Episode VII: The alliance strikes back

You can call them freaks or geeks, but they'll correct you with "friends." \nThe Hoosier Alliance, a local Bloomington Star Wars club, is taking "the force" and adding a bit of Indiana charm. \n"People can see us as freaks," said Eric Stuckey, Alliance president. "But I'm 35 and I've never had as good of friends as I've found in this club."\nAn official chapter of theforce.net, the club welcomes people from all walks of life and all ages, a good number of them IU students.\nJunior Cole Horton and senior Amelia Hilliker, make up two of the group's 15 regular members, and despite some significant age differences with some of the others, they say the atmosphere alone is enough to make you feel right at home. \nAnd you don't need to be obsessed to join.\n"Star Wars is an interest, a hobby," Horton said. "It's not my entire life." \nBut it is five months' rent.\nIf you ever see a stormtrooper watching IU basketball like a true Hoosier, it could be Horton. The avid fan dropped a sum so large on his stormtrooper ensemble that he could only describe it in months of spent rent. \n"They asked me to run with the flags once," he said with a smile. "But it would have been pretty embarrassing to fall in front of an entire crowd. I can't see a thing in that suit." \n"He's the pimp of the club," Hilliker jokes. "It's got to be that uniform."\nBut his costume isn't his biggest toy. Horton's latest side project has been pulled straight from the mind of George Lucas himself, and modified with an IU twist. \nThe law school hopeful has been creating his own working R2-D2, an android displayed throughout the Star Wars films, but Horton's version will display colors of crimson and cream instead of blue and white as in the movie. \nAnd the name is IU-D2. \n"It's a work in progress," Horton admits. "I've got to find people who make different pieces, and then, of course, add my own variations." \nHilliker, however, was turned on to the Jedi mind because of every little girl's favorite heroine of film, Princess Leia. \n"Here's a girl who usually should be just a damsel in distress," she said. "But she has a fight and a strength about her that I love." \nAnd it could be all of the butt-kicking action that drew self-appointed Web nerd extraordinaire, local resident Tim Johnson, to the Hoosier Alliance. \nHe may look up to Lucas for creating an entire universe, but don't let it fool you. He could kick you up and down this universe. \nJohnson holds a first-degree black belt in tae kwon do and a second-degree black belt in hapkido, another Korean martial art form. \nBut the martial arts instructor has an undeniable soft spot for Obi-Wan Kenobi, a character who rises to become, in Johnson's opinion, the greatest Jedi of all. \nWould they call it an obsession? Only on a small scale. \n"You get the people who are obsessed," Johnson said. "Then you get the people who are the other kind of obsessed." \nThe type of person who can "make the nerds feel weird," Horton said. \n"It's usually an isolated thing," he said. "But, unfortunately, one is enough." \nEmbracing their stereotype just seems to give the group more to \ntalk about. \n"Most people do have the typical Star Wars fan in their heads -- a guy who lives with his mom," Hilliker said. \nBut, as for the group, they find themselves completely normal.\n"Well, relatively," Stuckey jokes. \nNormal, and a bit on the adventurous side. \nThe group once camped outside of Target all night, without tents in the freezing rain, waiting for the release of the new collectors' edition Star Wars memorabilia. \nWas it worth it? The group replies with a unanimous "yes."\n"We're Star Wars fans, we know how to wait in line," Hilliker said. \nFortunately for other local Star Wars enthusiasts, there are no lines to the group's monthly meeting held at Avalon, 223 S. Pete Ellis Drive, a local venue devoted to fantasy and science-fiction video gaming.\n"We're not weird and creepy," Horton said. "People don't need to be in the spotlight in our meetings. Just come and sit in the back if you'd like."\nEmphasis on the "just come."\n"We would love to have more people," Hilliker said. "You never know, you might see a few things you'll like."\nAnd did they mention they are friendly? \n"If nothing else, you might gain a new friend from the experience," Stuckey said. "What else have you got to lose?"\nFor more information on The Hoosier Alliance visit http://boards.theforce.net/Bloomington,_IN/b10417.