount collected for Save the Children ended up at 8519 SEK (a little more than $1000)