Staying on topic...I think a lot of the problem that people have is this...
501st costume requirements are based on the costumes looking EXACTLY or AS CLOSE TO the movie versions as possible. Which is understandable.
For a custom group, who makes the decision as to what to base if you are IN or OUT on? I think people are just afraid that because you've gone as far as making an approval process for joining, that the decisions are being made solely off of personal bias.
I don't know if that make sense or not... Now, I know that so far you haven't denied anyone admission. I think it's just the fear that someone may get denied.
Most people create custom mandalorians for either self-expression or because they don't have the time/skills/money/etc to create a movie replica costume. I mean, the 501st can deny someone because their costume doesn't look like the movie...that makes sense. But who is a single person to decide whether or not a custom mandalorian is "good enough"?
Would it hurt anything to allow "open admissions" on this group so that people don't feel that they are being judged on their work? I mean, if someone's costume doesn't seem up to par...let them join and then work with them to help making it better.
Again, I'm not saying that this sort of thing is happening. So far I haven't heard of a single denial of admission. But things like this can and will come up in the future. How will these be addressed?
Like I said earlier, if you have armor and you have a pic of it to send in...then your not gonna be denied period. The pics are used for your member/character profile that will be showcased on our website, but we at least want you to be able to prove that you do have armor or are pretty close to having a set finished. If someone wanted to join that had armor that needed help, then thats what we would do...help them =)
Here is my interpretation on what we mean by "approved".
Article V. Costume Requirements
Last Updated - Friday, March 23rd, 2007
The Mandalorian Mercs celebrates creating, owning, and wearing the costume armor of the Mandalorians as fetures in the Star Wars films, books, comics, and art. To capture the magic of these characters, our goal will always be the professional presentation and protrayal of these costumes. We recognize that the primary goal of this club is to be a home for custom mandalorian characters, and in doing so we recognize the need for creativity and individuality within the confines of decency. Mandalorian Mercs will allow approved costumes based on the following basic standards.
1.) Light Mandalorian Armor: Consisting of a Mandalorian helmet, chest, stomach, back, armor vest, shoulders, gauntlets, cod piece and knees.
2.) Medium Mandalorian Armor: Consisting of a Mandalorian helmet, chest, stomach, back, armor vest, sholders, gauntlets, cod piece, frontal thighs, knees, frontal shins, and boot arch pieces.
3.) Heavy Mandalorian Armor: Consisting of a Mandalorian helmet, chest, stomach, back, armor vest, sholders, lower biceps, gauntlets, cod piece, wrap around thighs, lower thighs, knees, wrap around shins, boot arch pieces.
Now, basically what this means is that if you have anything resembling one of these three very basic builds. None of this stuff has to be traditional, it doesn't ask for that. Anything that could or would pass for Mandalorian armor at some point is what we call "approved". We've even let some people in who don't have completed sets just yet. Were in the growing stage, and at this point were looking for people who are going to help build the organization.
Weather or not I like the person's armor is beside the point of weather or not they deserve to be a member. I don't know if we can let someone in who is in full ST armor and claims it's there mandalorian armor. Is that fair? Does something need to be reworded that may sound less confusing?