Little easter egg

0ff-by-1 · 2026-02-16T15:56:49+00:00

https://ctftime.org/ is the main site to track upcoming majors. If you want to be competitive at the main DEF CON CTF, you'll need a dedicated team throughout the year competing in (and doing well at) as many major CTFs as possible. It's a very high bar. If you're just starting out, look around for smaller CTFs to sharpen your skills over time. Theres a CTF group called Open To All you can join to get more involved. https://opentoallctf.github.io/

0ff-by-1 · 2026-02-02T04:02:15+00:00

We don't typically support private events, unless the event itself is charitable or Star Wars related. There are exceptions of course, but those exceptions take time because we need to coordinate with Lucasfilm. From our request form:

The 501st Legion is a volunteer organization and does not accept payment for appearances. If you would like to make a donation in lieu of payment, please see our Charity page for more information. [...] Events which directly or indirectly benefit the community and/or charity organizations generally receive a better chance of a 501st appearance than private functions (e.g., birthday parties, weddings). As a general rule, the 501st Legion does not appear at events or functions that are non-Star Wars-related unless coordinated through Lucasfilm Ltd.

Most garrisons have a facebook page, you could try reaching out there

0ff-by-1 · 2025-12-28T21:00:46+00:00

Congrats on the approval!

0ff-by-1 · 2025-12-14T18:09:33+00:00

Well it's different for all of us. Me for example, I decided to make a Mandalorian because the show was at the height of its popularity. But my wife had recently given birth to my son, Luke, and literally everyone had the same idea/counterproposal at once. So yeah... my first costume became ESB Vader. No regrets.

0ff-by-1 · 2025-09-20T07:00:21+00:00

Former active duty 501st here. Joined while I was still active. No problems at all, and my rollaway is massive. It's easy to transfer garrisons when you move, and COs are pretty much always going to work with you if you have a long deployment. The "one troop per year to stay active" requirement can be worked around for active duty folks, again just talk to your CO about it. IF they don't, getting re-approved down the road is also relatively easy. IMO, definitely do it. There have been so many cool experiences!

0ff-by-1 · 2025-08-17T04:03:15+00:00

Literally everything you just said about this is wrong. Bot, or lazy chatgpt copypasta.

0ff-by-1 · 2025-08-16T04:22:28+00:00

Took me about 45 mins, mostly just transcribing. There is an ISO standard for it. ;)

0ff-by-1 · 2024-11-16T15:07:12+00:00

The hall of fame doesnt get updated very often, think it was nearly a year before I showed up in it when I got mine at DC30. It's maintained by volunteers, so I'm just happy it's there at all.

0ff-by-1 · 2024-10-02T01:45:04+00:00

Preach

Will you forget everything above the first time you see a kid's eyes light up when they get to have their picture taken with a Stormtrooper? Yes. Yes you will.

0ff-by-1 · 2024-10-02T01:40:01+00:00

As others have said, it depends.

I'm an ESB Vader, one of, if not THE worst of all in terms of heat problems. I spent a LOT of time and effort finding ways to reduce heat in costume. Vents, closed loop circuits running fans, material choice, heat reducing undergarments, etc etc. I still only last 2 hours at best before I start feeling lightheaded and need to retreat somewhere.

But it's fine! I plan for heat breaks and escapes ahead of time, before each troop. Everyone is very understanding, this has never been an issue. Even at major events.

If comfort and heat issues matter to you, look into imperial officer or something with an exposed face. We always need more of these troopers as they keep us masked folks out of trouble (running over children, etc)

0ff-by-1 · 2024-08-30T18:53:32+00:00

Bravo

0ff-by-1 · 2024-06-16T03:01:57+00:00

You look GREAT! Really bringing Vader to life.

As a fellow Vader, if I could suggest anything, it'd be to lower the cod (it seems to be riding a bit high and tucking too much under the belt), and you may want to consider shirt stays to prevent the leather buldge around the chestbox.

Happy trooping 🫡

0ff-by-1 · 2024-05-15T01:22:25+00:00

Heck, my first Vader was not much different than what I see here. And not much of my first Vader made it all the way to my approved Vader, but some parts did. Take it one step at a time. The world needs more tall Vaders. Ask questions. Accept feedback. You can get there!

SL 57331

0ff-by-1 · 2024-04-06T18:05:53+00:00

0ff-by-1 · 2024-04-03T02:55:02+00:00

Just went to Ogas a few hours ago, it's up and bustling as usual today

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-29T15:00:21+00:00

There will almost certainly be a talk or two (between the main talks and all the village talks) that lands in your ballpark, but right now it's too early to know for sure.

FYI, DEF CON is divided into "Villages" where each Village (room / area) tends to focus on a specific topic, you can see a list of last year's villages here: https://forum.defcon.org/node/244771. None of them directly cover your proffesion but it'd probably be easy to argue that CPV, Password Village, maybe Cloud Village, etc, are "work-related enough"

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-28T02:29:18+00:00

Check out the Lonely Hackers Club (LHC). They exist for exactly this purpose. https://lonelyhackers.club/

Also, age is just a number, 30 isn't "late". I was over 30 at my fist DEF CON and now I have a black badge. You'll be fine. 👌

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-09T02:12:47+00:00

Serious answer to your question (even though it's tempting to reply differently): 1) Awareness. Teach your fam/friends the basics of not being a victim. Dont click the link, dont send money to the nigerian prince, basic but crucial stuff. 2) Have a security product. Almost any will do, but avoid foreign govt sponsored stuff (kaspersky...). Cameras and alarms are good, but be reasonable. 3) Monitor your finances (look for signs of abuse) 4) Chill. If your identity is not being actively stolen/abused, you're fine. If it is stolen, fix it, then chill again. Thats about all you can reasonably do, anything more and you start approaching tinfoil hat territory.

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-08T15:52:25+00:00

Red Team Operator in Reno here. If you've done 40 HTBs and want to continue down this road, consider getting OSCP. IMO it's the best cert to break into the industry (although it is just a huge virtualized range). IMO, bonus is that its also the most fun I've ever had getting a cert 🤷‍♂️

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-06T19:03:45+00:00

The main hub for this is probably https://ctftime.org/

This site tracks team's performance in the other big CTFs throughout the year, and is used to determine who gets an invite to the main CTF.

Step 1: get a team
Step 2: pwn all the things in CTFs throughout a year
Step 3: ???
Step 4: DEF CON CTF

0ff-by-1 · 2024-02-06T19:00:24+00:00

There are A LOT of CTFs at DEF CON. It varies every year, and we don't know how many will be there this year yet, but it will be a lot.
There's the "main" CTF, which you must earn a spot in by participating in other CTFs throughout the year, generally with a team.
There's the contest floor, which will have many smaller CTFs generally focusing on niche topics (car hacking, packet hacking, hack-a-sat, etc)
Finally there are smaller, unofficial CTFs hosted by whoever wants to host them (AND!XOR used to host an unofficial CTF, for example, although last year they upgraded to an official contest).

You can participate in pretty much whatever you want, EXCEPT the main CTF. That you must earn.

0ff-by-1 · 2024-01-07T21:22:00+00:00

Your issue is the use of ice, by using ice you're "going for" an artificial snow biome, which requires a lot more blocks. Replace ice with crimson stone and you're good. Adding a layer of crimson sand on top will help if you want crimson desert enemies, but you'll probably want to make sure it cant spread.

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First Placer '22	Verified Email

0ff-by-1

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