PORTLAND — When he was 12, Tim McMahon bought his first album, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Weird Al in 3-D,” the one with “Eat It,” a song that helped rocket the singer to superstar status.

This summer, McMahon danced on stage with Weird Al. At three different shows. As a Stormtrooper.

And he killed it.

“The moment on stage is just great,” said McMahon, 44. “The crowd goes wild when we come on. It’s an amazing experience I would have no other way (of having) if it weren’t for the 501st.”

McMahon, a planner for L.L.Bean, joined the 501st Legion — a group of worldwide “Star Wars” villain costumers — after having it on his to-do list for 15 years.

He’d been a lifelong “Star Wars” fan. He liked how involved the 501st was in charity work. And it looked like fun.

Four years later, he can say it’s been a blast.

“My wife, she thinks it’s a little silly, but she sees how much fun I’m having and she says there are worse things that could happen for my mid-life crisis than this,” McMahon said.

After joining the group’s New England Garrison, it took nine months to pull together his Stormtrooper costume, made up of about 30 parts. Some came from other 501st members, some from scratch. He sewed. He soldered. He wired.

“The way to get into the group is you have to have a costume that is a) screen-accurate and b) fits you, so it’s not sloppy,” said McMahon. “You use yourself as a mannequin: You get a piece and you cut it, shape it, form it to fit your body and then you go on to the next piece that attaches to that. It’s like a big model kit in a way.”

After that, it’s a matter of ongoing maintenance — plastic polish and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to keep those Stormtrooper whites white.

McMahon tries to make one event a month with the 501st. He’s been asked to pose with people’s pets. To pose as though he’s arresting someone. To pose on the top of a family’s human pyramid, which didn’t work, exactly.

“Still, when you’re standing next to a family who’s lined up like a pyramid that’s kind of crazy,” he said.

The anonymity behind the iconic helmet is liberating.

“You can be sillier, at least for me anyway,” McMahon said. “I don’t know if I could be the dancing character without the mask.”

Yankovic has several “Star Wars” songs, and ahead of his last few tours his people have invited the local 501st to join him on stage during hits like “The Saga Begins.” The Stormtroopers and other characters stand there stoically, at first. Then there’s blaster waving and a choreographed dance.

McMahon appeared at two Boston shows and one Portland show earlier this year. In Portland, his 12-year-old son, Declan, also joined in, dressed in a Jawa costume McMahon made.

Declan’s first album, also bought at age 12? Weird Al’s “Mandatory Fun.”

“He got to brag to his friends when school started that he spent his summer vacation dancing on stage with Weird Al,” McMahon said. “It’s come full circle.”

McMahon has tickets to see the “Force Awakens” on opening night and again three days later with his kids. 

His take on the new movie: Unabashedly excited.

“There’s nothing bad in my mind right now, you know?” he said. “Yes, the prequels have a bad reputation and a lot of us original trilogy fans feel burned by the prequels, but in the last 10 years I’ve reseen those movies in the eyes of my kids and so they’ve grown on me. Even though I was there for the beginning, I’m still excited for this one.

“I have faith. I just keep saying that. I have faith it’s going to be good.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link