Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers 2012 troop Report

[Agent Smith]

Date: 22nd Sept 2012

Venue: Toowoomba

Time: 9am till 4pm

Mission:Show the world just how awesome we are

Trooper Attendance:3phase Trooping TK + 3 Jawa Agent Smith APOK Awoo Beanie beccyd BIDS Bullant Buzzard cobra crypto Deltorn Empress Evil fx.guy Glitch hopfot J'Girl Jimcricket Lei Lestat madine major payne Mortogg Moxxxie muppet Phoenix RedaV Sithprincess stormraven Tachyon Zerebin (sorry if I have missed anyone..let me know and I will update the report)

Guest Trooper Attendance:

Support Crew:lots of support crew including some of the new cadets..(beccyd, anarchy)

Detail:
Arriving On site at 8.30 Saturday morning with the Imperial shuttle in tow, I was greeted by the local population. They were looking forward to meeting some other lifeforms called Bromeliads but soon were impressed with us. Unloading the shuttle was relativly easy and soon it was parked ready for the troops to decorate.
Not long after, other troops started arriving and it was not long till the full contingent was parked. The change area was secured and many troops pitched in to decorate the Shuttle with balloons and streamers all in the Redback colours. We then just needed to change and wait for the call from the imperial florist for the main decoration.
FX Guy was the designated driver and was soon adorned as an AT-AT driver..(he seems to like this and later was seen enjoying getting his picture taken with the locals). After receiving instruction on driving the all electric vehicle (The Empire is environmentally friendly) he soon was buzzing around the carpark.
10.30 came around and we had not yet heard from the florist so after a call was made we soon tracked her down and The shuttle headed off in search of her. The Emperor, Lord Vader, FX Guy and myself tracked her down and we soon had things sorted. Whilst we were doing that the rest of the detachment marched to the starting line and waited.
The shuttle had 1 more stop which was to connect on a small contingent of Jawa's in a trailer behind (3Phase's kids) The crowd loves Jawa's for some reason..
Whilst waiting at the start, we had a visit from a very excited chap who spotted us and came running to get a pic. Some one called "Fast Ed" supposed to be a chef on a tv show (Better homes and Gardens)...man he was excited...(must try to get a copy of that pic)
Midday came around and we were off and moving. The crowd cheered and waved to us and the announcers were extolling our virtues. Anyone who failed to cheer was force choked by Vader.
The crowd was much larger this year, obviously hearing that the Emperor and Lord Vader would be in attendance, they thought it prudent to attend and show their loyalty.
As all parades start, they eventually all end and this ended in Queens park, (we will have to have that renamed to Empire park). We had many locals beg for pictures with The Empires Finest so we allowed a few.
As the shuttle was not airconditioned and the day warm, it was decided to retire to the Regional Imperial Palace. Leaving the park was not as easy as planned, due to a mechanical failure in the shuttle which was eventually sorted but the Emperor and Lord Vader opted to mingle with the indiginous population and walk back.
Arriving back at the Regional Palace, all the troops were given leave and de-armoured. Later all walked or drove to the Federal Hotel for lunch where a hearty meal was enjoyed and a Sticky Date pudding or two (Not mentioning any names Cobra).
It was hoped that we would have Hamish from CFM in attendance but due to work commitments he was delayed and could not make it. We all signed a Clone helmet which I will present to him for his work in promoting DW earlier in the year.
4 pm came and goodbye's were said and all went their way and another TCoF parade was over.

Special Thanks goes to:
3Phase for procuring the Golf Buggy
FX Guy for Driving
Wranglers for looking after all of us
All the troops who helped decorate the buggy.
Cobra for taking pics..(he was busy all day )


Charity Funds Raised: Nil this parade is just to promote us.

Injuries: None that I know of apart from the regular amour bites

Malfunctions: Apart from the temporary vehicle breakdown, none that I am aware of

Public Incidents: The crowd was awestruck by us and several have asked for more info about us.
There was a vehicle breakdown further behind us in the parade and this held up the rear sections for quite a while I am told.

Mission Status:
Massive success

Photos:
http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/50...ed2ec3.jpg




Fast Ed wasnt too fast for the Empires finest..

[Bullant]

What a fantastic troop. A fair bit of standing around in the heat at the start, but worth it to see so many excited kids. Some of us departed lunch a little bit early so that we could go home and get ready for the Astro Pete's troop. Talk about a long day, up at 6am, 4 hours of driving and not in bed until 11:30pm!

[J'Girl]

Great report for a great troop.... it was a fun day and high-fiving the kids in the crowd was awesome. Does a blister the size of a 10c piece count as an armour bite?

[muppet]

You did a fantastic job on the organisation of this event Cameron, from attending event meetings to arranging the main flower decoration and the troop report.

This is a highlight on the Redback trooping calender for most of us and the crowd was largest i have ever seen there. They were literally 30 deep in places!

Thanks to 3phase for arranging the shuttle for myself and Beanie. With the weather being similar to Mustafa, there was no way I would have completed the parade. The walk back from the broken transporter was more then enough.

And thanks to the many wranglers for your help along the way. Great pics Rick.

Ken

[beccyd]

here are the photos i got

http://s1063.photobucket.com/albums/t503/beccycd/
hope it worked

[Agent Smith]

Nice pics Beccyd

[Angelman]

Well done troopers, didn't know it CoF was that big, maybe Lisa, I and the family will have to pencil that one in for next year.

[madine]

Was an awesome troop.
A few armour bites, so now I know what bits need furthering trimming.
And does anyone know how to stretch leather boots(I have blisters on the top of both of my little toes)
But all in all Was an awesome troop with awesome ppl, really was awesome seeing/hearing the crowds reaction to
our awesomeness.
I think what I'm saying is "It Was An Aweosme Day" :TD:

[Agent Smith]

Was an awesome troop.
A few armour bites, so now I know what bits need furthering trimming.
And does anyone know how to stretch leather boots(I have blisters on the top of both of my little toes)
But all in all Was an awesome troop with awesome ppl, really was awesome seeing/hearing the crowds reaction to
our awesomeness.
I think what I'm saying is "It Was An Aweosme Day" :TD:

Fill the boots with water and walk around in them for the day, that will stretch them.
Yep, I love this troop heaps, the crowd is just plain fun!!

[Sithprincess]

Was a great Troop! Thanks everyone.

Yeah, I got a few blisters too, working in my new leather boots, but they'll be fine.

Special thanks to Cobra. He did awesome wrangling for us.

Some feedback from the crowd's point of view......
As great as having the buggy was, and I agree it's totally necessary; having it 'lead' our group totally blocked the view and therefore spectacle of having Troops marching in formation. It also was hard to see the Emperor and Vader in the buggy until they were right in front of people, and having Vader squished in there, kind of diminished his 'power' a little.

Maybe next time, could be have them stand in the back of a ute, or even somehow stand behind the buggy, so they can be seen? And maybe have them behind the 'walking' characters, so that everyone gets seen approaching, and it's like they are being escorted through the parade?

Just a thought. We still looked totally awesome.

Thanks Agent Smith. Was great! And lunch was good too.

[Beanie]

yeah well done to all involved in the event, my folks said it looked AMAZING!

Thank you 3phase for the buggie, it was good but i do understand that they couldnt see us, as i had trouble seeing the crowds but hey we did well for the First Emperor Vader attendance, it will just get better with years!


good work all!

[Duras]

the pics look great... gotta go next year

[Deltorn]

This was truely an amazing troop. This was my first CoF in armour as I was unable to troop it back in 2010 and 2011 I was on crutches and couldnt suit up.

I will be certain to add this to my trooping calender for the years to come.

A huge thank you to Agent for his work in organising this troop and the flowers etc, Top job mate.
To 3phase for securing the buggy, and to Cobra and Anarchy for their help with my troublesome shoulder strap.

[chopper]

Great work everyone

[Oevil1]

I have to hold my blaster high again and solute all who participated in this troop. A fantastic job to say the least. And a special round of applause to those who ventured further and trooped Astro Petes that night...what a valiant effort!